Sean Williams?

[Boris Badenov]

I watched him play a lot at BC, he's better than Perk last year offensively, and defense wise his crazy athleticism is unique and highly useful in the Celtics switch everything schemes.

Well, athleticism is all good and well, but is he smart enough (or does he work hard enough) to learn all of the correct rotations?  Because learning them is a prerequisite for playing time for the C's.

There has been reports in some of the Jersey papers that Sean Williams has had difficulty learning NJ's plays, and that, that has hurt his progress. There were reports of this in both his rookie season and near the start of this season.

Powe had trouble for quite a while picking up plays as well.  Remember he was benched last year for missing defensive rotations.  He's even missed some defensive rotations this year which caused Doc to replace him with BBD (who btw picked up the rotations his rookie year).   

All that being said, it is not uncommon for it to take young players some time to pick up rotations.  I'd love to have Williams.

I think people underestimate just how complex it is to play defense on the current Celtics team. Take a few minutes in the next game and instead of watching the ball, watch one Celtics player on defense. It isn't uncommon to see four or five switches per player each time the other team has the ball. Not only that, but their spacing off the ball to cut off driving and passing angles is impeccable. If one guy is out of place by a foot, it doesn't work and that guy can be attacked.

If Sean Williams can't pick up NJ's rotations, how could we expect him to come in mid-season, with virtually no practice, and pick up ours?

[Chris]

I watched him play a lot at BC, he's better than Perk last year offensively, and defense wise his crazy athleticism is unique and highly useful in the Celtics switch everything schemes.

Well, athleticism is all good and well, but is he smart enough (or does he work hard enough) to learn all of the correct rotations?  Because learning them is a prerequisite for playing time for the C's.

There has been reports in some of the Jersey papers that Sean Williams has had difficulty learning NJ's plays, and that, that has hurt his progress. There were reports of this in both his rookie season and near the start of this season.

Powe had trouble for quite a while picking up plays as well.  Remember he was benched last year for missing defensive rotations.  He's even missed some defensive rotations this year which caused Doc to replace him with BBD (who btw picked up the rotations his rookie year).   

All that being said, it is not uncommon for it to take young players some time to pick up rotations.  I'd love to have Williams.

I think people underestimate just how complex it is to play defense on the current Celtics team. Take a few minutes in the next game and instead of watching the ball, watch one Celtics player on defense. It isn't uncommon to see four or five switches per player each time the other team has the ball. Not only that, but their spacing off the ball to cut off driving and passing angles is impeccable. If one guy is out of place by a foot, it doesn't work and that guy can be attacked.

If Sean Williams can't pick up NJ's rotations, how could we expect him to come in mid-season, with virtually no practice, and pick up ours?

The Celtics defensive system is not that much more complicated than the Nets, or many other teams (in fact many teams run nearly the exact same system...I forget who devised it, but there is a large coaching tree who run the same system.  Might have been Pat Riley).  The difference is the C's execute it better.

But anyways, this is exactly why any trade for a guy like Williams (or almost any young guys for that matter) would need to be with an eye to the future.  It would just be a bonus if he could help the team this year.

[moiso]

I watched him play a lot at BC, he's better than Perk last year offensively, and defense wise his crazy athleticism is unique and highly useful in the Celtics switch everything schemes.

Well, athleticism is all good and well, but is he smart enough (or does he work hard enough) to learn all of the correct rotations?  Because learning them is a prerequisite for playing time for the C's.

There has been reports in some of the Jersey papers that Sean Williams has had difficulty learning NJ's plays, and that, that has hurt his progress. There were reports of this in both his rookie season and near the start of this season.

Powe had trouble for quite a while picking up plays as well.  Remember he was benched last year for missing defensive rotations.  He's even missed some defensive rotations this year which caused Doc to replace him with BBD (who btw picked up the rotations his rookie year).   

All that being said, it is not uncommon for it to take young players some time to pick up rotations.  I'd love to have Williams.

I think people underestimate just how complex it is to play defense on the current Celtics team. Take a few minutes in the next game and instead of watching the ball, watch one Celtics player on defense. It isn't uncommon to see four or five switches per player each time the other team has the ball. Not only that, but their spacing off the ball to cut off driving and passing angles is impeccable. If one guy is out of place by a foot, it doesn't work and that guy can be attacked.

If Sean Williams can't pick up NJ's rotations, how could we expect him to come in mid-season, with virtually no practice, and pick up ours?

The Celtics defensive system is not that much more complicated than the Nets, or many other teams (in fact many teams run nearly the exact same system...I forget who devised it, but there is a large coaching tree who run the same system.  Might have been Pat Riley).  The difference is the C's execute it better.

But anyways, this is exactly why any trade for a guy like Williams (or almost any young guys for that matter) would need to be with an eye to the future.  It would just be a bonus if he could help the team this year.

Ainge won't make any trades with an eye to the future this year.  Any deal will be to win a championship this year.

[Brendan]

I don't think BBD is very good, so I guess I'm not concerned losing him from the rotation. You'd end up seeing more small ball with Pierce at the PF and Powe playing more, both good things IMO.

I disagree about Ainge being unwilling to make a lateral trade that improves the future. The problem with what I proposed is that Scal is actually the backup SF at this point too, so you'd be losing two of your top 5.

Assuming they bring in a solid vet Center, BBD is done anyways.

[Boris Badenov]

I watched him play a lot at BC, he's better than Perk last year offensively, and defense wise his crazy athleticism is unique and highly useful in the Celtics switch everything schemes.

Well, athleticism is all good and well, but is he smart enough (or does he work hard enough) to learn all of the correct rotations?  Because learning them is a prerequisite for playing time for the C's.

There has been reports in some of the Jersey papers that Sean Williams has had difficulty learning NJ's plays, and that, that has hurt his progress. There were reports of this in both his rookie season and near the start of this season.

Powe had trouble for quite a while picking up plays as well.  Remember he was benched last year for missing defensive rotations.  He's even missed some defensive rotations this year which caused Doc to replace him with BBD (who btw picked up the rotations his rookie year).   

All that being said, it is not uncommon for it to take young players some time to pick up rotations.  I'd love to have Williams.

I think people underestimate just how complex it is to play defense on the current Celtics team. Take a few minutes in the next game and instead of watching the ball, watch one Celtics player on defense. It isn't uncommon to see four or five switches per player each time the other team has the ball. Not only that, but their spacing off the ball to cut off driving and passing angles is impeccable. If one guy is out of place by a foot, it doesn't work and that guy can be attacked.

If Sean Williams can't pick up NJ's rotations, how could we expect him to come in mid-season, with virtually no practice, and pick up ours?

The Celtics defensive system is not that much more complicated than the Nets, or many other teams (in fact many teams run nearly the exact same system...I forget who devised it, but there is a large coaching tree who run the same system.  Might have been Pat Riley).  The difference is the C's execute it better.

But anyways, this is exactly why any trade for a guy like Williams (or almost any young guys for that matter) would need to be with an eye to the future.  It would just be a bonus if he could help the team this year.

I guess what I meant to say is that the standard of execution is extremely high. And, I think that leads everyone to rely on each other a little more - so when someone misses a play or is even out of position, it can really create problems.

I'm still holding out hope for a vet.

[QuinielaBox]

I mentioned this on my league round-up.

Sean Williams sounds like he is far from ready to contribute to any NBA roster let alone the defending champions.

Never mind.