Despite success of small lineups, Brad Stevens says Boston Celtics could play 'a little bit more traditional'

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Despite success of small lineups, Brad Stevens says Boston Celtics could play 'a little bit more traditional'




Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Print Email Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on September 03, 2015 at 12:00 PM




BOSTON -- Over the second half of last season, the Boston Celtics thrived largely because small lineups spread the court and open the offense.

Jae Crowder often shifted to the 4 spot, Jonas Jerebko sometimes slid to the 5, and Isaiah Thomas took advantage of the additional space by cutting through the defense. Because the Celtics won 24 of their final 36 regular-season games, the starting lineup's inability to score slid mostly under the radar. But that unit mostly just avoided screwing things up too badly; it was the bench, which often played small, pushing Boston into the playoffs.

If there is any concern about upgrading the frontcourt talent and depth, it's that the Celtics might feel compelled to go away from something that worked so well. Despite understanding the utility of smaller lineups last season, Brad Stevens admitted the recipe could change during a chat Wednesday night at an ABCD Hoop Dreams charity event.

"We have more traditional bigs (than) last year," he said, "so we have to play a little bit more traditional and we have to be prepared to do that well."

The Celtics got bigger by acquiring Amir Johnson and David Lee, two established frontcourt veterans, and should also enter the season (knock on wood) with Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk healthy. Injuries to the two youngsters combined with a sea of trades to force Stevens into lineup experimentation. He might have shifted Crowder to the 4 anyway, but the situation dictated Stevens really didn't have a choice.

He will have a choice during the coming season. In all likelihood, that will be a good thing. Boston upgraded its talent level while keeping the creative, sharp coach who crawled through a pile of trades to push all the right buttons last season. There's reason to think Boston should qualify for the playoffs again, and it's not outrageous to wonder – as ESPN's Kevin Pelton recently did – whether the Celtics could win a series. In the East, Thomas believes, "We can make some noise."

But if Stevens does decide to go with more traditional lineups, his team will need to hammer out a new formula for success. Johnson can do a lot of things, Lee's talented in the pick-and-roll and Kelly Olynyk can space the court like a smaller guy, but Crowder wasn't always as effective at small forward and Jerebko's role could now change. After the rush to the playoffs, it was easy to forget what happened in January, when the Celtics lost 12 out of 15 games and even Brandon Bass grumbled about playing time. One issue then was losing. Thomas still hadn't arrived. But things also got tough for players – and Stevens – when Boston acquired three rotation-level players (Crowder, Brandan Wright and Jameer Nelson) for one (Rajon Rondo), thereby crowding the rotation.

Boston again has a lot of depth. Despite returning most contributors, Stevens could need to find new ways to maximize his talent.

"I'm interested to see (what happens with the bigger lineups)," he said. "It's something that we've gotta – the more positions you can guard, the better as a player. The more versatility that you can play with, the better. So we'll see. Again, we'll see how that all figures itself out.

"We have some ability to play small. We have some ability to play big. We'll do what's best."



bob
MY NOTE:  In order to pay 'more traditional' you need players who can fill traditional roles.  Brad is still a legit, traditional, defensive center away from that, minimum.  I have no doubt that his last sentence is true, he will "do what's best", be that traditional or some new beast nobody has ever seen before. That's one of his biggest strengths, his youthful mind and ability/willingness to think outside the traditional box.


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You can't get more traditional than Dr. Naismith and it may be fun to find out what tradition Coach Brad is referring to.

Going all the way back to the beginning: On offense, Naismith and his team of toughs could only advance the ball by passing. (Dribbling was invented later). Crashing the boards and fighting for rebounds became another offensive staple, and was considered much of the fun. So those are two traditions that would be most welcome this season as offensive focal points.

On defense, covering one's man so close he doesn't have room to breathe, or receive a pass, was another tradition first attributed to Naismith's toughies. If that's what Brad meant, then by all means, coach, go for it.

It's very possible that this is going to be Coach Brad's year to step into the spotlight. His first year was a baptism of fire. In his second year, he took his team to the playoffs. Suppose you could say he's trending in the right direction.