Enes Kanter Freedom to Boston

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I don't think he's getting cut (he has value), but his only role on this team is the one Stevens has carved out for him. I do think he's an asset in that role, though.
To be clear, I also doubt he is getting cut. The only scenario where it makes sense is if they get a buyout player down the line.

That said, I have to dig further but I don't recall many recent games where Kanter is used down the stretch. I stand by my view that Stevens would rather go with a small line-up or use Grant Williams in lieu of Kanter.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Well, his role isn't to play down the stretch, except maybe in cases where Stevens can do offense/defense substitutions. He's there to play against backups.
 

lovegtm

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Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what the argument is? His defense is about as bad as advertised, but there are a lot of matchups during games and throughout the seasons where's he's playable that you can get some value from his offensive and rebounding skills.

The big negative I see with him is that this Celtics team is at its best when it's swarming defensively and then getting out in transition or semi-transition as a result. Kanter completely takes them out of that, even when the matchup is good and he's playing decently.
 

TripleOT

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Boston is +7 ORtg with Kanter on the court. Opponent eFG is .510 on court, .500 off, not a huge difference. Kanter was -12 at Philly in the opener, and -1 at Denver, but has a positive +/-, FWIW. He's been +7 or better in six of this 12 games he's played in.
 

Jimbodandy

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Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what the argument is? His defense is about as bad as advertised, but there are a lot of matchups during games and throughout the seasons where's he's playable that you can get some value from his offensive and rebounding skills.

The big negative I see with him is that this Celtics team is at its best when it's swarming defensively and then getting out in transition or semi-transition as a result. Kanter completely takes them out of that, even when the matchup is good and he's playing decently.
I agree. But when they are running that defensive group out there, his occasional hooks and garbage man points can help a lot.

Not a huge fan, but he can be useful when used properly.
 

benhogan

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I agree. But when they are running that defensive group out there, his occasional hooks and garbage man points can help a lot.

Not a huge fan, but he can be useful when used properly.
The Wanamaker/Kanter combo with the 2nd unit is a good one. Like their veteran presence/maturity.

Also, just noticed Grant Williams is playing much better at the 4 with Theis/Kanter.

So when the team is fully healthy, I like the idea of MS/EK/BW/GW & 1 of our Big 4 on the floor for the end of Q1/start of Q2 & end of Q3/start of Q4

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612738&GroupQuantity=2&sort=GROUP_NAME&dir=-1
 
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lovegtm

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Boston is +7 ORtg with Kanter on the court. Opponent eFG is .510 on court, .500 off, not a huge difference. Kanter was -12 at Philly in the opener, and -1 at Denver, but has a positive +/-, FWIW. He's been +7 or better in six of this 12 games he's played in.
Obviously credit to Kanter for working hard when he's out there, but this is also the coaching staff doing a good job of picking his spots carefully. This is one area where Brad is strong: managing the matchups of limited players to let them "soar with their strengths."
 

chilidawg

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The Wanamaker/Kanter combo with the 2nd unit is a good one. Like their veteran presence/maturity.

Also, just noticed Grant Williams is playing much better at the 4 with Theis/Kanter.

So when the team is fully healthy, I like the idea of MS/EK/BW/GW & 1 of our Big 4 on the floor for the end of Q1/start of Q2 & end of Q3/start of Q4

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612738&GroupQuantity=2&sort=GROUP_NAME&dir=-1
The Kanter/Tatum/Ojeleye/Edwards/Wanamaker unit has the 6th most minutes of any lineup (still only 22 minutes), and has a net rating of +23.4. That seems to have been the bench rotation of choice so far. Tatum's success with this group is one reason his +/- is so much better than the other starters.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Just to put a fine point on it, the game data is out and Kanter was a net -1 per B-refs box score data. In addition, his season differential came down after yesterday's game as well. I would like to see the on/off eFG for Kanter for this game as I suspect it tells a more accurate story but I can't get at it now.

Regardless, I will leave this topic be as its clear that the Cs usage of him seems ok with most folks here. I will continue to watch to see if opponents continue to target him on switches and how that impacts his playing time.

As a side note Granite was a net +25 yesterday!!! TimeLord's net was -11.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Brian Robb at BSJ has an interesting article about the Center position since the Kanter's return from injury 11 games ago. Minutes and net rating for the C's 4 centers:

Daniel Theis: 194 (+2.7 net rating)
Enes Kanter: 172 (+18.5 net rating)
Grant Williams: 170 (+9.9 net rating)
Robert Williams: 126 (-13.3 net rating)


This adds up to way more than 48 minutes/game, so it is bringing in some of Grant's minutes at other positions.

But by this, Kanter is strikingly better than everyone else.

Obviously, some of this is related to situational usage. And Kanter has seen little crunch time (crunch time minutes - within 5 points in final 5 minutes - in the alst 11 games):

Daniel Theis: 27
Rob Williams: 8
Grant Williams: 7
Enes Kanter: 2


Might be worth expaning Kanter's role a bit to see how he handles it.
 

lovegtm

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Brian Robb at BSJ has an interesting article about the Center position since the Kanter's return from injury 11 games ago. Minutes and net rating for the C's 4 centers:

Daniel Theis: 194 (+2.7 net rating)
Enes Kanter: 172 (+18.5 net rating)
Grant Williams: 170 (+9.9 net rating)
Robert Williams: 126 (-13.3 net rating)


This adds up to way more than 48 minutes/game, so it is bringing in some of Grant's minutes at other positions.

But by this, Kanter is strikingly better than everyone else.

Obviously, some of this is related to situational usage. And Kanter has seen little crunch time (crunch time minutes - within 5 points in final 5 minutes - in the alst 11 games):

Daniel Theis: 27
Rob Williams: 8
Grant Williams: 7
Enes Kanter: 2


Might be worth expaning Kanter's role a bit to see how he handles it.
Against Miami, he failed to step out against someone early and allowed a clean rhythm 3. Only played 6 minutes overall, and the team was able to stay locked in and make Miami really uncomfortable shooting.

I don't think the low playing time was even a punishment: Kanter just was clearly unready for this matchup. When they tried to find him in the post, it generally took too long and took them out of the offense.

The fact that Kanter has a strong net rating makes a lot of sense in this context: he’s a very binary player. If the other team has the personnel to attack him (usually on PnR or screening action for 3s), he’s almost unplayable. When they don’t, he’s a useful offensive player who generates a lot of extra possessions as well.
 
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Tuff Ghost

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For those interested in Kanter's relationship with politics and Turkey, the Post Reports podcast had a nice piece about Kanter in the middle third of yesterday's episode.

How Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter became persona non grata in Turkey
Professional basketball player Enes Kanter emerged as one of Turkey’s most outspoken political dissidents after a failed coup to oust Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016. For that, he became an enemy of his onetime state.

“And he’s used his platform as an NBA player,” sports writer Jacob Bogage says. “Everywhere he’s gone in his career, he’s recruited the elected officials from those cities to the cause.”

Now, he’s cultivated his own caucus among U.S. lawmakers, urging them to support policies to undercut Erdogan’s government and support human rights causes in Turkey. And congressional leaders are lining up to support his message.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/the-nba-star-courting-congress-on-turkey/
 

Tony C

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He's paid a huge price for that activism. A fan because of that.
 

lovegtm

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Nice job tonight by Brad testing out Theis, TL and Kanter against Jokic after finding that Theis couldn't really handle him. I was encouraged by Kanter's playability on offense: we already know he can probably hold up defensively against Embiid, but he needs to be able to be a positive for the offensive flow as well. Good signs.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Someone should do a detailed dive to see how CBS likes to use him. My guess would be against 2nd units with less dynamic finishers and bigger centers. Kanter has size so he can bang with Embiid and Jokic (for example) but he would be exposed if he starts.
 

lovegtm

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Someone should do a detailed dive to see how CBS likes to use him. My guess would be against 2nd units with less dynamic finishers and bigger centers. Kanter has size so he can bang with Embiid and Jokic (for example) but he would be exposed if he starts.
The default is definitely against 2nd units, unless the matchup is bad. Tonight, they tried to use Theis against Jokic as long as they could, and it just wasn't working. Fortunately, the only guy like Jokic in the East is Embiid (Giannis is great, but can't really shoot outside 3 feet with a guy up into him). Barring a trade, the Sixers simply don't have the dynamic shooting/PnR that can make you pay for playing Kanter.
 

Jimbodandy

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As much as we have gotten used to Theis as our starting big, last night was a good reminder that Theis-as-5 is "going small". He's our best big without question but he's exploitable by a certain percentage of the population.

Kanter did a decent job taking away those bunny hooks and holds his own with his base.
 

TripleOT

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When Kanter was at the Garden at the end of last season with the Blazers, we had an exchange during early shootaround where I commended him for being a brave man of principle, and he nodded humbly. He then did a video shout out for my friend, who is a Knicks fan and big Kanter fan.

I like when pro athletes don't just shut up and play. Kanter is paying a high price for doing what he believes is right.
 

Reverend

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I would assume a reference to the Armenian genocide.
Ah. Thank you. He’s vaguebooked in the past. That makes sense.

And there were a lot of bad jokes in the comments. I guess I saw them all as being bad jokes. Ah, Twitter.
 

NomarsFool

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As much as we have gotten used to Theis as our starting big, last night was a good reminder that Theis-as-5 is "going small". He's our best big without question but he's exploitable by a certain percentage of the population.
It's amazing to me how big some of the centers in the NBA really are. When you see Theis standing next to someone like Jokic or Embiid you really notice how incredibly large those guys are.
 

lovegtm

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I’m getting more on board with Kanter being the guy who plays when the other team has a big post center. For starters, he’s done fine on both Jokic and Embiid.

The main reason, however, is that he’s getting more and more comfortable on offense. He runs the scheme, dives to the rim, can post up some matchups, and generally keeps things flowing. If he can do that, that goes a long way to making him playable in certain matchups.

The only real area of concern I have is that the team is like 10% better from 3 with him on the floor, which is clearly unsustainable and inflates his offensive rating.
 

Sprowl

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Enes Kanter wrote an op-ed in the Toronto Globe and Mail thanking
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, U.S. and Canadian law enforcement, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, the Celtics, the NBA and my managers for working diligently to make my Christmas game against the Raptors possible and ensuring my safety there. And, on Christmas night, I will play in my first game as a Celtic outside the U.S. when I take the court against the Raptors...
A few more excerpts:
...I haven’t been able to go to cities outside the U.S. I’ve had to leave my team behind, which is hard for someone like me, who values camaraderie and team solidarity as much as I do. The reason: I speak out against the Turkish state.

In 2016, tens of thousands of innocent Turkish people, including babies and pregnant mothers, were thrown into prison following a failed coup against Turkey’s authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In his words, it was a “gift from God” that helped him crush the opposition, cleanse the military and transform the entire country in his own image. As if this wasn’t enough, more than 100 Turkish dissidents who sought asylum in other countries, including in the Balkans, were kidnapped and sent to prisons in Turkey. I’m blessed that I’m in the U.S. and not in a dank prison cell...

Almost every week, I receive death threats. I’ve already survived a kidnapping attempt in Indonesia. I have no idea what awaits me every time I travel somewhere. So I’ve been forced to miss games, including one in London earlier this year, just because an autocrat 5,000 miles away wanted it to be so. And it has been an open question whether I will be able to go to Toronto to play against the Raptors on Christmas Day, as scheduled.

I wasn’t under any illusion that my activism was going to come without repercussion. But the disproportionate retaliation I received from the Turkish government for calling them out has also taken an enormous toll on my personal life, my family and everyone who has stood by me.

There are public figures who have been placed in Turkish prisons just because they’ve exchanged messages with me. There are fans allegedly under investigation for having my autograph or for taking a photo with me. My sister, who is a doctor, cannot get a job because we share the same last name. My father, an academic, was dismissed from his position and arrested; my mother hasn’t communicated with me for years now out of fear that she might get into trouble. All these efforts are just to silence me.

Turkey is so powerful and strategically located that there is not much the world can do to prevent this once semi-democratic country from sliding into autocracy. Still, the Western world shouldn’t let Mr. Erdogan harass dissidents that have fled to seek refuge. It is the least it can do.
 

TripleOT

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Kudos to Canadian officials and US Senator Ed Markey for getting this passport exemption done.

Toronto gives up 12.6 offensive rebounds per game, worst in the league. Kanter should help get a few easy buckets in what should be a close game.
 

Reverend

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Kudos to Canadian officials and US Senator Ed Markey for getting this passport exemption done.

Toronto gives up 12.6 offensive rebounds per game, worst in the league. Kanter should help get a few easy buckets in what should be a close game.
They should send a detachment of Green Berets with him and just dare anyone to try..

I mean, the man looks like he would be comfortable with "snake eaters," right? :wooper:
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I’m getting more on board with Kanter being the guy who plays when the other team has a big post center. For starters, he’s done fine on both Jokic and Embiid.

The main reason, however, is that he’s getting more and more comfortable on offense. He runs the scheme, dives to the rim, can post up some matchups, and generally keeps things flowing. If he can do that, that goes a long way to making him playable in certain matchups.

The only real area of concern I have is that the team is like 10% better from 3 with him on the floor, which is clearly unsustainable and inflates his offensive rating.
The 18 feet jumpers he appears to be draining on a regular basis helps a lot too.