Hayward’s entered the game with a 58.2 TS% in the month of December. His career TS% is 56.2
People are citing the fact that he received no votes for coach of the year last season as proof that he isn't as good as some of us thought he was. Its hard to argue with anyone these days given the results though Stevens lack of COY votes seem like a petty way to judge him.
They are running out of guys to put in there unless you have a hankering for PJ Dozier or Wannamaker.
To get to the point about Brad, the bottom line is that this team isn't built to be 21st in FG%. People had a lot of expectations about this team because we felt that they'd be rolling out All-Star caliber player after All-Star caliber player. Well, really the only two AS-caliber players have been MaMo and KI. Smart and Baynes have been fine for who they are but Al has been deferring; JT hasn't made any jump from last year, and GH, JB, and TR have been replacement-level players (or worse). The Cs bench got outscored something like 20-3 in the first half last night and that's not supposed to happen.
The best way to effect this change is to subtract Rozier from the mix. I think he's a huge part of the problem, not because of how he has played (which hasn't been great) but because, outside of certain matchups, the Celtics are better off with bigger lineups. In their playoff success last year, they weren't running a lot of lineups with multiple smalls on the floor. (Smart is a special case because he plays bigger than his size would suggest).
Rozier needs to be off this team. The Celtics are 18-13 with Kyrie being healthy. If he were to ever go down, the season would effectively over. Last year was fun but I view it like Ainge viewed the 2002 ECF run. This year, the East is much stronger with Toronto, Milwaukee, Philly, and Indiana all playing much better basketball. Rozier isn’t leading the Celtics past most of those teams. Dude was -20 last night. He just isn’t fitting in. A change of scenery would be help for both parties.
Yeah, it's really weird in the NBA to build a roster around "make sure we're ok if our best player goes down." You ride as far as your stars take you--last year's Celtics team was a massive outlier in that regard, and probably would have been out in the 2nd round if the opponent had been Toronto (or the first round if Bud were the Bucks coach).
I agree with pretty much all of this.
I get it, you’re frustrated. But please, step down off the ledge.
‘Trade Rozier’ is an emotional solution for a problem that could be solved logically by having him play his role. At least when Wanamaker is out there he knows his role is to move the ball around and create for others.
The likelihood of Rozier fitting into a role that is most beneficial to the Celtics is low. It goes against everything he wants to do as a pending RFA and it’s shown so far this year. Agree on his defense. It needs to improve and that is an area where the Celtics and Rozier are completely aligned.
The problem is, every time they get down by double digits, everyone tends to go into ISO hero mode. They start jacking up quick threes and stop passing as much and dig a bigger hole for themselves. So should Brad be calling a timeout and telling them to get their sh** together? Or is this just what NBA teams do whenever they get in holes, start jacking up quick shots and not passing, and the Celtics are just like other NBA teams? (Not that this excuses it, but I've been wondering how much of this is just typical frustration at trying to dig out of a hole).
This is why I am actually defending Brad as I have since before the season began in that he really had no chance to pull all of these redundant pieces in the same direction while so many (rightfully) have personal motives with big deals in front of them in the next 6-18 months. It’s a nearly impossible spot for both the coach and players at risk as I’ve been preaching since prior to season starting. Honestly, the one coach who would have had a chance to pull this team together is the one currently coaching the Clippers as he’s done so successfully with such a wide range of teams in the past.
Agree with the above 100%. The team knows what works for it, and Brad hasn't held guys accountable to that. Tatum needs to know that every jacked up long 2 or ball-stopping possession means the bench (to take one example). In addition, this team clearly ups the defensive intensity and connectedness when the offense is playing the right way, which makes it even more critical to do things the right way on the offensive end.
I’m hoping that his strategy has been to get the players to realize that he’s doing them a solid by giving them run regardless of results while allowing those that execute to identify poor play out of frustration and set the tone internally. Although, You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
I would agree with those who say Rozier is not near the top of the Celtics' biggest problems however I don't like him and Kyrie on the floor at the same time. I know it is a product of the short bench but it seems that good things rarely happen for the team when the two are on the floor together.
I feel it goes much deeper than it simply being the short bench as Rozier has been at 22 mpg or more in each month this year. We talk about Ainge’s relationships with agents which is crucial for every GM in the business and getting Rozier 12-16 mpg only behind Kyrie in a contract year does not fit a GM/agent relationship narrative. In other words, those minutes with Kyrie are likely mandated from a pay grade above Brad’s.
weird Celtics twitter says Terry is Ainge's son so you're saying there's some truth to it?
I listed above why I feel this takes place. If a player is mandated minutes by your boss then your hands are tied.
I'm in agreement here. Was hoping for more from Terry this season, but he's not what ails them.
And AD will probably be able to manipulate where he goes in any trade and having KI is a huge selling point for Boston.
I think Wanamaker should get roughly the same minutes he got during last year's playoff run.
Granted, his counting stats look similar from this year to last, but last year he compiled a 2.0 VORP. This year he's at 0.2. Win Shares are also way down.
Are they trading Rozier away for nothing?
He’s an expiring deal. The only teams interested in him at this point would be contenders looking to add backcourt depth for a run this year.....those teams aren’t giving us back anything of significance in return in the form of players and we don’t really need a 2nd round pick in the 30’s.
You really gotta stop spewing this nonsense about Hayward not contributing. He’s putting up 13/4/4 this month while shooting better than his career average. Did you expect Utah-like numbers out of him without the same touches?
Is this a real question? Smart gets eaten up by quick guards with the ball and struggles defensively against them. This is plain to see to me but of course it’s opinion. What ISN’T opinion is that when Kyrie is out injured or takes a seat during a game it is Rozier replacing him as the lead guard.
If he's worthless because he's on an expiring deal(not really since he's an RFA), why couldn't they trade him for a different guy on an expiring to get his Bird rights?
