Brad Stevens is confused

[celtics4ever33]

Rotations, timeouts, lineups.

The guy has too many ego's , too many of the same players , he is over thinking , and the game plan has not changed, shoot 3's , and let Kyrie and Tatum play isolation hero ball.

This effectively freezes and destroys chemistry with two rhythm players in Brown and Hayward. They are suffering playing this style of ball.

Rozier at this point is just trying to be a scorer, but the chemistry issues and his erratic efficiency is just further making it seem like they are way out of sync.

Horford has elected to pass up the 1 foot shot for a pass out to the three point line.

The three point shots being hoisted up has also effected Horfford's offense and defensive awareness. Hes pretty confused out there as well.


Stevens thought he could continue coaching this team the same way as last year. HE also thought he could even go further by maximizing the 3 point shots. It has failed.

I really believe if Kyrie was still out and Hayward was still out or playing short minutes that this team would have the same record or even better.

Not a knock on Kyrie who is a beast and easily the best player on the team, but it goes to show that Stevens along with the plethora of scoring options that this team is way off in rhythm.

Reminds me of the Mavericks when they aquired Antoine Walker to add to finley dirk and nash van exel etc.

[BirdLewisBias]

BINGO!!

I've been trying to tell people the lineup is whack and needs to be changed. Stevens is trying to please too many players.

We have too many low energy, quiet guys...we need more dogs. Our offense is college level and doesn't require much defense to defend it. It's just dribble handoff, read and react and jack a 3. Did you see how the ball constantly moved for the Jazz, they created mismatches and then dumped it to Rudy.

It looks like these guys are only going to play when it's a big game. Too many laid back attitudes.

I'm questioning can Stevens take this team to another level. It was all good when we were the hunter, but now we're the hunted. It takes a different attitude and different coaching.

[IDreamCeltics]

Rotations, timeouts, lineups.

The guy has too many ego's , too many of the same players , he is over thinking , and the game plan has not changed, shoot 3's , and let Kyrie and Tatum play isolation hero ball.

This effectively freezes and destroys chemistry with two rhythm players in Brown and Hayward. They are suffering playing this style of ball.

Rozier at this point is just trying to be a scorer, but the chemistry issues and his erratic efficiency is just further making it seem like they are way out of sync.

Horford has elected to pass up the 1 foot shot for a pass out to the three point line.

The three point shots being hoisted up has also effected Horfford's offense and defensive awareness. Hes pretty confused out there as well.


Stevens thought he could continue coaching this team the same way as last year. HE also thought he could even go further by maximizing the 3 point shots. It has failed.

I really believe if Kyrie was still out and Hayward was still out or playing short minutes that this team would have the same record or even better.

Not a knock on Kyrie who is a beast and easily the best player on the team, but it goes to show that Stevens along with the plethora of scoring options that this team is way off in rhythm.

Reminds me of the Mavericks when they aquired Antoine Walker to add to finley dirk and nash van exel etc.

I really like that Stevens is spreading out minutes right now.  If you look at the Jazz, they played Donovan Mitchell 36 minutes last night.

Kyrie and Hayward lead the Celtics in minutes with 30, and 26 respectively.

Stevens is just playing the long game and making sure his best players are still playing when the games matter.

[celtics4ever33]

Rotations, timeouts, lineups.

The guy has too many ego's , too many of the same players , he is over thinking , and the game plan has not changed, shoot 3's , and let Kyrie and Tatum play isolation hero ball.

This effectively freezes and destroys chemistry with two rhythm players in Brown and Hayward. They are suffering playing this style of ball.

Rozier at this point is just trying to be a scorer, but the chemistry issues and his erratic efficiency is just further making it seem like they are way out of sync.

Horford has elected to pass up the 1 foot shot for a pass out to the three point line.

The three point shots being hoisted up has also effected Horfford's offense and defensive awareness. Hes pretty confused out there as well.


Stevens thought he could continue coaching this team the same way as last year. HE also thought he could even go further by maximizing the 3 point shots. It has failed.

I really believe if Kyrie was still out and Hayward was still out or playing short minutes that this team would have the same record or even better.

Not a knock on Kyrie who is a beast and easily the best player on the team, but it goes to show that Stevens along with the plethora of scoring options that this team is way off in rhythm.

Reminds me of the Mavericks when they aquired Antoine Walker to add to finley dirk and nash van exel etc.

I really like that Stevens is spreading out minutes right now.  If you look at the Jazz, they played Donovan Mitchell 36 minutes last night.

Kyrie and Hayward lead the Celtics in minutes with 30, and 26 respectively.

Stevens is just playing the long game and making sure his best players are still playing when the games matter.

True, but the games do matter, and also the minute spreading is creating confusion among the players.

One of these days he is going to have to play somebody more than the other so we can see what we will be running with.

[knuckleballer]

Rotations, timeouts, lineups.

The guy has too many ego's , too many of the same players , he is over thinking , and the game plan has not changed, shoot 3's , and let Kyrie and Tatum play isolation hero ball.

This effectively freezes and destroys chemistry with two rhythm players in Brown and Hayward. They are suffering playing this style of ball.

Rozier at this point is just trying to be a scorer, but the chemistry issues and his erratic efficiency is just further making it seem like they are way out of sync.

Horford has elected to pass up the 1 foot shot for a pass out to the three point line.

The three point shots being hoisted up has also effected Horfford's offense and defensive awareness. Hes pretty confused out there as well.


Stevens thought he could continue coaching this team the same way as last year. HE also thought he could even go further by maximizing the 3 point shots. It has failed.

I really believe if Kyrie was still out and Hayward was still out or playing short minutes that this team would have the same record or even better.

Not a knock on Kyrie who is a beast and easily the best player on the team, but it goes to show that Stevens along with the plethora of scoring options that this team is way off in rhythm.

Reminds me of the Mavericks when they aquired Antoine Walker to add to finley dirk and nash van exel etc.

I really like that Stevens is spreading out minutes right now.  If you look at the Jazz, they played Donovan Mitchell 36 minutes last night.

Kyrie and Hayward lead the Celtics in minutes with 30, and 26 respectively.

Stevens is just playing the long game and making sure his best players are still playing when the games matter.

True, but the games do matter, and also the minute spreading is creating confusion among the players.

One of these days he is going to have to play somebody more than the other so we can see what we will be running with.

He tightened up the rotation in playoffs last year and he will again this year.  I think it's good that he's not wearing out Kyrie and other starters while giving other guys a chance to play.  It's a long season and we'll need contributions from everyone.

As far as his coaching, there is way too much standing around and outside shooting.  They need to attack the rim more.  It was driving Heinsohn nuts last night.  I don't know if that's Stevens's game plan or the players' lack of execution.  Either way it's on Stevens to fix.  I don't think it's a result of an ego problem from the players.  If anything, they need to be more selfish.  Hayward is passing up too many shots near the rim when he drives and kicks it out.  The next time I see Horford pass up a layup to kick it out for a 3, I may tear my hair out.  Tatum is getting more aggressive going to the rim, but is still taking too many early clock iso midrange shots.  Brown is totally lost right now.  Stevens has a lot of work to do and he clearly recognizes that.

[PhoSita]

Stevens uses the first part of the season for experimentation.

I'll be worried if Stevens still seems uncertain in February. For now, I'm laying off.

[wiley]

Stevens uses the first part of the season for experimentation.

I'll be worried if Stevens still seems uncertain in February. For now, I'm laying off.

yup....still tinkering.

[kraidstar]

Eh, Stevens would look a lot less "confused" if the C's didn't shoot 5/33 from 3 and 11/20 from the line. Those numbers are difficult to achieve.

It's a make/miss league. Guys need to stop choking shots.

IMO the ball movement and general cohesiveness are vastly improved the last few games over what we saw out West. Guys are putting too much pressure on themselves and are bricking shots they should make. This team is loaded. Things will fall into place.

[coco]

It is hard to find a rhythm playing in 6 minutes spurts.  Yep, as good as BS is with rotations, it is hard; especially when Jaylen, Rozzier and Morris are basically playing for extension/contracts.  And Hayward and Tatum can't figure out when to shoot the ball.

..the pecking order is kind of messed up.  You get passed Kyrie, and no one is claiming 2nd option.  They need to figure a pecking order.  Should be Kyrie, Hayward, Hofford/Tatum, but with Hayward still trying to find his shots and legs - the pecking order is, as they say, for the picking.   

[Kuberski33]

To quote Doc Rivers- "It's a make/miss league". And with some of the clankfests this team has put on this season, it's hard to look like a good coach.

I find it interesting that Brad said afterward that the game honors toughness.  They've got some pretty tough minded players on the roster but more than a couple maybe have forgotten what got them where they are.

The hardest thing to do (I think) running an NBA team is not overreact.  Fortunately Danny is pretty good at that. But I'm sure the thought of making some roster changes has crossed his mind the past couple of weeks.

One thing I do notice is that teams seem to be packing the lane against them - basically to encourage 3 point shots and discourage driving.  So far it has been an effective strategy.  Personally I think you have live with Tatum and Brown's inconsistencies right now. And the same with Hayward's long term recovery and then maybe tweak what they're doing offensively to better reflect where they are currently as a team.

i.e. let Hayward keep doing what he's doing (acting more like a point forward), cut Brown's minutes for a while and maybe give Wannamaker a look with some of Rozier's minutes as Rozier has been terrible for the most part since the season started.

[satch]

In post game interview CBS states he went with several end of the bench players because he was looking for energy. Is that code for starters were not playing hard??

[makaveli]

i understand the frustration, i understand that we are still a new team, new group of guys.

the rotation and roles are being questioned and established

 BUT

use common sence please

last year in the finals game 7, we shot 7-39 from 3, this year we nearly broke the all time record with 24 3's and barely got away with the game

this team is better than just being one of those "live by the 3 die by the 3"
yes if it is open, shoot it, but don't pass on layups and force transition 3's, if you are strugglin' or scracth that, EVER

i am still 100% confident in danny, brad, gordon and this team in general, but the sooner we get these things right the better for all

[Big333223]

It feels like a problem of roles. The guys are getting good shots and aren't making them because no one knows when they're supposed to shoot.

Kyrie is the first option and then... Is Hayward #2 or is that Tatum? If those two aren't hitting or aren't being aggressive enough, does it fall to Al to be more aggressive? But Jaylen averaged 18ppg in the playoffs so even though his role should be basically the same as it was last year (drives in transition, cuts off the ball, spot up in the corner) when no one else is hitting does he have to start doing more?

Kyrie seems to have settled into his role and the Marcuses know what they're on the floor to do. Everyone else seems confused.

I think the upside is, if they work through this and get it all figured out, they're going to be rock solid. It's a question now, though, if they get there without having to make a roster change.

[PAOBoston]

In post game interview CBS states he went with several end of the bench players because he was looking for energy. Is that code for starters were not playing hard??

One of my big fears was playing with expectations and coasting during year. I've gotten a sense of that with their "soft" play. They don't seem to play motivated all the time. They need to learn to play with those expectations.

[Celtics4ever]

I've gotten a sense of that with their "soft" play. They don't seem to play motivated all the time. They need to learn to play with those expectations.

I feel the same.