Hating the Celtics style of play...

[GreenWarrior]

Anyone else feel this way?
I know the league has changed, but not for the better.
I'm losing interest fast, watching this 3 point chucking garbage...it's ALL they do now.
I know it makes sense, percentage-wise---but it is awful basketball.

I've been a fan since before Bird...maybe I'm just old--but small ball and the death of big man ball is not real basketball to me--it's like watching a bunch of kids on the playground.

Yeah, me too. The league nowadays is gimmicky basketball.

add me to the list. people say the 90's sucked... this isn't good basketball right now. and this team isn't enjoyable to watch this year.

I feel this team is being exposed for who they are this yr., and the past couple yr's they were able to take advantage of the opposing teams schedules and they were a typical "regular season warrior".

a lot of people think we're a couple players away, i'm thinking more like 4-5.

[More Banners]

It kills me how the talk is about this new
Thing. Like Obie's offense was about the 3 in the early '00's. Remember those stretch 4s, Walter
McCarty, Raef LaFrenz, Rasheed Wallace, Troy Murphy, Rashard Lewis... 

But we also remember those DH Magic teams that surrounded DH with 4 shooters. Perennial contender. Well, ish. And Shaq had all shooters around them, and so on.

It's an old idea for those teams without a post player especially to chuck and run the pick and roll/pop. it's just there aren't many really really big guys (a subset of bigs) with skills right now.

The big change is on defense. The easiest thing to do is switch on the signature BB play, so long as you don't create a wretched mismatch. Teams would do that, then ISO the mismatch. It was all about the mismatch.

Now, play the all-6'8" team like the Hawks used to have, work the switches on D, and run what has. S one the standard drive and dish offense or whatever you do when you don't have a post player.

Guys like Sheed and the Raefer were very good 3pt shooters, and opposing coaches loved it when they took them because otherwise they might score every time down. Remember the great post players scoring at 60%. In tune with the very best 40% 3pt shooters,  it with the bonus of drawing fouls.

SVG is running a lot of the stuff he used to in Orlando. Drummond - knowing how to use a big man in the post, is why they hired him. Obviously. theyll be a team to watch.

[GRADYCOLNON]

The Celtics play of lately has been marginalized by chucking threes and long jump shots.  Whenever the team makes passing a priority they make gorgeous buckets.  I want us to get back to playing for layups.

[mctyson]

Anyone else feel this way?
I know the league has changed, but not for the better.
I'm losing interest fast, watching this 3 point chucking garbage...it's ALL they do now.
I know it makes sense, percentage-wise---but it is awful basketball.

I've been a fan since before Bird...maybe I'm just old--but small ball and the death of big man ball is not real basketball to me--it's like watching a bunch of kids on the playground.

It ebbs and flows.  The game will lose infatuation with 'chucking 3s' once a team persistently gets layups by exploiting small lineups designed to shoot 3s.

But it does make sense.  Marcus Smart shooting 25% from 3 is about as good as him shooting 40% from 2. 

[TheSundanceKid]

The Celtics play of lately has been marginalized by chucking threes and long jump shots.  Whenever the team makes passing a priority they make gorgeous buckets.  I want us to get back to playing for layups.

I agree with this. Recently we've been particularly ugly.

I don't mind the 3s that come from good play, beating the defence. What I don't like are the 3s that are "what the defence gives you". I want us to be forcing the defence to crumble not falling into the shots they want us to take. Unfortunately right now we don't have the tools to do that. I think that when we make our next big move our style of play will evolve and we'll be better to watch.

On a wider league point I do enjoy post play more than most offensive schemes. There is a lack of balance between the forms of offense right now. It would bee nice if there was some kind of resurgence in post play but at the same time you don't want one guy to become completely dominant in that area e.g. Shaq. It's harder for Curry to dominate a game than it was Shaq in my opinion. By that I mean there is more a defence can do to stop Curry from succeeding than Shaq.

[CFAN38]

I think we can all agree its not the Cs style of play its the leagues style of play. I hate nothing more then seeing a weakly contested layup passed up for an equally contested 3pt shot. I completely appreciate the court spacing and perimeter skills on display in the modern NBA but at the same time I miss the more traditional posting up and cutting to the basket game.

 

[Spilling Green Dye]

Anyone else feel this way?
I know the league has changed, but not for the better.
I'm losing interest fast, watching this 3 point chucking garbage...it's ALL they do now.
I know it makes sense, percentage-wise---but it is awful basketball.

I've been a fan since before Bird...maybe I'm just old--but small ball and the death of big man ball is not real basketball to me--it's like watching a bunch of kids on the playground.

TP or posting this, I agree that the Celtics just aren't enjoyable to watch.  But I don't think the NBA's big change is 100% tied to the 3-point line.. more like 75%.  The lack of Carrying/Traveling calls makes it so that speed & athleticism are more valuable than skill.  In any previous era, if you had a player who could shoot, dribble, and rebound well but was average speed, then they'd be playing over someone who was really fast but couldn't do anything else too well.  It's now the reverse of that. 

Just look at the top draft picks each year, their weakness typically is "Well he can't shoot, but he's a great athlete so he'll have to learn to shoot in the NBA."  That'd be like hiring an IT director and saying "Well he's not good with computers, servers, or networks, but he's smart with other stuff.  He'll learn."

The NFL is suffering from something similar with all of the defensive rule changes.  It's taken much of the nuance out of the game so that if you don't score a TD on a drive you've failed.  In the past field position and field goals were really really important too.  Imagine if they took out singles, doubles, triples and base stealing in baseball, and everyone going to the plate just swung for home runs.  That's what basketball feels like to me now... everyone swinging for homeruns (3 pointers), and as quickly as possible.  Guys like Marcus Smart should be focusing on numerous other offensive skills (15 foot range, post play like Joe Johnson, etc.), instead we have to watch him swing for the fences all day.   It's gotten to the point where it's almost too much perimeter passing. 

Has anyone played pickup basketball by 1's and 2's?  Inevitably there's a team that keeps winning b/c all they take are 2 points (3-point line).  Whether you've been on one of those teams, or lost in 2-minutes of pickup to that team, it's just not enjoyable to be involved in. 

[Bobshot]

Auerbach taught Pop how to win. Pass for the best shot. Get easy shots with the fast break, transition game. But Stevens wouldn't know Red from a hole in the wall. He is used to winning with college teams who are undermanned. He has his own system. Doc didn't know Red, either, for that matter. 

One thing Red understood. You have to have a guy who can get the ball. He couldn't win beans with McCauley. Had to get Russell. Then he got Cowens and Silas. Then he got McHale and Parrish. Danny got KG. He also just got Horford, but Al is not a big rebounder. Never has been. Danny needs another guy who can get the ball.

[droopdog7]

I've heard some people say they should move the three point line back

I've also heard of getting rid of the corner 3 since it's a much closer shot

I'd kind of like to see one of those happen


As far as the style of play: ya, it's annoying. Horford should get way more touches/shots. He could easily average 20 a game with us with enough shots. But i suppose that's just not his game.

I guess it's the way the league is now, though. It's jim Obrien's paradise

Theyd have to make th court bigger of course.