Marcus Smart is not a small forward, let Jaylen Brown backup Crowder

[OldSchoolDude]

I am looking through the 5-man lineups and these are clearly the two worst that have played more than 20 mins together:

Thomas - Bradley - Smart - Olynyk - Amir
Thomas - Bradley - Smart - Crowder - Horford

That first lineup will not be seen much as that was a product of Horford missing 10 games.  But the point still stands that when you have IT, Bradley, and Smart together on the court they are struggling.

In the Thomas - Bradley - Smart - Crowder - Horford line up:
Smart = 6'4 SF
Crowder = 6'6 PF
add
IT =5'8 PG
and we are getting killed by size.
Other teams can defend us, out rebound us and shoot over us.

I see the bigest problem being that Smart needs to play and so does Rozier.  Rozier I think is a better back up point guard and watching the games I think the offense really "looks" the best when he's at the point.  I get the starting 5 score more with IT but I like the way the ball moves with Rozier.  So does Stevens because he's playing him.   By playing Rozier at the PG spot, Smart needs to play off the ball at SG.  But Bradlly is playing great and needs lots of miutes, so either smart gets less minutes then he deserves or he slides to the 3.  Thus we get a 6'4 SF.  Rozier's offense is better then Smart's  despite smarts improvement.  Rozier's defense while not as good as smart's is still better than average.   

Rozier and Smart both need minutes and so does Brown.  During the Preseason Brown played minutes at the PF spot but with Jerebko playing well and standing 6'10 he is getting deserved minutes at the PF spot leaving brown to play on the wing.  Which leaves him less minutes because we have smart playing backup minutes at three positions 1, 2, & 3.  Smart needs to play and can play multiple positions but I think we would do better to trade him or Rozier and settle down the rotation.

[bopna]

What actually bugs me was Jaylen was a no show in the 2nd half of the Hornets game. I mean he didnt even saw a second of play. I know he is a rookie but cmon Brad..give the kid some playin time.

[BitterJim]

What actually bugs me was Jaylen was a no show in the 2nd half of the Hornets game. I mean he didnt even saw a second of play. I know he is a rookie but cmon Brad..give the kid some playin time.

He plays in the second half if he plays well in the first half. After shooting 1-5 with a TO, there was no reason for Brad to play him in the second half of a close game. If it had been a blowout, I'd agree with you, but given the situation I don't blame him for keeping him on the bench

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

What's hurt Boston this season is Stevens' preference to close the second quarter with three-guard lineups that often sub Smart in place of Johnson in Boston's starting five. While that group has played only 13 total second-quarter minutes this season, it owns a cringe-worthy net rating of minus-72.9. Stevens has admitted there's a large enough sample size now that suggests Boston simply cannot go with that three-guard set unless there's a favorable matchup.
http://www.espn.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4724711/forget-the-starters-celtics-are-looking-for-second-helpings

The main thing that has hurt Boston this season is allowing Jonas Jerebco any playing time.

Things that have hurt Boston the most this season:

1) Injuries
2) Smart's failure to take a significant step forward
3) Crowder's failure to take a significant step forward
4) KO's failure to take a significant step forward
5) Underperforming on defense
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

If Jerebko was hurting the team, it would be way down here on a prioritized list of things that have hurt the Cs this year.

But he's not hurting the team. Jerebko is a solid role player on any team, including this one.

[MBunge]

Rozier isnt being showcased. He is simply playing the minutes he has earned with his good play. If you cant see his development over the last year and a half that has earned him these minutes, thats on you. Danny doesnt tell Stevens who to play. Ainge has made that quite clear in the past.

I'm not saying Rozier isn't playing better, though I'm not sure it's been good enough to justify him getting a longer leash than other players.  The issue is that trying to play three point guards in your top 8 or 9 rotation creates problems even if they are all playing well.  Playing Rozier 19 minutes a game not only takes minutes away from Smart at the point but means you have to play some funky lineups to keep Smart on the court.

That's why Brown, Green and Young have such struggles getting minutes, because Smart is being shoved into the shooting guard and small forward spots.  Not to say that those guys are the secret to 50 wins but given how poorly the team has looked at times, it's odd that Stevens has morphed from a "play anybody and see what happens" coach to a "play five guys 30+ minutes a game no matter what" coach.

Mike

[The Oracle]

Rozier isnt being showcased. He is simply playing the minutes he has earned with his good play. If you cant see his development over the last year and a half that has earned him these minutes, thats on you. Danny doesnt tell Stevens who to play. Ainge has made that quite clear in the past.

Danny and Brad's agendas are one in the same.  They want to build a title contender and whatever that requires Brad is going to do no matter what Danny says to the public.

[Chris22]

What's hurt Boston this season is Stevens' preference to close the second quarter with three-guard lineups that often sub Smart in place of Johnson in Boston's starting five. While that group has played only 13 total second-quarter minutes this season, it owns a cringe-worthy net rating of minus-72.9. Stevens has admitted there's a large enough sample size now that suggests Boston simply cannot go with that three-guard set unless there's a favorable matchup.
http://www.espn.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4724711/forget-the-starters-celtics-are-looking-for-second-helpings

thanks for the thread and analysis. but it seems to stop short of what the thread title promises.

would you also be able to share your thoughts and analysis of why brown would solve the problem you point to here? thanks.

Brown is bigger and more athletic than Smart, so when Brown is in, both the 2 and the 3 get bigger.
Plus, in the last five games Brown is shooting 52% from the floor, 50% on threes, and 80% at the line.
And as the link above shows, small ball doesn't work.

[bopna]

Once again NO Jaylen sighting in the second half of the cHeat game.
Boy has the rookie lost it in Brads mind that he cant even see a minute of the second half would rather play JC 12 minutes in the 3rd qtr.

[CelticGuardian]

My patience with Stevens is waning, he is hellbent on playing Marcus 30 mins and sadly, his talent those not warrant that much playing time, I've said this months ago but Marcus versatility is just a narrative, we've seen it countless times this season were anybody with 3 inches over him can just pull up in his face cuz he's not going to jump high enough to contest. That's why your lineup of death routinely gets killed.

The fact that Jaylen only played 8 minutes tells me that we are being force fed Marcus Smart. Which is not acceptable with his playstyle, he really should only be seeing the court for 20 mins to reduce the heat checks and injuries that accompany what he does on the court. Jaylen should be getting at least 15 mins a game at this point. Why doesn't Stevens play Brown, turnovers? fouls? Playoff seeding? Will any of that even matter in pursuit of banner 18, ESPECIALLY if playoff comes and Jaylen can't see the floor?

[CelticGuardian]

What's hurt Boston this season is Stevens' preference to close the second quarter with three-guard lineups that often sub Smart in place of Johnson in Boston's starting five. While that group has played only 13 total second-quarter minutes this season, it owns a cringe-worthy net rating of minus-72.9. Stevens has admitted there's a large enough sample size now that suggests Boston simply cannot go with that three-guard set unless there's a favorable matchup.
http://www.espn.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4724711/forget-the-starters-celtics-are-looking-for-second-helpings

The main thing that has hurt Boston this season is allowing Jonas Jerebco any playing time.

Things that have hurt Boston the most this season:

1) Injuries
2) Smart's failure to take a significant step forward
3) Crowder's failure to take a significant step forward
4) KO's failure to take a significant step forward
5) Underperforming on defense
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

If Jerebko was hurting the team, it would be way down here on a prioritized list of things that have hurt the Cs this year.

But he's not hurting the team. Jerebko is a solid role player on any team, including this one.

Yeah, Jerebko has been really solid for this team, he started the season on the wrong foot, but he's been productive in the 15 or so mins Stevens plays him. I think last night he even drew a charging foul that didn't get called, plays like that and the spacing has been valuable for us.

And I hear ya on all the frustrations with the C's 2013 and 2014 lotto players, those guys are role players and the team needs more than that. We need at least another starter to emerge.