Doc : "Ryan Hollins with KG on floor, our best defensive team."

[jdz101]

Look at the stats. The Hollins + KG front-court is our best defensive duo (gives up 80 points per 100 possessions). Better than Bass + KG, better than Stiemsma + KG. By a large margin, too. You can argue that Stiemsma is being hampered by lack of playing time and injury and his numbers will get better, but at the moment that's the way it is. You choosing to ignore this is not our problem.

That's only really been a combination in the playoffs, where everyone's defense is better and less points than usual are scored anyway. It's more KG plus playoffs D than KG plus Hollins.

[saltlover]

I don't like Hollins.  The only reason he is an NBA player is because he's a giant human who can run faster than most other humans of his size.  He has terrible hand-eye co-ordination.  Stiemsma is better at basketball.  I get why people like him more.

That said, maybe it's because he's hurt, or maybe he just doesn't have the lateral quickness in general, Stiemsma can't keep up with non-centers, which is a problem when playing on a defense that switches a lot like the Celtics.  Hollins is impressive in his ability to keep smaller players in front of him when there's a switch, and he's really great at closing out on perimeter players who've snuck open so that they can't get off their shot, and I get why Doc prefers him.  I don't think you can put Hollins out there with anyone else who isn't an option offensively, because he shouldn't be given the ball at that end of the court, even on open alley-oops.  Defensively, however, he is disruptive, and not merely as a one-on-one defender against opposing centers.

But until he gets rid of his hands of stone, I will never like him.  I don't think you should be allowed to be in the NBA if you can't catch a basketball.

[OsirusCeltics]

I don't like Hollins.  The only reason he is an NBA player is because he's a giant human who can run faster than most other humans of his size.  He has terrible hand-eye co-ordination.  Stiemsma is better at basketball.  I get why people like him more.

That said, maybe it's because he's hurt, or maybe he just doesn't have the lateral quickness in general, Stiemsma can't keep up with non-centers, which is a problem when playing on a defense that switches a lot like the Celtics.  Hollins is impressive in his ability to keep smaller players in front of him when there's a switch, and he's really great at closing out on perimeter players who've snuck open so that they can't get off their shot, and I get why Doc prefers him.  I don't think you can put Hollins out there with anyone else who isn't an option offensively, because he shouldn't be given the ball at that end of the court, even on open alley-oops.  Defensively, however, he is disruptive, and not merely as a one-on-one defender against opposing centers.

But until he gets rid of his hands of stone, I will never like him.  I don't think you should be allowed to be in the NBA if you can't catch a basketball.

LOL!!! Omg that had me rollin

Hollins can defend the perimeter and paint, something Steimsma can't do. Hollins can also jump out the gym
But when Celtics play a team with athletic wing players who drive the paint (AKA Miami) Steimsma would be very helpful in that series

[LooseCannon]

That said, maybe it's because he's hurt, or maybe he just doesn't have the lateral quickness in general, Stiemsma can't keep up with non-centers, which is a problem when playing on a defense that switches a lot like the Celtics.

The Celtics actually don't switch a lot, as far as I understand their system.  They may rotate hard, but I think they rarely switch on pick and rolls, for example, where the big is supposed to show hard on the roll man before snapping back to the picker while the smaller defender gets through the pick.

I think Stiemsma doesn't work as well against a player who has an offensive game away from the basket.  Bass also seems to be a bit uncomfortable defending too far away from the paint, so Garnett/Hollins may be the best defensive big combination against a team whose bigs can hit jumpers from mid-range and beyond.  So, Stiemsma makes sense when you have a guy like Jason Collins in the game, but not against a Horford/Smith combo.

[blink]

I like Ryan's hustle and effort, but I think Greg is hands down the better overall player.  RH has better lateral movement and better at covering smalls when switching but that is about it.
I don't know if that makes him a better defender or not honestly?  I know that GS's blocks are probably over rated a bit by this board, but they still are great, and he provides a shot blocker that RH doesn't.  But playoffs are about matchups though, and if there isn't a slow backup center then GS is going to have match up problems defending.

Ryan seems to be able to play the 4 or 5 on D better than Greg, which is probably why doc likes him on d more.  Lets KG move to defend the other teams best player at the 4 or 5 and then RH takes the other guy.

On O, there is no comparison.  RH has terrible hands, has a real problem just handling the ball when he gets it.  He has better hops that Greg.  But GS at least has a decent short range J, and some moves with the ball, and is a good passer.  

I think that GS's injuries are greater than being let on to the media / fans.  We need both steamer and RH, hopefully they can both be more productive against the sixers.

[cman88]

I think it had more to do with matchups...Hollins seemed to do a better job of staying with his man than Stiemsma did..

but, IMO stiemsma is a better all around player/defender. Hopefully we see more of him in this series

[Jon]

It also shouldn't be a shock Hollins fits on this team.  He listens to KG, which makes him a good fit on defense.  And he's a super athletic big who plays with Rondo, which guarantees him easy looks at the basket. 

It's the same reason (offensively) that Wilcox and Shaq fit in so well here. 

[Snakehead]

I liked how he played against the Hawks and we needed him against their length.

The 76ers on the other hand?  I think Bass should play more and play better.  He didn't match up well against ATL but he should be better against the 76ers.

At least I hope so.  His shooting really helped our offense this year and that was absent in the last series.

With Hollins, it reminds me of Perk in that we don't have that other scoring option.  But we have more size.  It's always a trade off.

[OmarSekou]

Doc's right. Our D has been better with Hollins because he's a pest. He's doing what Bradley did when he first got significant minutes (but not as well).

Stiemsma is better, but Hollins is better for right now (and Sean Williams might be better than both of them in the long run). None of them are that good though. They're stopgap starters so I'm happy with all of their production so far. We've needed it.

Nice to see Scal in the studio.

[clover]

Look at the stats. The Hollins + KG front-court is our best defensive duo (gives up 80 points per 100 possessions). Better than Bass + KG, better than Stiemsma + KG. By a large margin, too. You can argue that Stiemsma is being hampered by lack of playing time and injury and his numbers will get better, but at the moment that's the way it is. You choosing to ignore this is not our problem.

That's only really been a combination in the playoffs, where everyone's defense is better and less points than usual are scored anyway. It's more KG plus playoffs D than KG plus Hollins.

Yep, if Doc started to play Hollins more in the playoffs as a result of those numbers, he was working from a tiny sample in the first game or two.  From there he even stated that he was trying to always have Hollins paired with KG and anyone who's always in with KG so far in the post-season is going to have great +/- type numbers.

[pearljammer10]

I still dont understand Docs infatuation with Hollins to be completely honest. Maybe he will have some sort of breakout in the first couple games of the sixers series to show me otherwise.

[hpantazo]

I still dont understand Docs infatuation with Hollins to be completely honest. Maybe he will have some sort of breakout in the first couple games of the sixers series to show me otherwise.

He hustles, has much better later movement than Steimsma, goes after every rebound hard although like KG he doesn't know how to box out, and he is almost always in the right position on defensive rotations. The last one is the key I think as to why he plays over Steimsma. Yes, his offense downright sucks, and he has stone hands, but he does what they need him to do defensively. Bass on the other hand when he's not hitting his jumper he often dissapears on the floor.

[clover]

I still dont understand Docs infatuation with Hollins to be completely honest. Maybe he will have some sort of breakout in the first couple games of the sixers series to show me otherwise.

He hustles, has much better later movement than Steimsma, goes after every rebound hard although like KG he doesn't know how to box out, and he is almost always in the right position on defensive rotations. The last one is the key I think as to why he plays over Steimsma. Yes, his offense downright sucks, and he has stone hands, but he does what they need him to do defensively. Bass on the other hand when he's not hitting his jumper he often dissapears on the floor.

Hollins may go after every rebound hard, but he only reels them in about half as frequently as Stiemer.  And yes, I take it defensive speed is what got him in ahead of Stiemer against the Hawks.

[mr. dee]

It's about match-ups, X's and O's. When opposing teams have athletic wings who drives to the paint, choose Steamer. When opponents have quick and perimeter bigs, choose Hollins. Maybe Doc should make some burn for Sean Williams.

[goCeltics]

Love how danny and doc decided to add a guy is 7 foot tall and has probably the worst rebounding numbers in the league to a rotation that was already bad at rebounding, genius.