This team is soft

[knuckleballer]

I don't think this is an overreaction.  All of their rotation players except for Baynes and maybe Smart should have the ability to take it to the rim.  With the floor so spread out, there should be plenty of lanes open.  They have actually shot the 3 very well the last two games and played good defense.  The problem is that they aren't getting enough easy baskets and free throws.  Stevens has a lot of work to do.

[BitterJim]

at this point...Marcus Smart is WAAAAAAAAY Over Paid.

Smart was a plus 12.

I am beginning to think Morris should start over Hayward.

I like Morris as the main scorer off the bench instead of the 5th option in the starting lineup

[JBcat]

We have the best defensive in the league in terms of opponents PPG.  We could easily be 9 and 1 due to a couple close losses, and I think people would be singing a different tune.

I do wish we would play bigger at times with both Horford and Baynes in there at the same time like last year, but that’s different than saying we are soft. 

Olidipo hit some huge shots last night.  You just have to tip your cap to him.  Indy has a very solid team.  I’m impressed with them, and they won’t be a pushover.

[knuckleballer]

A lot of the reason we have the best defense in the league in opponents ppg is that we are not crashing the boards and instead getting back on defense.  I wonder if we should be more aggressive in trying for offensive rebounds.

[Chris22]

How the **** is everyone saying Jaylen should be benched? He's defending better than any wing we have rn and it isn't his fault that he's being treated like a 5th fiddle on offense, dude can score (look up at his 2 Celtic playoff record games against the Bucks). If anything Hayward should be our sixth man.

I said this from the beginning of the season.

[Donoghus]

Too much freaking out & over reacting after every loss.

It’s November 4th.  This team is really good & will be fine. 

[timpiker]

Not driving to the basket?  Who can make a layup?  The fact is, taking out dunks, this team shoots layups worse than 3's.  I'd like to know their shooting percentage of 3 feet and in.  Jaylen is the poster child.  Kyrie was under the basket last night and missed the rim.  Earlier, Marcus missed the rim.  Jaylen lies down like a baby when he's inside of 5 feet.

[KG Living Legend]

Too much freaking out & over reacting after every loss.

It’s November 4th.  This team is really good & will be fine.

 Agreed. High expectations is the issue here. RELAX.

[PAOBoston]

It’s been a theme all year. They don’t attack the paint at all. They barely get FTs. They legit live and die by the 3.

[trickybilly]

Is the blog getting worse with this kinda stuff?

[ozgod]

A celtics loss and out come the over reaction threads. 

Yep, no need to slit wrists just yet after a one point loss.  We've been competitive in all 3 losses - other than losing it with a few mins to go against Toronto the other losses have been one-possession losses. Add to this the fact we haven't shot well and they need to figure out a balance between taking 3s that the defense gives them (totally fine with this even if they miss) and taking it to the rim when there is an opportunity. Might come as a surprise but if the other team is packing the paint and not contesting the 3 point line it's not that easy to just drive to the basket.

This early in the season I think we're on the right track. I'm an optimist tho 

[ozgod]

at this point...Marcus Smart is WAAAAAAAAY Over Paid.

Smart was a plus 12.

I am beginning to think Morris should start over Hayward.

I like Morris as the main scorer off the bench instead of the 5th option in the starting lineup

Agree, a big part of Morris being able to score freely is when he knows he's the main scoring option. If he was in the starting lineup he would have to figure out when to get his shots with all the other starters there. Hayward is a better facilitator than Morris, so even when he isn't scoring he can help the likes of Horford, Irving, Tatum etc get their shots.

[keevsnick]

How the **** is everyone saying Jaylen should be benched? He's defending better than any wing we have rn and it isn't his fault that he's being treated like a 5th fiddle on offense, dude can score (look up at his 2 Celtic playoff record games against the Bucks). If anything Hayward should be our sixth man.

His defence has been good, but Bojan was still able to drop 16 on him. Not exactly impressive.

It's his fault that he's shooting below 40% from the field and below 35% from deep however (both career lows). Even his free throw shooting is a career low, as it has continually gotten worse the longer he's been in the league. He's also the worst passer and ball-handler in the starting lineup.
Hayward on the other hand has been our second best shooter from deep, and starting him alongside Morris would allow Tatum to play to his strengths, which is guarding smaller wings.

Even if all that is true, you don't make a starting line up change over 9 games worth of data. At least not if you are a good coach. We are playing the long game here. You need Jaylen at his top form to beat Golden State this year and you need him (and Tatum for that matter) at peak value if you want to trade for AD this offseason. But back to your actual points. His free throw shooting has not gotten worse the longer he's been in the league, he shot 79.4% in 16 games after the all star game last year, much better than before the break. And his shooting percentages are gonna go up, benching somebody based on an eight game sample size is never a good idea. He may be the worst passer and ball handler in the starting group, but he's also the best defender of that group (arguable with horford) and its not like Tatum is a great passer either.  Listen, in short we should change nothing. Nobody but Morris is playing great right now, but unless you believe he's gonna shoot 50% from 3 all season he is due for a massive regression. I expect literally everyone else to play better if for no other reason than their shooting percentages should improve.

[TA9]

The problem is the starting unit. CBS has to realize (I believe he already knows it) that our current lineup isn't functioning well - one of the guys *cough* Hayward *cough* must go to the bench. I understand that it's a tough situation because you usually don't see max players being used as a 6th man but Hayward simply isn't ready as of now. I would prefer slowly easing him back into the starting lineup because his current level of play certainly doesn't justify his spot in the starting five.

[cman88]

Despite all this, Celtics are 6-3. It's not like they are losing tons of games while going through these "growing pains" if Kyrie hits that layup last night they are 7-2

Hayward will get better, the team will get better chemistry the more they play together...and they will rack up the wins.