Doc has been playing Randolph for 12-15 mins per game for the last 10 or so games.
Shav has clearly made it into Doc's rotation at this point and now he is trying to get Shav to learn how to stay on the floor so he isn't a liability and both knocking himself out of games and also putting the C's in the penalty sending a team like the Heat to the foul line far too quickly.
Doc's used this approach before, telling guys if they don't do a certain thing he is going to bench them. He is trying to get through to Shav somehow before the playoffs start so he can actually be serviceable. I don't know if its going to work, but something needs to change for Shav. Yes he is getting "rookie fouls", but that isn't going to change so Shav needs to learn how to work around it.
He made a point to Shav, that if he doesn't manage to get himself under control in terms of fouling he is going to find himself on the bench permanently and also gave Wilcox an extended run.
I have no problem with it. Randolph needs to adjust his game if he wants to stay on the court. Maybe this gets through to him.
I hope that is Doc's strategy. But I've seen stranger things from Doc. He prefers playing small. Bass at center does not bother him. I think Randoph's great play was something he did not expect. Almost did not know what to do with his rotations because of it.
Doc is too loyal sometimes. He might have been just looking for an excuse. Maybe always intended Wilcox to be the guy.
I see this being the playoff rotations:
Bradley
Pierce
Green
Bass
Kg
Terry
Crawford
Lee
Wilcox
yep the hell with shav even though he can score down low some an rebound. we definitely do not need anything like that. we only want jumpshooters.
I don't think Doc prefers playing small or is biased towards playing small, but thats just what our roster allows him to do. Shav has been a very pleasant surprise, but he has some serious limitations especially on the defensive end, which I think reduces the contributions he makes on the glass and the offensive end.
I'm not trying to defend Bass playing center, it doesn't make sense to me. I'd rather see a guy like Shav or Wilcox get a chance to see some of those minutes and potentially figure things out so that they are more productive.
But I will say that I don't think Doc was looking for an excuse to go to Wilcox. I think Wilcox and Bass have both stepped up their game (which may be due in part to Shav showing he can eat into their minutes) and both guys played outstanding out there last night.
Shav has been getting his minutes, 12-15 per game, which I think is actually a really great for a scrap heap China pick up, especially given Doc's tight rotations. Shav obviously did something to earn Doc's ire (or was struggling with some ailment) considering he was geting some really solid minutes.
Its crazy to get so upset about Shav not ending up on the court when he has been getting plenty of time recently, we won by a huge margin and the guys who were in there instead had great outings.