C's interested in Enes Kanter

[Smartacus]

Celtics do have an excellent perimeter defense. That got them a 12th ranked defense despite having little to no interior defense. That is defensive help + team culture.

Is that enough? Or does it have to be a defensive big man alongside Kanter?

Nice analysis, meanwhile we have Kanter eating interior defenses alive. The nice thing about how Kanter scores is that he makes quick descisions with the ball which can can be hard to come by in a post player.

Monroe can do it, but players like Big Al and Demarcus Cousins like to methodically probe the defense. Not that that kind of approach can't work, but it does slow the pace. Kanter proved that he could produce without disrupting OKC's pace.

The only way I see them letting him go is if we price them out and convince them to agree to a sign and trade for either Sully or KO + a pick.

Edit: In theory a pretty great fit next to Amir Johnson too,

[gpap]

There's just very little evidence Kanter can play adequate defense, even as a center.

Seems like posters on Celtics Blog says this about literally every player in the NBA (Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony.)

Love to know who's defensive skills are up to Celtics Blog's expectations?

Lol. So true.  I'm guessing only Houston Texans jj watt.

Agreed, that's the "rim protector" group, they want to win games 82-80, they forget we can't score either.

Haven't you heard.

Potential and development far outweighs scoring.

Who needs scoring when you can just simply lose?

[ahonui06]

Wouldn't be the worst signing in the world. Kanter has a good offensive repertoire and is still young. He may be able to turn into a modest defensive player.

[Scintan]

No thanks.  Overpaying for crap because you can't bring in actual talent is not how to build a successful basketball team.

[gpap]

No thanks.  Overpaying for crap because you can't bring in actual talent is not how to build a successful basketball team.

Kanter is FAR from crap and we'd be lucky to have him.

Averaged 16 points and 9 rbs per game last season.

If that's considered crap to you, then I'll take it any day of week.

[Scintan]

No thanks.  Overpaying for crap because you can't bring in actual talent is not how to build a successful basketball team.

Kanter is FAR from crap and we'd be lucky to have him.

Averaged 16 points and 9 rbs per game last season.

If that's considered crap to you, then I'll take it any day of week.

Offensive stats aren't the tell-all of a player.  You could shoot a squirrel and lay it underneath the basket.  That deceased squirrel would play better defense than Kanter.

[LooseCannon]

I don't think the question is - is Enes Kanter a bad defender? We all agree, he's terrible.

The question is, can he improve and by how much? And how likely is that improvement?
Does it warrant taking a large financial risk? Or is it too risky?

He probably has the upside to improve from a Bargnani-level defender to a Kevin Love-level defender.

[gpap]

No thanks.  Overpaying for crap because you can't bring in actual talent is not how to build a successful basketball team.

Kanter is FAR from crap and we'd be lucky to have him.

Averaged 16 points and 9 rbs per game last season.

If that's considered crap to you, then I'll take it any day of week.

Offensive stats aren't the tell-all of a player.  You could shoot a squirrel and lay it underneath the basket.  That deceased squirrel would play better defense than Kanter.

That was hilarious!

I'd love to hear you give me the name of a center that fits your expectations

[hwangjini_1]

Celtics do have an excellent perimeter defense. That got them a 12th ranked defense despite having little to no interior defense. That is defensive help + team culture.

Is that enough? Or does it have to be a defensive big man alongside Kanter?

Nice analysis, meanwhile we have Kanter eating interior defenses alive. The nice thing about how Kanter scores is that he makes quick descisions with the ball which can can be hard to come by in a post player.

Monroe can do it, but players like Big Al and Demarcus Cousins like to methodically probe the defense. Not that that kind of approach can't work, but it does slow the pace. Kanter proved that he could produce without disrupting OKC's pace.

The only way I see them letting him go is if we price them out and convince them to agree to a sign and trade for either Sully or KO + a pick.

Edit: In theory a pretty great fit next to Amir Johnson too,

really? he scored a career high 15.5 points a game last season. nice, but to me that sounds more as if he were chewing on comatose defenses instead of eating them alive. 

[Jonny CC]

I want a center....Kanter, Koufas or Biyombo

[Rosco917]

I'm not a Kanter fan either, but I will say this, we've up graded the defense of our power forwards, with the signing of Amir and Mickey, both should defend well, and give a bit of rim protection.

We do need more scoring in general, don't forget Kanter will be surrounded by a strong defensive team in general, he may score enough to be effective, and his defense...lived with.   

[mahonedog88]

Absolutely not.

All you hear is that the guy is solid on offense, and inept on defense.  And the numbers kind of show that when he got traded to the Thunder...they became a really subpar defensive team once they traded for him.

Plus, his former teammates didn't have many good things to say about him when he left Utah, saying that he was the type of player that cared a little too much about getting his own points then actually caring about winning.

[PutItInTheAir]

guess what guys? monroe, aldridge, and just about any other big name center isnt coming here. Koufos, biyumbo are dirt. Cs are a great defensive team already, and if you watched the playoffs vs CLE you would notice rim protection wasnt that bad, it was the rebounding. i mean lebron is gonna do what lebron does to all the other teams, but thompson and mosgov controlled the boards every moment they got. kanter avg 11 reb in 30 min, shot 50% from the field for his career(57% with OKC) can score, and is only 23.......23. theres plenty of room and time for improvement on the defensive end. 25 PER with OKC......25. he thrived in the P/R and i thought thats what the Cs were really good at. yall got to be more realistic........KG aint walking through that door. if you were biyombo and all you could do is block shots than you too would block a lot of shots

[crimson_stallion]

No thanks.  Overpaying for crap because you can't bring in actual talent is not how to build a successful basketball team.

Kanter is FAR from crap and we'd be lucky to have him.

Averaged 16 points and 9 rbs per game last season.

If that's considered crap to you, then I'll take it any day of week.

He's not crap, but he is essentially the big man equivalent of Isaiah Thomas - all offensive, no defense.

We could never, absolutely never, have Kanter and Thomas on the court together - so already he's limiting the flexibility of your lineups.

You also could never defend the P&R while he's in the game, because he couldn't defend any position bar center and is too slow / dumb defensively to make switches. Puts a LOT of pressure on the rest of the guys on the court to play extra hard to try and cover up his defensive limitations...and I don't like that. 

A good player is supposed to make things easier for his teammates, not harder.   Very rare to find a team that Kanter could excel on - Golden State and OKC are probably two of the very few that come to my mind. 

[sawick48]

No thanks.  Overpaying for crap because you can't bring in actual talent is not how to build a successful basketball team.

Kanter is FAR from crap and we'd be lucky to have him.

Averaged 16 points and 9 rbs per game last season.

If that's considered crap to you, then I'll take it any day of week.

Offensive stats aren't the tell-all of a player.  You could shoot a squirrel and lay it underneath the basket.  That deceased squirrel would play better defense than Kanter.

RIP squirrel
7/2008 - 7/3/2015
Defensive anchor for 2015/16 Boston Celtics