We are going to be better than people think

[Evantime34]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

[D.o.s.]

TP for the citation. I don't know if I'd call 'almost all of the second half of the 4th' a good time for measure 'clutch', though. Cut that in half, maybe.

[Evantime34]

TP for the citation. I don't know if I'd call 'almost all of the second half of the 4th' a good time for measure 'clutch', though. Cut that in half, maybe.

I could get behind them using a 2 minutes sample for this. I would also be interested to see clutch defensive stats. In general I think 82 games is great for non standard stats.

[kozlodoev]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

I think that this team is not constructed to hang their hat on defense, clutch or otherwise.

[Fafnir]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

I don't think clutch stats are all that worthwhile too small of sample for FG% to be meaningful.

Dirk shot similar to Green for example. Shooting perecentages are noisy over entire seasons.....

[GreenFaith1819]

Now that we've established that one game can be evidence to disprove longstanding concerns about Rondo's shooting acumen, maybe we can get to the actual point of Koz's post?

it's an extreme rarity for a guard that has as [such visible] shooting issues as Rondo to be the best player on a relevant team.

Well, according to some of us here, The C's aren't relevant...

[Donoghus]

Now that we've established that one game can be evidence to disprove longstanding concerns about Rondo's shooting acumen, maybe we can get to the actual point of Koz's post?

it's an extreme rarity for a guard that has as [such visible] shooting issues as Rondo to be the best player on a relevant team.

Well, according to some of us here, The C's aren't relevant...

Well, as a championship and probably even playoff contender, they're not. 

Last night was a great win & performance but also came against a very flawed team.  We also saw an offensive output out of this Celtics that we're not going to see every night.  In fact, it'll probably prove to be more the exception than the norm.

[Evantime34]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

I think that this team is not constructed to hang their hat on defense, clutch or otherwise.

I think their perimeter defense is certainly something they can hang their hat on. Since a lot of the clutch isolation scorers are perimeter players, I view that perimeter defense as something that will help decide games.

[LarBrd33]

I'd love to see us keep up the 55% shooting from last night.  Something tells me that's not happening.  That game was a lot of fun.  Reminded me of when the 97 Celtics opened the season by beating the Bulls... except that Brooklyn might actually be terrible this year.

[Donoghus]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

I think that this team is not constructed to hang their hat on defense, clutch or otherwise.

I think their perimeter defense is certainly something they can hang their hat on. Since a lot of the clutch isolation scorers are perimeter players, I view that perimeter defense as something that will help decide games.

I certainly agree that the perimeter defense is going to be an asset for this team and can certainly be a boon for them in tight games at the end.

On the flip side, the way this offense is constructed scares me a bit in the last 6 minutes of a tight game.  When the game slows down, who is going to be the go-to guy?  Can they pound it inside or are they going to struggle with that?  Are they going to be too reliant on guys trying to make the jumper down the stretch of games.  Dribble/drive type of stuff?  I can certainly see this roster makeup being problematic in that aspect. 

[Evantime34]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

I think that this team is not constructed to hang their hat on defense, clutch or otherwise.

I think their perimeter defense is certainly something they can hang their hat on. Since a lot of the clutch isolation scorers are perimeter players, I view that perimeter defense as something that will help decide games.

I certainly agree that the perimeter defense is going to be an asset for this team and can certainly be a boon for them in tight games at the end.

On the flip side, the way this offense is constructed scares me a bit in the last 6 minutes of a tight game.  When the game slows down, who is going to be the go-to guy?  Can they pound it inside or are they going to struggle with that?  Are they going to be too reliant on guys trying to make the jumper down the stretch of games.  Dribble/drive type of stuff?  I can certainly see this roster makeup being problematic in that aspect.

I completely agree that this is what makes me nervous. My solution is not to slow down, keep pushing the pace and run multiple pick and rolls in the half court until something opens up. If this team walks the ball up and then tries to bleed the clock before getting an isolation shot we are absolutely screwed. This team will need to run the same offense at the end of the game as they do in the start of the game.

As far as what they are going to do at the end of the game schematically (assuming they are not able to run their normal offense), I would like to see 4 shooters and Rondo on the court. I think a high pick and roll with shooters to negate help defense will be their method of choice. Last year they ran that a couple times and I even remember them looking like they were going to run the PnR then kicking the ball to the wing right as the defense tried to blitz the screen while the roll man dives to the hoop.

If we run an iso, to end a game I will not be happy and the only time I want to see a post touch is if they can get Green or Sullinger matched up against smaller players in the deep post (which is unlikely unless they completely surprise their opponents.

[D.o.s.]

Now that we've established that one game can be evidence to disprove longstanding concerns about Rondo's shooting acumen, maybe we can get to the actual point of Koz's post?

it's an extreme rarity for a guard that has as [such visible] shooting issues as Rondo to be the best player on a relevant team.

Well, according to some of us here, The C's aren't relevant...

That's kind of exactly the point of the discussion, no? 

[kozlodoev]

Some people might say a lazy argument would be throwing out arguable rankings like 'clutch' with no citations.

My bad http://www.82games.com/1314/CSORT11.HTM

35% from the field, with 25% from three in the process. Color me unimpressed.

what do you think of the idea that their clutch defense can help carry the weight of their clutch offense?

I think that this team is not constructed to hang their hat on defense, clutch or otherwise.

I think their perimeter defense is certainly something they can hang their hat on. Since a lot of the clutch isolation scorers are perimeter players, I view that perimeter defense as something that will help decide games.

I certainly agree that the perimeter defense is going to be an asset for this team and can certainly be a boon for them in tight games at the end.

On the flip side, the way this offense is constructed scares me a bit in the last 6 minutes of a tight game.  When the game slows down, who is going to be the go-to guy?  Can they pound it inside or are they going to struggle with that?  Are they going to be too reliant on guys trying to make the jumper down the stretch of games.  Dribble/drive type of stuff?  I can certainly see this roster makeup being problematic in that aspect.

I'm really disappointed we didn't try to sign Pierce this offseason. He costs as much as Evan Turner, can provide at least as much production, and would have still been the best go-to guy on our roster.

As for the defense, perimeter defense is all nice and good -- but I judge defenses by their ability to take away easy the easy stuff / protect the paint, which usually is a function of having long and/or mobile bigs that can close space and challenge shots. Not sure anyone on our roster matches this description

[Fafnir]

Pierce cost 2 million more than Evan Turner per year and would have put us in the luxury tax. Same years too, though Pierce's deal has a player option.

Also his signing would have committed the team to staying under the apron, voiding potential trades this offseason and midseason.

[kozlodoev]

Pierce cost 2 million more than Evan Turner per year and would have put us in the luxury tax. Same years too, though Pierce's deal has a player option.

Also his signing would have committed the team to staying under the apron, voiding potential trades this offseason and midseason.

I knew Pierce pulled MLE-type money, but didn't realize Turner was only signed for $3.5 million. Bah.