Moving fwd who should start? Amir or KO

[chilidawg]

This is a great question that I wished went a bit further. In this scenario I voted for Amir to start, but I think changes are needed to stabilize our 2nd unit... which would involve moving a few of our current starters to the 2nd unit.

Starting Lineup: Horford, Amir, Brown, Bradley, IT (Good ball movement and decision making, with big shot potential and slashing with Brown and IT)
2nd Unit: KO, JJ, Crowder, Green, Smart (Defensive grit, floor-spacing bigs that can clear out creating room for Green to slash... heavy Smart post-ups)

In the playoffs you're not going to run a full second unit without any starters.  I like the idea of Brown starting over Bradley, especially against teams with big scoring twos like Derozan.  Then bring Bradley and KO off the bench first for Horford and Brown (KO, Amir, Crowder, Bradley, Thomas), followed by Smart (KO, Amir, Crowder, Bradley, Smart).  Then start mixing Horford and Brown back in (Horford, KO,Brown, Bradley, Smart), along with JJ, Rozier or Zeller as matchups dictate.

[chilidawg]

I feel Amir gives us a chance at a reb or a block every once in a while

Your say n ? ......Kelly doesn't ?


Speechless...shocked ......

Kelly's had the best rebounding % on the team the last 3 games in a row, and has the best season long % of any of the regulars (Zeller and Mickey have been better in their limited minutes)

[Celtics4ever]

Kelly's had the best rebounding % on the team the last 3 games in a row, and has the best season long % of any of the regulars (Zeller and Mickey have been better in their limited minutes)

Last three games out of what 80?   He has done nothing to prove he is a starter.  This is a great example of picking one stat and supporting one's argument in spite a million stats that say otherwise.  He averaged 4.98 RPG for the year.  BTW Demetrius Jackson was better too, than KO.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2017.html

The fact that your using a stat that Mickey excels at, as the basis of your argument ought to show you how flawed Reb% is as a stat.   That is three of our least effective players that lead the team in this stat.

I hope we upgrade this position in the offseason and we have two solid bench players already.

[Tr1boy]

KO is just one of those players that plays better surrounded by better talent

You expect him to be the leader or self starter in the 2nd unit... well he has been inconsistent at best

He is good at setting picks, passing the ball .... But the other 2nd unit players don't seem to be capitalising on these gimmes....  especially guys like Smart, Rozier

Or like a few others have said...drop AB to the 2nd unit.  KO can play the PNR game with him

[Darío SpanishFan]

Sorry for the possible misunderstanding, but what do you mean with going forward?

Probably, both are gone in a few weeks. In the playoffs I wouldn't touch anything that has led us to this stage.

[Tr1boy]

Sorry for the possible misunderstanding, but what do you mean with going forward?

Probably, both are gone in a few weeks. In the playoffs I wouldn't touch anything that has led us to this stage.

I guess you missed the memo where CBS, IT4, Horford etc. have stated that KO is an important piece

[footey]

Amir better starting than Kelly. Defends better, blocks shots. Kelly still foul prone. He seems more comfortable coming off bench.

[nickagneta]

Sorry for the possible misunderstanding, but what do you mean with going forward?

Probably, both are gone in a few weeks. In the playoffs I wouldn't touch anything that has led us to this stage.

I guess you missed the memo where CBS, IT4, Horford etc. have stated that KO is an important piece

You want to back that up with a link because:

1. I don't remember reading anything about those guys saying anything about KO being any more important than Bradley, or Smart or Brown or Crowder or....

2. Does that mean for just this year or for years to come.

3. I didn't know IT, Horford or Stevens made personnel decisions for coming years. I thought that was Ainge. And again, I don't remember Ainge saying anything definitely about retaining KO long term.

[Eja117]

I feel Amir gives us a chance at a reb or a block every once in a while

Your say n ? ......Kelly doesn't ?


Speechless...shocked ......

Kelly's had the best rebounding % on the team the last 3 games in a row, and has the best season long % of any of the regulars (Zeller and Mickey have been better in their limited minutes)

This is a great example to me of the limits of analytics.

[SHAQATTACK]

Kelly should START !













Packing 

[hodgy03038]

Based on last night's game- start Amir!

[Darío SpanishFan]

Sorry for the possible misunderstanding, but what do you mean with going forward?

Probably, both are gone in a few weeks. In the playoffs I wouldn't touch anything that has led us to this stage.

I guess you missed the memo where CBS, IT4, Horford etc. have stated that KO is an important piece

You want to back that up with a link because:

1. I don't remember reading anything about those guys saying anything about KO being any more important than Bradley, or Smart or Brown or Crowder or....

2. Does that mean for just this year or for years to come.

3. I didn't know IT, Horford or Stevens made personnel decisions for coming years. I thought that was Ainge. And again, I don't remember Ainge saying anything definitely about retaining KO long term.

Tommy Point awarded for saving me time to answer 

[TheSundanceKid]

Sorry for the possible misunderstanding, but what do you mean with going forward?

Probably, both are gone in a few weeks. In the playoffs I wouldn't touch anything that has led us to this stage.

I guess you missed the memo where CBS, IT4, Horford etc. have stated that KO is an important piece

You want to back that up with a link because:

1. I don't remember reading anything about those guys saying anything about KO being any more important than Bradley, or Smart or Brown or Crowder or....

2. Does that mean for just this year or for years to come.

3. I didn't know IT, Horford or Stevens made personnel decisions for coming years. I thought that was Ainge. And again, I don't remember Ainge saying anything definitely about retaining KO long term.

Tommy Point awarded for saving me time to answer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDMTrksyUKg

Starting at 1.50 is IT saying supportive words of him. Avery Bradley before that as well.

It's well documented that the players like and praise KO, likely because the press ask them about it endlessly.

[saltlover]

Sorry for the possible misunderstanding, but what do you mean with going forward?

Probably, both are gone in a few weeks. In the playoffs I wouldn't touch anything that has led us to this stage.

I guess you missed the memo where CBS, IT4, Horford etc. have stated that KO is an important piece

You want to back that up with a link because:

1. I don't remember reading anything about those guys saying anything about KO being any more important than Bradley, or Smart or Brown or Crowder or....

2. Does that mean for just this year or for years to come.

3. I didn't know IT, Horford or Stevens made personnel decisions for coming years. I thought that was Ainge. And again, I don't remember Ainge saying anything definitely about retaining KO long term.

Tommy Point awarded for saving me time to answer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDMTrksyUKg

Starting at 1.50 is IT saying supportive words of him. Avery Bradley before that as well.

It's well documented that the players like and praise KO, likely because the press ask them about it endlessly.

It also wasn't an accident that Olynyk went along on the free agent recruiting trips last summer.  He's viewed as a long-term piece.

Here's Ainge last November talking about him not getting an extension.

The biggest reason is we have a lot of flexibility next summer. We have max contract cap space available and if we extended Kelly for the numbers he wanted, or even a fair contract, we would dig into that cap space. So we still have the ability to match [his contract offers], and he’ll have a cap hold at a much less number than a contract extension. We wanted to maintain our flexibility.

While that quote indicates there might be some disagreement in the two sides as to what Olynyk is worth, they both believed he deserved a contract that would have been larger than his cap hold.  So negotiations really couldn't happen, since the Celtics wanted to preserve cap space.