Shak_Celts wrote:playa-hater wrote:Shak_Celts wrote:
you can't let people gain confidence if there aren't minutes to go around. we all knew some guys were going to get squeezed this season. even if they weren't shooting poorly and could defend, at most they would be looking at 10 minutes here and there and that might be a reach. we have a lot of guys playing well who play the positions nee and pritch play. yes, they have bad games but even when we lose, those guys have been good/solid for us. who are you playing them instead of smart, schroo, romeo, or jrich?
I would LOVE nee and pritch to get minutes, but someone has to suffer. if the young guys were playing well at any point and the guys ahead were as bad as they have been, I'd be mad at ime if he still kept the young guys on the bench. I can't imagine what schroo is doing to pritch in practice. nesmith is lost on offense which we could forgive if he was hitting shots (like we did last season).
But just like last season.. Nesmith early on, played very inconsistently and shot poorly.. when he did get minutes, he shot well. Maybe in this game shooting didn't matter much.. LAL was horrid on defense, especially in the paint.. But when Boston does play tougher teams, the lack of shooting will stand out far more..
Not investing in Nesmith now, may still come back to haunt us down the Road.. especially with other teams trapping the shet out of Tatum..
Look at the schedule in Dec.. If these current players (Smart-Schro-J Rich) play-shoot-win well, then I won't/can't say anything.. But winning BIG in this Era without steady shooting is near impossible IMO..
my point is we are about 6-3 lately and all those guys have played well through it, who should they be playing over? it's not as simple as letting them play through it when there are barely minutes for romeo and jrich at times and both have been solid, jrich especially. so, you let nesmith and pritch play and play and HOPE they turn it around (while not being the defenders ime wants), then they don't, what do you say to the other guys who have been productive?
even if nee and pritch were hitting the few shots that are available like the guys in front of them have lately (smart is better even without good shooting), how much more could that help over what romeo and jrich are giving, because that's what they are doing (except they also defend)? those are the only guys who you could try and play them over because making a couple of shots a game isn't taking minutes from smart and schroo who do more than that. romeo and jrich are taking 7 shots combined per game,
tell me, what more can nesmith and pritch be doing with so few shots? Smart is only taking 9 shots which is a SMALL amount for the minutes he plays. where are their shots coming from to let them get into a rhythm? let me know.
But this is just it.. it's not just How many shots they can get.. but in theory, with better shooters, you can get better spacing.. when it all comes down to it, the better teams, will definitely try to crowd and trap Tatum and JB. Especially in crunch time. So what oston will need is perhaps one or two more KEY 3 pointers made, to make teams hesitate when deciding to trap the Js.. If not, we may still see what we have seen too numerous times in the past. Not just this season, but years before. And that is Tatum passes it out (when trapped) shots not made, then he tries to do it all on himself.
There is no way, after a small sample size of just a few games, will I believe this current lineup of scrappy tough defenders, who may not shot well, Is the long term answer.
Let's go back to this conversation when better defenses, do as I predict and attempt to smother Tatum and his teammates DO NOT Hit shots.. That is the time to prove or dis-prove my theory of having a true knock down shooter and the benefits or Not of that.
