Summer Quandaries 12: The Celtics/Coaching Connection

http://celticsgreen.blogspot.com/2015/08/sq12-celticscoaching-connection.html



SQ12 The Celtics/Coaching Connection

By Lee Lauderdale







I no more than finished typing the title than I started getting tangential thoughts. Is this about the Celtics coaches? Is it about Ex-Celtics and Ex-Celtics-Coaches around the league? Actually I started with the question: Which current Celtics would be most likely to become, or would make the best future, coaches? Then it occurred to me, how many current Celtics players are the sons of coaches? Hey, come to think of it, that probably is not merely a coincidence! And that led me back to Danny and his brain-typing and his preference for high BBIQ players. Now that I ponder upon it, that is exactly the kind of player that best suits Brad Stevens' read-and-react, space-and-pace system. Perhaps we've stumbled across a trend here?

Whether you are talking about the Celtics of old, Doc's Ubuntu group, or Brad's ball and player movement, they all emphasize the value of a basketball Gestalt rather than the mano-a-mano isolation ball that had become so prevalent in the NBA (much to the dismay and disgust of many of us old-timers). Basketball played the Celtics way, is an advanced study of individuals and groups in motion, and a whole panoply of nuances and predictive anticipation that is miles away from the one-on-one every playground starts with and all too often the ego dominated NBA ends with. It also explains why I've been a Celtics fan for 60 years.

A large part of the greatness of Bird, and Magic, and Rondo, and Cousy, and Jason Kidd was seeing the big picture. Seeing it develop, often before it even happened. Anticipation built of following the flow, and eddies, and seeing where it was leading, where it almost had to lead. Starting the passing motion even before their teammate began his cut, because they saw the vulnerability in the defense's overplay, and knew the backdoor would be open and where their teammate should be going, and they had the faith that the cut would be made. Sometimes a foolish looking pass/turnover is because the receiver did not do what he could, and should, have done when the opportunity presented itself. It also plays a large role in why familiarity is so critical to TEAM-oriented systems, and much less so for iso ball where (admittedly) superb athletes try to impose their will on their defender. In a way it also explains why those superb iso guys are so frustrated to beat one defender after another, only to find yet another helping defender stands in their way.

Within this germ of an idea is the understanding of why Olynyk is such an astute passer, as is Amir Johnson. There is also an insight as to why Isaiah Thomas and Evan Turner so often end up in the air making a desperation pass (to avoid traveling) rather than a pinpoint delivery allowing a teammate to capitalize on an open opportunity (Rajon Rondo's forté). It is what I worry that Smart may never have, and perhaps not Rozier either. It is why I am so impressed with R. J. Hunter who makes superb passes, intercepts the opposition's passes with anticipation more than athleticism, and makes the small movements that create opportunities for his teammates or rob the opposition of theirs (all things which I doubt we will ever associate with James Young). I've just reread this paragraph and am somewhat stunned, and depressed, to realize that two of our big men are better passers than any of our point guards.

Going back to some of the questions raised in the introductory paragraph, the quick answer to how many ex Celtics players and coaches are in coaching positions around the league—a lot, a whole lot, in fact the only challenger would be the Popovich deciples. Players who had fathers who were coaches—Hunter, college; Sullinger, high school; Zeller, high school baseball; Olynyk, Canada national team; if you have more, please put in the comments section. Current player most likely or best coach—Kelly Olynyk, my take on NBA players going in to coaching is that the best ones are those for whom the game came more difficultly, the harder you have to work to learn it, the better you can teach it (Bird, great coach; Jordan, not so much). Probably the best all-time teachers of basketball, at least at the NBA level, were Red and Larry Brown.

Only 54 days until camp.



bob
MY NOTE: Lee really nailed this one.


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Who is this guy??

Matty wrote:Who is this guy??

bob



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What a luxury to be able to write about so many different basketball related phenomena.

It will be very interesting to see which players become coaches.  

One of the interesting things I noticed occurred during the summer league games.  I may have mentioned it before but I want to mention it again.

The summer league squad was playing the same style of basketball that the veteran players have been playing under Brad Stevens.

Of course it was a simplified version but you could see the same type of flow on offense going on.

I would expect to see the Celtics take the next step this year.  Advanced applications within the motion offense need to be implemented this year.

If there was one criticism of the offense it has to do with shot selection.  The offense opens up a ton of opportunities to shoot the basketball but it rarely targeted specific weaknesses in the defense it was up against.  Part of that is because the basic motion offense is not designed to get Player x a shot when he arrives at position Y.  There are perhaps far too many instances where the course of least resistance takes hold of the team.

Brad is a smart coach and the next step for him is to continue the offensive development so that the team is able to recognize and exploit weaknesses on the court rather than just seek out the next 3 point opportunity.  So for example if a mis-match appears the ball needs to get to the player that has an advantage over his man.  If a guy is open on the right side but shoots much better from the left side of the court maybe the ball should not go to him even if he is open.  I am not sure if the team can accomplish this level of Intelligent play without a floor general.  I am not sure if the level of discipline required to make this happen can be accomplished in the motion offense in absence of a floor general.

With respect to offensive efficiency the Celtics take more shots per game than any other team.  Now they need to improve their ability to put the ball in the hoop.  In addition, they could field a 12 man active roster where every single player actually has skills.  But no teams plays 12 guys every night.  Brad should be able to utilize his deep roster to play more uptempo basketball.  We ran some last year and then again we did not run enough. My wish list includes

Fast break basketball at a pace not seen on the planet earth since Russell and Cousy and those truly great fast break Celtics teams  redefined how the game would be played.

Better shot selection

More defensive and offensive rebounds

Fewer turnovers

More free throws

And lastly an ultimate sacrifice by players because some nights certain players may not get in the game and that will be really tough for Brad to manage.

So if we were able to accomplish all of these goals I suggest to you that we could make it to the finals.

dboss