Here is a puzzle for any of you that like to dig into statistics, maybe want a distraction from all the rumors and noise...or even for those of you who just like to guess:

Tracking the NBA champion teams since the 1999-2000 Lakers (I know, ouch), has become a bit of an obsession for me of late as I look at how the Blazers are currently constructed and how they might need to change in order to be competitive in the modern NBA.

So, with that in mind, try this challenge out (I'll post the full results in a couple days). For good measure, there are 16 names on the list and 18 entries (two players show up twice).

For all NBA championship teams since the 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers, name any or all the players having less than 4 years NBA experience (measured at the start of the season) that played among, by minutes played during the actual playoff run, the top five players. I did not measure the regular season minutes and the players do not necessarily need to have been starters to have had the most minutes.

We're not worried about 6th men or team depth, just the five playoff players that got the lion's share of playoff minutes and helped their championship teams win the trophy.

Example: A.C. Green (14 year veteran) started all 23 games of the 1999-2000 LA Lakers championship run and Robert Horry (7 year veteran) didn't start any but Green averaged 18.7 mpg while Horry averaged 26.9 mpg. Which player was more significant in winning the championship that year?

I'll give you one of the 16 names on the list for free, probably one of the more obscure ones unless you happen to be a University of Kansas fan:

Year Team Position Height Weight Yrs Exp Rk Player Age G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% 2P 2PA 2P% eFG% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS

Bonus question - name the team anytime in NBA history with the youngest starting five to win an NBA championship?

Bonus hint - they also had a rookie player qualify as a top five player by minutes during the playoffs.

For statistical comparisons, I relied upon basketball-reference.com. For those liking StatMuse, I tried to glean this information from there but couldn't overcome some of the language query issues...maybe someday...just not quite yet.