i get it

[rollie mass]

stats have kelly as a good defender,yet he doesn't get any credit
early in the game one play said it all
this was not the awkward offensive kelly but the smart defensive positional player that smoothly ,yeh smoothly covered three players in one possession
aaron gordon had a mismatch on bradley down low and kelly hedged over from ibaka just enough to intimidate
 then kelly smoothly recovers to ibaka ,aaron kicks it back out
the ball rotates out to payton in corner and kelly moves out
 to contest and payton then tries to beat kelly off dribble but his position is too good and payton passes out of corner area-that sequence was synchronised team defense-fluid and automatic 
kelly saved on mismatch while still covering ibaka enough denying a pass from gordon and then kept payton from a wide open three and stopped him from driving

[greece66]

do you remember (roughly) the min?

[rollie mass]

do you remember (roughly) the min?

first quarter at the 4.30 mark-my post was from memory-it was a aaron gordon with bradley mismatch between bradly and threat of olynck double team ball never got there--funny how late night memories become smoothed out
-in the end payton stopped kicked to fournier for long three with not much time-

[Big333223]

That sounds like Kelly. He just doesn't have the athleticism to be a great defender. He doesn't have the quickness or length to bother top flight players, but he's smart and knows where he's supposed to be at all times. That's a lot more than I can say for most of the NBA. I'll take that over a Javale Mcgee-type any day.

[CelticPride2016]

Kelly was literally a late bloomer in regards to position. He went from something like six foot three as a guard to six foot eleven in a very short time. I am not trying to convey the obvious, but it's the truth.

Perhaps he doesn't get cut enough slack because he was older than a lot of rookies coming into the NBA. James Young just turned 21. Marcus Smart is only 22.

Avery Bradley is only 26 and already in his seventh season!

Kelly Olynyk is 25 in his fourth season.

James Young had one good college season. Some think just because he's only 21 that there's plenty of time for him to still develop.

It seems unfair to compare the two in terms of age.

Olynyk is not as good as I thought he'd be when we got him, but I think he is getting better. He is decent at defense. That looked like his achilles heel similar to Marcus with shooting. Like the person says above, I agree he is lacking the physical gifts to become a great defender. For example, he is seven feet tall but has dinosaur arms. But couldn't he become effective for his position like Larry Bird was for forward, perhaps even better?

These guys are all for one, one for all. I think they are figuring it out.

Maybe Olynyk will be like Avery and pick it up during his second contract. One might hope player development is staggered, so we can keep a lot of the core intact. If all these guys get too good at once, they will want Evan Turner contracts. That only works if you are George Steinbrenner and the sport is baseball, and even that doesn't always work out, like the Knicks when they went for that tall guy Amar'e Stoudemire who ended up as damaged goods and they were stuck with him. Or us with Vin Baker.

Maybe Olynyk will eventually take Amir's contract. Maybe 12 million is the inflated rate of Avery's 8 million? Sure, Kelly has to prove he's worth it, but he's getting there.

Jaylen Brown had a breakout game. Olynyk is due one of those. For this season, however, we need Amir to pick up the pace. Kelly is not yet ready for that responsibility, but he might be by the end of the year. Danny will have to figure it out anyway, not us.

Brad is solid for coaching. Doc probably would have benched Jaylen for the year after he had that stretch looking lost. It's the same with Olynyk. Some guys need to be pampered and put into comfort zones. We will need both of those guys (along with Rozier) to take leaps for any chance at a Cinderella season.

Rondo and Perk were the perfect complement to the Big Three dinosaurs. This year's team seems to also be developing the perfect combination of youth and experience.

Not Mike

[ThePaintedArea]

stats have kelly as a good defender,yet he doesn't get any credit
early in the game one play said it all
this was not the awkward offensive kelly but the smart defensive positional player that smoothly ,yeh smoothly covered three players in one possession
aaron gordon had a mismatch on bradley down low and kelly hedged over from ibaka just enough to intimidate
 then kelly smoothly recovers to ibaka ,aaron kicks it back out
the ball rotates out to payton in corner and kelly moves out
 to contest and payton then tries to beat kelly off dribble but his position is too good and payton passes out of corner area-that sequence was synchronised team defense-fluid and automatic 
kelly saved on mismatch while still covering ibaka enough denying a pass from gordon and then kept payton from a wide open three and stopped him from driving

Good eye, good example - but there are lots of them. Team defense at this level is more important than individual defense. He's vulnerable out on the floor off a switch, and in the low post. If that makes him a seventh or eighth man, so be it. He's a plus on both ends because he's focused, instinctual, and skilled. He's super valuable and way underrated.

Can we please end the bs about his supposed lack of confidence?  He plays team ball, he's a winner - and, most importantly, he helps you win.

[Celtics18]

stats have kelly as a good defender,yet he doesn't get any credit
early in the game one play said it all
this was not the awkward offensive kelly but the smart defensive positional player that smoothly ,yeh smoothly covered three players in one possession
aaron gordon had a mismatch on bradley down low and kelly hedged over from ibaka just enough to intimidate
 then kelly smoothly recovers to ibaka ,aaron kicks it back out
the ball rotates out to payton in corner and kelly moves out
 to contest and payton then tries to beat kelly off dribble but his position is too good and payton passes out of corner area-that sequence was synchronised team defense-fluid and automatic 
kelly saved on mismatch while still covering ibaka enough denying a pass from gordon and then kept payton from a wide open three and stopped him from driving

Good eye, good example - but there are lots of them. Team defense at this level is more important than individual defense. He's vulnerable out on the floor off a switch, and in the low post. If that makes him a seventh or eighth man, so be it. He's a plus on both ends because he's focused, instinctual, and skilled. He's super valuable and way underrated.

Can we please end the bs about his supposed lack of confidence?  He plays team ball, he's a winner - and, most importantly, he helps you win.

I am a huge Olynyk supporter, but I actually agree with the "bs" about lack of confidence.  Sometimes he plays with a ton of confidence, but other times all it takes is one bad play, and it's like you can viscerally see the confidence leaving his body.


He seems like he dwells on the negative and hasn't quite acquired the skill of moving on to the next play and putting it behind him.

[TheSundanceKid]

He's one of the most aware defenders on the team. I'd say only Al and Smart are ahead of him in that regard. I think a lot of the criticism of KO would go away if we had a solid rebounding big that we could utilise for the more difficult matchups. Or of course if we had someone like Cousins in the rotation

[ThePaintedArea]

He's one of the most aware defenders on the team. I'd say only Al and Smart are ahead of him in that regard. I think a lot of the criticism of KO would go away if we had a solid rebounding big that we could utilise for the more difficult matchups. Or of course if we had someone like Cousins in the rotation

Couldn't agree more. Or Blake Griffin.