I don’t know why he gets fairly consistent minutes.
In a way it’s simple: they think he’ll be helping them in the playoffs, and they’re putting him on that steep learning curve to give him a chance to get there.
He’s a hard worker but is still a liability on defense.
On the whole that’s what I see. But it’s unavoidable. He’s got to take his lumps - sometimes literally, if he’s going to be a plus defender. In addition to the aggressive play, he’s got good lower-body strength, anticipation, and acceleration off the floor. At 200 pounds he’s got the tools to be excellent on the ball at the point of attack.
He also can’t hit open shots for the most part.
He’s been good from distance, poor from closer in. He’s currently .313 from 2 and .313 from 3. Weird coincidence.
He hasn’t had to deal with NBA-level rim and paint protection up to this point in his career. It’s a big adjustment, or as the old vet saying goes, “Welcome to the NBA, kid.”
He’s 6/10 from long midrange, which if it’s real is a big asset. Mostly NBA teams are conceding those shots, and he’s got the skill right now to get those shots off the dribble in either direction.
As mentioned, he’s .313 from deep, which is mediocre on the surface, but that represents 15/48. A useful quick and dirty technique for evaluating the sample size is: add or subtract one more make; then add or subtract two. The sample size is less reliable if the percentage changes a lot when you do that.
So, 16/48 is .333, which is acceptable shooting. 17/48 is .354, which is about league average. Yes, of course you could subtract and get some horrible percentages, but the point is that the actual % should be eaten with a grain of salt - there’s a very good chance that he’ll finish the year above league average, and despite the inevitable rookie adjustments.
He shot .353 in November, btw. I would not bet against him.
Plus, I honestly hate it when Edwards AND Kanter see the floor at the same time
We all have our tastes. I, for one, cannot stand even tiny amounts of cilantro in my food. I get it.
More to the point, perhaps, it might be worth thinking about why the coaching staff is doing that, because you’re right that they are.
It’s also true that Edwards is usually on the floor with Jayson Tatum, who’s got a lot of gravity, and is seeing more doubles and blitzes this year. That means that both Kanter and Carsen can get more open shots (the uptick in Jayson’s playmaking is welcome!) and Kanter can get more offensive boards (he’s currently one of the league leaders).
(which is quite a lot. CBS runs either Kanter-Edwards or Timelord-Javonte).
True about pairing Kanter/Edwards, less true about Green/Williams. Green is not getting rotation minutes. Rob’s most-used lineup is subbing for Theis with the starters.
The eye test says we’re a pretty poor defensive unit when there are 2 liabilities out there.
His most-used lineup is Edwards/Wanamaker/Tatum/Ojeleye/Kanter. Currently that group is 1.19 points per possession on offense, and .95 on defense. Excellent defense, outstanding net. Kanter takes a lot of crap for his defense, but I’d just point out that team defense has a lot of moving parts, and without going through his merits and demerits on that end, he’s at least a strong defensive rebounder. You have to get the ball.