Does the C's hallmark defense disappear once KG retires?

[CelticSooner]

From what I've seen so far since he's been out I am starting to think it will. There's only so much the guy can instill in the younger players. You either can play good D or you can't. Bradley and Green are the only two I see able to bring it on that side of the ball consistently. Not sure the C 's can escape the lottery if that is the case.

[slamtheking]

it probably does.  players that are as good as he is that are as committed to playing D are a rarity in the NBA.  I just don't think Melo is going to fill that void for the C's

[Boris Badenov]

I'd like to see Danny make a real commitment to signing/drafting players who are great defenders.

I've realized that I much prefer rooting for a hard-nosed defensive squad than a run-and-gun squad, keeping the overall talent and record equal.

[BudweiserCeltic]

There's nothing to suggest one thing or another, particularly when we're playing Jeff Green and Brandon Bass at centers a times, not much you can extrapolate from that.

But yeah, when KG goes, we won't be as good on defense, but we had a good chance of keeping our perimeter effectivity, so we just need to clean up the big men rotation a bit.

[Rondo2287]

I thik KG is one of the best defensive players of all time.  When he goes things will go downhill. 

Losing his play is one thing, but losing the way that he holds other accountable as a leader is an additional loss that will hurt

[Josh88]

Short answer, yes.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Pretty much. Bradley, Lee, and Green are pretty formidable on the perimeter, but there will be no paint presence anchoring and quarterbacking the overall defense—unless Danny can find another great defensive center soon, which seems likely to be tough given Boston's bad draft position. Though if he can swing a trade for someone like Varejao or Gortat, that would be fantastic.

[pearljammer10]

KG is a hall of fame player who will be forever remembered for his defensive intensity and leadership on that end of the floor. Any team that he would be on would take a drastic dip when he left and his void is certainly not going to be filled.

[LilRip]

you can have a bunch of good to great defensive players (e.g. Rondo, Bradley, Lee, Green, Melo potentially) on the floor but KG is the type of player whose impact goes beyond the numbers. He makes good defenders great, and great defenders elite. I think it's his communication more than anything (that, and his ability to snuff out any pick-n-roll) that the team will miss the most.

i think a pretty good illustration would be if we had DeAndre Jordan instead of KG. DeAndre is more athletic, can block shots better, and is probably a better rebounder (haven't really checked stats but lets assume these are all true first). But he won't necessarily make our team better defensively, nor will he probably have a huge impact on on/off court defensive rating compared to KG.

[WMark]

The hallmark defense has already disappeared.

[Jeff]

I think as long as we don't have lottery talent (like the pre-KG years), Doc's teams will be good at defense

great, however, becomes a lot harder to achieve without KG

[BballTim]

  Hopefully something like Detroit, which stayed good for the first few years after Wallace left.

[Kevin OConnor]

Yes, hate to say it, but I can't see it any other way.

Too bad we couldn't draft Nerlens Noel to be the center of the future, huh?

[kozlodoev]

From what I've seen so far since he's been out I am starting to think it will. There's only so much the guy can instill in the younger players. You either can play good D or you can't. Bradley and Green are the only two I see able to bring it on that side of the ball consistently. Not sure the C 's can escape the lottery if that is the case.

I suppose we'll sign a starting-caliber center to start when KG retires, not try to hold the fort with tin foil and wire. So, no.

[scaryjerry]

Yes...absolutely 100% thibodeau and kg created a defensive culture here and when kg decides to retire we will be closer to the 2006 Celtics then anything we've seen recently