Why is Nesmith glued to the bench?

[86MaxwellSmart]

Cause, BRICKS

[Spicoli]

I can confidently say that Nesmith is better than the following players right now:

Waters
Green
Teague

With that said, why are Green and Teague playing over him in ANY scenario? How can Stevens justify that?

Green is a bonehead on offense and defense and Teague gets destroyed defensively. There's no way that Nesmith is worse than either of these guys.

Langford got meaningful minutes last year because he's pretty good on defense but Langford showed NOTHING on offense. To me it's clear that Stevens absolutely values defense over offense. If that's the case i'm not sure why Ainge drafted offensive players.

Waters and Teague don’t even play the same position. Those guys are guards so that is a moot point. Javonte played early on in the season but has seen pretty limited playing tome recently.

Sometimes it just takes time for rookies to find the floor. JB was basically red shirted his entire rookie season until late season/playoffs. He was a #3 pick. Just because Nesmith was a #14 pick doesn’t mean he deserves playing time. Playing time is earned and if Nesmith wasn’t able to make the sacrifices to do what he could to get on the court, then he shouldn’t have been playing. That being said, as the season progresses, I’m sure we’ll see more of him.

Stevens doesn't play guys based on positions. I've seen him roll out a Grant Williams, Daniel Theis, Tristan Thompson lineup. I've also seen a Pritchard, Edwards, Waters lineup.

[footey]

I've stated this numerous times, worth stating once more:

Nesmith has to take it to the cup. He can't live and die  by the 3 point shot. He is athletic enough, has a decent enough handle, to make plays. It puts too much pressure on him to just chuck 3s.

[gouki88]

I've stated this numerous times, worth stating once more:

Nesmith has to take it to the cup. He can't live and die  by the 3 point shot. He is athletic enough, has a decent enough handle, to make plays. It puts too much pressure on him to just chuck 3s.

I wonder if this is a directive from coaching, because in the early footage of him here he took it to the cup a few times and even tried to put someone on a poster

[hodgy03038]

Much more impressed with Nesmith tonight. Very good defensive effort.

[Silas]

He is progressing!

[liam]

Anyone know why this is happening again?

[liam]

I had to start this up to get the young man on the floor. It worked last time!!!

[Roy H.]

Anyone know why this is happening again?

Because we’re winning, I suspect.  Everybody in the NBA has been down on the team.  Building the team’s confidence is more important than developing Nesmith right now.

[liam]

Really want to see more of the young man's hustle!

[PAOBoston]

Nesmith will play when he shows he can play in practice etc. I don’t get this fascination with playing young players when everyone gets upset when they lose. Nesmith will get his time to shine at some point. They aren’t going to force feed him minutes. The same way they didn’t force feed Brown etc.

[liam]

Nesmith will play when he shows he can play in practice etc. I don’t get this fascination with playing young players when everyone gets upset when they lose. Nesmith will get his time to shine at some point. They aren’t going to force feed him minutes. The same way they didn’t force feed Brown etc.

He was getting minutes and playing defense well. Tatum looks gassed and Brad is playing him 40 minutes a game.

[Roy H.]

Nesmith will play when he shows he can play in practice etc. I don’t get this fascination with playing young players when everyone gets upset when they lose. Nesmith will get his time to shine at some point. They aren’t going to force feed him minutes. The same way they didn’t force feed Brown etc.

While true, do we know he’s not performing in practice?  Overall he seems to be in the right spots. 

I’m fine with stabilizing the team and making Nesmith wait, but I do think we should be integrating him by running some screens for him, etc.

I do think that players need to be able to play through mistakes. Look at Rob Williams.

[ozgod]

Nesmith will play when he shows he can play in practice etc. I don’t get this fascination with playing young players when everyone gets upset when they lose. Nesmith will get his time to shine at some point. They aren’t going to force feed him minutes. The same way they didn’t force feed Brown etc.

It's because everyone wants to see Nesmith play based on their expectation of what they want him to be, not what he really is right now. He's our shiny new toy and people want to see what he can do. His minutes have dropped as Ojeleye and Teague's minutes have gone up. Ojeleye had 28 minutes tonight and was a +11, Teague had 13 mins and was a +6, Pritchard had 23 mins and was a +5. I'm sure he will get opportunities as the form of those other guys ebb and flow over the 2nd half of the season. Brad seems to have a philosophy where he gives players long runs in a game then they might not play at all another game. I'm sure it's to do with sabermetrics and matchups.

[liam]

Nesmith will play when he shows he can play in practice etc. I don’t get this fascination with playing young players when everyone gets upset when they lose. Nesmith will get his time to shine at some point. They aren’t going to force feed him minutes. The same way they didn’t force feed Brown etc.

It's because everyone wants to see Nesmith play based on their expectation of what they want him to be, not what he really is right now. He's our shiny new toy and people want to see what he can do. His minutes have dropped as Ojeleye and Teague's minutes have gone up. Ojeleye had 28 minutes tonight and was a +11, Teague had 13 mins and was a +6, Pritchard had 23 mins and was a +5. I'm sure he will get opportunities as the form of those other guys ebb and flow over the 2nd half of the season. Brad seems to have a philosophy where he gives players long runs in a game then they might not play at all another game. I'm sure it's to do with sabermetrics and matchups.

I want to see Nesmith play because of the intensity he brings when he's played. Not for what he'll be but for how much defensive intensity he brings.  He also pulls players out of the paint and he also rebounds well. That shot will fall but he should be getting some minutes so Tatum, who looks gassed, can get 6-7 minutes of rest.