That's an interesting way to package the Nesmith conversations.
For those of us that were calling for more Nesmith minutes, we didn't see the "deer in the headlights" during that 7 game stretch in February where he played well, and then Brad decided to bench him for Semi and Grant. I could easily write "If he had played more early in the season, Nesmith would be averaging over 20ppg by now" and it would literally be as correct as you saying "Brad benching Nesmith and making him earn his minutes, has helped him turn into the player he is now."
I'm not a fan of Dejesus' "we have no idea about anything, so why bother talking about it" approach, but this is one we literally cannot know.
Here's what I know, the Celtics sucked in the beginning of the year, mostly sucked in the middle of the year and truly, unbelievably suck ass right now. Like worse than any other team in the league besides Houston at the moment. But sure, Brad pressed all the right buttons, and should have never changed a thing. Eventually, Grant and Semi will turn into stars, if they just get more minutes, but Nesmith will only turn into one if he's benched and has to earn minutes. I, personally, have been screaming about the same few things all year, and one of them is not punching yourself in the face over and over again, and hope that it doesn't hurt so much the more times you do it. Sending Semi and Grant out there night after night, and sitting Nesmith was the Basketball coaching equivalent of punching yourself in the face over and over again.