Sorry, but that's just not true. Look at Babb. I love his potential but he wasn't always ready and he got a lot of minutes despite clearly being behind the other 5. Long got essentially nothing. Hell, Naz played 34 minutes in a blowout of TCU. It may be more incriminating of the staff, but there were more than walkon minutes for Long if he was near being ready.6 guards in a 4 guard lineup, however you want to slice it, and 4 of those guards were fantastic. The kind you don't take off the floor for anything but rest. Long wasn't going to get minutes unless he was fantastic for a freshman. In short, we have no real read on how good he is, unless it is "less than fantastic". We'll know much more about him next year.
No one is saying cut him or that in a few years he can't develop into a major contributor. But only one recent player has made a similar 7 month jump. The great Naz.