NBA Radio discusses what is wrong with the Celtics

The 3 best players on this team are Kyrie Irving, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown.  

Brad Sevens sent Jaylen to the bench after he got hurt and missed a game even though his overall play had ever indication of returning to last year's form.  Before the move he scored 16 points with 5 rebounds in a road loss to Dallas 113-104.  He missed 3 games and when he came back Stevens decided to bring him off the bench instead of putting him back in the starting lineup.  He came back and scored 21, 23 and 19 points in 3 consecutive games but still he did not get back into the starting lineup.

Boston was in the middle of their best streak of the year.  Most fans on this forum were pretty giddy but few even considered that the 8 game streak was built on a house of cards.  8 straight wins against teams and none of them will be in the playoffs this year.

It has been a general rule of thumb that you should not lose your starting job due to injury but that is what happened to Jaylen.  Even though he was playing well before the injury and even though he came back even better,  he found himself coming off the bench playing short minutes.

This change will prove to be the biggest blunder by coach Stevens.  

He basically has separated Tatum from Brown.  That tandem was meant to play together.

If you want to know what is wrong with this team you can begin with a starting lineup that features a SG that is averaging 8.3 points per game.   You can also consider that Smart is a PG and not a shooting guard.  There exists a lack of positional balance in your starting unit.

The best 5 players should be on the court as starters.  Your best center, your best PF, your best SF, your best SG and your best PG.  That is what is suppose to happen.

Brad Stevens has made a big mistake and he needs to follow the bread crumb to find his way out of the forest.

The Celtics had a very good season last year with Jaylen Brown in the starting lineup where he was 2nd on the team in scoring.  Him 17.9 PPG and Tatum 18.5 PPG carried us in the playoffs last year.  The only difference this year is that Tatum starts and gets 31.2  MPG and Brown comes off the bench at 25.9 PPG.  It is the dumbest move by Stevens since he has coached this team.

If you want to start winning again put Brown back into the lineup before it is too late.

Coach Stevens is the one who screwed up the chemistry on this team.

dboss wrote:The 3 best players on this team are Kyrie Irving, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown.  

Brad Sevens sent Jaylen to the bench after he got hurt and missed a game even though his overall play had ever indication of returning to last year's form.  Before the move he scored 16 points with 5 rebounds in a road loss to Dallas 113-104.  He missed 3 games and when he came back Stevens decided to bring him off the bench instead of putting him back in the starting lineup.  He came back and scored 21, 23 and 19 points in 3 consecutive games but still he did not get back into the starting lineup.

Boston was in the middle of their best streak of the year.  Most fans on this forum were pretty giddy but few even considered that the 8 game streak was built on a house of cards.  8 straight wins against teams and none of them will be in the playoffs this year.

It has been a general rule of thumb that you should not lose your starting job due to injury but that is what happened to Jaylen.  Even though he was playing well before the injury and even though he came back even better,  he found himself coming off the bench playing short minutes.

This change will prove to be the biggest blunder by coach Stevens.  

He basically has separated Tatum from Brown.  That tandem was meant to play together.

If you want to know what is wrong with this team you can begin with a starting lineup that features a SG that is averaging 8.3 points per game.   You can also consider that Smart is a PG and not a shooting guard.  There exists a lack of positional balance in your starting unit.

The best 5 players should be on the court as starters.  Your best center, your best PF, your best SF, your best SG and your best PG.  That is what is suppose to happen.

Brad Stevens has made a big mistake and he needs to follow the bread crumb to find his way out of the forest.

The Celtics had a very good season last year with Jaylen Brown in the starting lineup where he was 2nd on the team in scoring.  Him 17.9 PPG and Tatum 18.5 PPG carried us in the playoffs last year.  The only difference this year is that Tatum starts and gets 31.2  MPG and Brown comes off the bench at 25.9 PPG.  It is the dumbest move by Stevens since he has coached this team.

If you want to start winning again put Brown back into the lineup before it is too late.

Coach Stevens is the one who screwed up the chemistry on this team.

dboss,

You know I love it when I get a chance to disagree with you; the occasions are so rare.

I make the best 3 on the Celtics Irving, Tatum and Smart.

I also like Brown better coming off the bench.

In my view, to start Brown, you have to bring Smart off the bench. Between the two, I'll take Smart. Better defender, and, I think, equal on the offensive side of the ball with his improved shooting. Can't be in place of Morris, because Morris' physical presence is needed. He's also having a career year. I haven't seen any stats, but I'm guessing Morris is better shooting from mid-to-long range than Brown. A better rebounder too, and we can't sacrifice that skill. Starting Brown along with Tatum just makes the team too small when the opponent has some beef.

I've seen a few comments in threads advocating starting Brown. In my book he's a great spark off the bench, and in place of either Smart or Morris, weakens the starting lineup. To my way of thinking, the current starting lineup is the best available with the current roster.

Check that out. Different opinion from dboss. And people thought it couldn't be done!

Regards

Dboss, i share your view 199%

NYCelt wrote:

dboss wrote:The 3 best players on this team are Kyrie Irving, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown.  

Brad Sevens sent Jaylen to the bench after he got hurt and missed a game even though his overall play had ever indication of returning to last year's form.  Before the move he scored 16 points with 5 rebounds in a road loss to Dallas 113-104.  He missed 3 games and when he came back Stevens decided to bring him off the bench instead of putting him back in the starting lineup.  He came back and scored 21, 23 and 19 points in 3 consecutive games but still he did not get back into the starting lineup.

Boston was in the middle of their best streak of the year.  Most fans on this forum were pretty giddy but few even considered that the 8 game streak was built on a house of cards.  8 straight wins against teams and none of them will be in the playoffs this year.

It has been a general rule of thumb that you should not lose your starting job due to injury but that is what happened to Jaylen.  Even though he was playing well before the injury and even though he came back even better,  he found himself coming off the bench playing short minutes.

This change will prove to be the biggest blunder by coach Stevens.  

He basically has separated Tatum from Brown.  That tandem was meant to play together.

If you want to know what is wrong with this team you can begin with a starting lineup that features a SG that is averaging 8.3 points per game.   You can also consider that Smart is a PG and not a shooting guard.  There exists a lack of positional balance in your starting unit.

The best 5 players should be on the court as starters.  Your best center, your best PF, your best SF, your best SG and your best PG.  That is what is suppose to happen.

Brad Stevens has made a big mistake and he needs to follow the bread crumb to find his way out of the forest.

The Celtics had a very good season last year with Jaylen Brown in the starting lineup where he was 2nd on the team in scoring.  Him 17.9 PPG and Tatum 18.5 PPG carried us in the playoffs last year.  The only difference this year is that Tatum starts and gets 31.2  MPG and Brown comes off the bench at 25.9 PPG.  It is the dumbest move by Stevens since he has coached this team.

If you want to start winning again put Brown back into the lineup before it is too late.

Coach Stevens is the one who screwed up the chemistry on this team.

dboss,

You know I love it when I get a chance to disagree with you; the occasions are so rare.

I make the best 3 on the Celtics Irving, Tatum and Smart.

I also like Brown better coming off the bench.

In my view, to start Brown, you have to bring Smart off the bench. Between the two, I'll take Smart. Better defender, and, I think, equal on the offensive side of the ball with his improved shooting. Can't be in place of Morris, because Morris' physical presence is needed. He's also having a career year. I haven't seen any stats, but I'm guessing Morris is better shooting from mid-to-long range than Brown. A better rebounder too, and we can't sacrifice that skill. Starting Brown along with Tatum just makes the team too small when the opponent has some beef.

I've seen a few comments in threads advocating starting Brown. In my book he's a great spark off the bench, and in place of either Smart or Morris, weakens the starting lineup. To my way of thinking, the current starting lineup is the best available with the current roster.

Check that out. Different opinion from dboss. And people thought it couldn't be done!

Regards

Hey NYCelt

I have disagreements with my wife everyday and we are still together...it's all good. lol

The way I see it is that Marcus Smart has been a straight line player for 5 years. No significant improvement in any area. This year his scoring average is down but his shooting percentage is up. He has become a more efficient scorer. Having said that I think he is playing out of position as a 2 guard (wing) He is the best defender on this team. However Jaylen is also a solid defender and he is a natural wing. He is faster and more athletic than Smart and he is a better scorer.

I think you need to have a scorer in there at the 2. Jaylen is the only true off guard on the team.

Marcus may be a better defender but he is in no way a better offensive player.

So just from a positional need I would have Brown starting at the two. The Celtics were a better team last year with Marcus coming off the bench while playing starter minutes than they are this year with him starting and Brown getting robbed of playing time.

I do not believe that playing 2 PG's is a winning strategy. Chemistry issues are usually the result of losing players, adding players or changing a player's role.

kdp59 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:The Knicks have a young big they let play with a skill set similar to Williams, Mitchell Robinson and now he’s a force, playing his role great. Shame they could develop him this year and we at a position of need couldn’t figure out how to do that for our team, it’s not like Williams doesn’t have the right attributes....bad coaching, if that the best we could do with him, this staff sucks and needs a big man coach.

a force?

anyone can be a force for a 10 win team for godsake....LOL!!

True, but if you watch the games, this kid can play, hes a real 5 that can help a team more than say a Kelly Olynck.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

kdp59 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:The Knicks have a young big they let play with a skill set similar to Williams, Mitchell Robinson and now he’s a force, playing his role great. Shame they could develop him this year and we at a position of need couldn’t figure out how to do that for our team, it’s not like Williams doesn’t have the right attributes....bad coaching, if that the best we could do with him, this staff sucks and needs a big man coach.

a force?

anyone can be a force for a 10 win team for godsake....LOL!!

True, but if you watch the games, this kid can play, hes a real 5 that can help a team more than say a Kelly Olynck.

LOL...old man bun!!

or young man bun I guess

I agree that Robinson is more of a typical NBA center then Kelly is. But is Kelly rely a center?

as for which one will end up having a better NBA career, we can revisit that question in a few years I think.