0 of 5

Melissa Majchrzak/Getty Images

It's hard to think of anything more valuable than efficiency in today's NBA.

We're obsessed with it, and that's probably a good thing. Better to laud the players who make the most of their teams' finite possessions than those who fatten up their counting stats with high-volume approaches. This is largely why you don't hear sharp NBA analysts talking about points per game as often as they mention usage rate and effective field-goal percentage.

That same thinking informs our choices here. Those who can do more with less, who can contribute value in short stretches, are more important than ever.

The players we'll designate all average fewer than 20 minutes per game and are necessarily specialists. If they could do everything well or offer elite production in one category without taking something off the table in another, they'd be getting more court time. They'd also probably be conventional All-Stars.

These, then, are All-Stars in their specific roles—imperfect players but highly useful in their areas of expertise.

So if you need someone to score, facilitate, rebound, protect the rim or provide that coveted two-way wing play in limited minutes, these are your guys.