If the Celts are going to make a blockbuster...

[tenn_smoothie]

Center is like the least important position in the league right now. Particularly on offense. If we're going to upgrade it it should be done as cheaply as possible. Not at the cost of any of our top 5, unless someone like KAT is available, which he's not.

If center is the least important position, why is the best player for each of the top teams in the league a dominant big man ??

You're being a little slick with your argument here. Not all big men are centers, stretch 4s and combo 3/4s are counted as big men, but aren't centers. AD can play center, and Embiid is a center, but Lebron, Giannis aren't centers. When was the last time a team won the championship with a center as their best player? You need good bigs, but you don't need a true center.

I would not agree about those players (see above) - and I agree we don't need a superstar, but we need better than what we have. We are plain weak inside.

[fairweatherfan]

Center is like the least important position in the league right now. Particularly on offense. If we're going to upgrade it it should be done as cheaply as possible. Not at the cost of any of our top 5, unless someone like KAT is available, which he's not.

If center is the least important position, why is the best player for each of the top teams in the league a dominant big man ??

The top teams in the league are the Bucks, Lakers, us, Heat, Clippers. Their best players are Giannis, LeBron, pick em, Butler, Kawhi. None of those are centers and most are pure wings. You have to go down to the (so far) underachieving Nuggets and Sixers to find a team whose best player is a center and they're right in there with Dallas, Toronto and Houston whose best guys are a PG a PF and another PG.

So 2 out of the 10 top teams have a C as their best player, and none of the top 5. Your argument doesn't hold up.

[Fierce1]

Center is like the least important position in the league right now. Particularly on offense. If we're going to upgrade it it should be done as cheaply as possible. Not at the cost of any of our top 5, unless someone like KAT is available, which he's not.

If center is the least important position, why is the best player for each of the top teams in the league a dominant big man ??

The top teams in the league are the Bucks, Lakers, us, Heat, Clippers. Their best players are Giannis, LeBron, pick em, Butler, Kawhi. None of those are centers and most are pure wings. You have to go down to the (so far) underachieving Nuggets and Sixers to find a team whose best player is a center and they're right in there with Dallas, Toronto and Houston whose best guys are a PG a PF and another PG.

So 2 out of the 10 top teams have a C as their best player, and none of the top 5. Your argument doesn't hold up.

All the teams you mentioned, except the Celtics, are top 5 in rebounding differential in the NBA this season.

Only the Celts, among the top teams in the league, have a negative rebounding differential.
That means the Celts are getting outrebounded by their opponents almost every game.

We don't need the Cs to have one of the top big men in the NBA.
What the Celts need is just basic rebounding.
Giving the opponents a lot of 2nd chance points will kill the Celts in the playoffs.

Celts can get away with giving the Cavs 18 offensive rebounds, but if they're facing elite teams, it will not end well for the Celts.

[jambr380]

I don't really care one way or another, but I am not sure why people are getting so caught up in the semantics of big man or Center. Right now, the Cs have neither of those in their top 5. It's fine, and I have been impressed with what we have done so far with our bigs, but guys like Embiid, AD, Jokic, and even Giannis are all types we just have no reasonable match-up for.

Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any worthwhile 'bigs' available at the moment. Our cohesiveness also appears to be our team's best attribute thus far, so I doubt we trade any of our top 5.

[Fierce1]

I don't really care one way or another, but I am not sure why people are getting so caught up in the semantics of big man or Center. Right now, the Cs have neither of those in their top 5. It's fine, and I have been impressed with what we have done so far with our bigs, but guys like Embiid, AD, Jokic, and even Giannis are all types we just have no reasonable match-up for.

Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any worthwhile 'bigs' available at the moment. Our cohesiveness also appears to be our team's best attribute thus far, so I doubt we trade any of our top 5.

True.

I don't think Ainge will mess with the chemistry.

That's why the ideal is only a minor move should be made.
It doesn't have to be now or next month.
As long as Ainge will try to find a solution on or before the trade deadline.

It's true right now there's seems to be no one available.
But that could change after a few weeks.

[mrceltics2013]

After analyzing our roster I know for sure this isn’t happening. We just don’t have the salary. I wish we retained Rozier tbh, at least he would have been a trade asset, but then again idk if we would have been able to get KEMBA if we did. 🙄 being a GM is tough lol

[Sophomore]

Center is like the least important position in the league right now. Particularly on offense. If we're going to upgrade it it should be done as cheaply as possible. Not at the cost of any of our top 5, unless someone like KAT is available, which he's not.

If center is the least important position, why is the best player for each of the top teams in the league a dominant big man ??

The top teams in the league are the Bucks, Lakers, us, Heat, Clippers. Their best players are Giannis, LeBron, pick em, Butler, Kawhi. None of those are centers and most are pure wings. You have to go down to the (so far) underachieving Nuggets and Sixers to find a team whose best player is a center and they're right in there with Dallas, Toronto and Houston whose best guys are a PG a PF and another PG.

So 2 out of the 10 top teams have a C as their best player, and none of the top 5. Your argument doesn't hold up.

All the teams you mentioned, except the Celtics, are top 5 in rebounding differential in the NBA this season.

Only the Celts, among the top teams in the league, have a negative rebounding differential.
That means the Celts are getting outrebounded by their opponents almost every game.

We don't need the Cs to have one of the top big men in the NBA.
What the Celts need is just basic rebounding.
Giving the opponents a lot of 2nd chance points will kill the Celts in the playoffs.

Celts can get away with giving the Cavs 18 offensive rebounds, but if they're facing elite teams, it will not end well for the Celts.

Next two games will be interesting. The Pacers are very long - they’ve figured out how to play Sabonis with Turner, and their shortest starter is Brogdon, who’s 6’5” and pretty stout. The following night, after flying back to Boston, they’ll get the even-longer Sixers.

It’d be GREAT to have a better rebounding big. But both of those teams would, in turn, love to have any one of our top 3 wings. every team has holes. We’ll see how big the rebounding hole is for us.

[Jvalin]

It's true right now there's seems to be no one available.
But that could change after a few weeks.

Here are some guys that might be available at the deadline this season:

Myles Turner
Willie Cauley-Stein
Mo Bamba
Tristan Thompson (buyout candidate as well)
Derrick Favors (buyout candidate as well)

I'd be happy with any of them. Wouldn't trade for Thompson or Favors though cause we 'd have to gut our team in the process. I'd only go after them via the buyout market.

[Fafnir]

After analyzing our roster I know for sure this isn’t happening. We just don’t have the salary. I wish we retained Rozier tbh, at least he would have been a trade asset, but then again idk if we would have been able to get KEMBA if we did. 🙄 being a GM is tough lol

We couldn't get Kemba and have signed Rozier. We needed him off the books for space.

[Fierce1]

Center is like the least important position in the league right now. Particularly on offense. If we're going to upgrade it it should be done as cheaply as possible. Not at the cost of any of our top 5, unless someone like KAT is available, which he's not.

If center is the least important position, why is the best player for each of the top teams in the league a dominant big man ??

The top teams in the league are the Bucks, Lakers, us, Heat, Clippers. Their best players are Giannis, LeBron, pick em, Butler, Kawhi. None of those are centers and most are pure wings. You have to go down to the (so far) underachieving Nuggets and Sixers to find a team whose best player is a center and they're right in there with Dallas, Toronto and Houston whose best guys are a PG a PF and another PG.

So 2 out of the 10 top teams have a C as their best player, and none of the top 5. Your argument doesn't hold up.

All the teams you mentioned, except the Celtics, are top 5 in rebounding differential in the NBA this season.

Only the Celts, among the top teams in the league, have a negative rebounding differential.
That means the Celts are getting outrebounded by their opponents almost every game.

We don't need the Cs to have one of the top big men in the NBA.
What the Celts need is just basic rebounding.
Giving the opponents a lot of 2nd chance points will kill the Celts in the playoffs.

Celts can get away with giving the Cavs 18 offensive rebounds, but if they're facing elite teams, it will not end well for the Celts.

Next two games will be interesting. The Pacers are very long - they’ve figured out how to play Sabonis with Turner, and their shortest starter is Brogdon, who’s 6’5” and pretty stout. The following night, after flying back to Boston, they’ll get the even-longer Sixers.

It’d be GREAT to have a better rebounding big. But both of those teams would, in turn, love to have any one of our top 3 wings. every team has holes. We’ll see how big the rebounding hole is for us.

I agree, every team has holes.

But the hole the Celtics have is something fundamental.

Pat Riley said, no rebounds, no rings.

The GSW dynasty for example, they won when they were playing small ball.
But if you look at the stats, they were a decent rebounding team.

Right now the Celts have a negative differential in rebounding.
That means Celts get outrebounded almost every game.

The difference between the GSW dynasty and the current Celts is GSW used big and tall Centers.
GSW had Bogut then Pachulia during their championship run.
Both those Centers are not very productive, but opposing Centers couldn't jump over them or dunk over them like what big opposing Centers are doing to Theis.

No doubt Theis is playing well this season.
It's not his fault that he's only 6-8.

[Fafnir]

The fact that you look at the Cs and the GSW and identify the difference in the Centers they started is nuts.

Almost as bad as you thinking the GSW is some sort of elite rebounding team, they weren't! Here's a run down of last few years champs rebounding ranking

2018-2019 Raptors 13th
2017-2018 GSW 19th
2016-2017 GSW 10th
2015-2016 Cavs 4th
2014-2015 GSW 14th

Boston this year is 18th.

[Somebody]

The fact that you look at the Cs and the GSW and identify the difference in the Centers they started is nuts.

Almost as bad as you thinking the GSW is some sort of elite rebounding team, they weren't! Here's a run down of last few years champs rebounding ranking

2018-2019 Raptors 13th
2017-2018 GSW 19th
2016-2017 GSW 10th
2015-2016 Cavs 4th
2014-2015 GSW 14th

Boston this year is 18th.

But they were all good to great defensive rebounding teams. Great teams secure defensive rebounds to stop the opposition's attack and initiate their own offensive possession consistently after a successful defensive possession. We're a decent defensive rebounding team so we're fine. I think we have all the right ingredients for an improbable playoff run - we have just enough in all the right things with some stuff that teams can't really take away (eg. low TOs).

[Fafnir]

The fact that you look at the Cs and the GSW and identify the difference in the Centers they started is nuts.

Almost as bad as you thinking the GSW is some sort of elite rebounding team, they weren't! Here's a run down of last few years champs rebounding ranking

2018-2019 Raptors 13th
2017-2018 GSW 19th
2016-2017 GSW 10th
2015-2016 Cavs 4th
2014-2015 GSW 14th

Boston this year is 18th.

But they were all good to great defensive rebounding teams. Great teams secure defensive rebounds to stop the opposition's attack and initiate their own offensive possession consistently after a successful defensive possession.

No they weren't!

Defensive rebounding of champs

2018-2019 Raptors 15th
2017-2018 GSW 25th
2016-2017 GSW 29th
2015-2016 Cavs 5th
2014-2015 GSW 18th

[td450]

Center is like the least important position in the league right now. Particularly on offense. If we're going to upgrade it it should be done as cheaply as possible. Not at the cost of any of our top 5, unless someone like KAT is available, which he's not.

If center is the least important position, why is the best player for each of the top teams in the league a dominant big man ??

The top teams in the league are the Bucks, Lakers, us, Heat, Clippers. Their best players are Giannis, LeBron, pick em, Butler, Kawhi. None of those are centers and most are pure wings. You have to go down to the (so far) underachieving Nuggets and Sixers to find a team whose best player is a center and they're right in there with Dallas, Toronto and Houston whose best guys are a PG a PF and another PG.

So 2 out of the 10 top teams have a C as their best player, and none of the top 5. Your argument doesn't hold up.

All the teams you mentioned, except the Celtics, are top 5 in rebounding differential in the NBA this season.

Only the Celts, among the top teams in the league, have a negative rebounding differential.
That means the Celts are getting outrebounded by their opponents almost every game.

We don't need the Cs to have one of the top big men in the NBA.
What the Celts need is just basic rebounding.
Giving the opponents a lot of 2nd chance points will kill the Celts in the playoffs.

Celts can get away with giving the Cavs 18 offensive rebounds, but if they're facing elite teams, it will not end well for the Celts.

Next two games will be interesting. The Pacers are very long - they’ve figured out how to play Sabonis with Turner, and their shortest starter is Brogdon, who’s 6’5” and pretty stout. The following night, after flying back to Boston, they’ll get the even-longer Sixers.

It’d be GREAT to have a better rebounding big. But both of those teams would, in turn, love to have any one of our top 3 wings. every team has holes. We’ll see how big the rebounding hole is for us.

I agree, every team has holes.

But the hole the Celtics have is something fundamental.

Pat Riley said, no rebounds, no rings.

The GSW dynasty for example, they won when they were playing small ball.
But if you look at the stats, they were a decent rebounding team.

Right now the Celts have a negative differential in rebounding.
That means Celts get outrebounded almost every game.

The difference between the GSW dynasty and the current Celts is GSW used big and tall Centers.
GSW had Bogut then Pachulia during their championship run.
Both those Centers are not very productive, but opposing Centers couldn't jump over them or dunk over them like what big opposing Centers are doing to Theis.

No doubt Theis is playing well this season.
It's not his fault that he's only 6-8.

I think you are blaming Theis for our scheme.

This team applies ball pressure and switches more than any team I've ever seen. The upside is that it slows down opposing offenses and reduces open shots, but it does allow big men to establish position for rebounds. Brown and Tatum cover power forwards, but switch out to the perimeter constantly too. Our overall defense is excellent, and will only improve.

If we fixed the rebounding issues, we'd have to give up what makes this team defense special. Theis is an excellent center for this scheme.

[Somebody]

The fact that you look at the Cs and the GSW and identify the difference in the Centers they started is nuts.

Almost as bad as you thinking the GSW is some sort of elite rebounding team, they weren't! Here's a run down of last few years champs rebounding ranking

2018-2019 Raptors 13th
2017-2018 GSW 19th
2016-2017 GSW 10th
2015-2016 Cavs 4th
2014-2015 GSW 14th

Boston this year is 18th.

But they were all good to great defensive rebounding teams. Great teams secure defensive rebounds to stop the opposition's attack and initiate their own offensive possession consistently after a successful defensive possession.

No they weren't!

Defensive rebounding of champs

2018-2019 Raptors 15th
2017-2018 GSW 25th
2016-2017 GSW 29th
2015-2016 Cavs 5th
2014-2015 GSW 18th

Huh? These are the defensive rebounding rankings of those title teams from basketball reference:
2018-2019 Raptors 9th
2017-2018 GSW 6th
2016-2017 GSW 3rd
2015-2016 Cavs 9th
2014-2015 GSW 4th