Kyrie: We Needed Williams Last Night

[ozgod]

Interesting quote in this morning’s Herald. Kyrie points out lack of inside defensive presence in last night’s Spurs game, and specifically mentioned Williams (not Baynes) as being missed, and compared the Spurs interior length being very difficult, with Aldridge and Poetl causing problems.

A not too thinly veiled plea to Brad to go bigger at the 5 position when Williams returns? Obviously nothing could be done last night with our injuries, but this is not the first time when we couldn’t stop guys from going to the hole. More NBA teams seem to be taking advantage of tightening 3 point defense of Celtics all season by doing this.

Perhaps someone can post the quote.

When I watched him being interviewed it seemed very clear he was crying out for more size at the 5. Compared the difficulty for him trying to drive to the rim with Poetl and Aldridge there vs how easy the Spurs were doing it against them.

[SHAQATTACK]

how about the disappearing act of the other max player .....could have used a little effort from him too?

[10610786d]

I would echo the sentiments about Horford. When he plays PF, he's one of the best in the league. When he plays C, he's still a good player but noticeably worse. This has been going on for years. Whatever benefit we get from putting another wing on the floor, it's negated by playing Al out of position. So stop doing it.

I realize injuries have made this more difficult, but we should absolutely play both Williams and Baynes at C for the majority of games when they are both healthy, and keep an eye on the buyout market.

Irving (30) / Brown (24) / Tatum (30) / Horford (28) / C (24)
Rozier (20) / Smart (22) / Hayward (20) / Morris (26) / C (16)

That should be our rotation, more or less, if we want to win games. One of those guys in the 2nd unit isn't going to like their minutes. Tough. They don't all add up to 48 because the guards are a *little bit* interchangeable and 8 minutes of a smaller center won't kill us. But trying to be the Warriors with our roster is killing us.

Wait, how is Horf at C noticeably worse? He has matchup issues with burly centers like Drummond sometimes, but our offense goes on turbo with him stretching the floor as a center, and his switch-ability helps our defense a lot too.

Regarding the OP, also hurts to have Horford on a minutes restriction.

[Ogaju]

I keep saying this basketball is still a big man's game. Playing Williams and center is just a matter of TIME, no pun intended.

[Celtics4ever]

Williams gives us a different look an option.   I am sure guys like playing with him because he is such a lob threat that the other teams D plays more around the basketball and creates open shots.   He is a great shot blocker but he still has a ways to go in many areas of the game.