So what's our starting 5 now?

[blink]

Hayward will start at the two, Morris at the four.  Pretty simple.

Brown not nearly ready to start at all.

Who is going to bail out IT4?

You think IT4 can guard anyone

I completely agree.  I think you have to either start Smart and live with the lack of offense, or start Brown and hope he develops quickly.

IT needs to guard PG's.  Plain and simple.  And he's not terrible at it in most cases.  And he should be able to do it since he will not need to carry the entire load on offense any more.  And the great thing is that opposing teams will not be able to rest their PG's on someone like Avery (who was okay but not great).  They will have to guard IT too you know.

How hard is that?

IT4 is 5'7...very hard

IT is not 5'7. That's fiction. IT is a legitimate 5'10, and this is not a controversial statement. We've had this discussion ad nauseum.

With all this being said, he just needs to be "hidden" on the most limited offensive guard of the opposition, but this puts pressure on the other guard to be a defensive stopper. That's too much to ask of Hayward.

I don't care if he is 5'7 or 5'10 he is a liability and he really doesn't defend anyone.  I agree asking GH to cover for IT on D is a bad idea, Smart or Brown is going to need to fill that role.  Unless we are trading Crowder for a stud 2 way shooting guard, wait we just traded one.

[droopdog7]

Hayward will start at the two, Morris at the four.  Pretty simple.

Brown not nearly ready to start at all.

Who is going to bail out IT4?

You think IT4 can guard anyone

I completely agree.  I think you have to either start Smart and live with the lack of offense, or start Brown and hope he develops quickly.

IT needs to guard PG's.  Plain and simple.  And he's not terrible at it in most cases.  And he should be able to do it since he will not need to carry the entire load on offense any more.  And the great thing is that opposing teams will not be able to rest their PG's on someone like Avery (who was okay but not great).  They will have to guard IT too you know.

How hard is that?

haha, well we are going to have to disagree on the 'he's not terrible at it in most cases' part.  IT has been a fantastic scorer, but he is the team's biggest liability on D.

I much prefer traditional straight up defense.  Tired of all the cross-matching anyway.  And yeah, I do not have any stats to back it up but I think IT has the quickness and strength to stay in front of PG's.  And the large majority will not overpower him.  And like I said, he's [dang] sure going to make them work on the defensive end since they will now have to guard him as well.  Start Smart and the opposing PG gets an off day guarding Smart.

[Th3M2n]

lol @ crowder continuing to be a starter on this team...I literally just spit my coffee out reading posts about it.

it is either Smart or Brown starting at the 2, Crowder off the bench (if he's still on the team at the end of this).  I can't believe this is even a discussion...

[jay]

  Crowder can guard Harden. He didn't shut down Harden, but no one can shut down Harden.

Crowder defensing Harden:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAouUWfM8SA

Against Kyrie, IT would have to guard him more. In those situations, against Cleveland or GS, I would expect Smart to come off the bench a little quicker. I still think Crowder starts because he spreads the floor on offense.

[blink]

Hayward will start at the two, Morris at the four.  Pretty simple.

Brown not nearly ready to start at all.

Who is going to bail out IT4?

You think IT4 can guard anyone

I completely agree.  I think you have to either start Smart and live with the lack of offense, or start Brown and hope he develops quickly.

IT needs to guard PG's.  Plain and simple.  And he's not terrible at it in most cases.  And he should be able to do it since he will not need to carry the entire load on offense any more.  And the great thing is that opposing teams will not be able to rest their PG's on someone like Avery (who was okay but not great).  They will have to guard IT too you know.

How hard is that?

haha, well we are going to have to disagree on the 'he's not terrible at it in most cases' part.  IT has been a fantastic scorer, but he is the team's biggest liability on D.

I much prefer traditional straight up defense.  Tired of all the cross-matching anyway.  And yeah, I do not have any stats to back it up but I think IT has the quickness and strength to stay in front of PG's.  And the large majority will not overpower him.  And like I said, he's [dang] sure going to make them work on the defensive end since they will now have to guard him as well.  Start Smart and the opposing PG gets an off day guarding Smart.

I never said to play Smart on PGs I just meant that we need a def stopper in the backcourt with IT to cover up his lack of D.  I am sure Smart / Brown will take the tougher guard cover no matter the size or if they are a PG or not.

[Tr1boy]

In any case...its not a big deal. CBS has many lineup combo he can use, depending what works/matchups etc

[kozlodoev]

I much prefer traditional straight up defense.  Tired of all the cross-matching anyway.  And yeah, I do not have any stats to back it up but I think IT has the quickness and strength to stay in front of PG's.  And the large majority will not overpower him.  And like I said, he's [dang] sure going to make them work on the defensive end since they will now have to guard him as well.  Start Smart and the opposing PG gets an off day guarding Smart.

I prefer straight up defense too, but last year taught us that Thomas isn't able to stop opposing guards from getting to their spot or posting him up. I think it's more an issue of length and strength than quickness.

That's why our best defenses were when he would rotate to the guy in the corner and let Bradley, Smart, or even Brown deal with the more dynamic scoring guard.

[kozlodoev]

In any case...its not a big deal. CBS has many lineup combo he can use, depending what works/matchups etc

Brad S coming up with "lineups", I dread what may come out of this...

[footey]

Adam Himmelsbach: Hearing that the Celtics have no intention of trading Jae Crowder. They’re excited about lineup possibilities

On a side note

Adam Himmelsbach: According to a league source, the plan has always been for Guerschon Yabusele to be on the Celtics’ roster in the fall.

Awesome regarding Yabusele. Think he'll get more minutes than Zizic. Small ball center.

[droopdog7]

I much prefer traditional straight up defense.  Tired of all the cross-matching anyway.  And yeah, I do not have any stats to back it up but I think IT has the quickness and strength to stay in front of PG's.  And the large majority will not overpower him.  And like I said, he's [dang] sure going to make them work on the defensive end since they will now have to guard him as well.  Start Smart and the opposing PG gets an off day guarding Smart.

I prefer straight up defense too, but last year taught us that Thomas isn't able to stop opposing guards from getting to their spot or posting him up. I think it's more an issue of length and strength than quickness.

That's why our best defenses were when he would rotate to the guy in the corner and let Bradley, Smart, or even Brown deal with the more dynamic scoring guard.

I think either way, it will be interesting to see it play out.  My only comment is that the NBA is basically an offensive league now.  While having a good defensive player is great, I think the idea is to basically outscore the other team nowadays.

[blink]

I much prefer traditional straight up defense.  Tired of all the cross-matching anyway.  And yeah, I do not have any stats to back it up but I think IT has the quickness and strength to stay in front of PG's.  And the large majority will not overpower him.  And like I said, he's [dang] sure going to make them work on the defensive end since they will now have to guard him as well.  Start Smart and the opposing PG gets an off day guarding Smart.

I prefer straight up defense too, but last year taught us that Thomas isn't able to stop opposing guards from getting to their spot or posting him up. I think it's more an issue of length and strength than quickness.

That's why our best defenses were when he would rotate to the guy in the corner and let Bradley, Smart, or even Brown deal with the more dynamic scoring guard.

I think either way, it will be interesting to see it play out.  My only comment is that the NBA is basically an offensive league now.  While having a good defensive player is great, I think the idea is to basically outscore the other team nowadays.

I completely agree with the last statement.  It is why we are keeping IT, for the time being.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

IT
Hayward
Crowder
Morris
Horford

Smart and Crozier are the key ball handlers off the bench. Brown and Tatum the key swing-wing off the bench.

Aside from Zizic and I do not know if we have bench bigs.

Clearly there are still a couple of deals down the road

Guys...Smart has ro start. Who is going to bail out IT4. Cover opposing pgs now that AB has been traded?

This. Brown can't start next to IT until he proves he is rock solid on team defense concepts.

[dreamgreen]

Hayward will start at the two, Morris at the four.  Pretty simple.

Brown not nearly ready to start at all.

Who is going to bail out IT4?

You think IT4 can guard anyone

I completely agree.  I think you have to either start Smart and live with the lack of offense, or start Brown and hope he develops quickly.

IT needs to guard PG's.  Plain and simple.  And he's not terrible at it in most cases.  And he should be able to do it since he will not need to carry the entire load on offense any more.  And the great thing is that opposing teams will not be able to rest their PG's on someone like Avery (who was okay but not great).  They will have to guard IT too you know.

How hard is that?

IT4 is 5'7...very hard

IT is not 5'7. That's fiction. IT is a legitimate 5'10, and this is not a controversial statement. We've had this discussion ad nauseum.

With all this being said, he just needs to be "hidden" on the most limited offensive guard of the opposition, but this puts pressure on the other guard to be a defensive stopper. That's too much to ask of Hayward.

I don't care if he is 5'7 or 5'10 he is a liability and he really doesn't defend anyone.  I agree asking GH to cover for IT on D is a bad idea, Smart or Brown is going to need to fill that role.  Unless we are trading Crowder for a stud 2 way shooting guard, wait we just traded one.

IT says he's 5'9" no idea how he became a legit 5'10"?

[kozlodoev]

IT says he's 5'9" no idea how he became a legit 5'10"?

He became a legit 5'10 by measuring 5'10.25 at the NBA draft combine. You know, the one time they actually put you on a scale and use a ruler to produce a definitive, reliable number.

In case this is not enough, Thomas has also measured between 5'10.25 and 5'11 on three other occasions in his draft year (2011) -- although these are perhaps less reliable. Overall, not really a controversial topic, as far as I am concerned. He's likely at least 5'10 in shoes, perhaps taller, depending on make and model.

This really isn't a big deal, just pointing out (again) that the 5'7 Isaiah Thomas is somewhat of a mythical creature.

[JHTruth]

IT says he's 5'9" no idea how he became a legit 5'10"?

He became a legit 5'10 by measuring 5'10.25 at the NBA draft combine. You know, the one time they actually put you on a scale and use a ruler to produce a definitive, reliable number.

In case this is not enough, Thomas has also measured between 5'10.25 and 5'11 on three other occasions in his draft year (2011) -- although these are perhaps less reliable. Overall, not really a controversial topic, as far as I am concerned. He's likely at least 5'10 in shoes, perhaps taller, depending on make and model.

This really isn't a big deal, just pointing out (again) that the 5'7 Isaiah Thomas is somewhat of a mythical creature.

Spudd Webb was 5'7" and IT looks significantly bigger than him. I dont think there's any way he's less than 5'9"