Foshan wrote:ExplosionsInDaSky wrote:Bodner
I get what you are saying, and to a very small extent i agree. Except that I think this is very much Doc's MO. We were screaming all year last year that we needed to get Maxey more RS minutes, but dude was glued to the bench. Then all of the sudden there is an injury or we were sucking... and he starts getting mins in the playoffs and he is a difference maker... but he hasn't played much and so he makes some boneheaded plays and has a limited impact. IMO it's the same situation with Reed. Sure he's immature,
but only minutes with the vets is going to work that out, we are going to find ourselves in the PO again, needing what a guy who has been glued to our bench all year can give us.
Now, Reed doesn't come off as a high IQ guy (or BBIQ guy) so i could see/understand the coaches having been a bit turned off to him in the past. But honestly at this point, seeing how bad DAJ is, it's just pride on the coaching staffs part.
That said, i really hope to see Reed at the 4 against Tor when they are detorying us on the boards
You're absolutely right with every point you've made. I bolded the part that resonated with me the most. The ONLY way for Reed to take the next step and improve is to be baptized by fire. Doc can't stick him out there for five minutes and expect him to impact the game in a way that makes a huge difference. He's done the same thing with Shake. It seems as though the first mistake Shake makes, Doc hooks him and Shake can't cook...Can't even get the stove lit for crying out loud! I don't know anyone that's going to argue with me when I say that Shake can easily be a 15-18 ppg scorer in this league if given the right amount of opportunity. Reed is going to be a baller in this league as well. Doc definitely holds back the young guys and it drives me crazy. Last year we became desperate in the playoffs. Shake never had the chance to get going and find consistency and then we went to Maxey who was hit or miss. I believe that yeah...It cost us big time not riding it out with them and letting them find a groove. This situation with Reed could be huge for us! Doc has to eventually put some faith in him. We knew that Millsap was toast, we also knew that DJ wasn't going to get it done. I feel like there are some very observant basketball minds on here, so I didn't mean to make it sound like none of us know what we're talking about (Bodner included). I apologize if it came off that way.
In regards to Doc, he's an arrogant ass. There's no denying that. He feels as though he has entitlement at this point, but he does have a proven track record. The guy has won and won big. He's also lost big and contributed to losing big time in the playoffs despite having elite talent to go with a commanding series lead. Those are all concerns I have with him. I feel like he was basically forced to play Maxey this year and even then Maxey walked on egg shells for the first month or two of the season. One could argue that is Docs way of pushing players to do better? Look at the young guys in San Antonio that are finally making a difference...Murray, Vassell, Johnson, Poetl, Walker...All very decent to good to potentially great players that coach Pop has taken it slow with. Keldon Johnson hit the ground running and like Maxey he's an exception, but the rest have all had to pay dues so to speak. Go all the way back to Kawhi Leonard if you will. Leonard was a role player getting limited minutes his first couple of season in the association. Sometimes the slow approach is necessary with young players. Especially when you have a veteran team that is in "win now" mode. I'm in now way trying to come off as a Doc lover, but he has his reasons, the guy has been coaching for twenty years now, I'm going to trust him to lead. I'm going to trust Sam and Dave to back him. I'm going to die on this hill as a fan of this team the same way I will die on the Shake needs to be freed hill. So in essence, it's a mixed bag with Doc, but I think a lot of us need to be careful for what we wish for because it may not be so green on the other side. I'll say this, Doc is by far a much better coach than Brett Brown is. True, he coddles the vets, but he's hard AF on the young guns and from what I've seen so far, it's worked out. Maxey is much further along because of his work ethic, but also because Doc has been an ass to him. Shake's attitude has gotten in his way, but when he locks in you can tell that long term it will have benefited him from being coached by Doc. I think the same can and will be said about Paul Reed and Mattise. I like our young guys very much and I agree with Doc on not rushing things. I want to see Reed as badly as the next man, and baptizm by fire is sometimes necessary. I think it will be against Toronto.