Absolutely not. He has contributed nothing in the playoffs and belongs where he is, on the bench.
What I have seen of Stiemsma in the playoffs has been bad and I agree with Coach. He had a good game 1 vs Atlanta and since then has look terribly slow on rotations, unable to handle the athletic big men the Celtics have faced in a one on one defensive situation(Smith, Horford, and Lavoy Allen have made him look bad), and even his offense looks scared and slow. He's had tons of open 15 footers and doesn't take them and his picks are slow coming and late.
And this perplexes me because the last month of the season Stiemsma looked like a solid back up center. Now he looks to be where he should be, sitting on the bench.
Also, can we please stop with the calls for Sasha, Daniels and Moore as well. The players playing are the right players. Live and die by them. They may not play great every game because of injuries but they will get the job done.
Do you think they're the right players by your own assessment--or because Doc has chosen them to play?
By my assessment Doc is making the right choices.
What we need is offense from the guards that maintains the defense that is being played while having the ability to perform in tough, pressure packed situations.
E'twaun Moore barely showed he had the ability to score in garbage time of regular season games. He and his game are not physically or mentally prepared for the playoffs.
Marquis Daniels is a horrible outside shooter and he is terribly passive on the offensive end. His defense is no better than Ray's is now when Ray is hurt. Say what you want about Ray's offense but his defense has been very good. If I was to expect smart and productive offensive play from either Allen or Daniels, I would say Ray being hurt has a better chance to produce than Daniels.
Sasha Pavlovic is more of a SF and doesn't have the footspeed or lateral movement to defend the perimeter against the faster, quicker, more athletic 2 guards that Philly has. Ray and Bradley have done a great job on Turner and Meeks in this series.
The problem has been Ray's inability to get open and hit outside shots and Bradley's cooling down from the outside after a scorching finish to the season. Both are hurt but still hurt they are better defensively than the other guys and offensively have a better chance of playing better than the end of the bench crew.
Sometimes fans have to realize that they know next to nothing about coaching and that end of bench guys are at the end of the bench for a reason. The number one mistake a coach can make is to be inconsistent in his decisions and muck around with lineups and rotations on a regular basis. Spoelstra is known for this and what has it got him. His players don't like or respect him and the team seems to be constantly in turmoil as everyone but Bosh, Wade and LeBron know their role.
Good and great coaches don't just start throwing stuff against a wall to see if it sticks in the middle of a playoff run. Doing that gets you fired and loses you the locker room. Coach the way you coach and let the players that got you there win or lose the game.
What people just don't get is that a coach will only be directly responsible for 1-2 wins or 1-2 losses a year if they are doing there jobs correctly and Doc does his job better than almost every coach in the league. You don't believe this? Just listen to Keeny Shaq and Chuck on TNT. They say it a bunch.