Post Game # 2 Celtics Beat Nuggets 107-82

In their 2nd game of the Summer League, the Celtics smoked the Nuggets 107-82.  They won every quarter.  They shot a blistering 15/32 from deep 46.9%.

Nesmith killed it while shooting 13-18 and hit shots from all over the court.  He scored at all 3 levels.  He also made his presence felt on the glass where his physical play helped him to secure 7 boards.  His sidekick PP flirted with a triple double (21 points 12 assists and 8 rebounds)  both guys only had one turnovers.

We need these two guys not to just improve.  We need a big leap from both of them.  The Celtics have added a lot of veterans to the club but make no mistake about it.  AN and PP  have better shooting skills than anyone we have added.  It should not take long for coach Udoka to figure out where his 3 point offense will come from.

Other contributors included RL who had a spectacular dunk and newly acquired big man Bruno Fernando.  CE had a solid game but he really did not shoot the ball very well (5-16)

Yam got an early shot blocked and after that he never got going.  It was a welcome to the NBA and get that s--- outta here.

Obviously loved everything we saw out of AN and Pritchard had a great game too. PP is potentially a better 3 point shooter than Shroder, glad they didn’t guarantee a starting position or minutes for him as PP and Nesmith look ready for big jumps. Nesmith works directly with Jerry Stackhouse and Kris Middleton, he will put the work in, and it’s already starting to show. Nesmith could be a huge X factor this year, he can do more than just shoot 3’s, but if he gets really confident/comfortable in that role, he could be a 14-15 ppg scorer for us this year. Stackhouse is saying this kid is a future all star.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Obviously loved everything we saw out of AN and Pritchard had a great game too. PP is potentially a better 3 point shooter than Shroder, glad they didn’t guarantee a starting position or minutes for him as PP and Nesmith look ready for big jumps. Nesmith works directly with Jerry Stackhouse and Kris Middleton, he will put the work in, and it’s already starting to show. Nesmith could be a huge X factor this year, he can do more than just shoot 3’s, but if he gets really confident/comfortable in that role, he could be a 14-15 ppg scorer for us this year. Stackhouse is saying this kid is a future all star.

Cow

I have to agree.

DS has never been a good 3 point shooter. PP was a very good shooter in college and had a very good rookie year. He had range coming in but it just looks like his range is getting deeper. In other words he is making more deep balls. 3 PT shooting has now evolved into shots way behind the 3 pt line. 3 players come to mind that have a certain knack for making them (Curry, Lillard and Trae Young) My guy has big confidence. He's taking them and making them.

The most surprising thing that I have seen from Nesmith is his quickness and physical strength. I knew that he could shoot. If he continues to work on his handle, he will be the preferred option in a 3 wing lineup. He scored off the bounce going to the rim from both sides, scored on midrange pull ups off the bounce from both baselines, made great cuts to the rim and lit it up from deep.

Stackhouse has stated that this kid will be great just give him some time and Middleton is from his hometown and has mentored this kid.

PP and AN are on target to be more than just complimentary pieces around the J's. As this team crosses over the bridge with a lot of one and doners, these two guys will emerge as legit starting quality NBA players.

The future looks like PP, Nesmith, Jaylen, Jayson and RW.

dboss wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Obviously loved everything we saw out of AN and Pritchard had a great game too. PP is potentially a better 3 point shooter than Shroder, glad they didn’t guarantee a starting position or minutes for him as PP and Nesmith look ready for big jumps. Nesmith works directly with Jerry Stackhouse and Kris Middleton, he will put the work in, and it’s already starting to show. Nesmith could be a huge X factor this year, he can do more than just shoot 3’s, but if he gets really confident/comfortable in that role, he could be a 14-15 ppg scorer for us this year. Stackhouse is saying this kid is a future all star.

Cow

I have to agree.

DS has never been a good 3 point shooter.  PP was a very good shooter in college and had a very good rookie year.  He had range coming in but it just looks like his range is getting deeper.  In other words he is making more deep balls.  3 PT shooting has now evolved into shots way behind the 3 pt line.  3 players come to mind that have a certain knack for making them (Curry, Lillard and Trae Young)  My guy has big confidence.  He's taking them and making them.  

The most surprising thing that I have seen from Nesmith is his quickness and physical strength.  I knew that he could shoot.  If he continues to work on his handle, he will be the preferred option in a 3 wing lineup.   He scored off the bounce going to the rim from both sides, scored on midrange pull ups off the bounce from both baselines, made great cuts to the rim and lit it up from deep.

Stackhouse has stated that this kid will be great just give him some time and Middleton is from his hometown and has mentored this kid.  

PP and AN are on target to be more than just complimentary pieces around the J's.  As this team crosses over the bridge with a lot of one and doners, these two guys will emerge as legit starting quality NBA players.

The future looks like PP, Nesmith, Jaylen, Jayson and RW.  

+1

Everything you said was exactly my thoughts too. PP can be an elite 3 point shooter in this league, he’s got the handle and vision; may never be an elite finisher, but he can still be a huge force. AN has a knack for crashing for boards and loose balls, can finish and can make a living as our 3 point sniper playing off 2 J’s. So glad he had a breakout game, why couldn’t he become some version of Klay Thompson/Ray Allen…???

Klay is ranked right up there with the best pure shooters that we have ever seen. His mechanics are superb (feet placement and release point and in general a perfect structure on his jumpers) Excellent at moving without the ball and finding open spaces.

He has shot 40% or better from deep every year that he has played.

AN looks like he will become a better rebounder than Klay and looks quicker. He needs to continue to refine his ball handling and master consistent shooting mechanics. He is a smart young man and seems more than willing to work at getting better.

I think DBoss pretty much nailed it all, small picture and bigger picture.

This was the first time as a Celtic that we've seen Aaron Nesmith be the scoring machine he was at Vandy.  The ball was just flowing off his hands.  33 points on 13-18 and those last few misses came WAY after this game was in hand and he did it all in just 21 minutes.  33 in 21.  That's pretty frippin' efficient.






Pritchard looks like a veteran out there, both he and Nesmith do.  That's how it's supposed to be, 2nd year Summer League players are supposed to look better, and they did.  While Nesmith was a walking bucket Fast PP ran the floor.  A lot of Pritchard's assists came from his feeds to Nesmith.  21 points, 12 assists and only 1 turnover and 8 rebounds for Pritchard in 25 minutes.  One of the things that is pretty consistent about Pritchard is that he goes out there and tries to do what the coaches want him to do.  They told him they want him to be the primary ball handler in Summer League, to be more of a floor general, and that's what he's trying to do.




Edwards with 14 points on 5-16.  8 rebounds, 5 assists and only 1 turnover.  The usual inefficient shooting from Carsen, the 8 rebounds are a fluke but I'm hoping his assists open some scout's eyes (My asking price for him is down to only one dozen box of Krispy Kremes).  I know I'm being harsh but it's a cold, cruel world out there...

Bruno showed up and showed some effort.  Not as good a rebounder as I thought he'd be, but I don't want to jump to conclusions here.  Liked his overall effort, hated his 1-4 from the line.  He shot 68% from the line last year, so while 1-4 might be worse than normal we shouldn't expect him to hit alot of fritos.  Assuming he's still on the team.  Who knows?  Brad is in full Whirling Dervish Spin Mode.  As I said yesterday I'm not investing a lot of emotion into players that aren't making the team and I can't be sure who's going to be on the team when Brad is pulling the trigger like this.




Other than an emphatic dunk by Romeo an otherwise blase performance.  His handle is not better.

An underwhelming 16 minute 0-3, 1 assist 2 turnover night for Yam.  He thought he could take a jump shot in the paint and Bol Bol erased it.  Yam's only chance of making the team this year, I think, would be if Dunn is traded.  I don't think even Edwards being traded would do it, I think Yam is seen as a ballhandler and with the signing of Schroder he'd be 4th on the depth chart in that role and that's too many to carry.  He needs 10 pounds of muscle.  They have gyms in Tel Aviv (in fact, there's a really nice one on the beach), he needs to live in one, not just to practice his skills but to push around a bunch of iron every day.

32 of our 79 fgas were 3s.  We shot 47% on them.  Nesmith and Pritchard, the two players that are almost certainly going to be on the team next year and whose shooting therefore is highly relevant, were a combined 11-14.

We had 25 assists on 40 fgm.  That is very good, not just from a ratio perspective but in total as well.  We're only playing four 10-minute quarters in Summer League, 40 minutes total.  25 assists is a nice number for the Boston Celtics during the regular season playing 48 so it's a very nice number for a 40 minute game.  Add into it these players are lesser quality than the regular roster and have only been together for a week or so and that's even more impressive.  SL HC Joe Mazzulla should be very pleased with the way we are going up and down and are getting everybody involved in the offense.

Here's Joe Mazzulla speaking for himself:



https://www.espn.com/nba-summer-league/boxscore?gameId=401352150&league=nba-summer-las-vegas






Bob


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John Karalis @RedsArmy_John
yesterday
Bruno Fernando says Kevin Garnett is his favorite player of all time... ... this has been "Bruno Fernando endears himself to Boston Celtics fan." Thanks for watching



Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Nesmith went from 1-8 from downtown Sunday to 5-7 tonight with 33 points, with a lot of practice in between. "I made sure I went through the same routine, changed nothing, kept the same confidence, put it into my shot and just shot it the way I know I could and can every day.”



Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
One of Ime Udoka's first goals is more playmaking, from everyone: "I think Jaylen and Jayson can take a huge step as far as that - put the ball in Marcus’ hands a lot more, he’s asked for that, and I think he can be a great facilitator at that."
MY NOTE:  "he’s asked for that".  Sounds to me like Marcus is expecting to be back.  I know he's technically under contract anyway but if he doesn't accept the extension the chances of him getting traded go way up.




Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Ime Udoka on Josh Richardson: "He didn't shoot as well the last few years but we are going to get him back to that. He's a better shooter than he showed in Dallas."



Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Vegas crowd reaction to Bruno Fernando after that layup and his nine early points: "Keep him Brad!"


Bob


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Bob

A very detailed and thorough summary by you as usual.

The case for keeping Bruno especially since we moved Moses Brown is our longer term needs at 5.

Marcus Smart should jump all over the offer that was made to him, if what we read is accurate.  If he is unsure he should have a conversation with Schroder about missing out on a really good payday.  It sounds like Marcus will focus more on his play making abilities instead of trying to keep up with being a scorer.  If he does not stay on track he will be sitting on the bench more and DS or PP will be in there.

If he does not take the offer the Celtics should seriously consider trading him because he would become an UFA

Enes goes back to Portland next year and AH may be gone in a year.  That means we have no center other than RW down the road.

Bruno appears to have all the physical tool to be a rotation level center at least.  He has size, strength and he good lateral quickness.  He also has a nasty side about him that I witnessed when he was here in Atlanta.

He needs to be coached up and do work on all aspects of his game.  At a young age of 22 and a dirt cheap contract he seems like a guy to invest some time in.

RL is still not a very good ball handler or play maker.  If he is pressured he is likely to turn the ball over.  He still has a weak handle.  I do hope his small baby steps turn into bigger jaunts.