Brad Stevens Sizes Up Celtics

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2013/10/brad_stevens_sizes_up_celtics


Brad Stevens sizes up Celtics
Versatility big key



Photo by: Christopher Evans


PLENTY OF OPTIONS: Brad Stevens hopes to showcase the versatility of several Celtics players as he enters his first season as coach.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
By:  Mark Murphy



NEWPORT, R.I. — Brad Stevens’ timing with his first NBA reconstruction job might be exquisite.

His Celtics, who opened training camp yesterday at Salve Regina University, are undersized and ill-defined. But the NBA has become increasingly undersized and, in some corners, just as ill-defined.

Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, who has won two titles this way, calls it “position-less basketball.”

Not a bad time to start with a team led by Swiss Army knife players.

Stevens is admittedly intrigued by the decreasing emphasis on size.

“There’s an emphasis on skill, and the 3-point line in general, because people are realizing that an average 3 is better than a bad 2,” he said. “I’m not surprised it is. It’s an influence that hasn’t just been here but abroad. We always talk about this as coaches. You always begin the season looking for all of that size, and at the end of games you’re looking for speed, ballhandling and skill.”

The situation cries out for Stevens’ two best small forwards, Jeff Green and Gerald Wallace. The former is the Celtic most likely to lead the team in scoring, and out of necessity could easily end up scoring from more spots on the floor than he ever thought possible this season.

Wallace, in his prime one of the best two-way forwards in the league, may be in for a similar tour of the floor.

“The nice thing about the Jeff Greens of the world and the Gerald Wallaces of the world is that you can’t pigeonhole them into one position,” Stevens said. “You can play Jeff and Gerald at the 2 and the 3, or at the 3 and the 4. You can rotate them at the 3 and rotate them at the 4. The more versatile guys are, the more minutes you play.”

Green became quite the strategic piece under Doc Rivers. He was too quick for most power forwards and too strong for most small forwards. Stevens also likes him as a so-called 2-guard.

The job is admittedly about to get more difficult for Green as well as Wallace.

“Right now I’m floating between 2, 3 and 4,” said Green. “It’s difficult but I like it. It’s a great challenge to be able to play multiple positions. I think everybody on this team can do it.”

The prospect doesn’t excite Wallace quite as much, though he understands the logic.

“One position would be good for me, but whatever position coach wants me to play, I’ll be fine with that,” he said.

Stevens may have no choice.

“You have to use Jeff’s versatility,” the coach said. “Jeff’s versatility is one of the strengths of our team. We’re going to ask him to do a lot, and it’s going to be a big burden for him. He’ll have to know more than one role, and that’s part of being a really, really good player.

“You look at some of the good teams in the league, the Finals, and all of a sudden the Spurs go small out of the blue,” he said. “You see (LeBron) James playing the 4 late in games. Really good players know how to play multiple positions, and we have to get to the point where we can make Green excel, no matter what position he’s in.”

The demand for multiple duties won’t stop with Green and Wallace, either. Considering that Vitor Faverani is the Celtics’ only true center, fellow rookie Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger will also log considerable post time this season.

Expect a lot of fouls. But according to Sullinger, the overall skill level on this team may make up for the lack of size on most nights.

“I just think this team has a lot of people who can shoot the basketball, honestly,” Sullinger said. “We also have guys about 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 who are long and athletic, and strong enough to guard the post. We’re not worried about that. We just have to keep our pace.”

So it’s nice to fit in with the league’s latest trend.

“I think it helps because we have a lot of bigs coming in who are pretty good shooters,” Wallace said. “They can stretch out to the 3-point line. The main thing is the smaller you can play, a lot of teams are starting to play with one big who is a stretch-out big who can open up the floor.”





bob
MY NOTE:  Welcome to Small Ball.  It's what we got, it's where the league is going (they don't even have a vote for center on the all-star ballot).  What I'm finding funny about this whole thing is the way I hear people, mostly younger fans, talking about how small the old-timers were compared to today's players and how the old-timers couldn't compete, and now the league is playing smaller.


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