One Key Improvement every Celtic must make

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1332001-one-key-improvement-every-boston-celtics-player-must-make-before-2012-13-season

This is a slideshow about each player (interestingly, Jamar Smith is not included). A lot of what you'd expect, I guess. I like what they said about Kris Joseph, it mirrors what Sam said. I think they got Bradley too. I also like the fact that they admitted there wasn't too much PP and KG had to improve at this point. I hate writers who come up with BS theories just to fill out the page. Considering this is a Bleacher Report article it wasn't quite the usual crap.

Camp starts in 16 days.

bob


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My comments:

Rondo: I agree that he needs to work on his free throw shooting. I don't think his free throw attempts is so much of an issue. I do not want to see him fouled and slammed to the floor in the process, possibly causing an injury. The ends don't justify the means on this one, IMO.

Jason Terry: ". . . will need to improve his ability to run the point on the second unit. " What does the author think (specifically) this means? He says JT has averaged nearly 5 assists per game, I say that is good for a packup PG. What does JT really need to do to improve his ability to run the point? Sorry, it looks like he is just filling out the page with on this one.

Keyon Dooling: He is supposed to create chemistry? Yes, he did that last year with the bench. He just needs to continue doing it, not improve his ability to do it. That is not something he can "improve on". What he needs to improve on is his consistency when he does get on the floor during the regular season.

Avery Bradley: I agree with the author that he needs to improve his outside shooting. It did show improvement as the season went along and I fully expect it will continue to improve.

Courtney Lee: I don't know enough about him to know what he needs to improve on. He will need to adjust his game to his role (duh!), but I thought this article was about improvements.

I have just decided that this article isn't so much about key improvements, but is really about what the player's key function (or role) will be. I will stop looking for (and dwelling on) improvements as I continue to look at each slide.

Dionte Christmas: He needs to make the team. He can do this by his continuing to do what we saw in the summer league games, which was to show his already improved all around game. That, and not getting injured during training camp.

Paul Pierce: Play less minutes, stay off the DNP-injured list. Be healthy for the playoffs.

Jeff Green: Hopefully, along with the new comfort level comes some playing with urgency and energy.

Kris Joseph: He needs to become a Paul Pierce "lite". Rebounding would be nice, but does he really need to be a specialist at one thing?

Brandon Bass: I don't agree with this one. Bass's defense is just fine, within the concept of team defense. The late-season starting unit that included Bass was great on defense. He needs to be able to do something besides hitting the open jumpshot on the offensive end.

Jared Sullinger: He needs to learn to stand his ground and rebound. Anything in the "interior scoring" department will be extra gravy for this year.

Chris Wilcox: Stay healthy, stay consistant, where have I heard that before? Chris needs to get back to where he was when his heart ailment was discovered.

Kevin Garnett: See Paul Pierce

Jason Collins: He needs to stay on the floor, which means stay healthy and keep out of foul trouble. A little extra rebounding would help as well. He does not need to be a sprinter to fill his role.

Fab Melo: Learn how to play basketball. Start with the basics: rebounding, boxing out. Go from there. I don't expect much from him this year, but who knows?

gyso

gyso wrote:My comments:

Rondo: I agree that he needs to work on his free throw shooting. I don't think his free throw attempts is so much of an issue. I do not want to see him fouled and slammed to the floor in the process, possibly causing an injury. The ends don't justify the means on this one, IMO.

Jason Terry: ". . . will need to improve his ability to run the point on the second unit. " What does the author think (specifically) this means? He says JT has averaged nearly 5 assists per game, I say that is good for a packup PG. What does JT really need to do to improve his ability to run the point? Sorry, it looks like he is just filling out the page with on this one.

Keyon Dooling: He is supposed to create chemistry? Yes, he did that last year with the bench. He just needs to continue doing it, not improve his ability to do it. That is not something he can "improve on". What he needs to improve on is his consistency when he does get on the floor during the regular season.

Avery Bradley: I agree with the author that he needs to improve his outside shooting. It did show improvement as the season went along and I fully expect it will continue to improve.

Courtney Lee: I don't know enough about him to know what he needs to improve on. He will need to adjust his game to his role (duh!), but I thought this article was about improvements.

I have just decided that this article isn't so much about key improvements, but is really about what the player's key function (or role) will be. I will stop looking for (and dwelling on) improvements as I continue to look at each slide.

Dionte Christmas: He needs to make the team. He can do this by his continuing to do what we saw in the summer league games, which was to show his already improved all around game. That, and not getting injured during training camp.

Paul Pierce: Play less minutes, stay off the DNP-injured list. Be healthy for the playoffs.

Jeff Green: Hopefully, along with the new comfort level comes some playing with urgency and energy.

Kris Joseph: He needs to become a Paul Pierce "lite". Rebounding would be nice, but does he really need to be a specialist at one thing?

Brandon Bass: I don't agree with this one. Bass's defense is just fine, within the concept of team defense. The late-season starting unit that included Bass was great on defense. He needs to be able to do something besides hitting the open jumpshot on the offensive end.

Jared Sullinger: He needs to learn to stand his ground and rebound. Anything in the "interior scoring" department will be extra gravy for this year.

Chris Wilcox: Stay healthy, stay consistant, where have I heard that before? Chris needs to get back to where he was when his heart ailment was discovered.

Kevin Garnett: See Paul Pierce

Jason Collins: He needs to stay on the floor, which means stay healthy and keep out of foul trouble. A little extra rebounding would help as well. He does not need to be a sprinter to fill his role.

Fab Melo: Learn how to play basketball. Start with the basics: rebounding, boxing out. Go from there. I don't expect much from him this year, but who knows?

gyso

gyso,

Jason Terry hasn't averaged 5.0 apg in 5 years despite playing over 30mpg every year. That's not a strong point guard performance from a player playing point guard in starter minutes, regardless of whether he began the game or not. It might be besides the point, that's not his primary job, but it is what it is. The good news is that his assist-to-turnover ratio is ok. I'd take 5apg as long as he keeps his TOs down to the same ratio he has now. He needs to stabilize the 2nd unit and TOs won't do that.

I don't think Joseph has to be a specialist at rebounding, but I do think that a strong rebounding 3 on a team that needs to improve its rebounding this year would make him look very good. If that's all he does, he'll find himself driving from Maine to his home in Montreal more often than he'd like. I don't think that's what we're going to see though. I think we're going to see a player that has a good engine, gets up and down the floor very well. If he rebounds like he did in summer league, all the better. If he hits his pindowns like he did this summer, all the better. If he does both, he's on the team and maybe even getting 10-12 minutes this year too.

I'd like to see Sully shoot inside. I'd also like to not see him get blocked. Given the choice, I'll settle for the occasional mid-range shot from him and let others use their size mismatches inside. He has shown a weakness taking it to size. Rebound, rebound, rebound. If he rebounds like his life depended on it I'll be happy. Scoring from him beyond a handful of points a game, when he's on a unit with Terry, Lee, Xmas, Joseph is gravy. I do think he's going to spend a lot of time at the line, and he's solid there.

Collins needs to muscle bigger 5s like Howard and Bynum. If he does that, and only that, I'm ok with him too.

Agree with you about Xmas, Wilcox, Bass, Melo.


bob

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gyso and Bob,

There's a big difference between getting a lot of assists and running a team well. Very often, guys who are lights-out shooters can average a lot of assists simply by drawing the defense to themselves and laying the ball off. Allen Iverson is a prime example, although I thought he knew very little (if anything) about running a team. For that matter, I believe Rondo has gotten a lot of assists by penetrating and dishing off—especially to Ray, Pierce and KG.—and this has helped to camouflage the fact that there's room for plenty of improvement in the way he runs a half-court offense.

Hopefully, Terry will improve his ability to run a team well, especially in transition. If the second unit can start flying around effectively on offense, the game dynamics will change dramatically.

Sam

They should all do what Booby Knight said in a tv show he was doing awhile back:
"I want you all, even the big guys, to grow 6" tonight." LOL