another draft means another overreaction/jump to conclusion thread at CS it seems.
different rookies take different routes, some become nba players sooner than others. we need to see them for a while before deciding. patience is the name of the game here folks.
this may give us all some perspective on our two rookies, and langford included:
please keep in mind that barely playing as a rookie isn't a rare thing for Celtics first round picks. it does not mean they are a bust.
2019: Langford: 32 games, 370 minutes
2018: Time Lord, 32 games, 283 minutes (followed by a season 2 with 29 games, 388 minutes)
2016: Yabusele: 33 games, 235 minutes (followed by a season 2 with 41 games, 251 minutes)
2015: Rozier: 39 games, 311 minutes
2015: RJ Hunter: 36 games, 315 minutes (followed by a season 2 with 3 games, 9 minutes fafter being cut by the C's)
2014: James Young: 31 games, 331 minutes (followed by a season 2 with 29 games, 199 minutes)
2010: Bradley, 31 games, 162 minutes (followed by. a season 2 with 64 games, 1368 minutes)
By contrast, here are some celtic draft picks who have played a lot in their first year:
2019: Grant, 78 games, 1219 minutes
2017: Tatum (#3 overall): 80 games, 2443 minutes
2017: Semi (round 2): 73 games, 1150 minutes
2016: Brown (#3 overall): 76 games, 1341 minutes
2014: Smart (#6 overall): 67 games, 1808 minutes
2013: Olynyk: 70 games, 1400 minutes
as for Nesmith, his path is more or less expected for a celtic drafted where he was.
also, maybe it is better to view Nesmith this way. we have a hypothesis we want to test -
will Nesmith be good at NBA basketball?
To pick arbitrary numbers, such a decision would be best done if had had 10,000 data points to evaluate. then, we would have a strong enough basis to decide.
however, right now we dont have 10,000 data points. we have more like 10. Those 10 data points say that he sucks.
avery bradley 10 data points said he sucked.
time lord's 10 data points said he sucked.
rozier's 10 data points said he sucked.
do those 10 data points tell a lot about where the final 10,000 will end up? not reliably. Would it be nice if the first 10 data points for nesmith were good? yep, that would be nice.
but to get those 10,000 data points we need to be patient and watch Nesmith.
tl;dr = be patient grasshoppers and don't jump to conclusions prematurely.