Celtics achilles heel this season? youth and rebounding

[cman88]

rebounding was our problem last year as well, so it may not hurt us much considering we got to the ECF. but it is something we have not really addressed

But, while the celtics have more high end talent than last year heading into this season, what they lack is experience. We are relying on ALOT of first/second year players and rookies to contribute in big roles. gone is ALOT of experience in Crowder,bradley,olynyk, green.

it will be interesting to see if guys like Jaylen brown and Jayson tatum can figure it out quick and contribute, because they WILL be asked to. as well as all of our other young guys who ARE going to be expected to contribute this year. remember Brads regular season rotation is sometimes 9-10 guys long. 

[Roy H.]

There are a lot of question marks. In addition to what you noted:

1. Chemistry. There was a ton of turnover;

2. Leadership. Our best players aren't vocal leaders, and our most vocal leaders got traded.

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

4. Shooting. We lost a lot of it.

5. The offense. Guys like Kyrie, Baynes, and Morris are going to have to change their games significantly to do what Brad likes to do. There will be less spacing, and fewer handoffs. Kyrie hasn't traditionally played in an offense with as much ball movement, and tends to be at his most efficient the more he dribbles.

For a conference finalist, there will be growing pains.

[Alleyoopster]

Lack of grit....

[hwangjini_1]

youth as an achilles heel? perhaps, but i am not convinced of it at first glance.

the starters ages are:

horford = 31 years old
hayward = 27
morris = 28
irving = 25
smart or brown = 23 and 20 respectively.

so while yes, smart/brown are young, i am not sure the other starters are.

as for the bench, there are a lot of young players there and that might be a concern.
baynes = 30
theis - 25

but everyone else is 24 or younger. I do expect ainge to sign one more veteran player, so that will help. most of the younger players will be 9-15 in the rotation.

but i think the bigger challenge will be the team gaining experience as a team, at least for the first part of the season.

[TheSundanceKid]

There are a lot of question marks. In addition to what you noted:

1. Chemistry. There was a ton of turnover;

2. Leadership. Our best players aren't vocal leaders, and our most vocal leaders got traded.

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

4. Shooting. We lost a lot of it.

5. The offense. Guys like Kyrie, Baynes, and Morris are going to have to change their games significantly to do what Brad likes to do. There will be less spacing, and fewer handoffs. Kyrie hasn't traditionally played in an offense with as much ball movement, and tends to be at his most efficient the more he dribbles.

For a conference finalist, there will be growing pains.

1. Definitely, last years team was together and that's how they got where they did. This years team may be considered more talented but they will need to gel quickly for it to matter

2. I think Horford is vocal and was the most important leader last year as well. Smart is a vocal presence too and this'll be his 4th year in the league. Kyrie has a chance to become a leader on this team and that seems to be what he wants so we will see how that develops.

3. We were defined by our defense the last few years so this will be an interesting one. I do think we will improve offensively though so that should offset it some.

4. We lost spot up shooting but we gained a lot of shot creation. That in itself should open up more opportunities for guys and I hope the percentages increase with it.

5. The offense is actually one of the biggest positives to me. It'll take time to integrate guys but if we consider where Thomas started and people's opinion of what he could do, and subsequently what he became... I think we can expect the new players to grow into the system and excel in it. They all have the right attributes.

For me the biggest will be chemistry. That will define the rest of the growing pains, if the chemistry clicks then guys will band together through the tough times.

[kozlodoev]

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

Losing Bradley will hurt a lot less now that we don't have Thomas. I'm expecting Brown and Crowder to be a wash.

[Roy H.]

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

Losing Bradley will hurt a lot less now that we don't have Thomas. I'm expecting Brown and Crowder to be a wash.

Since Kyrie's defense has historically been at least as bad, I don't think one's presence over the other mitigates the los of AB in any way.

[Donoghus]

Rebounding?  Sure.  Probably the biggest concern for me followed by defense.

Youth?  Not concerned.  Enough vets on this team and a good mesh on the roster where I don't think it'll be much on an issue.  Any chemistry issues will be more of a result of new personnel & not really a result of youth, IMO.

[jambr380]

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

Losing Bradley will hurt a lot less now that we don't have Thomas. I'm expecting Brown and Crowder to be a wash.

Since Kyrie's defense has historically been at least as bad, I don't think one's presence over the other mitigates the los of AB in any way.

I don't know, Kyrie's height at least allows him to be switched on to the worst of another team's PG/SG/SF rather than just PG/SG (where IT always had the height disadvantage anyway). I know the Washington series has been overblown in relation to IT's D, but it was painful watching Otto Porter dominate him in the post, when that isn't even Porter's game.

I think we have seen the best that IT has to offer on defense and it is not great. I also think we have seen Kyrie excel in certain situations when called upon. While it is somewhat concerning that Kyrie doesn't give full effort on that end of the floor, at least we know he can perform at at least an average level. And I think we are all hoping that he buys into Brad's system.

Also, TP to hwangjini and SundanceKid for making some very good points.

[SHAQATTACK]

We gained ability to score when it counts .  At playoff time when the great players step up.  Scoring bucket is the challenge all EC teams have trying to beat GS .  Gonna have to guys who can pour in the buckets .

We will be a much more formable playoff team .  While losing AB and Crowder s defense will hurt during the regualr season .

Notice ...many games looked hard for Cavs to win in regualr season , but they kicked butt in the playoffs..  I think Celtics are gonna be more like that .... maybe struggle in some regular season games . But will be ready come post season .

As teams become more top heavy things changes.

[CelticsElite]

Shaqs Achilles heel will be our Achilles heel

[nickagneta]

I definitely think the lack of experience on the bench will hurt. I don't care about age, I care about experience. Jaylen has one year. Rozier only about 1.5 years and that half year at just 8 mpg. Tatum, Theis, Ojeleye, Nader, Yabusele, Bird and Allen have no NBA experience. And I don't care about Theis' experience in Europe. Bench players in Europe don't usually, if ever, make it in the NBA. Usually only European stars and starters that are in older than 21 have NBA careers once they leave Europe.

If Horford misses 10 games(which he did last year) or Irving misses significant  time(which he has in the past) this team is screwed. Heck, when the starters get in foul problems in games, its going to mean Stevens ryling on rookies.

Inexperienced teams don't win tons of games. Half this team has little to no NBA experience and over 1/3(not counting the 2 way contract players)are rookies.

For this reason, I think this team takes a step back.

[drogbagarnett]

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

Losing Bradley will hurt a lot less now that we don't have Thomas. I'm expecting Brown and Crowder to be a wash.

Since Kyrie's defense has historically been at least as bad, I don't think one's presence over the other mitigates the los of AB in any way.

I guess I'm looking at the defense differently :

Baynes > Amir (we got killed down in the block so many times)
Morris > Kelly
Semi = Crowder (Almost, slight edge to Crowder but I know most will disagree but I'm sure by the end of the year you will come around)
Hayward < Bradley (but barely. hayward defense is under rated... but bradley was on another level i concede.)
Kyrie > IT ( no matter how people want to blame Kyrie, when he focuses on D he is miles better than IT. He will focus on it more often this year I can bet on it.)

So while I agree we lost many of our best defenders, I wouldnt call our defense last year Top Notch! I think we did fine. I think we will do fine again this year. Smart is our best defender and we still have him...

[CelticsElite]

I definitely think the lack of experience on the bench will hurt. I don't care about age, I care about experience. Jaylen has one year. Rozier only about 1.5 years and that half year at just 8 mpg. Tatum, Theis, Ojeleye, Nader, Yabusele, Bird and Allen have no NBA experience. And I don't care about Theis' experience in Europe. Bench players in Europe don't usually, if ever, make it in the NBA. Usually only European stars and starters that are in older than 21 have NBA careers once they leave Europe.

If Horford misses 10 games(which he did last year) or Irving misses significant  time(which he has in the past) this team is screwed. Heck, when the starters get in foul problems in games, its going to mean Stevens ryling on rookies.

Inexperienced teams don't win tons of games. Half this team has little to no NBA experience and over 1/3(not counting the 2 way contract players)are rookies.

For this reason, I think this team takes a step back.

experience matters. Veterans tend to know which basket to use or which player to pass to

https://youtu.be/gD4CLCwH0uA

https://youtu.be/ewU0KYtgsuk

[kozlodoev]

3. Defense. Losing AB and Jae will hurt. Hopefully Jaylen can step up.

Losing Bradley will hurt a lot less now that we don't have Thomas. I'm expecting Brown and Crowder to be a wash.

Since Kyrie's defense has historically been at least as bad, I don't think one's presence over the other mitigates the los of AB in any way.

Having a bad defender on the team is one thing. Having a bad defender you need to actively hide because anyone who is coordinated enough to not dribble the ball off his foot in 2 steps can post him up and get an uncontested layup is completely different.

No-one is going to argue that Irving is some sort of a defensive stopper, but there's no comparison between the two situations.