Boston Celtics vs OKC Thunder Scrimmage #1 7/24/20

[Monkhouse]

Welcome to Celticscstrong, the home of overreactionary hot takes...

 

Anyways, I liked what everyone brought tonight honestly. It's LITERALLY scrimmage game, like it has absolutely no factor or is as meaningless as they come.

Are you kidding? They haven't won a game in over 4 months still. Pathetic.

 

FIRE BRAD STEVENS!

GET TO THE CHI-POTLEEEEE!!!! (Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.)


 

[Monkhouse]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Imagine what you would be saying if he was only hitting 23% of them.   

And at 14.6 MPG? I'll definitely take that.

[keevsnick]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Imagine what you would be saying if he was only hitting 23% of them.   

And at 14.6 MPG? I'll definitely take that.

I mean we have to, the C's have no other choice. my point is there is a very real chance he just isnt a playoff caliber player. Its not just about how well you shoot, it whether you are good enough to actually have some gravity out there. Semi remains to be seen.

[gouki88]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that he’s now an above average chance to hit a 3 when taken. That’s all he needs to be

[hpantazo]

are there box scores from these scrimmages anywhere?

[keevsnick]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that he’s now an above average chance to hit a 3 when taken. That’s all he needs to be

I mean no, not really. If you dont think volume matters when determining how good of a shooter someone is or whether they get covered or not in the playoffs then I dont know what to tell you. I mean you have to be able to make it for sure, but a low volume is generally a indictor of a far more limited 3 pnt shooter which is turn limits usefulness to the offense.

He literally made all of 8 more three pointers this year than last year, an unlucky bounce on just 4 of those and he's a below average shooter. He average all of 5.7 minutes a game in the playoffs last year.

I mean he may very well be a solid contributor this post season, but its not like a given or anything.

[gouki88]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that he’s now an above average chance to hit a 3 when taken. That’s all he needs to be

I mean no, not really. If you dont think volume matters when determining how good of a shooter someone is or whether they get covered or not in the playoffs then I dont know what to tell you.

I mean he may very well be a solid contributor this post season, but its not like a given or anything.

That’s not at all what I’m saying. My response (to a poster that wasn’t yourself) was concerned with the provably wrong statement that Ojeleye is not “decent” from 3. Last two seasons, sure, but now he’s an above average 3 point shooter.

The idea that teams don’t defend him on the arc is just untrue.

He’s also at career best marks for EFG%, FT%, TS%, turnovers and fouls. He’s slowly trimming away all the rough edges around his game.

Championship teams need guys like this. Raptors had Powell (who has since blossomed without Kawhi), Cavs had Shumpert, Heat had Battier, etc etc. Guys who don’t need much of the ball, but who can hit threes and defend multiple spots

[keevsnick]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that he’s now an above average chance to hit a 3 when taken. That’s all he needs to be

I mean no, not really. If you dont think volume matters when determining how good of a shooter someone is or whether they get covered or not in the playoffs then I dont know what to tell you.

I mean he may very well be a solid contributor this post season, but its not like a given or anything.

That’s not at all what I’m saying. My response (to a poster that wasn’t yourself) was concerned with the provably wrong statement that Ojeleye is not “decent” from 3. Last two seasons, sure, but now he’s an above average 3 point shooter.

The idea that teams don’t defend him on the arc is just untrue.

He’s also at career best marks for EFG%, FT%, TS%, turnovers and fouls. He’s slowly trimming away all the rough edges around his game.

Championship teams need guys like this. Raptors had Powell (who has since blossomed without Kawhi), Cavs had Shumpert, Heat had Battier, etc etc. Guys who don’t need much of the ball, but who can hit threes and defend multiple spots

Ya i get it man, my point is we dont actually KNOW that's true. The sample sizes you are working with are just so small that it would not at all be surprising if he shot 30% from 3 in the playoffs. Normal Powell shot 40% on higher volume last year, Shumpert shot similarly on twice the volume during the Cavs run before the playoffs. Battier again similar shooting on almost twice the volume during those seasons.

Semi may be a playoff rotation piece, but the fact he kind of HAS TO BE is concerning. Ideally he's situational guy.

[RodyTur10]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that he’s now an above average chance to hit a 3 when taken. That’s all he needs to be

I mean no, not really. If you dont think volume matters when determining how good of a shooter someone is or whether they get covered or not in the playoffs then I dont know what to tell you.

I mean he may very well be a solid contributor this post season, but its not like a given or anything.

That’s not at all what I’m saying. My response (to a poster that wasn’t yourself) was concerned with the provably wrong statement that Ojeleye is not “decent” from 3. Last two seasons, sure, but now he’s an above average 3 point shooter.

The idea that teams don’t defend him on the arc is just untrue.

He’s also at career best marks for EFG%, FT%, TS%, turnovers and fouls. He’s slowly trimming away all the rough edges around his game.

Championship teams need guys like this. Raptors had Powell (who has since blossomed without Kawhi), Cavs had Shumpert, Heat had Battier, etc etc. Guys who don’t need much of the ball, but who can hit threes and defend multiple spots

We have contrary opinions on Ojeleye if you think that Ojeleye is on a similar level as low-volume guys as Shumpert or Battier. I hope you're right, but I really think Ojeleye will be left open in playoff-games and that his release is too slow and that he's not good enough of a shooter to make defenses pay. Instead I think Ojeleye's presence really hurts the offense and the spacing for our ball handlers.

[gouki88]

I thought this before the scrimmage, but seeing the team play again after a long hiatus really drives it home for me ---

This team has 8, maybe 9 playoff rotation worthy players on the roster assuming everybody is healthy.

Brad is going to have to fight against his own inclinations and keep a short rotation once these games actually matter.

Brad usually does shorten the rotation come playoffs time, so if we stay healthy (huge if), I think our nine man rotation will be fine.

Unfortunately I only have 7 reliable guys. Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as the best 4 players. Smart and Theis are good rotation guys and Kanter as situational player is useful.

I'm hoping Robert Williams can be a solid back-up big, but he he's still very inexperienced and missed half a year of play. Don't like Wanamaker to play significant minutes again. Neither do I think Ojeleye or Grant Williams can be trusted with meaningful minutes.

Langford is a huge question mark. Don't believe Edwards (I'm sorry, but he's more than awful), Green or Poirier will have a future in Boston.

Let's say R.Williams will hold his own, then we could maximize minutes like this:

Walker 36, Smart 32, Brown 40, Tatum 40, Hayward 36, Theis 24, R.Williams 16, Kanter 16.

As I have said all season our bench is soo thin that only one injury derails our rotation.

I think both Ojeleye and G. Will can give us some good minutes, because they have shown the ability to do so. Brad seems to trust Ojeleye, so hopefully he can give us some good minutes. We might vitally need it.

I agree with you on that, but every shot he takes I expect him to miss (and too often it actually does). If Ojeleye could be decent from three and actually demand enough respect to be even guarded then it would change a lot.

Still believe that the Celtics with Walker, Brown, Tatum and Hayward as your top 4 guys (as players and offensive options) should be a far above average shooting team. And they're NOT. I think the offensive system and the supporting rotation is just not good enough.

Semi is shooting 37% from three this season

On a staggering 1.6 attempts per game.

Completely irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that he’s now an above average chance to hit a 3 when taken. That’s all he needs to be

I mean no, not really. If you dont think volume matters when determining how good of a shooter someone is or whether they get covered or not in the playoffs then I dont know what to tell you.

I mean he may very well be a solid contributor this post season, but its not like a given or anything.

That’s not at all what I’m saying. My response (to a poster that wasn’t yourself) was concerned with the provably wrong statement that Ojeleye is not “decent” from 3. Last two seasons, sure, but now he’s an above average 3 point shooter.

The idea that teams don’t defend him on the arc is just untrue.

He’s also at career best marks for EFG%, FT%, TS%, turnovers and fouls. He’s slowly trimming away all the rough edges around his game.

Championship teams need guys like this. Raptors had Powell (who has since blossomed without Kawhi), Cavs had Shumpert, Heat had Battier, etc etc. Guys who don’t need much of the ball, but who can hit threes and defend multiple spots

Ya i get it man, my point is we dont actually KNOW that's true. The sample sizes you are working with are just so small that it would not at all be surprising if he shot 30% from 3 in the playoffs. Normal Powell shot 40% on higher volume last year, Shumpert shot similarly on twice the volume during the Cavs run before the playoffs. Battier again similar shooting on almost twice the volume during those seasons.

Semi may be a playoff rotation piece, but the fact he kind of HAS TO BE is concerning. Ideally he's situational guy.

I don’t know how much of a necessity it is. We’ve got 3 bench pieces clearly ahead of him (Smart, Kanter and Wanamaker), so barring a Kemba flare up or Hayward being gone for too long I doubt we’ll see much of him unless we throw bodies at Giannis.

Also, the volume is definitely helpful, but I’m not sure it’s the only thing. In the Heat’s second title run Battier shot 29% on 4 3PA’s a game. Is that preferable to ~2 3PA’s a game at a much higher clip? I don’t think so.

[Monkhouse]

Lol at all the Ojeleye hate.

Tremont Waters reminds me eerily of what Phil Pressey could've been...

 

Loved watching him play, too bad he just wasn't a great shooter/scorer, and very undersized.

That being said, I'm ready to see what Waters can bring to the table over Wanamaker.

[Monkhouse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haQmLB_r1P0

Goodnight my sweet Prince. 

[gouki88]

Lol at all the Ojeleye hate.

Tremont Waters reminds me eerily of what Phil Pressey could've been...

 

Loved watching him play, too bad he just wasn't a great shooter/scorer, and very undersized.

That being said, I'm ready to see what Waters can bring to the table over Wanamaker.

The failure of Phil Pressey was IMO enhanced by how good his dad was for a while in the 80s.

But yeah, I like Waters more than Wanamaker. Tunnel vision and a lack of shot making ability, and takes lots of plays off on defence

[SparzWizard]

Alright, I missed the game. Who are we trading now?

[gouki88]

Alright, I missed the game. Who are we trading now?

Probably everyone