2021 Celtics LVSL Game Thread
- Thread starter HomeRunBaker
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Pritchard showing again why he’s a second unit guard. This isn’t a knock on him he simply struggles against high end athleticism and length. He has a role on next years team. I’ve said my peace on Nesmith. Begarin is far and away our best long term prospect.
I’m willing to give PP a pass with his excessive schedule but what’s AN’s excuse? Just getting killed on D. Always on the back foot. And no feel for the game. It’s just 1 game of course but there is pride hete in a ‘championship’ game
He hasn’t showed big enough leaps the past two years to have Begarin’s type of upside. His baby leaps give him role/rotation player upside......which isn’t a bad thing but the chances of him growing into a star type player have long passed imo.
I was excited too. But after the third quarter I downgraded to doubtful to return.
If I were ranking guys solely on this game I'd go Begarin, Edwards, PP and Nesmith. The latter two just totally melted down in the face of pressure tonight. Edwards could create looks at least, but as usual just can't make enough to be the guy he needs to be. Begarin has the advantage of being new and shiny at least.
Begarin had some incredibly impressive athleticism in the highlights. He is exciting to think about with a little seasoning.
Agree with all of these.
Also wish that we could stash PP, Edwards, Romeo, and Nesmith this year along with Yam and Begarin. I didn't check, but we may have had more turnovers than made field goals. What an egg.
I frequently agree with you. I was thinking he looked like a much better prospect than Romeo, but I fear Romeo's protectors.
Hey I’m a Romeo protector but that isn’t going to influence my opinion that his ceiling isn’t nearly as high as Begarin’s. I would discuss Nesmith’s ceiling but I’m afraid people would have to duck. Thank you and don’t forget to tip your waitress!
AN's always had trouble moving his feet on defense. It's just in the NBA thus far he hasn't really been ISO'd that much plus he has better help behind him.
SAC had great scouting. They knew which match-ups they could win and just continued doing it over and over. There's almost always next year.
28 turnovers and 23 made FGs is a losing combination. PP and AN with 6 TOs each. PP had several instances where he turned the ball over while trying to make passes through windows that were not there. AN had several turnovers where he lost the handle or dribbled the ball off his feet. Credit to Sacramento’s defense they made it uncomfortable for PP and AN and forced a lot of errors.
Wish Romeo had played. His shooting was one thing I thought might be real growth, would have liked to see it in a game against an good active D and when things weren't going well.
PP's facilitation was the other growth story, and it might have been fool's gold, this was the first game where an NBA caliber defender put real ball pressure on him, and he folded.
PP's facilitation was the other growth story, and it might have been fool's gold, this was the first game where an NBA caliber defender put real ball pressure on him, and he folded.
Def seemed like one case of PP reading his press clippings and another case of Davion Mitchell’s having them hanging in his locker pregame.
It's amazing how much opinions can change after a loss. Ultimately, summer league doesn't tell us much of anything about anyone. Players were often used in roles they aren't familiar with/won't be playing for the C's, and they were playing with inferior teammates while playing unfamiliar role.
Preseason is slightly better but you still get the occasional Carsen Edwards game. I'm going to hold out until the games count but overall my opinion on PP, RL, AN, CE are unchanged and I'm dreaming big on Begarin.
Preseason is slightly better but you still get the occasional Carsen Edwards game. I'm going to hold out until the games count but overall my opinion on PP, RL, AN, CE are unchanged and I'm dreaming big on Begarin.
I thought PP facilitated OK in the first half but no one was really doing anything with the passes he made even though he was getting trapped on the PnR.
Also, the Cs jumped out to a decent early by attacking the lack of defenders in the paint but stopped doing that, particularly after Bruno was taken out the first time.
Could have used RL and Yam.
I'd give PP a pass, just about every one of his 3's barely reached the front of the rim (a few airballs). His legs were gone after putting on a bball clinic for 3 consecutive days (Fri, Sat, Sunday). The kid could flat out barely move. Chalk it up to tiredness
HRB favorite Aaron Nesmith was gawd awful but did SL things that he would not be asked to do in the NBA (I'm also sticking w/that excuse
). On offense, he bricked 3s, dribbled the ball off his foot more than once with an incredibly loose/unaware handle. On defense, his energy level didn't match Sac, standing straight up on D, getting beat to the rim repeatedly, and by Louis King on the perimeter was reminiscent of Kemba's floating D. I imagine Ime won't tolerate that nonsense from anybody especially a 2nd-year player
Looking forward to seeing Begarin grow physically/skill-wise. He'll probably go back overseas but could see him spend a season in Maine under the Boston microscope if PBS wanted to get aggressive with his development.
Romeo as usual gets an Incomplete grade. How many semesters can he drop a class before mid-terms?
I'm excited about Hauser in Maine for the season
Bruno can be the Celtics 4th or 5th string beef Center...Still want one in Maine for emergency purposes
HRB favorite Aaron Nesmith was gawd awful but did SL things that he would not be asked to do in the NBA (I'm also sticking w/that excuse
). On offense, he bricked 3s, dribbled the ball off his foot more than once with an incredibly loose/unaware handle. On defense, his energy level didn't match Sac, standing straight up on D, getting beat to the rim repeatedly, and by Louis King on the perimeter was reminiscent of Kemba's floating D. I imagine Ime won't tolerate that nonsense from anybody especially a 2nd-year playerLooking forward to seeing Begarin grow physically/skill-wise. He'll probably go back overseas but could see him spend a season in Maine under the Boston microscope if PBS wanted to get aggressive with his development.
Romeo as usual gets an Incomplete grade. How many semesters can he drop a class before mid-terms?
I'm excited about Hauser in Maine for the season
Bruno can be the Celtics 4th or 5th string beef Center...Still want one in Maine for emergency purposes
Clearly this was written before the championship game, but I don't think Nesmith's and Pritchard's awful performances negate all the good things they showed in Vegas.
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/08/18/all-nba-summer-league-team-jalen-green-davion-mitchell
If Nesmith can continue hitting open 3s when the real games begin, he'll be an asset.
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/08/18/all-nba-summer-league-team-jalen-green-davion-mitchell
If Nesmith can continue hitting open 3s when the real games begin, he'll be an asset.
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I think if the draft was held after summer league, Begarin is a definite first rounder.
Obviously rough around the edges but tons of potential, athleticism, and not terrible at playing basketball. Good combo for a 19 year old.
He could obviously still flop, but early returns are strong work for Brad's 1st draft pick.
Obviously rough around the edges but tons of potential, athleticism, and not terrible at playing basketball. Good combo for a 19 year old.
He could obviously still flop, but early returns are strong work for Brad's 1st draft pick.
I don't think it's a question of negating, but more... you expect those two guys to be very good in SL, they're 2nd year guys drafted in the 1st round who played NBA rotation minutes for a playoff team. The question was, did they look so good early because they had improved skills, or did they look so good because they were NBA rotation players up against mostly scrubs? The title game took some shine off the "these guys really improved" theory. PP might just have burned himself out, but this was also the first matchup that had a chance to show whether PP improved on some of the weaknesses identified last year (decision making and pass placement against long active defenses, and creating for himself and others against better athletes who got up in his space). That Mitchell so thoroughly dominated him is concerning for anyone hoping he'd taken a step. Of course the sample is tiny, so you can't take too much from it, but I'd say for just about everyone SL didn't change what I thought about them. I'd have liked to see Romeo in this one just because another 5-6 shots from 3 would have been nice to judge the only thing I really thought was a takeaway, which is I thought his shot looked cleaner and his release faster, but we only had a dozen or so attempts to look at.
There are really no excuses for Nesmith's poor performance. After he hit his first two shots, both 3-pointers, the Kings sped him up, and he looked out of sorts on both ends the rest of the way.
With Pritchard, I'd like to think he'd have played better against the Kings had he not spent two of the previous three days in Portlan jacking up dozens of shots in pro-am games, but who knows? Clearly, he wasn't going to dominate Mitchell, who has all the makings of an elite defender and had obviously heard more than enough praise for Pritchard.
