Brad Stevens is costing us wins

[CelticPride2016]

Does Brad owe something to David Lee...

all the numbers, both advanced and simple, point to that David Lee is a detriment to the team, yet he logs more minutes than more deserving players such as Zeller and Mickey. David Lee is poison to this team, to all of the players on the court with him; only Isaiah escapes the overall negative that David brings to the court. What exactly is he good at ...

Aaah, I found your comment. Yes, we are in total agreement. I didn't mention Mickey, but you're right.

I've never forgotten one article early on when Brad Stevens first became coach. Maybe I should try to find it.

Anyway, the story was Brad as a college player was half decent by the end of his four years, but his coach told him the team had to play the freshman and sophomores more. The gist was Brad understands about rosters and chemistry. He understands the psychology of it.

His attachment to Lee is very confusing when placed in that context. If Lee is injured, then this is similar to Don Zimmer gutting it out with Butch Hobson. If Lee isn't injured, then it must be that Stevens doesn't like stepping on veteran toes.

Zeller deserves a chance for a role non-dependent on the games he was stuck with David Lee as his co-worker big. If Tyler Zeller is one of those old-school centers that is being phased out of the game, then so be it. Then next in the pecking order is Jordan Mickey, as you say. It must be the great minds think alike situation.

I think Zeller would be perfect for this team.

What I'd like to see is Sullinger benched until he loses twenty pounds. Marcus Smart is a guy who looks like he could easily put on weight. If he sees a guy like Sully getting away with it, he might get chubby.

Sullinger is one of our best players, but until we have a bit more oomph on the roster, we probably aren't ending up as Cinderella even if we reach this year's potential.

This would be a good time for Stevens to put his foot down. I don't mind experimenting which leads to more losses. I understand the idea that if we are going to lose, we might as well gut it out more with younger players. This is also the trading season which has a lot of players on edge.

Both Danny and Brad have work to do.

Brad needs to forget about potential Bogans. If Lee is benched and wants to whine about it, then kick him off the team. It's not like any team actually needs 15 players. Sullinger is also a one year contract. There's no need to hold back from telling him anything. If I was coach I'd ask Jared what he weighs, what he weighed, and why doesn't he get into shape?

We need to phase out slow, fat, selfish, old players.

Now sometimes those kinds of players can still fit in, but they need to know their place.

It does seem as if David Lee is the problem.

Then there is Evan Turner. We need him because Isaiah can't play 48 minutes. I root for Evan, but his selfishness is holding back Marcus Smart. I also don't think Turner is that good for fitting into what seems to be the team's direction.

Lee can't do what made him a scary player. He has nothing left. It's an age thing. Paul Pierce also fell off the map at age 32. But Paul Pierce was a two-way player and eventually he came to terms with having to adapt to being an over the hill player.

It's the feeling of entitlement that will ultimately tank a team's chemistry, imho. If I was Zeller, I'd be laughing on the inside watching David Lee embarrass himself and damage our w-l record.

If we trade Turner for a pg, we can find out more about Marcus Smart without necessarily being up the creek if Marcus is really a shooting guard.

We could find out about Jerebko as a small forward. Maybe James Young.

If Evan Turner was really someone to build around, we'd have kept Jordan Crawford.

They are basically the same guy. Or close.

There are winners, losers, and roster filler.

Danny gets blame for not balancing the roster. Brad gets blame also for not sticking to his original philosophy that four or five guys are simply not going to get minutes.

The C's are due to go on a nice winning streak. Maybe once the trading deadline passes, things will make more sense. For game to game watching, this is definitely no fun. We got destroyed in some games. Now we are getting big leads and still losing.

I need some wins as badly as the Celtics.

I don't think we are this mediocre. It's just been a bad patch of games.

[Denis998]

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.

Jerebko should have had played over lee. Zeller should have played, people forget the contribution he made last year. Mickey deserves to play, Lee isn't part of the future; so why is he leeching off of our young big? Lee single handedly lost this game. This loss is on him.

[Tr1boy]

CBS of last season was better.   Lineup was balanced with IT off the bench.  Free flowing offense

Now it's all this set play crap.  It can be picked apart.

[Denis998]

Does Brad owe something to David Lee...

all the numbers, both advanced and simple, point to that David Lee is a detriment to the team, yet he logs more minutes than more deserving players such as Zeller and Mickey. David Lee is poison to this team, to all of the players on the court with him; only Isaiah escapes the overall negative that David brings to the court. What exactly is he good at ...

Aaah, I found your comment. Yes, we are in total agreement. I didn't mention Mickey, but you're right.

I've never forgotten one article early on when Brad Stevens first became coach. Maybe I should try to find it.

Anyway, the story was Brad as a college player was half decent by the end of his four years, but his coach told him the team had to play the freshman and sophomores more. The gist was Brad understands about rosters and chemistry. He understands the psychology of it.

His attachment to Lee is very confusing when placed in that context. If Lee is injured, then this is similar to Don Zimmer gutting it out with Butch Hobson. If Lee isn't injured, then it must be that Stevens doesn't like stepping on veteran toes.

Zeller deserves a chance for a role non-dependent on the games he was stuck with David Lee as his co-worker big. If Tyler Zeller is one of those old-school centers that is being phased out of the game, then so be it. Then next in the pecking order is Jordan Mickey, as you say. It must be the great minds think alike situation.

I think Zeller would be perfect for this team.

What I'd like to see is Sullinger benched until he loses twenty pounds. Marcus Smart is a guy who looks like he could easily put on weight. If he sees a guy like Sully getting away with it, he might get chubby.

Sullinger is one of our best players, but until we have a bit more oomph on the roster, we probably aren't ending up as Cinderella even if we reach this year's potential.

This would be a good time for Stevens to put his foot down. I don't mind experimenting which leads to more losses. I understand the idea that if we are going to lose, we might as well gut it out more with younger players. This is also the trading season which has a lot of players on edge.

Both Danny and Brad have work to do.

Brad needs to forget about potential Bogans. If Lee is benched and wants to whine about it, then kick him off the team. It's not like any team actually needs 15 players. Sullinger is also a one year contract. There's no need to hold back from telling him anything. If I was coach I'd ask Jared what he weighs, what he weighed, and why doesn't he get into shape?

We need to phase out slow, fat, selfish, old players.

Now sometimes those kinds of players can still fit in, but they need to know their place.

It does seem as if David Lee is the problem.

Then there is Evan Turner. We need him because Isaiah can't play 48 minutes. I root for Evan, but his selfishness is holding back Marcus Smart. I also don't think Turner is that good for fitting into what seems to be the team's direction.

Lee can't do what made him a scary player. He has nothing left. It's an age thing. Paul Pierce also fell off the map at age 32. But Paul Pierce was a two-way player and eventually he came to terms with having to adapt to being an over the hill player.

It's the feeling of entitlement that will ultimately tank a team's chemistry, imho. If I was Zeller, I'd be laughing on the inside watching David Lee embarrass himself and damage our w-l record.

If we trade Turner for a pg, we can find out more about Marcus Smart without necessarily being up the creek if Marcus is really a shooting guard.

We could find out about Jerebko as a small forward. Maybe James Young.

If Evan Turner was really someone to build around, we'd have kept Jordan Crawford.

They are basically the same guy. Or close.

There are winners, losers, and roster filler.

Danny gets blame for not balancing the roster. Brad gets blame also for not sticking to his original philosophy that four or five guys are simply not going to get minutes.

The C's are due to go on a nice winning streak. Maybe once the trading deadline passes, things will make more sense. For game to game watching, this is definitely no fun. We got destroyed in some games. Now we are getting big leads and still losing.

I need some wins as badly as the Celtics.

I don't think we are this mediocre. It's just been a bad patch of games.

Brad and DA have a ton of work to do in the deadline. As for Sully, I actually think he looks way more fit than last year, and for the most part has been productive on the floor. Like you said, I think the best move is to go to a 10 man rotation, and something that is consistent. Im at the point where im only looking at the bottom of the standings, where brooklyn is at; trying to keep up with the inconsistency of Boston is just too stressful.

[trickybilly]

Brad, if you're reading this.. 12 point lead late in the third. Two threes or three twos in a row. That's timeout. 2 scores in a row after that - timeout again. 101 stuff.

[Evantime34]

Brad, if you're reading this.. 12 point lead late in the third. Two threes or three twos in a row. That's timeout. 2 scores in a row after that - timeout again. 101 stuff.

It takes a large amount of hubris to think that you are qualified to instruct Brad Stevens (considered a top 5 coach in the NBA) about basketball basics.

[CelticPride2016]

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.

This is true. His first year I say that's a 15 win team on paper.

Last year was a great year. The Cavs may have swept us, but Isaiah was banged up and some of those games were somewhat competitive and not embarrassing.

That team on paper should have won only 25-30 games.

Bradley was the big project last year and it has paid off. We need other projects such as Kelly Olynyk, Isaiah as a pure point guard, Marcus Smart made comfortable as a productive hybrid guard....

Amir needs minutes because he's good and plays the game the right way.

Paul Pierce was arrogant, but he also played it the right way.

I may not be right on much, but a few of us called it early and often that David Lee was tanking our chances.

Jordan Mickey should be added to the 13 player roster immediately.

I don't mind Turner, but he needs to keep the ball moving.

These are the things I follow. I am extremely interested in Zeller. People would have to be blind to not see he fits in.

The team should pull a Debbie Downer for those of us who expected 50 wins.

That means Lee is confirmed for the Gerald Wallace role. Young is D-League or who cares. Hunter should be on the bench with Jerebko and Sully. Sully needs to be kept hungry. I would like to see Olynyk get the Avery Bradley treatment. I am trying to see the big picture and the this season only big picture. Everyone is on edge until the trading deadline passes and that includes fans.

Crowder, Bradley, Isaiah, Amir, and Olynyk - that appears to be our core for this season.

Trim out Lee, Sully, Turner, Young - all the one year guys, and then next year should provide us with a more balanced roster and less of a puzzle for our great, young coach.

Maybe it will be this year. Danny doesn't need to do fireworks. He needs to add/trim however if we are going to take the next step to 50 wins. Or it's Brad's fault. We've been ranked at #6 at times for some NBA power rankings. I'm not too worried, though. I expect us to go on a roll very soon. Say something like 10-2, or 18-8. Then the order of the universe is restored and I'm basically not worried. Though this recent stretch has been very painful. I'm not gonna lie.

[CelticPride2016]

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.

Zeller or Jerebko. I guess it depends on opponent. Zeller. And Jordan Mickey should get minutes.

I kind of agree with the conspiracy idea above that Brad is playing Lee because of Ainge.

The closer issue becomes moot if we implement the full Stevens model. Running. Cheap buckets off of rebounds or opponents scoring.

It's not about Evan Turner ball pounding, hero ball or David Lee ball pounding, hero ball.

I guess in conclusion, I side with the showcasing conspiracy theory. 

[TheReaLPuba]

Brad Stevens is the only worth while piece to this organization going forward.

Well I like Jae Crowder also.

These two I can see on a championship caliber team.

It's not Stevens fault that our team is comprised of so many redundant Bigs and guards.

I mean we are literally 3 deep in both guard positions and all the big positions and not one of these guys does anything special to single themselves out.

What rotation can possibly work if all the parts are pretty much exactly the same?

[Guardian of The Truth]

Gotta call timeouts to stop the other teams runs.  This is basic game management in the NBA.

The team needs consistent rotations.  Look at the Warriors.  They have a defined first team and second team.  The players know their roles. Each group is used to working together and develops chemistry.  This is a very basic and effective strategy to manage a team in the NBA.  Mixing and matching players and moving people into and out of the rotation as reward / punishment may work in colledge ball, but fails in the NBA. 

[Evantime34]

Gotta call timeouts to stop the other teams runs.  This is basic game management in the NBA.

The team needs consistent rotations.  Look at the Warriors.  They have a defined first team and second team.  The players know their roles. Each group is used to working together and develops chemistry.  This is a very basic and effective strategy to manage a team in the NBA.  Mixing and matching players and moving people into and out of the rotation as reward / punishment may work in colledge ball, but fails in the NBA.

Phil Jackson was known for letting teams play through other teams runs. His championship rings would disagree with your idea about "basic game management".

I don't blame Stevens for the inconsistent rotations, I blame AInge who gave him too many players of similar quality.

[kozlodoev]

I don't blame Stevens for the inconsistent rotations, I blame AInge who gave him too many players of similar quality.

That's exactly why should blame Brad S. I mean, if half of the players were clearly not good enough to crack the rotation, there wouldn't be too much coaching involved there, right?