ESPN predicts Boston will have 28th ranked offense and 30th ranked defense

[Galeto]

Like others have said, it's hard to see the defense being even average with their front court.  Rookies, lack of size, lack of rim protection--it's not a strong defensive mix.  I also think the perimeter defenders are overrated or unknown. 

Green had a very fine defensive season individually but his team defense is still spotty and he's going to have to guard starting small forwards full time this season.  Rondo's bad on defense because he doesn't even try, although he can cause havoc with his speed and quick and hands.  I think Bradley's overrated on defense.  He fouls too much and gives up too much dribble penetration to be an elite defender for my taste.  Lee's best in a Bradley-type defensive role where he's pressing up the court.  In a half-court, he just doesn't seem to get as many stops as I expected. 

[vinnie]

Our D was very good last season, while our offense was well below average.  We were 6th in defensive efficiency and 20th in offensive efficiency.

My guess is our defensive efficiency will be closer to 20th this year, while our offensive efficiency will be below 25th.

I think the defense could be worse than that, depending on how well any of our bigs play D.  But I think people are seriously underestimating the Celtics on offense.  It's not like Doc is still here running an offense that's built on forcing the ball into KG and Pierce in a static, slowdown, walk-it-up tempo.  Boston should play much faster and have a lot more motion in the half-court.  I'm not sure about their efficiency ranking but, with a healthy Rondo, this shouldn't be a team that struggles mightily to put the ball in the basket.

Mike

According to this article, Butler was 219th in tempo last year and was never in the top 200(!) during Stevens' tenure.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1713831-how-brad-stevens-butler-system-translates-to-the-boston-celtics

Stevens may implement some changes, but it's not like we hired Dave Arsenault.

Every time I read a post about the great potential for a new run-and-gun offense I think back to all of the Butler games I watched. They were a plodding team on offense. But, Maybe Stevens will change his stripes to adapt to the players here.

[Roy H.]

The guarantee that Fab Melo won't play a minute for the Celtics this season has to move us up to at least 27th and 29th, right?

[Celtics18]

Like others have said, it's hard to see the defense being even average with their front court.  Rookies, lack of size, lack of rim protection--it's not a strong defensive mix.  I also think the perimeter defenders are overrated or unknown. 

Green had a very fine defensive season individually but his team defense is still spotty and he's going to have to guard starting small forwards full time this season.  Rondo's bad on defense because he doesn't even try, although he can cause havoc with his speed and quick and hands.  I think Bradley's overrated on defense.  He fouls too much and gives up too much dribble penetration to be an elite defender for my taste.  Lee's best in a Bradley-type defensive role where he's pressing up the court.  In a half-court, he just doesn't seem to get as many stops as I expected.

I don't think there are any teams in the Eastern conference other than possibly Miami, Indiana, and Chicago that can lay claim to having as strong a group of perimeter defenders as the Celtics do in Rondo, Bradley, Lee, Bogans, Green, and Wallace. 

[Galeto]

Our D was very good last season, while our offense was well below average.  We were 6th in defensive efficiency and 20th in offensive efficiency.

My guess is our defensive efficiency will be closer to 20th this year, while our offensive efficiency will be below 25th.

I think the defense could be worse than that, depending on how well any of our bigs play D.  But I think people are seriously underestimating the Celtics on offense.  It's not like Doc is still here running an offense that's built on forcing the ball into KG and Pierce in a static, slowdown, walk-it-up tempo.  Boston should play much faster and have a lot more motion in the half-court.  I'm not sure about their efficiency ranking but, with a healthy Rondo, this shouldn't be a team that struggles mightily to put the ball in the basket.

Mike

According to this article, Butler was 219th in tempo last year and was never in the top 200(!) during Stevens' tenure.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1713831-how-brad-stevens-butler-system-translates-to-the-boston-celtics

Stevens may implement some changes, but it's not like we hired Dave Arsenault.

Every time I read a post about the great potential for a new run-and-gun offense I think back to all of the Butler games I watched. They were a plodding team on offense. But, Maybe Stevens will change his stripes to adapt to the players here.

Yeah, I think the optimism about a new uptempo offense stems from Stevens' age, the age of the roster and Stevens' reputation as a stats guy who'll play in whatever style the numbers say fits best (don't know if that's true). 

At Butler, obviously he wasn't getting the best athletes so maybe he decided it was best to play a methodical style.  However, he did have two future NBA players in Hayward and Mack and his perimeters were pretty quick.  Another guy with a uptempo inclination might have played a much faster pace.  Maybe he just prefers a grind it out style.  The big men he had were athletically similar (relatively speaking) to what the Celtics have so all in all, I wouldn't peg this team as a run and gun team at all until otherwise.

[Redz]

On the bright side they love our special teams 

[More Banners]

Like others have said, it's hard to see the defense being even average with their front court.  Rookies, lack of size, lack of rim protection--it's not a strong defensive mix.  I also think the perimeter defenders are overrated or unknown. 

Green had a very fine defensive season individually but his team defense is still spotty and he's going to have to guard starting small forwards full time this season.  Rondo's bad on defense because he doesn't even try, although he can cause havoc with his speed and quick and hands.  I think Bradley's overrated on defense.  He fouls too much and gives up too much dribble penetration to be an elite defender for my taste.  Lee's best in a Bradley-type defensive role where he's pressing up the court.  In a half-court, he just doesn't seem to get as many stops as I expected.

I don't think there are any teams in the Eastern conference other than possibly Miami, Indiana, and Chicago that can lay claim to having as strong a group of perimeter defenders as the Celtics do in Rondo, Bradley, Lee, Bogans, Green, and Wallace.

And we can play them all.

Rondo/Bradley
Bogans/Lee
Green/Wallace

Probably will.

Big man D could be pretty sketchy, though.  Might not exist.  Rebound and foul?  Got to hope for some miracles down there.

Maybe Wallace plays the 4 for D if Sully isn't there.  I think he's probably still better than Bass on D.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Predicting that the Celtics will have the worst defense in the league is honestly, laughable.

[Finkelskyhook]

After reading this drivel I wonder if the illiterate jamele hill is the "insider".

[SHAQATTACK]

I'm not expecting much in the way of victories this year .

I be happy to,see a lot of the nets throw away players .......go away  ASAP

good side , is Lakers will suck too.....

[PhoSita]

The guarantee that Fab Melo won't play a minute for the Celtics this season has to move us up to at least 27th and 29th, right?

The Fab Melo haters have won.  He's gone.  It's dead.  No need to keep beating that horse.

I don't think he would have played more than a couple minutes here and there, anyhow.

[mmmmm]

Our D was very good last season, while our offense was well below average.  We were 6th in defensive efficiency and 20th in offensive efficiency.

My guess is our defensive efficiency will be closer to 20th this year, while our offensive efficiency will be below 25th.

I think the defense could be worse than that, depending on how well any of our bigs play D.  But I think people are seriously underestimating the Celtics on offense.  It's not like Doc is still here running an offense that's built on forcing the ball into KG and Pierce in a static, slowdown, walk-it-up tempo.  Boston should play much faster and have a lot more motion in the half-court.  I'm not sure about their efficiency ranking but, with a healthy Rondo, this shouldn't be a team that struggles mightily to put the ball in the basket.

Mike

According to this article, Butler was 219th in tempo last year and was never in the top 200(!) during Stevens' tenure.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1713831-how-brad-stevens-butler-system-translates-to-the-boston-celtics

Stevens may implement some changes, but it's not like we hired Dave Arsenault.

Yeah, I don't know why so many fans seem to think that Stevens is going to come in and suddenly try to implement a Jerry Tarkanian "Running Rebels" offense.

Everything Stevens has done in the past looks to favor a more methodical, patient, look-for-the-highest-efficiency-shot offense.   His teams tended to take a lot of shots late in the clock after a lot of passes and motion.   He also, like Doc, preaches prioritizing transition D over crashing the boards.   There are probably more similarities between Stevens and Doc than differences.

[bfrombleacher]

Yeah, I don't know why so many fans seem to think that Stevens is going to come in and suddenly try to implement a Jerry Tarkanian "Running Rebels" offense.

Everything Stevens has done in the past looks to favor a more methodical, patient, look-for-the-highest-efficiency-shot offense.   His teams tended to take a lot of shots late in the clock after a lot of passes and motion.   He also, like Doc, preaches prioritizing transition D over crashing the boards.   There are probably more similarities between Stevens and Doc than differences.

I noticed that too.

His offenses at Butler weren’t very fluid or the most efficient. Some of them were extremely hard to watch because of the shot selection that was involved. There seemed to be a premium on the midrange jump shot–something that won’t work at the NBA level.

But, Doc was reported to be against the use of statistics. While Stevens has said he doesn't see game time having that much more value over practice, the Jason Collins's of the club might not be getting so much burn.

Celtics GM Danny Ainge leans heavily on his analytics staff, and at a meeting with Doc Rivers at season's end, it was suggested Rivers should perhaps incorporate more of those elements into his game plans and preparations, several sources told Y! Sports.
Privately, Rivers winced over the contents of some of the discussion, sources said. There was no confrontation, but there was tension.

I've also read he does value defensive rebounding, a rare bird in the Doc era. I'm hoping and praying that Stevens's emphasis on D-Rebs will indeed translate.

For a poor offensive rebounding forward, Stevens said, "You're beating a dead horse if you say, 'Go to the glass, go to the glass.' " Instead, the coach said, show that he went to the boards three times out of 50. Either the forward is not in shape or not trying. "One more possession might mean winning the game," Stevens said.

[Celtics18]

Our D was very good last season, while our offense was well below average.  We were 6th in defensive efficiency and 20th in offensive efficiency.

My guess is our defensive efficiency will be closer to 20th this year, while our offensive efficiency will be below 25th.

I think the defense could be worse than that, depending on how well any of our bigs play D.  But I think people are seriously underestimating the Celtics on offense.  It's not like Doc is still here running an offense that's built on forcing the ball into KG and Pierce in a static, slowdown, walk-it-up tempo.  Boston should play much faster and have a lot more motion in the half-court.  I'm not sure about their efficiency ranking but, with a healthy Rondo, this shouldn't be a team that struggles mightily to put the ball in the basket.

Mike

According to this article, Butler was 219th in tempo last year and was never in the top 200(!) during Stevens' tenure.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1713831-how-brad-stevens-butler-system-translates-to-the-boston-celtics

Stevens may implement some changes, but it's not like we hired Dave Arsenault.

Yeah, I don't know why so many fans seem to think that Stevens is going to come in and suddenly try to implement a Jerry Tarkanian "Running Rebels" offense.

Everything Stevens has done in the past looks to favor a more methodical, patient, look-for-the-highest-efficiency-shot offense.   His teams tended to take a lot of shots late in the clock after a lot of passes and motion.   He also, like Doc, preaches prioritizing transition D over crashing the boards.   There are probably more similarities between Stevens and Doc than differences.

My wanting to see a faster paced Celtics team next season isn't based on Brad Stevens' history, but rather on the makeup of the squad. 

I think it's a team whose personnel is suited to being a high turnover producing defense that turns that into fastbreak offense. 

If you are building around Rajon Rondo, I don't think being a methodical, half court style team makes the most sense.

 

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Sully, underrated defender. RR, AB, Wallace, Bogans, Lee, Bass, and Green are all good/great defenders! I'm sorry, there is no way we can be worse! We may not be one of the best but there IS NO way we can be 30th! I'm just shaking my head at anyone who actually believes we will be 30th! We have 2 unknowns in KO and Fav. 2 players known for being putrid defenders in Crawford and Brooks. Then we have Hump who isn't good but not as bad as people say. Who else on the team is a bad defender... I'll wait. I mean, you have 2 terrible defenders out of 15 (Crawford was actually doing okay last season, all he needs are coaches who put an emphasis on it, Doc did and Stevens is said to) and we will have the 30th ranked defense??? HOW?