Post Game Thread - vs Philadelphia Sixers, Utah Summer League Game 1

[bobheckler]

http://www.nba.com/games/20160704/BOSPHI/gameinfo.html



Rozier looked the best player for us. Great all round game. Tied for high rebounder with 6. Looked very poised out there.

Hunter looked like crap in the 2nd quarter but played hard, hit his shots and had a great defensive play on Webb in crunch time.

Bentil looked good on offense, not so much on defense.

Young looked great in the beginning and disappeared.

Frenchy looked lost.

Brown was aggressive and attacked.  Lots of ftas, but not a great ftm %.

5 Celtics in double figures.  Not bad for a 40 minute game where everybody played <27 minutes.

11-22 from 3.

Richaun Holmes for Philly likes to block shots.  I like him.

Simmons is very smooth.  Cannot let him go full court and must keep him out of the paint.  Make him shoot jumpshots.



Next game tomorrow.  7 pm EDT.


bob


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[arambone]

I said this a few days ago, but at Cal Jaylen Brown got to the FT line at the same rate as James Harden did his freshman year, in the same conference.

17 trips to the line tonight? I knew he was going to come out strong and aggressive but that's just great.

As far as his 3 point shooting, I suspect it's going to be similar to Terry Rozier's, which is surprisingly rock solid. I guess in a lot of ways Brown is like a 6'7 Terry Rozier. They both really pop as our two best athletes, on our big roster not just summer league.

Rozier I believe shot 37% from 3 as a freshman at Louisville, and Brown shot around 40% from 3 in high school. And they're both so aggressive and confident, that I think they'll both be fine or more than fine from 3 in their careers. I truly believe that losing Evan Turner and his low 3 pt %, as well as his ball stopping ways, will ultimately be a win because of guys like Brown and Rozier replacing his minutes.


I was quite high on Christian Wood before the last draft, and I believe we even had a chance to grab him mid-season last year when he was playing in the D-League and his rights weren't owned by PHI at the time. Now he's looking like a beast, and the one glaring hole I see on the Celtics roster is a very long mobile guy like that. Our big addition and new rim protector, Al Horford, is 6'10, and our veteran rim protector Jordan Mickey is 6'8".

[arambone]

I made a video before the draft talking about the importance of the pre-draft workout process, and how much development can take place between the college season ending and the NBA draft in late June. Everybody micro-analyzes the stats from 4 months earlier, but after the college season these kids get professional skill development coaching for the first time in their lives, and they live in the gym without other obligations.

Jaylen Brown was the only top 10 pick to workout against other players in his month of predraft workouts. Brown took on all comers, and grew as a player in the process.

Meanwhile, Ben Simmons hasn't had a hard workout since the college season ended in March, and it showed tonight. Simmons and other top picks like him year after year miss out on a big opportunity to really get better by not attending the combine, and not working out against other guys. Brown has been playing hungry for the last 3-4 months, while Simmons has been sitting on his laurels and practicing against cones with his sycophants.


For all the gushing of the tv commentators, I wasn't that impressed with Simmons tonight, and I think he's significantly overrated as a player. And as the son of a professional basketball player, I think he had an advantage since birth that becomes less and less of an advantage with every passing month. He's the same exact player he was 5 years ago, his talent as a scorer is limited, he's not hungry enough to be a banger at PF in the NBA, and he'll eventually be exposed for what he is. a 6'10 Evan Turner with better vision.

Jaylen Brown on the other hand has a higher ceiling as the best athlete in his draft, the best dribble driver in his draft, and as a hard working, developing offensive player with plenty of natural scoring talent to be a complete player and two way star.

[gyso]

Arambone,

You typed, ". . . our veteran rim protector Jordan Mickey."

My drink went out my nose!!

gyso

[bobheckler]

Adam Himmelsbach
Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach about 48 minutes ago
Jaylen Brown: "I was a little frustrated a bit earlier, so I decided to just take it out on somebody. Next time they might get out the way."

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Brian Robb –  ‏@CelticsHub

Jaylen Brown on his dunk attempts: "Next time they might get out the way"
6:35 PM - 4 Jul 2016
68 RETWEETS143 LIKES



ared Weiss
@CLNS_JaredWeiss 1 hour ago
Jaylen Brown’s Come at Me Bro attitude will be perfect next to Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas.

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Marc D'Amico
@celtics about 1 hour ago
Jaylen Brown, who attempted 17 FTs during his first summer league game, says, "I'm going to try to get to the line as much as possible."

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Jared Weiss
Jared Weiss
@CLNS_JaredWeiss about 1 hour ago
17 free throw attempts for Jaylen Brown in his debut and there is a puddle of drool on Brad Stevens’ table right now. #Celtics

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Jay King
@ByJayKing about 1 hour ago
Jaylen Brown out here trying to end people's lives at the rim.

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bob


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[arambone]

Arambone,

You typed, ". . . our veteran rim protector Jordan Mickey."

My drink went out my nose!!

gyso

Sounds bittersweet.

[arambone]

Our second best dribble driver, Evan Turner, only got to the line 2 times a game. Or one time per game for 2 freetos.

[arambone]

If people don't like the James Harden comparison, DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler are the other two strong, athletic wings who get to the ft line at a high rate.

High FT attempts is perhaps the single stat that most star scorers have in common.

And now we have Al Horford stretching the floor out much better than Sully and Amir could, and Olynyk and Jerebko might be due for big minute increases as well. Our bigs dovetail perfectly with Jaylen Brown, as does our point guard who can knock down 3s and keep his defender honest.

[arambone]

[arambone]

The other thing about free throws, as Tommy H says, is that they help a player warm up his stroke and build up his confidence early in a game, and help get the rest of his game going.

[cowens/oldschool]

Well this kid is not shy at attacking the rim, he had another great lefty finish in 4th that should have been a plus 1, but was some offensive foul call? anyway he didn't even play particularly well, but the burst with the handle was there, kid can and loves defending and getting after it. He looks as athletic or more so as Andrew Wiggins or Jimmy Butler and much more speed and burst than say Winslow or Stanley Johnson.....just his first game and on an off shooting night, I was impressed with his tenacity, definitely has the quickness to defend the 2 or 3. In first quarter took down a rebound on right side and was a blur gliding end to end to a lefty finish, got fouled and went to the line. He earned his draft position by working and taking on all comers, all players should have that kind of attitude.

[steve3344]

http://www.celticsblog.com/2016/7/4/12095240/jaylen-brown-flashes-his-explosiveness-in-boston-celtics-summer

[Shamrock1000]

If people don't like the James Harden comparison, DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler are the other two strong, athletic wings who get to the ft line at a high rate.

High FT attempts is perhaps the single stat that most star scorers have in common.

This is an excellent point, along with your other comment that fts get players going. Pierce was another consistent scorer who got to the line a lot. This bodes well for Jaylen's potential to contribute consistently on the offensive end

[arambone]

Jaylen Brown Full SL Highlights 2016.07.04 vs 76ers - 16 Pts, 6 Rebs, 2 Blks in NBA DEBUT!

[mulcogiseng]

Very enjoyable game to watch. The second year players on both teams stood out as having more NBA ready game. Rozier played well against these kids and Hunter looked pretty good as well. Brown and Simmons were both right there too. Simmons is good but I think Bob has the right answer for him. Make him hit jumpshots. One of the real impressive things about Jaylen is his ability to communicate at only 19. During the post game interview he answered each question fully with little or no cliches. He took responsibility for not meeting HIS expectations and said several times he would do better. I love this kid. He is serious about becoming an elite player. Have to say my first impression of Guerschon is like the others. He is a big man but he may need that other year in Europe. Only the first game and you can see the potential is there. I'm sure he will do better tonight. I liked both Jackson and Bentil's effort. They want to make this team. A good win, good first effort. They all need to improve their game tonight now that first game jitters are past. This may be the NBA Summer League but those aren't really NBA players out there yet.

[bobheckler]

Jaylen Brown Full SL Highlights 2016.07.04 vs 76ers - 16 Pts, 6 Rebs, 2 Blks in NBA DEBUT!

Everybody's talking about Brown but the player I was most impressed with was Rozier.  Brown's first play, on this video, was a bail out pass to the arc after getting cut off in the paint by his defender.  His first block on Simmons was good defense but his second happened on the play both of Simmon's calves cramped up.  You can see his complete lack of lift and push off on the shot and when he came down he grabbed his calf.  Brown got some foul calls on plays that he might not do so well with in the real NBA.  A defender came baseline from the weakside on one and Brown spun into him.  He got the call, throwing up a really bad shot too, but in the NBA he would have been in trouble because the help defender would be bigger and smarter. This was the first game of the first summer league for the Sixers too.

One play, not on this highlight film, was Brown's charges, but that's why they are called 'highlight films'.  He made more than a few bad decisions in the game yesterday.

It's the first game of the first summer league.  I don't think we should read anything that any rookie does into it.  What I'm paying attention to more is how did the 2nd year players do?  They should be past the jitters, which Brown admitted he was fighting to keep down.  Rozier played great.  Hunter picked up a lot of fouls but also did some good.  His shooting was good, but it was good in summer league last year too and then he couldn't throw the ball in Boston Harbor from the edge of the pier during the regular season.  James Young hit 2 3pters in the opening frame and then disappeared, also just like the regular season (except that he couldn't throw the ball in the harbor then either).

arambone had a good point earlier.  Brown has been competing against all comers for a month now while Simmons was playing the coquette with GMs.  That's why he got cramps.  I'm not sure we can read too much into his performance either, but he showed flashes of spectacular court vision.


bob


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[mulcogiseng]

Have to give a shout out to my friend Elise who let me watch the game at her house. When she saw Jaylen she remembered him from games against UofA. She hated him. LOL nufced TJ McConnell played his ball at UofA , didn't get drafted last year, but played well yesterday.

[bobheckler]

Have to give a shout out to my friend Elise who let me watch the game at her house. When she saw Jaylen she remembered him from games against UofA. She hated him. LOL  nufced  TJ McConnell played his ball at UofA , didn't get drafted last year, but played well yesterday.

Yeah! Go Elise!!


bob


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[gyso]

Have to give a shout out to my friend Elise who let me watch the game at her house. When she saw Jaylen she remembered him from games against UofA. She hated him. LOL  nufced  TJ McConnell played his ball at UofA , didn't get drafted last year, but played well yesterday.

Yeah!  Go Elise!!


bob


.

I agree, Go Elise!! And please forgive Jaylen.

gyso

[dboss]

Rosier looks like he wants the BU minutes at PG.

As we can see Brown is very athletic. He draws a lot of fouls. Can he become a 70% Shooter from the line? Note 70% is below average.

Dboss

[bobheckler]

Chris Forsberg
Chris Forsberg
@ESPNForsberg about 10 minutes ago
Brad Stevens said Jordan Mickey's MRI on his sore shoulder did not reveal a subluxation. He's hopeful to join team in Las Vegas.

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bob
MY NOTE:  Good news indeed.  Vegas league starts on 7/8.


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[bobheckler]

Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach about 15 minutes ago
Micah Shrewsberry calls this Celtics summer league team Noah's Ark because there are two capable dudes at every position.

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bob


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[wideclyde]

Drivng and getting to the free throw line also adds fouls to the other team's players which may sit that player out for longer periods of time during the first three quarters and alter the other coach's flexibility later in the game.

It might be noted that the team that draws the most fouls in a game usually wins that game.

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