I don't blame Ainge over the present situation, except for the fact that he chose to go into the year with Tony Allen as the backup 3. While I understand he had flashes in the past indicating he might be a serviceable rotation player (and I understand I've always disliked Allen way more than most people on this board), I thought it was plain to see after last year that there has never been any evidence supporting the idea that Allen can play the 3. He's a 2, that's it. Ainge talked on EEI last week about how he likes TA and House individually as players, but they can't play together because it's obvious House is better working off the ball. Unsaid but implicit is that Allen can't play with House because they're both 2s, and can't play other positions. So even Ainge sees it now (I just wonder why it wasn't seen before when it was so obvious).
As for Scalabrine, he was being used as a 4 and 5, I just wonder why he was also expected to be used as a backup 3. He clearly doesn't have the quickness to stay out on the perimeter defensively, particularly when the role he primarily was filling calls for him to stay down on the blocks defensively. Still, Ainge also gave a couple of rookies to Doc, and it was Doc's responsibility to get one of them ready to play some minutes when necessary.
Now, my blame for this goes to Doc because he's not following the obvious example set by the most successful franchise of the past decade, San Antonio. When Ginobli was injured earlier this month, Popovich said the one thing he wouldn't do to make up for the loss is give more minutes to Duncan and Parker. Even when Duncan joined Ginobli on the sidelines, Parker's minutes didn't spike up, they stayed steady at 30-35 minutes a night. That's the right way to do it, and a good reason why San Antonio is always rested and ready for the playoffs. He doesn't burn his best players out earlier in the season, he keeps the minutes steady and manageable, exercising almost excessive caution so he knows a) they'll be ready for more minutes in the playoffs and b) his backup guys are used to playing.
If Pierce is worn down now, how's that gonna get better in a month or two? And who's gonna be ready for those minutes if Pierce has foul trouble, nagging injuries or fatigue in the playoffs? We need somebody like Walker to be ready to get in there, and he's not, because Doc is regressing to a quality his biggest critics always cited to - his unwillingness to get young guys minutes unless there is absolutely no choice.
Is he waiting for Pierce to be hurt before trying to see if Walker can play minutes in anything other than garbage time? Just consistently give him 10 minutes a night for 2-3 weeks, against all competition, and at least see how it goes. It's a need we're going to have in a playoff run that might very well involve series against Philly (running team with a lot of 3s, led by Iguodala), Orlando (Turkoglu and Lewis are both really 3s) and Cleveland (Lebron). I just don't see why Doc doesn't take the cue from a guy like Popovich and see you need to give reps to your bench players, even rookies (i.e., George Hill).
Topic: Pierce saying what we all have been saying: (Read 29904 times)