Can I start panicking if we lose to Charlotte?

[Evantime34]

I think it would be foolish to panic but equally foolish to ignore the weaknesses that have been presented in the first two games.

Smart and Olynyk are not going to correct the weaknesses.

Shot blocking is overrated.  That is not a problem in my mind but we should be playing better defense.

Smart and Olynyk should correct some of the issues shouldn't they?

I guess that depends on your view of the problems. I view the problems as rebounding and secondary ball handling as the biggest issues through the first two games.

[tazzmaniac]

I would have liked for us to have played our first game against Chicago later in the season. Both teams looked like they figuring their new parts out but Chicago's new parts are so talented (Including Michael Carter Williams) that they were able to accelerate the learning curve.

Personally I think people were way underrating Chicago more than overrating the Celtics. I still think that we are the 2nd or 3rd best team in the conference and things will start rolling once we can start stringing together some easy wins under our belt.

Assuming Myles Turner's 1st game of the season wasn't a complete fluke, I'll go with the Pacers as the 2nd best team.  Having Big Al come of the bench for 12-15 minutes is a big plus. 
 

[Moranis]

I would have liked for us to have played our first game against Chicago later in the season. Both teams looked like they figuring their new parts out but Chicago's new parts are so talented (Including Michael Carter Williams) that they were able to accelerate the learning curve.

Personally I think people were way underrating Chicago more than overrating the Celtics. I still think that we are the 2nd or 3rd best team in the conference and things will start rolling once we can start stringing together some easy wins under our belt.

Assuming Myles Turner's 1st game of the season wasn't a complete fluke, I'll go with the Pacers as the 2nd best team.  Having Big Al come of the bench for 12-15 minutes is a big plus.

I still think Toronto is the 2nd best team in the East, though do think Indiana is 3, Detroit 4, and Boston 5.

[greece66]

@Moranis

IMO Cleveland is a league of its own, and then you have several teams which are really close.

[Moranis]

@Moranis

IMO Cleveland is a league of its own, and then you have several teams which are really close.

Oh yeah no doubt, I just think the Cavs are going to cruise through the regular season and rest their guys a lot.  The good old San Antonio approach, as such I think their win total won't be much different than the next grouping.  Has no real relevance on the playoffs.  If healthy I don't think the Cavs lose more than 3 games in the playoffs in the East (they lost 2 to Toronto last year and 2 to Chicago the year before, but swept the other 4 series). 

[walker834]

Not worried at all.  The refs basically handed Chicago that game.  Horford and Amir were in foul trouble all night.

The nets game was what it was.  They are a young scrappy team and our bench still has some kinks to work out.  I think I said this before the game actually that we needed to be aware.

The Bulls game also didn't have a great feeling about going in.  Just the way the league is.

Someone needs to be on top of the celtics beforehand though so they are aware of these things.

Our two weaknesses right now is inexperience off the bench with Marcus out and lack of depth as far as big men if Amir and Horford get in foul trouble.  KO coming back and mickey developing will help.  They need to play well themselves though. Zeller needs to play with more aggression.  Zizic is really the answer there but Zeller can play better.  I d on't understand why fans trash these guys instead of wanting them to play better.

[Smartacus]

I would have liked for us to have played our first game against Chicago later in the season. Both teams looked like they figuring their new parts out but Chicago's new parts are so talented (Including Michael Carter Williams) that they were able to accelerate the learning curve.

Personally I think people were way underrating Chicago more than overrating the Celtics. I still think that we are the 2nd or 3rd best team in the conference and things will start rolling once we can start stringing together some easy wins under our belt.

Assuming Myles Turner's 1st game of the season wasn't a complete fluke, I'll go with the Pacers as the 2nd best team.  Having Big Al come of the bench for 12-15 minutes is a big plus.

I still think Toronto is the 2nd best team in the East, though do think Indiana is 3, Detroit 4, and Boston 5.

Not willing to go that far on Turner quite yet. He played 1 tremendous game but he has to keep that up for 82.

It's funny though, I watched the highlights of him from that game and thought to myself... If this was Towns making the exact same plays I would be going nuts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwoMO_gwO14

Fully aware that I might be underrating Turner at this point. It'll be huge for Indy if he can break out this year. Having a 3/5 Combo like George/Turner is as close to ideal as you could get for a core to build around.

[walker834]

The one concern  to me is lack of depth for big men if an injury occurs.  Zeller really needs to play better and tougher. 

With Marcus out it's really tough to miss ET.   Sully was missed a bit here.  Does that stuff really matter though?  We have guys who need to play better.  Horford and Amir aren't going to be in foul trouble every game but players like Zeller need to be ready.  We paid him 9 mil or 8 mil or whatever.    That money could have gone to sully.  Again I don't get the mindsets out there though.  The media does this stuff. The sky is falling. We let Sully walk and now people are like ****.

Instead of trashing Zeller now how about having his back? Zeller could play better and like a mad man. 

He's not playing every night with KO back and mickey here he can get in the weight room on his days off.  Get angry and focused.

The NBA season is a marathon not a sprint.  The bench needs to gel and the starters have to stay out of  foul trouble and stay healthy. 

Our defense and hustle will carry us.  Cr owder, Smart and Brown and Jerebko need to rebound more.  Same with our guards and AB.  Green and IT aren't really rebounders but who cares.  IT will sneak in there.  Everyone else on this team can rebound.

[Roy H.]

There's no reason to worry. We're integrating new players, while others are out.

Give it 20 games or so.

[Smartacus]

The one concern  to me is lack of depth for big men if an injury occurs.  Zeller really needs to play better and tougher. 

With Marcus out it's really tough to miss ET.   Sully was missed a bit here.  Does that stuff really matter though?  We have guys who need to play better.  Horford and Amir aren't going to be in foul trouble every game but players like Zeller need to be ready.  We paid him 9 mil or 8 mil or whatever.    That money could have gone to sully.  Again I don't get the mindsets out there though.  The media does this stuff. The sky is falling. We let Sully walk and now people are like ****.

Instead of trashing Zeller now how about having his back? Zeller could play better and like a mad man.
He's not playing every night with KO back and mickey here he can get in the weight room on his days off.  Get angry and focused.

The NBA season is a marathon not a sprint.  The bench needs to gel and the starters have to stay out of  foul trouble and stay healthy. 

Our defense and hustle will carry us.  Cr owder, Smart and Brown and Jerebko need to rebound more.  Same with our guards and AB.

I think Zeller is going to surprise a lot of people this year. Like KO, he's entering his physical prime which should help him get pushed around less, and has the foot speed to keep up with all of these "modern" bigs coming around.

The thing I like about Tyler Zeller is that he's one of those guys who has high initiative. Every time he touches the ball its a quick decision.  He might chuck a bit at times but he's more of a play finisher than a ball movement stopper. I'm hoping the more reps he can get the better he'll play.

[Rosco917]

It's interesting that this forum questioned the rebounding concerns as far back as the signing of Horford, and the loss of Sully. We knew we had a rebounding weakness.

It's no secret that when you consider that much of last year we lost the boards regularly, unless Sully was in the game. The addition of Horford, admittedly a great signing, did nothing to deal with the original problem.

Al Horford is playing out of position again at center on his new team. I have to wonder how effective Al would be with a decent center to help him man the boards, and absorb the physical play in the paint at times.

Everyone talks about teams playing small ball, and we can all see it's a real weapon in the NBA. But you can't be successful playing small if you can't counter it playing big. Without going big you're just an undersized team, other NBA clubs can prepare for.

I have no confidence that Kelly Olynyk, when he returns can solve this problem. It's obvious Zeller isn't the answer.

I think Danny and CBC knew about this and took the chance that it could be dealt with...unfortunately what's happening is our "smalls" are being asking to help with the boards, and are leaving the opposing teams 3 point shooters open. That's what happened with New Jersey, a game where the Nets hit a high percentage of open 3's, and again in Chicago.

[chambers]

2nd night of a back to back, our guys were pretty gassed. No Marcus.

The good part was we went on a 16 point to 4 point run late in the 4th quarter. Jaylen was out there in crunch time while Marcus is out which is good for Jaylen's development.
Our defense was very good.

Dwayne Wade shot like Reggie Miller. This is a guy who shot 17% from 3 last season. They made some big shots on opening night and we had an average game for the most part.

Give them 7 or 8 games to get in the flow.

I'd be panicking about the Nets picking up some early wins vs teams who aren't 100% ready just yet. They are beating Indiana by 4 points at half time, however Indiana looks like a much better team.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Sully pulled down 7rbs a game (same as Al), it doesn't matter what he COULD have done he could not play many minutes! We sucked at it last season and we will this season. It is what it is, Sully or no Sully! AB and IT4 have pulled down a lot of boards so far, something they didn't do last season. KO and Mahcus will pull a few down when they are healthy. IF AB and Thomas hover around 4-5 apiece a game,  KO same (not good lol), Smaht w/ 4-5, and Horford with 7-8 per then that's already better than last season. Add on some by Roze who is good at it but didn't play last season and hopefully some from JB as the season goes on (he has stunk rb so far), we will be looking up on rebounding!


Horford is a great fit for the team but even a great fit needs time to gel. Then, when we get our bench clicking/healthy it will be ON!

[BudweiserCeltic]

What would we actually be panicking about?

[Moranis]

Sully pulled down 7rbs a game (same as Al), it doesn't matter what he COULD have done he could not play many minutes! We sucked at it last season and we will this season. It is what it is, Sully or no Sully! AB and IT4 have pulled down a lot of boards so far, something they didn't do last season. KO and Mahcus will pull a few down when they are healthy. IF AB and Thomas hover around 4-5 apiece a game,  KO same (not good lol), Smaht w/ 4-5, and Horford with 7-8 per then that's already better than last season. Add on some by Roze who is good at it but didn't play last season and hopefully some from JB as the season goes on (he has stunk rb so far), we will be looking up on rebounding!


Horford is a great fit for the team but even a great fit needs time to gel. Then, when we get our bench clicking/healthy it will be ON!

Sullinger averaged 8.3 rebounds a game last year and his rebound % was 18.7 (27 defensively and 10.6 offensively).  Gerald Green at 14.7% is the highest Celtic in the two games and Zeller at 12.8% is second. 

Very clear difference between Sullinger and who Boston has now.  And I know it is just two games, but take Horford.  He has never averaged 18.7%.  His rookie year he was 18 and hasn't been above 16.4 since and hasn't been above 16 since his 4th year in the league.  he also has been pretty steadily going down to 12.4% last year (his career low).  Looking at last year, that means Sullinger grabbed 6 more boards per 100 opportunities while on the floor than Horford.  That is a pretty big drop off.