This is why IT should be 6th man

[Smart457]

A sixth man in the same idea that Manu was a sixth man. 



A top level offensive player who just happens to come off the bench as a offensive spark.



The only problem is that the team would need at least two other offensive weapons to have in the starting lineup they currently do not have.

Yeah.

The Celts offense is bottom-of-the-league terrible without Isaiah.

So for now, no, he can't be a sixth man.

Thank you.

We are looking at two lottery picks this draft without IT.

[alldaboston]

He's a fine 3rd option on a contender. But on that contender team, he can still start.

[td450]

It was blatantly obvious that the C's lost this series because of shooting. That's not to say we couldn't have done some other things better, but that is why we lost. We weren't going to win by improving our defense at the expense of our offense.

[jbp126]

IT in the playoffs this year in 6 games against the second best defense in the league:

24.2 points ... 5 assists ... 3 rebounds ... 39.5 / 28.3 / 80.9 shooting ... 7.7 FTA

Yeah, those shooting numbers are ugly.  But he had basically no help outside of an occasional outburst from Evan Turner or Marcus Smart.


As for his defense, I think it's fine.  He's a team defender.  You can't expect him to be any more than that.  This team's issues are not on defense, for the most part.

Agreed. If you think Isaiah's defense was the reason we lost this series, you weren't watching. It wasn't great but he didn't stick out to me as killing us on that end. Teague is a good offensive player. His floaters (something I'd love to see IT add to his game) are extremely difficult to stop and his drives are tough to guard without someone protecting the basket.

To the point that he should be a sixth man, maybe that's the ideal scenario on a championship team but I don't think that can even be considered until we have at least two other offensive options on Isaiah's level. Stevens made the right call moving him to the starting lineup and he carried our offense this season.

[crownsy]

Yea, I didn't take this as "IT has to be a 6th man"

It was just confirmation he can't be your only guy. which is ok, no one can. Those teams, if they ever existed, are dead.

I think the series just made it clear Isiah isn't the number 1 guy in a trio, but I would be fine with him as 2 or 3.

My hope is Butler via trade, and then you bring in a experienced shot blocker if you can't get the third peice this off season.

I would be ok with a trade for Butler, then adding Noah on a short term (2-3 year deal) as a UFA if you strike out on Durant, depending on contract for noah(not a max, if he wants a max im out) It your starting unit looks like:

IT
bradley
butler
noah
amir

with Smart leading a bench unit, I think that's a good start on moving forward. Then you just need to upgrade one more spot with a true Superstar, and your good to go.

[loco_91]

I disagree. IT drew tough defensive matchups with AB out, and he was shouldering a massive load on offense. But that isn't why we lost the series. Does anybody say that Harden should be a 6th man?!

[crownsy]

I can't believe people are saying he was. the problem this series was with AB out, everyone else (except, at times, Jonas) turned into one of the worst shooting teams on open looks i have ever seen.

Seriously, there are guys at my local gym who shoot wide open jumpers better than we did games 5 and 6. It was painful to watch "clang...clang...clang"

[sahara]

"If you don´t want to play for the Celtics, you don´t know basketball"
- Isaiah Thomas