Bromance Helps Kelly Olynyk

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2014/02/bromance_helps_kelly_olynyk



Bromance helps Kelly Olynyk
Celtics rookie shines alongside point guard



Photo by: Christopher Evans
TRENDING UP: Celtics rookie forward Kelly Olynyk has shown improvement in his first NBA season, especially when he is on the floor with point guard Rajon Rondo, and hopes to keep working on his game this summer.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014
By:  Steve Bulpett



There are numbers that, to an extent, back it up. And sometimes there are no numbers at all.

But upon even cursory inspection, it’s impossible not to conclude that Kelly Olynyk and Rajon Rondo make very good basketball when they’re on the floor at the same time.

Part of it obviously could be chalked up to the simple maturation process of an NBA rookie. Olynyk is better as he grows more accustomed to the league and as his teammates learn instinctively how to work with him.

But some of the slickest basketball the Celtics have to offer in this No. 5 sandpaper of a season comes when the rook and Rondo get it going.

Four of Rondo’s 10 assists in Monday’s loss to the Jazz in Salt Lake City were to Olynyk, who’s scoring 8.4 points per game since Rondo’s return to raise his season average to 7.1.

The fair conclusion is that they see the game in similar ways. And Olynyk’s very much enjoying the basketball relationship.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s such a good passer, such a good playmaker,” the rookie said. “And he’s really a dual threat. He can score the ball way better than I think people realize. I didn’t know he could score that well. Defenses have to respect him, and he sees everything and everybody on the floor.”

And Olynyk always has had a good concept of the game’s spatial nuances, which makes him a prime target for Rondo’s hoop version of Connect Four.

“It’s unbelievable,” Olynyk said. “He sees where you should be, and if you go there, he’s going to get you the ball, you know?

“He sees plays before they happen, so if you see the same play before it happens, you can be really good with him.”

Olynyk has been fairly impressive overall this season, but it’s been in fits and starts largely because the Celtics lineup has been a 10-day winter weather forecast filled with storms and chill, brief warm-ups and long, dark nights.

There is, however, a measure of light on the horizon, and it comes from players like Olynyk and the fact that he knows things can and will change for the better.

As interesting as his rookie year has been, Olynyk is looking ahead to the concentrated opportunity to take what he has learned this season and use it to improve this summer.

“You know, I think it’s kind of like college, too,” he said. “When you have that offseason, you really have that time to work on yourself. There’s not a lot of practices in the 82-game season because there’s off days and you’re traveling, and sometimes it’s hard to get better and make big strides individually because there’s just no time.”

There is every expectation around the Celtics and the league that Olynyk will be able to take a giant step forward with both the summer’s work and, the club hopes, a better and more stable lineup.

Said one scout during the C’s West Coast trip, “He’s good, but it’s got to be hard for him playing on this team right now. He’s got a lot to work on, mainly on defense, but you can see he gets the game.”

Olynyk has experience in this whole learning process thing.

“Once you’ve played a year, you realize what you have to work on and where you have to work and at what level,” he said. “That was what kind of helped me when I redshirted, because instead of redshirting before my freshman year, I redshirted after I played two seasons. So I already knew what the deal was, what I had to work on and what it took.”

Much of that work will begin in a couple of months. For now, Olynyk will continue his remedial Rondo course.



bob



.

It's great that Kelly and Rondo are hitting it off on the floor.  Both were part (Rondo twice) of the recent beautiful four-pass inside sequence ending with an Olynyk touch pass for an easy bucket (was it by Wallace?).

But I recall reading and writing about the great relationship between Rondo and Phil Pressey a month or more ago.  At that time, I understood that that duo would religiously stay after practice and get their act together.  And they exhibited several examples of what they could collectively accomplish during games.

So, while Kelly's relationship with Rondo understandably gets the headlines, I believe Kelly would forge an excellent relationship with practically any point guard who took ball distribution very, very seriously.  Because he thinks like a point guard and is just inches away (literally) from being a seven-foot floor general.

Sam

While at USF, Russ and KC used to hit the court after everyone else had left and work on aspects of their game together.  They had long sessions helping each other develop complimentary skills while planning and working on strategy they would use in upcoming games.

Let's hope Rondo and Olynyk get into a similar habit.  It wouldn't be a bad example to follow; we certainly know how the time spent worked out for the earlier teammates.

NYCelt,

Excellent point. Somehow I wish both Kelly and Rondo could become aware of that history.

Sam