Of course Leonard is a force on the defensive end, but they rest of that group in Toronto are no slouches. A small lineup of Lowry, Green, OG, Kawhi, Ibaka is a terrific defensive team
Celtics in 18-19
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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I agree with all of this, but I worry about Giannis being improved and basically unstoppable in the last 2-3 minutes of a close game. They took the Celtics to 7 last year. Brogdon is pretty good at both ends and you have to respect Lopez in the post if the game slows down.
They took the Celtics without its starting all-star backcourt to 7. Giannis isn’t going to suddenly develop a 3 point shot, which is really the only way he can materially improve on what he gave the Bucks in the playoffs last year.
Meanwhile, we get Kyrie, Hayward, Tatum 2.0, and Jaylen 3.0. A Celtics/Bucks playoff series this year would be over quickly. Probably 5 games.
In my opinion, Toronto will be much tougher if Kawhi returns to 2016 form.
Don't sleep on the Pacers, either. I wouldn't be shocked if they sneaked into the top 3 in the East.
They took the Tatum/Brown/Horford Celtics to seven games. Unless Antetokounmpo turns into LeBron 2.0, they won't be beating the full Boston squad.
Yes, they're definitely the second best team in the east.
He's been working on it for awhile and if and when it happens, it will seem "suddenly." That's usually how it works. The bigs develop a 3 point shot over the course of an off season or two. Al Horford, Marc Gasol, Brook Lopez. The list goes on and on. Of course, sometimes they never develop the shot either.
Even if Greek follows AD's trend and hits 34% of his 3s in his age 24 season, it's a scary thought.
Re: DeRozan, there are posters on this board who probably think the Raptors are better without DeRozan, never mind adding Leonard. Or at least, they don't think the Raptors are material better with him.
Also not sure a buy the "more Hayward means less touches for Tatum" argument. Did they use that when Durant went to GS?
Aside from adding a stretch center that scored 20 points per game the year before last, the Bucks added a real coach for the first time in Giannis' career. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the two seed this year.
I think one of the things to watch is going to be the improvement in offensive efficiency. They were a pretty good offensive team last year but a far cry from GSW or Houston. Looking at their roster this year expectations are for a big jump in my opinion. If they improve dramatically what will that look like from a shots/g perspective? Could be more ball to share.
None of those teams are beating a healthy Celtics team 4 times. I think slots will only be relevant for other teams, not us.
I was a fan of the 16-0 Patriots.
More seriously, I said in April/May--teams, including us, could be dealing with injuries, etc. Having to beat a 4th seeded Sixers or Bucks and 2nd seeded Toronto is going to be...not a cakewalk.
But, I do agree we'll be prohibitive faves assuming injury luck evens out this season.
For injury luck to even out this season, at least two of our players would have to turn into X-men.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the Pacers, but they’re the 2001 Sixers redux. They’ll win 48-52 games, fight hard to make the second round, and if they do, get stepped on by the #1 seed.
Long term the Sixers have a ton of potential, but they really need to fix those floor spacing issues.
Toronto replaced an inefficient scorer who played terrible defense with a two time defensive player of the year who also happens to be an excellently efficient offensive player. They won 59 games last year. It is easily conceivable that they are a better regular season team than the Celtics who have two main guys coming back from injuries
Kawhi is their best player by a large margin and he, too, is coming back from injury. He also misses chunks of games every year due to his chronic quad injury. The Celtics are much better positioned to deal with an injury or two to a key player than Toronto.
On paper, it might appear that the Celtics have a few too many offensive mouths to feed but I have to believe the overall strategy is to ease Hayward back into the lineup with a minutes cap for at lease a few weeks (or even months) and to rest Kyrie and Al as much as possible so they can peak for the playoffs. It's a long season and you can never have too much starting pitching because there's always an injury or a tough schedule stretch. Also, the make up of the team is to be deferential so it likely will be a different hero every game which is a great place to be.
True, the Celtics don't have a KL, but they have a better overall lineup than Toronto. Also, let's see KL carry a team without Tim Duncan and Pop behind him. Not saying he can't but he's got something to prove on his own.
True, the Celtics don't have a KL, but they have a better overall lineup than Toronto. Also, let's see KL carry a team without Tim Duncan and Pop behind him. Not saying he can't but he's got something to prove on his own.
It's an absurd hot take. Hayward and Kyrie are taking touches from the deep bench, not Brown and Tatum.
All the Deng talk is another example of this problem. The season can't start soon enough.
Only Golden State even remotely has that 'problem.' The makeup of the team and the coach is pretty chill and business-like Plus, as long as the team is winning players don't complain. If the team loses a lot then the griping begins. That won't happen here, though.
Exactly. But you hear the same crap on NBA radio. I realize that they are trying to stir up controversy, but the argument that "the Celtics have too many good players so they won't be as good next year" is amazingly dumb.
As for the other teams in the East, Toronto isn't going to win 59 games again, even if Kawhi plays his butt off. The performance of their bench last year was an outlier.
Probably both east and west, to New York.
Likely the biggest threat to the Celtics losing Kyrie is KD being willing to go with him to New York or Brooklyn.
I feel it's much less likely Kyrie goes by himself.
I agree with you on this, and I think Brooklyn might be even more likely than the Knicks (especially if they land a top 4 pick as it opens a shot at them fielding a superteam).
How similar were/are the Spurs and the Raptors Offense scheme? How big of an adjustment will KL and his teammates have?
I think back to the 2010 Heat. They added a Great player and a good player and lost no one on a decent team. 60+ wins became the default expectation. They won 58.
Adding Leonard (while also subtracting a lesser player but still 2nd best in the equation) + the learning curve of a new team/teammates and I am not convinced they hit the ground running.
Also for those smarter then me what will the Raptors Lineup look like? Lowry, Green, KL, Ibaka, Jonas?
I bet they are closer to 50 then 60 even with a crappy Cleveland (and stronger Boston and Philly).
I think back to the 2010 Heat. They added a Great player and a good player and lost no one on a decent team. 60+ wins became the default expectation. They won 58.
Adding Leonard (while also subtracting a lesser player but still 2nd best in the equation) + the learning curve of a new team/teammates and I am not convinced they hit the ground running.
Also for those smarter then me what will the Raptors Lineup look like? Lowry, Green, KL, Ibaka, Jonas?
I bet they are closer to 50 then 60 even with a crappy Cleveland (and stronger Boston and Philly).
According to @JaredWeissNBA, there's "mutual interest" between #Celtics and 18-year #NBA vet Jamal Crawford. He wants to join a title-winner. and C's could certainly use more 3-PT shooting.
I'd take him for 10-15 minutes a night to help the shooting on the 2nd unit. He still averaged almost 25 points per 100 possessions last season.
“Please pass” is something Crawford’s teammates have been saying for 2 decades.
His shooting from distance has declined to Smartian levels and he is a negative in every other way. 10-15 minutes of him is 10-15 minutes that could be spent on an actual productive NBA player.
I am surprised the Cs are even interested but if true in Ainge/Zarren/Stevens I trust I guess.
Also, BSF FTW with that comment. Its gold.
Also: "please score efficiently," "please play defense," and "please rebound like a guy who's actually 6-6 as opposed to a guy who's 5-6". Deaf ears on all counts.
On other hand ... all NBA players weirdly seem to love the heck out of him. Unlike the Iversons, Melos, and Montas of the world, he does have the huge saving grace of embracing his role as part-time bench player, never grumbling, and giving 100% (on offense, anyway) whenever his number is called.
On balance, though: hard pass at age 38, for the Celtics or Warriors. Seems like pretty much every off season I hear Crawford-to-the-Warriors rumors, and every offseason I cross my fingers that Bob Myers will ignore the lobbying from the players to sign him. So far so good, but fingers still crossed. On the Warriors, I'd much rather see any potential Crawford minutes go to Quinn Cook, Pat McCaw or Jacob Evans; and on the Celtics, as bosox79 notes, I don't see why you would take minutes away from Rozier, a much better version of Crawford who may already find himself somewhat crunched for minutes, barring another Kyrie injury.
Not defending Crawford's defense but defensive RPM must be taken in its proper context. Crawford's highest 5-man unit, by a large margin, with the Clippers two years ago was with Speights-Felton-Rivers-Wes Johnson. Last year the Wolves were 27th in the league in Def Rating at over 111 pts per 100 possessions. His "individual" RPM is going to be a product of the personnel around him.
Crawford wouldn't be taking any of Rozier's minutes but replacing Larkin as our veteran 5th guard. In that role with the strong defensive supporting case he'd have I'm sure he'll be fine in that role.
Bird (2yrs for $3MM) replacements:
Crawford doesn't interest me in the least.
How about bringing back Larkin?
Tyler Ulis, energy guy for those sluggish January nights?
Maybe a feel-good story from the G-League that has persevered to keep his dream alive.
Jarrell Eddie?
John Jenkins (Drew Hanlan coached), he had a nice Vegas Summer League and owns a solid 3pt stroke.
Crawford doesn't interest me in the least.
Tyler Ulis, energy guy for those sluggish January nights?
Maybe a feel-good story from the G-League that has persevered to keep his dream alive.
Jarrell Eddie?
John Jenkins (Drew Hanlan coached), he had a nice Vegas Summer League and owns a solid 3pt stroke.
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That's the thing.....if Crawford doesn't interest you (he doesn't do a whole lot for me either) then none of the other guys available are going to either. I mean Jarrell Eddie, really?
Larkin wouldn't return to Boston in the same role. He wanted playing time to take a pay cut and when he couldn't find a rotation spot elsewhere in the NBA he signed with a team in Turkey for $1.8m which is $600k more than what his minimum guarantee would have been in this league.
Maybe he's the product dragging down the personnel around him?
Last is, you know, pretty bad.
I'm plenty happy having Wanamaker as the 5th guard. He's the exact type for that role. A dude that isn't worried about his shots, knows he's not going to play much, and is thrilled to have that small role at all.