"4 Things I Want To See Next Season"

[greece66]

Post from reddit user "The Arbiter of Olynyk" (yes, that's for real  )

//1. See What We Have In James Young

D-League stints are all fine and well, and we saw a similarly late pick like Avery Bradley develop in the same way, but sometime next year we are going to need to play James Young and see what we have in him. I'm not saying let's start him and give him 12 shots a game or that Brad was wrong to sit him down the stretch, but I think knowing what we have in our Kentucky project is going to start being more imperative next year.
Let's take a trip through time and check out what Chad Ford had to say about Young coming out of school.
Positives
Super scoring wing
Excellent penetrator
Improving shooter with range
Good motor
Negatives
Needs to improve his consistency from 3-point range
Hmmm... What was the one thing we had James Young do all year? Oh yeah, shoot 3s!
It's easy to forget with Young's smooth stroke, but his three point shooting was actually his biggest knock coming out of school. Where the young buck excelled was getting to the rim and drawing fouls. We didn't put him in a lot of situations to do that his year, as we had him in more of the bench role that I want Bradley to have on the starting unit: filling the weakside and shooting threes.
Again, not saying that the wrong thing to do for a rookie who wasn't going to see the floor much is to make him work on his weaknesses in a game situation. However, it becomes more imperative next year and maybe we can put him in some of those dribble hand-offs going to the middle of the floor that AB gets so often to see how Young looks attacking the rim at an NBA level. I think we need to get him 12 minutes a game next year.

2. Give Smart the Keys

Another rookie we saw put in a position where he had to sink-or-swim as far as improving his weaknesses goes. Marcus made himself a fair 3 point shooter throughout the year that he already passed that Rondo level of respect and teams are keeping a guy close to him on the 3 point line.
The next step in Smart's development is to see what kind of a point guard he can be. He showed us flashes throughout the year when given the agency to do things on the second unit, and with Evan Turner always being the training wheels we had for Smart while he got used to the NBA, I don't think we'll be afraid to trim his role down a bit.
The question that's pressing here is "Should IT start?" and Danny seems to side with me on that question. Thomas is best off the bench obliterating the opposing teams because his impact is going to mitigated at the starting level because of his size. This may seem a bit hypocritical when you go through my previous argument for Jelly Sullynyk starting, but they would have been young players supplanting veterans. This situation is the opposite.
I've been encouraged by what I've seen from Smart out of the pick and roll and I think giving Smart a lineup with shooters and Zeller as a roll man could really help us move marcus along on his next step in his development.

3. Add a Wing 3 Point Shooter

I actually think this is a bigger need than the shot blocking simply because we're already lurking on the outside of having a top 10 defense. Offense and scoring is the Celtics issue, and we somehow didn't have anyone besides Jerebko and Datome (in smaller sample sizes) shoot over .352. Take out Bradley, Olynyk and Thomas, and suddenly our best 3 point shooter is Marcus Smart at .335. Datome likely won't be back, Jerebko is a UFA, Olynyk's shooting regressed, and Bradley, Smart, and Thomas all more guard than wing.
Turner has been fine for his price and we all love Crowder, but .277 and .282 ain't gonna cut it for a pace and space offense. We need shooting badly, which is why giving the NBA's 11th best 3pt shooter in Middleton a max contract wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Obviously, getting some sort of star or top young player is always going to be the priority, but if that can't happen, snagging a good shooter wouldn't be the worst thing in the world either. This is why as it stands now, I think the Celtics are most likely to draft RJ Hunter or Devin Booker on draft night if we keep our pick.

4. A Top 4 Seed in the East and an Atlantic Division Title

Call me crazy, but I think this is attainable. I don't think the Raptors are as bad as they showed down the stretch as I think Lowry was hurt, but at the same time, I think Masai is acutely aware of the ceiling on this team and will not hesitate to blow some things up in order to better maneuver the team for their future. The Nets are going the wrong way and Hinkie is still Hinking. The only wild card is a Knicks team that will have cap room, possibly return a healthy Carmelo, and have added a top pick. I don't think that team will be good enough right away to usurp us, and it's more likely that we add something that makes us better and allows us to surpass the .666 ball we played down the stretch.
Atlanta, Cleveland, Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee, Miami, and Indiana will all be in the scrum with Detroit lurking, but I think we will really benefit from playing in the Atlantic and a 4 seed is not out of the question.//

In the full post he also has the '4 things he wanted to see this season' but this would have made it ridiculously long

Source http://www.reddit.com/r/bostonceltics/comments/34jr1m/the_4_things_i_wanted_to_see_this_season_and_the/

[Rosco917]

1. Next year Young will still be only 20 years old, a baby in the NBA. We need to begin testing him to see where his game is in need, allow him to play a full season with the team, no D-league. I'm sure we will see an improved James Young, but lets not give him too much pressure.

2. We need to sign Crowder to a fair contract, he's one of those solid intangible players that has a great motor. He play's hard every possession, both sides of the ball, all game long.
Blend him with a scorer with 3 point shooting range, and we've taken a nice step forward.

3. IT should not start. He's a weapon off the bench. potential 6th man of the year, every year.

4. We many have to come to the realization Smart may not be a pure point guard. He's not a bad passer, in fact he's a good passer, he's just not a creator just yet. He needs to invade the paint much more to draw the defense in. I believe his ball handling will improve. Is it ok to have a combo-guard running the point? We will see. Also: With one of the many picks we have, we need to quietly draft a young pure PG, maybe in the 2nd round, and develop him, just in case.

5. This team goes nowhere without a true big man. Zeller is a backup that is not a good defender, KO is a defensive hacker at best, Sully is also a poor defender. We need at the very least, a guy in the middle that can deter players from taking advantage of us down low. He doesn't have to be a great scorer, just a reliable long defender.
That's if we don't get the future center piece we want.

[LGC88]

TP Greece, your posts are always well done and spot on.
I couldn't agree more, same vision here.

[LilRip]

Jelly Sullynyk. HA!

Actually, it wouldn't be totally crazy if his nickname was Jelly Sullinger.

[Celtics4ever]

I think the main knock on Young is his defense or lack thereof.

[Csfan1984]

1. Try for Cousins

2. Once you fail cash in on the playoff run by trading Turner, Sully, AB and IT while their value is high/good.

3. Draft BPA in the first and fill needs in the second.

4. Don't resign anyone unless it is a one year deal target 2016 FA and draft.

[Geo123]

IMO the first priority ought to be to find a rebounder and rim protector.  We were dominated at the rim.  Secondly is getting another go to scorer.  I agree with your comments though.  Young has to earn the playing time if your goal is to be a top 4 seed. 

[gpap]

I think we've already seen what we have in James Young and it's nothing impressive.

Here are 4 things I want to see

1.)Sign Love

2.)Trade for Cousins

3.)Add a shooter (Middleton, Harris, Afflalo, Ellis)

4.)Embarras the Cavs in the playoffs next year as payback for what happened this year.

[greece66]

I think we've already seen what we have in James Young and it's nothing impressive.

Here are 4 things I want to see

1.)Sign Love Durant

2.)Trade for Cousins Harden

3.)Add a shooter (Middleton, Harris, Afflalo, Ellis) Stephen Curry

4.)Embarras the Cavs in the playoffs next year as payback for what happened this year. Banner 18

I think this won't be good enough   . I made the necessary corrections.

[PhoSita]

We've seen what Young can do in the D-League at age 18/19.  Not sure what that tells us about his pro future.

At around the same age, Bradley was horrible at the NBA level and tore up the D-League.  He never became a star, but he's a decent player who has carried a large load for this team the last couple of years.

[SHAQATTACK]

I want to see one thing ...more than even Wallace and Bass gone next season

Boogie Cousins in Green 

[Kuberski33]

Totally agree you need to hand Smart the keys.  I thought the team struggled mightily trying to run their offense vs the Cavs whenever Cleveland pressured the ball.  Made me think we may need a point guard long term.  They need to find out whether  Smart is the guy for that position - and sooner vs later.

[greece66]

Guys many thanks for your good words 
All the credit belongs to "The Arbiter of Olynyk"- he is doing a really good job commenting on the team.

[Evantime34]

1. Get better 3 point shooting from the 3 and 4 positions.. If we can get a good 3 point threats then we will have better spacing and will get more quality looks at the hoop.

2. Have Marcus Smart run the offense full time. To get better spacing we need to replace Turner in the starting lineup with a shooter. For this to happen, Smart needs to be able to run the offense without another ball handler in the lineup.

3. Consolidate the roster. We have a ton of depth. We need to deal some of our depth for higher quality  players.

4. Improve scoring off the dribble. Our starters did not produce well enough on the offensive end. We need more dribble drive shot creation from  our starters. Whether that means Smart taking the reigns or adding an offensive creator through the draft, free agency or trade.

[Greyman]

Enjoyable read. good to see a post that starts by concentrating on the young (no pun intended) assets we have and their development. Feel that some times the chase of big names in trades and FA makes us lose perspective on the possibilities we already have at the C's. I think Young and Sullinger are two of our most underrated assets. A fit Sullinger and more confident Young are still exciting possibilities that can be important pieces.