Ivan Rabb has been playing so well in the past few games that it truly calls into question the intelligence of Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff AKA Joe Blob Dickerstaff. Remember, Rabb was getting a considerable amount of DNP-CD’s over the course of the season up until about the last two weeks, and when he did enter games, it was only for garbage minutes.
From an outsider’s perspective, it sort of makes sense. Sort of. Rabb was a highly-touted prospect, but he perhaps wasn’t quite NBA-ready when he got to the league. It’s reasonable to think that he’s still too raw to play in games that matter. Certainly, I didn’t feel like anything was amiss while he was collecting butt splinters on the bench.
But Dickerstaff isn’t an outsider. He’s an insider. The most inside insider there can be on a team. He sees every practice, he sees every shoot around, he’s in on every film session. Rabb’s improvement should have been apparent to him, and Rabb’s deservingness of minutes should also have been apparent. Playing well in the NBA for a week straight isn’t just a fluke that flukily happens; it’s something that should be evident well before the player starts showing his stuff in real NBA games. I’m assuming that Rabb has been hustling and dominating in practice for weeks and is only just now getting rewarded for it.
They should let me coach the Grizzlies because I would give Rabb and Caboclo 30 MPG each. And Watanabe would get 10 MPG. And I would trade Marc Gasol because I don’t like him that much. Oh wait, that already happened.