Kyrie (quad), Smart (illness), and Baynes will each be out tonight. So the much-maligned Rozier will likely start along with Brown.
Celtics in 18-19
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
A few pieces of data to frame discussions going forward.
First, even after their trip to hell in Florida, the Cs are still second in the league to the Bucks in Net Rating. They are also second to Milwaukee in BRefs Simple Rating System (which takes into account point differential as well as strength of schedule) and their margin of victory is second as well.
On that note, the league average margin of victory is four points per game this season. I know some people aren't just frustrated at the Cs inconsistency but also that they seem to keep even "bad" teams close. The reality is that this is the norm across the league.
Finally, fwiw, the Cs are underperforming their Pythagorean win expectation by four wins whereas the Bucks are only down two wins from their expected total while Toronto is three wins better than expected. I don't put much stock in this last bit of "data" but it bears watching to see if the Cs revert to where they should be record-wise.
The bottom line is that the Celtics, for as frustrating as they have been, still look decent from a metrics perspective. As such, we may be panicked and the players are clearly frustrated based on their comments and actions. However anyone looking at the data will conclude that there is no reason to make a rash move like selling Rozier off for a pack of gum. Ainge isn't likely to do so given his track record but the numbers support him being patient.
First, even after their trip to hell in Florida, the Cs are still second in the league to the Bucks in Net Rating. They are also second to Milwaukee in BRefs Simple Rating System (which takes into account point differential as well as strength of schedule) and their margin of victory is second as well.
On that note, the league average margin of victory is four points per game this season. I know some people aren't just frustrated at the Cs inconsistency but also that they seem to keep even "bad" teams close. The reality is that this is the norm across the league.
Finally, fwiw, the Cs are underperforming their Pythagorean win expectation by four wins whereas the Bucks are only down two wins from their expected total while Toronto is three wins better than expected. I don't put much stock in this last bit of "data" but it bears watching to see if the Cs revert to where they should be record-wise.
The bottom line is that the Celtics, for as frustrating as they have been, still look decent from a metrics perspective. As such, we may be panicked and the players are clearly frustrated based on their comments and actions. However anyone looking at the data will conclude that there is no reason to make a rash move like selling Rozier off for a pack of gum. Ainge isn't likely to do so given his track record but the numbers support him being patient.
I agree.
I'm not giving Kyrie a max contract to lead this franchise for the next half-decade.
There's the knee(s) to begin with....and now 'airing the laundry' in public which was wrong.
Do whatever it takes to get Davis --- and if it involves a package of Kyrie, Brown and both of our 2019 lottery picks.....I'm in favor of it.
This is super interesting and seems to reveal that the team is talking about a lot of the same things people are talking about here.
"So the things you’re doing, that you’ve done your entire career of being able to coast by in certain situations and you’ve gotten away with your youth"
Did other people take this to be a shot at the younger guys being able to blame their inexperience for mistakes they've made in the past? Or that veterans (Hayward) have been more athletic in the past and able to do more with their youthful athleticism?
"realize our depth is a positive"
This seems aimed at Rozier or JB right? Complaining about minutes or coming off the bench?
Also, a lot of this seems like he's talking about team culture and while it's good he's taking responsibility, I can't help but think these are all the issues that never seem to come up for the Spurs and a large part of why Pop is so great. It does not seem like Brad has been able to get enough "buy-in".
I think Ainge would, at least, consider trading Irving as part of a package for Davis (btw, Tatum will almost certainly have to go the other way in a Davis deal) but as others have pointed out, New Orleans would only consider Kyrie if he will commit to signing there long-term and perhaps not even then.
In short, the Cs are almost certainly faced with signing Irving to an extension this off season, dealing him via a S&T or letting him walk.
And if Irving doesn't even want to go the Pelicans, there is no chance for completing a sign-and-trade anyway. There will probably be enough suitors with cap space to offer him a max contract that the sign-and-trade option may not make much sense for him.
There's no point to dealing Irving for Davis as they'd need the former to convince the latter to remain in Boston. The options are:
- Deal Irving at the deadline and re-tool over the summer.
- Hope you can re-sign Irving this summer by re-jiggering the roster (i.e. adding Davis).
Prior to the recent scheduling break we were slightly above avg in SOS. These past 6-7 weeks the softness we’ve esperienced has us at 24th in the league. I still see the correlation with our W/L record and other metrics more of a result of the competition (and in some cases schedule wins) rather than any improvement in actual play.
http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS
I think the first comment was to say that younger players who are drafted high get used to taking plays off - because their experience is that they can just turn it on when they need to because they are so much better than most of the people they play with. That obviously isn't the case in the NBA. Frankly, I'm sure Kyrie did his fair share of coasting when he was on his first contract too.
I also wonder if it has something to so with things that guys do when they are on the road.
In other words, it's learning to be a professional. But for the Cs young guys, they all strike me as people who are really dedicated to their craft and want to continue to get better, at least during the off-season.
Fair enough. The reality is that the Celtics are 25-17 and pythag plus pundit/fan expectations were for them to be four or so wins better at this point.
Furthermore, the data supports the idea that they are underperforming though it also suggests that they can/may be much better. One of these things should give - either their net rating/SRS/MOV moves more toward the high-middle of the pack, commensurate with their record or they start to win more consistently.
Either way, Ainge probably isn't working the phones any harder today than he was after the Pacers win.
With so few tradeable assets at the deadline I don’t expect much to happen from now until the end of the season. He’s not going to trade lottery balls for a rotation player that we don’t need. We then have expiring contracts of rotation players which we won’t want to give away for more picks and higher upside guys on rookie deals who won’t be moved. There just doesn’t seem to be much happening on the trade front for us that I can see.
Any idea what the net rating/pythag are if we exclude the Bulls game, or know of a way to run those numbers?
B-Ref doesn't let you customize periods though I am betting the stats sites will move to that model since just about everyone in the world can now slice data any way they want at work. That said, slamminsammya is right - I am not sure its instructive.
Regarding this evening's game, when you subtract Kyrie and Smart, this team goes from being eight games above .500 to maybe just a .500 team (just going by their respective win shares of 5.3 and 2.9 to keep things simple). The Nets are essentially a .500 team so playing them in Brooklyn makes beating them a tall order.
Finally, its pretty telling that Stevens called a time-out after 29 seconds in the first quarter when Rozier turned the ball over and then didn't hustle on defense. Even more telling was Rozier being stapled to the bench while the C's fought back at the end. It appears that SoSH and Celtics Twitter aren't the only ones who have soured on T-Rozay. Unfortunately, there are no obvious deals out there and Ainge isn't likely to send him packing for just nothing.
If Rozier is a net negative to this team, then Ainge should dump him for whatever he can get. Otherwise, he's leaving it all in Brad's court to staple him to the bench.
I can't argue with that but can anyone name a trade where Ainge essentially moved a player just to move them?
I’d argue Big Baby for Brandon Bass was partially a “get this guy out of here” move.
Just finished watching the second half of the Nets game and I suspect the Port Cellar was not pleased.
To me, here's the bottom line. DA accumulated a bunch of athletic wings on the theory that these athletic wings can guard 1-5 but on the other end, there are going to be mismatches all over the court.
What I am seeing is that the Cs have a hard time guarding small and have a hard time rebounding versus bigs, and on the other end, they aren't taking advantage of mismatches.
I.e., the Cs are a victim of mismatches rather than vice-versa.
If this keeps up, they are going to be bounced early.
But perhaps losing is going to show them what they need to do.
To me, here's the bottom line. DA accumulated a bunch of athletic wings on the theory that these athletic wings can guard 1-5 but on the other end, there are going to be mismatches all over the court.
What I am seeing is that the Cs have a hard time guarding small and have a hard time rebounding versus bigs, and on the other end, they aren't taking advantage of mismatches.
I.e., the Cs are a victim of mismatches rather than vice-versa.
If this keeps up, they are going to be bounced early.
But perhaps losing is going to show them what they need to do.
Came back from watching the game in person and was shocked at how terrible the offense looks in person. No cutting, or movement. Just lifeless bodies standing around and waiting for their chance to shoot or standing idly by, knowing they're not going to have a chance to get involved in that possession and not bothering to exert any effort because of that. Really puzzling.
Jaylen Brown put up numbers, but from my vantage point, was a giant negative. Esp on the late TO when he took his eye off Yabu or Ojeleye dribbling the ball up off a miss or turnover, and allowing the ball to bounce off his back for a TO. The entire team looks lethargic/like they can't wait for this whole experiment to be over.
Jaylen Brown put up numbers, but from my vantage point, was a giant negative. Esp on the late TO when he took his eye off Yabu or Ojeleye dribbling the ball up off a miss or turnover, and allowing the ball to bounce off his back for a TO. The entire team looks lethargic/like they can't wait for this whole experiment to be over.
What a disheartening three game stretch. There are excuses and silver linings, but it really looked like they’d turned the corner and wouldn’t find themselves having these problems again. From their comments it sure seems like they thought so, too. And yet, here we are.
Maybe it’s just a blip on the way up. It is only three games. Maybe it’s who they really are. Games 41-43 look an awful lot like 1-20. I don’t think changing the roster is very likely or a good idea given the options, save for maybe Terry. So, it seems like we’re going to find out who they really are.
Also, 19 mins for Al. This is for sure a real problem.
Edit: why not. Wild armchair speculation based on what I’ve observed.
Heat - some guys feeling all good about themselves after pacers. Think they’re the shit, don’t show up. Horford/Hayward physically unable to get up for it. Blowout.
Magic —Everyone has rationalized Heat. It happens. They’ll get back on track tonight. Starters come out focused. Build a lead. Guys get over confident that they’re good to coast and people lose focus. The bench, which should dominate a thin Magic bench lets up some big runs. The hole gets too big, the starters barely cant save it, and Kyrie loses his shit.
Nets — Something is in their heads. The tension has some guys down. Kyrie sitting out is possibly disciplinary. Guys aren’t happy, aren’t together. They play like shit for three quarters. Nobody notices until the third when the Nets momentarily don’t suck. They pull their act together for the fourth but it’s not even worth a moral victory at this point. Guys leave even more dejected and isolated. (Except for Tatum, who had something click offensively he didn’t have before.)
Next — who knows. Hopefully Kyrie apologizes for airing laundry and they get back to where they were last week. Or it all gets worse.
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He made a statement yesterday about how he shouldn't publicly criticize his teammates. I think either Brad or Danny talked to him and said, "Hey, I know you're frustrated. But you can't do that."
Roster construction definitely could be an issue, made more obvious with Baynes out. I've seen too many games where you've got all these little wings getting beaten up inside by the opposing team's big men. Right now they're 17th in rebounding -- but it looks worse than that the last 20 games (e.g., the 41 boards that they got last night would put them at 27th in the NBA if extrapolated). If the wings were great shooters, that would be one thing, but they're not (#16 in field goal percentage).
Obviously, Baynes being injured affects all this, but instead of stashing little guards in Portland, they need to stash a big guy who can bang and protect the interior. Theis is a fine defender against many players, but gets eaten up by the NBA's true bigs. Horford can guard them, but he's not 100% because of his knee/age/whatever and giving him those assignments is just wearing him down. I love Time Lord, but he's still raw. We need a damn seven footer; everyone else gets to have one. (Are the Celtics the only NBA team without a player taller than 6' 10"?)
This is an interesting example. If you watch it on tape, I suspect what you will find is that he Cs forced a TO; Yabu ended up with the ball; JB looked for the pass but didn't get it; JB started running down the court; meanwhile Yabu started dribbling but was pressured by a Nets defender; and then Yabu panicked and threw it at JB's back.
I'm pretty sure that you'll see that JB had nothing to do with that one. It's pretty hard to allow a ball to bounce off on'e back in basketball.
JB wasn't the problem here. Not guarding people and not rebounding was the problem.
Yep. The offense was struggling without two great initiators available. But it wasn't terrible hero ball, just handicapped execution. That's the good news--guys were going to the rim and moving the ball if nothing there.
The bad news is that they were slack as shit on defense. It didn't kill them in the first half only because of some good ball luck.
Al is a major handicap at this point. There may be some guys reading this who can take him off the dribble currently. That injury is affecting him.
Rozier was once again horrible. Brad needs to staple him to the bench more often.
As nice as it would have been been to have Kyrie, they missed Smart more. In the third, Russell looked like the love child of Harden and Curry with no resistance.
The bad news is that they were slack as shit on defense. It didn't kill them in the first half only because of some good ball luck.
Al is a major handicap at this point. There may be some guys reading this who can take him off the dribble currently. That injury is affecting him.
Rozier was once again horrible. Brad needs to staple him to the bench more often.
As nice as it would have been been to have Kyrie, they missed Smart more. In the third, Russell looked like the love child of Harden and Curry with no resistance.
Based on earlier games we can definitely survive without certain players for a game or 2, and maybe even 2 players. But apparently a combo we cannot survive without is Irving and Smart. I surmise that if we beat Toronto tomorrow we go back and call this stretch a b2b loss on road, one shitty loss, and then a loss cuz we didn't have our starting backcourt and we're giddy again.
As Bubs said in The Wire--"I'll be equivocating like a motherfucker."
As Bubs said in The Wire--"I'll be equivocating like a motherfucker."
Speaking on which, it was funny to me that when Russell hit his step back over GH in the 3Q, the Nets color guy said, GH is "one of the best on the ball defenders in the NBA."
At which point I said to the TV, "Is this the first time watching the Cs this season?
I know they have to continue to play GH but man, I guess I'll just say that I'm hoping a break at the All-Star game does him some good.
note: JB's take on the Cs here: https://www.celticsblog.com/2019/1/15/18183232/jaylen-brown-we-just-gotta-have-each-others-back-boston-celtics-kyrie-irving.
The most astute part of his comments: "How many of us are making each other better?"
I hate to say this but when the Cs play like a team they are very very good. However, there are times that they look like a bunch of guys going one-on-one and that's when everything falls apart.
The most astute part of his comments: "How many of us are making each other better?"
I hate to say this but when the Cs play like a team they are very very good. However, there are times that they look like a bunch of guys going one-on-one and that's when everything falls apart.
Totally agree with your point that GH is not currently one of the best, but on that one specific play he was right in Russell's face and he hit the shot anyway. Sometimes when guys get hot it doesnt matter how good the D is. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of other times before that where they gave him too much room and that allowed him to get started. It would have been interesting to see how it would have gone with Smart in the game.
JB comes off as passive-aggressive here. He's totally fixated on Kyrie's comments and answers every question with some variation of "we gotta have each other's backs" (a phrase he uses maybe ten times). He attributes the late run to "staying positive" and ignoring what's being said. Sounds like he doesn't feel comfortable playing with guys who criticize him (understandable) and believes that's the biggest problem with this team, which is either his real diagnosis (brought to you by: projection) or just him taking the opportunity after a game he can be proud of to call out certain guys for being dicks to him.
He and Tatum are such a contrast. He takes a more defiant stance and ignores a prompt to address Kyrie's "positive" comments for team after the Nets game, while Tatum defers to Kyrie and says his comments have truth to them. Even on temperament alone, Tatum is a seamless fit with this team moving forward, while JB is going after the leadership on this team (Kyrie, Morris, maybe Smart?).
I wonder what Danny thinks of all this. And What's Horford's role in the locker room? It'll be fascinating to see how this all shakes out.
I agree with Eagle3, I didn't think Hayward did a bad job on Russell, particularly, in that moment. He was hitting some ridiculous shots. I'm actually encouraged by Hayward on defense: it seems he has the extra gear he needs, it's just that he's not sure how to summon it at all times. He looks like someone who is tired, basically. Which makes an awful lot of sense. I think he's going to be a good NBA basketball player still, and many people will be surprised in a few months. The flashes of athleticism we've seen are an excellent sign. I know, curse my optimism.
I think Jaylen, unfortunately, may be right: players don't have to like each other to play well together, but they absolutely cannot resent each other on the court and play selfishly as a result. That is, they need to start being personally accountable, top to bottom. The offense, as many noted last night, has been characterized by games where they share the ball, play with pace, attack the paint and set strong off-ball screens for one another, and games where everyone stands around while the ball is walked up and someone isolates. The Nets on the other hand, were driving and kicking relentlessly. It seems like every other time up the court one player figures, ah, this is my turn: instead of playing with pace, getting the ball up the court quickly, and moving the ball side to side, they stagnate and watch each other.
I don't think this is an issue of their being "too much talent," as Rozier said last night (I still don't buy that formulation) but of that talent entitling guys to play and act arrogantly. I mean, I'm not even convinced that Rozier is ultimately going to be a player in the league. Clearly he's talented: but the guy hasn't had a season yet, in four years in the league, where he's had a field goal percentage north of 40%, and he's rarely had to play against starters. He was good in the playoffs last year, but not great: and I'm not sure I'd want a guy on my team who wouldn't play hard or ell unless he was starting.
The Spurs show year-in-year out that players can be convinced to play system basketball. These Celtics, meanwhile, are blaming each other, walking the ball up the court, and playing listlessly, like someone else will play hard for them. And it shown in their comments.
Last night showed that it's not hard to get into the paint and get easy shots for your teammates: Brad Wanamaker, Brown and Tatum were all making a point of playing uptempo basketball in the 4th and attacking the hoop. I would hope Hayward and Rozier found that inspiring and a good lesson, but it sounds like Rozier didn't. Yabusele and Theis were extremely active on the boards and gave Jarret Allen difficulty that Morris and Horford didn't. I think those two probably did notice.
I think Jaylen, unfortunately, may be right: players don't have to like each other to play well together, but they absolutely cannot resent each other on the court and play selfishly as a result. That is, they need to start being personally accountable, top to bottom. The offense, as many noted last night, has been characterized by games where they share the ball, play with pace, attack the paint and set strong off-ball screens for one another, and games where everyone stands around while the ball is walked up and someone isolates. The Nets on the other hand, were driving and kicking relentlessly. It seems like every other time up the court one player figures, ah, this is my turn: instead of playing with pace, getting the ball up the court quickly, and moving the ball side to side, they stagnate and watch each other.
I don't think this is an issue of their being "too much talent," as Rozier said last night (I still don't buy that formulation) but of that talent entitling guys to play and act arrogantly. I mean, I'm not even convinced that Rozier is ultimately going to be a player in the league. Clearly he's talented: but the guy hasn't had a season yet, in four years in the league, where he's had a field goal percentage north of 40%, and he's rarely had to play against starters. He was good in the playoffs last year, but not great: and I'm not sure I'd want a guy on my team who wouldn't play hard or ell unless he was starting.
The Spurs show year-in-year out that players can be convinced to play system basketball. These Celtics, meanwhile, are blaming each other, walking the ball up the court, and playing listlessly, like someone else will play hard for them. And it shown in their comments.
Last night showed that it's not hard to get into the paint and get easy shots for your teammates: Brad Wanamaker, Brown and Tatum were all making a point of playing uptempo basketball in the 4th and attacking the hoop. I would hope Hayward and Rozier found that inspiring and a good lesson, but it sounds like Rozier didn't. Yabusele and Theis were extremely active on the boards and gave Jarret Allen difficulty that Morris and Horford didn't. I think those two probably did notice.
Horford is going through some real challenges physically right now, and it's not close to clear that he will be able to overcome them this season. They've been managing his minutes for a few weeks now, and nothing seems to have improved. It's typically difficult, if not impossible, for such a player, even a well respected veteran such as Horford, to have much influence in an NBA locker room.
Also, he may be just as frustrated at some of his teammates as Kyrie, given that he's probably seeing the backside of his career, and so realizes he's got only so many more bites at the apple.
Brown could legitimately be sick of being yelled at too. After a while--even if the criticisms have merit--you just want to tell people to get off your fucking back. You're doing the best that you can, so stfu.
These guys can't even rent cars at some places. They're kids. They're gonna act like kids sometimes.
These guys can't even rent cars at some places. They're kids. They're gonna act like kids sometimes.
I didn't take issue with what Jaylen said: they do need to have each other's backs, they do need to empower each other, and they need to pla for each other. Kyrie said himself he'd made a mistake and would never question his teammates publicly again.
I should be clear that I don't take issue with what Jaylen said either. He's my favorite player on this team and I hope they find a way to keep him long-term. I actually like how he thinks, and I liked his comments after the Kyrie trade where he was like, "Kyrie is a great player, but IT and Crowder were my vets, they built this team from nothing, so I'm not gonna say I'm happy."
I guess it's just occurring to me that even if he's right that the leadership on this team isn't effective, that leadership is a bigger part of this franchise's future than he is, and that puts him in a frustrating spot.
Repeat after me: This is the regular season, and regular season results mean almost nothing.
They are coasting, giving guys rest and being extra cautious with banged up guys. Naturally this is going to translate to some games they play with less than 100% effort. We have seen them play well in the playoffs, which gives me optimism that they will play well in the playoffs again this year. Wake me up in April.
They are coasting, giving guys rest and being extra cautious with banged up guys. Naturally this is going to translate to some games they play with less than 100% effort. We have seen them play well in the playoffs, which gives me optimism that they will play well in the playoffs again this year. Wake me up in April.
They're talented and well coached. They just don't close teams out well. Lack of a killer instinct. Maybe they need to be a little more pissed off.
This seems like a 2017 Sox scenario, where everybody seems worse than expected, but still close, so good enough to give hope, but not as good as they should be.
Tatum and JB are really young and look it.
JB took a step towards stardom last year, that was unexpected in terms of who he was when drafted. As stated he is really a kid, and one that was non shooter not long ago. His progress has been great, but he has stalled.
Tatum is getting attention from every opponent, and the inconsistent presence of Kyrie, Morris, and Big Al, leave him wondering what his role really is.
Biggest problem I see is GH is just not very good a lot of the time.
Tatum and JB are really young and look it.
JB took a step towards stardom last year, that was unexpected in terms of who he was when drafted. As stated he is really a kid, and one that was non shooter not long ago. His progress has been great, but he has stalled.
Tatum is getting attention from every opponent, and the inconsistent presence of Kyrie, Morris, and Big Al, leave him wondering what his role really is.
Biggest problem I see is GH is just not very good a lot of the time.
Wasn't just referring to one play. GH is a pretty good defender but he certainly is not one of the top on-the-ball defenders in the league right now. He's definitely not the guy who did a credible job of defending KD pre-injury.
I'm not blaming him but it's also a fact of the matter that we all were saying prior to the season that they were adding two All-Stars. GH is certainly not an All-Star right now.
Yes it's just the regular season and yes they are going to make the playoffs but it does matter as they really have to figure out their "identity" - i.e., the way they want to play. You can call it their identity or style or what have you but they have to figure out what makes people most successful in terms of shots, handling the ball, lineups, and even defense.
And while they still have time, as KI said, it's soon getting late.
We have never seen the team, as currently constructed, play well in the playoffs. I would love for the "flip the switch" mentality to be a reality but I think that may be wishcasting a bit. I think DeJesus' consistent position is pretty spot on. They're not very good now but there is time for that to change. Anyone who is deeply concerned has more than enough data points to support their position. Anyone who thinks they'll turn it around by the spring is also being reasonable. This team really does have a ton of potential variability. I wouldn't be surprised if they got spanked by Philly/Indiana in Round 1 and that was that. I also wouldn't be surprised if they got right back to the ECF. The Celtics' ceiling remains as high as any team in the East.
I'm not sure about net rating, but it is basically the same thing as point differential. It's just not adjusted to 100 possessions. If you remove the Bulls game, the Celtics average margin of victory drops from 6.0 to 5.0. That would drop them from 2nd in the NBA to 6th. Behind the Bucks, Warriors, Raptors, Thunder and Pacers.
As others pointed out, it's not really fair to do that as other teams have blow out wins as well. Surprisingly, the Celtics worse loss of the year is only 16 points. They've only lost 5 games by 10 or more points.
There’s a ton of evidence that postseason success is closely correlated with regular-season record. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule — for example, no one looks at the current standings and thinks the Warriors are anything but a heavy favorite to defend their title. But it’s wishful thinking imo to look at the Celtics’ 50-win pace and conclude that they’re something other than a 50-win team. Which makes them a good team, but something less than a bona fide championship contender.
OK, time for a “glass half full” post — Vegas is bullish on the Celtics.
Odds to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2019 NBA Finals:
Raptors: 8/5
Celtics: 17/10
Bucks: 5/1
Sixers: 8/1
Pacers: 20/1
http://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/
These numbers surprise me, especially Toronto’s odds being so much better than Milwaukee’s.
Odds to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2019 NBA Finals:
Raptors: 8/5
Celtics: 17/10
Bucks: 5/1
Sixers: 8/1
Pacers: 20/1
http://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/
These numbers surprise me, especially Toronto’s odds being so much better than Milwaukee’s.
Then why are they upset? If it's a conscious thing would they need 3 team meetings?
Celtics' SRS is 5.10 which is remarkably third in the league (behind Milwaukee and Golden State). Their SRS was 3.23 last year, so by point differential/strength of schedule they are apparently better this year. Sure doesn't *feel* like that. That's the good news. The bad news, if you put any stock into this kind of measure, is that Milwaukee is miles ahead of them right now.
Last year, the team started 16-2. At this point last year, they were 33-10. They would win their 7th game in a row to go 34-10. After that point, they went 21-17 to finish 55-27.
The C's would have to go 30-9 the rest of the way to match last season's record. Possible, not likely. This team hasn't has a great start but compared to the 17-18 Celtics, most teams are going to come up short. I'd be shocked if they didn't win at least 50 games though, assuming good health.
The C's would have to go 30-9 the rest of the way to match last season's record. Possible, not likely. This team hasn't has a great start but compared to the 17-18 Celtics, most teams are going to come up short. I'd be shocked if they didn't win at least 50 games though, assuming good health.
Agree with Jimbo here. For whatever reason, IMO it’s bexause he doesn’t show much emotion and it pisses them off, Jaylen seems to be the player the veterans lash out at the most. It’s got to be grating and tiresome for him.
Also, what Jaylen said was completely right! They do need to have each other’s backs more and empower each other.
I think Kyrie is a great player and seems to truly be trying to be a leader but I would bet his teammates are tired of the non-stop soliloquy’s to the press. They come off as very holier than thou and don’t seem to actually be helping anyone.
I wasn’t in favor of Kyrie airing things out publicly but Jaylen has every right to be drilled by the veterans in the huddle at the time of the MaMo incident based on Jaylen’s lack of hustle which began the tussle.
Check this out
2017/18 record at this point: 34-10
2017/18 pythag expected: 30-14
2018/19 record at this point: 25-18
2018/19 pythag expected: 29-14
We all said last year that we were winning games we shouldn't, especially during that streak. This year it's flipped on us. We ended the season +4 versus our pythag. Three of those "extra" wins came during our 16 game win streak. If they hadn't we'd have been sitting at 31-13, just about the same as right now.
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