What do you think of Monty benching Ausar last night? Is this the best way to handle the highly drafted young talent? What’s the most effective way to get young guys to reach their full potential? Any data points from other coaches who have taken raw young talent to winning teams (OKC, GSW)?

Per Monty:

Williams explained what factored in his decision to pull him.

“I think any young player with that kind of talent is going to have moments like he had tonight. I can’t be the coach that I’ve told them I’m going to be if I continue to put him out there and let him play through those kinds of lulls where he is turning it over and not taking the shots that we want him to take.”

https://therookiewire.usatoday.com/2023/11/17/pistons-monty-williams-ausar-thompson-benching/

I am not a fan of what’s going on. I don’t love the way Ivey has played / developed but I don’t think less playing time is the answer. Let these guys sink or swim. We suck anyway. I get maybe a short benching later in the season to send a message but the current Ivey situation runs the risk getting broken beyond repair and wasting a great athletic talent and high draft asset.

  • sunnydftwBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Ausar has had worse games, much worse, and Monty played him, while benching Ivey who was having a fantastic game. I guess yesterday was Opposite Day.

    But on a day where we need rebounding and somebody to guard garland, he picked a weird time to bench Ausar.

    Also trotted Killian back out there to seal the L. Convinced he’s trying to get fired and get back to his family with an extra 80m in his pocket.

  • historical_regret2BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    People need to explain themselves when they say they don’t like how Ivey has progressed.

    Here’s how his season compared to Shaedon Sharpe’s, for example: https://stathead.com/tiny/EABvu

    Ivey’s TS% is much higher (.628 to .534), and per 36, he’s scoring more (19.2 to 17.4), and gets more assists (4.8 to 3.2), and more stocks (2.0 to 1.4). Ivey averages 0.6 more turnovers per 36, and Sharpe gets more rebounds (5.4 to 4.3). Ivey’s showing better on both 2 point fga (.595 to .462) and on threes (.393 to .329).

    If anyone’s interested, Ivey is outplaying Mathurin even more soundly.

    All of this, despite Ivey’s minutes and role getting jerked around, and him being sick.

    The point is: there’s some narrative out there that says that Ivey isn’t playing well. He’s playing very well, compared to other second-year shooting guards taken near him. He’s probably been our second-best offensive player after Duren, and arguably even better than Duren.

  • Weary_Concentrate_22BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    This entire team is young, the only Vet playing is Burks so I don’t know how any young guys are being benched, they all need minutes. Ivey took Ausar’s minutes as Cade played more of the 3

  • Ok-NathanBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m not sure what Monty is looking for, but he must have some kind of specific game plan he wants guys to adhere to. I thought Ivey had one of his worst games of the year with some really bad turnovers (6 on the night) and ill-advised drives, but lo and behold he played almost the entire 4th quarter and logged the most minutes he has all season while Killian sat out.

    I’m not ever gonna complain about Ivey getting minutes, but it does seem weird that he’s played much better in several games this year and gotten pulled in the fourth

  • lemur___BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been surprised how many seem to disagree with even the philosophy of benching players for mistakes/bad decisions/etc. We’ve just gone through a couple seasons of letting everyone “play through it” while actively tanking. At some point every player should be benched for consistent mistakes, especially if it’s something specifically being coached. Playing through it forever will just lead to bad habits that won’t go away. I’m positive being benched will stick in a player’s mind more than being told in a timeout “quit doing that” while they do it again and again without consequence

    I haven’t been a fan of everything going on so far this season, but am completely fine with benching a young player with the intention of teaching lessons. Ivey playing 20 mins or Ausar getting benched for a game aren’t the end of the world for their development and won’t end up as “missed experience” that plays a factor long-term. Getting benched is quite literally an experience gained. Cade missing a year or Duren never having a healthy ankle is what will kill us