Miami Heat Conference Roundup: A look at the Boston Celtics

MY NOTE:  This is from a Miami Heat blogger.  So, "Enemy Chatter".



https://allucanheat.com/2021/08/29/miami-heat-conference-roundup-celtics/



Miami Heat Conference Roundup: A look at the Boston Celtics


by Jack Simone
22 hours ago



If everything goes according to plan, the Miami Heat should be one of the best teams in the East this year. That doesn’t mean there is no competition, though.

The Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks are both expected to be towards the top of the conference. Meanwhile, there should be some stiff competition throughout as well.

Having Kyle Lowry on the team certainly elevates their ceiling, but other teams stacked up, too. Everyone seemed to be wheeling and dealing this summer in an attempt to improve.

Well, one conference rival seemed to have changed things up quite a bit – the Boston Celtics. How do the Miami Heat stack up against the Celtics this upcoming season?


Miami Heat Eastern Conference roundup: The Boston Celtics


The Boston Celtics have been very busy this offseason as Brad Stevens begins his reign as President of Basketball Operations. Lately, his mind has been on one thing and one thing only – extensions.

He has handed out three different extensions in the past couple of weeks. Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Josh Richardson all received contract extensions that will keep them with the team.

Smart’s extension is the most expensive. It is a four-year, $77 million contract that keeps the fan-favorite guard in Boston, the city which he has never left thus far.

As for Williams and Richardson, they were both for around the same price (per year). Williams earned a four-year, $54 million extension, while Richardson got one year added on to his deal for around $12 million.

All three of these players will play a crucial role for the C’s this upcoming season. Depending on how things shake out, they might all end up in the starting lineup.


Key additions

Despite having little cap space, the Boston Celtics still managed to make some solid additions to the team this summer. They made a bunch of trades that should set them up nicely for this season.

First and foremost, they brought back Al Horford, who played some of his best basketball in Boston. He should be able to play quality minutes while also mentoring Robert Williams.

The C’s also traded for Josh Richardson, who they subsequently extended. They acquired him from the Mavericks using the last part of the Gordon Hayward extension.

Boston signed Dennis Schroder for $5.9 million as well. He is only on a one-year deal, but he should be able to get a ton of minutes.

Lastly, the Celtics added a new head coach in Ime Udoka. He has previous coaching experience as an assistant in San Antonio, Philadelphia, and most recently Brooklyn.


Key subtractions

The Celtics made some solid additions, but they also parted ways with some key pieces. Two of their starters from last season ended up leaving them.

Both Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier parted ways with the Celtics this offseason but in different ways. Regardless, they somehow ended up on the same team – the New York Knicks.

Boston traded Walker’s massive contract away and received Horford in return. Meanwhile, Fournier simply left in free agency, choosing to sign with New York instead.

Danny Ainge also left the organization this summer, retiring from his post as President of Basketball Operations. However, he’ll still always be a part of the Celtics family.


How the Miami Heat stack up

Based on the additions each team made this summer, this should be a very fun rivalry to watch. However, the Heat match up pretty well against the C’s.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both elite scorers, but Miami has the necessary defenders to counteract them. It’s not a perfect science by any means, but they should be able to contain them well.

Jimmy Butler and PJ Tucker are two of the better perimeter defenders in the NBA. Sticking those two on Tatum and Brown should work in Miami’s favor.

As for the starting lineups as a whole, the Heat seem to have an edge. Both teams have two All-Stars, but past that, Miami’s other three players fit much better.

Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, and PJ Tucker outmatch Marcus Smart, Josh Richardson, and Robert Williams. The talent levels may be close, but in terms of team fit, the Heat definitely hold the advantage.

Then there are the benches. Miami has better depth than the Celtics, who will be depending on primarily young players to run their second unit.

The two teams are closer in talent than some people might think, but as a whole, Miami seems to have the edge going into the season.


Bob
MY NOTE:  For one thing I wouldn't call Fournier a "Celtic starter".  He only played in 16 games for us, started in 10.  Hardly a lock.  Also, probably nobody got hit with COVID, both actual and losing players due to contact tracing, more than us.  That gave players like Fournier starting jobs.  On this team today, assuming everybody's healthy, Fournier would be coming off the bench and NOT starting.

Boston roster, as of today:

Starters (penciled in, of course):  Smart, Brown, Tatum, RWill, Schroder
Bench:  Horford (could be a starter if matchup right), Richardson (could start if matchup right), Kanter, Pritchard, Nesmith, Grant, Romeo, Fernando, Dunn (???), Parker (???), Edwards (???)


Miami roster, per Spotrac's roster salary count:

Starters:  Butler, Bam, Lowry, Robinson, Tucker
Bench:  Herro, Markieff Morris, Dedmon, Oladipo, Okpala, Yurtseven, Vincent, Haslem

Bam is a tough matchup for RWill.  It will be interesting to see if Horford can handle him with veteran savvy.  Smart vs 35 1/2 year old Kyle Lowry on Heat offense looks ok to me, on offense I'd post Smart up on Lowry, but who's going to stay in front of Schroder for them?  Butler and Tatum will be a battle but Brown will get Robinson in foul trouble because he's a one-trick pony.  He can shoot 3s but he's a mediocre defender and half-hearted finisher at the rim, while Jaylen is a very good defender and attacks defenses very well.  Dedmon vs Kanter is a battle too.  Kanter's abysmal pnr defense will make Dedmon look good, but if we get penetration to draw Dedmon away there's nobody else on the Heat roster that can keep Kanter off the offensive boards.  Morris is an outside threat, but so is Parker (although Morris will get more minutes).  Herro is a spark plug but so it Nesmith.  The difference between them is experience.  Oladipo vs Richardson?  I'm ok with that, although Oly's deadly if he starts feeling it.  Who on their team will play against Pritchard?  

Herro, 32 year old Morris, 32 year old Dedmon, 29 year old Oladipo.  That's their real bench, I think it falls off pretty significantly from there.  That's a 9 man roster card for Spoelstra.  Dragic is gone, and with him a lot of their uptempo offense.

35 year old Horford, 29 year old Kanter, 28 year old Richardson (28th birthday in September, so...), 23 year old 2nd year player Pritchard, 22 year old 2nd year player Nesmith (22nd birthday in October), 23 year old 3rd year player Grant Williams (23rd birthday in November).  That's who I see as our "real" bench.  That's an 11 man roster card for Udoka.  We're deeper.

Age-wise?  Their starters are A LOT older than ours.  Butler's almost 32.  Lowry's going to be 36 by the time the playoffs arrive.  If he's playing heavy minutes during the season he might be dinged up and/or tired by then, he is not a big guard (6'0", 195#).  PJ Tucker's 36 years old, he'll be 37 in May.  Only Robinson at 27 and Bam are on the right side of 30.  Their bench, also, is pretty old.  We have Horford, he's 35, but he's a little younger than Lowry, years younger than Tucker, and he's a big (they last longer if they don't get back problems) and he had last year off.  Other than that everybody else on their bench is older than our bench and only Herro and Oly are on the right side of 30.  We've got 4 bench players on the right side of 30.

Quality-wise?  Well, Butler and Bam and Lowry are All-Stars.  That's pretty good.  Chemistry-wise?  Let's see how Butler does without the ball in his hands like last year, he isn't an efficient shooter, never has been.  Morris' shooting worries me a bit, but not much.  He's a career 34% 3pt shooter.  Herro worries me, but Nesmith and Richardson are as big as him and Richardson is definitely an above average defender.  Dunn, if he is healthy and plays is another defender against Herro.

Bottom line, the addition of Lowry was a big plus for them, but their bench is short and old.  Any injury, or loss of playing time due to COVID (actual or just contact tracing) is a bigger loss for Spoelstra and his 9 man team vs Ime and his 11 man team, and the chances of injuries to 30+ year olds is greater than to 20-somethings.  It's been a while since I was either but I remember that clearly.


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Bob,

A case could be made that our starters at the beginning of the season will be:

Smart, Richardson, Brown, Tatum and Horford, with RWill maybe swapping out with Horford for matchups.  I believe the coach will start out with the vets and look for good quality starts to games (1st quarters) and continuity.  We didn't have much of either during the last season or two.

In that case, Fournier starts instead of Richardson and we actually wouldn't have Richardson to begin with.  Maybe that is why the Celtics let Fournier walk, because for the money and his defensive inadequacies, they didn't see him in a starting role.  So now I've talked myself out of thinking Fournier would/should be a starter.  

Right now, we are mostly guessing on starters and roles because our new coach is a blank slate to us.  He wants ball movement and defense and that is what our last coach preached.  Maybe a new coach who is an ex-player to boot will do the trick.

They can now also compete with us in flopping. Lowry > Smart. The difference is that Lowry whines about calls too.


Bob


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