What does this Celtics team need?

[SHAQATTACK]

Cousins  or

Maybe Bulter or George

And a very athletic TRUE  7 ft center with 260 pounds of meat on him or more .

[Ilikesports17]

Ok maybe "iso scorer" wasnt the best terminology but letting him score 20 points a game off the bench was my point.  Jahlil is not a bad rebounder.

Okafor is one of the worst rebounders in the entire league!  There is no debating the issue he is awful. 

This is one of the better measures I have found for rebounding "adjusted defensive rebound chance %" which can be found in the NBA's tracking data on NBA.com.

Okafor 65.5%
Olynyk 73.5%
Horford 70.9%
Jerebko 63.9%
Zeller 61.0%
Amir   60.9%

There are very few guys that rate out worse than Okafor it just so happens a few of them are Celtics.  Olynyk would be middle of the pack for Centers.

Last year Chicago was the 2nd best rebounding team in the league led by Taj and Pau who were both good rebounders.

Pau Avg 11 RPG
Taj Avg 7 RPG
Noel Avg 8 RPG
Okafor Avg 7 RPG

raw rpg isnt particularly helpful.

[Rosco917]

IMO Okafor isn't the answer, first he's an old fashion back to the basket center, that doesn't fit into the style of play CBS and DA want to play. As an organization you must settle on a style of play that your team will be designed around. You can't be every style.

Okafor is a walking "minus" because of his "swiss cheese" defense. He struggles to get back on defense, his conditioning is suspect. He doesn't rebound very well. IMO I feel Okafor will slow the Celtic pace down to a crawl.

Noel runs the floor well, can defend 3 positions, he adds energy to the game on both ends, his playing pace is much faster than Okafor, he protects the rim, and is an improving offensive player. He's far from perfect, he'll never be a Cousins, but he's a better choice than Jah.

Secondly, we need a wing that can consistently score, add energy, and find his own shot on the second unit. Kind on like what Green has been doing for several games now.

You just described Jared Sullinger last year.  Jared Sullinger who was on the floor in late game situations almost every game.  Except Okafor 100% has better conditioning then Sully idc what anyone says.  And conditioning was the reason DA didnt resign Sully.

If your referring to a green type of wing scorer off the bench yes I'm all for it.  But the lions share of celtics fans (even maybe including yourself) are referring to a franchise player type wing.

Why does everyone think Jah cant rebound?  If your just looking at stats obviously being in a three 7 foot center system is going to come with a shared workload.

Sully was a very good rebounder, that was working on stretching his game out beyond the paint, and the arch. He was trying to fit into the Stevens system. Okafor lives in the paint, that's where he thrives at this point in his career.

While Noel could be a solid, defensive minded starting center in the near future. I understand offense is valuable, but so is defense, and especially in the playoffs.

[bmac934]

@Rosco with Jah's touch your telling me he cant do the same thing and try to develop a passable midrange game?  And we can clear out some space the same way we do with Horford and let him go to work in the post.

@ILike my point was stats dont always tell the whole story. 

It just crossed my mind that because last year the only 2 good players on the team were Centers you dont think teams swarmed the paint and crashed the boards?  Making it more difficult.

[Surferdad]

Scoring is not an issue, but rebounding is a big issue.  I don't see Okafor as solving that very well.

[bmac934]

Scoring is not an issue, but rebounding is a big issue.  I don't see Okafor as solving that very well.

My point was that against the upper echelon teams, yes scoring is a major issue.  We 100% could have closed out that game last night.  Even with Derozan going nuts.

[PhoSita]

To contend for a title?

A top 10 player.


To get past the second round?

Somebody who can play 20-25 minutes a night, grab defensive rebounds, and defend stretch bigs / perimeter players on switches.

[manl_lui]

rebounding
2nd go-to-scorer
interior defense

in that order

[The Oracle]

If the Celtics are going to defend the way Brad chooses to, which I do not disagree with, then the most important thing the C's need is size and length at the wing and guard spots.  Brown maybe someday will fill one of these spots.  Would love to add someone like Middleton or Butler, Durant would have been perfect...  One of I.T. or Bradley has to go and I have long suspected it will be Bradley as they are just to small of a pairing to find any success defensively.

[wdleehi]

Overall, another true star player.



After that, a big body rebounder who can bang with other large bodies.

A SG defender with more length when it playing the better large SGs.

[Ilikesports17]

@Rosco with Jah's touch your telling me he cant do the same thing and try to develop a passable midrange game?  And we can clear out some space the same way we do with Horford and let him go to work in the post.

@ILike my point was stats dont always tell the whole story. 

It just crossed my mind that because last year the only 2 good players on the team were Centers you dont think teams swarmed the paint and crashed the boards?  Making it more difficult.

He was terrible in college and then went to the NBA where he has continued to be terrible. Robert Covington was almost as good on the boards last year and Nerlens Noel who is no rebounding savant has been much better.

You seem to be assuming that Okafor is a good rebounder strictly based off the fact that he is large.

[cltc5]

IMO Okafor isn't the answer, first he's an old fashion back to the basket center, that doesn't fit into the style of play CBS and DA want to play. As an organization you must settle on a style of play that your team will be designed around. You can't be every style.

Okafor is a walking "minus" because of his "swiss cheese" defense. He struggles to get back on defense, his conditioning is suspect. He doesn't rebound very well. IMO I feel Okafor will slow the Celtic pace down to a crawl.

Noel runs the floor well, can defend 3 positions, he adds energy to the game on both ends, his playing pace is much faster than Okafor, he protects the rim, and is an improving offensive player. He's far from perfect, he'll never be a Cousins, but he's a better choice than Jah.

Secondly, we need a wing that can consistently score, add energy, and find his own shot on the second unit. Kind on like what Green has been doing for several games now.

You just described Jared Sullinger last year.  Jared Sullinger who was on the floor in late game situations almost every game.  Except Okafor 100% has better conditioning then Sully idc what anyone says.  And conditioning was the reason DA didnt resign Sully.

If your referring to a green type of wing scorer off the bench yes I'm all for it.  But the lions share of celtics fans (even maybe including yourself) are referring to a franchise player type wing.

Why does everyone think Jah cant rebound?  If your just looking at stats obviously being in a three 7 foot center system is going to come with a shared workload.

Sully was a very good rebounder, that was working on stretching his game out beyond the paint, and the arch. He was trying to fit into the Stevens system. Okafor lives in the paint, that's where he thrives at this point in his career.

While Noel could be a solid, defensive minded starting center in the near future. I understand offense is valuable, but so is defense, and especially in the playoffs.

Sadly we downgraded with Horford.  Sully had a better 3 and could rebound.  Younger

[bmac934]

If the Celtics are going to defend the way Brad chooses to, which I do not disagree with, then the most important thing the C's need is size and length at the wing and guard spots.  Brown maybe someday will fill one of these spots.  Would love to add someone like Middleton or Butler, Durant would have been perfect...  One of I.T. or Bradley has to go and I have long suspected it will be Bradley as they are just to small of a pairing to find any success defensively.

Don't get me wrong I love AB, but chemistry and a lot of little things matter.  I WOULD LOVE IF THE CELTICS CAN SWING A TRADE AROUND AB FOR KHRIS MIDDLETON.  Middleton's a better shooter & scorer (still very good defender), hes taller which matters going against the raptors with Lowry whose a brick house and then a 6'7 derozan (when we have a 5'9 thomas).  Then at that point our small ball lineup of IT Smart Middleton Crowder Horford isnt as small and is more switchy.

[PhoSita]

Sadly we downgraded with Horford.  Sully had a better 3 and could rebound.  Younger

I don't believe that you seriously believe this.

If you do, well, I suggest you spend some more time thinking about it seriously.

[bmac934]

@Rosco with Jah's touch your telling me he cant do the same thing and try to develop a passable midrange game?  And we can clear out some space the same way we do with Horford and let him go to work in the post.

@ILike my point was stats dont always tell the whole story. 

It just crossed my mind that because last year the only 2 good players on the team were Centers you dont think teams swarmed the paint and crashed the boards?  Making it more difficult.

He was terrible in college and then went to the NBA where he has continued to be terrible. Robert Covington was almost as good on the boards last year and Nerlens Noel who is no rebounding savant has been much better.

You seem to be assuming that Okafor is a good rebounder strictly based off the fact that he is large.

Slow your roll buddy lol please dont put words in my mouth.  You seem to be assuming Okafor isnt a good rebounder because of stats.  This isnt moneyball.

You yourself admitted Jah is a better rebounder than players we have lol I'm not arguing Jah is an elite rebounder.