Why the Big Al hate?
Because we have Kanter and Favors.
If we had Ostertag and Big Country Reeves as our only backups to Millsap and Jefferson then I can see the justification for playing both our starters 30+ mins. All of a sudden Big Al's Boozer-like defense, horrid shooting, and weak offensive game wouldn't be so bad.
The fact of the matter is that we have two top 3 draft picks who aren't getting enough PT. One, in particular, is a franchise type player. He's a complete game changer. Both our starters are older and on expiring contracts. Both will demand a hefty pay raise. So why are we wasting our time with them (at least 1 if not will leave after their contracts expire) instead of focusing on two young players?
It's mind boggling.
btw, Big Al isn't even close to being top 5.
Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Lamarcus Aldrich, David West, Roy Hibbert (you know, the guy that looked like Shaq against Big Al), Dirk Nowitski, Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Big Z (again, looked great against us), Blake Griffin, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh, Gortat, Joakim Noah, Brook Lopez, and Derrick Favors are all bigs who are better than Big Al. I just thought of those guys off the top of my head. There are probably more that I'm missing.