Kyrie: We Needed Williams Last Night

[footey]

Interesting quote in this morning’s Herald. Kyrie points out lack of inside defensive presence in last night’s Spurs game, and specifically mentioned Williams (not Baynes) as being missed, and compared the Spurs interior length being very difficult, with Aldridge and Poetl causing problems.

A not too thinly veiled plea to Brad to go bigger at the 5 position when Williams returns? Obviously nothing could be done last night with our injuries, but this is not the first time when we couldn’t stop guys from going to the hole. More NBA teams seem to be taking advantage of tightening 3 point defense of Celtics all season by doing this.

Perhaps someone can post the quote.

[hpantazo]

Kyrie has amazing on court chemistry with Baynes, so I'm sure whatever he meant, it was not a shot at Baynes.

Maybe he's just trying to instill some confidence in Williams.

[KG Living Legend]

Kyrie has amazing on court chemistry with Baynes, so I'm sure whatever he meant, it was not a shot at Baynes.

Maybe he's just trying to instill some confidence in Williams.

 Nope. Not my take. He's stating the obvious.

[Chris22]

Interior defense has been a problem all season. Ainge needs to get us another big.

[SHAQATTACK]

Wiiliams could have helped win the rockets game .  But , not sure why he is not playing .

[jpd985]

Wiiliams could have helped win the rockets game .  But , not sure why he is not playing .

He has been hurt and wasn’t going to return till after the road trip.

[CroCorvus]

Ofc, he is stating the obvious. If we play with four guards and we switch everything going aggressively on the three point line, and we do, it is a must that we have ahtletic big able to defend p'n'r, deflect and block shots. Theis is too small, can't block shots and is a pretty poor rebounder especially offensive rebounder, while Yabu is also a smililar liability. In other words, we are doomed until Al's back full time. I like Lob W very much but he needs time and is only quick sub solution for now. 

[footey]

Ofc, he is stating the obvious. If we play with four guards and we switch everything going aggressively on the three point line, and we do, it is a must that we have ahtletic big able to defend p'n'r, deflect and block shots. Theis is too small, can't block shots and is a pretty poor rebounder especially offensive rebounder, while Yabu is also a smililar liability. In other words, we are doomed until Al's back full time. I like Lob W very much but he needs time and is only quick sub solution for now.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2018/12/31/celtics-drop-ball-in-second-half-fall-to-spurs/

Read the quote in the article. I don’t think Kyrie considers Williams just a quick sub solution. I also think he advocating having two bigs in the lineup more often. I don’t think Al and Theis played together at all last night.

[GreenFaith1819]

The thing is, though -  is that when LaMarcus Aldridge gets rolling not many can stop or slow him down.

Williams and Baynes could've helped some but Aldridge needs some credit here, too.

He is one of the best offensive Old-School bigs left out there and he also seems to have gotten better defensively in San Antonio.

[mctyson]

Interior defense has been a problem all season. Ainge needs to get us another big.

There is no one he can "get" that will reliably put this team in a significant better spot to win a championship.  They have have guys who either are small or play small for their positions.

Rebound and interior presence has been a major issue for a few years.

If there is any move to be made, it will be Rozier +  2019 picks for Vucevic, but I am not sure that really does much.  The problems are deeper than one person.

[Ogaju]

this is just saying what we have been saying all year... where is the beef/size.

[hpantazo]

This is the quote:

“It’s just frustrating when you give up 46 points in the third quarter, and we’re just getting killed on the boards right now, and we don’t have any help-side where guys are contesting at the rim every single time,” said Irving, although the Celts lost the glass just 43-40 and had nine offensive rebounds to the Spurs’ eight. “That’s where we’re missing Big Rob [Williams] or a rim presence where guys are thinking twice about going in. I think about my drives, all in I shot a few floaters, but [Jakob] Poeltl’s there every single time. Not one time was he not there, and every time you think you have an open layup, they’re sliding over. And that’s just the defensive presence that you have to have having a five and a four like LaMarcus and Poeltl.”

So he says they miss Williams OR a rim presence i.e Baynes, basically they need another big in there is what he's saying, wether its Williams or Baynes. He probably doesn't mention Baynes because he's out for a while with a broken hand, but Williams could be back at any moment.

He clearly says that having Poeltl out there together with Aldridge is what makes it tough on opposing offenses, and the Celtics need someone like Williams or Baynes in there together with Horford or Theis, not instead of Horford or Theis.

This is a guy who was used to playing with Tristan Thompson for most of his career. It is reasonable that he wants another legitimate rebounder/rim protector in there with him.

[RodyTur10]

This is the quote:

“It’s just frustrating when you give up 46 points in the third quarter, and we’re just getting killed on the boards right now, and we don’t have any help-side where guys are contesting at the rim every single time,” said Irving, although the Celts lost the glass just 43-40 and had nine offensive rebounds to the Spurs’ eight. “That’s where we’re missing Big Rob [Williams] or a rim presence where guys are thinking twice about going in. I think about my drives, all in I shot a few floaters, but [Jakob] Poeltl’s there every single time. Not one time was he not there, and every time you think you have an open layup, they’re sliding over. And that’s just the defensive presence that you have to have having a five and a four like LaMarcus and Poeltl.”

So he says they miss Williams OR a rim presence i.e Baynes, basically they need another big in there is what he's saying, wether its Williams or Baynes. He probably doesn't mention Baynes because he's out for a while with a broken hand, but Williams could be back at any moment.

He clearly says that having Poeltl out there together with Aldridge is what makes it tough on opposing offenses, and the Celtics need someone like Williams or Baynes in there together with Horford or Theis, not instead of Horford or Theis.

This is a guy who was used to playing with Tristan Thompson for most of his career. It is reasonable that he wants another legitimate rebounder/rim protector in there with him.

It's something we have been saying for weeks now. A line-up with Morris/Horford upfront isn't the answer and we all know that. That frontcourt doesn't provide enough rebounding and rim protection. Horford in general is having a bad season and is struggling with consistently playing at the 5. It's a big loss that Baynes has broken his hand, because he's a vital part of our defense. Baynes might not be a special player, but he brings a body and defensive awareness to the court that other players on the team can't.

Horford isn't long enough, Theis isn't big enough and Williams doesn't have the experience.

Personally I would just stop playing Horford as a center as soon as possible. I would only bring him in at that spot as a closer for offensive purposes.

It's a real shame that we started to mix-up the starting line-up, when there wasn't much reason to. Our starting line-up last season had one of the best net ratings in the league. Why trying to fix something that already works?

Getting consistent scoring from the bench was our problem, so just add a recovering Hayward to the bench unit and see how that works out. Stevens is overcomplicating matters and causing more problems than necessary. Players don't like that either. They want to know their role and being awarded for good play.

[footey]

This is the quote:

“It’s just frustrating when you give up 46 points in the third quarter, and we’re just getting killed on the boards right now, and we don’t have any help-side where guys are contesting at the rim every single time,” said Irving, although the Celts lost the glass just 43-40 and had nine offensive rebounds to the Spurs’ eight. “That’s where we’re missing Big Rob [Williams] or a rim presence where guys are thinking twice about going in. I think about my drives, all in I shot a few floaters, but [Jakob] Poeltl’s there every single time. Not one time was he not there, and every time you think you have an open layup, they’re sliding over. And that’s just the defensive presence that you have to have having a five and a four like LaMarcus and Poeltl.”

So he says they miss Williams OR a rim presence i.e Baynes, basically they need another big in there is what he's saying, wether its Williams or Baynes. He probably doesn't mention Baynes because he's out for a while with a broken hand, but Williams could be back at any moment.

He clearly says that having Poeltl out there together with Aldridge is what makes it tough on opposing offenses, and the Celtics need someone like Williams or Baynes in there together with Horford or Theis, not instead of Horford or Theis.

This is a guy who was used to playing with Tristan Thompson for most of his career. It is reasonable that he wants another legitimate rebounder/rim protector in there with him.

It's something we have been saying for weeks now. A line-up with Morris/Horford upfront isn't the answer and we all know that. That frontcourt doesn't provide enough rebounding and rim protection. Horford in general is having a bad season and is struggling with consistently playing at the 5. It's a big loss that Baynes has broken his hand, because he's a vital part of our defense. Baynes might not be a special player, but he brings a body and defensive awareness to the court that other players on the team can't.

Horford isn't long enough, Theis isn't big enough and Williams doesn't have the experience.

Personally I would just stop playing Horford as a center as soon as possible. I would only bring him in at that spot as a closer for offensive purposes.

It's a real shame that we started to mix-up the starting line-up, when there wasn't much reason to. Our starting line-up last season had one of the best net ratings in the league. Why trying to fix something that already works?

Getting consistent scoring from the bench was our problem, so just add a recovering Hayward to the bench unit and see how that works out. Stevens is overcomplicating matters and causing more problems than necessary. Players don't like that either. They want to know their role and being awarded for good play.

Hayward hasn’t started for weeks.

I agree that we should Baynes at the 5 and Al at the 4 once Baynes returns. I also think we should try to pair up other bigs together more, like Horford and Williams or Horford and Theis.

[byennie]

I would echo the sentiments about Horford. When he plays PF, he's one of the best in the league. When he plays C, he's still a good player but noticeably worse. This has been going on for years. Whatever benefit we get from putting another wing on the floor, it's negated by playing Al out of position. So stop doing it.

I realize injuries have made this more difficult, but we should absolutely play both Williams and Baynes at C for the majority of games when they are both healthy, and keep an eye on the buyout market.

Irving (30) / Brown (24) / Tatum (30) / Horford (28) / C (24)
Rozier (20) / Smart (22) / Hayward (20) / Morris (26) / C (16)

That should be our rotation, more or less, if we want to win games. One of those guys in the 2nd unit isn't going to like their minutes. Tough. They don't all add up to 48 because the guards are a *little bit* interchangeable and 8 minutes of a smaller center won't kill us. But trying to be the Warriors with our roster is killing us.