Brad Stevens has no intentions of starting Isaiah Thomas

[Dino Pitino]

"He held his own defensively about as well as any other PG in the league." Meaning, except for a handful of the league's premier PG defenders and absolute worst defenders, every starting PG is going to give up to opposing PGs about the same ratio of big games, medium games, and little games. Isaiah's '14 game log shows that same ratio, more or less. (I didn't understand your correlation/causation point about game logs...but to be fair, I don't think you did, either.) He's not great defensively, he's not bad. That is the original claim, by the way, that Isaiah is too undersized to handle other starting points every night. His game log the last season he started, last year, says otherwise. His opposing PER says otherwise.* Even the DWS you cited have him only slightly trailing the middle of the starting PG pack in '14. You now seem to want to crop and reframe my opinion of Isaiah's defense into "He's good!" where I've only been arguing for his averageness and not-badness.

*TP for that, I don't really know where to look for stats like that.

good for you. but you still havent addressed whether someone peed in your coffee and that is the reason you wrote a series of abusive posts.

You seem to suffer from a form of hypersensitivity to ordinary human disagreement. My apologies.

[kozlodoev]

Come on, folks. There's no need for that.

[hwangjini_1]

"He held his own defensively about as well as any other PG in the league." Meaning, except for a handful of the league's premier PG defenders and absolute worst defenders, every starting PG is going to give up to opposing PGs about the same ratio of big games, medium games, and little games. Isaiah's '14 game log shows that same ratio, more or less. (I didn't understand your correlation/causation point about game logs...but to be fair, I don't think you did, either.) He's not great defensively, he's not bad. That is the original claim, by the way, that Isaiah is too undersized to handle other starting points every night. His game log the last season he started, last year, says otherwise. His opposing PER says otherwise.* Even the DWS you cited have him only slightly trailing the middle of the starting PG pack in '14. You now seem to want to crop and reframe my opinion of Isaiah's defense into "He's good!" where I've only been arguing for his averageness and not-badness.

*TP for that, I don't really know where to look for stats like that.

good for you. but you still havent addressed whether someone peed in your coffee and that is the reason you wrote a series of abusive posts.

You seem to suffer from a form of hypersensitivity to ordinary human disagreement. My apologies.

you're forgiven. 

[PickNRoll]

Pregame vs. Utah: "Celtics focus is to get back to ball movement after 6 rotten quarters" (paraphrasing).  Whaddya' know?

Like I said, you can't build a sustainable offense around IT pick n rolls, or any 1 guy with a 36% usage rate.

[BitterJim]

But, since you asked for sources:
http://bkref.com/tiny/PSjVS

Have fun. 

Interesting metric.  When re-sorted in the positive direction, it gives you a 4-way tie for most prolific defensive season ever had (as a guard) between:

Trey Burke 11'-12'
Jamal Crawford 11'-12'
Jordan Crawford 11'-12'
Evan Fournier  14'-15'

Uhh..Really?
I'm not a stat guy by any means...but can someone explain how this passes the sniff test?

I don't agree with the metric, but it's among active players, not all players

For single seasons; played in the NBA/BAA; in the regular season; from 1946-47 to 2014-15; is active; played G or G-F; requiring Minutes Per Game >= 25; sorted by ascending Defensive Win Shares.

It's also worth noting that you're both doing it wrong: resorting will only list the 100 players listed on that page, not every player that falls under the search parameters. If you click "show/hide search form," you can uncheck "use ascending order" and do a fresh search by clicking "get results."

Hint: you won't get Burke, Crawford, and Fournier at the top. 
http://bkref.com/tiny/A4tte

Now THAT makes a lot more sense (and REALLY loves Rondo's defense).  TP

[MSceltic]

I personally really like Smart and Bradley starting. I think Thomas is a spark plug off the bench and makes a great 6th man. Bradley's scoring is coming along, and he and smart are defensive dynamite together. I think we will start seeing a Thomas/smart offense/defense substitution late in games. I think Brad did it a week or so ago and I loved it. That proves to me this debate about whether Thomas is a good enough defender or not. I think we trust BS because he is getting this team to play their hearts out and they are successful considering the lack of elite talent we have.

[Moranis]

I personally really like Smart and Bradley starting. I think Thomas is a spark plug off the bench and makes a great 6th man. Bradley's scoring is coming along, and he and smart are defensive dynamite together. I think we will start seeing a Thomas/smart offense/defense substitution late in games. I think Brad did it a week or so ago and I loved it. That proves to me this debate about whether Thomas is a good enough defender or not. I think we trust BS because he is getting this team to play their hearts out and they are successful considering the lack of elite talent we have.

No one is claiming Thomas is a better defender than Smart or Bradley.  Thomas is however Boston's best player and is by a pretty wide margin.  Your best player should always start and should always be among, if not the, team leader in minutes played.  Thomas does neither of those things.  The fact that Thomas comes off the bench and plays so few minutes, pretty much confirms Boston is not trying to make the playoffs and is in fact tanking.  That is the only logical explanation.

[cman88]

does it matter if he still gets the majority of minutes?

I mean he's averagint 20.1 points off the bench

[Chris22]

does it matter if he still gets the majority of minutes?

I mean he's averagint 20.1 points off the bench

20 minutes is not the majority.

If we were really going for the playoffs, Thomas would get 36 minutes a game.

[D.o.s.]

does it matter if he still gets the majority of minutes?

I mean he's averagint 20.1 points off the bench

20 minutes is not the majority.

If we were really going for the playoffs, Thomas would get 36 minutes a game.

Correct.

[Fafnir]

Looking at opposing PG production doesn't tell you a ton about a guard's defense in the modern NBA schemes.

You can play tough D all you want, but if your big men suck at the pick and roll the opposing PG is going to have his choice of shots and/or assist opportunities. Similarly you can be soft on screens but if your big men hedge well things tend to work out.

[hwangjini_1]

I personally really like Smart and Bradley starting. I think Thomas is a spark plug off the bench and makes a great 6th man. Bradley's scoring is coming along, and he and smart are defensive dynamite together. I think we will start seeing a Thomas/smart offense/defense substitution late in games. I think Brad did it a week or so ago and I loved it. That proves to me this debate about whether Thomas is a good enough defender or not. I think we trust BS because he is getting this team to play their hearts out and they are successful considering the lack of elite talent we have.

No one is claiming Thomas is a better defender than Smart or Bradley.  Thomas is however Boston's best player and is by a pretty wide margin.  Your best player should always start and should always be among, if not the, team leader in minutes played.  Thomas does neither of those things.  The fact that Thomas comes off the bench and plays so few minutes, pretty much confirms Boston is not trying to make the playoffs and is in fact tanking.  That is the only logical explanation.

or...
given thomas' size and frame and style of play and newness to the celtics, CBS may think that coming off the bench for less than 30 minutes a game is the best way to preserve his health and integrate him into the celtics system. right now, thomas does a lot of free lancing to score.

i am not advocating the point above as being correct, but i am saying that there are logical reasons, outside of tanking, for CBS' decision. if CBS wanted to tank, pressey, datomi, and shav would be out there logging lots of minutes.

[Moranis]

I personally really like Smart and Bradley starting. I think Thomas is a spark plug off the bench and makes a great 6th man. Bradley's scoring is coming along, and he and smart are defensive dynamite together. I think we will start seeing a Thomas/smart offense/defense substitution late in games. I think Brad did it a week or so ago and I loved it. That proves to me this debate about whether Thomas is a good enough defender or not. I think we trust BS because he is getting this team to play their hearts out and they are successful considering the lack of elite talent we have.

No one is claiming Thomas is a better defender than Smart or Bradley.  Thomas is however Boston's best player and is by a pretty wide margin.  Your best player should always start and should always be among, if not the, team leader in minutes played.  Thomas does neither of those things.  The fact that Thomas comes off the bench and plays so few minutes, pretty much confirms Boston is not trying to make the playoffs and is in fact tanking.  That is the only logical explanation.

or...
given thomas' size and frame and style of play and newness to the celtics, CBS may think that coming off the bench for less than 30 minutes a game is the best way to preserve his health and integrate him into the celtics system. right now, thomas does a lot of free lancing to score.

i am not advocating the point above as being correct, but i am saying that there are logical reasons, outside of tanking, for CBS' decision. if CBS wanted to tank, pressey, datomi, and shav would be out there logging lots of minutes.

yeah but if you started pressey, datomi, and shav the league would be looking at you and wondering what is going on.  I mean at least the Sixers coaching staff are playing their best players every night.  Those guys just aren't any good.  For a team claiming it is pushing for the playoffs to be playing its best player only 26 minutes a night just doesn't make sense.

[255 Rings]

There's a reason that, despite being the best player on the team, IT isn't starting. Brad uses a motion offense that demands strong defenders on the floor, and for all the offensive prowess IT has under his skills he's nowhere near a great defender like Bradley or Smart are. Should he be starting? Yeah, maybe. He's talented enough to be an NBA starter, but how will that fare with Marcus Smart? He's the PG we're set to build around and to regress him to the bench at this point is gonna mess him up. Ainge sent out Rondo not only because he was utter garbage his last days here, but because he wanted Smart to take the PG duties, despite his recent struggles the kid has to learn through them. How shady will it be to send him right back to the bench because Ainge decided to bring another PG that will bump him to the bench. He's a rookie and might not care as much, but it hurts his development. Let Smart shoot the 3 and clank them, let him turn the ball over, let him make mistakes. Growing pains. IT is the perfect 6th Man and should be utilized as such. He's the scoring punch this team needs whenever they're anemic on offense.

[Moranis]

There's a reason that, despite being the best player on the team, IT isn't starting. Brad uses a motion offense that demands strong defenders on the floor, and for all the offensive prowess IT has under his skills he's nowhere near a great defender like Bradley or Smart are. Should he be starting? Yeah, maybe. He's talented enough to be an NBA starter, but how will that fare with Marcus Smart? He's the PG we're set to build around and to regress him to the bench at this point is gonna mess him up. Ainge sent out Rondo not only because he was utter garbage his last days here, but because he wanted Smart to take the PG duties, despite his recent struggles the kid has to learn through them. How shady will it be to send him right back to the bench because Ainge decided to bring another PG that will bump him to the bench. He's a rookie and might not care as much, but it hurts his development. Let Smart shoot the 3 and clank them, let him turn the ball over, let him make mistakes. Growing pains. IT is the perfect 6th Man and should be utilized as such. He's the scoring punch this team needs whenever they're anemic on offense.

Bradley should be on the bench not Smart.