At What Point Will Stevens Start Playing Our Young Shooters?

[PhoSita]

Chuck M. ‏@RedsArmy_Chuck  3h3 hours ago
We are reaching the point on offense where RJ or Young need to play 30 minutes and get up 15 shots.

Seriously.  At what point does we start giving playing time to some of these younger guys?  Namely Hunter, Young, Rozier, even Mickey.

In theory, at least, they can shoot.  Evan Turner can't.  Right now at least, Marcus Smart can't.  Jared Sullinger C-A-N-T.  Amir Johnson can't be relied upon to space the floor either.

I'm with KWAPT / RedsArmyChuck on this one: the offense on this team is going nowhere fast.  They're fine defensively, but with an offense this bad they're nothing but first round fodder, like last year.

Let's find out what these young guys can do.  Maybe they can hit the broad side of a barn spotting up from deep.  Who knows.

[Bucketgetter]

Who do suggest not get minutes? Because Stevens' rotation is already too deep at like 11 players a game. We had 10 play tonight and that's with AB hurt. So you want a 14 man rotation? That's ridiculous.

[PhoSita]

Who do suggest not get minutes? Because Stevens' rotation is already too deep at like 11 players a game. We had 10 play tonight and that's with AB hurt. So you want a 14 man rotation? That's ridiculous.

Let's start with Turner, Jerebko, Sullinger and go from there.  If any of those 3 is in the rotation this time next year, something has gone wrong.

[Rondo9]

When they're ready.

[Ilikesports17]

Who do suggest not get minutes? Because Stevens' rotation is already too deep at like 11 players a game. We had 10 play tonight and that's with AB hurt. So you want a 14 man rotation? That's ridiculous.

Let's start with Turner, Jerebko, Sullinger and go from there.  If any of those 3 is in the rotation this time next year, something has gone wrong.

Right now sully is our only competent rebounder. We absolutely need him in the rotation right now.

That being said I agree with you on the timeline.

[Rondo9]

Who do suggest not get minutes? Because Stevens' rotation is already too deep at like 11 players a game. We had 10 play tonight and that's with AB hurt. So you want a 14 man rotation? That's ridiculous.

Let's start with Turner, Jerebko, Sullinger and go from there.  If any of those 3 is in the rotation this time next year, something has gone wrong.

Why?

[LooseCannon]

When they earn the minutes.

[ssspence]

i would like to see Turner's minutes go to Young, and have Stevens say to him: "if you don't take 15 shots tonight, you're benched tomorrow. And don't just shoot 3s. Go to the basket and get to the line." Then do that again and again.

The guy is clearly a capable scorer, but one who needs a little volume to gain his confidence. I think it's in the best interest of the Celts to do this. We're nearing the halfway point of his second season -- he's at risk of losing belief in himself, which would be a shame considering there's no reason why he couldn't become a legit bench chucker in the NBA.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Stevens HAS been playing our young shooters.

Now a case can be made to play Mickey.

I'm OK if we consolidate our bigs into a 3-man rotation of Sully-Olynyk-Amir, with Crowder occasional playing as a PF. Absent of that, and we want to use another big, I think Mickey is the call to make.

I lobbied for Zeller over Jerebko, and he made me look bad last night. He's been bad all season. Jerebko is not really bringing anything of worth to us.

So let's stop with those experiments. Lee is already out of the rotation, let's give Mickey a try if anything.

[chilidawg]

i would like to see Turner's minutes go to Young, and have Stevens say to him: "if you don't take 15 shots tonight, you're benched tomorrow. And don't just shoot 3s. Go to the basket and get to the line." Then do that again and again.

The guy is clearly a capable scorer, but one who needs a little volume to gain his confidence. I think it's in the best interest of the Celts to do this. We're nearing the halfway point of his second season -- he's at risk of losing belief in himself, which would be a shame considering there's no reason why he couldn't become a legit bench chucker in the NBA.

I've completely missed any real world indication that this is the case.

[Evantime34]

I think the answer to this question is, after the deadline.

Initially I think the plan was for Smart to be the back up point guard and Rozier to be the third string one (with Thomas, Smart and Rozier doing all the ball handling). Due to injuries and Rozier not being ready Turner has been the only other player on the team besides Thomas capable of running the offense.

My hope is with Smart returning and Rozier improving in Maine, that the C's will feel comfortable dealing Turner. Just dealing Turner isn't enough to get our young guys the minutes they deserve however.

Dealing two or three of Zeller, Sullinger, Lee and Jerebko would open up time for Mickey and give the C's a roster conducive to going small rather than one that needs to play 5 bigs every game.

Even though this team is really frustrating me now, I'm trying to be patient because I expect Ainge to make moves at the deadline to clear out roster clutter, just like he did last year. If we don't see any such moves at the deadline I'm going to be mad.

[hwangjini_1]

Chuck M. ‏@RedsArmy_Chuck  3h3 hours ago
We are reaching the point on offense where RJ or Young need to play 30 minutes and get up 15 shots.

Seriously.  At what point does we start giving playing time to some of these younger guys?  Namely Hunter, Young, Rozier, even Mickey.

In theory, at least, they can shoot.  Evan Turner can't.  Right now at least, Marcus Smart can't.  Jared Sullinger C-A-N-T.  Amir Johnson can't be relied upon to space the floor either.

I'm with KWAPT / RedsArmyChuck on this one: the offense on this team is going nowhere fast.  They're fine defensively, but with an offense this bad they're nothing but first round fodder, like last year.

Let's find out what these young guys can do.  Maybe they can hit the broad side of a barn spotting up from deep.  Who knows.

good points and i believe the answer lies in the bolded part above. CBS thinks CBS knows. he may look at hunter, rozier, et al and decide that they may need lots of time before they can become credible nba shooters, or at least as good as the current crew.

he may also think that these kids would NOT immediately bring much shooting improvement, AND they dont know the team offense well AND they dont know the team defense as well. as a result, for a considerable part of the season the team as a team might suffer.

that is, the entire "package" the kids bring (for CBS, they have to do more than just shoot. look at how he is developing young as a player.) is so flawed now that it would result in more loses than the team is currently enduring. CBS may believe that as bad as the shooting is now, the kids may NOT improve it dramatically, and even if they do, that improvement may be negated by rookie mistakes on execution of offense and defense.

CBS, as he showed last season, wants to both win and develop players. but winning is slightly preferred i think.

but in the end, i dont know. i am guessing at CBS thinking. but i do believe he thinks something similar to this. if he didnt, he would be playing the kids now.

i remember how many cb posters last year cheered the selection of young in the draft. i remember subsequent posts that called, screamed, and demanded CBS give young minutes. people's expectations often call upon themselves for validation.

here, i trust CBS once more.

[Boris Badenov]

He'll start playing them when winning is no longer a priority over player development. We'd stink if Young, RJ and Mickey were all getting significant minutes.

Right now we have the 3rd best point differential in the conference. Our record is worse than most of our team metrics would suggest, and even so we're 2.5 games out of the third seed.

I'm guessing that Stevens and Danny will spend the next third of the season playing to win. If we're on the brink of missing the playoffs he will play the young guys.

[wdleehi]

About Mickey, anyone think that maybe they are working on him developing an aspect of his game the we are not thinking about and are happy with the progress the is currently making where he is?


Could that be part of the reason he has not been brought up yet?  Long term reward vs. a short term boost to the team?



I don't know, just something to think about. 

[slamtheking]

they play when they earn the time.  simple.

While I like Hunter a lot based on how much he shows he knows about the game and I'm optimistic that Young and Rozier will continue to develop, none have shown they're better options than what Stevens is trotting out there in the backcourt -- especially when AB comes back.

Mickey has 5 guys ahead of him right now and 2 have been phased out of the rotation for the most part.  just because they've been phased out, doesn't mean the Mickey is automatically better than either of them. 

I expect nothing from them this year but anticipate they'll be on the everyday roster next year --> figuring Danny to shed Lee, Turner and Jerebko at a minimum for at least 3 draft picks provided he doesn't make a deal involving other players by then.