Brad Stevens. Minor tweaks, Good Results

[KG Living Legend]

 No Schroder No Theis. No Moses Brown, No Jrich, No JRich, No Derrick White.

 Can you imagine starting Kanter in the playoffs.  I can't.  With Schroder gone that leaves only Prichard at PG. Prichard is a great third string scoring Pg, however we could not have him coming in for Smart as our only option.

Great Job from President Brad for just making the small moves this team needed and hiring a fantastic ccoach,and Man, Coach Udoka.

[radiohead]

That Theis trade was one very underrated move.

[angryguy77]

Imo brad is showing himself to be a better gm than coach.

[jpotter33]

Imo brad is showing himself to be a better gm than coach.

Oh, absolutely. His basketball mind is genius, and I think that's where he can really shine with his BBIQ and intellect.

That said, look at how much better this team of younger guys has responded to Ime's no non-sense, tough-nosed approach. Brad simply wasn't capable of doing that due to his overall character and personality. That's why I love this pairing in terms of Ime as coach and Brad as GM.

[KG Living Legend]

Imo brad is showing himself to be a better gm than coach.

Oh, absolutely. His basketball mind is genius, and I think that's where he can really shine with his BBIQ and intellect.

That said, look at how much better this team of younger guys has responded to Ime's no non-sense, tough-nosed approach. Brad simply wasn't capable of doing that due to his overall character and personality. That's why I love this pairing in terms of Ime as coach and Brad as GM.

 Agreed. Ime and Brad are like peas and carrots.

[#1P4P]

Brad is an elite team builder. He identified his ideal team (an elite defense) and built the roster to reflect it (with above average to elite and versatile defenders).

No more weakening the defense with average to below average defenders for the sake of an offense. Look at what happened to the Knicks for doing the opposite of what we did.

Traded Kemba and a 1st for Horford not only to dump Kemba, but to acquire Al, a proven commodity in Stevens ideal system. Acquired Richardson and Schroder, who fit defensively, but reinforced poor offensive habits; and quickly pivoted to White and Theis, 2 equally good or even better defenders that fit better offensively (low usage, make the right play guys).

No defensive weak links… no disadvantage… no missed assignments… no being bully balled… now what? Now every opponent offensive possession is a chore they have to sludge their way through. We’re built for the playoffs. In these compact series, KD and Kyrie’s conditioning aren’t getting any better and that’s how it will be for all of our opponents.

[Goldstar88]

Imo brad is showing himself to be a better gm than coach.

Oh, absolutely. His basketball mind is genius, and I think that's where he can really shine with his BBIQ and intellect.

That said, look at how much better this team of younger guys has responded to Ime's no non-sense, tough-nosed approach. Brad simply wasn't capable of doing that due to his overall character and personality. That's why I love this pairing in terms of Ime as coach and Brad as GM.

 Agreed. Ime and Brad are like peas and carrots.

They are like delicious vegetables?

[KG Living Legend]

Imo brad is showing himself to be a better gm than coach.

Oh, absolutely. His basketball mind is genius, and I think that's where he can really shine with his BBIQ and intellect.

That said, look at how much better this team of younger guys has responded to Ime's no non-sense, tough-nosed approach. Brad simply wasn't capable of doing that due to his overall character and personality. That's why I love this pairing in terms of Ime as coach and Brad as GM.

 Agreed. Ime and Brad are like peas and carrots.

They are like delicious vegetables?

 That was a Forrest Gump reference,  if your not familiar with the movie.

[celts55]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

[Neurotic Guy]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

You definitely aren't the only one.  A number of people have been naysayers on the deal since day 1 and some remain unconvinced about White.   I agree that he's been a downgrade from JRich as far as shooting goes, but he's a better passer and he moves without the ball and with the ball better than Richardson. As far as defense goes, hard to tell who is better (DW or JR).  I liked what Richardson brought but I'm convinced DW is an upgrade (and younger and with a longer, and tradable, contract).  Many think C's gave up too much.  I don't.

[KG Living Legend]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

 I hear you however.  Schroder was traded for Theis which was huge. So when Smart goes to the bench of has an injury we are left with only tiny PP who can be targeted bigtime on defense.

 White is beautiful insurance.

[Wretch]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

The more I watch White the more I think he's the guard version of Al. He's not going to put up counting stats but he's almost always in the right place and makes the right basketball decision.

He makes other players better but in ways that aren't obvious from the box score. Kind of like Al as a screener. There's no box score for it but when you watch Al set a screen and then compare it to an typical screen you see how much longer the defender gets "stuck" in the screen. With White it's his defensive rotations and hockey assists that stick out to me.

[gouki88]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

We would not be as good as we are with Richardson instead of White. That alone is justification.

Richardson is also not a scorer, no idea where you've got that notion from. Richardson scored less per minute and per possession as a Celtic than White.

[jambr380]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

We would not be as good as we are with Richardson instead of White. That alone is justification.

Richardson is also not a scorer, no idea where you've got that notion from. Richardson scored less per minute and per possession as a Celtic than White.

Without question, I would rather have Richardson, Langford, the 22 1st, and the 28 swap. People lump Schroder and Richardson in with each other when that really isn't fair. We still could have traded Schroder for Theis and had Richardson/Pritchard backing up Smart/Brown. That trade also depleted our team of all of our wing depth.

I don't hate White, but I am always dumbfounded when people add that feather in the hat for Stevens. It was an even trade at best and a bad trade at worst. Stevens has been a little loosey-goosey with trading 1sts, but I certainly won't complain if we win it all.

And, just a note. We had already turned it around by the trade deadline. It wasn't White's amazing impact that led to what we see now. I will say that acquiring Theis has proved to be very fruitful thus far and I am happy to have him here.

[gouki88]

Just wondering, am I the only one who isn’t sold on the White trade?
I get he’s a good defensive player and has some feeling for the game, but he can’t shot.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t be happier with Richardson. He was an above average defender, who could also score the ball.
Also they gave up Romeo, who also was an above average defender.

We would not be as good as we are with Richardson instead of White. That alone is justification.

Richardson is also not a scorer, no idea where you've got that notion from. Richardson scored less per minute and per possession as a Celtic than White.

Without question, I would rather have Richardson, Langford, the 22 1st, and the 28 swap. People lump Schroder and Richardson in with each other when that really isn't fair. We still could have traded Schroder for Theis and had Richardson/Pritchard backing up Smart/Brown. That trade also depleted our team of all of our wing depth.

I don't hate White, but I am always dumbfounded when people add that feather in the hat for Stevens. It was an even trade at best and a bad trade at worst. Stevens has been a little loosey-goosey with trading 1sts, but I certainly won't complain if we win it all.

And, just a note. We had already turned it around by the trade deadline. It wasn't White's amazing impact that led to what we see now. I will say that acquiring Theis has proved to be very fruitful thus far and I am happy to have him here.

The Richardson/Pritchard pairing would be much, much less effective than Pritchard with White. White can drive and pass, where Richardson really can't.

Was Langford "wing depth"? I'm not sure it counts as wing depth if the coach has no interest in going deeper than 8 or 9 players.