This is just more panic talk. The youngsters HAVE been getting minutes. Look who started last game, Donte Greene!! And Reggie let Greene played through a lot of, and I do mean a lot of, mistakes. The reason JT lost minutes to Moore is because he was constantly in foul trouble. You have to look at the big picture, the kids are getting minutes; maybe not 30+ mins every game but they don't need 30+ mins right now.
What I am against, is giving PT to the kids even if they didn't earn it. That's why I am weary of all this talk about: just play the kids. Well, you can't just throw them into fire like that because it could backfire. Maybe I'm old school, but the kids have to earn their playing time, and right now, only Hawes and JT have done that. And when you do play them, they should be on the floor with experienced vets so there are leadership on the floor. Needless to say, all this talk about just play as many kids for as many minutes as possible is not wise imo.
And lastly, an interim coach is an interim coach, regardless of whether he is one of Reggie's assistants or from the outside. No two coaches think alike, and even if you fire Reggie and promote from within, there is still going to be changes and adjustment. There are going to be some new sets and changes in philosophy. And it's going to take time for the team to get adjusted. All of which adds to the uncertainly and an unstable environment. The last thing we need, is more instability.
If were going with your senario of having to earn it, then lets look at the stats.
Miller- 35mpg- avg 12.4 ppg- .335 pt/min
Hawes- 29mpg- avg 12.4 ppg- .433 pt/min
Moore- 23mpg- avg 5.9 ppg- .259 pt/min
Thompson- 26mpg- avg 10.7 ppg- .418 pt/min
The only advantage Miller has over Hawes is experience in the league and and a better knowledge of the vet players. Other than that, Hawes is a better defender and rebounder, and can score in a greater variety of ways. He jumps higher and runs the floor better and simply brings more energy.
As for Moore and Thompson, once again its just league experience. Thompson, despite his lack of experience is simply better than Moore in every way. Scoring, Rebounding, etc. Moore's one advantage is knowing where to be on defense. And just for the record, simply taking a charge does not in of itself make you a good defensive player. How about grabbing a couple of defensive rebounds.
At this moment in time. Thompson and Hawes are as good as or better than Miller and Moore. They also happen to be our future, so they need to get better. If all they lack compared to the other two is experience, then it would seem to me the best way to get, said experience, is to put them on the floor and let them play.
Just for the record. Thompson didn't lose his starting job to Moore because Moore was better than him. Hawes did! Thompson was playing SF, not PF. You look me in the eye and you tell me that you think Moore is better than Hawes, and I'll tell you that you know nothing about basketball. Fact is, I know you won't do that, because you know the truth.
Thompson did make mistakes and did get into foul trouble. But he was playing out of position. He played center in college and mostly in the low post. Put the kid in his rightful position and let him play. Its hard enough for a rookie in this league. Anyone remember Corliss. He played center in college. Look how long it took him to adjust to playing SF. With Corliss there wasn't a choice. He was vertically challenged. Thompson isn't. We finally have a 6'11'' PF, and what do we do, we try and make him a SF.
Go figure!