Author Topic: Celtics to play bigger than Last year  (Read 3019 times)

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Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #15 on: September 03, 2015, 08:10:57 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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Couple of reasons:

1. Generally the best strategy is to find ways to give the most playing time to your best players
2. The team doesn't really have any great shooters, so going with the "spread shooting" strategy only makes sense if that is consistent with #1.
I feel like this important and something a lot of people forget. Yes, small ball won the championship last season but don't forget that the Cavs lost 2 all stars and made that a competetive series by playing big. Is it because one strategy was better than the other? No. It was because each team needed to play to the strength of its roster. Personel changes how a team will compete.

Right.  I have a feeling "going big" will become en voge again once Anthony Davis takes over as the dominant force in the league.  It's not surprising that "going small" has become the big thing during the LeBron era.
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Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #16 on: September 03, 2015, 11:46:20 PM »

Offline chambers

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Maybe it's simpler than we're making it to be...

Now we have some legitimate starting caliber NBA big men- when really the closest thing we had to that was an unmotivated Sullinger- we can match up better with big teams. Think about how badly Sully and Olynyk were crushed because of their respective defensive issues and the difference that having Amir Johnson would've made.
Replacing Bass with David Lee gives us another offensive weapon- he'll also be able to help our young bigs as we develop an inside outside game with shooters like the warriors.
"We are lucky we have a very patient GM that isn't willing to settle for being good and coming close. He wants to win a championship and we have the potential to get there still with our roster and assets."

quoting 'Greg B' on RealGM after 2017 trade deadline.
Read that last line again. One more time.

Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #17 on: September 03, 2015, 11:54:57 PM »

Offline littleteapot

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The counter to this is that all our bigs besides David Lee (depending on how you feel about Sullinger) can shoot the 3. So there is a chance that we could play 2 bigs and still space the floor.

The difference in my mind is that the small ball lineups from last year produced well defensively behind a switch everything defense. I expect consistently going with lineups of 2 bigs (especially when only one of the bigs is really a plus defensively) to really hurt the defense.
We don't have evidence of a large sample of decent 3 point shooting from any big. Maybe that changes but I wouldn't rely on it. I think the switching kept our defense good enough to outgun teams on the other end, personally. I think Amir Johnson will help us defensively at either C or PF, but the issue will be that Evan Turner and Isiah Thomas won't have space on the other end and I don't know if they can make plays in really tight spaces.

Well, I think our most ball-dominant guard will be coming off the bench when there are three point shooters in the frontcourt.

That's part of the reason Stevens brought Thomas off the bench last year, I believe, and will continue to do so.

Smart, Bradley, and Turner will probably benefit from playing with bigs who are better at scoring inside and grabbing offensive rebounds.
Like it or not, Turner is still on this team, and he really gets loosy goosy with the ball, which is fine when he's got Crowder spreading the floor for him.

Offensive rebounding is a good point, but I'm not sure if it holds true for every opponent, because if Crowder drags a big out of the paint, we should create offensive rebounding opportunities for the other forward for teams that rely on bigs to rebound and don't have big enough wings.
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Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #18 on: September 04, 2015, 01:41:59 AM »

Offline anewframe

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The key ingredient is that Brad Stevens works harder than anyone and is clearly one of the best minds in the game - he will either make it work or ditch it quickly.

Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #19 on: September 04, 2015, 01:51:11 AM »

Offline tarheelsxxiii

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The key ingredient is that Brad Stevens works harder than anyone and is clearly one of the best minds in the game - he will either make it work or ditch it quickly.

That about sums it up. Highly doubt we regress and would be surprised if we didn't improve (despite MIA and INDY, perhaps CHA improving). Upgraded talent, Smart a year older & wiser, and great coaching should equate to improvement.
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Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #20 on: September 04, 2015, 01:58:37 AM »

Offline ImShakHeIsShaq

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KO has shot 35% for his 2 seasons from 3, if that's not decent then I don't know what is. 2 seasons is a long stretch of time. Even if you take it as a season and a half it's a long stretch because he has only had 2 seasons of play.


@anewframe, yep!
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Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #21 on: September 04, 2015, 02:26:52 AM »

Offline Hemingway

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I think we will see Brad try a lot of different things and go with what works.

Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #22 on: September 04, 2015, 03:27:45 AM »

Offline ImShakHeIsShaq

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I think we will see Brad try a lot of different things and go with what works.

Always does, he doesn't care about how long/when you think you should play, he goes with what's working and will yank when it isn't.
It takes me 3hrs to get to Miami and 1hr to get to Orlando... but I *SPIT* on their NBA teams! "Bless God and bless the (Celts)"-Lady GaGa (she said gays but she really meant Celts)

Re: Celtics to play bigger than Last year
« Reply #23 on: September 04, 2015, 07:11:35 AM »

Offline Celtics4ever

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Quote
I think we will see Brad try a lot of different things

Hopefully this means he will bench guys who are ineffective at D and do not run the court.