Playing to win

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Who is ready to play right away?

Is Rondo ready at the start of camp?  If so:

Rondo
Bradley
Green
Bass
Humphries

And I suspect these guys get most of the minutes.  These are all established NBA players and perhaps some good defense, but simply not enough scoring for more than .500 ball.

Who is ready to play on the bench?

Crash, Lee, Bogans...two spot-up shooters and a wildcard. 

No offense coming there. 

Sully still recovering, KO a rookie and needs to develop/adjust - holding on to him until later in the season to make an impact.

Also:  a bunch of marginal/gunner guards and unproven and unready bigs (hi, Fab!).

So... who plays off the bench to start the season, and who wins the spots and playing time from Bradley, Bass, and Hump as the season goes on?

Do we get to see Sully/Olynyk play meaningful minutes together before Christmas?

The mess of low and mid-level talents need to sort themselves out, and the rooks need to play...

Yet I expect the coach to play to win, since we're the Celtics...but we just don't have enough court-ready players with any experience, especially with Sully out.

So it seems to me that players might get time without doing much to earn it early in the season...  That might be what makes it hard to watch.

But if we look like a possible .500 team based on starters and decent play from Wallace, Bogans, and Lee, what would it take to push us up the standings?

Some efficient scoring from somewhere - Okynyk for 15 per game in 25 minutes would be quite nice.  Ditto for Bass.  Or close to it from both.  Why not?

Or will we just have to struggle until health returns to Sully and KO adjusts, and hope it starts to look good by the allstar game?

I just don't knows who plays when nobody is really ready at backup PG (Bradley sucks there) or the backup big spots, with experience, that is.

[Celtics4ever]

I think we will have a lot of games were we are competitive but will lose games because lack of scoring.   We will be tanking by default.  Only Bass and Green out of that lineup are scorers for their position.  RR , Bradley and Humphries are average to below average as scorers.   Bass and Green are even a stretch but can be respectable.

[gar]

All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

[gpap]

If the roster remains as is, its safe to say the Celts will not be fun to watch.

They are not bad enough to be in the lottery, and just barely not good enough to make the 8th seed.

Danny could've very easily assembled a competitive team together post Pierce/KG.

If he stands pat as is, this will just not be a good team to watch.

And why on earth did he sign Pressey and Faverani? I don't have a clue about either one of these guys.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Pressey had a really good summer league,

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I can just see the new coach trying to make the new guys earn their minutes, but between injury recovery for Rondo and Sully and the lack of an experienced center, it looks like we're going to see some rooks on the floor quite a bit.

Hope it's balanced with some vets out there...an all-rookie lineup is just a mess.

Can Rondo and a sprinkling of veterans make these inexperienced players look like they know what they're doing?

[gpap]

All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

And this is one of my biggest problems with the current roster.

Where on earth is the offense going to come from?

[Boris Badenov]

All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

And this is one of my biggest problems with the current roster.

Where on earth is the offense going to come from?

Yeah, even our best offensive players (Rondo and Green) have benefited from having Pierce and KG on the floor for substantial stretches. So have complementary players like Bass and Sully. Pierce and KG were not only good scorers (KG less so of course), but also very good at moving the ball and getting other players open looks.

It'll be interesting to see how the remaining guys fare when they are a #1 or #2 offensive option instead of a #3 or #4, and the ball movement and spacing are worse. It could get ugly in a hurry - and it will be a horror show if Rondo is out, IMO.

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All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

And this is one of my biggest problems with the current roster.

Where on earth is the offense going to come from?

Yeah, even our best offensive players (Rondo and Green) have benefited from having Pierce and KG on the floor for substantial stretches. So have complementary players like Bass and Sully. Pierce and KG were not only good scorers (KG less so of course), but also very good at moving the ball and getting other players open looks.

It'll be interesting to see how the remaining guys fare when they are a #1 or #2 offensive option instead of a #3 or #4, and the ball movement and spacing are worse. It could get ugly in a hurry - and it will be a horror show if Rondo is out, IMO.

So...who plays?  How does the rookie coach try to make it work?

Are we really starting Pressey at PG if Rondo is still out?

How much can we expect from Olynyk early in the season?  Scoring?

And do we actually need to keep Humphries, at least until the ASB?

[csfansince60s]

All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

And this is one of my biggest problems with the current roster.

Where on earth is the offense going to come from?

Hopefully nowhere, just for one year!

I can deal with watching a tough, scrappy defensive bunch giving their all for one year, diving to the floor, running through picks, etc. far better than all those mail-in jobs from last year.

[syfy9]

If the roster remains as is, its safe to say the Celts will not be fun to watch.

Disagree.

I've pointed out our scoring deficiencies in other threads and have noted that it is a huge problem, but as long as a certain point guard is on our team, the Celtics will be very fun to watch.


"I don't usually score, but when I do, I score fabulously"

[mmmmm]

All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

All Shooters Lineup:

(Pressey is very inconsistent)
Lee
Green
Olynyk
Sullinger

Lee is easily the best 3PT shooter out of our cadre of SGs, with a career 3PT% of 38.4%.   Also, Bogans is not as 'good', at only 35%, but he's actually been very consistent over his career.  Not too streaky.   I expect Bradley to eventually be a decent shooter - but he's still very young and so far the jury has to be said to be in deliberations.

Sullinger is a better outside shooter than Faverani.

That lineup actually has pretty decent shooting skill.   The problem isn't lack of shooting skill. 

The problem is inexperience.   Three out of the five players without a full season between them.

Obviously a more realistic lineup inserts Rondo or Bradley in a the point until at least Pressey has had time to get his feet wet.

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All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

All Shooters Lineup:

(Pressey is very inconsistent)
Lee
Green
Olynyk
Sullinger

Lee is easily the best 3PT shooter out of our cadre of SGs, with a career 3PT% of 38.4%.   Also, Bogans is not as 'good', at only 35%, but he's actually been very consistent over his career.  Not too streaky.   I expect Bradley to eventually be a decent shooter - but he's still very young and so far the jury has to be said to be in deliberations.

Sullinger is a better outside shooter than Faverani.

That lineup actually has pretty decent shooting skill.   The problem isn't lack of shooting skill. 

The problem is inexperience.   Three out of the five players without a full season between them.

Obviously a more realistic lineup inserts Rondo or Bradley in a the point until at least Pressey has had time to get his feet wet.

The lineup we're probably hoping to work towards is

Rondo
Bradley
Green
Sully
Olynyk

so long as everything works out, but until then...

WE have Bass/Hump on the frontline.  Definitely not as much scoring as the young guys should be able to produce (Olynyk seems built to score in the NBA).

If/when we have Rondo back, I think he can look to score more, and be #2 to JGreen, but it's a dropoff after that until Olynyk is ready.  Bass can try to force points (and probably will), but Rondo shouldn't hold back waiting on Bass to get position or make a play.

Part of the issue/point could be that we can't just trade off some of these vet role players because we need some bodies to start the season, and they're going to be looking to win.

Can Rondo/Green carry a team of talented role players to the playoffs?

[Mazingerz]

All Slashers & Bangers lineup (no shooting):
Rondo
Brooks
Wallace
Humphries
Sullinger

All Shooters Lineup:
(Pressey is very inconsistent)
(Bradley, Crawford, Brooks and Bogans are not shooters)
Green
Olynyk
Faverani

So we have no consistent shooting at Shooting Guard and no size or shooting at PG. Other than that we are fine. This is why Bass, Olynyk and Faverani will see lots of minutes. We need bigs to space the floor because we have no shooting at PG and SG. If I were another team I would just pack it in and dare our guards to shoot.

All Shooters Lineup:

(Pressey is very inconsistent)
Lee
Green
Olynyk
Sullinger

Lee is easily the best 3PT shooter out of our cadre of SGs, with a career 3PT% of 38.4%.   Also, Bogans is not as 'good', at only 35%, but he's actually been very consistent over his career.  Not too streaky.   I expect Bradley to eventually be a decent shooter - but he's still very young and so far the jury has to be said to be in deliberations.

Sullinger is a better outside shooter than Faverani.

That lineup actually has pretty decent shooting skill.   The problem isn't lack of shooting skill. 

The problem is inexperience.   Three out of the five players without a full season between them.

Obviously a more realistic lineup inserts Rondo or Bradley in a the point until at least Pressey has had time to get his feet wet.

The lineup we're probably hoping to work towards is

Rondo
Bradley
Green
Sully
Olynyk

so long as everything works out, but until then...

WE have Bass/Hump on the frontline.  Definitely not as much scoring as the young guys should be able to produce (Olynyk seems built to score in the NBA).

If/when we have Rondo back, I think he can look to score more, and be #2 to JGreen, but it's a dropoff after that until Olynyk is ready.  Bass can try to force points (and probably will), but Rondo shouldn't hold back waiting on Bass to get position or make a play.

Part of the issue/point could be that we can't just trade off some of these vet role players because we need some bodies to start the season, and they're going to be looking to win.

Can Rondo/Green carry a team of talented role players to the playoffs?

Detroit did it once before: Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, R. Wallace, and B. Wallace;

I think we can too.