Celtics (0-1) vs Suns (1-0) Vegas SL Game 2 7/10/16

[Beat LA]

If you said to yourself after the first game "Wow, look at JB's aggressiveness. Kid is gonna be really good." And then changed that too "I gotta say I'm not really high on Brown right now". You probably shouldn't watch SL.

There's almost nothing you can take from watching these games. Very few skills or stats are translatable. Brown's explosive first step and athleticism is something you can take from it. Don't put so much stock into this joke of a competition.

I understand all of that, but I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned right now.  He couldn't even get one shot to go, tonight.  Not one?  Ugh.

[jpotter33]

Starting to get more and more upset that we didn't take Dunn...21 points, 9 reb, 4 assists today.  His first game was arguably even better.   

Hield had 21, 7 and 2 today as well - poor shooting percentages, but he's getting baskets. 

I'm willing to put faith in Brown, he has a ton of talent - hope he doesn't prove me wrong.

I mean, he's like three years older than Brown and was the most ready prospect in the draft. He's supposed to come out and do that kind of stuff in the summer league.

Not really...

Everyone considered Okafor to be NBA ready, and he wasn't as good in summer league as Dunn.  Smart wasn't nearly as good, and he was also supposed to be very NBA ready.

Perhaps because neither of them were 22 at the time or spent nearly as much time in college, like I said previously....

[saltlover]

Mickey and Hunter have looked solid in this game, at least. This SL has helped to vindicate ainges draft last year.

I disagree on Mickey.  I've been unimpressed.

I think its more rust than anything else.

May be.  Could also be why he didn't get to play last year.

[clevelandceltic]

I think they need to run a few plays with Brown on the move. In Vegas they have been playing him as a spot up guy or a one on one guy on the wing. I would like to see more movement to get easier baskets although to be far he hasnt been finishing at the rim well.

[PhoSita]

I don't agree that you can't learn anything from summer league.

Some guys play in summer league and it is immediately apparent they are either too old and experienced or just plain talented to get anything out of the proceedings.  See: Jimmer Fredette, whose fatal flaws won't get exposed in a Summer League environment, or Devin Booker, who is just too dang good for Summer League.


What we can say is that Jaylen Brown has a long way to go.  He's not going to tear up the league as a rookie.  He won't be a contender for ROY.  He probably won't have a particularly large role for the Celtics this year.  I'm guessing he'll be spending a fair amount of time playing for the Red Claws.  The things he can clearly do right now, namely use his physical gifts to defend one on one and force contact inside, are not going to be particularly useful to the Celtics.

[ashanm10]

we all gotta calm our tits, with no system to maximize people's abilities, we cant see anything, lets see how they play under stevens and then say stuff....sigh...STEVENS OUR SUPERSTAR!...

[LarBrd33]

Skipped this one.  Learned everything I needed to know about these guys after watching the last two games.  None of them are impressive.  Gonna take a few years at least. 

[knuckleballer]

we all gotta calm our tits, with no system to maximize people's abilities, we cant see anything, lets see how they play under stevens and then say stuff....sigh...STEVENS OUR SUPERSTAR!...

They played better as a team last year.  This year has been brutal to watch.

[PhoSita]

Mickey and Hunter have looked solid in this game, at least. This SL has helped to vindicate ainges draft last year.

I disagree on Mickey.  I've been unimpressed.

I think its more rust than anything else.

May be.  Could also be why he didn't get to play last year.

I'm curious, for the people who feel Mickey had a bad game, what is it that you wanted to see from him that you didn't see?

I saw him box out well for defensive rebounds, get a good block on a fast break that was called as a foul (questionable, if you ask me), hit an open three pointer from the top of the arc, and complete a handful of plays inside with at least a couple defenders nearby.

That's all I really expected to see from him.  He's never going to create his own shot.  He's never going to post guys up.  He tried to do some things in this game with his back to the basket, and largely failed.  Not a surprise.  At the NBA level, I expect him to play a role similar to Perk or Amir only with a sprinkling of spot-up attempts behind the arc, and maybe the occasional pick and pop play.

I think Horford is going to make both Kelly Olynyk and Jordan Mickey look a lot better this year than they've looked in the past.  Those guys will benefit immensely from playing off a legitimate All-Star caliber big man.

[PhoSita]

Skipped this one.  Learned everything I needed to know about these guys after watching the last two games.  None of them are impressive.  Gonna take a few years at least.

Hunter had a pretty good game.  I think he might actually earn some minutes this year.  Still not sure if he can hack it physically at the NBA level, but the Celts need shooting and his jumper looks great.

[tarheelsxxiii]

I don't agree that you can't learn anything from summer league.

Some guys play in summer league and it is immediately apparent they are either too old and experienced or just plain talented to get anything out of the proceedings.  See: Jimmer Fredette, whose fatal flaws won't get exposed in a Summer League environment, or Devin Booker, who is just too dang good for Summer League.


What we can say is that Jaylen Brown has a long way to go.  He's not going to tear up the league as a rookie.  He won't be a contender for ROY.  He probably won't have a particularly large role for the Celtics this year.  I'm guessing he'll be spending a fair amount of time playing for the Red Claws.  The things he can clearly do right now, namely use his physical gifts to defend one on one and force contact inside, are not going to be particularly useful to the Celtics.

Agree for the most part. I think Jimmer may have developed enough to be a back-up PG on a bad team in the mold of a poor man's Jeremy Lin, but who knows.

Disagree with the bolded, though. How often does a #3 pick spend time in the D League? Seems unprecedented. I would think you want him around the big boys as much as possible.

[tankcity!]

People need to really calm down on Brown. He is a project and honestly looks better than Bender who is another project. And you guys are bipolar.

[Ilikesports17]

I don't agree that you can't learn anything from summer league.

Some guys play in summer league and it is immediately apparent they are either too old and experienced or just plain talented to get anything out of the proceedings.  See: Jimmer Fredette, whose fatal flaws won't get exposed in a Summer League environment, or Devin Booker, who is just too dang good for Summer League.


What we can say is that Jaylen Brown has a long way to go.  He's not going to tear up the league as a rookie.  He won't be a contender for ROY.  He probably won't have a particularly large role for the Celtics this year.  I'm guessing he'll be spending a fair amount of time playing for the Red Claws.  The things he can clearly do right now, namely use his physical gifts to defend one on one and force contact inside, are not going to be particularly useful to the Celtics.

Agree for the most part. I think Jimmer may have developed enough to be a back-up PG on a bad team in the mold of a poor man's Jeremy Lin, but who knows.

Disagree with the bolded, though. How often does a #3 pick spend time in the D League? Seems unprecedented. I would think you want him around the big boys as much as possible.

We need him on the active roster. We simply dont have enough wing depth to keep him off it. Marcus Smart and Jonas Jerebko are the backup SFs right now.

[ManUp]

I think they need to run a few plays with Brown on the move. In Vegas they have been playing him as a spot up guy or a one on one guy on the wing. I would like to see more movement to get easier baskets although to be far he hasnt been finishing at the rim well.

Agreed.

He pretty much has to learn to play the game as a role player instead of as a star. He's finding difficulty scoring because he's isolating all the time. He needs to learns to cut and fill lanes instead of demanding the ball and trying to rush in. The finishing I'm not all too worried about, it seems like he was missing because he was anticipating contact that didn't always come half the time.

[tarheelsxxiii]

People need to really calm down on Brown. He is a project and honestly looks better than Bender who is another project. And you guys are bipolar.

No offense to you (seriously), but this term is being thrown around here a lot lately, always incorrectly, and ruffles my feathers a bit. Let's substitute a different word -- how about "crazy"? That's benign and insulting enough