Wait...what happened tonight!? 22 minutes for Jajuan?

[jr_3421]

i was not overly impressed with his defense. he seems lost on a number of switches, his man just blew by him too often, and under the basket he just wasnt all that tough or strong.

I actually disagree. From what I saw he was guarding Sam Young for most of the game and I thought he moved his feet extremely well laterally especially considering he was guarding a wing player. The only times I saw where he consistently got out of position were on up fakes. And also you have to take in account that he played a lot with Chris Wilcox who doesn't know any of the rotations so it may have looked uglier than it was supposed to.

[PosImpos]

anybody have some video of what JJJ did today?  i'd love to see it.

[2short]

My guess is he hasn't been getting playing time, beside obvious we are stacked in that posisiton, is his defensive rotations.  He was out of place at times and I'd say a year away from being a nice backup (with starter capabilities).
We all know his jumper is sweet.  His shot blocking is very good but we also knew about that from college.  One thing I loved was a high post pass into KG when KG had his man sealed.  For big guys on our team only kg would make that pass.  bonus!

[Chris]

I have said it before, and I will say it again...Doc is a master of knowing when young guys are ready to see minutes.  Johnson looks like a completely different player than he did 2 weeks ago, when he was clearly thinking through the system, and was too much in his own head, and not reacting.  Now, he is comfortable enough with the system and the NBA game that he is just playing, and it looks like he could really contribute. 

Kudos to Doc for holding JJJ out for long enough to let him get comfortable (and to Stiemsma for keeping his seat warm), and kudos to JJJ for stepping up when he was ready.

Now, there are still going to be more bumps in the road, and he still has a ways to go before he gets regular minutes when everyone is healthy.  But Johnson just planted the seeds to show that he can step in when he is needed, so, hopefully they will be able to keep their head above water when/if KG or Bass miss more games this season.

[Celtics18]

No member of the 2011-2012 Boston Celtics hasn't seen significant non-garbage time minutes at some point in this young season. 

Too bad Doc is so stubborn with his rotations. 

[nickagneta]

Rather than focusing on whether Doc plays rookies or how he develops rookies or whether he only is forced to use them, I think I will focus on what the reality of the situation is.

Here is the reality of JJJ's situation. He is an inexperienced rookie that doesn't quite have an NBA ready body and has two exceptional PFs ahead of him on the depth chart that are better than he is and healthy and performing very well.

JJJ is player #14 or #15 on a 15 man roster. It is his job to learn, to stay in shape, to get better and above ALL else, be ready to contribute in a positive meaningful way whenever he is called upon. Bass was hurt and yesterday he was called upon during real time game minutes and responded.

He did his job.

Its not up to Doc to constantly get his #14 or #15 man minutes simply because when he is called upon to do his job he does it. It up to Doc to win games this year. Developing players and getting young players playing time will come next year and the year after. For now his job is to win and JJJ's job is to be ready when called upon, whenever that may be.

KG and Bass are both playing 30 MPG which for KG is not too much and for Bass not too little. That's an excellent balance given the minutes JO has to be limited too for health reason's and the amount of minutes Wilcox must see to remain effective.

Sorry but there's no more time available.

So JJJ, keep working hard. Keep playing well and keep doing your job. Your time will come. It just might not be this year.

[bucknersrevenge]

No member of the 2011-2012 Boston Celtics hasn't seen significant non-garbage time minutes at some point in this young season. 

Too bad Doc is so stubborn with his rotations. 

This is like a triple negative or something. I've read it 3 times and still not sure I understand it.

[Chris]

No member of the 2011-2012 Boston Celtics hasn't seen significant non-garbage time minutes at some point in this young season. 

Too bad Doc is so stubborn with his rotations. 

This is like a triple negative or something. I've read it 3 times and still not sure I understand it.

I am assuming the last line was being sarcastic.  In which case he is right.  Doc has been incredibly flexible with his rotations this year, and everyone has gotten a chance.

[MBunge]

Its not up to Doc to constantly get his #14 or #15 man minutes simply because when he is called upon to do his job he does it.

If JJJ is as good as Doc says he is, not what I say but what Doc says, there are many other coaches who would find ways to get him minutes. For example, when Boston suffered 3 double digit loses to Indy, Chicago and Indy, JJJ played a total of 5 minutes in those games.  Other coaches would find a way to get a 1st round draft pick in his rookie season more than 5 combined minutes in 3 blowout losses.

And while it's a players job to always be ready, to suggest that it's a good idea for a coach to let a player rot away on the bench until needed in an emergency (especially if it's a young player who the coach praises for his potential) is just silly.

Mike

[MBunge]

Doc has been incredibly flexible with his rotations this year, and everyone has gotten a chance.

While Doc has been certainly been more flexible, I don't think you can say Moore has gotten an equal chance to compete with Bradley, for example.  Doc has clearly given Bradley every opportunity to play over Moore, which might be in order to spotlight Bradley for a trade, but still.

Mike

[Interceptor]

While Doc has been certainly been more flexible, I don't think you can say Moore has gotten an equal chance to compete with Bradley, for example.  Doc has clearly given Bradley every opportunity to play over Moore, which might be in order to spotlight Bradley for a trade, but still.

Moore is a better shooter than Bradley, and that's about where his advantages end. Bradley is a better defender, he's faster, and as poorly as Bradley runs the point and as limited as his practice time with the C's has been, it's still better than Moore.

Moore also has the problem where the one thing he's good at (shooting) puts him behind both Ray and Pietrus on the depth chart at the 2. Bradley has benefited greatly from Dooling being out for such a long time.

[nickagneta]

Its not up to Doc to constantly get his #14 or #15 man minutes simply because when he is called upon to do his job he does it.

If JJJ is as good as Doc says he is, not what I say but what Doc says, there are many other coaches who would find ways to get him minutes. For example, when Boston suffered 3 double digit loses to Indy, Chicago and Indy, JJJ played a total of 5 minutes in those games.  Other coaches would find a way to get a 1st round draft pick in his rookie season more than 5 combined minutes in 3 blowout losses.

And while it's a players job to always be ready, to suggest that it's a good idea for a coach to let a player rot away on the bench until needed in an emergency (especially if it's a young player who the coach praises for his potential) is just silly.

Mike

No its not silly. Its the reality of the NBA. You can't have 15 player rotations. If you were an NBA coach and tried that you would be fired immediately. It's a blatantly STUPID thing to do for any coach.

And, sorry to say, but JJJ has too many proven, excellent NBA PFs in front of him. He is accident insurance for this year.

And I really don't know how many times this has to be told to you Mike before it sinks in but during those early games, KG was out of shape and needed to be getting his time on the court for conditioning , regardless of the results.

Doc had two choices to make for what would be the overall greater benefit for this team this year in those games

1. Play KG and other vets their regular minutes, even though we are getting rolled, to get them in game shape so they start performing like we need them to, or

2. Sit and rest KG and Pierce and Bass because it is a blowout(much of the reason for the blowout being veteran's being out of shape) and give a rookie some garbage time run because he needs some playing time and some confidence even though that really is insignificant in our chances of trying to win a title this year.

Given that KG and Pierce started playing better and then the team turned things around, I think Doc did the right thing and continues to know how to run this team better than anyone who contributes to this blog.

[j804]

^well I do believe Doc over anyone on this blog and we might see him in spot minutes he even said himself

"I told you guys last week, JaJuan will play -- I really believe this," Rivers said. "Sooner than later. You see it in our silly practices we have -- the 3-on-3 practices -- he just keeps getting better. His energy is unbelievable. He’s an offensive weapon, he can shoot the ball, he can run the floor.

[nickagneta]

^well I do believe Doc over anyone on this blog and we might see him in spot minutes he even said himself

"I told you guys last week, JaJuan will play -- I really believe this," Rivers said. "Sooner than later. You see it in our silly practices we have -- the 3-on-3 practices -- he just keeps getting better. His energy is unbelievable. He’s an offensive weapon, he can shoot the ball, he can run the floor.

Sooner or later.

[j804]

^well I do believe Doc over anyone on this blog and we might see him in spot minutes he even said himself

"I told you guys last week, JaJuan will play -- I really believe this," Rivers said. "Sooner than later. You see it in our silly practices we have -- the 3-on-3 practices -- he just keeps getting better. His energy is unbelievable. He’s an offensive weapon, he can shoot the ball, he can run the floor.

Sooner or later.

Sooner than later anyway not trying to argue can careless nobody knows a well just have to see