The Warriors are showing us the new NBA, and the Celtics better be taking notes

[wdleehi]

The real lesson is take your best player (or players) and build the team around the strength of that player.


The Warriors strength come from the style and role players built around Curry and Green.





I think that has always been the problem of the Lebron's teams.  Either the lack of talent or his want to gather the most stars he can get around him, no matter the fit.


So the key for the Celtics is to find that star and build the team around him in the style he can be most successful. 


Until I see another team as successful with this style of play without a Green and Curry, I think it is not a good plan to try and become GS east.

[PhoSita]

One hundred percent agreed, wdleehi.

[Csfan1984]

The real lesson is take your best player (or players) and build the team around the strength of that player.


The Warriors strength come from the style and role players built around Curry and Green.





I think that has always been the problem of the Lebron's teams.  Either the lack of talent or his want to gather the most stars he can get around him, no matter the fit.


So the key for the Celtics is to find that star and build the team around him in the style he can be most successful. 


Until I see another team as successful with this style of play without a Green and Curry, I think it is not a good plan to try and become GS east.

Yup even Warriors GM said it's a style that fails a lot more than it succeeds. They have been very lucky.

[Ed Hollison]

This team doesn't play this "new NBA" nearly as well if it doesn't have the ponies.   

Agree completely. For the record, the point of the post was to suggest that you have to keep the "switch everything" theme in mind when you decide which players to keep and which to go after.

I think the Celtics currently reflect this but we don't have the talent yet. 

Right. Credit to Brad Stevens, he right away recognized the way you needed to play D in the NBA and adopted this style. We just don't have the players (yet), regardless of how Ainge and team plan on constructing the team.

[Tr1boy]

Take it easy. Its not over yet.  Gsw won 2 at home
Back in cleveland for tge next 2.  I expect the cavs to win

[Donoghus]

Take it easy. Its not over yet.  Gsw won 2 at home
Back in cleveland for tge next 2.  I expect the cavs to win

You think CLE is going to take 4 of the next 5?

[Bobshot]

I agree Warriors have very good athleticism as a whole and length. Despite small ball lineups they are not small at 1-3 they have size or athleticism advantages at each spot. Curry, Livingston are good sized PGs. Klay, Iggy and Barnes more size and athleticism. Even their bigs either have good size or elite athleticism. That is how their defense and offense thrives. They can take advantage of movement and exploit rotations quickly. Of course great shooting forces aggressive close outs creating even more openings.

C's need more size, shooting and athleticism. Currently it's undersized, can't shoot and only their guards have quickness. They need a complete retool if they want to be the Warriors.

Yeah, I think Draymond Green is a vital part of their chemistry. Big mobile athletic guy up front who can do everything. Celts lack athleticism up front--guys who can jump and who have quickness. From that standpoint, Danny struck out on guys like Zeller and Olynyk--and also Lee. Sully has good width for rebounding, but he can't jump either. Johnson can jump a bit, Mickey can jump--but Mickey couldn't get any minutes last year.

Chriss would seem to suit them well--an athletic 4 who can jump and also shoot 35% 3s. And he has quickness, another important part of athleticism. A guy with his quickness and athleticism can be taught to play good defense. I understand he is also a good offensive (but not defensive) rebounder. Offensive rebounding is much harder to teach.

On top of all this, they also need another shooter. With Curry's success, GMs might be looking for 3P shooters in this draft. A Curry doesn't come along very often, and he took a few years to develop, after overcoming his chronic ankle issues. They might be all right if they can get one or two guys up front who can shoot, too. It isn't just about perimeter shooting. The closer to the basket, the easier the shot.

[Rosco917]

IMO the style the Celtics are trying to build is very similar to the formula Golden State has. If you listen to what Danny and Brad say on the subject of style. 

The Center the Celtics decide to acquire or draft is key to the style they will play in the near future. The C's need a center that can be best described as a stretch 5, that can defend well. They need a center that can step away from the basket, and draw the other teams bigs, and open up the paint, for the style the C's say they want to play.

Spending big dollars, or trading away valuable assets on a center that is not what they want or need, for the style they desire to play... is short sighted. It makes no sense to spend "big" on a center that you won't play extended minutes because his style isn't what you're really are trying to do.

I rather see them spend reasonable assets/dollars on an active big that does not require the ball to be pounded down low, while still being a solid defensive force, paying him less, and not being guilty about having to play him 23-25 minutes a game.   

[Ed Hollison]

Take it easy. Its not over yet.  Gsw won 2 at home
Back in cleveland for tge next 2.  I expect the cavs to win

Well, the second sentence of my post was: "For the record, I wouldn’t count the Cavs out just yet." So yes, I'd agree that the series is far from over.

But even if Cleveland comes back and wins, there's a lot to learn from GSW. They won the title last year and just set the record for regular season wins. And they just handily beat a team with Lebron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving twice in a row with Curry and Thompson having mediocre games at best.

If the Cavs somehow win the series, what is there to be learned besides "Get one of the top-10 players in NBA history and roll the ball out"?

[LarBrd33]

"New NBA" = best shooter ever and another who is possibly top 10. 

Yeah, ok... We'll get right on it.

"New NBA" = "Old NBA".  Superstars gonna Superstar.  Same as it ever was. 

[PhoSita]

"New NBA" = best shooter ever and another who is possibly top 10. 

Yeah, ok... We'll get right on it.

"New NBA" = "Old NBA".  Superstars gonna Superstar.  Same as it ever was.

Acquire or develop a superstar. Put a couple star talents beside him. Assemble and cultivate a deep and versatile supporting cast. Figure out how to best deploy the pieces to create a whole equal to or greater than the sum of the parts.

That's the recipe.

[PhoSita]

I remember just a few years ago the line was that you needed a star scorer plus multiple seven footers inside to win a title.

Then it was, you need to assemble three All Stars in their prime plus a bunch of savvy veterans.

Now it's shooting and small ball with versatile defenders on the wing. Funny how that wasn't the case when the standard bearer for that style was the excellent but not championship caliber Suns.

[Ilikesports17]

Take it easy. Its not over yet.  Gsw won 2 at home
Back in cleveland for tge next 2.  I expect the cavs to win

The point differential thus far in the series has been the largest in NBA history.

Steph hasnt even needed to go off yet.

Id be really impressed if this one goes 6 games.

[Ilikesports17]

I remember just a few years ago the line was that you needed a star scorer plus multiple seven footers inside to win a title.

Then it was, you need to assemble three All Stars in their prime plus a bunch of savvy veterans.

Now it's shooting and small ball with versatile defenders on the wing. Funny how that wasn't the case when the standard bearer for that style was the excellent but not championship caliber Suns.

they were a bit short on the switch everything versatile defenders.

they were a bit short on defenders in general.

All that being said, I agree. If you try an copy the Warriors you are just gonna be a worse version of the Warriors.

Get that star talent. Build around it. Then you become the "new NBA"

[wiley]

I think there are lots of things to learn from the Warriors.

At the same time, it seems to me that a common thing people do is look at a great team built around extreme talents / attributes / skillsets and assume that that team provides a model for how every title contender has to be built in the "modern league."

If you have two all time great shooters and a unique two way playmaker and five position defender in the frontcourt, building your team like the Warriors is probably the best way to go.


But most teams don't have anything resembling that. Trying to copy the Warriors is more likely to give you a weak imitation of a great team rather than the genuine article.

My philosophy is, put together the best core talent you can and then figure out how to play your best guys together as much as possible and maximize their effectiveness.

Doing that may look something like the Warriors, or it may look completely different.

Let's remember that even getting to face the Warriors would require winning three series in a row. I can imagine that certain talented players might help the Celts win a few playoff series even if they wouldn't necessarily be super useful against the Warriors.

I disagree, for example, about big centers like Whiteside or Deandre. The lesson of the Warriors is that a pure center can be negated if his dominance on the boards and finishing inside is not enough to negate the advantage the other team realizes by going small.

If a pure center can grab tons of boards and finish lobs over smaller players, that might be enough to bust a small ball lineup. Especially since most teams can't field five players who are talented enough offensively to really punish a team for sticking with a paint dominating center.

Exactamundo. 

Great original post and TP, but I disagree that a coach like Stevens has learned anything by watching the Warriors.  The basketball the Warriors are now playing has simply borrowed a page from the Brad Stevens wet dream booklet of how effective basketball is played. 

And I think Brad Stevens also knows how hard it would successfully imitate them beyond his general principle of liking players who can switch.