2023-24 Celtics
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Scrubb tore his ACL and is done for the year. I haven't heard any official Celtics announcement about his two-way contract.
Me either, but they'll need to cut Davison, Queta, or Scrubb if they are adding another two-way contract (can only have three). And with Scrubb out for the year he seems like the logical choice.
It won't be Queta. It wouldn't shock me to see us commit to Scrubb over Davison but at the end of the day it is pretty irrelevant.
Finally found a confirmed source.
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/basketball/news/jay-scrubb-let-go-by-boston/
A little post Pats win Celtics porn to get you through to Wednesday:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkCDN35eeE
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB4KZGNMezA
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkCDN35eeE
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB4KZGNMezA
I read somewhere that they are intending to go into the season with 14 contracts and the 15th slot open. If that's the plan I like bringing in another big (Nathan Knight) to take a 2-way deal flyer on. I know nothing about him and Queta seems to deservedly have the #4 big slot locked down, but bigs are where the team is thin so I like adding another body.
Has KP ever been the third or fourth best player on a team? Holiday?
Those two are going to eat!
Those two are going to eat!
Ya’ mon! To that end, I was thinking about where Banton, Brissett, Stevens, Mykhailiuk & Queta would have slotted into say, the, 2014-2015 team. Seems like a pretty solid 10-14 bench, with potential, to me.
Here's a little more about Knight. Had a career game against the C's a couple years ago. Shows some athleticism and some range in this video, and gets the better of Timelord a couple times.
https://www.celticsblog.com/2023/10/22/23927376/celtics-sign-nathan-knight-to-two-way-contract
https://www.celticsblog.com/2023/10/22/23927376/celtics-sign-nathan-knight-to-two-way-contract
The end of the bench has guys with actual NBA skills this year. I think there are 5 guys from last year’s team that aren’t going to be on an opening night roster. There also seems to be more diverse skills among the current bench players. Should be able to mix and match a bit more this year.
I feel like many here in the Port Cellar were voicing this same sentiment last year.
Interesting. Let's compare the rosters.
Players returning from 2022-23:
Tatum
Brown
White
Horford
Hauser
Kornet
Pritchard
JDD (2-way deal)
Players not returning from 2022-23:
Grant
Smart
Brogdon
Rob
Blake
Vonleh
Justin Jackson
Kabangele (2-way)
I'm not counting Muscala and Champagnie because they arrived midseason. Also not counting Gallinari, who took up a roster spot all season but never played due to his injury.
This year, new players:
Holiday
Porzingis
Mykhailiuk
Brissett
Stevens
Banton
Walsh
Queta (2-way)
Knight (2-way)
At the top of the depth chart, 4 good players were turned into 2 better players. At the bottom of the regular roster, there's no question you would rather have Svi, Brissett, Stevens, Banton, and Walsh than Blake, Vonleh, and Jackson. And you would rather have Queta than Kabangele.
A few Celtics going 1v1 after practice:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLAyBxSsVMk
Quick thoughts:
-It's great to see Rondo not only being at practice or shooting around with some other vets, but actively helping.
-Walsh has incredible defensive potential. We'll see how his footwork develops and whether or not the game slows down for him, but he's quick and LONG.
-It's funny to see JB go hard against guys at the end of the bench, really highlighting the gap between him and everyone else involved.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLAyBxSsVMk
Quick thoughts:
-It's great to see Rondo not only being at practice or shooting around with some other vets, but actively helping.
-Walsh has incredible defensive potential. We'll see how his footwork develops and whether or not the game slows down for him, but he's quick and LONG.
-It's funny to see JB go hard against guys at the end of the bench, really highlighting the gap between him and everyone else involved.
From 27 months ago, Brad has significantly overhauled/improved this roster, around the JAYs.
OTOH Danny struggled those last 2 seasons after Kyrie bolted.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2021.html
This is interesting. The common viewpoint around these parts is that unlocking Tatum's full potential involves him hitting 3's at a higher percentage than last year, when the rest of his game (finishing, drawing fouls, passing out of double teams/distributing, etc) really coalesced. Wouldn't that be the opposite of what Cassell is saying--focus more on the low post rather than beyond the arc?
What do people think?
I see it as a situational thing. At times, because he does not have a ++ explosive first step, he can be frustrated trying to take on some athletic defenders. That’s where he can get into some trouble settling for contested threes or forcing a drive when it’s just not there.
That is the kind situation where more post play and letting someone else initiate can help get him some easy points and help unlock everything else. Manipulate the D to get him matched up with someone smaller or slower or weaker. The same wing who gives him trouble on the perimeter will be easier to bully in the post.
Edit: As an aside, I spent a lot of last season begging for Tatum to do more Melo-style power forward stuff when he would get too much into hero mode, so I feel what Sam is saying.
Hitting 3's off the dribble at a higher clip makes him absolutely unstoppable offensively (think Harden or Luka, but taller and more athletic), but him developing a strong low post game completely changes the ceiling of the offense as a whole. If he can cook defenders in the post, he forces teams to either double or foul him. This team is filled with good cutters and 3 point shooters, and Tatum is tall enough and a good enough passer to find teammates for a lot of great looks out of the post.
For me it’s about versatility and adapting to the defense. He doesn’t fully punish switches and smaller guys on him now (though his drive game is pretty strong). If you enhance the post game it makes those matchups dicier for the D and enables him to play down low to change up the sets. It’s not more valuable than threes (it’s likely less) but situationally it’s impactful
From what I have read, Mazzulla is prioritizing ways to win when their threes aren't falling.
Though I'm sure Tatum spent plenty of time this offseason working on his shot, too. (And part of why you post him up is to get the defense to collapse so that there are open guys behind the arc.)
This
When their threes are falling, they’re unbeatable. When they’re not falling, the plan last year was to shoot their way out of it. If Tatum had a post game, they’d have won two years ago.
Rondo probably could cook most of the bench players one on one. Walsh is tough to score on.
I‘m looking forward to seeing Walsh develop. He could be a Tayshaun Prince type player. With the Jays taking up so much of the salary cap, Walsh developing quickly as the third wing would be ideal. It’s probably not something that will happen this season, but the more experienced guys in front of him are specialists, with Hauser and Sri as shooters, and Brissett and Stevens as burly defenders. Hopefully Walsh uses the first half of the season to figure things out, and eventually grabs a role as a lunch pail reserve who can defend and score.
I‘m looking forward to seeing Walsh develop. He could be a Tayshaun Prince type player. With the Jays taking up so much of the salary cap, Walsh developing quickly as the third wing would be ideal. It’s probably not something that will happen this season, but the more experienced guys in front of him are specialists, with Hauser and Sri as shooters, and Brissett and Stevens as burly defenders. Hopefully Walsh uses the first half of the season to figure things out, and eventually grabs a role as a lunch pail reserve who can defend and score.
I doubt he gained twelve pounds of muscle with the hope of hitting 3's at a better rate. I think he's clearly trying to be a better low post scorer, trying to be better at getting fouled and absorbing contact. That being said, John Karalis is a former low-post scorer so he's hyper-focused on Tatum developing this part of his game.
The league knows the counter to Tatum hitting 3s is to have a strong smaller guy get up into him on the perimeter and take away his airspace.
Bulking up and being able to take guys into the post is a great response, and probably necessary if he wants to be a 40% guy on self-created 3s.
The other playmaking advantage of the post is that the passes are higher value than the ones you make when trapped 30 feet from the basket.
When Tatum posts, and Porzingis either spots up or flashes to the middle, there’s going to be endless open threes for everyone else.
Yeah it will come gradual as it has. Gaining 10 lbs in the offseason is the norm for many NBA starters through a combination of weight training and elimination of 2-Hr NBA game cardio. He'll probably keep the 2(?) lbs that was lean muscle over the course of the season....now 7 years into your careee you've gained quite a bit of size. It's one of the most reliable gauges I've found in protecting one's upside....how they are able to physically develop over time.
I kinda get a chuckle out of Karalis touting his credentials. Yes, he is a better basketball player than most of us, but he played D3 college ball at Emerson. I had two high school teammates play D3 ball at Endicott and well, those dudes were like the 3rd and 4th best on our well below .500 team
He was legitimately a player in his day. He even has a (very) small place in the Div 3 basketball record book as his 188 career blocked shots are apparently 31st all time in D3. I think he has still some scoring records at Emerson. Was actually paid to play basketball, which is not nothing.
Yeah, I don't see this as an either/or situation. Opponents try to cover JayT with quicker/athletic wings, but those guys tend to be unideal post defenders, so Tatum taking guys like that on the blocks leads to more fouls/free throws and better overall offensive efficiency. Especially with his improved passing game.
Tatum's growth has been incredibly linear, something like 10lbs in the Summer, down to 2lbs of muscle in season looks about right. Tatum's infrastructure/dedication to his craft is one of his greatest strengths
He'll just need to do Bron East Berlin Summers in his 30s to really prolong his greatness
Yeah, he was a "professional" basketball player. Played in Greece and lucked out by having dual U.S./Greek citizenship or else he never would have played anywhere. To be fair, he acknowledges this and I think he only touts it on his podcast as a way to get more subscribers . But yeah, I was only attempting to point out that he loves focusing on post bb in his articles because that's what he was "good" at (good being a relative term).
On a similar note, I find it pretty funny he wants the NBA to eliminate the corner three because he thinks it's become too easy a shot. I'm not even sure how that would work but I believe he has a plan.
There’s some momentum for this. Pretty straightforward, really - you just square off the arc 10 feet from the endline, or whatever. Just eliminating the closest threes.
Personally, I like that teams are never out of games and bigs can be shooters, etc. The game works great to my eyes.
I think they see Lillard as a downgrade from Holiday. I do think the general public is ignoring the defensive downgrade from Holiday (arguably the best guard defender in the league) to Lillard (somewhere between Trae Young and Kyrie Irving on the perimeter defense scale) because they think that the Giannis/Lopez combination can clean up his mistakes at the rim. We'll see.
I am kind of shocked by the parity predicted by those models. only two teams with > 50 wins. is this some quirk in the models?
I get Lillard/Holliday but even if you assume that’s a two win downgrade….44 and 47 wins is very low. There’s a lot more going on there than just contra-CW on dame-Holliday
I’m not saying it’s wrong—depth issues are real—just surprising it’s that low.
I’m not saying it’s wrong—depth issues are real—just surprising it’s that low.
The BUCKS moved 6000 minutes of good production from Jrue, Grayson Allen, Jevon Carter. Along with a 1000 from Jingles
Come on down Dame, Cam Payne & Malik Beasley... and hope Middleton can get healthy
Come on down Dame, Cam Payne & Malik Beasley... and hope Middleton can get healthy
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That's exactly what I've done with the Bucks. I honestly feel they are a better team with Holiday and Grayson Allen over Lillard. Middleton may be finished as an All-Star level player and Brook is another year older.