Even Clyde has noted Randle looking awfully tired late in 4Q's. Including the one game where he appeared to be holding his thigh (Clyde thought a bent over Randle was holding his knee). Randle is 1st in minutes played; RJB 3rd.
A Little Thibs History:
Rose averaged 37 mpg his first 3 seasons (twice under Vinny the Black; and then during an MVP 3rd season under Thibs), then midway through his 4th season, Rose's ACL gave out. Missed essentially 2.5 seasons. Never the same, never played nearly as many minutes, most seasons missing a couple dozen games, etc.
Bulls went from losing in the conference finals with Rose to losing in the 1st round after he became encrippled. The Rose injury ended the Bulls as any kind of contender.
Deng averaged 39 mpg his first 3 seasons under Thibs, leading the league twice.
A serious wrist injury the 2nd year caused his to miss 28 games.
Thibs first season in Minny, he had Towns, Wiggins and Zach La Vine all playing 37 mpg. Wiggins and Towns finished 1st & 2nd in minutes played that year, Zach LV would have joined them in the Top 3 but his ACL gave out in Game 47 ...
RJB and Randle are both in good shape. But could break down. Players often don't pay attention to overwork or muscle/joint fatigue issues. Nobody wants to come out of a game. But injury risk, concentration and efficiency are improved when players are more rested and playing closer to 30 than 40 mins per. Which is why nobody plays close to 40 mins per. Hopefully Randle and RJB remain healthy, but both have an elevated risk of injury due to overwork and on-court fatigue.
At least RJB's minutes have come down lately.
Otherwise, here's an amendment:
Thibs doesn't play rooks/yute who can't defend adequately. Unfortunately that covers a large % of young guys/rooks, who have to learn how to defend at an NBA level. So ObiT and Knox are untrusted. Franc too limited on O.
RJB gets it and is treated as an honorary vet (big minutes). Quickly has NBA scoring ability that the team needs and is active on D, but is kept on a bit of a short leash. Heavy reliance on vets improves the short term outlook but at the expense of long term development (see Obit, Knox).