Doc Rivers marvels at players who opt to come off the bench

The Clippers have an unusual thing going for them.

While most players compete for starting spots, the Clippers have three players who have chosen to come off the bench -- Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes -- each for different reasons.

Crawford could start for most NBA teams, but the reigning Sixth Man of the Year genuinely prefers to come off the bench. Barnes, because of all of his mileage, apparently thinks that coming off the bench would be the best move for him. And Hawes chose to come off the bench so he could play for the Clippers, where he knew he’d be playing behind Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

“There are two groups,” Rivers said. “One is the old veterans like Matt. They want to come off the bench. That’s when they’ve figured it out -- it saves them, it makes them fresher, they’re smarter, they can actually watch the game and evaluate the game.

“And then there’s that extraordinary group of guys who clearly could be starters and actually still prefer coming off the bench.... Jamal could start anywhere, he could start here, but he prefers coming off the bench.”

Rivers acknowledged that it’s a phenomenon that he doesn’t truly understand. He said when he came off the bench at the end of his playing career, he could never figure out how to build momentum as a reserve.

“I don’t know how they do that,” he said. “Maybe because I was so old, it took me 10 minutes to warm up, by the time I warmed up I was back on the bench.”

As a coach, however, Rivers has a completely different perspective. He thinks that there’s too much emphasis placed on starting when, in fact, it’s who finishes the game that really matters.

He went on to joke that instead of having flashy starting lineups, the NBA should stop the game at the final four-minute mark, dim the lights and announce the finishing lineups.

“I think that’s what they should do because that’s the most important minutes,” he said.