Starting Harper alongside Fox and Castle could hurt Carter Bryant's development

The biggest point of contention for Spurs Nation has been how Mitch Johnson can get more out of Dylan Harper, and starting the sophomore guard alongside Stephon Castle and De'Aaron Fox is one idea that keeps coming up. However, that would do Carter Bryant's development arc no favors.

An opening unit with all three Slash Bros muddies the lineups as Harper's minutes increase because other wings get pushed down the line. You have to get minutes for Tobias Harris and Devin Vassell, but Keldon Johnson won't go down without a fight either.

Starting Harper creates a minutes crunch for the Spurs

Harrison Barnes is pretty much pushed out of the rotation completely at this point, as the few perimeter minutes you have to spare must go to CB. Let's do a little math here.

There are only 48 minutes in a ball game for each position, equaling a total of 240 minutes for five spots. If Fox, Harper, and Castle are starting and averaging about 30 a night, that's 90 right there. Victor Wembanyama, Luke Kornet, and Tarris Reed Jr. will combine to reach 48 at the center position. Assume Julian Champagnie starts and gets 27 minutes, as a floor spacer is always needed in modern basketball.

That equals 165 of the 240 minutes, leaving 75 remaining to split between Devin Vassell, Tobias Harris, Keldon Johnson, Carter Bryant, and Harrison Barnes. 75 divided by 5 would leave 15 minutes apiece. Dev and Tobi will play more than a quarter of an hour a night; I promise you that. KJ is the wild card, but the minutes distribution issue is clear nonetheless.

Conversations about the Spurs' "guard" problems have often been centered around the idea of a logjam at the position, but this decision would create congestion for the wing group.

It can work because of Stephon and Dylan's size at 6'6" and 6'5", but they aren't point guards taking point guard minutes here. They're wings being counted as guards. When you start all three, you're not adding a third floor general to the lineup; you're subtracting a wing from the rotation, and 75 minutes is all that's left after that subtraction if you're playing those star playmakers as much as you can.

Carter Bryant could pay the price for Harper's starting role

Bryant showed a ton of promise last season. Bringing him along should be a priority for this franchise, but it's going to be hard to do that if he can't see the floor as much as he should.

Carter had some learning moments during the playoffs, but his 41% three-point shooting and hellacious defense gave fans a peek into what he could become, and it was beautiful.

CB played 11.5 minutes per game as a rookie and 8.5 minutes in the postseason. The former Arizona Wildcat must be allowed to reach his peak, and that requires playing time. It will only help the Spurs in the long term. But he may not be able to do that at the right pace if San Antonio decides to start Harper next to Fox and Castle.

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