Why does Brad sit Kyrie for soooo long?

[j804]

This is so annoying he has it going. He’s killing it and Brad sits him and sits him and sits him. I think this might be the first night of back to back but it isn’t just happening this game he does it a lot.

[gouki88]

I agree, it's really annoying. He also leaves garbage lineups in for way too long

[tarheelsxxiii]

Because he's a fool sometimes.  Ugh.   

[Jamilmac99]

Highly annoying, and not just Kyrie. Starters should be entering at no less than 8 minutes in my opinion. Especially players like Kyrie and Brown.

[RJ87]

I'm not gonna lie - the weird rotations are starting to get annoying. I just don't know if you can afford to have lineups without 2 of Irving, Horford, Brown, Morris, and Tatum for long stretches... Heck, I'd even take one those guys with Larkin because he can at least get you into proper offensive sets.

[Jamilmac99]

Remember when Bird would play 53 minutes including OT.

[jdz101]

This is so annoying he has it going. He’s killing it and Brad sits him and sits him and sits him. I think this might be the first night of back to back but it isn’t just happening this game he does it a lot.

Might be a directive from the new sports science guys or at least some guidance to keep minutes at a certain level. None of the guys are above 33 minutes average. That's low. They're all at a fairly uniform level too.

I hate the move for starting Morris over baynes more. It's killed baynes' mojo as he can't create his own offense off the bench. Morris in with the starters makes us worse defensively too, and he'd help our bench scoring.

[Eja117]

Remember when Bird would play 53 minutes including OT.

Yeah, and then he got back problems and was done

[TheSundanceKid]

Remember when Bird would play 53 minutes including OT.

Yeah, and then he got back problems and was done

Exactly. It's not a badge of honour to play every minute. Keeping minutes low throughout the regular season is a great way to help your team in the playoffs. We will have a Kyrie Irving who is fresher than he has ever been, that will be scary.

[Green-18]

I believe Brad is limiting Kyrie's minutes for multiple reasons.  The first is that he sees huge value in a well rested Irving for the 4th quarter.  It's hard to argue with the results.  Kyrie has been insane in the closing minutes of games.  Durability issues were also a concern with Kyrie in Cleveland.

The second reason is the long term development of our team.  The bench looks ugly right now but Brad is looking at the bigger picture here.  The limitation of Kyrie's minutes is providing opportunities for the rest of the team.  It also highlights some of the major weaknesses we have offensively.  Brad has always experimented with lineups early in the season in order to learn more about his team.  There's no better way to learn about a group than by pushing them in real game situations.

[KGBirdBias]

I'm trying to not criticize Stevens because there is a method to his madness.

I think he wants Kyrie fresh at the end of games.

I'm trying to figure out how we can get Smart not to shoot so much. He's DJ...he will hit them when it counts but boy last night I was losing it.

[ETNCeltics]

I'm trying to not criticize Stevens because there is a method to his madness.

I think he wants Kyrie fresh at the end of games.

I'm trying to figure out how we can get Smart not to shoot so much. He's DJ...he will hit them when it counts but boy last night I was losing it.

I don't think he's just thinking about the end of games, he's thinking about May and June and trying to keep those minutes low.

Yeah, DJ he ain't. DJ was $$$ on the open 18 footer. Marcus is the worst shooting guard in the league.

[BitterJim]

This is so annoying he has it going. He’s killing it and Brad sits him and sits him and sits him. I think this might be the first night of back to back but it isn’t just happening this game he does it a lot.

Might be a directive from the new sports science guys or at least some guidance to keep minutes at a certain level. None of the guys are above 33 minutes average. That's low. They're all at a fairly uniform level too.

I hate the move for starting Morris over baynes more. It's killed baynes' mojo as he can't create his own offense off the bench. Morris in with the starters makes us worse defensively too, and he'd help our bench scoring.

I doubt it.  Brad has always kept people's minutes low.  The most MPG anyone has ever averaged under him is 34.2 by Jeff Green in Brad's first season.  Even IT only played 33.8 MPG last year (leading the team)

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

I'm trying to not criticize Stevens because there is a method to his madness.

I think he wants Kyrie fresh at the end of games.

I'm trying to figure out how we can get Smart not to shoot so much. He's DJ...he will hit them when it counts but boy last night I was losing it.

He ain't no DJ.

[__ramonezy__]

As several have said before, it's a long season and we have to ensure we monitor players from the inception to give them the best chance of staying healthy. Also if you look at Kyrie's efficiency numbers its hard to argue against how he's being handled.