COJ: David Lee (still) wants more minutes
via Gary Washburn, Boston GlobeLee stressed during the preseason that the Celtics’ strength was their depth, and players should prepare to maximize their minutes. It has pretty much worked out that way with coach Brad Stevens having to juggle five big men into four slots.
“I don’t accept [it], it’s very frustrating, and the moment you start to accept it is when [you’ve] kind of stopped trying,” Lee said. “While Coach can make any decision whom he wants to start or bring off the bench, my goal is to be a guy who’s playing 20, 25 minutes, and I’ve had a meeting with Coach and told him that.
It should be noted that in doing followup, Jay King of MassLive notes that it does not appear that Lee's minutes will be an issue 'yet.'
Color me more skeptical. If the above sounds familiar, that's because it is - we wrote about his frustration with playing time less than a month ago, and very little has changed; The Boston Celtics still have 5 big men who are worthy of regular minutes, as well as 2 small forwards who are capable of logging minutes at the 4 position, and David Lee is still - and forever will be - too much of a defensive liability to play regular minutes at the Center position with a small ball lineup.
To call it a non-issue is a bit short-sighted. It's an issue today, and it will be an issue moving forward. Lee's frustrations aren't likely to diminish, and the chance he's able to get the minutes he's asking for are pretty minimal - even if one of those players were to suffer an injury.
