Zone.
Use our depth to play more pressure and extend the defense to half or three-quarter court.
Pack the paint and dare teams to hit the outside shot.
Double teams to get the ball out of a player's hands and then deny him the ball.
I'm sure people could come up with other examples.
They are all basic basketball defensive strategies that can be employed during a game.
How many times has Stevens tried any of them this season?
Mike
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Playing exclusively man to man is stupid.
You have to mix it up.
Wyc must be pretty unhappy that Danny spent all that money on Brad when he could have gotten better coaching from the typical celticblogger.
If this team wins 20something games again, I would guess that Wyc will ask why he's paying so much for Stevens when a longtime NBA assistant could have cost half as much.
And it's easy for us amateurs to second-guess real coaches but even broken clocks are right twice a day. Here are my complaints with Stevens.
1. His rotations are very questionable. He's now had a whole offseason, a training camp, a preseason, a regular season, another offseason, another training camp and 1/4th of another regular season. He should have a better handle on managing an NBA roster in an NBA game.
2. He's not a great defensive coach. He might not be a bad defensive coach but we don't see anything on the floor or in Stevens public comments to indicate he's really good at either designing defenses or at getting max defensive effort out of his players.
3. He's too nice. You can't chew on players the way you can college kids but Stevens does not seem to have command of the team.
4. I think the losing is getting to him. Starting three different guys at PG in three straight games is a straight up panic move.
5. The Celtics performance on set plays and out of bounds plays has not looked like the product of a basketball genius.
Now, I think this team in a pitiful East can win 30something games. If they can't, it is going to be time to start putting less blame on the players and more on Stevens.
Mike
And last but not least...
6. He has no idea how to work the refs. His courtside demeanor is limited to standing there with a "who pooped in my pants" look. A good NBA coach is a master lobbyist who knows how to goad the officials into makeup calls after a questionable whistle.
He's simply not NBA coaching material at this point, and there's not telling when and if he will be.
I have my criticisms of Stevens as well, many of which MBunge has already covered. He did state recently that he's still trying to find the ideal starting rotation.
But I think it's very important to consider that he has not had the luxury of continuity that many of the seasoned coaches enjoy. He's had a rotating door of players ever since he got here.
- Courtney Lee, who had been playing well for us prior to his trade to Memphis, was shipped out. JCraw too, but not many people miss him
- Hump is gone. He was our most consistent big.
- New players to the start of this season: Turner, Zeller, Smart, Young, Thornton.
- No more Rondo. 3 new players to integrate now.
I'm not trying to let him off the hook. He does need to improve, but he's had a tough job. Just trying to stay objective.
