Author Topic: What Are You Looking Forward to Seeing this Season?  (Read 10623 times)

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Re: What Are You Looking Forward to Seeing this Season?
« Reply #60 on: September 17, 2017, 03:20:34 PM »

Offline Sketch5

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Jayson Tatum becoming a superstar.

Kyrie proving he was worth the price.

Horford continuing to be the ultimate team first player.

Hayward showing why Ainge made him his top priority this summer.

Watching the Celtics beat the Cavs, and winning the ECF in the process.

Watching the Celtics shock the world and beat the Warriors in the Finals.

Last part is only possible if you trade for either KP or AD in-season, though I highly doubt even if their teams are real bad that they trade them at the deadline (but maybe next summer).

Now if Rose is only a shell of himself (also injured again) and IT's injury is A LOT worse than we realize, then even with James I think if everything gels here we could beat CLE in the ECF.

I think it's quite possible with out a trade for either one. I'd like to see the bench a bit stronger, and it's not that there are bad players, just very young and raw.

But the C's are one of the few teams over the last few years that have played well against GSW.  And we were doing it with team on paper, should not have been able to do so. But this year...

Irving-V-Curry
Brown-V-Thompson
Hayward-V-KD
Morris-V-Green
Horford-V-Pachulia

Yes GSW have a better team, but we got a lot closer to being able to put a competitive team than any other season we've been able to beat them. I think coaching comes into play a lot, and Walton proved that Kerr has it pretty good. Were Stevens has to actually coach his team up. So if Stevens can do the same with this lot, it gets them even closer. And now you can have Brown and Hayward switch and you don't give up anything.

GSW bench is a bit deeper with vets, but their best three guys off the bench are Iggy,Livingston and Young. Ours are Smart,Tatum,Baynes. And thats if Semi,Yabu,Theis don't make cases for some bench minutes.

GSW still edges out the C's, they've been there and can go off at any moment. The C's could make it interesting. I think they match up better than the CAVS do 1-5, and they'll play a similar style. remember CAVS play poor D and don't like to run. The C's will.

It's a long shot, but not as long as it was last year.

Re: What Are You Looking Forward to Seeing this Season?
« Reply #61 on: September 17, 2017, 03:59:50 PM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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Celtics replaces Cavs. as EC Champions .

Watching Boston try and dethrone GS in a title series.

Re: What Are You Looking Forward to Seeing this Season?
« Reply #62 on: September 17, 2017, 04:02:31 PM »

Offline liam

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Celtics replaces Cavs. as EC Champions .

Watching Boston try and dethrone GS in a title series.

The Celtics send LeBron out of Cleveland for the 2nd time!

Re: What Are You Looking Forward to Seeing this Season?
« Reply #63 on: September 22, 2017, 03:52:36 PM »

Offline ThePaintedArea

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How many minutes Semi Ojeleye gets.

In the NBA or the G-League?

In the NBA.

It sounds like you, like many people, are sleeping on him. It's not surprising, given his draft position and his low profile.

What about the G-League? Well, it's rare for a rookie to be as ready as Semi is to play NBA defense, and he has the strength and leverage (as Brad said recently) to guard bigger players; and the Celtics badly need players who can do that. So it wouldn't be too surprising if he never plays in Maine, despite the Celtics' depth and his rookie status.  It would be less surprising if he cracks the rotation come January/February.

There was a recent thread on him here; the arguments against him were not about his game, but rather indirect ones of the nature of: Coach K must have seen something...; he had a lowly draft status, therefore...; his age, therefore low ceiling...; summer league is meaningless...; etc.

He was the best athlete in the Combine, has a repertoire around the basket, shoots with range, can make a play. Great NBA body. Character and work ethic are off the chart.

Hardly.  I'm a big fan of the guy and wanted us to draft him for the reasons you stated, it's just that, well, coaches say stuff like that all the time and it never means anything. 

You don’t have to take Stevens’ word for it. The immediate context was the SL game with the Lakers - Zizic was losing contact with Zubac, couldn’t contain him, got beat down the floor, etc. Semi came in and simply shut Zubac down - stayed up in him while tracking him on D, pushed him where he wanted him, stayed vertical, stripped him without fouling, etc., etc.  Ojeleye is impressively strong (as well as quick and athletic!).

…Semi has a rather tough road to even get on the court, imo.  First, you've got the logjam at the forward positions between Hayward, Morris, Brown (if he plays there this year in certain lineups), Tatum, and Yabu, so there won't be a ton of minutes to go around at those positions, anyway…

Excellent point. 

Regarding Brown:  there’s a good chance, I think, that we’ll see Irving/Smart/Brown lineups - similar to last year, and in fact Rozier/Smart/Brown lineups, which we did see last year. Definitely, Brown’s minutes affect Ojeleye’s.

The opportunity for Semi is as a swing behind Morris. Tatum doesn't have the bulk, Yabusele is recovering from surgery (though hoping to be ready for the season). Theis perhaps.

…and second, Stevens has no intention of not giving Tatum every opportunity to succeed - at least, imo - …

I’m sure you’re right. 

Last year Brad found a ton of developmental minutes for Jaylen Brown, from the beginning of the season, which paid dividends later on, when they needed him in the starting lineup and especially in the playoffs.  It would be shocking if Stevens did not carve out similar opportunities for Tatum.

… Terry Rozier still hasn't become a staple of Stevens' substitution patterns … 

He was Thomas' primary backup (not Smart), and he averaged rotation minutes (17.1).  He was almost always on the floor with Smart, in fact. Terry can guard 1’s but he’s not great creating with the ball in his hands, so someone else needs to run the offense while he’s in (the more he can advance in running the offense this summer, the better for him). It seems to me that he still has a role to play this season - with Hayward on board and an emerging Brown, there’ll be more shot-creation happening for Terry to complement.  Having said that, the minutes crunch that you’re pointing to here might well affect him.

It's easy to imagine pairing him with Irving, so that Kyrie doesn't have too tough a cover. But Rozier was virtually never on the floor with Isaiah last year. Would love to know Brad's reasoning on that...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't get get your hopes up :-\.

No tears in basketball.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2017, 02:11:57 PM by ThePaintedArea »

Re: What Are You Looking Forward to Seeing this Season?
« Reply #64 on: April 12, 2018, 04:59:33 AM »

Offline Androslav

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The unknown ceiling of the 60% of the roster and then Brads ability to max them out in short period.
I feel like this is a good time to revise our initial thoughts.
Brad truly worked his magic this year.
"The joy of the balling under the rims."