Coaching decisions: the good, bad and unusual

[Vermont Green]

It is hard to be critical of Joe or heap loads of praise on him.  The team has pretty much done what you expect the team to do, in spite of having a lot of missed games by starters (mostly Porzingis).  All that said, I think they take too many 3s.  I know, they won a championship taking 3s but I still feel they are overdoing it.  They lead the league in 3PA at 51 per game (CHA is second at 44 per game).  They are only 11th in made percentage at 37.3%.    That works out to 1.12 pts/3PA.  Meanwhile, they are shooting 57.3%  from 2 (4th in the league), representing 1.15 pts/2PA.  It is close, but they are getting more points on each 2PA vs. 3PA.

I am not saying to go from 51 3pA to 30 or something like that (the league average is around 37), maybe cut it down to 40-45.  Eliminate the worst of the 3PA, the very early ones, the contested ones, do that and maybe you can tick the 3P% up a little.  Score a little more efficiently, more consistently, and maybe get FTAs up a little.  Our FTA is 22.0 per game, 16th in the league.  I would like to see us get to the line more.

I also see a need to tighten up the defense some.  Our DRtg is about 110.  Teams are shooting about 46% against us.  OKC, for comparison, has a DRtg of about 103 and an opponent FG% of 42%.  Our NRtg is fine at about +10.1 (OKC is +12.0) but I feel that the defense could be better and that should come from coaching emphasis.

As far as line ups and in game stuff, I think it has all been fine.  Not perfect.  I don't grade coaching on that stuff as much.  I like to look at the broader trends, the buy in, things that you build on game to game, season to season.  And this is totally arbitrary, but does the team play like a well coached team.  Overall, I am perfectly happy with Joe Mazzulla's coaching this sesaon.

[Surferdad]

So far, only Queta has shown significant progress

I think it is fair to say that Payton Pritchard has shown significant progress, even as a regular rotation player. He is not just a 3-pt specialist anymore. He is an excellent ball handler, improving defender and a good rebounder for a small guy. Leading candidate for 6MOY.

That said, I agree wiith your larger point that the deep bench is still not showing much progress. We see flashes from Queta and Peterson, but they still have quite a ways to go before Joe trusts either one in critical situations. I do applaud Joe for giving deep bench guys some minutes at this early point in the season.

[mobilija]

So far, only Queta has shown significant progress

I think it is fair to say that Payton Pritchard has shown significant progress, even as a regular rotation player. He is not just a 3-pt specialist anymore. He is an excellent ball handler, improving defender and a good rebounder for a small guy. Leading candidate for 6MOY.

That said, I agree wiith your larger point that the deep bench is still not showing much progress. We see flashes from Queta and Peterson, but they still have quite a ways to go before Joe trusts either one in critical situations. I do applaud Joe for giving deep bench guys some minutes at this early point in the season.

Totally fair. Pritchard has elevated. My main point, which I think u got, was regarding the non-regular rotation players.

[Roy H.]

No major complaints this season.  A few too many threes, over-reliance on JT isos at the end of quarters, some occasional odd lineups.  But, nothing major.

Like everybody else, I'd like to see one more reliable player on the deep bench.  I'm not sure if that's a Joe problem or a Brad problem, though.  Either way, it's more of a luxury than a necessity barring injury.

[mobilija]

No major complaints this season.  A few too many threes, over-reliance on JT isos at the end of quarters, some occasional odd lineups.  But, nothing major.

Like everybody else, I'd like to see one more reliable player on the deep bench.  I'm not sure if that's a Joe problem or a Brad problem, though.  Either way, it's more of a luxury than a necessity barring injury.

The Celtics rank 2nd in league in possessions and frequency of iso plays, 1st in eFG% on these plays. Tatum is in the top four in the league for possessions and frequency. eFG% for players is led by low usage players mostly, stars don?t start showing up till around 20th w Tatum in the late- 30s. Notable tho was Jrue in the top 3 and Pritchard around 12th.

Largely it seems to be working. But as with anything, when it goes poorly is when you notice. Especially critical moments or end of quarter moments, when both teams are locked in.

The thing that I think are successful about the Celtics ISO is that they do try to work some early screens and double screens that could generate looks for a few different players. But often the screens are designed to create a specific matchup for the ISO. It?s not just go at ur man and hopefully not 4 other guys too. It?s very deliberate to create an advantageous mismatch.

[Roy H.]

No major complaints this season.  A few too many threes, over-reliance on JT isos at the end of quarters, some occasional odd lineups.  But, nothing major.

Like everybody else, I'd like to see one more reliable player on the deep bench.  I'm not sure if that's a Joe problem or a Brad problem, though.  Either way, it's more of a luxury than a necessity barring injury.

The Celtics rank 2nd in league in possessions and frequency of iso plays, 1st in eFG% on these plays. Tatum is in the top four in the league for possessions and frequency. eFG% for players is led by low usage players mostly, stars don?t start showing up till around 20th w Tatum in the late- 30s. Notable tho was Jrue in the top 3 and Pritchard around 12th.

Largely it seems to be working. But as with anything, when it goes poorly is when you notice. Especially critical moments or end of quarter moments, when both teams are locked in.

The thing that I think are successful about the Celtics ISO is that they do try to work some early screens and double screens that could generate looks for a few different players. But often the screens are designed to create a specific matchup for the ISO. It?s not just go at ur man and hopefully not 4 other guys too. It?s very deliberate to create an advantageous mismatch.

Any stats on plays run within the last 24 seconds?

I think we could use more diversity to make the plays less predictable.  As I said, it's a pretty minor quibble.

[Roy H.]

So, since you asked... Queta + Kornet for extended minutes together?

[Roy H.]

Also, why did we call a timeout after the jump ball went out of bounds? It just gave Memphis more time to look at what seemed like an obvious challenge that was coming.

[radiohead]

So, since you asked... Queta + Kornet for extended minutes together?

That line up actually got us the lead. Unfortunately JB got over eager on a couple of plays which resulted in Memphis scoring a couple of baskets to get the lead back. It was an unusual line up by Joe but it really was the poor shooting from three that did us in. The interior D was also bad in general as well, which kinda brings us back to your original question - why did Q and Luke play extended minutes.

[liam]

So, since you asked... Queta + Kornet for extended minutes together?

That line up actually got us the lead. Unfortunately JB got over eager on a couple of plays which resulted in Memphis scoring a couple of baskets to get the lead back. It was an unusual line up by Joe but it really was the poor shooting from three that did us in. The interior D was also bad in general as well, which kinda brings us back to your original question - why did Q and Luke play extended minutes.

And why is Tillman now glued to the bench?

[Roy H.]

So, since you asked... Queta + Kornet for extended minutes together?

That line up actually got us the lead. Unfortunately JB got over eager on a couple of plays which resulted in Memphis scoring a couple of baskets to get the lead back. It was an unusual line up by Joe but it really was the poor shooting from three that did us in. The interior D was also bad.

They were up by five when Joe inserted that lineup; they were up by six when he sat Queta.  Memphis extended its lead while Morant was sitting on the bench.

I don't really see any positives that came from that decision.  Even if you want to give credit for an initial spark, Joe stuck with the lineup way too long.  We went from being up 100-96 to down 109-103.  That's a +10 run for them, during which time Kornet + Queta contributed 0 points, 1 turnover, 1 rebound, and 3 fouls.

I don't mind seeing them get minutes individually, but having both on the court at the same time is just not a good decision.

[tenn_smoothie]

My complaint, as always, is bad shot selection and the 3-attempt numbers (avg. 50 per) becoming way too extreme.
Yes, we won the title, yes, we are having a good season, record wise. I just know that this team could be significantly better playing smarter offense. We are talented enough to win 2 or 3 banners if we attacked with more variety and efficiency.

A quote from Tennessee women's team's first year coach, Kim Caldwell, during tonight's win over previously undefeated Iowa sums it up well.
The Tennessee women shot 0 - 11 from 3 in the first quarter and during the break their coach gave them the perfect message I think,

"That's not offense," Caldwell said about the shot selection and lack of ball movement. "That's open gym. That's hard to watch."

[Roy H.]

Joe fined $35k for his mini-meltdown regarding the officials.

[aefgogreen]

Joe fined $35k for his mini-meltdown regarding the officials.

So unfair that he was fined for wishing the officials a merry Christmas. We could all use some holiday cheer.

[jpotter33]

Time to revisit this thread! Joe owns a good portion of the team's step back this season.

Defensively, he's yet to find a way to motivate these guys to consistently play hard on that end, which they simply haven't been doing for a good portion of the season. Some of that is the championship hangover and devaluing the regular season, but look at the standings. This isn't last year where we ran away in the East, and it's looking like it'll be a dogfight to finish first and may even require strong effort to finish second. We simply have to be playing harder and more locked in defensively, and that's on Joe to find a way to get the guys to do that.

Offensively, we're a mess. We're shooting more than 8 threes per game than last year and are shooting more than 6 threes per game than the next highest team in the league this year. We're going to blow away the NBA record likely for makes and attempts by a wide, wide margin. This is an extreme and untenable offensive philosophy, especially given that we're middle of the pack on our three point make percentages, and this is *ALL* on Joe and what he wants. Sure, we're still winning most of our games due to how awful the East is, but we've seen how awful and bogged down our offense gets when we're not making high percentages of our threes, especially against top teams with good defenses.

I'll also note that I think these two issues go hand in hand. When we're so overly reliant on jacking the three ball, we get lazy defensively and think we can shoot our way back into games. These are legitimate issues that this team is facing, and he needs to address them as the coach and not just encourage these bad habits due to his extreme philosophy.