are there some issues in the locker room?

Jay King: Crowder didn’t put entire blame on coaches, but made it clear he thinks the lack of a set rotation is an issue.

– via Twitter ByJayKing



Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he tried to put James Young into Friday’s lopsided win over the Washington Wizards but was told the second-year swingman couldn’t play due to a sore shoulder after sleeping on it wrong. “He told me his shoulder hurt; couldn’t play,” said Stevens. “He went through some rehab that day, went through some rehab [Saturday] morning, practiced, though we didn’t go full speed [Saturday], and is available [Sunday versus the Magic] pending his warmup. I tried to put him in [on Friday] with six minutes to go.” Young, the No. 17 pick in the 2014 draft, has played only four minutes in two appearances this season and made the only shot he took — a 3-pointer during three minutes of trash time in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks last week.

– via ESPN.com


first one seems more problematic than the second, obviously.

but could it be cracks developing, due to the deep roster?

Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry. It's hard to develop when you don't know who you're going to be playing with and what your roll is in various combinations.

If I remember correctly, (never sure at my age) Stevens went through this last year until the trading deadline passed and then he settled down somewhat. Let's see if Danny pulls a trade off and then perhaps we'll see a steadier rotation.

Crowder's criticism however is legit.

Berlin-T

Interesting, and possibly the Celtics could benefit from a more stable rotation. However, it is still early in the season, and the Celtic's depth is their biggest asset. Thus, it might be worth it for Brad to fiddle with rotations in this early part of the season so he can better understand which combinations of players are best suited for various match-ups/game situations. Hopefully it will pay off later.

Berlin this is actually the 3rd year in a row that Stevens has been trying to figure out the rotations.

He needs to clearly establish his top 8 players. Then determine who starts and who comes off the bench. And figure out how the minutes should be distributed. And then identify a couple of specialty players that can do specific things very well.

Last year there were 75 different players wearing a Celtics Uniform. Danny will start tweaking the team again like he does every single year. And the process will start all over again as Stevens tries to find the right combinations to play together.

dboss