Brad Stevens: 'I just don't know that we're that good'

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/brad-stevens-just-dont-know-045922820.html



Brad Stevens: 'I just don't know that we're that good'



NBC Sports Boston 11 hours ago




BOSTON - In a raw and riveting press conference following his team's latest head-shaking loss, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens offered a brutally honest assessment of his now-.500 team and admitted that Boston has shown few signs of being the title contender that they were so widely pegged to be.

Stevens opened his media session by offering high praise for a Knicks team that shot its way to as much as a 26-point lead before fending off a furious Celtics fourth-quarter charge in what was ultimately a wire-to-wire 117-109 triumph at TD Garden. But the conversation quickly steered to a Boston team that will wake up on Thanksgiving with a .500 record."I just don't know that we're that good. Maybe it's not a wakeup call if you keep getting beat," said Stevens. "We have to play better. It's not because we're not capable of being good. It's not because we weren't good at one time in our lives. It's your good if you play good and the results are speaking for themselves."


For seven-plus minutes, Stevens offered an unvarnished state of a union about a Celtics team that isn't as good as the numbers suggest it is defensively and allowed Trey Burke to become the latest guard to scorch them with a loud individual performance. So what exactly is ailing these Celtics?

"It's not one guy. It's not two guys. It's all of us," said Stevens. "We're not playing with the same personality we played with last year.

That's the easiest way to describe it.

And then the 50,000 issues that are below that, we have to tackle one at a time."What has changed from the personality of last year's team, a group that surged to the fringe of the NBA Finals despite playing without two All-Stars in Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward?

"I think we all know it," said Stevens. "I think we all know we hung our hat on things that led to winning and we've just got to get back to that."

While Stevens has been critical of his team, he has drawn the ire of some Celtics fans for not being more exasperated with his team's continued underperformance. While Stevens is not the type to stomp and scream about his team's play, he's realistic about their struggles. And during his postgame media session, he didn't afford his team any excuses for their underwhelming play nearing the quarter pole of the 2018-19 season.While painfully obvious, it was still jarring to hear Stevens acknowledge how deep Boston's problems run. There is no simple solution to their woes and only a sustained multi-game effort is likely to get them on track. That's no small request of a team that hasn't even been able to play one complete 48-minute game.

Stevens was asked if there's anything from earlier in his coaching career he can lean on for guidance this season. Stevens found a couple of examples.

"I thought where we brought everybody back my third year as a head coach and I thought we started off just kind of like this - up and down, but our defense was the one that was really hurting us," said Stevens. "And what turned that around was we just decided to be nasty tough. And we just went with it. And, then, all of a sudden everything fell into place and we just put everything else aside and grit our teeth and played. And then, a couple years ago here, when we had mostly everybody back and we added Al [Horford] and we started off 11-11 or 12-12 or something like that and ended up with 53 wins."

Turning his attention to this year's team, Stevens was adamant that nothing would come easy, even with all the talent the 2018-19 Celtics possess."It's not guaranteed that you're going to be able to turn it around. The reality is you have to grind it out, you have to work, and you have to be able to weather all this other stuff that's going along with it," said Stevens.

"I heard [Sixers coach] Brett Brown say this earlier in the year, and this is where coaches are sick in a twisted way, because the losing eats you alive. "The storm is part of a job. And I'm looking forward to getting a chance to really dig in, and hopefully we can weather it."Then, when the final question of the session wondered if Stevens is better equipped to handle this sort of situation than earlier in his career, the coach turned introspective.

"[Thursday is] Thanksgiving, right? We all have a lot to be thankful for," said Stevens. "We lost a basketball game. We got outplayed. We've lost a few in a row. It's been a tough stretch. I think that we'll work, and we'll do our very best. And that's always been good enough for me. "You're not going to have great days every day in this, and part of this job description is, like I said earlier, is weathering the storms. And so, this is a job, and we'll work to correct everything we can. But we're all so very thankful for all that we have, even on nights like tonight."



bob
MY NOTE: "You are your record" - Doc Rivers



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Brad Stevens: 'I just don't know that we're that good'


that is CORRECT!

The talent level on this year's team is better than it has been in any year of Stevens' time in Boston.

This year's team is pretty much composed of vets (although some are still pretty young) who all played together last season unlike last year when there were only four returning players from the previous season.

The problem is not not having enough talent or having to blend a bunch of new players together to figure out how they will work together.  Also, the coaching staff has not all of a sudden gone and gotten stupid.

So, we must be looking at something mental?  Perhaps this team read about how many folks thought they were "going" to be good and figured that being what they wanted was not going to take the effort, sacrifices, etc (just show up and win?) that it took to play like last season's Celtics.

Egos need to checked at the door, feelings can get hurt, etc, but a team that is going to be good will laugh at these possible issues when they start winning like they should with the talent that they have.  No finger pointing or naming names to the press-just dig in and play harder and better.

Coaches need to take control of such mentally related problems by shaking things up as far as starters and playing time when superior talent does not perform well.  I have been disappointed not to see more (than just Hayward not starting) changes in the starting lineup and total playing time allotments when the same problems seem to cause Coach Stevens to make statements such as "I don't know if we are that good".

Brad Stevens has to take credit for a lot of this.  He has to get control of players to get them to do the things they are strong at and quit doing the things  they aren't strong at.  Mavs game tonight our front court of Tatum, Morris and Horford shot ZERO free throws. Same guys had 17 rebounds and Jordan for Dallas Had 13 by himself.  I am ready to see if our first round pick and block a few of the drives to the basket and get some rebounds.  Horford and Baynes are just too slow.  Need for speed.

Dallas didn't have their most explosive player in Dennis Smith.

Unfortunately tonite Kyrie played like Rozier and Rozier continues to brick everything and now suddenly his defense is not effective either. Our defense cannot stop penetration, we give up too many crucial offensive rebounds at the worst times and our 3 point shooting doesn’t scare anybody.

Too many 3s too early in the shot clock. No player in position for an offensive board when you jack up a 3 that early and miss, so the possession arrow points out your mistake.

Boston has players that can penetrate and get to the rim, or kick back out. As soon as they figure that out, it will help solve one key problem.

As a .500 club 1/4 way through the season, changes in style of play, rotations, or both are likely coming. This is too talented a club to be sitting around their division in 3rd, so I think players will expect and buy in to whatever needs to be done to turn the season around.

The 3 point shooting issue cannot be resolved until Brad Stevens realizes that this team cannot win like that.

As long as this team runs a pick and pop with Baynes up top you are going to have problems.    When the Celtics do go to the rim they are successful.

The defense suffers greatly from the lack of a legit rim protector.  And we only have one legit shot blocker who just happens to be a rookie.  Maybe we do not need 4 or 5 scorers in the lineup.  Maybe we just need a hungry kid who just wants to play.  Someone not looking to shoot a 3 pointer.  Someone who was drafted specifically based on their defensive ability.

The Celtics are giving up way too many points at the rim because we have no one to protect it.  

Right now Brad is still searching for the right combinations.

dboss wrote:The 3 point shooting issue cannot be resolved until Brad Stevens realizes that this team cannot win like that.

As long as this team runs a pick and pop with Baynes up top you are going to have problems.    When the Celtics do go to the rim they are successful.

The defense suffers greatly from the lack of a legit rim protector.  And we only have one legit shot blocker who just happens to be a rookie.  Maybe we do not need 4 or 5 scorers in the lineup.  Maybe we just need a hungry kid who just wants to play.  Someone not looking to shoot a 3 pointer.  Someone who was drafted specifically based on their defensive ability.

The Celtics are giving up way too many points at the rim because we have no one to protect it.  

Right now Brad is still searching for the right combinations.

Maybe we just need a hungry kid who just wants to play.  Someone not looking to shoot a 3 pointer.  Someone who was drafted specifically based on their defensive ability.

Sums it up for me.

Al is a rim protector, but him getting worn out this early in the season can’t be good. He is already pacing himself to last the season and his play is not vintage Al. We have got to start developing Williams.

Food for Thought:





bob



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I think our fix is two-fold.

First, we need to have every (or close to every) trip up the floor at least touch the paint.  We need to get the defense to focus inside first.  Then we can kick it out and get better looks from our outside shooters.  This is not my idea, I am paraphrasing something that Tommy said. I believe that is what allowed Tatum to be so open last season. He did a lot more catch and shoot and much less create on his own, at least earlier in the season.

Next, we need to see more of Robert Williams.  So far, none of the other bigs have affectively been able to stop the dribble drive.  Since the opposing guards are getting past our perimeter defenders, no one is adequately protecting the rim.  Maybe Williams can help with that.  Plus, it gives us six more fouls to spread out so that Horford won't have to be so carful with his fouls.  One more thing that Williams can bring to the table is defensive rebounding.  I am seeing the other team take offensive rebounds from above our players.  Williams can stop some of that nonsense.

If we are already going to lose these kind of games, we might as well develop Williams along the way.  What will it cost us, we are already losing?

My 2c.

gyso

gyso

A reasonable assessment.

I would like to see Williams in the starting lineup with Horford, Tatum, Brown and Irving.

I would come off the bench with Smart, Rozier, Hayward and Morris with either Baynes of Theis at 5.

That may give us more balance in each unit.

Exactly gyso

Even though this years Roster was believed to have been upgraded, the Celtics Offense and Defense are seriously flawed in Key areas thus far this year - when compared to their performance of last year.
   Below is a breakdown of how the team fared offensively and defenively from the 5 shooting areas.
Offense ranking ,,, fga
 0-3 foot range / 2017-18,, 25th  /  2018-19,, 27th
 3-10 foot range / 2017-18,, 17th  /  2018-19,, 24th
 10-16 foot range / 2017-18,, 14th  /  2018-19,, 5th
 16-30 foot range / 2017-18,,  16th  /  2018-19,, 6th        many more shots from 10' out in 2018-19
      3p       range / 2017-18,,  8th  /  2018-19,, 3rd

 Offense ranking ,,, Shooting %
 0-3 foot range / 2017-18,, 26th  /  2018-19,, 16th
3-10 foot range / 2017-18,, 27th /  2018-19,,   3rd
10-16 foot range / 2017-18,, 14th / 2018-19,,   14th
16-30 foot range / 2017-18,,  3rd /  2018-19,,   23th       Much Better fg% from 16' out in 2017-18
  3p          range / 2017-18,,  2nd / 2018-19,,   20th  

      Defensive Ranking ,,,, fga
 0-3 foot range / 2017-18,, 19th / 2018-19,,  9th
3-10 foot range / 2017-18,, 19th / 2018-19,, 23th      more fga in 0-3,10-16 range in 2018-19
10-16 foot range / 2017-18,, 15th / 2018-19,, 6th
16-30 foot range / 2017-18,, 18th / 2018-19,, 10th
    3p        range / 2017-18,, 10th / 2018-19,, 27th

    Defensive ranking,,, shooting %
 0-3 foot range / 1917 -18,, 19th / 2018-19,, 11th
3-10 foot range / 1917-18,, 4th / 2018-19,, 20th
10-16 foot range / 1917-18,, 1st / 2o18-19,, 22nd
16-30 foot range / 1917-18,, 5th / 2018-19,, 21st      Huge edge 3' thru 30' range in fg% in 2017-18
  3p       range   /  1917-18,, 1st / 2018-19,, 1st

  I'm surprised to see the big edge that the 2017-18 team had in FG% ON DEFENSE.

    The big question. Which set of stats will turn out to be the best predictor of this current teams future?

   swish

Swish one of the things we need to keep in mind regrading the defense is the dramatic uptick in scoring. I do not think you can compare the defense from last year to this year. They are calling the game a lot closer this year. It seems like every team is scoring big points this year.

Our PF/PA differential is worse 3.6 last year and 2.1 this year. The Celtics are 2nd in the league in points against. Last year they were 3rd. So this tells me that the defense has remained relatively strong although it does need to play better. Last year we needed rim protection and they drafted Williams. Seems like a good pick for a specific need.

Our offense however is glaringly inadequate. The Celtics cannot keep up with half the teams in the league when it comes to scoring.

dboss

 My defensive figures are percentage related and in this respect the 2017-18 Celtics were much more efficient in holding down the opponet shooting percentages in the 3' to 30' range. Only in the 0-3' range do the 2018-19 Celtics hold an edge.

  swish