KO ate his wheaties

[rollie mass]

It looks like he is paying attention to d and refs are letting him get away with some shoving.KO is improving you can see the game is slowing down for him and with another off season in gym and working lateral drills,any improvement in vertical and lateral will show dramatically.The improvement from last year is immense for Kelly, both he and tyler are young as big men go,.Marcus and Crowder may inspire these two 7 footers to beef up and toughen up.Even turner may be motivated off season to put in extra effort with all the draft picks coming and both crowder and smart's work ethics.KO seems to have changed recently although he had that slump .There is a post rondo KO that might thrive in youth movement.Could you get a better coach for all the young players coming -i don't think so.

[GreenWarrior]

I think it's BS, and i'm not talking about Brad Stevens.

last night's game soured me a little bit more on KO. I can't stand when below-average/ poor players go and play great in front of their hometown, play the way their supposed to and play to their potential. particularly when they were non-existent for the last month or so. and he'll probably go back to being non-existent after he got this game out of his system.

just shows me he can play well, he has the ability, apparently he just chooses not to or when he wants to. 

[inverselock]

I think it's BS, and i'm not talking about Brad Stevens.

last night's game soured me a little bit more on KO. I can't stand when below-average/ poor players go and play great in front of their hometown, play the way their supposed to and play to their potential. particularly when they were non-existent for the last month or so. and he'll probably go back to being non-existent after he got this game out of his system.

just shows me he can play well, he has the ability, apparently he just chooses not to or when he wants to.

Many reasons why player performance can vary.  What gives you the impression KO can choose to play well?

[footey]

I think it's BS, and i'm not talking about Brad Stevens.

last night's game soured me a little bit more on KO. I can't stand when below-average/ poor players go and play great in front of their hometown, play the way their supposed to and play to their potential. particularly when they were non-existent for the last month or so. and he'll probably go back to being non-existent after he got this game out of his system.

just shows me he can play well, he has the ability, apparently he just chooses not to or when he wants to.

I think you're harsh, but feel your frustration, and kind of agree with your point.  Kelly needs a big kick in the butt.  He needs to demand the freakin' ball more.  He gets open down low posting a smaller player, and his team-mates either don't see him or ignore him.  He needs to create shots or assists off dribble more, rather than just get rid of it like a hot potato. He is easily the best 3 point shooter on the team, at least until Young gets acclimated.  So he needs to get in more sets to take his 3 point shot. 

I don't know what Stevens has said or done, but he seems to be failing the team by not having him more of a focal point of the offense, and not criticizing the other players if they ignore him (There were several times last night when they ignored him when he was posting a small player on a switch, one time ending up in a 3 second violation). 

This team is pretty selfish, what Sully said is very true. 

[Redz]

He's shown us flashes of the type of effort and assertiveness necessary to take a jump forward, but all to often he reverts back to being passive.  I don't know why that comes and goes.  Could be uncertainty of his role, coaching, talent, psyche or some combo of all of it.  Who knows? It would be nice to  see him grow a proverbial "pair" and build off that.

[Rosco917]

I think Kelly is working as hard as he can, and yes there is improvement from last year. But in reality, he is a terrible interior defender. He gets off his feet sooooo slowly. He 's limited to just putting his arms up as his major form of defense, and that's if he's in position at all. When ever he plays center, or is down low, the opposing team attacks him with out mercy. He gets called for fouls so much, because he pushes so much, that's what he calls being physical.

On offense he is so scared to get his shot blocked, like it comes with a heavy fine, he up fakes way too much, when he should be just firing away. He has to learn to get the ball off quicker at the three point line during the game. It may come with more experience.

His talent on the offensive side is his shooting and passing ability, along with his ball handling for a big man. He has all the small man skills down. 

In the long run, maturity has to be his best friend, he reminds me of a giant little boy. 

[danglertx]

I think KO's biggest problem is the team he is on.  At any one time we always have at least one 2 guard chucker on the floor.  Whether it is Kobe Bradley, Thorton, or Turner.  These guys dominate the ball and shots.

Throw Sully in there who is going to get his shots, Zeller who has become McHale like in his willingness to pass out of the post, no pass Bass, and emerging chucker Smart and a pass first mentality guy like KO is going to get out of rhythm.

Stevens has to actually run plays for KO to get him a shot and when he does it is like KO feels obligated into forcing it up instead of shots just coming naturally.

I have noticed, things just run smoother with KO out there.  He is the guy setting picks for everyone, swinging the ball, and attempting to get offensive rebounds.  A lot of times that ends up in good looks for others or rebounds getting mishandled and tipped out of bounds giving the Celtics extra positions, but those things aren't in the stat sheet.

I think KO still has some growing to do as a basketball player and it is in the form of confidence in himself and from his teammates who don't even look to him in the post.  He gets great position at times in the paint and they never throw it to him.

Defensively, he isn't nearly as bad as everyone on this board seems to think.  His biggest problem is he helps out too much.  People say he isn't quick enough laterally, but the other night against Brooklyn he had Joe Johnson 1 on 1 on the left wing at the three point line.  He ran him off the three, retreated back and stoned him on a baseline drive.  I think that was the play that led to the back court pass that Crowder hustled on and drew the foul. 

On the post, Olynyk has been better on other team's bigs than Zeller has.  Zeller was getting destroyed by Brooklyn's bigs but KO came in and did really well against Garnett, Lopez and Crew.  Yeah they hit some shots on him, everyone gets scored on, but it isn't a lack of effort on Kelly's part and I can't always say the same for Bass.  Generally Kelly makes people hit tough shots over him and his fouling, especially on shots is way down this year.

The worst thing you can say about him is that he isn't a weak side shot blocker.  And he isn't.  If you want a weak side shot blocker it is going to have to come from the other big on the floor or a super athletic three.  We had Wright in here and defensively we didn't seem the least bit better.  What he gained you in blocked shots he lost no blocking out and poor BB IQ.

[SHAQATTACK]

I think KO's biggest problem is the team he is on.  At any one time we always have at least one 2 guard chucker on the floor.  Whether it is Kobe Bradley, Thorton, or Turner.  These guys dominate the ball and shots.

TP.......I liked everything you said.   You wrote a nice book....LOL

But , you could have just wrote the Paragraph above .  That said it all .    Bradley can't pass,  so he shoots .   Thornton can't play , so he just shoots.

KO ....defers,  or allows the ball hogs on the team to dominate. 

It s amazing how many wide open drives , shots KO gives up to others , who often take a bad shot In return .

KO attitude stands in his way on the court.   He needs a BOSS attitude . .......a I'm the best shooter on the court get the ball.  ......he needs a FoLLow me attitude .

[rollie mass]

losing an all star control freak genius as point guard and a rebounder, then the most athletic high scorer and having a team with a 20year old rookie at point and turner and then pint sized pressey.This kid,KO is 18 months out of college playing multiple positions and overcoming some of his limitations and doesn't even know his strengths yet.The sour milk brigade is going to have field day with this rebuild.

[TheTruthFot18]

More like KO got the playing time he needs. But he can still use more. Closer to 30

[gpap]

Don't like Olynyk.

I don't like the way he plays

I don't like his feel for the game

Just don't like him as a player.

[GreenWarrior]

I think it's BS, and i'm not talking about Brad Stevens.

last night's game soured me a little bit more on KO. I can't stand when below-average/ poor players go and play great in front of their hometown, play the way their supposed to and play to their potential. particularly when they were non-existent for the last month or so. and he'll probably go back to being non-existent after he got this game out of his system.

just shows me he can play well, he has the ability, apparently he just chooses not to or when he wants to.

I think you're harsh, but feel your frustration, and kind of agree with your point.  Kelly needs a big kick in the butt.  He needs to demand the freakin' ball more.  He gets open down low posting a smaller player, and his team-mates either don't see him or ignore him.  He needs to create shots or assists off dribble more, rather than just get rid of it like a hot potato. He is easily the best 3 point shooter on the team, at least until Young gets acclimated.  So he needs to get in more sets to take his 3 point shot. 

I don't know what Stevens has said or done, but he seems to be failing the team by not having him more of a focal point of the offense, and not criticizing the other players if they ignore him (There were several times last night when they ignored him when he was posting a small player on a switch, one time ending up in a 3 second violation). 

This team is pretty selfish, what Sully said is very true.

not sure what is harsh in saying olynyk clearly has the ability but apparently only uses when he wants to? it was quite obvious after last night.

maybe I heard Gorman wrong but I could've sworn I heard him say during last night's game "olynyk is all over the place", I can't recall the last time I would use that phrase to describe KO's play. the last time KO had a big game I believe his parents were at the Garden. is this his only motivation?

[clover]

I think it's BS, and i'm not talking about Brad Stevens.

last night's game soured me a little bit more on KO. I can't stand when below-average/ poor players go and play great in front of their hometown, play the way their supposed to and play to their potential. particularly when they were non-existent for the last month or so. and he'll probably go back to being non-existent after he got this game out of his system.

just shows me he can play well, he has the ability, apparently he just chooses not to or when he wants to.

The idea that KO doesn't want to play well or isn't trying hard out there is, to me, preposterous.

He's still in the front half of his sophomore year, playing somewhat out of position at the 5, not old enough to be at full strength against some monsters in the league, clearly a conscientious team player working to put all of his skills together at the NBA level, and getting better all the time.

Yeah, we'd like every player to play at his highest level of performance every game, but that doesn't happen and inconsistency is a hallmark of young guys still learning.

Just look at how he has been able to transform his body (compared to, ahem, Sully) in a little more than a year at the pro level. He's outperformed pretty much everyone in his rookie class when it generally takes 7-footers longer than other guys to mature into their bodies and their ultimately capabilities.

[clover]

Don't like Olynyk.

I don't like the way he plays

I don't like his feel for the game

Just don't like him as a player.

He's a coach's son with a great feel for the game.

[clover]

More like KO got the playing time he needs. But he can still use more. Closer to 30

Agreed.