Sheed's lack of rebounding becoming a major problem

Let's, for the time being, overlook Sheed's woeful 3-point shooting (on the game-on thread I mentioned he was a pathetic 5 for his last 32, 15.5%) and examine his shocking decline in rebounding his last 12 games, including another 2 rebound 22 1/2 minute performance today.

Coming into this year Sheed was known as a rather poor rebounder for someone his size. Before joining the Celtics he got one rebound every 4.88 minutes. To be a good rebounder you need average no worse than one every four minutes.

In Sheed's first 39 games this year, he was getting one rebound every 5.24 minutes, a little worse than his career rate.

But in his last 12 games (in which the Celtics are only 6-6) he has grabbed only 33 rebounds in 272 1/2 minutes - ONE REBOUND EVERY 8.26 MINUTES! In NINE of those 12 games he has had three rebounds or less. In SIX of them, only two or one rebound. And he's been averaging almost 23 minutes a game!

This guy is avoiding contact at all costs around the basket, choosing not to get his nose in there, and on the offensive end, spending far too much time camped out at the three-point line. It'd be OK if he could occasionally hit a three but he can't even do that.

He can still provide decent big-man defense and has active hands resulting in a fair amount of steals but, geez, grab a damn rebound every once in a while!

Lots of little guards get a rebound every 8.26 minutes. You'd think someone 6'11" could do better.

Steve

Boy do I miss Leon Powe,theres a guy who always had his nose in there,I think Sheed is now a slow jumper and in the infighting is too high,taking too long to gather himself and his footwork is too slow,other players are beating him to the spot too easily,then further beating him to the jump too.If we could find a way to give SW even 8-10 minutes a game he could prolly do 6-7 boards in those minutes,Baby playing better,but like TA his faults always come out and he gets stuffed close to basket alot.

cow

bobheckler wrote:Steve,

Don't get me started on Sheed. I already take blood pressure meds.

bob

and whenever he starts to launch a 3 I feel like puking

We will know if it was a boom or bust for us come play-off time. If Rasheed does not give us the kind of play we were expecting come play-offs he should be gone this summer. Ainge would have to be crazy to keep him if he does not produce. Excuse me I now have to take some Tumbs to absorb by acid reflex he causes me!

112288

112288 wrote:We will know if it was a boom or bust for us come play-off time. If Rasheed does not give us the kind of play we were expecting come play-offs he should be gone this summer. Ainge would have to be crazy to keep him if he does not produce. Excuse me I now have to take some Tumbs to absorb by acid reflex he causes me!

112288

There is no reason to believe that Wallace will change (ie improve) at all. Where the "F" is Williams? Why isn't he in there instead of Wallace the Wimp?
Wallace talks the talk real well.....he has given this team very little since the first 10 games or so of the season. He came into the season FAT and is still not in shape. Disgraceful.

Okay, here comes the "context lesson" again. Also sometimes known as my "Scal lesson."

You can't evaluate a player in a vacuum. It is the sum of the players' contributions when the guy is on the court that counts far more than their individual contributions.

I have reviewed the four post-all-star games, which I consider to be the start of the "real" season when the Celtics finally have a little
continuity going for them (if, of course, you don't count the loss of a bench player whose replacement hasn't yet played a minute).

During those four games, the five starting players have totaled the following number of rebounds per minute played:

.16 against the Kings
.14 against the Lakers
.13 against the Blazers
.19 against the Nuggets

The three or four (depending on the game) bench players who have played more than a token number of minutes recently have totaled:

.23 against the Kings
.14 against the Lakers
.10 against the Blazers
.19 against the Nuggets

The average per-game figures over that four-game span:

.15 for the starters and .16 for the bench

You see, guys, different guys fill different roles. For example, one guy may be getting the rebounds while another is boxing out. In the
case of the Celtics bench, Glen Davis is assuming much of the rebounding load since he returned to the team. Perhaps he's both boxing out for himself and grabbing the rebounds, but I doubt it. And, when Sheed's playing with the starters, Perk or KG is more than likely going to be getting the rebounding stats.

The fact is that, if one player is getting the recorded stats, it's often at the expense of a teammate's stats. But it doesn't necessarily
mean the teammate's not contributing to the totality of the effort.

I understand the desire to see more of Sheldon Williams. But here comes my "toy soldier" lesson, which says that life on a basketball
court is not as simple as dropping a player into the lineup, winding him up, and assuming that everything will be hunky dory.

Sheldon produced some pretty impressive rebounding figures early in the season. But you can't evaluate a player on the basis only one thing he does well if he's a liability in other areas. And Sheldon's ball-handing is a liability...and on a team that has ball-handing problems. Sheldon produces nearly double the number of turnovers that Sheed does on a per-minutes-played basis.

On offense, Sheldon can sometimes hit the open jumper and grab an offensive board, but he's now redundant with Glen Davis in those
respects. Sheldon doesn't represent the defensive length that Sheed does. Sheldon doesn't call out defensive signals like Sheed does (and hasn't the defense tightened up lately?). Sheldon can't create the low post offense that Sheed can.

I knew, as soon as I wrote that last sentence, that I'd be inviting the "well then why doesn't Sheed stay in the low post and forget the
threes?" comebacks. Well now we're back to the "context lesson." Until Eddie left the bench, Sheed was focusing pretty well on staying in the low post. Even last night, seven of his ten shots were from inside the arc.

Remember that 17-point game against Sacramento? Well 14 of those 17 points were generated inside the arc (including free throws that he certainly didn't shoot because of being fouled beyond the arc). And it may not be coincidental that Eddie was 4-6 on threes in that game. Eddie (and sometimes Ray) was doing the floor spacing for the bench. I'm hoping that, when Nate starts playing, Sheed will be less inclined to stray outside and more motivated to capitalize on his height and wiliness inside.

Hey, I'm not claiming Sheed's anything like perfect. I sometimes hold my head when he takes a poorly timed three, and I've stated that I think he puts out more effort when the team's going well, which prevents him from being much of a positive game-changing catalyst when things are going badly.

That's what he is, for better or worse. Face it. But the best way to effect change in Sheed is not to expect him to initiate the change
himself. Since he has become a reactive player, we have to hope that the team will evolve in such a way that he'll adjust as a natural
outgrowth of that evolution—especially on offense. I'm pretty happy with his defense in general. As for his rebounding, my suggestion is
to try to think more about rebounding effectiveness of the entire unit rather than focusing on Sheed's stats out of context.

And, if you want something to be concerned about, I'd focus more on Tony Allen's struggle to find an offensive identity since Marquis Daniels has returned to the lineup.

Sam

Bob,

I'm hoping that the Celtics will gain momentum as they gain cohesiveness and that Sheed will get into the spirit of the momentum. At present, I don't believe he's thoroughly committed to giving his best regardless of the situation; in essence, he's become a bit of a front-runner. Unfortunately, I don't see that changing, so I'm mainly hoping the Celtics will present him with a "front" to "run" with.

Sam

Maybe I am looking at it differently, but I see Sheeds problem being more a matter of age and declining skills. For spurts during nearly every game, he is the old Sheed. He hits a few post up bank shows, drops a 3 pointer or two, defends his position well. He gets his hands on A LOT of balls on defense, disrupts lots of drives, and even if it is just by means of a hard foul or two – he makes his presence felt…for a stretch.

Sooner or later however, he seems to get tired or is just physically overwhelmed by younger, stronger more athletic players – and this is where the frustration sets in. He goes for a block and his guy grabs an offensive rebound – he defends a drive to the hoop, and mis-times his jump resulting in a foul instead of a block. You can see the intensity sucked out of him, as it becomes clear that he is just not on the same athletic level as he once was. This causes him to further withdraw from the banging under the basket – and drift out for more and more 3 point shots.

I almost see it as something that Doc can see in early indicators – and adjust accordingly. For example, if Sheed comes in and plays well in the first half – he gets more time in the 2nd. But if he comes in and is frustrated and ineffective – maybe Doc should bring Shelden Williams in for the 2nd half, and see how that goes.

All in all, down the stretch in the playoffs – Sheed IS going to have a big game or two. That is simply what he does. So while we can be concerned with this or that….as a back up PF/C – there are not a lot of guys who are more prime time play off performers that we could have on the bench.

Mrkleen,

Good observations. Declining skills and endurance very likely have something to do with it...which places great importance on Doc's ability to manage Sheed's minutes constructively. But I believe there's also some "mental aging" involved, whereby he's seen and experienced it all and needs some external motivation to raise the level of his effort. Otherwise, he seems a little blazé a lot of the time...until a ref tees him off.

Sam

Forget what announcer it was, but I think it was Doug Collins during the Lakers game….but someone this weekend was talking about Sheed stepping up come playoff time…and that people should not be lulled into thinking that he is done. That when the real games begin, Sheed will step up and play more focused.

Not sure you can turn it on like that….but if he plays like he did against Sacramento…even a few times during the post season, he will put a lot of this kind of discussion to bed.

Mrkleen,

I'm a big believer in the fact that, once ability is demonstrated, it doesn't disappear overnight. It becomes a matter of encouraging that ability to be used to the max as often as possible. I'm very hopeful that Doc and the team can find the right formula in Sheed's case.

Sam