Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
History shows us nothing of the sort -- there is no trend of damaging players by playing them too much -- that's pure invention, probably working off some sort of pop psychology premise. That does not mean you have to start the from Day 1 -- that depends on the player. But it means you COULD, with no bigger negative effect than you losing a bunch of games.
Now Donte is in no way ready to start in the NBA. But if you do not play him at all, he never will be. Young guys learn by playing. Not by watching. Not by getting doughnuts. They learn by playing, real, meaningful minutes against the elvel of competition they will have to fdace if they are ever to be major players. Burying them behind vets and thinking this is "developing" in them anything except a desperate desire to go elsewhere where they will have a real opportunity is the fantasy.
P.S. Kobe was on a stacked team, so that does not apply. And Portland totally and completely and notoriously fouled up the Jermaine situation -- they SHOULD have played him more early, but again, stacked team, and they eventually lost a star because of it. Same for us with Gerald actually. The other guys played -- did not start, but they were playing, worked into the rotations, and being groomed for the start, not buried and left to fend for themselves (actually TMac averaged 20mpg his first two seasons, and Rashard averaged 20mpg in his second season, but his first was a waste).
Now Donte is in no way ready to start in the NBA. But if you do not play him at all, he never will be. Young guys learn by playing. Not by watching. Not by getting doughnuts. They learn by playing, real, meaningful minutes against the elvel of competition they will have to fdace if they are ever to be major players. Burying them behind vets and thinking this is "developing" in them anything except a desperate desire to go elsewhere where they will have a real opportunity is the fantasy.
P.S. Kobe was on a stacked team, so that does not apply. And Portland totally and completely and notoriously fouled up the Jermaine situation -- they SHOULD have played him more early, but again, stacked team, and they eventually lost a star because of it. Same for us with Gerald actually. The other guys played -- did not start, but they were playing, worked into the rotations, and being groomed for the start, not buried and left to fend for themselves (actually TMac averaged 20mpg his first two seasons, and Rashard averaged 20mpg in his second season, but his first was a waste).
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