Brad Stevens: Jae Crowder injury means the kids are going to play

Terry Rozier impressed in 10 minutes against the Rockets on Friday.

From the media availability during the Celtics' morning shootaround in Indianapolis today:

Brad Stevens said the other 4 starters won't see minutes increase with Crowder out; young guys will just play more.

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) March 15, 2016

Stevens on lineup w/o J. Crowder: "What's going to change is you're going to have a young guy that's going to play more. Maybe 2, maybe 3."

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 15, 2016

Here's more from Stevens (and Evan Turner) when it was first learned that Jae Crowder would be out for an extended time:

Brad Stevens suggests it might be youngster-by-committee as Celtics deal with absence of Crowder: pic.twitter.com/Ww8b0UP7YA

— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) March 13, 2016

Turner on young guys: "I think they’ll probably be ready. They’ve been on ice. JY has been on ice for like two years."

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) March 13, 2016

While Turner or Marcus Smart will most likely take Crowder's spot in the starting lineup, James Young, RJ Hunter and Terry Rozier could all get a chance to step into a more prominent bench role.  Today's outlook on Kelly Olynyk also sounds less than optimistic, so Jordan Mickey may have an opportunity to get some run as well.

If Olynyk can't go against the Pacers tonight, Boston's regular 10-man rotation will be down to eight--not to mention the fact that starting big man Amir Johnson has logged 18 minutes or fewer in each of Boston's last five contests.

With only 16 games to go and eight more draft picks on the way this summer, it's time to find out if any of the kids can play.  A silver lining to Crowder's injury is that we may finally get that chance.



Photo via NBA.com

Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan