Is It Time for Kemba To go To The Bench?

Brad Stevens is a pretty conservative coach and does not like to make changes but there are changes that may help to improve this team.

Is it time to move Kemba Walker to the bench?  Can Marcus Smart be our floor general?

Both Kemba and Marcus have pretty much Split the starting point guard duties this year with Kemba starting in 34 games and Marcus in 32.  Marcus will not get as many starts at the point as Kemba has 4 more B2B DNP's ahead.  Brad sits Kemba on the 2nd game of B2B.  Each time KW misses a game it changes the flow and continuity of the team.  

The Celtics need scoring off the bench and there are two players on this team that can fill that role.  One is obviously the newly acquired Evan Fournier and the other is Kemba Walker.  Brad Stevens has a preferred positional mix.  That mix includes using a 3 wing lineup with interchangeable parts.  Evan Fournier is the best fit for that preferred configuration.  

Kemba Walker is a shooter, albeit, one who has been struggling to be both a floor general, scorer and defender.  He is rarely good at doing all 3 things well on any given night.  He still has an occasional burst but overall his diminished skills have been staring us in the face all year.  Teams are head hunting Kemba.  It is demoralizing and puts added pressure and responsibility on his teammates, especially Marcus, to help him on defense.  The reality is that while Kemba does make an effort to play defense, he cannot defend his own position and provides zero positional value in the Celtics switch everything defensive rotations.  

There is a downside to making a change as it relates to Kemba Walker and the Celtics.  Firstly his role as a rotation guy off the bench could be viewed as a demotion by him and others although he could still play starter level minutes.  His value around the league is likely to drop because he would no longer be looked at as a 'starter' and how the heck do you envision him and his $73 million guaranteed obligation in a trade.

In the end the most important thing for this team is to put guys in a position where they can have the biggest impact.  Danny Ainge and the Celtics are at a turning point.  The financials associated with signing Kemba are ever present and we are likely stuck on that deal for at least one more year but there is no good reason to keep him in the starting lineup.  Kemba wants to shoot away (team high 8 3PA per game) so let him do that off the bench.  

My new Starting 5 would be Jayson, Jaylen, Fournier, Smart and RWilliams.  That provides more size which means better defense especially with all the switching plus you have 3 really good 3 level scorers, a two way playmaker and defender in Smart and a center who has shown great value in facilitating  the offensive flow and being a defensive catalyst in the paint.

Kemba off the bench with TT gives you that PNR offense and should be able to feast on second units.  PP, Romeo and either Grant or Semi fill out the main rotation.

No NBA team wants Kemba's contract. Whether he is seen as a starter or bench player now is irrelevant. His feelings are irrelevant. Hell, Kevin McHale even came off the bench for us and never complained. So did Bill Walton. Our team would be better with Marcus at point and Fournier starting, and Kemba playing his minutes with TT and PP, who can cover for Kemba's D against opponent's own second units. If he wants to start, let him earn the position back by sinking some buckets.

Brad will never do it. Not this season. It's taken him 3/4 of the season to finally start RWIII. Just don't see it. I'd be surprised because it's a great idea and once Fournier is back there would hopefully be less line up jumbling with Kemba's B2B sit outs.

db

Yes start Romeo god da.n it

1.  Benching Kemba isn't going to happen.  I'm offering odds for anybody who disagrees and feels they have too much money.

2.  Making Romeo a regular starter is crazy.  He's played a grand total of 441 NBA minutes, only 71 this year.  He's looking good, better than he should considering his limited experience, but not NBA starter good.

3.  If we start Fournier instead of Kemba we'll have a slow back court.

4.  McHale came off the bench for us as a rookie, just like Jaylen did.  He didn't come off the bench after that.  Walton's foot wouldn't let him play more than 20mpg.  In our championship 85-86 year he only played 19.3mpg.  Kemba's knee is being managed, that's why he doesn't play SEGABABAs, but he's not impaired like Walton was. Kemba's problem, in the games he does play in, isn't physical it's mental. He's not missing his shots short regularly, which might indicate a loss of some height on his jumpshots, he's just missing.

5.  The fear of Kemba (by the other team, not by members of this board) is helpful as well.  He's still not a player most coaches would want to allow a wide open shot. He's not a player coaches will tell their teams to fall off of. That alone opens up the floor for us.

6.  Don't f**k with success.  We've won 3 straight, playing some hellaciously good defense.  Why swap out starters when we're winning?  If we were going to do that it would have been a month or two ago when we were losing.


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:1.  Benching Kemba isn't going to happen.  I'm offering odds for anybody who disagrees and feels they have too much money.

2.  Making Romeo a regular starter is crazy.  He's played a grand total of 441 NBA minutes, only 71 this year.  He's looking good, better than he should considering his limited experience, but not NBA starter good.

3.  If we start Fournier instead of Kemba we'll have a slow back court.

4.  McHale came off the bench for us as a rookie, just like Jaylen did.  He didn't come off the bench after that.  Walton's foot wouldn't let him play more than 20mpg.  In our championship 85-86 year he only played 19.3mpg.  Kemba's knee is being managed, that's why he doesn't play SEGABABAs, but he's not impaired like Walton was.  Kemba's problem, in the games he does play in, isn't physical it's mental.  He's not missing his shots short regularly, which might indicate a loss of some height on his jumpshots, he's just missing.

5.  The fear of Kemba (by the other team, not by members of this board) is helpful as well.  He's still not a player most coaches would want to allow a wide open shot.  He's not a player coaches will tell their teams to fall off of.  That alone opens up the floor for us.

6.  Don't f**k with success.  We've won 3 straight, playing some hellaciously good defense.  Why swap out starters when we're winning?  If we were going to do that it would have been a month or two ago when we were losing.

Bob

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Saw the title and was going to start a post with 'Come On, no way.'

Then I saw Bob's post, so I'll just say...

+1

Not likely.

The question we should be asking is: Should we start Evan Fournier (when he becomes available) instead of Marcus Smart?

If we don't start Fournier, he may not want to come back next season. He may want to be paid as a starter, not as a bench player.

Kemba, JB, Fournier, JT, [RW or TT, depending on matchups]

KW will be missing more games.  4 out of the remaining 18 games are B2B.  That's 22%

When he does that opens up a spot for an alternative starter.  If and when EF is ready to rejoin the team he seems like the one who should start.  His veteran experience as a full time starter should elevate him into a starting role.  

With regards to Marcus I have gone back and forth in my  thinking as it relates to him starting but I am leaning towards him starting.  His defensive flexibility is the best on the team.   He also leads the team in assists per game and does a better job on finding RW than Kemba does.

I do not expect Brad to make a change.  That is not the question at hand.

KW does not look the same as he did before the knee issue popped up last spring.  He just does not look as quick and his release on his jumpers looks lower (he is not rising up as high)  that is the eye test.  He got to the rim a couple of times but the trend is downward.  (3.9 FTA in Feb, 3.1 in March and 1.2 in April)  Last year he averaged over 4 attempts per game.  He has made some nice plays in taking charges by getting in the right position but his PNR defense has not been good.  He is clearly the weak defensive link in our starting 5 unit.  Teams are going right at him every game.  His offensive efficiency has not been very good this year (39.7% FG and 33.9% 3PFG)  Poor defensive players that are really good offensive players sort of balance things out.  Maybe a more singular focus on offensive will serve him and the team well.

Here is an interesting stat.  During our current 4 out of 5 wins KW is averaging 12.6 FGA per Game and 7.0 assists

Mar    15.4 FGA and 5.1 Assists
Feb      17 FGA and 4.5 Assists

There is a inversion present.  

In my opinion Kemba could be coming off the bench as the primary scorer and focus on being a scorer.

I just do no see how it would hurt the team.  Here is how the conversation could go between him and brad

Kemba I have decided to change our starting lineup and bring you off the bench as our 6th man.  I'm putting Evan into the starting lineup to give us more size, length and positional flexibility.  I need for you to focus on shooting the ball.  You will be the #1 option.  You are still going to play 30 PPG and be part of our close out lineups.  My thinking is to have you come in around the halfway mark of the 1st QTr when Tatum comes out as usual.  You will still be logging a lot of minutes with the starters.  The main change will be for you to focus on scoring and less on being a facilitator.

Kemba appears to be a team player. Worst case scenario is that he walks away with a smile while mumbling something about Brad’s momma under his breath.
Pulling Marcus out of the starting lineup instead and replacing him with Fournier IMHAO is a bad idea. If that happens, then we have a starting lineup with 2 weak defenders. Now if Fournier doesn’t like it and decides to take his ball and go home after the season ends, so be it. We have a much bigger investment in Marcus and his play coincides more with our needs than EF.

Bob, your points #5 and 6 make the most sense.

Ktron wrote:Kemba appears to be a team player. Worst case scenario is that he walks away with a smile while mumbling something about Brad’s momma under his breath.
Pulling Marcus out of the starting lineup instead and replacing him with Fournier IMHAO is a bad idea. If that happens, then we have a starting lineup with 2 weak defenders. Now if Fournier doesn’t like it and decides to take his ball and go home after the season ends, so be it. We have a much bigger investment in Marcus and his play coincides more with our needs than EF.

We also have Romeo literally waiting in the wings, agree Frenchy and Kemba is not ideal defensively, in certain match ups it could work. If Frenchy doesn’t start there will still be minutes for him to play with Kemba/Smart Jaylen Jayson RWill/TT. We can put him on the weakest offensive 2-3, similar how Bird covered the weakest 3-4. I could also see a PP Romeo Frenchy Tatum/Brown RWill line up as well, as Frenchy and the emergence of Romeo give us a lot of flexible potent line ups. As long as he gets PT and we are winning, I think Frenchy can thrive and enjoy being our sniper off the bench.

bobheckler wrote:1.  Benching Kemba isn't going to happen.  I'm offering odds for anybody who disagrees and feels they have too much money.

2.  Making Romeo a regular starter is crazy.  He's played a grand total of 441 NBA minutes, only 71 this year.  He's looking good, better than he should considering his limited experience, but not NBA starter good.

3.  If we start Fournier instead of Kemba we'll have a slow back court.

4.  McHale came off the bench for us as a rookie, just like Jaylen did.  He didn't come off the bench after that.  Walton's foot wouldn't let him play more than 20mpg.  In our championship 85-86 year he only played 19.3mpg.  Kemba's knee is being managed, that's why he doesn't play SEGABABAs, but he's not impaired like Walton was.  Kemba's problem, in the games he does play in, isn't physical it's mental.  He's not missing his shots short regularly, which might indicate a loss of some height on his jumpshots, he's just missing.

5.  The fear of Kemba (by the other team, not by members of this board) is helpful as well.  He's still not a player most coaches would want to allow a wide open shot.  He's not a player coaches will tell their teams to fall off of.  That alone opens up the floor for us.

6.  Don't f**k with success.  We've won 3 straight, playing some hellaciously good defense.  Why swap out starters when we're winning?  If we were going to do that it would have been a month or two ago when we were losing.


Bob


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On 6, we couldn’t do it earlier because we didn’t have Frenchy or Romeo, Smart also missed a stretch of games. If you like seeing teams attack the turnstile and us constantly having to play catch up that’s fine. I wouldn’t mind Smart and Romeo starting, with those 2 starting we are a much better rebounding and running team.

Ktron wrote:Kemba appears to be a team player. Worst case scenario is that he walks away with a smile while mumbling something about Brad’s momma under his breath.
Pulling Marcus out of the starting lineup instead and replacing him with Fournier IMHAO is a bad idea. If that happens, then we have a starting lineup with 2 weak defenders. Now if Fournier doesn’t like it and decides to take his ball and go home after the season ends, so be it. We have a much bigger investment in Marcus and his play coincides more with our needs than EF.

Exactly right IMO.

Fournier was brought in to be what he is; backcourt depth and scoring.

Smart was last a regular starting PG in college. He came into the league as someone best suited as a 2/wing who can defend multiple positions. He’s excelled there and has been the cog in this team’s defense. Stevens is not likely to weaken the starting unit by swapping roles for Smart and Fournier and inviting situations where the team trails on the scoreboard early.

+1+1No way this happens. Listen, I am no fool, at times Kemba has really struggled, but there is no way he is going to the bench. If they are unhappy with his performance during games he will be pulled earlier, but he will start. I think he will come around and contribute greatly in the stretch run.

Romeo has played, what, 5 games, how many minutes???? No way this happens. Sorry Dboss you are not going to get your wish on this one unless he gets hurt. Better just to root for him to come on and produce than to dwell on his “short” comings!!!

Is this time to send Kemba to the bench? Apparently not. Kemba torched the Blazers tonight.

7-17 and 4-11 not really. He did play better but from what I see he is still a defensive liability.

So I maintain he should become our 6th man. Being a Celtics 6th man used to be an honor.

Actually I’m okay with the way he played, he couldn’t buy a 3 after a hot start, but he did not shoot us out of the game. He knew he couldn’t score and moved the ball adequately.

21 pts, 8 rbs, 6 assts, two charges, What do you guys want from this guy. He is playing smart ball. Sure he missed some shots, but I do not see other players being chastised for missing ridiculous

Rosalie, I had been a big critic of both Kemba and Brad, but now Kemba is playing with great energy and damn good productivity, sparking the O, and Brad's coaching is suddenly excellent. Duh. They go hand in hand. Celts have =won 6 of 7, and a win against LA would be such a sweet sweep. I just love the way they are playing now.

PS. Smart is just great. He is untouchable as are the two J's.

The team played well and got a hard-earned W against a very evenly matched Portland group.

Kemba and Tatum both showed their value. One is still recovering from a knee injury, the other is not quite completely over his Covid symptoms. Subtract either and the Blazers win easily.

Walker is looking a little better each time out. Good quickness and pace with much improved lateral movement. Kemba is starting to look more like himself. He hit key shots and set up others well.

Yes, the old Kemba is returning.