Speculation on why we may be underachieving

[Vermont Green]

I think a more interesting question might be simply "are we underachieving or are achieving about what this team should be achieving?".

I think we are one player away from being the 55 win team that many think we are the underachieving version of.  We need a starting PF and that will improve or starters and provide additional front court depth.  A team like Detroit kills us.  San Antonio's bench bigs killed us.

Horford, Amir, Olynyk, and Zeller just isn't enough.

[alldaboston]

I think a more interesting question might be simply "are we underachieving or are achieving about what this team should be achieving?".

I think we are one player away from being the 55 win team that many think we are the underachieving version of.  We need a starting PF and that will improve or starters and provide additional front court depth.  A team like Detroit kills us.  San Antonio's bench bigs killed us.

Horford, Amir, Olynyk, and Zeller just isn't enough.

Bogut, man. It makes perfect sense for us. Would help us so much more than Amir and Zeller.

[TrueFan]

Here is my top three reasons.

Poor rebounding. Teams are getting too many second chance points.

Poor perimeter defense because we are forced to defend inside out. When you have Olynyk and Zelker and Jerebko in there as your bigs you have to help defend inside too much. Teams are getting way too many clean looks from three or just perimeter twos.

Trying to incorporate Jaylen Brown and Rozier. Rozier is almost there but Brown still hurts the team when out there. The problem is both of these guys are too good so we have to bring them along and deal with the bumps that come along. Some of those bumps are 2-3 possessions were we end end up spotting the other team points from inexperienced players out there.

[Kuberski33]

Simple, Evan Turner's value still is not recognized by most. As a result they are way too reliant on the 3 point shot which is the reason they never shoot many FT's.  They also let their best rebounder go and didn't bother to replace him. 

Additionally Crowder isn't playing all that well and Smart's lack of shooting is becoming a problem.  But the first 2 are the biggest reasons.  Turner was a key guy on this team.

Turner's replacement is on the roster (Jaylen) but he's just not ready yet - nor is he likely to be anytime soon.

[jpotter33]

I think a more interesting question might be simply "are we underachieving or are achieving about what this team should be achieving?".

I think we are one player away from being the 55 win team that many think we are the underachieving version of.  We need a starting PF and that will improve or starters and provide additional front court depth.  A team like Detroit kills us.  San Antonio's bench bigs killed us.

Horford, Amir, Olynyk, and Zeller just isn't enough.

I still don't buy this narrative that we overachieved last year and are achieving about where we should be this year.

There's clearly a lack of defensive intensity from last year. I think our starting unit defense is much worse than it was last year, which is surprising given our upgrades in personnel. I think we just focus way too much on trying to outscore the opponent rather than stopping them. Some of this can be put on Amir's significant drop in play, but IT, AB, and Jae have all performed significantly worse defensively than last year, and adding players like Brown and Rozier into the rotation also hurts our D.

[alldaboston]

Simple, Evan Turner's value still is not recognized by most. As a result they are way too reliant on the 3 point shot which is the reason they never shoot many FT's.  They also let their best rebounder go and didn't bother to replace him. 

Additionally Crowder isn't playing all that well and Smart's lack of shooting is becoming a problem.  But the first 2 are the biggest reasons.  Turner was a key guy on this team.

Turner's replacement is on the roster (Jaylen) but he's just not ready yet - nor is he likely to be anytime soon.

TP. that's another key reason. people here and on reddit were so confident that Smart would replicate Turner's play, it's actually a little hilarious lol. Turner was so key for us. He was essentially another go-to scorer for us, something that no one else is on this team, aside from Isaiah. his defensive versatility was also big for us. i kinda wish he would have taken a "hometown" discount and stayed with us.

[Rivers23]

In my opinion, it's because we're trying to play like Houston and Portland, instead of playing like San Antonio. Run and gun style of play just doesn't suit us. The team tends to get dragged into run and gun mode too often. Just stick to half court offense, slow the game down a bit and play good defense.

[ssspence]

we're not underachieving. team was over-hyped in the pre-season. we're not currently a legit contender.

[blink]

I think it has been a mix of a lot of things.
 
1) Injuries to Horford and Crowder.  Both players have missed 9-10 games.  We aren't deep enough for that not to impact us.
2) Defense has dropped a bit.  We are allowing more 2 points per game than we did last year.   But from the eye test we look worse than that.  Intensity seems lacking.  We don't seem to have the same desire to get stops.
3) Our rebounding numbers are down, from 44.9 rpg last year to 42.1 rpg this year.  This is a huge problem.  When we are often getting out rebounded by 8-12 in the games we lose. 

I personally think that expectations of a 55 win season were/are too optimistic.  Horford was a great addition, but we lost Sully and Turner too.  I know Sully was up and down, but he was a good rebounder, and Turner was a nice swiss army knife for us.  The net improvement in that swap might not be as big as everyone hoped.

[Rivers23]

And which teams are legit contenders, except GSW and Cleveland? Clippers are waaaay too overrated, Pop makes SA overachieve, Toronto most certainly can't handle the Warriors, if OKC somehow enters the conference finals Donovan should get a statue in downtown okc, Portland and Houston are nice to watch, but their style of play won't get them to the top....

I'm just so sick of Celtics launching these 3point barrages and headless running around the court. I mean, at this point, there's no mid range game, it's either a 3 pointer or IT penetrating to the rim. Just find your style of play and stick to it, I'd say it's more like an identity crisis for Celtics than the lack of talent.

[alldaboston]

Another issue: the pace. we're a very average team this year in terms of our pace, when last year we were top 5 or top 3 i think. we had a high pace due to the fact that we were forcing a lot of turnovers and were getting in the fast break. however, since our defense has been so bad, we aren't forcing as many turnovers and as a result our pace is low. Brad said it himself at the start of the season, that he believed we would be "flying around" or something. That hasn't happened yet.

not sure what's up with our defense overall though. were Sully and Turner really that important to our defense? so important that Horford and Brown make us this much worse on defense?

[Who]

I don't think the team is underachieving. 4th in the East despite major losses in Jae Crowder and Al Horford. Only 2 games out of 2nd place. That is a good record.

And now the team is primed for a run now that their main guys are back. The C's have a good shot at taking over that 2nd seed spot in the coming weeks / months.

[Moranis]

I think a more interesting question might be simply "are we underachieving or are achieving about what this team should be achieving?".

I think we are one player away from being the 55 win team that many think we are the underachieving version of.  We need a starting PF and that will improve or starters and provide additional front court depth.  A team like Detroit kills us.  San Antonio's bench bigs killed us.

Horford, Amir, Olynyk, and Zeller just isn't enough.

I still don't buy this narrative that we overachieved last year and are achieving about where we should be this year.

There's clearly a lack of defensive intensity from last year. I think our starting unit defense is much worse than it was last year, which is surprising given our upgrades in personnel. I think we just focus way too much on trying to outscore the opponent rather than stopping them. Some of this can be put on Amir's significant drop in play, but IT, AB, and Jae have all performed significantly worse defensively than last year, and adding players like Brown and Rozier into the rotation also hurts our D.

Boston is only giving up 2 more ppg than last year which when you consider the injuries to Crowder and Horford, isn't bad at all.

Given the injuries 10-8 is a pretty good spot for Boston to be in.

[alldaboston]

I don't think the team is underachieving. 4th in the East despite major losses in Jae Crowder and Al Horford. Only 2 games out of 2nd place. That is a good record.

And now the team is primed for a run now that their main guys are back. The C's have a good shot at taking over that 2nd seed spot in the coming weeks / months.

perhaps. but after Saturday vs Philly, we have a really tough stretch coming up. some very good competition. and a great litmus test for us, to see where we really are.

[jpotter33]

I think a more interesting question might be simply "are we underachieving or are achieving about what this team should be achieving?".

I think we are one player away from being the 55 win team that many think we are the underachieving version of.  We need a starting PF and that will improve or starters and provide additional front court depth.  A team like Detroit kills us.  San Antonio's bench bigs killed us.

Horford, Amir, Olynyk, and Zeller just isn't enough.

I still don't buy this narrative that we overachieved last year and are achieving about where we should be this year.

There's clearly a lack of defensive intensity from last year. I think our starting unit defense is much worse than it was last year, which is surprising given our upgrades in personnel. I think we just focus way too much on trying to outscore the opponent rather than stopping them. Some of this can be put on Amir's significant drop in play, but IT, AB, and Jae have all performed significantly worse defensively than last year, and adding players like Brown and Rozier into the rotation also hurts our D.

Boston is only giving up 2 more ppg than last year which when you consider the injuries to Crowder and Horford, isn't bad at all.

Given the injuries 10-8 is a pretty good spot for Boston to be in.

Oh, I agree we're in a decent spot for the injuries we've had.

And perhaps with more time together as a healthy unit we'll get back to our defensive ways. But as it stands now, we're just not the same defensive team that we were last year, and our priorities as a team seem to have shifted dramatically.