At What Point Will Stevens Start Playing Our Young Shooters?

[sofutomygaha]

Given that all three of the rooks and Young show so much potential, I actually wish the four of them would play together more in Maine. They've all put up some gaudy box score stats there, but the Red Claws haven't been a dominant team at all. What would be useful in my opinion is to put a unit out up there with Rozier at the 1, Hunter at the 2, Young at the 3, Mickey at the 4, and someone like Sampson at the 5, try to get them playing Celtics-style on both ends of the court, and see if they can whoop some people.

[wdleehi]

I just not to sure we will see the important ones until after the season.   And non of them will be of the "get this guy out of here because the coach keeps playing him" type.  That is not a problem on the Celtics.  The pieces playing are either the best at the role they play or young growing players that have a specific role. 


If the coach was force feeding Lee minutes, I could see the issue.

At the very least, I'd like to see Mickey start getting minutes that are currently going to Sullinger and Amir.

I'm just about done with Sullinger.  This was a show-me-something season for him and though he started out pretty well, he's tapered off.  I don't think he's a good bet.  Trade him for some marginal value and let somebody else pay him long term.  His rebounding is nice, but we can't afford to carry an undersized center who shoots 40% from the floor and has pretty major injury concerns.

As for Amir, I don't mind him, but I think he's very much on the decline despite that he's only 28, and I think Mickey could turn into a similar player (some day, not this year of course), only with a better jumper.

If Mickey really isn't ready for NBA minutes, then I'd say give minutes to Zeller.  He's not a "sexy" player (talking about his basketball ability, no commentary on his looks), but if I were gonna give a 4 or 5 year deal to somebody, I'd give the money to the seven footer with clearly defined skills and no significant injury history.  Guys like that are almost always positive trade assets.

I have seen both of those players be productive this year and both have trade value to be concerned about.



Plus Mickey is getting minutes and is developing fine where he is at the moment.  There is no need to rush him. 




And everyone is so sure Sully is gone.  Why?  Because his rookie contract is near the end?  How often has Ainge just let a player on a rookie contract he has optioned out to the maximum year just walk? 

[Evantime34]

I just not to sure we will see the important ones until after the season.   And non of them will be of the "get this guy out of here because the coach keeps playing him" type.  That is not a problem on the Celtics.  The pieces playing are either the best at the role they play or young growing players that have a specific role. 


If the coach was force feeding Lee minutes, I could see the issue.

At the very least, I'd like to see Mickey start getting minutes that are currently going to Sullinger and Amir.

I'm just about done with Sullinger.  This was a show-me-something season for him and though he started out pretty well, he's tapered off.  I don't think he's a good bet.  Trade him for some marginal value and let somebody else pay him long term.  His rebounding is nice, but we can't afford to carry an undersized center who shoots 40% from the floor and has pretty major injury concerns.

As for Amir, I don't mind him, but I think he's very much on the decline despite that he's only 28, and I think Mickey could turn into a similar player (some day, not this year of course), only with a better jumper.

If Mickey really isn't ready for NBA minutes, then I'd say give minutes to Zeller.  He's not a "sexy" player (talking about his basketball ability, no commentary on his looks), but if I were gonna give a 4 or 5 year deal to somebody, I'd give the money to the seven footer with clearly defined skills and no significant injury history.  Guys like that are almost always positive trade assets.

I have seen both of those players be productive this year and both have trade value to be concerned about.



Plus Mickey is getting minutes and is developing fine where he is at the moment.  There is no need to rush him. 




And everyone is so sure Sully is gone.  Why?  Because his rookie contract is near the end?  How often has Ainge just let a player on a rookie contract he has optioned out to the maximum year just walk?

I don't think Ainge will let him walk. I think Ainge is going to trade him at the deadline.

[PhoSita]

And everyone is so sure Sully is gone.  Why?  Because his rookie contract is near the end?  How often has Ainge just let a player on a rookie contract he has optioned out to the maximum year just walk?

I don't know if he will be gone, but I really hope so.

Look, he's a rebounding specialist who has actually regressed offensively over the last year or so, and he's got significant injury concerns tied to his weight (back and feet) that should only get worse as he gets older.  To have back and foot issues as an undersized center at age 20-22 ... that's bad.

Ainge moved Big Baby instead of giving him a long term deal for similar reasons.  Weight, scoring efficiency, personality concerns.  I like Sullinger more than Big Baby, but they're not as dissimilar as I'd like.

[PhoSita]

Given that all three of the rooks and Young show so much potential, I actually wish the four of them would play together more in Maine. They've all put up some gaudy box score stats there, but the Red Claws haven't been a dominant team at all. What would be useful in my opinion is to put a unit out up there with Rozier at the 1, Hunter at the 2, Young at the 3, Mickey at the 4, and someone like Sampson at the 5, try to get them playing Celtics-style on both ends of the court, and see if they can whoop some people.

What can we really learn about these players from what they do in the D-League, though?

I'd rather just start Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Zeller, and then see what a bench unit of Rozier, Smart, Hunter/Young, and Mickey can do.  You can make sure that one of the more experience players is always on the floor with them so they don't get completely overwhelmed.

[hwangjini_1]

I get the impression that Ainge is fine with how the team is being used and is looking to make trades that brings in better talent, not just moving other talent out of the way.

Here's the thing though: Ainge has put together a ton of assets in the form of young players and draft picks.  He's gotten a lot of praise for doing that.

But young players and draft picks are like fruit.  They'll waste on the vine if you don't do something with 'em.

It's all good and well to put together all these assets and have everybody talk about how you've got all this ammo to make a big trade, but if that trade doesn't come along sooner rather than later, you've just got a whole bunch of young players who need playing time to develop.

Point being, Ainge has kind of put himself in a position where the team is mostly very young and inexperienced, but he's also trying to hold onto these veterans so that he has big expiring contracts and also so the team can be respectable and win games in the short term. 

If he doesn't make some major moves in the next 6 months to a year, though, something will have to give.  It might hurt the team's record this year to give a lot more time to the young guys currently on the roster, but the team will be A LOT worse next year if half the team is made up of guys with no meaningful experience.

The Celts have three first round draft picks in the 2016 draft.  Even if Ainge uses every single 2nd round pick on guys who will spend time overseas, that would still be 6 first and second year players on the team next year, plus James Young and Marcus Smart, who both still need a lot of time to develop.

i see your points. but i am not confident that giving increased, significant minutes to rozier, young, et al for the remainder of the season will make a real difference for the scenario you paint for next year. i dont think they would develop all that quickly.

in the end, either "youthful" team would be bad i believe.

in the suggested scenario you give, however, this year's team is a non-play team and that next year is bad as well.

the likely answer lies in trading away some folks. i dont think ainge has missed this point.

[PhoSita]

in the end, either "youthful" team would be bad i believe.

in the suggested scenario you give, however, this year's team is a non-play team and that next year is bad as well.

the likely answer lies in trading away some folks. i dont think ainge has missed this point.

I agree.  If we've got that many young guys on the roster next year, they'll be bad no matter what.

My point is just that it'd be a lot better to at least have a sense of what we have in the young guys on the roster right now, instead of having to sort out that many guys all at once.  That type of situation has a tendency to turn into a bit of a clustercuss, even with an even-keeled, talented coach like Brad Stevens.

Until Rozier, Hunter, Young, and Mickey actually get meaningful time at the NBA level, with a reasonable opportunity to earn a significant role on the team, we won't really know what they are or might one day be.

[Evantime34]

Given that all three of the rooks and Young show so much potential, I actually wish the four of them would play together more in Maine. They've all put up some gaudy box score stats there, but the Red Claws haven't been a dominant team at all. What would be useful in my opinion is to put a unit out up there with Rozier at the 1, Hunter at the 2, Young at the 3, Mickey at the 4, and someone like Sampson at the 5, try to get them playing Celtics-style on both ends of the court, and see if they can whoop some people.

What can we really learn about these players from what they do in the D-League, though?

I'd rather just start Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Zeller, and then see what a bench unit of Rozier, Smart, Hunter/Young, and Mickey can do.  You can make sure that one of the more experience players is always on the floor with them so they don't get completely overwhelmed.

Completely agree with everything except you including Zeller in that rotation. If you replace Zeller with Amir I'm on board.

Zeller isn't good and he's turning 26 in two weeks so it's not like he has a ton of upside imo.

[BudweiserCeltic]

in the end, either "youthful" team would be bad i believe.

in the suggested scenario you give, however, this year's team is a non-play team and that next year is bad as well.

the likely answer lies in trading away some folks. i dont think ainge has missed this point.

I agree.  If we've got that many young guys on the roster next year, they'll be bad no matter what.

My point is just that it'd be a lot better to at least have a sense of what we have in the young guys on the roster right now, instead of having to sort out that many guys all at once.  That type of situation has a tendency to turn into a bit of a clustercuss, even with an even-keeled, talented coach like Brad Stevens.

Until Rozier, Hunter, Young, and Mickey actually get meaningful time at the NBA level, with a reasonable opportunity to earn a significant role on the team, we won't really know what they are or might one day be.

I think Mickey is a shoe in to be part of the rotation next year. It'd be good to know what we have on him now, but I don't think Ainge/Stevens are sweating to know what they got with him.

Young I think his days are numbered. I don't recall Ainge keeping a players in his rookie contract beyond his 2nd year if he hasn't shown enough to be part of the rotation. I know he was project to begin with, but that has been Ainge's MO. With the influx of youth coming from draft picks, it'll be hard to justify keeping him unless something drastically changes.

We'll see how trades change the panorama, but I think we'll have at the very least, without counting our 2nd years, 8-9 NBA players rotation next year. I'll find it hard envisioning us coming in with more than 3 rookies. 4 at the most.

But to your point, in general, yeah I'd like to see a bit more in what we have... particularly with Rozier above all others.

[oldtype]

Young and Hunter have been getting "minutes" but they have been getting zero responsibility on offense other than standing in the corner and jacking up the occasional open three  (which they invariably miss). I can't shake the feeling that coach Stevens is just putting them in there because we desperately need bodies on the wing, and doesn't actually trust them to contribute on the NBA level yet.

I don't think we necessarily need to give them more minutes to allow them to develop. Rather, we just need to trust them and let them try more things when they're out on the court.

[takeittotherim]

RJ has demonstrated that he is ready for more minutes.  Problem is that he's been set back a bit due to injuries (hip first, now shoulder).  He needs to get stronger (and already looks a little bigger due to his weight room activity). 

I would also like to see him play alongside anyone but Turner.  ET obviously refuses to pass to RJ when he's wide open (almost as if he's afraid RJ is going to perform well and take his minutes).  That in turn can cause RJ to take a shot he otherwise wouldn't take, because of the very limited opportunities available while playing with ET....

[Timdawgg]

RJ has demonstrated that he is ready for more minutes.  Problem is that he's been set back a bit due to injuries (hip first, now shoulder).  He needs to get stronger (and already looks a little bigger due to his weight room activity). 

I would also like to see him play alongside anyone but Turner.  ET obviously refuses to pass to RJ when he's wide open (almost as if he's afraid RJ is going to perform well and take his minutes).  That in turn can cause RJ to take a shot he otherwise wouldn't take, because of the very limited opportunities available while playing with ET....

Funny...you noticed that about playing with ET too. I also think IT does that to Marcus Smart too.

[Celtics4ever]

Perhaps when they can shoot?

RJ HUNTER   .34% FG   .26% 3P

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2983727/rj-hunter

JAMES YOUNG    .30% FG   .20% 3P

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3064509/james-young

Then again, what shooters are you speaking of?