Poll

Who will start opening night and the majority of games for us this season?

Vitor Faverani
6 (25%)
Kelly Olynyk
4 (16.7%)
Jarred Sullinger
1 (4.2%)
Kris Humphries
13 (54.2%)

Total Members Voted: 23

Author Topic: So who will be our starting Center?  (Read 10684 times)

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So who will be our starting Center?
« on: August 21, 2013, 10:08:57 AM »

Offline chambers

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Who do you think?
This was the topic on the front page the other day.
Others have said Humphries and others have said Olynyk.
I doubt Sully plays C but perhaps Danny will think it's the best play for him to hone his post game.

I'm trying to see Olynyk being an NBA center and it will be weird at first if he is. I feel like Danny wants to make him more of a stretch PF like Dirk Nowitzki/Garnett- problem is where does that leave Sully?

Who do you think gets the nod on opening night?
I'm gonna take a wild stab and say it's gonna be Sully and Olynyk with Humphries (if he's still here) and Faverani/Bass coming in when fouls/match ups deem it.

I think Olynyk and Sully are just that much more talented than Faverani and Hump- but it will take Kelly O a bit of time to adjust to NBA length and strength.

I think starting him over Humphries/Bass probably loses us more games early on simply because of the front line inexperience and how quickly they'll get into foul trouble.
I believe Danny has constructed this roster to win as few games as possible whilst developing our younger talent in the process.
Does Bass get any thought starting over Sully or Olynyk just because of him being trade bait in 4 months? One guy on the ESPN blog makes a good point of starting Hump at center and Bass at PF to get rid of them by All Star break, then start the youngin' duo from then on...
definitely makes sense too.

What are your thoughts and who starts at Center for the Boston Celtics in 2013-14?

Also being discussed on EPSN celtics blog...
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4706487/summer-forecast-center-of-attention-2
"We are lucky we have a very patient GM that isn't willing to settle for being good and coming close. He wants to win a championship and we have the potential to get there still with our roster and assets."

quoting 'Greg B' on RealGM after 2017 trade deadline.
Read that last line again. One more time.

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2013, 11:27:53 AM »

Offline Tr1boy

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Centers essential duties:
Defensive rebounds
Set picks
Offensive tip ins/dunks/close to basket scoring
Protect the interior

Centers luxury capabilities for team
Shot blocking
Scoring skills - jump shot, post moves
Passing skills
Ability to guard multiple positions

So if we need to aim to have the centers essential duties pat down, its between sullinger and hump. But given that sullinger can give extra, he should start.

Olynyk is a pf. He is more valuable to be able to roam around the court than be limted to being under the basket mainly.

Sullinger/olynyk duo is our best bet. Fav is the darkhorse. If hump is our starting center , we are def on our way to tank for next year

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2013, 11:44:46 AM »

Offline timobusa

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I somehow think its gonna be Faverani.

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2013, 05:32:29 PM »

Offline droopdog7

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I still say it should be Olynyk.

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2013, 05:39:33 PM »

Offline Birdman

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Mark Blount
C/PF-Horford, Baynes, Noel, Theis, Morris,
SF/SG- Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Smart, Semi, Clark
PG- Irving, Rozier, Larkin

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2013, 07:16:52 PM »

Offline Tr1boy

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I still say it should be Olynyk.

Bc he is 7ft he should b a center?

If he was an exceptional rebounder at least, he be easily a center. But he is not. Best 7-8 avg a game. That means we may get rocked by offensive rebounds and 2nd chances.

Sully though undersized , has the girth /strength to play against centers in the nba. He lives under the basket. But most importantly can rebound the ball. You can depend on him. If he starts this year, easily grabs 10 and maxes out at 12 avg

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2013, 07:23:29 PM »

Offline ImShakHeIsShaq

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Sully and Olynyk! Sully the center! It's the NewBA, height matters NOT!
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Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2013, 07:45:00 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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Kris Humphries makes the most sense. 

I expect Olynyk and Sullinger to have to work their way into the starting lineup, and between the two of them I'd play Sullinger at center rather than Kelly.


It wouldn't totally shock me if Faverani starts at center with Humphries or Bass at PF, but we really have no way of knowing if Faverani is a legit NBA player or not.
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Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2013, 08:05:09 PM »

Offline billysan

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I still say it should be Olynyk.

Bc he is 7ft he should b a center?

If he was an exceptional rebounder at least, he be easily a center. But he is not. Best 7-8 avg a game. That means we may get rocked by offensive rebounds and 2nd chances.

Sully though undersized , has the girth /strength to play against centers in the nba. He lives under the basket. But most importantly can rebound the ball. You can depend on him. If he starts this year, easily grabs 10 and maxes out at 12 avg
I want to agree with you but something tells me he will be like Big Baby at center. Plenty of girth to carve out space with a few moves underneath. A decent jumper developing. Still the negative of no lift though and he gets clobbered when it counts by long athletic bigs.

I just want to be careful with expectations for this kid. He is not going to ever be the number one big man IMO and we shouldnt expect him to be a starting center. Let someone else play at center and him have reasonable career at PF. That would be more than enough enough for me.

Lets play Faverani and Hump at center. We should let Sully and Olynyk play the PF and develop. The two young ones can play together in small lineups and likely will thrive.
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Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2013, 08:41:33 PM »

Offline jambr380

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I know people want Bass to be traded, but I see almost no mention of him [so far] as even being a back up. Honestly, if he is still on the team, expect him to get at least 24 minutes a game. You may not like him and you may not think he fits in with a rebuild, but he was a starting pf on a contending team. He is not going to be a 3rd stringer.

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2013, 08:49:24 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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I know people want Bass to be traded, but I see almost no mention of him [so far] as even being a back up. Honestly, if he is still on the team, expect him to get at least 24 minutes a game. You may not like him and you may not think he fits in with a rebuild, but he was a starting pf on a contending team. He is not going to be a 3rd stringer.

I expect him to begin the season starting at PF, then eventually get relegated to a backup role once Sullinger works his way back to 100% and Olynyk earns more time.
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Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2013, 09:04:23 PM »

Offline Tr1boy

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I still say it should be Olynyk.

Bc he is 7ft he should b a center?

If he was an exceptional rebounder at least, he be easily a center. But he is not. Best 7-8 avg a game. That means we may get rocked by offensive rebounds and 2nd chances.

Sully though undersized , has the girth /strength to play against centers in the nba. He lives under the basket. But most importantly can rebound the ball. You can depend on him. If he starts this year, easily grabs 10 and maxes out at 12 avg
I want to agree with you but something tells me he will be like Big Baby at center. Plenty of girth to carve out space with a few moves underneath. A decent jumper developing. Still the negative of no lift though and he gets clobbered when it counts by long athletic bigs.

I just want to be careful with expectations for this kid. He is not going to ever be the number one big man IMO and we shouldnt expect him to be a starting center. Let someone else play at center and him have reasonable career at PF. That would be more than enough enough for me.

Lets play Faverani and Hump at center. We should let Sully and Olynyk play the PF and develop. The two young ones can play together in small lineups and likely will thrive.

i get where your coming from but you have to look at this situation at a different angle than is this guy a center , is he 7 ft, does he have the length etc.

Look at it this way. You can have two manual cars racing against each other. Car A has better specs to be able to be driven a little faster than Car B. But if the driver in Car B can change his gears better, make better turns, overall better execution, than car B wins.

Think of Sully as the car b and its driver. His boxing out skills, rebounding capabilities is textbook. Some guys in the nba for 10 years with better physical traits is not half the rebounder he is , bc they are not consistent with their technique plus they don't want to get their nose dirty. 

Sullinger as he said it best, first and foremost is a basketball player. He knows what he is doing out there and yeah there are limitations he has to deal with, but overall i believe he will come through and do the job.

You say humphries or Fav can start. And maybe so, but Humphries in his 7-8 year career still is a bench player at best. He could be a starter, but on a team that has other strong supporting cast. Faverani has averaged like 5 rebounds in the european league. Maybe he was coming off the bench , not given a proper nod, but the jury is out for now. 

One other thing is last year when SUlly played with KG on the starting unit, he did guard/play against centers on many occasions, thus he has some experience. And he started as a rookie and got praise from kg/rivers etc. He hasn't even peaked yet and should be given a proper chance to show what he has on the court. As long as Olynyk earns it and imo he will outplay every other big in our lineup eventually; these are our two best bigs we got. So they should play at the same time regardless if really both are by label PF's
« Last Edit: August 21, 2013, 09:13:17 PM by triboy16f »

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2013, 09:13:08 PM »

Online Surferdad

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I know people want Bass to be traded, but I see almost no mention of him [so far] as even being a back up. Honestly, if he is still on the team, expect him to get at least 24 minutes a game. You may not like him and you may not think he fits in with a rebuild, but he was a starting pf on a contending team. He is not going to be a 3rd stringer.

I expect him to begin the season starting at PF, then eventually get relegated to a backup role once Sullinger works his way back to 100% and Olynyk earns more time.
I see the depth as
4 - Bass, Sully, Olynyk
5 - Hump, Faverani
In a small lineup Green could see time at the 4 with Bass or Sully at the 5.

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2013, 09:14:15 PM »

Offline Tr1boy

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I know people want Bass to be traded, but I see almost no mention of him [so far] as even being a back up. Honestly, if he is still on the team, expect him to get at least 24 minutes a game. You may not like him and you may not think he fits in with a rebuild, but he was a starting pf on a contending team. He is not going to be a 3rd stringer.

I expect him to begin the season starting at PF, then eventually get relegated to a backup role once Sullinger works his way back to 100% and Olynyk earns more time.
I see the depth as
4 - Bass, Sully, Olynyk
5 - Hump, Faverani
In a small lineup Green could see time at the 4 with Bass or Sully at the 5.

can i ask you, how bass will start when Sullinger beat him to the starting lineup last year??

Re: So who will be our starting Center?
« Reply #14 on: August 21, 2013, 10:00:47 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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I know people want Bass to be traded, but I see almost no mention of him [so far] as even being a back up. Honestly, if he is still on the team, expect him to get at least 24 minutes a game. You may not like him and you may not think he fits in with a rebuild, but he was a starting pf on a contending team. He is not going to be a 3rd stringer.

I expect him to begin the season starting at PF, then eventually get relegated to a backup role once Sullinger works his way back to 100% and Olynyk earns more time.
I see the depth as
4 - Bass, Sully, Olynyk
5 - Hump, Faverani
In a small lineup Green could see time at the 4 with Bass or Sully at the 5.

can i ask you, how bass will start when Sullinger beat him to the starting lineup last year??

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