So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if any of the rookies would really be lighting up NBA starters, that Brad Stevens would be giving them minutes.
How can you know unless you play them?
Please do not say practice. Practice is one thing, Bill Russell often did not play in practice, by your theory he would have never played.
By that token, you too could be our next superstar. The only thing that might be holding you back is not getting into an actual game.
Exactly. And that analogy is ridiculous. We're talking about one of the top 10 players of all time who came into the league the 2nd overall pick after leading a relatively obscure school (SFU) to back to back NCAA championships (not to mention leading the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team to Gold).
Most of the players people have complained about not getting minutes have been late first round/early second round picks. And my point about Doc is that in retrospect, he actually played pretty much everyone exactly what they should have played. He gave guys like Tony Allen, Big Baby, and Leon Powe role player minutes, which is exactly what they turned out to be. And he gave guys like Bill Walker, Gabe Pruitt, and J.R. Giddens no minutes because they turned out to be the scrubs that he thought they were.
I mean can anybody name anyone that Doc kept on the bench that ended up blossoming when he "broke free" of Doc's stifling environment towards rookies?
I think the same is true of anyone who thinks Brad Stevens is stifling our youngsters. When the time comes when they're ready, he'll play them.