Brad Stevens is costing us wins

[Chief Macho]

Silliness. The team just sucks.

[kozlodoev]

I figured it out guys.

The real secret mastermind on the Celtics bench was Gerald Wallace last season. He was the one who came up with those perfectly optimized rotations once we jettisoned Rondo and Green.

You surely jest.

[SCeltic34]

Zeller deserves to eat bench as much as Lee does.  Zeller has been given more than ample opportunity to prove that he deserves consistent minutes in the rotation but has failed to deliver almost every single time.  Comically like Lee, actually, in that both miss easy shots at the rim and play poor defense.  I don't mind giving Zeller another chance, but wouldn't object to parking him on the bench for the rest of the season either.  Lee doesn't deserve another minute this season.

[Ilikesports17]

Brads a young coach. He's terrific in his demeanor style ATOs etc but I do think he is learning to manage a game (time-out and rotations etc)

I've no doubt he will figure it out but I don't think it's unfair  to say his rotations have hurt the team at times

[csfansince60s]

I figured it out guys.

The real secret mastermind on the Celtics bench was Gerald Wallace last season. He was the one who came up with those perfectly optimized rotations once we jettisoned Rondo and Green.

You surely jest.

He's dead serious (NOT), and don't call him Shirley!

Edit: http://youtu.be/KM2K7sV-K74

[SCeltic34]

If Brad is costing us wins, I wish he'd at least do it playing the rookie contract guys more.

One of his rotational issues, in addition:

Playing veterans because they are veterans.
No feel for when to pull or insert players based on how they are playing.
Waiting too long to put a player in down the stretch.
No consistency for minutes or even who is playing.
Playing too many players.

I completely agree with this.  His rotations at times are just stupid, and there's stretches where he's constantly subbing people in and out of the game.  It's almost assuredly contributing to the inconsistencies in play we've seen this season, especially at the PF/C spot.  We're not Popovich's Spurs (a coach/team Stevens clearly tries to emulate), who consistently play 10-11 players nightly.  We can't just plug people into the lineup and expect them to fit in seamlessly.  The talent and chemistry is not there.

His out of timeout plays are bad too.  Too many times it's a low-percentage look, like a designed Sullinger 3. 

Stevens does some things great.  I think it's impressive that we have one of the better defenses in the league (by statistics) given that we have no true paint presence and a major defensive liability at the starting PG position.  But his in game management really needs a ton of work.

[Vox_Populi]

I figured it out guys.

The real secret mastermind on the Celtics bench was Gerald Wallace last season. He was the one who came up with those perfectly optimized rotations once we jettisoned Rondo and Green.

You surely jest.

They were better than this year's at any rate.

You know, I think we should have been a bit worried when he began the season with Zeller and Lee starting and they're both dead last on the big man rotation now.

[Snakehead]

  But his in game management really needs a ton of work.

You bring up his time out plays and I actually think those are great.  Otherwise I have really agreed with your two posts.  TP for the first one.

The quality of his time out or out of bound plays is a big plus for him.  Otherwise I could make Andy Reid comparisons if we want to go across sport.

[Ogaju]

No its not, we are just not a very good team.

[esel1000]

Holding out hope it was a showcase of some sort to find a playoff team to drop him off at... because he didn't deserve any of his minutes tonight

[CelticPride2016]

I think Stevens needed to see Lee hit bottom, and this was definitely it.

What ticked me off was that I heard Brad told Lee he was out of the rotation, yet there he was still in it.

If they call goal tending Lee gets that bucket.

I saw that play. If Lee had come close to hitting the layup, the refs would have seen the Memphis player messing with the rim. It was a pitiful shot. Lee is done.

Zeller is a Brandon Bass in that he needs help on offense. He isn't an Olynyk who can pass and dribble.

It's unfortunate that Kelly isn't more aggressive with his offense, while David Lee is too selfish.

People make fun of Gerald Wallace, but the dude knew his role. Same with Phil Pressey. Brad Stevens is too egalitarian. He has to make decisions and stick to them. If Isaiah Thomas isn't going to be benched whenever he is awful, then stop doing it to Kelly Olynyk.

Zeller was a big part of the team last year. Perhaps I am seeing things which aren't there, but I think because Brad has a personal history with Tyler and his family, he takes the easy way out. He knows Zeller isn't going to pull a Bogans.

David Lee opened his mouth to a reporter saying he wasn't happy with his minutes. It can be spun that you want players having that attitude. I can only go by what I see on the court. Lee is extremely selfish. If he is injured, put him in street clothes. If he is selfish, bench him. Either way, the problem would be solved.

If Brad is costing us wins, I wish he'd at least do it playing the rookie contract guys more.

I don't mind if a coach wants to "experiment," but he needs to be more consistent. Brad played RJ Hunter. Now he seems to want to play James Young. Make up your mind, Brad. He says Lee is out of the rotation? Then keep him out of it more than a couple games. Stevens is making the situation worse by lacking consistency.

Great minds think alike, great observations. Spent the last number of minutes writing up my own thread on this issue (which it is at this point).

Thanks. I rattled this one out quickly. Too many of my previous posts were too long. One of my pet peeves is knee-jerk reactions to wins and losses. I finally hit the point of hypocrisy and knee-jerked myself.

Did Brad tell Lee he was out of the rotation or not? If so, then why was he playing?

Most people seemed to dismiss Phil Pressey as a quality point guard. We should have kept him. Rozier is not ready. Evan Turner does not much help guys like Zeller. Smart is very young and it'd be unfair to force him too soon into the pg role.

People debate whether Isaiah should start or come off the bench. Unfortunately, he is currently the only real point guard on the roster. It's either him or Turner.

WHen you have Lee whining about playin g time and a coach trying to make everyone happy what do you think the result will be.  DIdnt have this issue last year.  We had a much better chemsistry last year.  Get rid of Lee and this team will be better.

Team chemistry is way off compared to last year. I agree. This is similar to when we had Brandan Wright. Stevens had five bigs with not much separation. He played them all and it was a mess. Danny traded Wright and the problem was solved.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I agreed with mostly everything except that this is silliness and we are simply following a bad team.

I agree with Rollie's initial assessment that Zeller is being penalized for those early games with Lee. It's no different if one is paired for a school project with the other person not carrying their weight. Both students get the same grade. That is not fair.

[Evantime34]

Brad Stevens is running plays to get our players quality open looks and be in great defensive position.

It's the players who can't throw a stone in the ocean.

If Lee playing has hurt us, everything else Brad does more than makes up for it. Brad Stevens is adding wins over the NBA coach not subtracting them.

[pearljammer10]

Brad can't go out there and win games for us. This one is on the players.

[Hemingway]

yeah, Evantime34 is right. Also, I'd bet that Ainge has told CBS that Lee can't fall out of the rotations and needs to play every game. He is the number one candidate to be traded becasue of his contract. Also, we pretty much are aying an extra 5 mil this year (or 2.5 for half a year if we trade him) over Wallace just for the chance to trade him. So we are not just going to bench him. Not a month or so from the deadline. Lee in Boston hasn't worked out but it's not like he is the reason for wins or losses. It's a team game and right now we are a middle of the pack team with a middle of the pack record. 

[spikelovetheCelts]

I saw Zeller at the end of the game, so he wasn't injured.

He got the DNP - coach's decision.

David Lee got minutes and was awful. Why does Brad keeping playing him?

Stevens is a good coach, but he isn't perfect. In some cases, he is even bad and very stupid, almost moronic.

That's what I took from tonight's loss to Memphis. Brad Stevens is overrated.

Maybe he will improve? Brad is getting a D- so far for this year based on his use of David Lee and a strange obsession with putting Tyler Zeller in the dog house.

What would it take for Brad Stevens to stop playing Lee? Maybe he should get his eyes examined? It's puzzling.

So Who should we replace him with and why?

I have seen him where I think he has cost us a game but not last night. We did not have a closer ie Paul Pierce type player and that is why we lost. IT CANNOT close a game at moment. He can get us back in one or give us a lead but he can not close a game.