How to get Nate more minutes?

[gar]

Not sure that about Nate as a PG. Almost think we need to have Marquis out there running things as with Eddie. Nate looked horrible at the point against the Pistons last night. Looked totally lost in the half court set. His pick an roll play with BBD looked horrible, then he turned around and threw the ball at Finley's ankles - really inexcusable.

[el.celta]

Nate Robinson since joining the Boston Celtics have lost 12 games is only 4 ... when you play more than 15mins most scoring chances over 12 points.more opportunity to play is the best option for the team

[tbs]

He's too valuable on the bench, where he's free to taunt Mike D'Antoni when the Celts are up by 24.

[CelticG1]

I'd love for Nate to get a bit more burn with Rondo at the point. It hampers our defense a bit but also creates lots of match up problems on the other end. Plus Rondo can play pretty good defense on most 2 guards I think in the league. It depends who is playing the 2 guard but this would eliminate the matchup issue when they are on the floor together. Rondo can at least handle it for spurts in games.

Also I'm pretty sure that everyone agrees that Nate needs to be much more assertive when he is in the game. Supposedly he is better than house but right now he is playing exactly like House would. He is acting like a 3 point specialist but he is more than that. He can get in the lane, create havoc, draw fouls. I mean as soon as he drives in the lane and someone touches him he needs to fall to floor like he just got shot. He is a good 3 point shooter but those aren't always going to fall. I've seen him take over games and score 30 40 points in a game this year, but you can take over a game like that just jacking up threes and hoping you get hot

[2short]

Rondo is 6'1" and nate 5' nothing, neither one can really be counted on to guard a sg.  The way to get nate more minutes is to have rondo turn up the pressure on defense.  Have him play as hard as he can 'til he needs a breather.  Then its nates time.  I still can't see him getting 20 minutes barring injury or foul trouble.  He is an improvement over eddie but heinrich would have been  the better fit as he could play both spots on offense & defense.

[Jon]

Prior to getting Finley, I would've been open to experimenting with giving him a few minutes per game with Rondo, but now, what's really the point other than to simply give him (personally) a few more minutes?  With Finley here, we have more than enough depth at the 2/3 with Daniels, so it just doesn't make sense to give up that much defensively.

And the other brute reality is that unlike Atlanta (and other teams) the C's still probably have the best starting 5 in basketball.  Unlike other teams, we have at least 4 guys (and probably Perk too) who deserve to play 36 mpg or more in important games.  That leaves very few minutes for the bench. 

Likely Nate is here in the hopes of winning a title, proving he's a "winner" and then parlaying that into a big payday with another team. 

And you know what?  If he helps bring #18, that's fine by me. 

[BballTim]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

[hwangjini_1]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

good point. but i think he supposed to provide what the celtics bench has lacked much of this season....offense off the bench. house's supposed role.

what is interesting is look at the stats for house as a celtic this year and compare them to robinson stats as a celtic so far.

house in 50 games as a celtic
16:53 minutes/g
7.2 pts/g
1.0 asst/g
0.5 to/g
0.6 stl/g
3.3 3 pters taken/game

robinson in 14 games as a celtic
16:11 min/g
7.4 pts/g
2.1 ast/game
1.5 to/game
1.1 sts/g
3.5 3 pters taken/game

not a dramatic difference so far. but robinson does seem to provide more energy and speed than house. and maybe better defense, but i havent seen enough games to effective judge that. others on this board can comment on that please.

however, if robinson can match house's numbers after onlly 14 games, i think it bodes well for robinson's future with the team.

house played 2 1/2 years with the celtics and knew the players, plays, etc.

robinson is new to the team, but already matches house's numbers. if the celtics keep robinson i think he will become a very good bench player, able to provide scoring and speed for the second unit. he could very well be akin to detroit's vinnie johnson years ago, but for the celtics.

[Jon]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

good point. but i think he supposed to provide what the celtics bench has lacked much of this season....offense off the bench. house's supposed role.

what is interesting is look at the stats for house as a celtic this year and compare them to robinson stats as a celtic so far.

house in 50 games as a celtic
16:53 minutes/g
7.2 pts/g
1.0 asst/g
0.5 to/g
0.6 stl/g
3.3 3 pters taken/game

robinson in 14 games as a celtic
16:11 min/g
7.4 pts/g
2.1 ast/game
1.5 to/game
1.1 sts/g
3.5 3 pters taken/game

not a dramatic difference so far. but robinson does seem to provide more energy and speed than house. and maybe better defense, but i havent seen enough games to effective judge that. others on this board can comment on that please.

however, if robinson can match house's numbers after onlly 14 games, i think it bodes well for robinson's future with the team.

house played 2 1/2 years with the celtics and knew the players, plays, etc.

robinson is new to the team, but already matches house's numbers. if the celtics keep robinson i think he will become a very good bench player, able to provide scoring and speed for the second unit. he could very well be akin to detroit's vinnie johnson years ago, but for the celtics.

And the numbers don't show Robinson's value as a ball-handler.  While he may not be John Stockton out there with the passes, he certainly can bring the rock up against a press, which is more than House can do. 

[wdleehi]

It is defensive size that ends that.



Crawford is big enough to defend SG while both he and Joe Johnson can run an offense.  It gives the Hawks more flexibility in the pairings they can throw out and allows Crawford to play so many minutes.


Plus, Bibby is on the steep part of the talent drop off due to age.  Rondo is still on the high climb.

[snively]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

He's the team's best bench player from a talent perspective.  I think the Celtics having more time to exploit his strengths would outweigh whatever weaknesses he brings.  He's 3rd on the team in points per minute and 4th on the team in eFG% (ahead of the 2 guys ahead of him in points per minute).  He's a solid rebounder, the best assist man off the bench and gets a lot of steals.

Continuing to play our two most (by far) inefficient scorers, Davis and Sheed, and our least (by far) prolific scorer, Daniels, a combined 60+ minutes while only finding 16 for Nate is going to lead to a lot of offensive frustration for this team.

Nate should see 5 minutes more per game in a small-ball line-up, IMHO.  

[Rondo_is_better]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

He's the team's best bench player from a talent perspective.  I think the Celtics having more time to exploit his strengths would outweigh whatever weaknesses he brings.  He's 3rd on the team in points per minute and 4th on the team in eFG% (ahead of the 2 guys ahead of him in points per minute).  He's a solid rebounder, the best assist man off the bench and gets a lot of steals.

Continuing to play our two most (by far) inefficient scorers, Davis and Sheed, and our least (by far) prolific scorer, Daniels, a combined 60+ minutes while only finding 16 for Nate is going to lead to a lot of offensive frustration for this team.

Nate should see 5 minutes more per game in a small-ball line-up, IMHO.  

Interesting and intelligent post. TP.

[BballTim]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

He's the team's best bench player from a talent perspective.  I think the Celtics having more time to exploit his strengths would outweigh whatever weaknesses he brings.  He's 3rd on the team in points per minute and 4th on the team in eFG% (ahead of the 2 guys ahead of him in points per minute).  He's a solid rebounder, the best assist man off the bench and gets a lot of steals.

Continuing to play our two most (by far) inefficient scorers, Davis and Sheed, and our least (by far) prolific scorer, Daniels, a combined 60+ minutes while only finding 16 for Nate is going to lead to a lot of offensive frustration for this team.

Nate should see 5 minutes more per game in a small-ball line-up, IMHO.  

  I don't think it makes a lot of sense to compare the minutes between pgs and pfs. It's not like we're going to give Sheed's minutes to Nate. And I'm more concerned with the playoffs. I'm concerned that other teams will exploit him on the defensive end, and I don't know that I like our defense with a Rondo/Nate backcourt. We need to be getting into the mindset of shutting other teams down, not just trying to outscore them,

[snively]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

He's the team's best bench player from a talent perspective.  I think the Celtics having more time to exploit his strengths would outweigh whatever weaknesses he brings.  He's 3rd on the team in points per minute and 4th on the team in eFG% (ahead of the 2 guys ahead of him in points per minute).  He's a solid rebounder, the best assist man off the bench and gets a lot of steals.

Continuing to play our two most (by far) inefficient scorers, Davis and Sheed, and our least (by far) prolific scorer, Daniels, a combined 60+ minutes while only finding 16 for Nate is going to lead to a lot of offensive frustration for this team.

Nate should see 5 minutes more per game in a small-ball line-up, IMHO.  

  I don't think it makes a lot of sense to compare the minutes between pgs and pfs. It's not like we're going to give Sheed's minutes to Nate. And I'm more concerned with the playoffs. I'm concerned that other teams will exploit him on the defensive end, and I don't know that I like our defense with a Rondo/Nate backcourt. We need to be getting into the mindset of shutting other teams down, not just trying to outscore them,

I shouldn't have brought up Sheed and Baby.  I was just using them to emphasize that despite Nate being our best bench player, he plays the fewest minutes of the bench regulars/

I agree the Nate/Rondo backcourt poses major problems defensively, but I think it can perform better than the Nate/Daniels or Nate/Finley (whose shooting efficiency is hardly sustainable, though I'd be ecstatic if it was) or Rondo/Daniels, Rondo/Finley backcourts in brief spurts.

Consider last year, when House saw minutes as a 2 because he was playing much better than TA. 

If Robinson is better than Finley/TA/Daniels, he should see some spot minutes in their stead to maximize our talent as much as possible.

[Fafnir]

  I don't think that Nate needs a lot of minutes. The longer you leave him out there the more likely teams will be to expoit his weaknesses.

He's the team's best bench player from a talent perspective.  I think the Celtics having more time to exploit his strengths would outweigh whatever weaknesses he brings.  He's 3rd on the team in points per minute and 4th on the team in eFG% (ahead of the 2 guys ahead of him in points per minute).  He's a solid rebounder, the best assist man off the bench and gets a lot of steals.

Continuing to play our two most (by far) inefficient scorers, Davis and Sheed, and our least (by far) prolific scorer, Daniels, a combined 60+ minutes while only finding 16 for Nate is going to lead to a lot of offensive frustration for this team.

Nate should see 5 minutes more per game in a small-ball line-up, IMHO.  

  I don't think it makes a lot of sense to compare the minutes between pgs and pfs. It's not like we're going to give Sheed's minutes to Nate. And I'm more concerned with the playoffs. I'm concerned that other teams will exploit him on the defensive end, and I don't know that I like our defense with a Rondo/Nate backcourt. We need to be getting into the mindset of shutting other teams down, not just trying to outscore them,

Agreed, Nate shouldn't play any position other than the PG for more than situational minutes. (last possession of the quarter or against the small backcourt of the Cavs)

Otherwise you give up too much on the defensive end having Rondo or Nate guard 2s.