Drummond has not played much in Detriot so far either, yet he's played more than all Rockets rookies commbined.
Here you go folks. Let's soak it all in. Offensively Tjones looks nervous but he got a block that lead to a Harden dunk! Woot!
He was drafted higher than any of them wasn't he? A lot of teams give rookies more minutes as the season progresses. Stop freaking out?
Playing 1 MINUTE WAS more than all the Rockets rookies combined Before today, of the top 18 picks, ONLY Terrence Jones and Royce White DIDNT PLAY at ALL . Then the 2nd least minutes...Jeremy Lamb for OKC. But these were the top rookies in SL. It doesnt make any sense So WHY arent the rookies playing? Cuz McHale doesnt want them to, simple as that.
Before tonight, minutes from picks #11 through 21 (last number) 11 POR Meyers Leonard University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 5 --102 12 HOU Jeremy Lamb University of Connecticut 2 --7 13 PHO Kendall Marshall University of North Carolina 2 --9 14 MIL John Henson University of North Carolina 1 --17 15 PHI Maurice Harkless St. John's University 2 --43 16 HOU Royce White Iowa State University --ZERO 17 DAL Tyler Zeller University of North Carolina --4 74 18 HOU Terrence Jones University of Kentucky --ZERO 19 ORL Andrew Nicholson St. Bonaventure University 5 --66 20 DEN Evan Fournier 3 --29 21 BOS Jared Sullinger Ohio State University 5 --100 Again the easy answer is the rookies arent playing, because there's 2ND YEAR players in front of them. Whats the difference between rookies and Marcus Morris and Greg Smith? Or Chandler Parsons even. But there hasnt even been token minutes for the rookies. Boston and Dallas are contendors. But I don't think rookies will stay benched for long. (MAYBE even tonight if there's a blowout)
You know when Adelman sat Patpat for half a season, his reasoning was he needs his players to know exactly the x's and o's of his intricate offensive sets. I don't see why McHale is sitting the rooks because he literally has no x's and o's for them to learn.
Well the rookies played, looked rough in the first go but they played. I suspect if we get blown out on Monday we might see them again.
If any of the rookies separate themselves from the pack, expect them to start. Like Parsons last year. A McHale/Sampson/Finch/etc coaching staff are going to attempt to win every game. And we have not been blown out yet. I view that as a huge positive. We will see everyone's grit soon enough.
maybe because we already are sucking as it is and having a rook in there won't alleviate the situation
