"Who will get the minutes? It's a simple question that rarely has a simple answer.

Coaches are constantly tinkering and toying with their rotations. Sometimes it has to with injuries and in other instances, it's a result of ineffective play from a certain player. The impact this has on minutes played and thus statistical production is where we come in.

Every Tuesday for the rest of the season, I'll explore a certain aspect of half the league's rotations while attempting to get inside coaches' heads. The idea isn't to tell you what Kevin Love and LeBron James are going to do -- it's to decipher how much burn fringe players are going to get.

Here's last week's look at the East. Let's kick this week off in New Orleans, where a combo guard has come off the radar and into the spotlight.

HORNETS

Position: Shooting guard

There's something to be said about actually earning minutes. Greivis Vasquez was the No. 28 overall pick in the 2010 draft and barely played for the Grizzlies. They quickly gave up on him, trading him to New Orleans for Quincy Pondexter. Fast forward a few months, and Vasquez is pushing for 35 minutes per night as the Hornets' best player.

Over the last five games, Vasquez is averaging 16.2 points, 7.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 1.2 3-pointers and 1.0 steals while playing 32.8 minutes. He'll certainly take a hit when Jarrett Jack (knee) returns, but the Hornets will find a way to keep Vasquez around 30 minutes. Marco Belinelli and DaJuan Summers have both had shots as the starting shooting guard and faceplanted. Eric Gordon (knee) won't rush back for a 4-21 team. At 6'6/211, Vasquez has the size needed to play off the ball. Add it all up and we have a long-term fantasy asset, not just a plug-n-play."