TWill getting the Darko treatment!

[Fafnir]

Last I saw the C's were using Terrance Williams at PG right?

I can see Doc putting Crawford out there at SG if they didn't want to have Williams initiate offense. Of course Crawford managed to be awful and just drive wildly at the hoop himself when he got the ball so its not like his minutes were a "win" for the C's.

[Celtics4ever]

Darko treatment?  He has been and always will be a chronic underachiever.   People go nuts over his size and NBA frame but the skill is not there and it never translated on the court.   This has been true on several teams, he wore out his welcome.   People act like Darko got the shaft, he didn't.   He has never panned out, I know he has a sick mother, and who can blame him leaving but he was not playing anyways.

This has nothing to do with Doc and everything do with Darko.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I have no problem with benching Terrence, but I just wished it didn't coincide with a game in which we could've used his length to guard some of Utah's wing players.

So who are you subbing him in for, then? Pierce? Bradley, who was having a great game? Lee, who is virtually the same size?

Exactly.

I swear people don't even look at options and alternatives when criticizing Doc's subs.  Like "Don't play Wilcox at C!" when we have no other options right now.

Ding ding ding!  It's a pretty good rule of thumb that the more vehemently someone complains about playing/not playing some guy, the less they've thought about the context of the move.  Add in a healthy splash of "grass is always greener" for the guys who don't play much, too. 

There are exceptions of course, but that's how it usually plays out.

And what actual context have I missed? I'm pretty sure I've covered everything in my thought process.

The fact that what Doc did didn't cost the team the game. He won the game and taught T Will a lesson, do what you are supposed to do or your chances of getting another 10 day contract are not good. I don't see the problem.

Nothing you mentioned has any bearing on anything I've said in this thread. He could've used the same lesson on Crawford, "do what you are supposed to do or your chances of playing with this team are not good," yet he played him when the obvious choice in this particular game was Williams, if you were going to play one of them.

I'm not sure why you say this is an obvious choice (Williams over Crawford).

We needed scoring.  And you add in the practical matter that Crawford is fully locked into our team on a contract right now and we need to see what he can do and get him comfortable with teammates and in the system... yeah it's not obvious.

It's obvious when you're playing against the size Utah has, and their 6'8 shooting guard is toying pretty much with our small forwards.

Now, if the reason behind is to give playing time to someone under contract, I can get behind that, but it blows the "wanted to win" + "shorten rotation" aspect of the explanations some people have given. I'd say that giving Ainge some good visual feedback on a potential player to be signed is just as important, a player who may very well need those minutes Crawford use to integrate.

So while the decision based on the future of the team is not as clear cut, and could've gone either way, when considering the team we were playing, and based solely on that aspect (with the understanding that the other factors are toss-up in importance), I say the choice to play Williams over Crawford would've been obvious, with the assumption that a choice between them had to be made at all. I'd think it would be hard to dispute that Williams would've helped us more against Utah than Crawford.

[nickagneta]

This is such crap. Since when does Danny Ainge need to see T Will in game action to make an assessment on a player? Danny doesnt have access to view his practices? Shootarounds? Past game film? Doc's assessment of the player?

Danny Ainge does not need to see Williams to get a good indication  of what he can do for this team.

[CelticConcourse]

Danny Ainge does not need to see Williams to get a good indication  of what he can do for this team.

That's an overexaggeration but

Danny doesnt have access to view his practices? Shootarounds? Past game film? Doc's assessment of the player?

Absolutely correct. Just because we (fans) don't see him doesn't mean they aren't getting an impression

[BudweiserCeltic]

This is such crap. Since when does Danny Ainge need to see T Will in game action to make an assessment on a player? Danny doesnt have access to view his practices? Shootarounds? Past game film? Doc's assessment of the player?

Danny Ainge does not need to see Williams to get a good indication  of what he can do for this team.

Needing and helping are two different things. Practices, you mean the boatload of practices we've been having in our road-trip? You don't think it's important for someone to see how a team plays together to help draw conclusions of how much a player would be useful to your team?

Sorry nick, but you're going the extra mile for rationalizations here. As it is, I don't think you have a good grasp of my stance in this Williams matter, and I have no clue what you're actually "defending" other than this need of yours to make Doc infallible.

[guava_wrench]

If you are getting bent out of shape over how many minutes Terence Williams gets, you might want to take up meditation.

[Celtics18]

Yeah, he had a bad game last night, so there's a reason for him not playing. I don't think he should've been benched for the full game, particularly when Doc went with Crawford today, and more importantly, we could've used his size and speed at the wings very badly for defensive purposes.

Green couldn't guard Hayward, Pierce couldn't guard Hayward, Lee did a good job though, all this to say Terrence Williams could've been useful.

Crawford played limited minutes too. Doc wanted to win his game.

I know. But when you have a 6'6 guy on the bench with his agility, and a 6'8 SG Hayward, who's too mobile for Green and Pierce, it would've been wise to use him.

Playing Green on Hayward, considering how bad he was all game, makes no sense if you actually wanted to win this game. The obvious choice was Williams, and if that's not an option for Doc, then he should've extended Lee's minutes while Hayward was on the floor, and give him that defensive assignment.

What has T will done to deserve the benefit of the doubt? The kid was playing in China up until a few weeks ago (until his team unexpectedly cut him heading into the playoffs). He's not an allstar.

He looked great against Pheonix, but he needs to keep that up. You don't get playing time just because your 6'6". In the pro's they play to win. There's no participation trophy's here.

You're under the impression that I think Williams should've gotten playing time because he's a good player. All I've said is that he could've been useful in a particular match-up, a match-up that was killing our team yesterday with the exception of Lee and in occasions Bradley. Yet, Doc saw fit to play Crawford, who also sucks by the way, with no solid reason behind it that is evident to me.

So yes, I very much question Doc's thought process.

I'd be more comfortable with what Doc did if neither Crawford or Williams played.

It seems very likely to me that the reason that Doc threw Crawford in for a few minutes at the end of the first quarter was because the team was in the midst of a mini scoring drought at the time.  Doc was probably hoping that Crawford could provide a little offensive spark much like the way he would use Leandro Barbosa.  Crawford didn't do much with his five minutes, but in retrospect, it doesn't seem like such a crazy or stupid decision to me.

[kgfor3]

yeah idk why doc isnt playing him

Today was very important and Doc could afford to play an eight man rotation with so much rest coming up. It was a must win, and Doc can check out TWill at practice now.

This. Case closed.