France vs Brazil friendly game highlights-Vincent Poirier 16 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRT2_LIyUFg

One of the problems I have with highlight films, in general, is that they don't usually show you stuff unless it results in a quantifiable stat; like a bucket or frito or steal or block.  This film didn't show any of Poirier's defense.  That doesn't mean he didn't play any, it just means he didn't get any of those quantifiable events.  Showing a player denying a clean entry pass to the low post by effectively 3/4 fronting him, which results in the pass never getting thrown,  doesn't make for sexy films.

Having said that, Poirier is starting to grow on me a bit.  He works hard.  He is constantly trying to establish good position down low and rolls to the hoop at every opportunity.  In fact, if I have a beef, it's that he doesn't set and hold his picks long enough.  This is, of course, quite correctable if Brad feels it needs to be because it's about Euro-style vs NBA-style and not about skill or ability.

Are any of our current centers able to replace Horford?  No.  Al Horford is a 5X All-Star for good reasons.  Are any of them Baynes on defense?  Not in the sense that you will bounce off them if you try to drive, but we have more shot blockers now than we did.  If rim protection is of interest, and it should be, then Poirier and Williams should put us ahead of where we were last year.  And if Tacko makes the roster...

Offensively we are much better off.  Poirier's range may not extend out to 3 like Baynes' did, but Baynes didn't take enough 3s to be truly impactful from there.  He brought the defense out a little bit, but not much.  Poirier will be better on offense and most of it will be in the paint, and he runs the floor very, very well.  I think we'll see Vincent Poirier finishing a lot of fast breaks since most of today's centers don't want to run baseline-to-baseline, they want to run arc-to-arc like guards.  Kanter, of course, is relentless down low and will contest for my beloved offensive rebounds.

Between Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier I think we are going to see a lot of the Mastodon Mambo this year, and Cowens and I wouldn't be happier if that's true.


bob

btw, Poirier is #17 in white. He won't be wearing that number for us, obviously.


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France is in Group G and USA is in Group E

It will be interesting to see if France (ranked 3rd) and USA match up.  USA knocked off #2 ranked Spain easily.

Brazil ranked 12 looks like a pretty poor defensive team.  France and Serbia look like two of the best teams to compete with our USA team.

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/competition-system

We should get a chance to see VP if France gets a matchup with our team.

Jared Weiss
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The Vincent Poirier experience: Executes a perfect pick-and-roll to find Nic Batum open in the corner, then gets too aggressive defending Cristiano Felicio out of his range and gets blown by on the drive. He really is everywhere.

https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1162687820680650752



bob



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He looks a lot better than Zaza

Good passer.

He moved the ball smartly.  Brad will love that as will his teammates.

VP is a key player on the French team.  The problem with him playing however is the scheduling and how it conflicts with having enough time to for him to practice with the team before the season begins.

The FIBA games will go deep into the month of September.  That limits VP's opportunity to practice with his new teammates.  Preseason begins on Oct 6th.  There are only 4 preseason games before the start of the season.  VP is not likely to be in a position to help the Celtics early on.

https://www.nba.com/key-dates

Celts open camp on 9/26