The Narrative is Switching toward the Celtics

[DefenseWinsChamps]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/11/20/20972750/boston-celtics-wings-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28088068/do-boston-celtics-embiid-sized-hole-their-lineup

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28100085/nba-power-rankings-week-5-houston-surges-top-3-golden-state-hits-rock-bottom

Media is starting to recognize the Celtics more and more. The narrative is switching in their favor. One important tidbit: The Celtics have the least experienced roster in the NBA, but they still hold the best (or second best) record. That's unbelievable.

[seancally]

Thanks for the links... TP.

This jumped out at me - and I didn't even realize it before: "The team’s top four players in touches last season (Kyrie, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Morris) are gone."

Rozier and Morris were 3rd and 4th in touches last season??!?!?? Well, that's all I need to know about last season.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Thanks for the links... TP.

This jumped out at me - and I didn't even realize it before: "The team’s top four players in touches last season (Kyrie, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Morris) are gone."

Rozier and Morris were 3rd and 4th in touches last season??!?!?? Well, that's all I need to know about last season.

I didn't see that, but that is shocking.

[timpiker]

Thanks for sharing.  I especially liked the ESPN article, I hate to say.  Seems like the biggest issues facing the C's, according to most, is in the playoffs with the likes of Toronto, Milwaukee and Philly's "big men".  My opinion is - the only "big man" in the East I fear is Embiid.  The 76ers' have 2 great players - Embiid and Simmons, but to tell you the truth, I respect neither one.  Why Timpiker, are you crazy?  Well maybe.  They can't shoot.  Get a body in front of them.  Stop Simmons from driving to the lane, put a body on Embiid and keep him away from the rim.  For Embiid, that's why I miss Baynes the most of all the players we lost from last year's team.  For Simmons - use the Greek Freak Killer, Semi.  The fact of the matter is - there isn't a "center" available to defend Gasol, Lopez, Embiid, as the ESPN article writes about.

[Wretch]

It's a little lazy to say the the C's have an Embiid sized hole. Probably 26 other teams don't have an all pro big either. There are 4 or 5 players in the world at the level of Embiid or Giannis. Off the top of my head AD, Jokic and KAT are the only 3 I can think of quickly.  Stevens is doing what he should play to his strengths and let the other team worry about stopping 4 shooters that can also get to the rim, pass rebound and defend multiple positions.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Thanks for the links... TP.

This jumped out at me - and I didn't even realize it before: "The team’s top four players in touches last season (Kyrie, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Morris) are gone."

Rozier and Morris were 3rd and 4th in touches last season??!?!?? Well, that's all I need to know about last season.

Rozier is not surprising, as a PG by default touches the ball A LOT. Marcus Morris though, tells us something.

[Donoghus]

Thanks for the links... TP.

This jumped out at me - and I didn't even realize it before: "The team’s top four players in touches last season (Kyrie, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Morris) are gone."

Rozier and Morris were 3rd and 4th in touches last season??!?!?? Well, that's all I need to know about last season.

Rozier is not surprising, as a PG by default touches the ball A LOT. Marcus Morris though, tells us something.

He screamed "playing for a new contract" last season.

[celticsclay]

Thanks for sharing.  I especially liked the ESPN article, I hate to say.  Seems like the biggest issues facing the C's, according to most, is in the playoffs with the likes of Toronto, Milwaukee and Philly's "big men".  My opinion is - the only "big man" in the East I fear is Embiid.  The 76ers' have 2 great players - Embiid and Simmons, but to tell you the truth, I respect neither one.  Why Timpiker, are you crazy?  Well maybe.  They can't shoot.  Get a body in front of them.  Stop Simmons from driving to the lane, put a body on Embiid and keep him away from the rim.  For Embiid, that's why I miss Baynes the most of all the players we lost from last year's team.  For Simmons - use the Greek Freak Killer, Semi.  The fact of the matter is - there isn't a "center" available to defend Gasol, Lopez, Embiid, as the ESPN article writes about.

Simmons is not a great player right now. His numbers are down across the board and he can't hit a hot past 10 feet. Good player? Absolutely. Great, no not even close. Really would be surprised if he even made the all-star team.

[Moranis]

Morris was the 3rd leading scorer last year on the team and was 4th on the team in just under 28 mpg.  The fact that he touched the ball a lot shouldn't have really been a surprise. 

[mmmmm]

It's a little lazy to say the the C's have an Embiid sized hole. Probably 26 other teams don't have an all pro big either. There are 4 or 5 players in the world at the level of Embiid or Giannis. Off the top of my head AD, Jokic and KAT are the only 3 I can think of quickly.  Stevens is doing what he should play to his strengths and let the other team worry about stopping 4 shooters that can also get to the rim, pass rebound and defend multiple positions.

+1

'Totally agree.

The fact is, while the center position may not be a position of advantage for the Cs, it also isn't really a position of weakness.  Theis is probably able to be more than good enough for the vast majority of match ups and when we need length or size we can put guys out there who are at least 'good enough' to not be a weakness that overshadows the strengths we have a the other 4 positions.

Even the best teams this year do not have all-star level players at all 5 positions.   We are very close (pending Hayward's return) to being able to field that level of player at 4 positions.   Oh yeah, plus having a DPOY-level ball-handler/wing as a 6th man.

[CelticsPoetry]

Thanks for sharing.  I especially liked the ESPN article, I hate to say.  Seems like the biggest issues facing the C's, according to most, is in the playoffs with the likes of Toronto, Milwaukee and Philly's "big men".  My opinion is - the only "big man" in the East I fear is Embiid.  The 76ers' have 2 great players - Embiid and Simmons, but to tell you the truth, I respect neither one.  Why Timpiker, are you crazy?  Well maybe.  They can't shoot.  Get a body in front of them.  Stop Simmons from driving to the lane, put a body on Embiid and keep him away from the rim.  For Embiid, that's why I miss Baynes the most of all the players we lost from last year's team.  For Simmons - use the Greek Freak Killer, Semi.  The fact of the matter is - there isn't a "center" available to defend Gasol, Lopez, Embiid, as the ESPN article writes about.

Simmons is not a great player right now. His numbers are down across the board and he can't hit a hot past 10 feet. Good player? Absolutely. Great, no not even close. Really would be surprised if he even made the all-star team.

Fixed it for you.

[tstorey_97]

This year's team is entirely different. Most importantly they haven't been anointed by the media as title contenders. Expectations can kill you. Belichick spends half of his time trying to manage expectations.

Players/teams that "think they are good" are a recipe for disaster.

Celtics Heat tied for sixth in NBA for defensive PPG

Celtics lead NBA by wide margin in turnovers

This team has meaningful offensive/defensive balance and is young, but, has a lot of playoff experience.

Will have to figure out how to handle the "size" issue discussed here, but taking care of the ball makes up for lack of superstar bigs on the roster.

Two interesting stats:

Celtics lead NBA in TO at 11.8
Celtics lead NBA in "opponents steals" at 5.2

76'ers are 26th in the NBA in TO at 16.8
76'ers are 25th in NBA in opponent's steals at 8.7

Thus, on average Philly is coughing up the ball about 8 more times per game than Boston.

I agree with the size issue and wish Poirier would become good enough to tangle underneath in the playoffs. He has been ineffective up until now.

To address the thread?

Flying under the radar is easy as Irving is gone and Lebron and Kawhi are in the same town 3,000 miles away.
 

[colincb]

This year's team is entirely different. Most importantly they haven't been anointed by the media as title contenders. Expectations can kill you. Belichick spends half of his time trying to manage expectations.

Players/teams that "think they are good" are a recipe for disaster.

Celtics Heat tied for sixth in NBA for defensive PPG

Celtics lead NBA by wide margin in turnovers

This team has meaningful offensive/defensive balance and is young, but, has a lot of playoff experience.

Will have to figure out how to handle the "size" issue discussed here, but taking care of the ball makes up for lack of superstar bigs on the roster.

Two interesting stats:

Celtics lead NBA in TO at 11.8
Celtics lead NBA in "opponents steals" at 5.2

76'ers are 26th in the NBA in TO at 16.8
76'ers are 25th in NBA in opponent's steals at 8.7

Thus, on average Philly is coughing up the ball about 8 more times per game than Boston.

I agree with the size issue and wish Poirier would become good enough to tangle underneath in the playoffs. He has been ineffective up until now.

To address the thread?

Flying under the radar is easy as Irving is gone and Lebron and Kawhi are in the same town 3,000 miles away.

An opponent's steal is also counted in a team's turnovers along with bad passes, etc.  Thus, the difference between the two teams is 16.8-11.8=5.

Your point still stands. It's a big problem for the 76ers. 5 possessions = 5+points on average,

[PhoSita]

I think it's misleading to say the Celts have the least experienced roster in the NBA.

How many playoffs games do the top 6 guys in the rotation have under their belts?

Even Kanter has been to the conference finals multiple times.


Heck, Kemba is the best player on the team and probably has the least experience in terms of playing in big (NBA) games.  He and Hayward might lack for playoff experience, but they both played in huge games in college, which means at least a little bit.

[seancally]

Morris was the 3rd leading scorer last year on the team and was 4th on the team in just under 28 mpg.  The fact that he touched the ball a lot shouldn't have really been a surprise.

No, maybe not a surprise, but it's still a little jarring to see it spelled out like that.