Answers in-line:
Should his stats as a reserve not count? Why, because it doesn’t fit your narrative?
Yes, that's actually exactly why. I made an argument that he sucked before being benched and I was told that I'm incorrect because of stats X, Y and Z that included his time on the bench. If you're going to disprove my original argument, use the correct stats.
I never understood the argument that he has to earn anything. He is a max all-star coming off an injury. So Semi should get minutes over him because he banged a couple treys in the playoffs and defended some tough covers?
He is coming off a major injury and had 5 minutes and 15 seconds of chemistry with the team. He should have started on the bench, gained some confidence, and earned his minutes. It would have helped his confidence to beat up on 2nd tier players and shown some leadership. Instead, he was gifted a slot because of his former self (which he's obviously a starter on the team prior to injury) and that probably p---ed off some of his teammates.
He wasn’t the only terrible one from the start, and he’s probably the only one who had a reason. Yet he gets most of the blame. His move to the bench was not because he was bad, but more to get others (Brown) going. Gordon doesn’t need other great players around him to be better, he makes others around him better.
You're absolutely correct that it is unfair to place all of the blame on him. I place all of the blame on Brad Stevens for starting him. He saw his error and corrected it. You have to get the guy's confidence back before throwing him to the wolves. By the way, I'm not sure how you can see his move to the bench anything other than shaking up the lineup for wins. Morris and Smart have been playing well -- they got inserted into the starting lineup. Sorry, but it's not rocket science.
When he gets moved back into the starting lineup, there won’t be as many issues because as we can see, he plays well with Irving, Tatum, and Horford. The issue is seemingly Brown, who’s also been stinking it up out there.
If this is truly a “play well or be benched” team, all the starters should’ve been benched at some point.