Olynyk didn't practice today, guess it's time to free Mickey

[ssspence]

What is the matter with you people. Do you really think that with all the chances that the worst current player on this roster(Mickey) had with being able to get minutes when Crowder and a Olynyk were out together and didn't get any that suddenly Stevens is going to give him minutes in the playoffs?

Mickey is raw. Mickey has potential. Mickey will get his chance...next year. He will not be getting any time in these playoffs. He just isn't ready. He wasn't ready all year for the regular season. He hasn't suddenly gotten ready overnight and now is ready to play winning playoff basketball.

Please for the sake of all that is good and green on this earth, stop with the free Mickey stuff. It's not happening nor should it happen.

Mickey is probably closer to second or third worst.  Holland has never played a second in the NBA, and Young is useless.  I don't think Mickey should be counted on by C's fans, but if Olynyk is out in addition to Bradley, Mickey might be another injury away from seeing some kind of playing time.

It's unfortunate -- we've been pretty healthy all year.  To have multiple injuries only one game into the playoffs just feels unfair.

I don't count Holland. Everyone knows he isn't playing ever. And I think Mickey and Young are equally useless this year, though I think Mickey has potential to actually be a player for this team in the future.

Stevens made his decision on who is next off the bench for the C's in case of injury all during the regular season. It's Zeller, not Mickey. That's pretty obvious

I'm not defending playing Mickey. But I think the notion that playing Zeller is a healthy alternative doesn't make any sense. He couldn't be a worse match up with the Hawks frontcourt's pick and pop game.

If Zeller plays real minutes, the Cs are gonna lose. Considering Sully is also a weak match up, Stevens will need to come up with a very creative distribution of minutes for Jonas, Amir, and Crowder (at the 4) to survive Game 2 upfront.

[sofutomygaha]

What is the matter with you people. Do you really think that with all the chances that the worst current player on this roster(Mickey) had with being able to get minutes when Crowder and a Olynyk were out together and didn't get any that suddenly Stevens is going to give him minutes in the playoffs?

Mickey is raw. Mickey has potential. Mickey will get his chance...next year. He will not be getting any time in these playoffs. He just isn't ready. He wasn't ready all year for the regular season. He hasn't suddenly gotten ready overnight and now is ready to play winning playoff basketball.

Please for the sake of all that is good and green on this earth, stop with the free Mickey stuff. It's not happening nor should it happen.

Mickey is probably closer to second or third worst.  Holland has never played a second in the NBA, and Young is useless.  I don't think Mickey should be counted on by C's fans, but if Olynyk is out in addition to Bradley, Mickey might be another injury away from seeing some kind of playing time.

It's unfortunate -- we've been pretty healthy all year.  To have multiple injuries only one game into the playoffs just feels unfair.

I don't count Holland. Everyone knows he isn't playing ever. And I think Mickey and Young are equally useless this year, though I think Mickey has potential to actually be a player for this team in the future.

Stevens made his decision on who is next off the bench for the C's in case of injury all during the regular season. It's Zeller, not Mickey. That's pretty obvious

I'm not defending playing Mickey. But I think the notion that playing Zeller is a healthy alternative doesn't make any sense. He couldn't be a worse match up with the Hawks frontcourt's pick and pop game.

If Zeller plays real minutes, the Cs are gonna lose. Considering Sully is also a weak match up, Stevens will need to come up with a very creative distribution of minutes for Jonas, Amir, and Crowder (at the 4) to survive Game 2 upfront.

If Tyler Zeller isn't capable of playing a better 15-20 minutes against the Hawks than a completely untested rookie, then why TF is he on this team.

[Evantime34]

I'm all for freeing Mickey, but I don't think it makes sense to play him this year.

On paper he seems like he might be a good match up against Atlanta because he's quick for a big man and could go Millsap or Horford problems.

The issue is that he's extremely young, and prone to mistakes, when every possession counts in the playoffs mistakes can't be tolerated, and with the way Atlanta moves off the ball the Hawks put a ton of pressure on opponents.

All season I would have preferred Mickey to Zeller, but now that the regular season is over and Mickey didn't play much Zeller is clearly a better option. Granted, I think Brad will focus on small ball lineups and Zeller/Mickey won't see much court time anyway.

[ssspence]

What is the matter with you people. Do you really think that with all the chances that the worst current player on this roster(Mickey) had with being able to get minutes when Crowder and a Olynyk were out together and didn't get any that suddenly Stevens is going to give him minutes in the playoffs?

Mickey is raw. Mickey has potential. Mickey will get his chance...next year. He will not be getting any time in these playoffs. He just isn't ready. He wasn't ready all year for the regular season. He hasn't suddenly gotten ready overnight and now is ready to play winning playoff basketball.

Please for the sake of all that is good and green on this earth, stop with the free Mickey stuff. It's not happening nor should it happen.

Mickey is probably closer to second or third worst.  Holland has never played a second in the NBA, and Young is useless.  I don't think Mickey should be counted on by C's fans, but if Olynyk is out in addition to Bradley, Mickey might be another injury away from seeing some kind of playing time.

It's unfortunate -- we've been pretty healthy all year.  To have multiple injuries only one game into the playoffs just feels unfair.

I don't count Holland. Everyone knows he isn't playing ever. And I think Mickey and Young are equally useless this year, though I think Mickey has potential to actually be a player for this team in the future.

Stevens made his decision on who is next off the bench for the C's in case of injury all during the regular season. It's Zeller, not Mickey. That's pretty obvious

I'm not defending playing Mickey. But I think the notion that playing Zeller is a healthy alternative doesn't make any sense. He couldn't be a worse match up with the Hawks frontcourt's pick and pop game.

If Zeller plays real minutes, the Cs are gonna lose. Considering Sully is also a weak match up, Stevens will need to come up with a very creative distribution of minutes for Jonas, Amir, and Crowder (at the 4) to survive Game 2 upfront.

If Tyler Zeller isn't capable of playing a better 15-20 minutes against the Hawks than a completely untested rookie, then why TF is he on this team.

To play situationally against traditional back to the basket centers, so he can exploit them in high pick-n-roll on the offensive end while not wrecking his team on the defensive one. The Hawks are not one of those teams. He should be riding pine in this series.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Zeller is the clear option. He has his ups and downs. He can also space the floor a bit, though, which we need (esp with KO can't go/is useless). If we're bad enough off to give Mickey significant mins, this will be a sweep. Probably over in 5, regardless, at this point.

[Ed Hollison]

Assuming Olynyk doesn't play tonight, you're going to see a major dose of Jerebko. Horford and Millsap aren't back to the basket players that you need to defend with heft (ie someone like Zeller). And you need guys who can defend all over the floor to help out on their guards on the perimeter. I wouldn't be surprised if you see a super small, switch everything lineup of something like Isaiah, Marcus Smart, Turner, Crowder, and Jerebko as your center.

[apc]

What is the matter with you people. Do you really think that with all the chances that the worst current player on this roster(Mickey) had with being able to get minutes when Crowder and a Olynyk were out together and didn't get any that suddenly Stevens is going to give him minutes in the playoffs?

Mickey is raw. Mickey has potential. Mickey will get his chance...next year. He will not be getting any time in these playoffs. He just isn't ready. He wasn't ready all year for the regular season. He hasn't suddenly gotten ready overnight and now is ready to play winning playoff basketball.

Please for the sake of all that is good and green on this earth, stop with the free Mickey stuff. It's not happening nor should it happen.

Mickey is probably closer to second or third worst.  Holland has never played a second in the NBA, and Young is useless.  I don't think Mickey should be counted on by C's fans, but if Olynyk is out in addition to Bradley, Mickey might be another injury away from seeing some kind of playing time.

It's unfortunate -- we've been pretty healthy all year.  To have multiple injuries only one game into the playoffs just feels unfair.

I don't count Holland. Everyone knows he isn't playing ever. And I think Mickey and Young are equally useless this year, though I think Mickey has potential to actually be a player for this team in the future.

Stevens made his decision on who is next off the bench for the C's in case of injury all during the regular season. It's Zeller, not Mickey. That's pretty obvious

I'm not defending playing Mickey. But I think the notion that playing Zeller is a healthy alternative doesn't make any sense. He couldn't be a worse match up with the Hawks frontcourt's pick and pop game.

If Zeller plays real minutes, the Cs are gonna lose. Considering Sully is also a weak match up, Stevens will need to come up with a very creative distribution of minutes for Jonas, Amir, and Crowder (at the 4) to survive Game 2 upfront.

If Tyler Zeller isn't capable of playing a better 15-20 minutes against the Hawks than a completely untested rookie, then why TF is he on this team.

Tommy Foint?

[rutzan]

If you ever saw old school when will ferrel got shot with the tranq gun in the neck...Tommy Foint..."That's Awesome!"

One of the best all time on celtics blog!

[moiso]

If you ever saw old school when will ferrel got shot with the tranq gun in the neck...Tommy Foint..."That's Awesome!"

One of the best all time on celtics blog!

Im going to give apc a Tommy Foint too.  Cracked me up for a couple minutes.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Assuming Olynyk doesn't play tonight, you're going to see a major dose of Jerebko. Horford and Millsap aren't back to the basket players that you need to defend with heft (ie someone like Zeller). And you need guys who can defend all over the floor to help out on their guards on the perimeter. I wouldn't be surprised if you see a super small, switch everything lineup of something like Isaiah, Marcus Smart, Turner, Crowder, and Jerebko as your center.

I thought Jerebko was largely fantastic during KOs absence. He's a streaky ahooter, though, and slumping right now. We need him to catch fire to have a chance here imo.and not only b for the points, but like KO, he can space the floor for IT and Turner.

[jambr380]

Assuming Olynyk doesn't play tonight, you're going to see a major dose of Jerebko. Horford and Millsap aren't back to the basket players that you need to defend with heft (ie someone like Zeller). And you need guys who can defend all over the floor to help out on their guards on the perimeter. I wouldn't be surprised if you see a super small, switch everything lineup of something like Isaiah, Marcus Smart, Turner, Crowder, and Jerebko as your center.

Sully will also get some minutes, even if it isn't a significant amount. Tyler may play a little in the first half, but the team will largely get by the same as they did in the 2nd half with Rozier taking Bradley's role. Hopefully he is up for the challenge.

[ssspence]

Zeller is the clear option.

Wrong. He's a horrible option against ATL, so calling him the 'clear' one is just plain wrong.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Zeller is the clear option.

Wrong. He's a horrible option against ATL, so calling him the 'clear' one is just plain wrong.

And a rookie Mickey is a better option how?

Look Zeller frustrates me like he does a lot of us here, but you have to play him over Mickey. He knows the plays, has the experience, and won't cost us with his inability to rotate on defense and play the p&r like Mickey would.

Do I hate Zeller sometimes? Absolutely. But he needs to get minutes before Mickey in a crucial playoff game.

[apc]

Zeller is the clear option.

Wrong. He's a horrible option against ATL, so calling him the 'clear' one is just plain wrong.

Zeller is a hit or miss, you can probably put him in for 5 minutes and see if he is going to have a good game or not.

[ssspence]

Zeller is the clear option.

Wrong. He's a horrible option against ATL, so calling him the 'clear' one is just plain wrong.

And a rookie Mickey is a better option how?

Look Zeller frustrates me like he does a lot of us here, but you have to play him over Mickey. He knows the plays, has the experience, and won't cost us with his inability to rotate on defense and play the p&r like Mickey would.

Do I hate Zeller sometimes? Absolutely. But he needs to get minutes before Mickey in a crucial playoff game.

Zeller doesn't cost us on defense? Are you serious? He's the worst defender on the team... and that's before you put him in this weak match up.

Rookie or not -- Mickey is a FAR better defender than Zeller, and a far better match up with the pick and pop game of Teague / Schroeder with Millsap / Horford.

This is not a defense of Mickey -- it's an indictment of Zeller. Meanwhile, I don't see this type of shock around injuries potentially forcing Hunter or Rozier into action.... The Hawks PGs and mobile bigs represent problems that only the rookies may be a reasonable duct-tape plan to utilize, given Stevens' options.

That said, I predict we'll see < 10 mins of Zeller, and they'll be awful. And that we won't see Mickey. I think Stevens' will ask JJ, Crowder and Amir to gut it out big time in this game.