Revisiting Last Fall

[Moranis]

The Ime year they were expected to go 59-23? Who was expecting that? The team was coming off a .500 season and first round exit.

That team then started the season 18-21, so being able to get to 51-31 (finishing 33-10) was actually super impressive.

Brad made it to the ECF several times with those players. Ime took over a talented team, they just needed a new voice. As we are seeing in Houston, Udoka is an average coach.

They were a .500 team that had plateaued and had roster flaws. Things were not trending in the right direction.  The combination of roster moves and a new approach by Udoka breathed life into that team.  And even that had growing pains & took time during the '21-22 season.

Was it a new approach or just more talent?  The team got a lot better after adding White and once the main core got healthy.  The 36-36 covid team also had a lot of injuries as only 3 guys played more than 58 games, rookie PP led the team with 66, Tatum had 64, and Grant had 63. Tristan Thompson was the starting center for that team. Semi had the 7th most starts.  The talent was just lacking.  Brad took over for Danny and immediately re-acquired Horford, Schroder and then White replaced broken down Kemba, Smart was much healthier, Brown missed 13 of the first 27 games, and then missed 3 games the rest of the year.  The 21 team just lacked talent and was very injured.  They had more talent and health in 22 (as they did in 2020 when they were 4th in ORTG and DRTG and were in the ECF in the bunble).  2021 was a weird covid shortened season.  Basing any comparisons on that season just doesnt make a lot of sense.  Ime did get them to the finals though. Can't take that away, I'm just more and more convinced many coaches could have done that especially with the injuries to Middleton and Herro in those series Boston won in 7.  I'm still p---ed about game 4 in the finals when Boston was leading at home 94-90 with under 5 minutes to go and lost 107-97. 

[nickagneta]

Mazz came in and Boston became the best offense in the sport and he maintained a top 5 defense.  Under Ime they were 7th in offensive net rating (2nd defensive).  That Ime year, the expected W/L was 59-23, yet they were 51-31.  Mazz's 1st year with a much worse assistant staff, they were 2nd in offensive earing and 3rd for defense.  Their expected W/L and the actual record were identical at 57-25.  Mazz's 2nd year, they win the title. Either 1st offense and 3rd defense.  Expected W/L was 66-16 vs. actual of 64-18. Last year, 2nd and 5th, 62-20 vs  61-21.  This year, without Tatum, 2nd and 4th, 59 expected, 56 actuall.  Without Tatum, without Jrue, without Al, without Kornet. 

Mazz is an excellent coach at getting the best out of a team.  He has consistently had a top flight offense and defense.  His systems work.  The team over achieves while consistently having a ton of roster turnover and injuries.  Is he the best coach at drawing up a play on the fly, no, but his system works when the players execute.  And the players execute the vast majority of the time.

Excellent and TP.

But, you left out Mazzulla and his staff are some of the best in the league at developing talent. In today's cost conscious NBA, that is huge and one of the reasons for this team's successes. White, Hauser, Pritchard, Kornet, Walsh, Scheierman, Gonzalez, Queta and Harper Jr have all taken major steps forward in the development as players under the time Mazzulla  has been head coach.

And as for the "anyone could have won with that talent" critique, yet Ime didn't. We also heard the same criticism about KC Jones and Doc Rivers. Yet, their players hail those coaches as being absolutely necessary to winning their titles.

Joe is not perfect. But he is one of the best basketball coaches in the NBA, maybe top 2 to 3. Enjoy him while he is here because you might get a truly crappy coach replacing him if he goes.