Quote:
Originally posted by: dirno2000
Sure we got him for nothing, but cutting Devin's minutes is shortsighted. He's going to struggle at times. Not only is he adjusting to the league, he's still learning how to play the point. That's generally not something that you learn from the bench. He gives us enough on defensive and in transition to put up with his struggles in the half court offense.
I heard Bob Ortegal talk about how Devin is at the point where he's looking at the bench every time he screws up. You can't play the game like that, but I don't blame him. It would be different if he screwed up, Nellie brought him to the bench, had Avery or Dell coach him and send him back in. When he comes out of a game, he never knows when or if he's going back in.
I was watching the Rockets game last night and Devin didn't play bad in the 1st quarter. Picked up a couple of cheap fouls, but he had three assists and two passes that lead to wide open shots that just weren't converted (one to Quis and one to Dirk). So after playing virtually the whole quarter, he gets about five minutes the rest of the game. That’s mismanaging a rookie point guard.
|
1st of all the main goal of this year's team is to win a championship. Developing Harris as a PG is only a secondary goal and much lower in priority. When the two come in conflict, winning a championship should always take precedent. We can't afford to turn this into a rebuilding year just to help out Harris' career development.
2nd of all Harris can develop just fine coming off the bench and getting backup instead of starter minutes. In fact IMO the best way for Harris to develop is to give him a minimum number of backup minutes and force him to earn PT through his play. I'm all for having Nellie and AJ coach him when he is taken out. I also Nellie unfairly jerks players around and pulls them often when they are playing good only to make them sit most or all of the game. However Harris' play has clearly regressed from the start of the year and it looks as if he has hit a wall that he needs to learn to circumvent. The team can't afford to give him heavy minutes while he tries to play his way around that wall. Better to bring him off the bench with reduced minutes until he finds his way around the wall.