Preseason Celts-Knicks game observation

[Who]

4.  I don't like having  Turner and IT on the court at the same time. The ball is stuck to their hands and everyone else are like standing around.  They should not play together as much as possible.

Highlights some of the problems the team is going to have with IT once Ainge brings in a star talent who is going to want the ball in his hands. Sacramento had the same issue with IT and Cousins. So did Phoenix who dumped IT because of his selfishness and how much their ball movement deteriorated after signing him.

If IT doesn't mature and adapt his game some, it is hard to see him staying here long term even in that 6th man role.

[Rondo9]

4.  I don't like having  Turner and IT on the court at the same time. The ball is stuck to their hands and everyone else are like standing around.  They should not play together as much as possible.

Highlights some of the problems the team is going to have with IT once Ainge brings in a star talent who is going to want the ball in his hands. Sacramento had the same issue with IT and Cousins. So did Phoenix who dumped IT because of his selfishness and how much their ball movement deteriorated after signing him.

If IT doesn't mature and adapt his game some, it is hard to see him staying here long term even in that 6th man role.

I think the Suns and Kings problems were a little deeper than Isaiah.

[makaveli]

mickey might be a sleeper in this draft. he has nice size and wing span, great rebounder shoot blocker and gets himself in nice spots around the basket. hunter is impresive as well
my #1 observation for this game is Bradley and his (lack of) defense. on a number of ocasions he was guarding Vujacic and gave him no trouble what so ever and afflalo had a good game as well. he has to get back at what he was doing 3 years ago.
Crowder was impresive with his defense on melo.
turner had a good game but i really hope that IT and Smart handle the ball when they are on the floor.
sully was plain bad today, looked uninterested, got blocked 2-3 times etc. the way things look now, he is being traded for a 2nd round pick

[Rosco917]

4.  I don't like having  Turner and IT on the court at the same time. The ball is stuck to their hands and everyone else are like standing around.  They should not play together as much as possible.

Highlights some of the problems the team is going to have with IT once Ainge brings in a star talent who is going to want the ball in his hands. Sacramento had the same issue with IT and Cousins. So did Phoenix who dumped IT because of his selfishness and how much their ball movement deteriorated after signing him.

If IT doesn't mature and adapt his game some, it is hard to see him staying here long term even in that 6th man role.

I don't like IT as the starting point guard, ball movement stops, in favor of him probing the defense, looking to score. Players stand around. When he gets sealed up, or cut off he looks to then pass. Unfortunately he's not a great passer, he's a suitable passer, he's ok.
IT is best used as a pace changer, a guy that attacks the defense, at certain times of the game. Perfect 6th. man

With Smart as the starter at PG, we get the benefit of his smothering defense, which is extremely valuable, and ball movement begins. It has to, Smart, at this point is not a ball dominant PG.

This said, I like IT, he could be the best 6th. man in the league. Knowing when to use him is the key.

 

[Hemingway]

IT is a pretty good passer and facilitator. We were spoiled with Rondo. It is not at RR levels in terms of passing and running the O but he is pretty good. If we coud just merge IT's shooting and drive to score with prime Rondo's D and point guard skills we would have a truly great player.

[Celtics4ever]

sully was plain bad today, looked uninterested, got blocked 2-3 times etc. the way things look now, he is being traded for a 2nd round pick

I agree, but he did bring some toughness to the table, when the Knicks were basically bullying us.   But agree, he is not worth much.

1. I see no evidence that Sully is weaker.  He is still a strong rebounder and certainly is tough enough to go right at Kyle O'Quinn multiple times in a row. Where is the evidence that he is weaker?

You didn't see him struggle to help up Mickey from the ground after Mickey got hard fouled?   How could you miss this?  I noticed it.

Also leg strength is definitely worse, jumping is your ratio to power to your mass.   Watch this video at 38 mark to see two earthbound blocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MkfTQCpZJA

I thought he did play tough, and did not back down from the Knicks bullying tactics but don't confuse weight with muscular strength.   Sully is more of the Incredible Bulk than Hulk.

Sully shot 1-8 and looked avg to bad on the defensive end.

Agree, triboy, and as you said, not many C's looked good.  TP.  But Sully almost always looks bad the defensive end.   His EFF is a -0.8.  Good things happen for us on the boards when he plays and good things happen to the other teams offensive when he is in there like layups.

[DesertDweller]

I really don't think Sully lost weight, I think we were all talked into believing he lost weight. he is going to be trouble for us. don't like his attitude and I agree, he looks slow and somewhat disinterested.
story of tonight's game was no Smart and 20 turnovers!!!

[Csfan1984]

I really don't think Sully lost weight, I think we were all talked into believing he lost weight. he is going to be trouble for us. don't like his attitude and I agree, he looks slow and somewhat disinterested.
story of tonight's game was no Smart and 20 turnovers!!!

Add 9 missed fts and giving up wide open 3s.

[jr_3421]

My biggest takeaway from this preseason was confirmed last night in that I love IT with Amir and a combination of KO or Jonas. When IT starts, he loses the spacing and doesn't have room to operate. And when Amir isn't paired with IT, his offensive weaknesses seem more glaring.

With this roster I think I want lee and Zeller starting and have Amir/Kelly coming off the bench with Jonas sprinkled in.

[Surferdad]

I haven't read too much into the other preseason games and this one is no different. Lots of experimenting going on. Poor form from individual players is also a little bit less of a worry at this point, but it is significant and could determine, in part, the futures of some players in a crowded roster.

Of course wins/losses are meaningless in pre-season with 4th quarters that feature rookies and practice players (Waldon, Randolph), but still like you said, you can read a lot about individuals players and this could determine future moves. Meantime Stevens is learning a lot about combinations of players that work well together and like someone else said, he is building a database of analytics.

I think you can read quite a bit into the pre-season.

[BDeCosta26]

My biggest takeaway from this preseason was confirmed last night in that I love IT with Amir and a combination of KO or Jonas. When IT starts, he loses the spacing and doesn't have room to operate. And when Amir isn't paired with IT, his offensive weaknesses seem more glaring.

With this roster I think I want lee and Zeller starting and have Amir/Kelly coming off the bench with Jonas sprinkled in.

I agree. Before the pre-season started, I wanted to start Smart/AB/Crowder/Amir/KO and have IT and Lee destroying other teams benches. We'll see that particular line-up some, but the games so far have shown that CBS is obviously a better basketball mind than me, haha.

Having Smart/AB/Crowder/Lee/Zeller seems like it can really help our starting offense move up a level. While I don't think Smart is ready to 100% be the lead ball carrier without help but Turner is just too ball-dominant that it relegates Smart to shooting bail-out 3's when they share the floor. With Lee, we have a very good playmaking big who can run some offense from the high post and really can score near the basket and in the mid-range. He'll allow us to remove some pressure from Smart while still allowing him to develop into the lead ball-carrier, and his offensive ability can turn our below-average starting offense into an above average one. With the strength of our bencho, that's all the really need to do.

Plus, Lee is the only negative defender in that group. We'll be able to hide our poorer defenders (Lee, KO, Sully, IT) by putting them in line-ups surrounded by plus defenders (Smart, AB, Rozier, Crowder, JJ, Amir). I'm totally behind structuring the line-ups that way, as Lee really benefits the starters while the IT-Amir P&R with Kelly making plays on the perimeter is going to just destroy some benches in this league. If they play as together as they seem to be, I really don't think 48 wins is totally absurd.