If your argument for playing rookies uses Draymond Green who played 79 games averaging 13 minutes a game his rookie year as a second round pick, and has been developed as well as anyone could hope, and then calls out Rick Carlisle who is probably the second best coach in the league, then you probably need to reevaluate that argument a bit.
How so? Even Carlisle admitted after Crowder started playing well for us that he should have given him more time. He made a mistake, just as was the case with Green. If Draymond never got the chance, this Warriors team might never have come into being at all. Coaches are hardly infallible.
Draymond Green was a second round pick who was averaging more than 20 minutes a game by his second year.
Are you arguing that Draymond Green was improperly developed?
Also Doc played Sully 20 mpg his rookie year and Stevens played Marcus 27 mpg his. Ive been a critic of Brad a bit for not playing the kids. I was always p---ed when David Lee or Tyler Zeller was picking up garbage time minutes instead of Mickey. I also agree with you that its hard to evaluate guys in practice.
However, I think its important for guys to earn their roles. Avery Bradley ripped the starting role away from Ray Allen when given a chance. When these rookies were given a chance they often looked lost. They all had brief chances and none took advantage of their chances. Im not sure it right to force-feed these rookies minutes when they havent earned them. In practice you earn a chance on the court. Once you get your chance its your job to force the coach to give you minutes.
Again, I get the whole earning minutes thing, I really do, but I think we need to clarify something regarding Avery Bradley. The only reason why he got an opportunity at all was because Ray got hurt. If Allen doesn't hurt his ankle, iirc, Bradley never sees a minute. I also don't understand people saying now that people on here were calling for Bradley to be traded or whatever during his rookie year because he sucked. Really? I must have missed that, because aside from that last game of the year against the Knicks where he scored 20 points, I had forgotten that he was even on the team, and it wasn't because the guy sucked, it was because he was hurt, which I think is why he slipped in the draft (right?), and thus was getting up to speed in the d-league. Am I getting this right, so far?
And the key in regards to last year's crop was exactly what you said - brief chances, of which I don't even think Mickey got one, lol, but, again, RJ had a good game and a nice stretch, there, but he isn't going to get any better if you suddenly pull the floor out from under him. That only serves to undermine a guys' development, imo, and the sample size was way too small. Again, it's not that I think either Hunter or Mickey will be stars, but RJ's passing, even in the playoffs as soon as he checked in, iirc, gives us an added dimension that Bradley simply doesn't provide, and Hunter's length causes a lot of problems, defensively, too. Hunter was the only pick with which I agreed, in part because of his passing ability. I like guys who can contribute across the board even when their shot isn't falling, which he definitely can, imo. I'm not saying to give the guy 30-40 minutes, as I understand the value of gradually integrating rookies, but Stevens never built on his time. It would have been fine if he'd gotten, say, 15-18 minutes to start, followed by 20+ or more by the end of the year, but, like his rotations, Stevens' playing time with regards to rookies is really feast or famine, and the results reflected that. I get that you should start slowly, but if you're not going to do it consistently, then nobody wins. That's my point. Is that fair?
Fair.
I'm going from memory here so could well be wrong but I believe in ABs second year, he had a brief chance early on to get minutes following a rondo injury. He came in and showed off his defense but the rest of his game wasn't ready so when Rondo came back he went back to getting no minutes. A time later Ray gets hurt and AB comes in and forces himself into the rotation.
Marcus Smart was out for weeks and no one was able to force their way into the rotation.
With Terry and RJ and to some extent James. It's really difficult for Brad because they have Isaiah, Marcus, Avery and Jae ahead of them. The only guy whose minutes you could really have cut to develop them would be Turner, but it's not even close between Turner and those guys. He's miles better and has been a great soldier for us.
i do wish Jordan Mickey had played more but Im going to give Brad the benefit of the doubt on that one.
I understand where you are coming from that there needs to be more consistency. I can agree with that, but I also think Brads way is valid too.
Every now and then you are gonna get a 15 minute+ stretch. Go out there and make me give it to you again tomorrow.
Hmm, I honestly don't remember the Rondo injury thing so I'll take your word for it, although it's safe to say that Bradley's game still isn't where it needs to be in order for him to even be a backup point guard, lol.
What I don't get is in regards to your last two sentences. It's not the approach, itself, but how Stevens doesn't even abide by it. Remember when James Young had his only good game, lol, during his rookie year against Charlotte, where he pretty much single-handedly got us back into that contest? Iirc, he had 13 points after killing it in the d-league for a month or two, again, iirc, and one would think that such a performance would warrant at least another opportunity in the next game, right? Apparently not. He didn't even play. Who does that? I just don't understand the message he's trying to convey to these guys. We might as well tell all of our rookies, "Welcome to the Celtics. What do you think of Maine, because you'll be spending the whole year there. Oh, you might get 2 minutes at the end of a 25 point blowout against the sixers (or another opponent, lol) if someone is injured, but even then, it's iffy."
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