Camp battles: Plenty of competition among bigs

http://www.csnne.com/blog/celtics-talk/camp-battles-plenty-competition-among-bigs


Camp battles: Plenty of competition among bigs

September 15, 2014, 3:15 pm


BOSTON — When the Boston Celtics take to the floor for training camp in a couple weeks, the camp battles will be plentiful.

Few will be as competitive as the fight for minutes among the bigs.

The Celtics will open training camp with six players who fall into this category, all of whom have visions - whether they're realistic or not - of contributing in a meaningful way this season.

Here we take a look at all six players, breaking them down into three primary categories: Leaders of the Pack, In the hunt and Back of the pack.

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LEADERS OF THE PACK
====================

Player: Kelly Olynyk

Age: 23

2013-2014 stats: 8.7 points, 5.2 rebounds. Shot 46.6 percent from the field, 35.1 percent on 3s.

Outlook heading into camp: The 7-foot forward/center is going to play a more significant role than he did last season for the Celtics when he averaged 20 minutes per game. It's just a matter of whether his increased playing time will come as a starter or come off the bench.

The biggest concern for Olynyk during the offseason was to add strength, which he showed signs of doing based on his play with the Celtics' summer league team.

With increased strength, Olynyk will have an opportunity to improve defensively which was indeed one of his biggest shortcomings as a rookie.

Last season, Olynyk's defensive rating was 105.1 when he was on the floor. But on a more positive note, Olynyk was one of the team's more efficient players offensively.

His Effective Field Goal Percentage was 50.6, which ranks second on the squad among returning players (Gerald Wallace, 54.6) and his true shooting percentage is 54.6 which puts him behind just Brandon Bass (54.9) among those returning this season.
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Player: Tyler Zeller

Age: 24

2013-2014 stats (with Cleveland): 5.7 points and 4 rebounds per game. Shot 53.8 percent from the field.

Maybe the biggest wild card among Boston's big men, there's no consensus on why Zeller saw his role limited greatly last season after what had been a decent rookie campaign.

Although he's 6-foot-11, Zeller is not your traditional high-rebound, shot-blocking big man. What he does provide is a big who can contest shots in the paint, something the Celtics didn't really get much of from their big man rotation last season.

The NBA defines rim protection as being within five feet of the rim and within five feet of an opposing offensive player.

Zeller limited opponent to shooting 48.3 percent at the rim, with the only Celtic having a better percentage being Vitor Faverani (45.3) although he played in just 37 games compared to Zeller who saw action in 70 games last season.
==================================

Player: Jared Sullinger

Age: 22

2013-2014 stats: 13.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Shot 42.7 percent from the field, 26.9 percent on 3s.

At 6-foot-9, Sullinger is usually going to be at a disadvantage height-wise in matchups. But his ability to carve out space both as a scorer and rebounder, will serve him well this season.

He has lost some weight but still has enough size to be a factor for the Celtics.

The big concern with him is conditioning. When he joined the team for training camp, he was limited in the offseason in terms of working out after having had back surgery in the spring.

This was Sullinger's first offseason with the Celtics where he could work out and not be held back for health-related concerns.

His numbers last season, especially in terms of shooting the ball, were disappointing in part because his body just wasn't built for long durations of playing which ultimately wound up hurting both Sullinger and the Celtics.

Now that he has a completely clean bill of health, the level of expectations for him are significantly greater.

If he can average a near double-double scoring and rebounding ball and not be the best of shape, a more fit Sullinger should be able to chip in with more significant and more consistent play this season.


==================================
IN THE HUNT
===================================

Player: Brandon Bass

Age: 29

2013-2014 stats: 11.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Shot 48.6 percent from the field.

This is where the "it's a business" portion of Boston's roster-building comes into play.

Bass came to Boston three years ago and in that time, has essentially done everything he has been asked to do.

They wanted him to initially be a pick-and-pop shooter to loosen up defenses to better allow Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett (now in Brooklyn) to go to work. From there, he was challenged to improve as a rebounder and defender which were both areas in which he made strides.

But the Celtics are a team transitioning to becoming more youthful, and Bass will likely find himself in the same role that Kris Humphries was in initially last season; a talented veteran whose minutes are limited as to play younger players.

Bass still remains the most versatile defender among Boston's big men, able to contend with true centers or switch out and hold his own against the likes LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

If the Celtics elect to keep Bass around, he will not average 27.6 minutes per game for a third year in a row. In fact, his playing time will likely drop if the Celtics don't trade him.

But Bass remains confident he can build off the gains he made last season.

"I just want to make sure I'm prepared well enough to be great at both ends of the floor," Bass told CSNNE.com earlier this summer.
====================================================

Player: Vitor Faverani

Age: 26

2013-2014 stats: 4.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Shot 43.5 percent from the field, 30 percent on 3s.

The start to Faverani's NBA career could not have been much better as he averaged a double-double of 12.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in his first two games. Even more important to the Celtics, he was averaging 4.5 blocks per game.

No one anticipated he would be able to maintain that pace all season, but the drop-off was significant enough to where he went from being a rotation player to a seldom-used big man.

And once he was sidelined because of a knee injury and underwent season-ending surgery in February, many questions were raised about his future with the Celtics.

He didn't help himself by getting into a car accident earlier this summer, either.

Just as he was a bit of a mystery when he arrived last fall, the same holds true when training camp opens later this month.

Faverani will have to outperform a number of teammates in order to position himself for a consistent, meaningful role this season.

He has already proven he can impact games on this level.

The next step for him is to do it with more consistency and become the rim-protecting, inside-outside scoring threat that folks saw at the start of last season.

Otherwise, it's going to be another long season for him at the end of the Celtics bench.

===================================
BACK OF THE PACK
===================================

Player: Joel Anthony

Age: 32

2013-2014 stats (with Miami and Boston): 0.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. Shot 37.5 percent from the field.

If not for the player option he exercised this summer, there's a very good chance that Anthony might not even be in the NBA right now.

There was a time when he was a serviceable big man in Miami, doing a lot of the dirty work such as rebounding, boxing out, setting screens, that kind of stuff.

But the Celtics need players who can contribute in those areas and others, which makes it difficult to imagine Anthony getting on the floor.

In fact, it would not be that big a surprise if the Celtics tried to get a buyout done with Anthony as to clear a roster spot.

Not only is he not much of a scorer or rebounder for that matter these days, the one thing he was solid at doing - protecting the rim - appears to be a thing of the past.

As problematic as the Celtics' interior defense was at times last season, all of Boston's other returning big men - Brandon Bass (54 percent), Jared Sullinger (53., Kelly Olynyk (56.1) and Vitor Faverani (45.3) - had a lower field goal percentage allowed at the rim than Anthony's 60 percent.

---

Congratulations, Blakely. You've managed to point out things we've known for months.

By the way, Bass will get his fair share of minutes. Why? because he can PRODUCE.



KJ

oh I don't know....some here think Jo-el will get key minutes.

I'm not sure why all the hate for this writer, he gets paid to WRITE.

it's pre-training camp...what do you want him to write about?

many Celtic fans may not be aware that Kelly has been working on his strength this off-season, or that Sully has been losing weight.

sure everyone here does, but we don't have real life's or we'd be doing something else than coming here to re-hash the same old same old day after day.

Sully- 28M/G
Zeller-24M
Kelly-24
Bass-20
Fav- minimum
Jo-el- hope the writer is correct and they can work a buy out, for godsake.



I'm sticking with that until a trade happens.

kdp59 wrote:oh I don't know....some here think Jo-el will get key minutes.

I'm not sure why all the hate for this writer, he gets paid to WRITE.

it's pre-training camp...what do you want him to write about?

many Celtic fans may not be aware that Kelly has been working on his strength this off-season, or that Sully has been losing weight.

sure everyone here does, but we don't have real life's or we'd be doing something else than coming here to re-hash the same old same old day after day.

Sully- 28M/G
Zeller-24M
Kelly-24
Bass-20
Fav- minimum
Jo-el- hope the writer is correct and they can work a buy out, for godsake.



I'm sticking with that until a trade happens.

kdp,

I don't know who you're talking about, but whomever thinks Anthony will get minutes early on because Vitor will be largely unavailable and Brad wants Sully and Kelly to play their natural positions, is just plain crazy.

The reason for the hate for the author is because of the quality of his writing.  KJ didn't post the author's name, so I just looked it up.  It's Blakely.  So, even without the kneejerk reaction to his name or face, we still can recognize patina-thin veneer when we see it. Your claim that "we know this stuff because we don't have lives and that's why we're here" might have a grain or two of truth to it, but who do you think reads Blakely's columns during these pre-camp summer dog days? Basketball dilettantes?

Brandon Bass is "in the hunt"?  Bass is going to get minutes.  There are 96 minutes available for the 2 positions.  If Sully, Kelly and Zeller all get 25mpg each, that leaves 21mpg for Bass.  And that doesn't take into account injuries.  If Kelly sprains an ankle and has to sit for a week or two, there's a lot for Bass and even some left over for Anthony or Vitor (if he's up for them).

As far as buying Anthony out, if it is true this is the last year he'll be in the league (he might get the minimum somewhere else), then why would he accept a buy out for anything less than full value?  If that's the case, then how would that effect our salary cap situation?  If he's off the books, then does our salary drop by that amount?  Paging Dr. Gyso!

If Anthony is off the team then we're down to 5 bigs.  Zeller is a legit center.  I'm hoping he's more than just a perennial backup, but he's a legit NBA center.  Vitor has legit size and skills, he just needs to find religion on picks.  Kelly isn't really a center anymore than Dirk is.  It's not because they don't have the size, they do, it's because they don't have the mentality.  Anthony does.  If Vitor is <100%, and he says he will be, then we're basically down to one legit center, and I'm not all that comfortable with that.

If Blakely was going to talk about camp competition, wouldn't it make more sense to write about the competition in the back court, or has that already been beaten to death?  3 point guards (Rondo, Smart, Pressey), 5 SG (Smart, Bradley, Thornton, Johnson, Babb), 5 SF (Green, Wallace, Turner, Johnson, Young).  That's 13 players, admittedly with overlap, for 144 minutes.  If we assume Johnson and Babb are gone, and we eliminate their overlaps, then that's 144 minutes for 9 players.  Send Young to Maine and that's 144 for 8.  Sit Pressey and that's 144 for 7.  That's still only 20mpg each and if you give Rondo and his starting back court partner 28-30mpg, that's means lots of competition among the remaining 5 players for <90 minutes.  Compared to this, the competition in the back court that Blakely writes about is a walk in the park.



bob



.

Well, Jo-el can go to Cleveland and carry King James bags around again.

everyone is always bagging on this guys writing. he's not that bad , sure everyone here already knows what he's writing about.

but I don't think he's writing for this board.

there are plenty of celtics fans that don't check out Celtics fan boards in July and August.


his stuff is no better or worst than most other sportswriters to me, and better than most of the drivel on fans websites.

if you guys don't like him, why do you read his stuff?

to complain about him?

LOL


its Blakley (or whatever his name is) so it must be crap is the norm around here. like EVERY TIME someone post something he writes.

so what exactly did this crap writer get WRONG in that piece?

Kelly, Sully and Zeller will get first dibs on Minutes next year....YEP!

Bass is next in line......YEP

Fav might get time IF he gets healthy and learns english....BIG YEP!

Joel is on the end of the bench and shoudl be gone....YES!

the writer got it all right on, but because of who he is he gets panned for writing it.

now:
Come on man!

kdp59 wrote:Well, Jo-el can go to Cleveland and carry King James bags around again.

everyone is always bagging on this guys writing. he's not that bad , sure everyone here already knows what he's writing about.

but I don't think he's writing for this board.

there are plenty of celtics fans that don't check out Celtics fan boards in July and August.


his stuff is no better or worst than most other sportswriters to me, and better than most of the drivel on fans websites.

if you guys don't like him, why do you read his stuff?

to complain about him?

LOL


its Blakley (or whatever his name is) so it must be crap is the norm around here. like EVERY TIME someone post something he writes.

so what exactly did this crap writer get WRONG in that piece?

Kelly, Sully and Zeller will get first dibs on Minutes next year....YEP!

Bass is next in line......YEP

Fav might get time IF he gets healthy and learns english....BIG YEP!

Joel is on the end of the bench and shoudl be gone....YES!

the writer got it all right on, but because of who he is he gets panned for writing it.

now:
Come on man!

kdp,

Blak--y gets panned for being the Master of the Obvious. You ask "what did he get WRONG?". The answer is "Blak--y never gets anything wrong because he just restates the abundantly obvious". You said it yourself, everything he said was so obviously true that it was a waste of time even stating it. He wins the "No Shit, Sherlock" Award every year.



bob



.

LOL...well that may be the case, you locals would know more than me about that.

but i guess I see a place for that when your writing ina sports section (as opposed to a Celtics paper).

there are plenty of US out there to write all types of crazy stuff, after all.

KDP,

Just want to emphasize that correctness is not the point when it comes to Blakeley.  He almost never deviates from taking the safe route when he writes.  Never goes out on a limb while expressing the courage of his convictions.  Almost never breaks news, which (in my opinion) reflects a lazy streak.  Seldom-to-never expresses a stimulating perspective of his own.  I couldn't begin to estimate the number of times when I've read or heard something in the morning that he repeats during his game pieces the same evening...which wouldn't be so bad because it is news, except that he implies it's breaking news.  It's like clockwork.

Glenn Ordway used to be exactly the same way when he did color for Johnny Most.  But, when he hit the sports talk show circuit, he obviously worked hard to improve his knowledgeability level because he was forced to express opinions (sometimes even controversial ones) and back up his thoughts on the air.

Just as in the Ordway case, I like to think that I'm objective enough to recognize deviations from the norm rather than simply having an anti-Blakely agenda.  I recall, within the past couple of seeks, stating something that a particular Blakely column was definitely a step up from his usual pablum.  The pure and simple fact is that I view his work (and that of any other writer) on a piece-by-piece basis.  And, the vast majority of the time, he falls dramatically short.

Why do we read his columns?  Frankly, I don't read them on my own; but, as a moderator I read everything that's posted on this forum.  And, when they foist him off on us during a the game presentation, it's pretty difficult to avoid him.

As far as I'm concerned, Blakely is the poster boy for irrelevance.  And, on the other side of that poster, is GaryTanguay.

Otherwise, they're both great!

Sam

sam wrote:KDP,

Just want to emphasize that correctness is not the point when it comes to Blakeley.  He almost never deviates from taking the safe route when he writes.  Never goes out on a limb while expressing the courage of his convictions.  Almost never breaks news, which (in my opinion) reflects a lazy streak.  Seldom-to-never expresses a stimulating perspective of his own.  I couldn't begin to estimate the number of times when I've read or heard something in the morning that he repeats during his game pieces the same evening...which wouldn't be so bad because it is news, except that he implies it's breaking news.  It's like clockwork.

Glenn Ordway used to be exactly the same way when he did color for Johnny Most.  But, when he hit the sports talk show circuit, he obviously worked hard to improve his knowledgeability level because he was forced to express opinions (sometimes even controversial ones) and back up his thoughts on the air.

Just as in the Ordway case, I like to think that I'm objective enough to recognize deviations from the norm rather than simply having an anti-Blakely agenda.  I recall, within the past couple of seeks, stating something that a particular Blakely column was definitely a step up from his usual pablum.  The pure and simple fact is that I view his work (and that of any other writer) on a piece-by-piece basis.  And, the vast majority of the time, he falls dramatically short.

Why do we read his columns?  Frankly, I don't read them on my own; but, as a moderator I read everything that's posted on this forum.  And, when they foist him off on us during a the game presentation, it's pretty difficult to avoid him.

As far as I'm concerned, Blakely is the poster boy for irrelevance.  And, on the other side of that poster, is GaryTanguay.

Otherwise, they're both great!

Sam

sam,

In the interest of giving Blak--y his due, he did write that the flap in Atlanta will not stop free agents from signing there, a direct rebuttal of what Carmelo Anthony said and a pretty bold statement. That took some guts, so much so that I had to re-read the byline to confirm it was, in fact, him. Then, he saw his shadow and has gone back into his happy, safe place.


bob


.

I suppose I figure I am just looking for facts mostly form sportwriter/commentators myself.


I know I have enough opinions for me and them anyway!

KDP,

There is a difference between thinking a player should get minutes and stating that they will get said minutes.

Anyway...

As BobH said, only having Zeller at center to start the season can be problematic. Why? There's an obvious depth deficiency at that position. If Fav is not ready to go, then logically someone will have to play some key minutes at center. As constructed, this team will suffer in that situation.

As posters, we don't always and aren't required to just post things we agree with. That would be boring, and it's good to view material that can be contrary to one's line of thinking. For that reason, some of the time I will post something I don't agree with. In this case, I only really disagreed with Blakely about one point (Bass), but the fact is that he's not thinking big to be a thought-provoking writer. I posted this because it's Celtics-related.

To agree with BobH again, an article about the guard logjam would have been much more interesting.


KJ

Bob,

Jo-el signed a guaranteed contract.  It was a player option and he knew he would never get that amount from any team in the league.  I do not believe that he would accept a buyout for any less than his entire contract.  In that case, there is no cap relief at all.

re: ASB.  He is an idiot.  In his first year as the "Celtic Insider", he was interviewed at halftime.  At the time, the Celtics were going through a rough patch and nothing was going our way for the past few games. There was only one problem with his report, it had NOTHING to do with the first half of the game that he was reporting on.  The Celtics actually had a wonderful first half with almost everything going their way.  That is not how his report saw it.  It was like he had written the report based on the past few games and then he just read it at halftime as if that was what he just saw.  I could not believe my ears!

The halftime report was a spectacularly pathetic effort, it certainly got my notice and he has done absolutely nothing since to change my opinion of him.  I didn't get the "Celtic Insider" tag then and I don't get it now.

gyso

Good point, gyso.  It seems as though Blakely is as far from an insider as it gets.  Either that or he declines to reveal most of the inside stuff he gleans.  Either way, the result is pretty uninteresting most of the time.

Sam