C's Will Feature More Traditional Play from Centers

[Fierce1]

I saw a quote from Stevens today, saying Kanter would be playing close to the basket to take advantage of his rebounding skills.  That was contrasted to a quote made earlier in the summer where he would focus on the 3P shot.

That's a big change. As I suspected, Danny and Austin didn't bring four centers into camp to play them on the perimeter.

Anybody who saw Davis, Howard, McGee and James dominate the small Warriors tonite can see that "big ball" is back--to a degree.

It takes a balanced game to win in the NBA.

The Warriors had all of their centers injured lol.

But you can see from last season that the bigs of the league had an increase in production.

I'm not arguing against "big ball" lol, in fact I'm a huge advocate of stacking size and length. I was just saying that the Lakers dominating the Warriors was more due to the Warriors not having any centers at all for this game than the Lakers somehow being a magical top tier squad.

Partly agree.

With the Lakers being in the west, I don't think they're in the top tier.

If they're in the east, they would be top tier.

[Somebody]

I saw a quote from Stevens today, saying Kanter would be playing close to the basket to take advantage of his rebounding skills.  That was contrasted to a quote made earlier in the summer where he would focus on the 3P shot.

That's a big change. As I suspected, Danny and Austin didn't bring four centers into camp to play them on the perimeter.

Anybody who saw Davis, Howard, McGee and James dominate the small Warriors tonite can see that "big ball" is back--to a degree.

It takes a balanced game to win in the NBA.

The Warriors had all of their centers injured lol.

But you can see from last season that the bigs of the league had an increase in production.

I'm not arguing against "big ball" lol, in fact I'm a huge advocate of stacking size and length. I was just saying that the Lakers dominating the Warriors was more due to the Warriors not having any centers at all for this game than the Lakers somehow being a magical top tier squad.

Partly agree.

With the Lakers being in the west, I don't think they're in the top tier.

If they're in the east, they would be top tier.

I think they're a notch below the 76ers and Bucks.

[Celtics4ever]

I will believe it when I see it.

[Celtics4ever]

Several things. First, don't know why you needed to lob a semi-personal attack.

Point out the ludicrous statement was Sully was our second best low point big, is not a personal attack.  Horford was a way better low post player, better defender but Sully probably has a slight rebounding edge .

[Fierce1]

I saw a quote from Stevens today, saying Kanter would be playing close to the basket to take advantage of his rebounding skills.  That was contrasted to a quote made earlier in the summer where he would focus on the 3P shot.

That's a big change. As I suspected, Danny and Austin didn't bring four centers into camp to play them on the perimeter.

Anybody who saw Davis, Howard, McGee and James dominate the small Warriors tonite can see that "big ball" is back--to a degree.

It takes a balanced game to win in the NBA.

The Warriors had all of their centers injured lol.

But you can see from last season that the bigs of the league had an increase in production.

I'm not arguing against "big ball" lol, in fact I'm a huge advocate of stacking size and length. I was just saying that the Lakers dominating the Warriors was more due to the Warriors not having any centers at all for this game than the Lakers somehow being a magical top tier squad.

Partly agree.

With the Lakers being in the west, I don't think they're in the top tier.

If they're in the east, they would be top tier.

I think they're a notch below the 76ers and Bucks.

I don't think the Sixers are elite, even in the east.

They lost a lot of firepower when Redick and Butler left.

A 30-year old Horford would've been an upgrade, but not a 33-year old Horford.
I think the Sixers would become slow if they play both Embiid and Horford at the same time.

[nickagneta]

Several things. First, don't know why you needed to lob a semi-personal attack.

Point out the ludicrous statement was Sully was our second best low point big, is not a personal attack.  Horford was a way better low post player, better defender but Sully probably has a slight rebounding edge .

Wrong. These can easily be construed as attacks on his opinion(opinion so bad it's laughable) and on his person(critical comment regarding his username).

Jared Sullinger is the second

Thanks for the laugh.     

For a guy whose name is DefenseWinsChamps you don't seem to value it by touting Jared "Sluginer" Sullinger.

If you want to disagree, it's extremely easy to do so without all that crap.

[Somebody]

I saw a quote from Stevens today, saying Kanter would be playing close to the basket to take advantage of his rebounding skills.  That was contrasted to a quote made earlier in the summer where he would focus on the 3P shot.

That's a big change. As I suspected, Danny and Austin didn't bring four centers into camp to play them on the perimeter.

Anybody who saw Davis, Howard, McGee and James dominate the small Warriors tonite can see that "big ball" is back--to a degree.

It takes a balanced game to win in the NBA.

The Warriors had all of their centers injured lol.

But you can see from last season that the bigs of the league had an increase in production.

I'm not arguing against "big ball" lol, in fact I'm a huge advocate of stacking size and length. I was just saying that the Lakers dominating the Warriors was more due to the Warriors not having any centers at all for this game than the Lakers somehow being a magical top tier squad.

Partly agree.

With the Lakers being in the west, I don't think they're in the top tier.

If they're in the east, they would be top tier.

I think they're a notch below the 76ers and Bucks.

I don't think the Sixers are elite, even in the east.

They lost a lot of firepower when Redick and Butler left.

A 30-year old Horford would've been an upgrade, but not a 33-year old Horford.
I think the Sixers would become slow if they play both Embiid and Horford at the same time.

A 33 year old Horford is still an all star caliber big man who's a great fit for Philly. Concerns about their firepower are overblown imo, they still have Tobias Harris (a viable 18-20 PPG scorer on good efficiency) and Embiid (who was Philly's first option last season and posted a young Shaq level season in terms of scoring profile). They're very much an elite team that can contend for the title, and are a few rungs above the Lakers.

[nickagneta]

I saw a quote from Stevens today, saying Kanter would be playing close to the basket to take advantage of his rebounding skills.  That was contrasted to a quote made earlier in the summer where he would focus on the 3P shot.

That's a big change. As I suspected, Danny and Austin didn't bring four centers into camp to play them on the perimeter.

Anybody who saw Davis, Howard, McGee and James dominate the small Warriors tonite can see that "big ball" is back--to a degree.

It takes a balanced game to win in the NBA.

The Warriors had all of their centers injured lol.

But you can see from last season that the bigs of the league had an increase in production.

I'm not arguing against "big ball" lol, in fact I'm a huge advocate of stacking size and length. I was just saying that the Lakers dominating the Warriors was more due to the Warriors not having any centers at all for this game than the Lakers somehow being a magical top tier squad.

Partly agree.

With the Lakers being in the west, I don't think they're in the top tier.

If they're in the east, they would be top tier.

I think they're a notch below the 76ers and Bucks.

I don't think the Sixers are elite, even in the east.

They lost a lot of firepower when Redick and Butler left.

A 30-year old Horford would've been an upgrade, but not a 33-year old Horford.
I think the Sixers would become slow if they play both Embiid and Horford at the same time.

A 33 year old Horford is still an all star caliber big man who's a great fit for Philly. Concerns about their firepower are overblown imo, they still have Tobias Harris (a viable 18-20 PPG scorer on good efficiency) and Embiid (who was Philly's first option last season and posted a young Shaq level season in terms of scoring profile). They're very much an elite team that can contend for the title, and are a few rungs above the Lakers.

I think, if given even schedules, the Lakers would have a better record than Philly. I don't see Philly as "rungs" above Philly when comparing teams just against each other. I feel confident that in a 7 game series the Lakers would take out the Sixers. The Lakers have a tougher schedule so they might lose a couple to 4 less games than Philly but I don't see Philly being a better team than LAL.

[Somebody]

I saw a quote from Stevens today, saying Kanter would be playing close to the basket to take advantage of his rebounding skills.  That was contrasted to a quote made earlier in the summer where he would focus on the 3P shot.

That's a big change. As I suspected, Danny and Austin didn't bring four centers into camp to play them on the perimeter.

Anybody who saw Davis, Howard, McGee and James dominate the small Warriors tonite can see that "big ball" is back--to a degree.

It takes a balanced game to win in the NBA.

The Warriors had all of their centers injured lol.

But you can see from last season that the bigs of the league had an increase in production.

I'm not arguing against "big ball" lol, in fact I'm a huge advocate of stacking size and length. I was just saying that the Lakers dominating the Warriors was more due to the Warriors not having any centers at all for this game than the Lakers somehow being a magical top tier squad.

Partly agree.

With the Lakers being in the west, I don't think they're in the top tier.

If they're in the east, they would be top tier.

I think they're a notch below the 76ers and Bucks.

I don't think the Sixers are elite, even in the east.

They lost a lot of firepower when Redick and Butler left.

A 30-year old Horford would've been an upgrade, but not a 33-year old Horford.
I think the Sixers would become slow if they play both Embiid and Horford at the same time.

A 33 year old Horford is still an all star caliber big man who's a great fit for Philly. Concerns about their firepower are overblown imo, they still have Tobias Harris (a viable 18-20 PPG scorer on good efficiency) and Embiid (who was Philly's first option last season and posted a young Shaq level season in terms of scoring profile). They're very much an elite team that can contend for the title, and are a few rungs above the Lakers.

I think, if given even schedules, the Lakers would have a better record than Philly. I don't see Philly as "rungs" above Philly when comparing teams just against each other. I feel confident that in a 7 game series the Lakers would take out the Sixers. The Lakers have a tougher schedule so they might lose a couple to 4 less games than Philly but I don't see Philly being a better team than LAL.

Just disagree with that notion completely. I think Philly would whip the Lakers in a 7 game series, and their teams are nowhere close in terms of quality, one's a playoff contender while the other is a title contender (although in your hypothetical scenario the Lakers would be a strongish playoff team, but that's still a tier or two below Philly).

[tenn_smoothie]

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1182487875738308608/video/1

Perfect example of how the game has changed. Leonard dribbles to the wing and has a post player in good position to seal his defender and receive an entry pass in order to make a back-to-the-basket move to score. Instead, the Clips center makes no attempt to post up and Leonard backs up a step and lets fly with a 26' shot. Larry Bird in the 80's makes the entry pass on that type of possession.

[Somebody]

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1182487875738308608/video/1

Perfect example of how the game has changed. Leonard dribbles to the wing and has a post player in good position to seal his defender and receive an entry pass in order to make a back-to-the-basket move to score. Instead, the Clips center makes no attempt to post up and Leonard backs up a step and lets fly with a 26' shot. Larry Bird in the 80's makes the entry pass on that type of possession.

I'm not even sure if big men today can even post up like that lol. They just suck in the post unless they're a Kanter type of player.

[Big333223]

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1182487875738308608/video/1

Perfect example of how the game has changed. Leonard dribbles to the wing and has a post player in good position to seal his defender and receive an entry pass in order to make a back-to-the-basket move to score. Instead, the Clips center makes no attempt to post up and Leonard backs up a step and lets fly with a 26' shot. Larry Bird in the 80's makes the entry pass on that type of possession.

And the Clips get 3 points instead of 2.

[tenn_smoothie]

It would be a welcome change to see Stevens stressing interior offense instead of his obsession with Small-Ball most of the time.
Also would be a big plus to see a Celtic team that crashes the offensive boards.

Nowhere in that article did anyone say the Celtics would be stressing interior offense. Nor did it say the team would be putting an emphasis on offensive rebounding.

Smart's comment said "with the exception of Kanter posting they all play the same" meaning only Kanter will be given chances to post down low. The rest play the same which will be pressuring on the interior instead of being outside to space.

That probably means setting lots of screens and being involved as roll men on pick and rolls with little else to do. Real simple stuff because most of the other guys(Williams, Pourier and Fall) really don't have much more offensive skill than to do those things.

I didn't think for a minute we would see our big guys posting up consistently in order to score on back-to-the-basket moves. But any increase in interior offense would be a welcome sight to me and might help reduce bad shot selection from the 3-line. I don't know how we couldn't improve our offensive rebounding if Kanter and Williams are playing decent minutes.

[tenn_smoothie]

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1182487875738308608/video/1

Perfect example of how the game has changed. Leonard dribbles to the wing and has a post player in good position to seal his defender and receive an entry pass in order to make a back-to-the-basket move to score. Instead, the Clips center makes no attempt to post up and Leonard backs up a step and lets fly with a 26' shot. Larry Bird in the 80's makes the entry pass on that type of possession.

And the Clips get 3 points instead of 2.

A good post player scores on at least 65% of possessions when he gets an entry pass that deep on the blocks, whereas a good perimeter shooter hits maybe 33% from that wing area that Leonard shot from, not to mention the interior move forces more fouls. I'll kick it inside every time, though in today's league, the post guy would have already turned to rebound (as the Clipper player did).

[gouki88]

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1182487875738308608/video/1

Perfect example of how the game has changed. Leonard dribbles to the wing and has a post player in good position to seal his defender and receive an entry pass in order to make a back-to-the-basket move to score. Instead, the Clips center makes no attempt to post up and Leonard backs up a step and lets fly with a 26' shot. Larry Bird in the 80's makes the entry pass on that type of possession.

And the Clips get 3 points instead of 2.

A good post player scores on at least 65% of possessions when he gets an entry pass that deep on the blocks, whereas a good perimeter shooter hits maybe 33% from that wing area that Leonard shot from, not to mention the interior move forces more fouls. I'll kick it inside every time, though in today's league, the post guy would have already turned to rebound (as the Clipper player did).

I just don't know that there are any numbers that actually indicate the %'s you're posting. I do agree that the post game has become tragically underused by most teams though.