What's Up With JR?

[BostonBurbs]

He must be having horrible practices for him to not see even a brief showing in last night's game.  I mean, with all of the talk about watching Paul's and Ray's minutes, Paul still had 41 and Ray had 40.

He can't be that bad...  Can he?

[crownsy]

dunno, not at practices.

but apperntly Doc doesn't feel he's ready for anything but blowout minutes, thats for sure. And since i have no way to see what doc sees out of him on a daily basis, i have little basis to disagree.

[Atzar]

I think it's just a matter of options.  Walker is a 3, and Giddens is a 2.  We don't have any real 3's behind Paul Pierce, so Doc is almost forced to play Walker.  We have a number of players that can fill the 2 spot behind Ray:  Eddie, Stephon and even Pruitt are ahead of Giddens on the list right now.  I'm sure if we had more options at the 3, Billy wouldn't be playing either - in fact, when TA and Scal were healthy, he didn't.

For what it's worth, though, Danny still seems to believe that Giddens has the skills right now to contribute to the team if given the opportunity.  If nothing else, that bodes well for next year.  

[CelticsWhat35]

He must be having horrible practices for him to not see even a brief showing in last night's game.  I mean, with all of the talk about watching Paul's and Ray's minutes, Paul still had 41 and Ray had 40.

He can't be that bad...  Can he?

That 3rd quarter really hurt and was very uncharacteristic of the Celtics.  Not to say that Giddens would've gotten any run otherwise, but getting blown out in the 3rd and needing to make a run to get back in the game, it left Doc with little time to rest Paul and Ray in the 2nd half.

In an ideal world for Doc, neither him or Walker would be getting significant minutes during a standings race to the playoffs.  But with the injuries, he has to do something.  And Walker has shown that he has no fear, and his size gives Doc the option of playing him at the 4 for a bit, something Giddens can't do.

[BostonBurbs]

I agree with the point that way the game unfolded, the second half did not present many options for substituting, and there are other 2's, but let's face it.  Paul and Ray played too much, again.

Doc has to get over this and play the sub's more, so that during the key parts of the 4th quarter, Paul and Ray's shots are not hitting the front rim.

I say, give JR some time. 

I would think that against Memphis, he will be getting some time.  I just hope the kid shows something when he gets his chance!

[Bankshot]

He must be having horrible practices for him to not see even a brief showing in last night's game.  I mean, with all of the talk about watching Paul's and Ray's minutes, Paul still had 41 and Ray had 40.

He can't be that bad...  Can he?

The only problem I see is that he's a rookie. I'm not sure it has anything to do with his game, since he's played as well as Walker did in the Dleague.  I believe it has more to do with the position he plays.  Walker is needed because there is no one behind Pierce.  

[Fafnir]

I agree with the point that way the game unfolded, the second half did not present many options for substituting, and there are other 2's, but let's face it.  Paul and Ray played too much, again.

Doc has to get over this and play the sub's more, so that during the key parts of the 4th quarter, Paul and Ray's shots are not hitting the front rim.

40 minutes shouldn't exhaust the two of them. They'll be called on to play that much in the playoffs every game probably. I have no problem with Doc's substitution pattern last night. He got both Ray/Paul a decent amount of rest. We're missing two of our best four players, you can't keep Ray/Pauls minutes down much more than 40 unless we're winning pretty big.

Do you really want to see them put a unit out there without Ray or Paul? That'd probably be the only way to get their minutes down. The offense would be awful as it was earlier in the year. Usually Doc can at least play KG on his own if he needs to get PP/Ray out at the same time.....

[moiso]

I'm fine with Giddens going the route Pruitt went last year and not really playing.  I think it's kind of late to start playing him now anyway.  I would love to see Walker get a consistent 7-10 minutes a game the rest of the way.

[makaveli]

The way things are going we are going to end up with #3 seed so you might as well play the young fella  .
Orlando is right at our doors and we won't have Rondo, BBD, KG for another 3-4-5 games.

[crownsy]

The way things are going we are going to end up with #3 seed so you might as well play the young fella  .
Orlando is right at our doors and we won't have Rondo, BBD, KG for another 3-4-5 games.

wasent rondo only out 7-10 days?

if so we should have him back sunday, mabey friday.

[guava_wrench]

2 points:

1 - We had 2 days off before the game, so the 40 minutes isn't as bad as it would be with a back to back or a busy schedule

2 - Hard to play too many guys at once who are inexperienced and iffy in the system.

[nickagneta]

I think there's enough circumstancial evidence here to believe that Giddens is either:

A. Not nearly as good as Danny thought him to be by expending a first round pick and a guaranteed contract on him or

B. Notfitting in due to intellectual or social shortcomings or

C. Both of the above

First off, rumors have circulated and reports have been made that the Celtics have been trying to move Giddens for quite some time. That tells me he either was the worst player on the roster or at least the most expendable. Sure, it could be argued the Celtics were just trying to open space to get Marbury, but the fact that no one bit, I think says at least a little about his perceived abilities across the league.

Second, the fact that he has been up from the NBADL for quite some time and not seen more than a few seconds of action in any game other than the last five minutes of a 38 point mud stopping the Celtics put on the Nuggets, should speak volumes. Heck, the fact that hios coach didn't trust him enough to put him into that game until 4:33 was left and the team was up 37 points speaks volumes to me about what Doc thinks of the kid's game at this point in time. Say what you want about Doc and rookies but he's given second round rookies more play during the year in past seasons than he ever has Giddens, a first round pick with a guaranteed contract.

[Reggie's Ghost]

If you start giving JR 10 a night, and roll PP & Ray back to 35, you're going to see a lot more of what we got in last night's 3rd quarter out there...

[Chris]

The C's are already trying to work Marbury, Moore, and Walker into the rotation.  They aren't going to also add JR, if they don't absolutely need him (which they don't).

[housecall]

The same question was asked of Donny Marshall on weei radio yesterday,whats up with JR?He replied,"Doc feels he's to immature and not ready to be put in any role yet".Im not sure if you can believe it because Donny sometimes says things he feels,and label it as what someone else said but thats  the closest ive heard lately.