Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics not Panicked. Brad 'unimpressed'

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2018/10/jaylen_brown_boston_celtics_st.html

Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics not panicked about preseason struggles, but Brad Stevens 'couldn't be more unimpressed'
Updated 10:01 PM; Posted 9:58 PM
Jaylen Brown not worried about Boston Celtics' early struggles

By Tom Westerholm
BOSTON -- Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens isn't a fiery individual, but after a lackluster 102-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, in which the Celtics trailed by 20 on multiple occasions, Stevens coolly told reporters how much more the Celtics need to be if they want to achieve their lofty goals for this year.

"(The starters) were minus-11 in the first two games too," Stevens said. "So we have to play better. I don't think, certainly overall in the first week, that has not been effective."

Boston has struggled on both ends throughout the preseason. The offense has never felt fluid, save for a brief stretch in the opening game when 3-pointers were falling, and the defense has been less than inspired.

That's understandable to an extent -- the preseason isn't exactly inspiring. Except for Robert Williams (who has been motoring around the court like a man trying to make up time on his GPS), Boston's entire roster has been a part of deep postseason runs, and tune-up games in early October are not their priority.

It showed on Tuesday. Stevens was asked about matching up with big units.

"We'll go back and start with, 'Are you doing it well enough? Are you executing techniques hard enough?''" Stevens said. "Then you move to 'Do we need to change it?' And that very well could be a change in personnel or system. So we'll figure out where it is right now, but I couldn't be more unimpressed after our first three exhibition games."

Jaylen Brown was asked about Stevens' comments after the game.

"It's fair words," he said. "It's early though. I mean, let's not overreact. I mean it's a fair assessment from Brad, but at the same time let's not jump ship. Let's just continue the course. It's preseason. ...

"I think we'll figure it out. I have no doubt in my mind that we'll figure it out. I think we just need to take a deep breath, and smile, and continue to get better each and every game."

Still, the Celtics have aspirations for more this year, and they have a limited amount of time remaining to tune up before games start to matter. Marcus Morris said in the past he might have been tempted to give half-effort in the preseason, but this year's team wants to do something different.

"I know that happens with me, because I'm like, 'It's preseason. It doesn't count,'" Morris said. "But like I said, we're chasing something special. So we're going to use every game as a building block of getting better. Like I said, we're the favorites in the East. We need to show that. We need to show competitive nature, we need to show togetherness, we need to show hustle, even though we're only playing a certain amount of minutes. Guys are watching. I don't care if it's preseason or not, everyone's watching and expecting to see us playing well. As a unit, we need to."

The Celtics have one more preseason game on Saturday, followed by 10 days off before the regular season gets underway on October 16. For a team with plenty of familiarity but also a desperate need for chemistry, that isn't a lot of time to prepare.

"We have to get back to being us," Marcus Smart said. "We're not doing things in the defensive end. We were being lazy. Guys were switching onto guys instead of guarding their own guy, and we want somebody to do the job for us and that's just not us, and rightfully so Brad wasn't happy and he let it be known."

"We're not as good as advertised right now," Stevens said. "So at least we know that."

If there's a positive to this stretch for the Celtics, Smart believes the team knows how hard they have to work.

"It's great for us -- brings us back, humbles us," Smart said. "We've got a lot of attention over the last couple months of how good this team can be, but we can't turn it on and off. It's good to have these moments, then we have to move on."

"We're not as good as advertised right now," Stevens said. "So at least we know that."


so far, that is correct.

The team has only been officially on the court together for 8 days to date.

Lots of improving to do from the first couple of exhibition games, but lots of time to make these improvements.

I have plenty of confidence in Coach Stevens to make adjustments.

Folks,

3 1/2 weeks to the season, relax and watch the team jell around December 15th. Then if nothing is working.......panic!


112288