Lee NOT HAPPY with his playing time/Stevens substitutions today

[Celtics4ever]

I still think we are showcasing AB.   I think there will be some trades and this will ease up.

[GreenWarrior]

I still think we are showcasing AB.   I think there will be some trades and this will ease up.

that could be true. but if it isn't, if lee is upset now...wait till rondo comes back. lee would be the 3rd option at SG.

also if that happens I think Crawford deserves the opportunity to start opposite rondo but defensively I really don't like that at all. 

[BballTim]

There are about 12 rotation worthy players on this team, yet ideally a rotation should only be 9, maybe 10 players deep.  Somebody is going to be left out at times, and there will be guys who get less playing time than they might deserve.

Lee is a decent player, but he doesn't bring much to the table other than scoring, and he's not good enough at that to be a go-to guy on the second unit or anything.

He has no future with this team and he likely knows it, so he's anxious to get out there on the floor and audition for somebody to pick him up and give him starter minutes.

"There are about 12 rotation worthy players on this team"  -  really?  what does rotation worthy mean?  And if we REALLY have 12 rotation worthy players on the team, WHY are we 3 games below .500. 

  Lack of high level talent.

[More Banners]

I still think we are showcasing AB.   I think there will be some trades and this will ease up.

that could be true. but if it isn't, if lee is upset now...wait till rondo comes back. lee would be the 3rd option at SG.

also if that happens I think Crawford deserves the opportunity to start opposite rondo but defensively I really don't like that at all.

Playing a deep rotation of players with no hands-down lock on any position, sort of like grade school ball, is looking like a problem in a number of ways.

When rebuilding, it's good to think not only of who plays over who, but where each player *should* play in a solid rotation. Here, Lee and Bradley play the same spot.  No reason to play Lee over Bradley, but someone has to go in the long run.

Crawford looks good as a backup scoring PG more than a SG-only like Bradley and Lee.  Crawford's playing time is the result of ball handling more than anything, and Pressey too.  Lee's strictly competing for SG minutes behind Bradley and ahead of Brooks.

Crawford, as a combo guard, might take some SG minutes too, though, intensifying the Bradley/Lee minutes jam.

Rondo/Crawford/Pressey
Bradley/Lee/Brooks

That's it.  It doesn't seem, though, that Lee isn't happy being a backup, it's the rotation where he doesn't play the 2nd half.  I get that.

Of the bunch, though (Bradley, Brooks, Pressey, Crawford, Lee), Courtney is the only one under contract for next year. Does that matter?

[crimson_stallion]

I still think we are showcasing AB.   I think there will be some trades and this will ease up.

that could be true. but if it isn't, if lee is upset now...wait till rondo comes back. lee would be the 3rd option at SG.

also if that happens I think Crawford deserves the opportunity to start opposite rondo but defensively I really don't like that at all.

I can understand this thought, but personally I still wouldn't want it for a few reasons:

1) Crawford works best with the ball in his hands, so playing off Rondo is probably the worst thing for him.  It would likely turn him into a catch-and-shoot guy, which is not a role you want Crawford in given his traditioanlly mediocre shooting effiency outside of 15 feet (inside 15 feet he is borderline elite).

2) Defense - as you mentioned this wouldn't be a good combo.  Rondo is actually an elite defender at the PG spot, but he does cheat a lot in an attempt to go for steals, and you need a good defensive guard by his side to be able to cover when that happens.  Crawford tries hard on defense, but he's just not that good at it.  Bradley on the other hand, is elite. 

3) Decision making - Crawford played really well at the start of the season, but it looks like that player of the week award has gone to his head, because ever since he got that he has started showing flashes of the old him again.  Yesterday against the Wizards he chucked quite a few poor shots, and there were several momemnt where he tried to do too much off the dribble and lost the ball off the dribble.  He just hasn't shown good decision making for long enough a stretch to convince me that he can be trusted in the starting lineup in the long term.

Bradley on the other handis keeping the turnovers down, is playing blue-collar defense, is rebonding well and is improving his scoring ability in a huge way on a nightly basis.  He's already proven in the past that he can work very well with Rondo too, and he's only 22 or so years old so he needs that playing time to develop his offensive game.

[Evantime34]

I kind of feel for Lee, he is shooting the lights out but is not the defender Bradley is so he is stuck behind him on the depth chart. It's not going to get any better, with Rondo coming back Crawford will not only get the backup pg minutes but play a lot of sg as well which means Lee won't be getting any more minutes anytime soon.

Agreed about having 12 legit rotation players, if we could consolidate and add a good center I think this team gets a lot better.

[chambers]

When we get rid of the logjam at the 2 spot he'll have a better day. He's gonna be the hardest one to move so he's most likely staying here.
Stevens line up was weird in the 4th quarter, I was looking at the line up of Humphries, Pressey, Wallace, Vitor and whoever looked like a tank-a-palooza to me...he brought Green in and eventually Sully but it was a bizarre 8 minutes with very a exploitable line up.

[action781]

I don't blame Lee too much for his opinions and agree with some comments by Who and others that he warrants at least some playing time every half of every game.  It sounds like Lee is hinting towards that he feels Stevens is playing favorites and Bradley is the favorite.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

When we get rid of the logjam at the 2 spot he'll have a better day. He's gonna be the hardest one to move so he's most likely staying here.
Stevens line up was weird in the 4th quarter, I was looking at the line up of Humphries, Pressey, Wallace, Vitor and whoever looked like a tank-a-palooza to me...he brought Green in and eventually Sully but it was a bizarre 8 minutes with very a exploitable line up.

That lineup got us to about a 7pt lead, then he put Green back in and the rest is history.