Author Topic: Will Hayward/Brown make it back to the starting lineup by the end of the season?  (Read 1867 times)

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Offline cman88

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What do you guys think? with Hayward/Brown finding their Rhythm, do you think they will make it back to the starting lineup at some point, or this is the lineup that Brad will run with the whole year?

I do think this lineup works in that it sets guys roles a little bit better. In the starting lineup Kyrie/Tatum know they are the scorers and Morris/Smart bring some added toughness. and on the 2nd unit Hayward/brown know they are the starters.

Offline jambr380

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I think Brad will go with this line-up until it doesn't work anymore.

I am not sure if Hayward and Brown really care (probably a little), but it also doesn't seem quite fair - especially to Brown. If we had come out at the start of the year with Baynes/Brown starting then we would be running essentially the same line-up that we did all of last year (before the Kyrie injury). This proved to be successful.

Hayward clearly wasn't ready to start in Oct and this seemed to cause a ripple effect on some other players, like Brown. With the more offensively inclined Morris starting, it makes more sense to balance him out with Smart. If Baynes were starting, it would make more sense to balance him out with Brown. And Hayward is a recent All-Star who is finally coming back around so he should probably start, too.

If things start to falter a bit (Morris comes back down to earth, Smart punches another picture frame), then I would expect to see the opening night line-up back in place; but, until then, we seem to have a nice balance that is working.

Offline Celtics4ever

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Until good Jaylen, and bad Jaylen become consistent Jaylen I think nope for him.

Offline slamtheking

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does it matter?  the team as currently organized is killing the opposition.  if it's not broke (and it's not), don't fix it.

if this line-up starts faltering badly, then a shake-up would be a likely option taken to rectify the problem.

Offline Jvalin

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I believe our starting lineup come playoff time will be

Smart - Kyrie - Hayward - Tatum - Horford

The way I see it, it's only a matter of time before Hayward gets back to his old self.

Not that confident regarding Brown's situation. Imo, he is a bad fit next to the rest of our starters. In all honesty, I'd be inclined to trade him, although I don't expect Danny to sell low on him.


Offline Surferdad

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This is not really a question that needs to be answered, and certainly not now.  If this 8-game winning streak has proven anything, it's that the team has sufficient depth to weather injuries by slotting in "next man up" which is a current phrase that the players are buying in to.

It comes down to Morris vs. Hayward in the starting lineup, but I see no reason why that should change.

Offline footey

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This starting lineup gets us 10 plus point leads in the first quarter, which is huge. The other did not. Stay with it.

Offline footey

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I believe our starting lineup come playoff time will be

Smart - Kyrie - Hayward - Tatum - Horford

The way I see it, it's only a matter of time before Hayward gets back to his old self.

Not that confident regarding Brown's situation. Imo, he is a bad fit next to the rest of our starters. In all honesty, I'd be inclined to trade him, although I don't expect Danny to sell low on him.

Not if Morris keeps playing this way.

Offline iadera

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Morris has made himself a starter for a longer period. He deserved it. Our 2nd best scorer.

Offline nickagneta

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This lineup is working great. No need to change it. Brown needs to play better but Stevens needs to incorporate him more for use with the second unit. It's one thing to have him stand in a corner and get little touches when on the floor with Kyrie/Hayward/Tatum/Horford. It's a completely different thing to have him to stand in a corner when playing with Rozier/Hayward/Semi/a center(Theis,Williams or Baynes).

Offline mmmmm

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I think Brad will go with this line-up until it doesn't work anymore.

I am not sure if Hayward and Brown really care (probably a little), but it also doesn't seem quite fair - especially to Brown. If we had come out at the start of the year with Baynes/Brown starting then we would be running essentially the same line-up that we did all of last year (before the Kyrie injury). This proved to be successful.

Hayward clearly wasn't ready to start in Oct and this seemed to cause a ripple effect on some other players, like Brown. With the more offensively inclined Morris starting, it makes more sense to balance him out with Smart. If Baynes were starting, it would make more sense to balance him out with Brown. And Hayward is a recent All-Star who is finally coming back around so he should probably start, too.

If things start to falter a bit (Morris comes back down to earth, Smart punches another picture frame), then I would expect to see the opening night line-up back in place; but, until then, we seem to have a nice balance that is working.

I concur with almost everything you say here, except the first line.  Brad's history has been to stick with starting lineups until an active roster change forces his hand.  I.E., trades or injuries.  Obviously he'll return guys like Al or Kyrie if they miss a game or two.  But if you go back and look at the history of the starting lineup ever since Brad came here, he almost never makes changes to it unless someone gets injured or a trade happens.   The only real exception to that has been situational changes to the 5 & 4 (to start 'big' or 'small' in a given game).   Otherwise, he mostly just stays with a starting 5 through thick & thin until someone gets injured.   This has been the case since he came to Boston.

That doesn't mean that his real motive for some changes isn't tactical.  But he has tended to wait until someone gets hurt/sick to actually make the change.   Brown, for example, wasn't actually playing bad at the time Smart took his place.   In fact he was on a hot streak of games shooting ~60%.  And he has continued that streak for the most part since he came back.  But he fell hard on his tailbone and Brad used that opportunity to replace him with Smart.

This isn't necessarily a good philosophy.   It can make players think that they can't afford to miss time due to injuries and thus may hide the fact that they are injured.
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Offline Ogaju

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dont know, but if it aint broke.

Why this preoccupation about starting lineup...basketball is beyond this rigid concept. It isnt soccer where you have a starting 11 and substitutions are permanent. This is a 15 man game with fluid substitutions....the concept of starters vs, bench should not loom this large.

Offline gpap

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Hayward, very good possibility.

Brown, no.

Offline mmmmm

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This lineup is working great. No need to change it. Brown needs to play better but Stevens needs to incorporate him more for use with the second unit. It's one thing to have him stand in a corner and get little touches when on the floor with Kyrie/Hayward/Tatum/Horford. It's a completely different thing to have him to stand in a corner when playing with Rozier/Hayward/Semi/a center(Theis,Williams or Baynes).

The thing is, since around the second week of November -- from before he was injured and lost his spot in the starting lineup -- Brown HAS been playing better.  Starting around then, he changed his offensive profile to go more aggressively at the hoop again and again in each game.  As a result, he's had a solid 46% overall FG% and 54.4% TS% (scoring efficiency) since then and the latter in particular has been a fantastic 59% in December.  Not every game during that stretch has been great, but most of them have.  And even in the couple where his efficiency wasn't great, he was still going into the paint.

He made that change independent of being shifted to the bench. 

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Offline nickagneta

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This lineup is working great. No need to change it. Brown needs to play better but Stevens needs to incorporate him more for use with the second unit. It's one thing to have him stand in a corner and get little touches when on the floor with Kyrie/Hayward/Tatum/Horford. It's a completely different thing to have him to stand in a corner when playing with Rozier/Hayward/Semi/a center(Theis,Williams or Baynes).

The thing is, since around the second week of November -- from before he was injured and lost his spot in the starting lineup -- Brown HAS been playing better.  Starting around then, he changed his offensive profile to go more aggressively at the hoop again and again in each game.  As a result, he's had a solid 46% overall FG% and 54.4% TS% (scoring efficiency) since then and the latter in particular has been a fantastic 59% in December.  Not every game during that stretch has been great, but most of them have.  And even in the couple where his efficiency wasn't great, he was still going into the paint.

He made that change independent of being shifted to the bench.
Don't have to tell me. I have been saying that he has been playing much better than earlier in the season for a while. But, whether due to injury or illness, his last two games have been pretty poor, hence, he has to play better

His last two games he has been shooting 28%. Turned the ball over 2.5 times per game and played some pretty sketchy defense while really forcing the issue with his drives. He had exactly one quarter of good ball in his last two games. Other than that, he has really struggled