Post Game Thread - Preseason vs Cleveland, 10/13/19

[bobheckler]

I wouldn't read too much into this.  No Kevin Love, no Tristan Thompson, no good even with them.  I'd read more into our not scoring a point until almost 3 minutes gone in the 1st more than the final score.

Theis looked as good as I have ever seen him.  It's clear that, at this point, he thoroughly understands Brad's system.  It is also pretty clear our other bigs do not.  Robert Williams had some spectacular blocks, of course.  Kanter is very weak on defense.  Poirier isn't playing much and I don't know why.  He has said there's a bit of a language barrier as well as new systems etc.

Hayward a non-factor.  So much for consistency, so much for getting back OG.

Tatum with 9 boards and a very, very nice help block.  He was 2-9 but a few were misses at the rim.  I will take Tatum taking shots at the rim all day and worry about him missing them later.

Jaylen with another fine, fine outing.  He is playing very well.

Kemba with 12 very quiet points in 16 minutes.  That's 24 points in 32 minutes and that's an All-Star, and he has shown that extrapolation isn't unreasonable.  Imagine when he explodes.

I thought GWill had a weak game.  He had a nice pass for a breakaway but other than that?  I was underwhelmed by his defense today, very underwhelmed.

Semi was 3-10 and only took 2 3pt fgas.  The good news is that he was aggressive and attacked the rim.  the bad news is that he was 2-8 at the rim.

Tacko showed some new moves, some new aggressiveness.  He also had 2 assists.  Considering nobody can see the court better than him he should focus on doing that well.  He needs to break himself of the habit of bringing the ball down to his waist, it's the only way they will  be able to strip him.  Now that he's been upgraded to a 2-way contract he will lots of time with coaches in Maine.  Best thing for him, better than getting a regular NBA contract and not getting the minutes or the acute attention of coaches whose primary purpose is to turn him into a Boston Celtic.

Edwards a bit sloppy but shooting well.  The sloppiness will work itself out with time.  He's still on track to being our Microwave.

Tremont Waters is looking very good.  He was the 51st pick?  Looking like a steal now.  11 points on 5-9 and 4-6 from 2, virtually all the 2s at the rim.  4 assists, 1 TO.  Danny did an exceptional job this draft.

Strus finally showed us why Brad likes him so much, he's a bigger Carsen Edwards.  14 points in 17 minutes, 4-5 from 3.  A catch-and-shoot guy.  Brad loves that.  He wants us to touch the paint and then kick out to the arc for a player to catch-and-shoot in rhythm and that's looking like Max Strus' forte.

Javonte Green is still a perfect 9-9 for preseason.  It's between him and Strus.  I'm thinking it's going to be Strus because Green has more, higher-paying prospects in Europe so Danny won't feel as bad cutting him.

13-29, 44.8%, from 3.

90 fgas.  Lovely.  

I paid attention to how quickly we ae getting over half court on their fgm.  We are getting it over with 20-21 seconds left on the clock.  That produces tremendous pressure on their defense, gives us an extra pass or two to move the ball away from their rotations and it is showing results.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401163158






bob



.

[NYCelt]

Decent game, pummeling an overmatched opponent as they should. A few key regulars were flat at best, but pre-season against the Cavs is a place you can get away with it. I expect we'll see a balanced and focused effort against Philly.

Tatum and Brown continue to look like Tatum and Brown '17 - '18.

Walker contributing to good ball movement, not dominating the ball like that PG from last year. He did pull an 0-fer in the assist department though.

The 3-headed center is looking like a reality. Theis-Kanter-R Williams looks like the solution for the start of the season. Poirier looks like he's out of his league in his short stints. Lumbering and constantly a step behind. Maybe he needs time to learn and adapt. Bigs are needed, so maybe he's an emergency-type to keep around until Fall graduates from the School of Hoop in Maine.

Strus and Green are an interesting pair. One is probably not long for this team, but will play somewhere. The other might make an OK reserve should Langford be a classmate of Fall's.

Edwards is going to play, and he will put up points. With his energy he'll be a Boston fan favorite.

Waters may have been the most productive PG on the floor for either team. No, check that. He simply was.

Looking forward to seeing the 3-headed center take on Embiid, Tatum checking Al, and Smart and Brown putting a kink in Simmons' groove.

[worcester]

Isn't Green 10 for 10 now?

[jrleftfoot]

I don't think Poirer has been on the court enough to draw any conclusions. It seems to me that it is harder for bigs to show in short spurts. Kanter truly is awful on defense.Given the length of time he has been in the league, I am not overly confident that his D is fixable. Theis is looking good, and Time Lord looks like the future at the 5. Green will play somewhere , but I doubt it will be Boston.If the final roster spot boils down to him or Strus, I think Max will stick. He's a pure shooter and they are always at a premium. I think Green's abilities are a bit redundant at the wing position.

[sinus007]

Hi,
Tacko got 2-way contract (per AWoj)
Strus got 2-year, partially guaranteed

AK

[dbrown4]

Couple of things I like so far.  

Going to the hole.  We're not jacking up the three ball at a ridiculous clip.  Keeps the defense guessing.  

These guys look like they are having fun!  Clearly, except for these final cuts, these guys look loose already.  I know the competition hasn't been that great yet, but it's coming in about a week.  

Carsen Edwards is the real deal, whole package for a spark plug.  Still think he's a mix of Steph Curry, Vinnie Johnson and Eddie House.  Leaning toward Eddie more and more though.  

Things that need work:

I hate to say it but saying this this very early on won't hurt anything and actually helps in the long run.  This team has potential.  They have potential to steal 1st in the East.  But no one anywhere at anytime wants to hear they have "potential".  What that is saying is you could be great but right now there are a lot of holes that need to be filled and questions that need to be answered.  I'm cool with that.

Mike Tyson said it best.  "Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face."  Celtics first big punch in the face is coming opening night in PHI.  Not sure the cupcake preseason games are helping us prepare for that but we'll see. I don't know what it is, the basketball gods, media, the rest of the league, but every time I turn around, the Celtics have a big nationally televised game it is against a Golden State at their peak and it's on the road. I think the Celtics are still viewed by the rest of the NBA world as an after thought, that they have won all their titles and that they should take their ball and go play elsewhere while the rest of the league is playing for real. I would love nothing less than to see the Celtics run away with the East and force the basketball world to have to deal with us year end, year out for decades.  

Too soon for judgment on Wayward Hayward.  That was a weird game with a weird start.  Starters were done at halftime.  But he may be earning/looking at the 6th man role until consistency returns.

I'm sure the away game on Tuesday will be completely different.  Maybe we will get a punch in the face then before the opener.  

Overall, I like what I see.  Let the season begin!!

db

[dbrown4]

One other thing of concern. Tacko Fall does need some Maine PT. What he needs to do is change his image. So far, he's a nice guy on and off the court.

There was a senior girl on my daughter's high school basketball team that fits the mold. Off the court she was the nicest, most generous Christian person you would ever meet. She was humble and gracious, especially in defeat. But on the court, given her smaller stature, she was an absolute beast. Almost played with a chip on her shoulder. We watched them through the state high school playoffs. As usual with these playoffs, you run into some buzzsaw. They did in the form of twin towers. Lost by 30 or more at home. We were leaving and in the parking lot she was getting into her parents car to leave. She got back out to thank us for supporting their team all season. WOW! I emailed her coach and the principal. What class.

Tacko can be the nicest guy off the court he wants to be. But he needs to head north and come back the most ferocious basketball being you can imagine. The quicker the better.

BTW, she earned a full ride to Harvard to play basketball for the next 4 seasons. Gabby Donaldson. Look her up. You, too, Tacko!

db

[cowens/oldschool]

GH only took 3 shots, he looks better to me and is a natural facilitator.

[bobheckler]

I don't think Poirer has been on the court enough to draw any conclusions. It seems to me that it is harder for bigs to show in short spurts. Kanter truly is awful on defense.Given the length of time he has been in the league, I am not overly confident that his D is fixable. Theis is looking good, and Time Lord looks like the future at the 5. Green will play somewhere , but I doubt it will be Boston.If the final roster spot boils down to him or Strus, I think Max will stick. He's a pure shooter and they are always at a premium. I think Green's abilities are a bit redundant at the wing position.

JR,

Stevens said he almost started Poirier this game.  Says he'll probably start him in Cleveland tomorrow.  There's a language barrier and a learning curve for him to overcome.  His English is pretty good, completely understandable, but there's a difference between having a conversation, where people speak more slowly and you can take your time assembling your thoughts and the words to use, and having a lot of things happening fast and you're expected to say the right words in a fraction of a second because you're the baseline defender and it's all in front of you.  He is also brand new to the NBA and Brad's system, so that alone would slow down his reaction time.

Based upon the film I have watched on him (after International, our board's global basketball scout, told us he was considering joining the Celtics I went out and watched every bit of film on him I could find.  I also watched all his film from the FIBA tournament) I am confident he'll do fine.  He knows how to play the game, he isn't just raw talent and potential.  Furthermore, based upon the very few minutes he has played so far for us, he is doing the same thing he did in Europe.  

1.  He puts a body on everybody that comes near him.  Gotta love that!
2.  He is a natural pnr man, and the NBA is a pnr league.  He looks big out there too.  Not Tacko big, but big.
3.  He is quick to jump out on defense to cut off potential penetrators on pnrs.  Good defense in the paint begins at the arc.  If you don't stop the ball from curling around the screen and driving your interior defenders are already in a difficult position, literally and figuratively.  This is something Theis does well.  Robert Williams has the mobility and length to do it well but his body positioning needs work, his feet aren't where they should be for him to open up and confront the driver.  Kanter is as we all know is a hopeless, helpless and hapless defender, both at the arc and in the paint.  Poirier will be better defensively than Kanter, given some time and minutes.  Offensively, Poirier and Kanter have similar games.

I expect him to blow some defensive rotations for the first month or two of this season, that's his learning curve imposing its will, but I'm expecting him to ramp up his minutes in the 2nd half of the season when that flattens out and I expect those minutes to come from Kanter.


bob



.

[kdp59]

I agree with you bob,

I think the Frenchman will get better as the season progresses. He does have what 6 years high level pro ball?

Tacko will be in Maine soon and out of any rotation minutes, those will likely go to Poirtier I would think.

If he works hard on defense like Theis, with his size he could end up playing big minutes this year. We will need TWO bigs playing lots of minutes in certain games at least.

Kanter
Theis

Will both get minutes

Poirier and Rob W. will have to battle for the rest, the way it looks on thos games at least.

obviously we are seeing a one big man only as the main roster rotations so far. Which allows Hayward, Tatum, Brown and Grant W. to get more minutes than they would in a more conventional lineup rotation.

[dboss]

The 3rd grade beat up on the pre-schoolers during recess.

VP has yet to play any meaningful minutes.  I was thinking he was going to get the start yesterday.  At this point in the process he remains behind all of our centers except for Tacko Fall.  

It is hard to really judge our center play given the lack of big man competition from the opponents.

One thing we have not seen is the big lineup at 4 and 5.  

Going into the regular season I expect Brad to play his veteran guys more.  In all 3 games Brad has started his 3 wing lineup.  

We still cannot say for certain who the starting center will be going into game one.

I would not be to quick to dismiss the possibility that Enes gets the start in Philly.  Why?  because his matchups against Embid has not been that bad.

In 7 head to head matchups.  The Sixers have won 6 out of 7 but I will add a caveat.  The 6 losses were with the Knicks and the one win was with the Thunder

https://www.landofbasketball.com/games_between/joel_embiid_vs_enes_ka
nter.htm

Emid      20.9 PPG, 9.4 Rebounds, 2.7 Assists and 1.3 Blocks
Kanter    18.3 PPG  11.9 rebounds, 1.3 Assists and 0.3 blocks

Tatum has struggled making the 3 ball in 3 games as he is now 5-16
Hayward has also struggled making the 3 ball going 2-10 and Jaylen is 1-5.

None of our starting wings have found their range.  Brown however is getting to and finishing at the rim and is now 11-21 in FG's  

Yesterday Hayward only took 3 shots.  There was one play where he drove, got near the basket and he stopped and just passed the ball out.  I have seen that last year where he was not able to finish at the rim.  His quickness looked great in game one but yesterday he really looked slow off the bounce.

Three meaningless games is a small sample size so there should be no real worries about these three.

Boston plays the Cavs again on Tuesday to end this short preseason.  They will have 8 practice days to work on their game.

[jrleftfoot]

Good info from bob and dboss. I said, in another post, that I think Strus makes the team for his shooting acumen. We have a bunch of pretty good shooters, but he and Edwards may be our best pure shooters. Carsen can and will shoot from anywhere , any time. He and Strus have that quick release capacity you need in the Association. It's liable to be Stevens' most challenging job yet. Managing the bigs is a heckuva task.

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