A few numbers

[PhoSita]

It is just unfathomable that Bird who played in the Big Three Era does not fathom this, as they are the best frontcourt of all time.  We all know the game has changed.   But I for one, think the game has moved past small ball too and the Golden State era.  I know you need floor spreaders now but get us some bigs to help Rob.   A legit four who can bang would go a long ways to fixing our woes.

The thing is the league is now all about having the biggest players you can find who can play as though they are ball handling wings.

The more large ball handlers you have who can also shoot, the better off you are.


So I disagree with people who are talking a lot about getting BIG, in the traditional sense.  Drummond is not helping this team.  Neither is Dwight Howard.  Not enough.


What you need is big dudes who can shoot and pass and drive. 

[kraidstar]

I don't think bigs are the problem with this team. This forum pined for Moose and Kanter for years, then when they got here we realized they are horrible defenders who give up more than they score. Timelord is excellent, and TT is solid. Most teams are in the same boat with bigs unless they have a freak like Embiid or AD. Those situations are unique, and that type of player is pretty much unattainable for us. We shouldn't overreact to a couple outlier games like last night.

I DO know that Brown gets fewer FTs than he should get. He gets hammered at the rim several times a game with no call. Let alone the phantom calls that other all-stars get. The kind that get the opponent in foul trouble early like we were last night.

If Brown is wearing purple and gold he gets a minimum of 8FT per game.

for some reason the league doesn't want to market our players.

We also commit some astronomically stupid fouls. At least a couple a game. This team is undisciplined defensively. They put in a lot of "effort" without being smart. We are a "hustle team," which means we swarm in madly at offensive players, regardless of consequence. This is not necessarily effective. For instance when it looks like an opponent might score near the the rim, we immediately start hacking, even if it wasn't really a great shot. We get our opponents into the bonus on pointless fouls where the FTs are more valuable than the shot they would have taken. This really annoys we, as a lot of the shots we foul on are far from guaranteed to go in. Need to pick our spots better. And need to play better D at the perimeter early so we don't need fake shows of effort and fouls late. This includes the idiotic double-teams, like when Kemba inexplicably drifted away from Green in the second and gave up an easy 3. They Sixers got into a groove right after that. So stupid.

We need a new PG. So many of our offensive problems stem from Kemba being awful. He is way too streaky, and if he's not scoring he goes into a shell and says "bye-bye." He is not a creative enough passer, and isn't big enough to be an impact defender. In fact, I'd wager that a lot of our perimeter defensive breakdowns come at his expense. It is not good.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

We don’t get FTs because we don’t drive to the cup. It’s that simple.

[gift]

We don’t get FTs because we don’t drive to the cup. It’s that simple.

Yep, too much settling for perimeter shots. We all understand how important the three point shot is in today's game. But the other high efficiency shots are layups, and layups help get you open threes and hitting threes help open up lanes to the basket. The Celtics are one-dimensional.

[PhoSita]

I think that if you look around the league, there are certain stars who have made a point of figuring out how to draw fouls.

It's not just seasoned stars.  Look at Trae Young. That guy has been scheming and working the refs to get free throws from day one.  And he's tiny!

I think it's a mindset thing.  Brad says Tatum and Brown play a different style.  Well, maybe their style has to change.

In an ideal world, being a star in the NBA would not require gaming the refs to get calls.  But this isn't an ideal world.

You can't really be a superstar in this league and not know how to work the refs to get opponents in foul trouble and get easy points at the line.  Tatum and Brown both need to figure out how to add that to their games.