C's hold open scrimmage

by **k_j_88** Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:00 pm

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar/cs-excited-lengthy-scrimmage-open-practice

C's Excited for Lengthy Scrimmage at Open Practice

Posted: Oct 03, 2014

By Marc D'Amico | @Marc_DAmico
Celtics.com
October 3, 2014

BOSTON – TD Garden is open for basketball once again. Well, sort of.

The Boston Celtics returned to TD Garden Friday night for an open practice in front of their loyal season ticket holders and corporate partners. The team is expected to run through drills before playing two 12-minute scrimmages in front of the crowd.

Brad Stevens told media members that he will take a step back and observe the scrimmage from afar, noting that he has “talked enough” over the first four days of training camp. He’ll observe and evaluate the C’s as they complete their longest scrimmage to this point.

With a double-session on each of the first two days of camp, Boston has yet to play an extended scrimmage. In fact, as Stevens said, none of the team’s scrimmage time in practice has surpassed five minutes of action. Tonight, the team will more than double that amount of play – twice.

Stevens is excited about this open practice much more than he was a season ago, simply because he believes the team will get much more accomplished. As he stated before practice tipped off, he thinks the team is in much better position this time around to capitalize on the opportunity at TD Garden.

"Last year we had this later in the preseason. We had already played eight exhibition games," Stevens said. "We needed a couple of days off more than we needed an open practice. So we came out here and didn’t do much. And I felt like it would be better to scrimmage, and if we could do it earlier than it would be better, and that’s why we scheduled it for today. This is practice No. 7, so this is a good time to put 12 minutes on the clock and play two games."

The players are excited for tonight's action as well. They just need to make it through the 24 minutes of run.

“I just hope there will be media timeouts so we can catch our breath, with how fast we’ve been playing lately,” Jared Sullinger joked.

On a serious note, though, Sullinger stated that this is a great opportunity for the Celtics to continue their growth as a team.

“We’re just trying to get better,” Sullinger said. “We’ve just got to execute ourselves, defensively, offensively, and I think it’s going to be helpful.”

Newcomer Evan Turner agrees. He noted that this live-game environment will be quite different than the “scrimmages” the team has played through during its first six practices.

“I think with 12-minute games,” said Turner, “you kind of have to play through tough situations and you have an opportunity to consistently impact the pick-up a little bit.

“In practice, we only go up and down three times or so, so when you start getting your blood flowing, the drill’s over. So here I think we’ll have more of an opportunity to get things done and kind of get more into a game flow.”

While the players get into their game flow, Stevens will be evaluating. This could very possibly be his best opportunity yet to evaluate his players and work on a rotation.

----

The best indication yet of things to come. I'm most curious about the performances of Smart, Zeller, Pressey, and Young.

KJ

by **dboss** Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:42 pm

On Paper Turner is the #1 piece that they added.

He is somewhat of a mystery.

How often do you pick up a former #2 pick on the cheap?

The incident in Indiana curtailed his season but Indiana was no better for it.

It is hard to be mad at a guy that had a fight with the ear blowing Lance,

His ball handling skills are exactly what Jeff Green lacks...But his Paul Pierce like habit of isolation, one on one basketball will need to be monitored and adjusted as needed. Will he what the coach wants? Let's hope so.

Yep, Turner is the one I find most interesting.

In 8 - 10 weeks it will be Rondo.

dboss

by **hawksnestbeach** Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:10 am

For me, Turner and Zeller both are very intriguing. I'm always optimistic this time of year, but with that caveat, I'll say I expect both to excel.
Months ago, management promised fireworks. The consensus is we had no fireworks, but I'm not so sure. If you took the new guys, formed a starting 5, say Thornton, Smart, Zeller, Turner, Powell, and played them against a returning 5 minus Rondo - Pressey, Bradley, Green, Sully, Bass (or K.O.), I think we'd have an interesting game.
Put them together, add Rondo, and I think we have fireworks, albeit on a long fuse. Hawk.

by **bobheckler** Sat Oct 04, 2014 12:07 pm

Might as well keep this all in one place.

Sullynyk shine in Celtics scrimmage
By wjsy on Oct 4 2014, 1:56a 31

In a TD Garden full of season ticket holders and the media, the team engaged in two scrimmages with highlights coming from Kelly Olynyk, Jared Sullinger, and rookie James Young.

CelticsBlog couldn't be there, but our friends Jay King at MassLive.com and Chris Forsberg at ESPN Boston have very in depth game reports from the exhibition. First, the head-turning performance as told by Jay King:

Utilizing his trimmer body to the tune of 12 points in the first scrimmage, Olynyk looked comfortable and confident from the tip, showcasing offensive skills very few 7-footers possess. The action actually opened with him operating as the ball-handler in a pick-and-roll. A few minutes later, he pump-faked, waited for Tyler Zeller to bite, and finished an and-1 jumper. Olynyk ran a neat give-and-go with Jared Sullinger, threw a left-handed around-the-back-pass to Marcus Thornton for a driving layup, tipped in someone else's miss, and hit a whirling baseline shot off one foot that made me say wow. The big man might never become a plus defender, but he looks to be in significantly better shape and his offensive tricks went nowhere over the summer.

Stevens has raved about Olynyk's summer workouts and his presence so far in training camp. If the Celtics truly intend to run a Spurs type offense, Olynyk looks primed to play the role of Tim Duncan. San Antonio starts many of their offensive sets with four perimeter players and one big at either the high post or on the block. In this brief clip, you can already see Olynyk setting up at the free throw line, maintaining spacing, and running pick-and-pops with Avery Bradley.

Here's the report from CSNNE's A. Sherrod Blakely on the scrimmage's second star, Jared Sullinger:

As impressive as Olynyk was in the first 12-minute scrimmage, Sullinger was equal to the task in the second. He mixed in an array of 3-pointers with his usual below-the-rim work in the paint.

He may not have the length of Olynyk and Tyler Zeller, but Sullinger's weight loss coupled with a clean bill of health makes him an extremely tough cover for opposing big men and a major asset for the Celtics.

After practice, Stevens talked about how all the pieces fit together and it's good to see that Sullinger and Olynyk will be focal points going forward, regardless of whether or not they start together. He mentioned that he knew who his 8-10 best players were and even though the assistant coaches drafted the teams for the scrimmage, the starters were:

Marcus Smart vs. Evan Turner

Avery Bradley vs. Marcus Thornton

Gerald Wallace vs. Jeff Green

Brandon Bass vs. Jared Sullinger

Kelly Olynyk vs. Tyler Zeller

That's a 10-man rotation minus the obvious absence of Rondo, Phil Pressey, and James Young (Vitor Faverani and Joel Anthony sat this one out).

Some other quick notes from the open practice: James Young seems to be making a case of staying with the big club rather than commuting back and forth between Boston and the Maine Red Claws. Stevens has given him high marks for his defense (one of his weaknesses coming out of Kentucky) and played well in limited minutes. Most reviews of Marcus Smart's first public appearance in green were at best lukewarm. After a summer of rave reviews from USA Basketball and early workouts with Rondo, the kid seems to be pressing a little bit right now. Jeff Green suffered a mild calf strain that doesn't seem too serious. Danny Ainge and an active Rajon Rondo were spotted at half court during the pre-scrimmage shootaround. After a playful exchange at Media Day about whether or not Rondo deserved a max contract next summer, it's nice to see the two talking and joking. The first preseason game is Monday night vs. the Sixers.

bob

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by **bobheckler** Sat Oct 04, 2014 12:13 pm

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2014/10/jared_sullinger_kelly_olynyk_t.html#incart_story_package

By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com
Follow on Twitter
on October 03, 2014 at 11:30 PM, updated October 03, 2014 at 11:42 PM

BOSTON – During back-to-back 12-minute intrasquad scrimmages Friday night at the TD Garden, Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger took turns dominating, James Young some of his potential, and a slew of new Boston Celtics, including rookie Marcus Smart, competed in front of a crowd for the first time with the team.

It was actually Smart's first trip to the Garden; because of roster crowding, he shared a locker with Young. During Smart's first interview in the Celtics locker room, he was interrupted by Gerald Wallace because he was sitting in the veteran's seat.

The practice was open to season-ticket holders and media, but if you missed the action, I have a load of notes below. All the statistics are based on my own unofficial count. And since it was tough to take notes, watch the game, and try keeping stats, they might be at least a little off.

— Utilizing his trimmer body to the tune of 12 points in the first scrimmage, Olynyk looked comfortable and confident from the tip, showcasing offensive skills very few 7-footers possess. The action actually opened with him operating as the ball-handler in a pick-and-roll. A few minutes later, he pump-faked, waited for Tyler Zeller to bite, and finished an and-1 jumper. Olynyk ran a neat give-and-go with Jared Sullinger, threw a left-handed around-the-back-pass to Marcus Thornton for a driving layup, tipped in someone else's miss, and hit a whirling baseline shot off one foot that made me say wow. The big man might never become a plus defender, but he looks to be in significantly better shape and his offensive tricks went nowhere over the summer.

— Sullinger started slowly but really – I mean, really – picked up his effort in the second scrimmage. Over 12 minutes of action, by my very unofficial count, he poured in 17 points, drilled four 3-pointers, hit two other long jumpers, and missed just one shot. He ended his scoring with a nifty left-handed finish, which only punctuated the fact that OMG SULLINGER JUST WENT BONKERS. He did so against other Celtics big men, which somewhat dulls the feat, but if he always shoots that well, nobody in Boston will complain. Maybe I’m overreacting because he drained so many shots, but he really appeared to be shooting with nice rhythm. More of that, please.

— Also shooting with nice rhythm: Phil Pressey, who sunk his first three triples before barely missing his fourth, and final, attempt. I’m not saying definitively he’s a better shooter than last year – we can’t possibly know that after 24 minutes of scrimmaging – but for someone who hit just 26.4 percent from behind the arc, draining a trio of open looks is a good sign. Pressey, the best healthy point guard on the court, also put on a dunking show during pregame layup lines, barely missing a between-the-legs slam that would have qualified him for honorary Nate Robinson status.

— Of the two draft picks, James Young – surprise, surprise – looked better. He came off the bench with 5:23 left in the first scrimmage, drilled his first shot (a three), and then hit another three while getting fouled on the very next possession. Later in the night, he poked away an errant pass from Marcus Smart, sprinted the floor in transition, caught a pass from Phil Pressey and drew a foul at the rim. My favorite play, though: Showing a lot of patience off the bounce, Young penetrated the defense just enough to find Avery Bradley for an open jumper. Young also contested a few Jeff Green jump shots nicely and rotated over to intercept one ugly post entry from Evan Turner, but not everything went perfectly for the rookie. He missed his next couple of threes, including one airball, and botched a thunderous dunk attempt in the second scrimmage. Mistakes will happen, though. For a rookie expected to need plenty of time to develop, he displayed a few traits – like shooting, lengh and athleticism – the Celtics could use right away.

— Smart didn’t look entirely comfortable, making a few turnovers – like an ambitious inbounds pass to nobody in particular – that just can’t happen. The point guard chucked up an airball, missed one not-exactly-wise transition pull-up, and, unless I’m mistaken (I could be), only went 1-for-4 from the arc, adding a breakaway layup as his only other field goal. He’s a rookie playing a difficult position, though; we probably should have expected an uneven effort this early in the schedule. He still projects as an elite defender, he made one pretty pocket pass to Sullinger, and his team won both games, which was nice. It will be interesting to see how Smart develops over the preseason. Especially with Rajon Rondo out, the rookie will need to contribute. One positive I noticed: Smart appeared eager to make the extra pass. Good news.

— The other newcomers offered a mixed bag. Tyler Zeller rebounded pretty well, scored in opportunistic fashion, and showed why he’ll help – in whatever playing time he receives – on the interior. Not known as the best shot-blocker, he did have one nice rejection of Gerald Wallace. ... Evan Turner looked to be in great shape, produced some really nice ball-handling maneuvers (always one of his strong suits), botched a few finishes (also one of his strong suits) and threw a few curious passes that resulted in turnovers. He made one really great defensive play to deny his man and steal a pass, but committed a turnover two seconds later when Pressey poked away his dribble. ... Marcus Thornton launched a bundle of poor shots, missed badly on a lot of them, and kept shooting like he always does because sooner or later streaky shooters catch fire. He serves a purpose on the Celtics – they don’t have much perimeter offense – but rooting for him should be a roller-coaster.

— The Celtics preached defensive aggression throughout the first week of practice, and for the first time we got to see what they meant. On more than a few occasions they actually blitzed ball screens, a huge difference from the normal pick-and-roll coverage last season. Gerald Wallace had probably the best trap, jumping the ball-handler to create havoc; the other team sped up and threw the ball away a few seconds later. Wallace, who made one particularly nice bounce pass to a cutting Avery Bradley, could benefit from the new defensive strategy as much as anyone, The veteran small forward looked pretty good; he bullied Turner in the low post for a bucket and appeared to show no signs of the torn meniscus that ended his 2013-14 season. Wallace, who, like Jeff Green, spent some time at the four-spot, also made a great play in the passing lanes to steal a lazy pass intended for Green and lay it in at the other end.

— Before leaving with a strained calf that didn’t look too serious, Green made some really nice plays, including one left-handed finish in traffic, but forced a few tough shots. That might not have been entirely his fault – so early in the season, and especially with Rondo out, the offense lacked ideal rhythm. Sometimes players appeared to take bad shots just because the offense stalled; trying something a little crazy seemed like a better option than waiting to see what might happen next. A few times though, though, the offense worked perfectly. Once, Green caught the ball at the top of the key and quickly swung it to the right wing, where Pressey was waiting wide open to drill a three. Awesome ball movement gets me every time.

— Two guys who we know what to expect from, Bradley and Brandon Bass, did some nice things, but nothing too surprising. The former chased opponents around the perimeter and both hit and missed some tough shots. The latter contributed under the radar as he tends to do. I saw nothing to change my stance that Bradley, Rondo and Smart could be one heck of a defensive backcourt.

— Darren Erman worked himself into a frenzy during defensive drills. Pointing directions players needed to go, pumping his fist when they succeeded, sliding in what looked like a defensive stance, screaming so loudly you could hear him across the gym, the assistant coach almost looked ready to scamper into the action and take a charge from Marcus Smart. I could have watched Erman teach defense for the entire night and still wanted more. He appeared to be as energetic as energetic comes.

— Rondo, no longer wearing a sling, wore what looked to be a brace on his injured left hand. He won’t be able to play for another few weeks, at least, but he couldn’t help himself during pregame drills. Using his healthy right hand, he fed teammates for jump shots before having a chat with Danny Ainge.

What did they talk about? I don't know. But maybe they were discussing how to get Rondo on the court ASAP because, as we saw so evidently Friday night, his team needs him very badly.

bob

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by **steve3344** Sat Oct 04, 2014 12:15 pm

dboss wrote:On Paper Turner is the #1 piece that they added.

He is somewhat of a mystery.

How often do you pick up a former #2 pick on the cheap?

The incident in Indiana curtailed his season but Indiana was no better for it.

It is hard to be mad at a guy that had a fight with the ear blowing Lance,

His ball handling skills are exactly what Jeff Green lacks...But his Paul Pierce like habit of isolation, one on one basketball will need to be monitored and adjusted as needed. Will he what the coach wants? Let's hope so.

Yep, Turner is the one I find most interesting.

In 8 - 10 weeks it will be Rondo.

dboss

How often do you pick up a former #2 pick on the cheap? Let's see - Michael Beasley, Darko Milicic, Hasheem Thabeet (who just signed with the Pistons). It happens when they turn out to be busts. Not saying Turner is officially a bust yet (not our bust tho) but he's pretty damn close.

by **rickdavisakaspike** Sat Oct 04, 2014 12:19 pm

Evan Turner played point guard in college, but not in Philadelphia until a couple of years after he was drafted, when Doug Collins didn't like what he was getting from Jrue Holliday and decided to make a change. It worked out so well that Turner torched the Celtics a few times. I wonder if Rondo remembers. Turner played the position so well that Collins said that he's really a 6' 7" point guard, because he needs to have the ball in his hands, and that he's a completely different player with the ball in his hands. Doug Collins seems to be a fairly decent judge of basketball talent. It also creates a defensive match-up problem for opponents because of his height and probably because of his comfort level at the position.

Add all that to the role of the coach. Brad's going to see and understand everything happening on the court. Red Auerbach had the computer in his mind where Brad has to rely on hardware and software. Brad appears to be more laid back than Red. Otherwise there seems little difference.

by **bobheckler** Sat Oct 04, 2014 12:29 pm

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4714817/olynyk-sullinger-highlight-scrimmage

Olynyk, Sullinger highlight scrimmage
October, 3, 2014
OCT 3 9:00 PM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens was asked before Friday night's intrasquad scrimmage what would constitute a success for his team during its annual session in front of season-ticket holders at TD Garden.

"Well, we should win," deadpanned Stevens. "So that’s good."

The Celtics engaged in two 12-minute scrimmages to highlight the 90-minute workout. The constant: Kelly Olynyk and Marcus Smart were on the winning side of both games, the duo swapped between games, but bringing their winning ways from the White team to the Green.

Olynyk highlighted the first scrimmage with 12 points as the White squad nearly doubled up the Green, 33-17 (Olynyk and Smart were joined in that starting lineup by Brandon Bass, Gerald Wallace, and Avery Bradley). Green, which also featured Evan Turner and Marcus Thornton, extracted revenge in Game 2 with Jared Sullinger putting up 18 points while hitting 7 of the 8 shots he put up.

Both rookies Smart and James Young had their moments and more than held their own in our first glimpse of them in 5-on-5 action. Second-year guard Phil Pressey showed an improved shooting touch from beyond the arc, while newcomer Tyler Zeller had nice moments around the basket.

Stevens was simply happy to give the fans something to enjoy as Boston preps for four exhibition games next week.

"I’m glad that the Garden was available and I’m glad that our corporate offices worked out tonight to do it," said Stevens."Last year, we had this later in the preseason, we had already played eight exhibition games, and we needed a couple days off more than we needed an open practice. So we came out here and didn’t do much. I felt like it would be better to scrimmage."

Stevens let his assistants coach the games and bounced between both benches chatting with individual players.

"Usually in practice when we go live, I usually give a team to two assistants and then another team to the others," said Stevens. "It’s a great time for me to catch up with the individuals and talk to them. I’m just going to be in evaluation mode, then I’ll get in the film, evaluate some more, we’ll take [Saturday] off and then Sunday, we’ll start to make some progress toward what we’re going to do on Monday night" during the team's exhibition opener.

Scrimmage 2 closed with some of the end-of-the-roster bodies getting a chance to audition, including newcomers Dwight Powell and Erik Murphy. With both sides thin on depth and running on fumes, Stevens ended the final scrimmage with about 30 seconds left on the clock.

Smart thanked the crowd for coming out and all the team's players, including Rajon Rondo, gathered to toss T-shirts to fans. Sullinger signed his shoes and gave them to fans as he returned to the locker room.

GREEN STRAINS CALF

Celtics swingman Jeff Green suffered a left calf strain during the second scrimmage and did not return to the practice.

The injury did not look serious, but Green returned to the locker room with trainer Ed Lacerte.

Neither Vitor Faverani (knee) nor Joel Anthony (groin) participated in the session. Rondo was on the floor throwing passes to teammates during warmups, but wore a soft cast over his left hand.

Green and his teammates will get a chance to heal up on Saturday as the team enjoys its first offday since camp opened on Tuesday.

ROOKIE LIFE

Smart/Young locker

Welcome to the NBA, rookies. Celtics first-round picks Smart and Young were forced to share a locker on Friday night at TD Garden. The pair need not worry, a trim to 15 players before the start of the regular season will ensure their own slice of real estate. For now, the team did its best to house the 17 players competing for spots and recent additions Murphy and Powell also shared a locker. The team's three training camp invites settled for chairs in the middle of the Celtics' cramped locker room.

bob
MY NOTE: Sully gave away his sneakers? What would you use them for, planters?

.

by **bobheckler** Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:00 pm

by **bobheckler** Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:21 pm

Scrimmage 1, Part 1

Scrimmage 1, Part 2

Scrimmage 2

bob

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by **Berlin-T** Sat Oct 04, 2014 2:36 pm

Thanks very much, Bob. Sitting here in Berlin I don't have much of an opportunity to keep up on the new players. (Next week however I'm off to sunny Spain for three weeks) Looks a bit like helter-skelter to me, but I don't have a problem with that if they get in sync. It'll be interesting once they start to build some chemistry.
Hope you're doing well.
Berlin-T

by **Sam** Sat Oct 04, 2014 4:52 pm

I saw flashes of a motion offense on both sides. However, it looked as though they were far from confident, as they tended to give it a few seconds and then revert to me ball. That'll be a major indicator of progress over time.

Turner looks to me as though he is playing his normal game, which unfortunately includes some awful passing decisions. I'll be watching for signs that he is operating more out of the offensive flow.

Smart hasn't impressed me much. Too much dribbling around almost aimlessly or with a sense of desperation and then a pass that seems not to have much purpose. He definitely needs to let the game come to him and not feel he has to force things.

Nice to see Phil drill a few threes. I hope he can keep that up.

Why didn't Zeller jump center? He looked okay on a putback and an and-one layup, but I didn't see much of him racing up the court. I liked the fact that, when he had the ball stolen from him under his defensive basket, he came right back and blocked the putback attempt.

Bradley is still throwing only horizontal passes...nothing toward the rim.

Jeff Green looks confident, although I though he forced a couple of erratic threes with plenty of time left on the clock.

Looks like Wallace is none the worse for wear. I expect him to have a positive effect on this team, although I'm not at all certain in what role.

Most self-assured shooter on the team: Kelly Olynyk for sure. I believe he'll really thrive in a motion offense as a triple threat: passing, moving, shooting.

Sully looks like he'll have little trouble continuing his scintillating offensive play down low. Now there's a guy who can force a shot with the emphasis on "force."

I even liked the sequence with Rondo passing to teammates during warmups. I saw very few missed shots. Only practice, but nice to see the ball rippling the net with such regularity.

Sam

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