Celtics (34-26) at Nets (31-28) Game #61 2/24/22

[Vermont Green]

7 man rotation looked good... outside of that, not so much. Wish we had legit NBA players instead of guys like Hauser and Kornet. Thomas looked ok. Nesmith and Pritchard are still not there and then we add two wings that can’t shoot. Yeesh.

Some serious nitpicking there. Two games ago every bench player looked like an All-Star during garbage time.

Naw, I think it’s fair criticism.  Kornet is really bad. Almost like Brad purposely avoided adding real NBA players, maybe he’s savings donuts for the buyout market.

No it's not. In this game PP looked okay during non-garbage time. Thomas played really well in garbage time the last few times he has been out there. Nesmith played well tonight and his shot is starting to drop. Theis is a grizzled, proven playoff rotation vet.

You don't need much more than a 7-8 man rotation come the playoffs. They have 8 and if either Nesmith or Pritchard step up, they have 9.

The rest don't matter come playoff time. And Brad sacrificed the bench this year to have his top 7-8 next year with the ability to add some bench depth this summer through trading Horford, trading someone into a TPE, free agency and player development.

The criticism is fair.  First of all, you need 8 rotation players in the playoffs, not 7, but in any vase, those 8 are going to have a lot of miles on them the way Ime is playing a shortened rotation now.  It would have been helpful if Brad had added one more vet instead of Kornet or Hauser or the 2 wings.

I think the rotation is starters plus White, GWill, and Pritchard.

I get that the confidence in Nesmith is still not there but I was surprised that Theis was not used until garbage time.

Ime doesnt know Theis. He's an insurance policy for our two..um...delicate starting bigs,4th big in what has been a 3 big rotation.

But, yeah would be good to get Theis comfy in the mix to help rest RWill and Horford.

I think Theis becomes a regular rotation guy by season's end.

I would expect so also and given that Theis is a past Celtic from just last year, you would think his on ramp would be shorter.  I guess it is new coaching schemes so maybe there is some learning to do.  Once Theis is ready, and assuming that Pritchard stays in the mix for the 12-14 min he has been playing lately, that gives us a 9 man rotation.

Our rotation bench could be:

White (combo), GWill (PF), Theis (C), Pritchard (combo)

Our deep bench would be:

Nesmith, Kornet, Hauser, Thomas (2-way)

And our "in case of emergency" players, at least for now are:

Martin, Fitts

I suspect that we are still on the lookout for a true wing who is good enough to actually play off the bench.  That seems to be the opening or need.  It doesn't look like Nesmith is going to fill that role this season.  We have reasonably good depth at every other position.  Just need a more viable wing for the bench.

For as disappointing that it is that Nesmith is not more ready yet, I feel that Brodric Thomas has looked good for a 2-way player.  I guess at 25, he is about 3 years older than Nesmith but to me, he shows some promise to be at least a full time NBA bench guy.

[ozgod]

7 man rotation looked good... outside of that, not so much. Wish we had legit NBA players instead of guys like Hauser and Kornet. Thomas looked ok. Nesmith and Pritchard are still not there and then we add two wings that can’t shoot. Yeesh.

Some serious nitpicking there. Two games ago every bench player looked like an All-Star during garbage time.

Naw, I think it’s fair criticism.  Kornet is really bad. Almost like Brad purposely avoided adding real NBA players, maybe he’s savings donuts for the buyout market.

No it's not. In this game PP looked okay during non-garbage time. Thomas played really well in garbage time the last few times he has been out there. Nesmith played well tonight and his shot is starting to drop. Theis is a grizzled, proven playoff rotation vet.

You don't need much more than a 7-8 man rotation come the playoffs. They have 8 and if either Nesmith or Pritchard step up, they have 9.

The rest don't matter come playoff time. And Brad sacrificed the bench this year to have his top 7-8 next year with the ability to add some bench depth this summer through trading Horford, trading someone into a TPE, free agency and player development.

The criticism is fair.  First of all, you need 8 rotation players in the playoffs, not 7, but in any vase, those 8 are going to have a lot of miles on them the way Ime is playing a shortened rotation now.  It would have been helpful if Brad had added one more vet instead of Kornet or Hauser or the 2 wings.

sure, everyone wants a better player on the roster -- the question is who was available that would have signed here and provided solid minutes when they were on the court?  I look at who was bought out and there's no one that jumps out at me as "we better get them"

TP for pointing out what you'd think would be obvious  There's nobody available that we would have got on the buyout market to replace the end of bench guys we have. Maybe Dragic but he chose to go to the Nets, and I don't think he's an Ime type of guy anyway.

Our real risk is one of the core rotation players getting hurt, like Smartacus and Timelord did before the ASB. I'm guessing that's what everyone is nervous about. Brad bringing in Theis as an end of bench guy making $9m was criticized but he's there to mitigate the loss of either Al or Timelord, while Derrick White mitigates the loss of Smartacus somewhat - but who mitigates the loss of White and Theis when they have to play bigger roles? That's what everyone wants. Unfortunately there's nobody available that we could grab. James Posey and Eddie House ain't walking through that door 

One more thing, regarding the "playing them into the ground" narrative...here are the MPG monthly splits of our starting 5 + White. The MPG numbers are all trending downwards.