Someone forward this to LB

[jdsingar]

Great article on ESPN about rookie playing time and how essential it is. Discuss.

http://espn.go.com/blog/TrueHoop/post/_/id/14779/to-young-players-playing-time-is-oxygen


David Thorpe has been making similar points for years. He talks all the time about "the royal jelly." Literally, that's what worker bees feed a chosen baby bee to make her the queen. But it's also, says Thorpe, what coaches and others can feed players to help the achieve their potential. A lot of it has to do with building confidence. Throughout his career, Thorpe has been accused of hyping up his players up and giving them big heads, to which he replies, jokingly, "guilty!" Thorpe is convinced that "the royal jelly" can and has fundamentally changed the careers of countless players. The gold standard of helping a player evolve, he says, starts with playing time.

[jdsingar]

My 2 cents: At this rate, Gerald Henderson will be out of the league soon after his rookie contract expires. That may be a bit harsh, but it doesn't seems as though he has had enough time to improve his game.

[teej]

My 2 cents: At this rate, Gerald Henderson will be out of the league soon after his rookie contract expires. That may be a bit harsh, but it doesn't seems as though he has had enough time to improve his game.

To be fair to LB, it's not like we can afford to let Hendo develop right now. I think after a Summer League and another training camp both he and UPS will see more PT, but this season they're learning from a lot of solid vets. And we're winning, so I won't complain too much. Especially since Hughes and Graham are better than Hendo right now.

[jdsingar]

That is true. I think we have an enormous amount of low quality depth. Guys like Hughes and Graham are just good enough to take PT away from other players. But what about other playoff squads? I think many playoff squads out West are giving time to their rooks despite having more depth than we do. Guys like Blair, Maynor, and Lawson have gotten solid PT and have adjusted to the NBA game.

[teej]

You're right, except guys like Lawson and Blair have been forced into the lineup and OKC's 3rd point guard is 39 I think, Kevin Ollie. Brandon Jennings is the only rookie I can think of who's truly earned PT on a playoff squad. Blair and Lawson earned it after playing some, but Jennings came in from day 1 and took it.

[CatNation]

yeah henderson probably came into the worst possible situation for him. We aren't good enough to coast the regular season like the spurs, aren't bad enough to tank like the kings, and we are deep enough at his position that even an injury wouldnt get him in. thats where 99% of midlevel "diamond in the rough" guys come from.

he should have went to the d-league

[Marvel]

At the time of the draft Hendo came into the perfect situation.To me it's more about the coach than "situation".

[GoBobs]

I would love to see more time for all our young guns: Hendo, Brown, DJ, Ajinca. We need to invest in their development if we want them to be good for us down the road. Hopefully we can clinch a playoff spot and have a few games at least to play with.

Part of the problem is larry trusting the young guys. Even when we are up 20 he rarely takes the starters out. If the other team cuts it to 15 forget it. Last night he said he was hoping to throw Naz in but we didn't have enough of a lead. How about a little show of confidence from the coach. If you don't have it LB, just fake it till you make it baby.

[Toocool]

Reminiscing about my blog post on playing the rookies. Great article, anyone have LB's email? :biggrin:

[Brown'sTown]

I would love to see more time for all our young guns: Hendo, Brown, DJ, Ajinca. We need to invest in their development if we want them to be good for us down the road. Hopefully we can clinch a playoff spot and have a few games at least to play with.

Part of the problem is larry trusting the young guys. Even when we are up 20 he rarely takes the starters out. If the other team cuts it to 15 forget it. Last night he said he was hoping to throw Naz in but we didn't have enough of a lead. How about a little show of confidence from the coach. If you don't have it LB, just fake it till you make it baby.

I don't think we can really complain about DJ too much. He's played well the last couple of weeks, but considering how terrible he's been 90% of the season I think LB has actually been fairly generous with his PT. Brown and Graham are the ones who are really getting the short end of the stick. Those guys are ready to contribute. Henderson looks like a chicken with his head cut off out there so I have no problem keeping him out of the rotation, but Brown and even more so Graham have really shown that they can bring something on a nightly basis. I think Graham might actually be better than Hughes at this point and not playing him at all just as he was really getting going when Gerald was out is a mistake. He's a versatile defender and does everything fairly well. He's even a solid scorer. He was so huge in our win over OKC last month.

[Ampsportsduo]

This isn't a damn rec league team. I'm all for developing depth, but Brown and Henderson have both come into games and looked lost. LB is loved by his veterans because he keeps his practices shorter than a lot of coaches. It's allowed Gerald to play a career high in games and minutes. I'll take more Crash at the expense of Henderson and Brown for this year.

Fans often fall in love with under-achievers and young guys, but very few teams have a deep rotation come playoff time. I've had a little UPS crush myself, but what skill does Gerald Henderson bring to the court that someone else on the team can't do better? Jump high in the air and land on a teammate after the shot he was going to rebound goes in is about all I can come up with. Just because one article is written doesn't mean a HOFer should change his philosophy.

Did you happen to notice this little nugget in the article that would support LB, "In their new book "Stumbling on Wins," David Berri and Martin Schmidt report that players drafted in the lottery earn more minutes than their production suggests they should."

ILBIT

[spectre]

Agreed with Amp...well said.

[Muttley]

Developing players is what the d-league, summer league, preseason and November are for. Give me Stevie Graham over Henderson anyday (at least for this season).

Also, before folks get carried away, that in no way make Henderson of Brown a "bust" or "underdeveloped." It makes him a rookie.

[jdsingar]

I took a look back at the ESPN Rookie 50 for 2007-2008. All the guys who had low minute totals haven't really panned out to be much (Mario West, Chris Richard, Marco Bellinelli come to mind.) Meanwhile, all the guys who are doing fairly well now got at least 15 to 20 minutes per game. Of course, this could just mean that these players were actually good and deserved the playing time, whereas those that don't get the PT don't deserve it.

I agree that Gerald looks lost and doesn't deserve to be out there right now. It's not really an option. But he looks the way he does because he didn't get any PT early on, and will continue to look dumb for seasons to come if this holds up.

If Larry wants to play the vets, that is fine. Just don't waste 1st round draft picks on talent that you have to actually develop. Trade them for vets if you have to. Trade down and get something for the pick.

[G Force]

Gerald Henderson shouldn't even be a thought when deciding on who to put in the game off the bench. Stephen Graham has surpassed all of our expectations and has been a hound on the defensive end. I do have a problem with Larry Hughes, though. He needs to buy into the system now or else he'll be a malignant assface throughout the playoffs, chucking up ill-advised shots and mailing it in on D. He has no business playing with this team since he doesn't follow our credo and should be gone by next year. You wanna talk about developing talent? At a time like THIS?

http://mokellyreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/stephen_jackson1.jpg