Author Topic: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively  (Read 2408 times)

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What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« on: August 25, 2016, 02:24:21 PM »

Offline KG Living Legend

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 Is it still center?

 PG, Thomas, Smart, Rozier, Jackson,  A Grade

 SG, Bradley, Smart, Green, Hunter, A Grade

 SF  Crowder, Brown, Smart, Green, B+ Grade

 PF Amir, Jonas, Crowder, Mickey, B minus Grade

 C Horford, Kelly, Zeller, Amir, A Minus Grade

 After further review it looks to me that the PF position could use some help if Horford is playing center most of the time. After Amir's 23 minutes per game, that leaves a whopping 25 minutes for Jonas, or undersized Crowder to fill the void.

 Agree or disagree.

Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2016, 02:28:38 PM »

Offline A Future of Stevens

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It is either pg or pf depending on the situation.

Whenever IT is on the floor he will be the weakest defender, but he can be masked by bringing in smart.

Spot on analysis on pf though.
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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2016, 02:54:19 PM »

Offline coffee425

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Position-wise, there are no glaring weaknesses.

However, i would argue that because CBS (and most of the league) is more focused on the switching and rotations on defense, positions have very little impact on defense as it once did when you would guard your position for the whole game.

The team right now has a lot of good-great defenders that carry the load.
The problem on the team is that the weakest defenders on the team are probably in the league's bottom 20% (specifically IT4, KO, G. Green, probably even Jaylen as a rookie).

We're fortunate that this "weak group" is distributed out across all positions and bench/starters. It would be extremely rare that we would ever see more than 2 of them on the court at the same time.
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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2016, 03:23:29 PM »

Offline saltlover

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IT is the weakest.  If you're an opposing team and are choosing not to attack the 5'9" player who expends a ton of energy on offense, you're doing it wrong.

That said, the weakest position might be the "swings" -- Crowder, Brown, and JJ.  Crowder is obviously great.  But more teams are starting to put 2 of those types of players on the floor at the same time.  The Warriors will even have three out there at once. 

Stevens could counter by going with two bigs, which might work sometimes, or three guards at other times.  But if Brown isn't ready to be a good NBA defender in year 1 (which wouldn't surprise me despite his long-term potential), some teams will find that the weak link in the Celtics defense if they have the personal.  Evan Turner was a capable defender last year.  Jury is out on Brown.

Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2016, 05:01:27 PM »

Offline action781

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Point guard because IT will be defending it for 36 minutes per game.  We're pretty good at the other 4 positions and I agree with the OP of PF being the weakest of those 4. 
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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2016, 06:14:15 PM »

Offline Big333223

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It's a more complicated question that it seems at first because while IT is one of the weaker defenders (mostly due to his size, he's pretty active defensively), Avery Bradley is going to defend the PG position most of the time, especially when the C's play any team with a score-first PG (which is a lot these days).

Is Marcus Smart a PG or a SG? I think he's better at guarding SG's even though if he's playing with Bradley, Bradley is definitely the SG on offense and Smart will be the PG.

Crowder is one of our best wing defenders but is likely to spend time as a PF. Does that help or hurt the PF position's defense?

But, as other have noted, the strength of the Celtics' defense is their ability to switch and play together. What matters is putting 5 strong, verstile defenders out at any given time and letting them work.
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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2016, 06:42:19 PM »

Offline mgent

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Perimeter = A+++
PF = A
C = A

Smart, Bradley, and Crowder are ridiculous.  Amir is great, and Crowder/JJ are ideal small ball defenders who can switch on all 5 positions.  Horford does his thing.

Weakest position would have to be PG, because IT plays so many minutes.
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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2016, 07:21:35 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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easily PG when IT is on the floor.  can see it every game we play against a smart coach or the playoffs when the other team is smart enough to put their PG in the post or have them work a mid-range game because IT cannot offer even minimal concern for blocking a shot.

Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2016, 07:40:51 PM »

Offline mgent

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easily PG when IT is on the floor.  can see it every game we play against a smart coach or the playoffs when the other team is smart enough to put their PG in the post or have them work a mid-range game because IT cannot offer even minimal concern for blocking a shot.

Yup, it's truly painful to watch.

If Marcus makes a significant jump at PG, I could maybe see Danny trying to trade IT for a big to pair with Horford.

"Pace and space" is great, but nothing works as well as a classic inside-out offense (much like the one Doc and us won with in 08).  IT can penetrate as good as the next guy, but he can never make the defense collapse the same way an elite post player can.
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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2016, 07:46:15 PM »

Offline Csfan1984

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Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2016, 10:59:49 PM »

Offline timpiker

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Center when we're going against a real center.

Re: What is the weakest position for the C's defensively
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2016, 01:31:11 AM »

Online trickybilly

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Center when we're going against a real center.

How many (good) teams have Centers that truly dominate? You can just switch Amir onto talented offensive bigs, like last year. His agent won't like it though.

KO does OK against bigs these days.

Matchin up against the Blake Griffin, AD, KAT, (i.e. very mobile bigs) will be tough as always..
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