Potential for 4 Celts on national team - concern of wear and tear and timing

[Greengang5]

Should we be concerned with the timing of the FIBA stuff?  The games could potentially go through September 15th.  Potentially 4 Celtics on the team.  Wear and tear going into tough early part of schedule.  Or does the experience and camaraderie being built outweigh the other stuff?

[Hoopvortex]

Should we be concerned with the timing of the FIBA stuff?  The games could potentially go through September 15th.  Potentially 4 Celtics on the team.  Wear and tear going into tough early part of schedule.  Or does the experience and camaraderie being built outweigh the other stuff?

Or the potential of injury.

But I think that the risk is totally worth it. The chance to work together and build their "relatedness", as they say nowadays is valuable; valuable, too, is the chance to work with Popovich and Kerr and the USA brain trust.  It's pre-training camp, if you will.

[saltlover]

There’s six when you include Theis and Poirier on their national teams (it looks like Semi isn’t on the final Nigerian team, unfortunately).  And aside from the risk of injury, I’m not concerned.  Ultimately there aren’t too many games, they are shorter (40 minutes), never back-to-back, and at least the US guys will have a lot of easy games that allow for an even spreading of minutes.  The amount of wear won’t be that excessive, and the team has chosen to only have four preseason games this year.

On the positive side, in addition to the potential for improved chemistry, I think they’ll be better off to start the year.  With so many players coming off international play, there should be less rust to kick off, and those early practices could be more efficient.  Think about returning to school after the summer, or work after a long vacation (if you get those) — those first days are always a bit more sluggish.  With practically half your team having come from a more intense environment than summer workouts, they’ll bring some extra energy, and the rest of the team will probably rev up quicker to not get left in the dust. 

That can carry over to an advantage early on in the regular season.  If you get an extra couple wins early on because you’re locked in earlier than your opponents, it can translate to a little extra rest at the end of the season, making up for some of the wear this summer.

If we’d just come off a long playoff run, I’d be more concerned, but they’ve been done since mid-May (or April, for Kemba).  They’ll be fine.

[ETNCeltics]

I'd bet a handful of int'l games are no more strenuous than their workouts would be, or working with Drew Hanlon or playing pickup or Drew games in LA.

IMO, the 4 of them playing together would be fantastic, but reality is that it's very unlikely all 4 will be on the team.

[jambr380]

I'm not worried about the wear and tear; they should all be working out anyway and this provides a more structured environment for them. Plus 3 of the 4 are quite young. And Kemba is a professional who has been through this before.

My only worry - although I wouldn't say it's a huge one - is that for the 3rd year in a row, Hayward will once again be on the outside looking in. His first year, he was brand new to the team (and then the injury); last year there were some internal issues that led to blame; and this year, if the team really jells without him in FIBA, he might not be feeling the camaraderie that the rest of the core players are feeling. I hope this is not an issue and I think that we are moving on to a new chapter with this team, but it is a possibility.

[nickagneta]

They would be participating in high level practices and pick up games here if they weren't playing for Team USA, so wear and tear will be minimal, especially since I don't see any of them averaging much more than 25 minutes a game or so.

My worry is injury. Just get them back into camp healthy. I know Smart had already come up lame over there. Nothing serious but enough not to participate for some time. Don't like that.

[action781]

I agree with what nick ^ and jambr ^^ said.

I'm happy to reduce their minutes early in the season as needed to give Hayward and some of the roster players 7-12 (GW, Semi, Carson) some extra playing time and see if they can do something with it.

[rondofan1255]

load management is increasingly becoming a thing during the regular season

they aren't expected to make a deep run in the playoffs anyways, and they're coming off an early exit.

[Birdman]

Heck they are young..not going hurt them

[Celtics4ever]

 I think their workload will be fine, they are not average Joe off the street, but professional athletes.   

[Greengang5]

Tatum rolled ankle, Smart a quad strain.  Hopefully everyone comes out OK in the end. We don't need to see the young players early in the season because it is a tough early schedule.