Bring IT back off the bench, problem solved!

[bigal534]

Start:
Amir
KO
Crowder
Bradley
Smart

Sets the Tone Defensively, and truly solves our bench scoring woes.

Then bring in:

Zeller
Sully
ET
IT
(leave one of Bradley/Smart in)

[wiley]

Yup.

[Chris22]

Let Rozier backup IT.
Move Smart to the two guard.
Smart is not a point guard.

[bigal534]

Why does brad insist on keeping him in the starting lineup? Not saying hea not a great player, but i feel the reason he is struggling is simply "matchups".

IT would come in against either 2nd unit PGs which he was always better than, OR, would come in against tired 1st stringers and his energy and speed would create havoc.

The problem now is, hes expending a lot of energy against top line players, bigger stronger faster players, and having to expend more energy is places hes not used to.

My 2 cents

[LarBrd33]

Thomas is the Ricky Davis of this Celtic era. 

Ainge got Davis cheap.  We flipped him when he was averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals with 46%/32%/79% shooting....  He was also 26 years old.  Good player with a ceiling.

Now we have Thomas. I like Thomas.  He's a fun player.  But he's a gimmicky player.  He's averaging 20.9 points, 6.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals with 41%/32%/89% shooting ... Pretty inefficient.  Probably not a long-term starter.  It might be a good time to flip him.

[alldaboston]

Thomas is the Ricky Davis of this Celtic era. 

Ainge got Davis cheap.  We flipped him when he was averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals with 46%/32%/79% shooting....  He was also 26 years old.  Good player with a ceiling.

Now we have Thomas. I like Thomas.  He's a fun player.  But he's a gimmicky player.  He's averaging 20.9 points, 6.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals with 41%/32%/89% shooting ... Pretty inefficient.  Probably not a long-term starter.  It might be a good time to flip him.

What did we get for trading him? Was it worth it?

[LarBrd33]

Thomas is the Ricky Davis of this Celtic era. 

Ainge got Davis cheap.  We flipped him when he was averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals with 46%/32%/79% shooting....  He was also 26 years old.  Good player with a ceiling.

Now we have Thomas. I like Thomas.  He's a fun player.  But he's a gimmicky player.  He's averaging 20.9 points, 6.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals with 41%/32%/89% shooting ... Pretty inefficient.  Probably not a long-term starter.  It might be a good time to flip him.

What did we get for trading him? Was it worth it?

Bit complicated because there were other pieces involved from our end, but we basically ended up getting Wally Z and a protected 1st... wally z's contract was a key part of the trade to bring in Ray Allen.... the 1st went back to Minny along with other pieces in our trade for KG. 

[Who]

Thomas is the Ricky Davis of this Celtic era. 

Ainge got Davis cheap.  We flipped him when he was averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals with 46%/32%/79% shooting....  He was also 26 years old.  Good player with a ceiling.

Now we have Thomas. I like Thomas.  He's a fun player.  But he's a gimmicky player.  He's averaging 20.9 points, 6.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals with 41%/32%/89% shooting ... Pretty inefficient.  Probably not a long-term starter.  It might be a good time to flip him.

Agreed -- although I think it'll be next year at the earliest when I.Thomas is traded.

I think the trade will depend on Rozier's development. Rozier showing he can be a quality backup PG and have the potential to become a high quality one further down the road. He is too far away from that right now to trade Isaiah this season.

[GreenWarrior]

pretty sure BS doesn't have it in 'em to bench IT at this point. but that's what should happen.

[CFAN38]

Thomas is the Ricky Davis of this Celtic era. 

Ainge got Davis cheap.  We flipped him when he was averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals with 46%/32%/79% shooting....  He was also 26 years old.  Good player with a ceiling.

Now we have Thomas. I like Thomas.  He's a fun player.  But he's a gimmicky player.  He's averaging 20.9 points, 6.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals with 41%/32%/89% shooting ... Pretty inefficient.  Probably not a long-term starter.  It might be a good time to flip him.

I am really torn by IT's long term role. I really like IT as the high minutes 6th man but not so much as a starter as other have stated his 2nd unit match-ups are much for beneficial to the Cs. I agree with the OP that when everyone is healthy and back in rhythm IT is going to have to head to the bench, if he is not satisfied with being a perennial 6th man of the year candidate like few seatle natives J Terry and J Crawford then the Cs may be better off moving him.

 

[Celtics4ever]

I do not see as more than a stop gap either, he is a defensive liability at times.

[clover]

Unless the C's develop or trade for a starting, offensively competent, PG, bringing IT back off the bench doesn't solve anything--it just makes the C's starting O incompetent again.

Also, no matter what, the C's only have five competent shooters from the 3. Probably best to maximize them by having IT, AB, Crowder, and KO starting and playing 30+ minutes and Jerebko off the bench for 15 or so. But that means they can't afford any hockey substitution patterns, because their bench is offensively challenged without help in spacing. (E.g, albeit inefficiently, Sully can pour in the points off the bench if he's got a couple of spacing starters still in there with him.)

[trickybilly]

A thomas crowder zeller jerebko plus swap rights and dallas lands us dwight howard and jones

[slamtheking]

A thomas crowder zeller jerebko plus swap rights and dallas lands us dwight howard and jones

and that does what to solve the PG or shooting problems?  if anything, you've just made it worse

[Sketch5]

Let Rozier backup IT.
Move Smart to the two guard.
Smart is not a point guard.

He's more of a PG than 2 guard. He doesn't turn the ball over often, gets the offense going fast, and makes some really nice passes. Problem is he's been playing with IT and ET and they run the show and he has to stand around waiting for one of them to get in trouble.

When he's playing the 2 he's standing around the 3 point line and jacks up shots because thats all he's getting. He doesn't look comfortable out there at all at the 2. When he's playing the PG he seems to take it to the paint more often and shoots that floater. He's better when he has the ball in hand from the get go.