To 3 wing or not to 3 wing

by **cowens/oldschool** Wed Aug 25, 2021 10:42 am

So there’s 3 starters etched in stone, Smart and 2 J’s, then 5 should be RWill, could for whatever reason be Al. Who should be the 3rd wing, Nesmith or JRich? One is obviously a veteran, the kid has shown he can be a legit 3 point shooter with potential to score from all 3 levels. JRich is a lockdown glue guy, Nesmith is not shy and loves to mix it up. Don’t get me started with Romeo.

Will be fun to see the different combos coach Udoka can put on the floor.

PP AN Jaylen Jayson Al, everyone can shoot 3’s.

DS/MS Jaylen Jayson Al RWill, size matters

PP JRich Nesmith Jaylen/Jayson RWill, giving a J a breather

MS Jaylen Jayson Bruno RWill, the beat you down line up

My biggest hope is Nesmith is the best version of himself and can get into that zone often, and PP can also keep his 3 point shooting going, that would really help the J’s.

by **bobheckler** Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:40 am

We have pretty quality depth at every position, except 4, which makes for a lot of options for Ime.

Our depth chart at 4 is, as of today:

Horford, Grant, Parker, Bruno

Horford is a modern NBA 4. He's long and mobile enough to defend both the paint and the arc and he can shoot from range.

Grant is an undersized 4, but he can defend the arc, not so much the paint. In his defense Grant shot 37.2% from 3 last season, so he's gotten over his awful rookie start where he went 0-25.

Parker is a half-hearted defender everywhere, who shot 20% from 3 last year. He's versatile offensively in the mid-range and in, but is that enough? I put him ahead of Bruno on the depth chart only because of his veteran status.

Bruno is a 5 in a 4's body. He's 6'9" (supposedly without shoes) and has a 7'3"+ wingspan. He only averaged 6.8mpg last season for the Hawks (after averaging over 12mpg the year before) and only took two (2!) 3pt fgas all year, missing both (probably buzzer beaters).

Bob

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by **NYCelt** Wed Aug 25, 2021 1:27 pm

My guess is two distinct, matchup oriented, starting lineups to start the season...

Wing oriented; Smart, Brown, Tatum, Richardson, RWIII

Big oriented; Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, RWIII

by **cowens/oldschool** Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:52 pm

NYCelt wrote:My guess is two distinct, matchup oriented, starting lineups to start the season...

Wing oriented; Smart, Brown, Tatum, Richardson, RWIII

Big oriented; Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, RWIII

Both of these lineups don’t have enough shooting IMHO.

If one of the J’s is off to a cold start, we’ve seen that before, who can we rely on to pick up the slack from long range? That’s why we need PP and Nesmith to make a jump at their strength and SL was very promising. Out of the 2 young sharpshooters Nesmith has more intangibles, and playing with the starters would elevate his game. Our defense is going to be a lot better, the offense may take awhile to figure out with the other pieces other than the 2 J’s.

by **dboss** Thu Aug 26, 2021 10:31 am

I think Boston will start off with a 3 wing lineup.

JT, JB and JR along with MS and RW.

This lineup may lack that 3rd 3 point shooter. However maybe JR gets more open looks when he is paired with the Jay's and maybe he shoots a higher percentage. Marcus just needs to reduce his 3PA down to around 4 per game. The hidden weapon in this lineup is RW. RW is our #1 most efficient shooter. He has shot 70% in each of the pass 3 years but he needs more FGA. If Boston gets him on average 8 FGA per game he will probably average 10-14 PPG.

I am far from convinced that AH is a viable option at the 4. He cannot defend at the 4. He can catch and shoot in a high post PNP option. The reason why he is not a good defensive option at the 4 is because he is not quick enough to stay with todays' 4. If you haven't notice, today's 4's are hybrid SF with size and length with handle and deep shot making abilities. AH is an option in matchup situations where the other team goes big in their frontline.

If either MS or JR stink (low efficiency 3 point shooting) and you wanted to keep a 3 wing lineup then you have to go with AN who shot 37% as a rookie.

by **dboss** Thu Aug 26, 2021 10:54 am

If AN does start the Celtics would need more 3 point shooting off the bench. PP and AH would be your best 3 pt shooters.

If anyone out there is banking on GW to fill the 3 point shooting void off the bench the numbers do support that notion. He made 0.8 3P shots per game last year. Most likely he will get a shot at BU PF. His overall production for everything he does on the court really does not translate into an 18 MPG rotation guy.

What I expect to happen is for 2-way player Sam Hauser to get the call up and prove that he can and will knock down catch and shoot opportunities all over the court.

I do not think that RL will be a regular rotation guy.

by **cowens/oldschool** Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:14 am

dboss wrote:I think Boston will start off with a 3 wing lineup.

JT, JB and JR along with MS and RW.

This lineup may lack that 3rd 3 point shooter. However maybe JR gets more open looks when he is paired with the Jay's and maybe he shoots a higher percentage. Marcus just needs to reduce his 3PA down to around 4 per game. The hidden weapon in this lineup is RW. RW is our #1 most efficient shooter. He has shot 70% in each of the pass 3 years but he needs more FGA. If Boston gets him on average 8 FGA per game he will probably average 10-14 PPG.

I am far from convinced that AH is a viable option at the 4. He cannot defend at the 4. He can catch and shoot in a high post PNP option. The reason why he is not a good defensive option at the 4 is because he is not quick enough to stay with todays' 4. If you haven't notice, today's 4's are hybrid SF with size and length with handle and deep shot making abilities. AH is an option in matchup situations where the other team goes big in their frontline.

If either MS or JR stink (low efficiency 3 point shooting) and you wanted to keep a 3 wing lineup then you have to go with AN who shot 37% as a rookie.

The last season he played the 4 with Embid, his per stats were terrible and the media called out him and the team, saying how it didn’t work. Last year, before the team decided to tank, he put up some decent numbers as a 5. Actually in a game against us, he could not keep up with either J as both took Al off the dribble so easily and had no trouble defending him. Jayson had an impressive highlight dunk right over him.

by **cowens/oldschool** Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:28 am

dboss wrote:If AN does start the Celtics would need more 3 point shooting off the bench. PP and AH would be your best 3 pt shooters.

If anyone out there is banking on GW to fill the 3 point shooting void off the bench the numbers do support that notion. He made 0.8 3P shots per game last year. Most likely he will get a shot at BU PF. His overall production for everything he does on the court really does not translate into an 18 MPG rotation guy.

What I expect to happen is for 2-way player Sam Hauser to get the call up and prove that he can and will knock down catch and shoot opportunities all over the court.

I do not think that RL will be a regular rotation guy.

Who was Klay Thompson’s BU 2/SG during the recent glory years? I really don’t know, but I don’t think they had a sharpshooting 3 ball 2 off the bench. AN and PP showed big improvement in SL, I know it’s only SL, but you still want to see something to give you hope. PP showed better initiating offense skills and improved range, some shots were ridiculous. AN showed he can get in a zone and hit 3’s all over the place, it’s a good problem to have to find PT for 2 youngsters to give us more 3 point shooting prowess.

by **cowens/oldschool** Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:32 am

Don’t get me started on Romeo

by **gyso** Fri Aug 27, 2021 11:49 am

For most of Al Horford's career, he has always been a center (5). He has long wanted to be a power forward (4), due to less banging, wear and tear, whatever. It just hasn't worked out for him the way he wanted, because he just wasn't ever a successful 4 in his career, more so since he left the Hawks.

Phily's "sign him so we won't still have him" approach failed to understand this. They failed when they forced him to play the 4. Everyone else knew that, why didn't Philly?

Back on topic:

IMO, Josh Richardson will get the nod as starter over Aaron Nesmith, at least at the beginning of the season. The coach will want to surround the still-young Green-Jays with experienced players, to better maximize their performance. Al Horford may also get the nod as starter over RWill, due to this very reason.

It's hard to guess what Coach Ime will do because he is a big unknown. Will he try to evenly spread our experience and youth across the starters and bench, or will he try to concentrate the experience with the starting players to get the most out of the Green-Jays? I'm guessing the latter, but time will tell.

Our starting lineup may be defined as 4-wing, due to Marcus Smart's length. Smart, Richardson, Brown and Tatum can all be described as "wings".

by **cowens/oldschool** Sat Aug 28, 2021 10:51 am

gyso wrote:For most of Al Horford's career, he has always been a center (5). He has long wanted to be a power forward (4), due to less banging, wear and tear, whatever. It just hasn't worked out for him the way he wanted, because he just wasn't ever a successful 4 in his career, more so since he left the Hawks.

Phily's "sign him so we won't still have him" approach failed to understand this. They failed when they forced him to play the 4. Everyone else knew that, why didn't Philly?

Back on topic:

IMO, Josh Richardson will get the nod as starter over Aaron Nesmith, at least at the beginning of the season. The coach will want to surround the still-young Green-Jays with experienced players, to better maximize their performance. Al Horford may also get the nod as starter over RWill, due to this very reason.

It's hard to guess what Coach Ime will do because he is a big unknown. Will he try to evenly spread our experience and youth across the starters and bench, or will he try to concentrate the experience with the starting players to get the most out of the Green-Jays? I'm guessing the latter, but time will tell.

Our starting lineup may be defined as 4-wing, due to Marcus Smart's length. Smart, Richardson, Brown and Tatum can all be described as "wings".

Almost no defensive weaknesses with those 4 and can also switch interchangeably, will be interesting to see how we do with teams that go big with that line up, like Bucks, Lakers, Cavs may go big this year.

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