Napier and Lamb both had the quick hook for large chunks of last year. Lamb had some early season games where he played less than 10 minutes and had doughnuts. Meanwhile, Kemba played almost 40 minutes a night and had an enormous leash, since he was the guy being asked to make the difficult plays, while Alex often had a long leash since there weren't many other options. Now Napier and Lamb have much more responsibility as playmakers, especially in those games without Boatright, and they have had the longer leash, since we have needed them on the floor. And the guys you need to create and make things happen are by nature going to mistakes - sometimes Magic Johnson's or Larry Bird's no-look passes were turnovers, and sometimes Michael Jordan forced shots in the paint that were bricks. Comes with the territory. In Napier's case, his primary struggles were late in games, and you aren't going to give your quarterback the hook in the final five minutes of a close game. Against UCF, he probably would've been pulled with Boatright after he had three turnovers in the first two minutes of the second half, but we didn't have that option. Lamb maybe could've been pulled in the first half against FSU when he tried to dribble through a couple double-teams and lost the ball, but he was shooting well (7-9) and those turnovers were chalked up to simply trying to make a play against a good defensive team.
The guys who you want to fill a role by nature have a shorter leash. They will get pulled if they try to do more than their role requires (i.e. trying to create their own offense under defensive pressure), or because they don't do their primary role adequately (i.e. box out on the defensive glass, stay with their man off screens). If Alex plays good post defense and owns the defensive glass, nobody on the bench will care if he misses a couple shots or maybe turns it over on a hard double-team. If he gives up a couple offensive rebounds, or decides he's going to shoot no matter what and forces up a brick, he's coming out. If Roscoe plays great D, he won't be pulled after missing an open 3 or getting a shot blocked. But if he checks into the game, and two minutes in, forces up a three because he's looking for his, he'll probably get pulled, whereas Lamb will not get pulled for that same shot. But that's the way it is - it isn't supposed to be fair.
