2022-2023 General Celtics thread

Red Averages

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This seems like a great time to pause/lock the thread and start over again in a few days.
I haven’t been following in great detail, but reading the last 10-15 posts is unproductive at best and highly detrimental at worst. There are a lot of significant accusations being floated around with less than enough evidence to support it. I understand why certain posters are sensitive to these issues, but we need to all take a collective breath and digest realizing perceptions aren’t always accurate facts.
 

nighthob

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We had a ruling a couple of months ago to stop making political posts outside the sewer. The answer is simply for people to take that shit to the sewer where it belongs. It really doesn’t belong here.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Keep telling us what a wonderful person Kyrie is and you will keep getting this.
Heh! I don’t even have to paint the entire picture to continue being slandered…..AGAIN! This board will have officially gone to fucking hell if you have an account tomorrow. Wait and see I guess. You’re a real piece of fuckin shit keyboard tough guy. Never once have I said anything disrespectful to your or any group. Never.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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I was completely ambivalent about Blake when he signed but it has turned out to be a great signing. I could not care less what he does or does not offer on the court but by all accounts he has been a perfect locker room fit and veteran presence for these guys.
 

RorschachsMask

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Tatum and Jaylen’s numbers in March are fun, with one game to go.

Tatum: 31/10/4 on a 62% TS, and a +8.6 net rating. It’s funny, but he’s ended up having that monster March everyone was hoping.

Jaylen: 28/6/4 on a 60% TS, and a +7 net rating.

Both really getting it going heading towards the postseason
 

Helmet Head

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It’s pretty clear at this point that the Celtics are just getting locked and loaded for the playoffs and don’t give a shit about the regular season. If they don’t want to give an effort when they playing a terrible team in order to save it for the playoffs, that pretty acceptable as far as I am concerned. They have continued to answer the bell against this the best teams in the league

In short, bring on the playoffs!
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Anyone hear Tatum after the game with Grande and Max? He’s so good. He was clearly elated, but expressed the same disbelief we often do at why they “play down,” which he said and then kind of agreed with himself that’s what he meant, to some opponents. His self assuredness is off the charts, but he’s always examining himself for ways to be better.
 

benhogan

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Anyone hear Tatum after the game with Grande and Max? He’s so good. He was clearly elated, but expressed the same disbelief we often do at why they “play down,” which he said and then kind of agreed with himself that’s what he meant, to some opponents. His self assuredness is off the charts, but he’s always examining himself for ways to be better.
Hanlan was working with Tatum last week (in Sacramento) on his 3pt stroke. He's unstoppable when they are falling
 

TripleOT

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Tatum went 8-10 from three at Milwaukee. It’s obv that he wanted to make a statement about his outside shooting. It looked like he was making an effort to get off threes without too much bag-reaching-in, which is a good sign. The more threes JT gets off set offense, as opposed to dribbling the ball up with all five defenders staring at him, is a win for Boston.
 

benhogan

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Tatum went 8-10 from three at Milwaukee. It’s obv that he wanted to make a statement about his outside shooting. It looked like he was making an effort to get off threes without too much bag-reaching-in, which is a good sign. The more threes JT gets off set offense, as opposed to dribbling the ball up with all five defenders staring at him, is a win for Boston.
do you know how many were catch-shoot 3s? He's been 40% on those this season

Really like it when Brogdon (or Smart/White) initiates from the top with the JAY's getting the ball off the sets
 

TripleOT

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do you know how many were catch-shoot 3s? He's been 40% on those this season

Really like it when Brogdon (or Smart/White) initiates from the top with the JAY's getting the ball off the sets
Three of Tatum’s threes were assisted. Five were solo, however, they were off catch off picking action and go into his bag, as opposed to dribble up against the entire defense and go into his bag. Tatum‘s action to get off his threes were compact and purposeful. His straight like drives were very direct, with none of the infuriating reverse spins into traffic that can lead to turnovers and runouts.

This was a glimpse of how efficient he can be when the offense is precise, detail oriented, and committed to using pick action to set up mismatches that lead to easy drives or great shots.
 

Jimbodandy

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As well as we moved the ball, shot, and played defense tonight (master class in defending Giannis again), this was the mirror image of the furball that we coughed against Washington a couple of days ago. For whatever reason, Milwaukee sleep-walked through this one practically from start to finish. If they crawled out of the desert after three days without water, laced up their sneakers, and hit the court, it wouldn't have looked any worse. This shit happens. Somewhere on the Sons of Paul Mokeski, they're wondering if Bud has lost his fastball.

Good to see the lads playing hard and loose tonight. 28 assists on 51 FGs doesn't tell the story, as like 18 of their first 21 makes were assisted. We basically had more than a half of garbage time. It was a joy to watch. 8 turnovers.
 

lovegtm

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I'm a lot less worried about the dreaded "playing a game 7 in Milwaukee" now.

Not because "oh man we're so much better", but because this team is really good when it focuses, and playing on the road doesn't seem to affect that focus negatively. If anything, it might heighten it.
 

PedroKsBambino

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I'm a lot less worried about the dreaded "playing a game 7 in Milwaukee" now.

Not because "oh man we're so much better", but because this team is really good when it focuses, and playing on the road doesn't seem to affect that focus negatively. If anything, it might heighten it.
This is what I see with this team---and thoguht was true last year in playoffs as well. When they are dialed-in at both ends they are the best team in basketball, and probably by 8 or so points. But they are not the most consistent team in basketball at either end, and that is the challenge for them (and for CJM) for the playoffs.
 

lovegtm

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This is what I see with this team---and thoguht was true last year in playoffs as well. When they are dialed-in at both ends they are the best team in basketball, and probably by 8 or so points. But they are not the most consistent team in basketball at either end, and that is the challenge for them (and for CJM) for the playoffs.
The main positive I see there is that they've been consistently very, very good against good teams this year. It's a cliché, but they really can flip the switch. I didn't see that in the same way last year, even during their huge late-season run.

Now, everyone tries to flip the switch in the playoffs, so there are no guarantees. But it looks promising so far.
 

PedroKsBambino

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I agree, they've been pretty consistently able to elevate this year. We'll see if that holds in the playoffs---certainly hope so.

The biggest positive for me relative to last year is that the offense has more gears. Brogdon is a huge improvement on the third weapon, and while they are not super consistent in doing it they have more actions than they did last year. Tatum is also better at driving, and White is fully settled in offensively. TL's vertical game being largely absent is only real 'loss' and that is likely health-related.

The defense has rarely reached last year's levels. That is likely a combination of Smart and TL's health, a bit more age on Al, and intensity. We've seen great D for portions of quarters, but not like last year where we'd get regular quarters and halves of elite defense. So, the pieces are still there defensively but we haven't really seen it in the same way.
 

Imbricus

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I watched the first half of the game. It's weird to see the best and worst of the Celtics over a three-day span, but that's this season.

A couple of small nits: (1) The Celtics have mental lapses about blocking out at times (2) They'll need to play Giannis tighter in the playoffs, near the top of the key, because once he gets a step or two downhill, forget it (though last night it didn't matter much because they had the huge lead).

Some game thread commenters said the Bucks weren't mentally checked in for the game. I don't think that's quite it. I think the Bucks were early on, but then got discouraged and tried to get back into it quickly with some ill-advised three-point shots, only to fall further behind and get more discouraged. The Celts were effective packing the paint on defense and harassing players inside. I don't think the Bucks came out flat, but they didn't show much fight once they started getting punched in the mouth.
 

Strike4

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Some game thread commenters said the Bucks weren't mentally checked in for the game. I don't think that's quite it. I think the Bucks were early on, but then got discouraged and tried to get back into it quickly with some ill-advised three-point shots, only to fall further behind and get more discouraged. The Celts were effective packing the paint on defense and harassing players inside. I don't think the Bucks came out flat, but they didn't show much fight once they started getting punched in the mouth.
This is absolutely true, the first quarter was electric and the teams were exchanging crazy buckets. It was a playoff atmosphere but without the playoff jitters. But the Celtics ended the quarter with a run to put them up by 5 or so and the Bucks never turned it around.
 

Devizier

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It’s pretty wild how the Celtics can roll out a lineup of arguably top 50 guys in Williams, Tatum, Brown, White, and Smart.

Smart is the stretch with his performance this season.
 

RorschachsMask

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Tatum went 6-7 on pull-up threes last night, and 2-3 on catch and shoot.

Raised his season percentage on pull-ups by 1.2% lol.
 
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tims4wins

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Brogdan was somehow +41 in 27 minutes last night. I thought that had to be borderline historic, but then found that the all-time record of +57 was registered in only 26 min. Go figure.
The names on that list are amazing. Mbah a Moute? Gary Trent? Daniel Theis?!

Edit: +57 in 26 minutes seems basically impossible. 26 minutes is barely more than a half. Like imagine winning a half by 57.
 

benhogan

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Brogdan was somehow +41 in 27 minutes last night. I thought that had to be borderline historic, but then found that the all-time record of +57 was registered in only 26 min. Go figure.
Derrick White was a +41 on Sunday against the Spurs

The defense has rarely reached last year's levels. That is likely a combination of Smart and TL's health, a bit more age on Al, and intensity. We've seen great D for portions of quarters, but not like last year where we'd get regular quarters and halves of elite defense. So, the pieces are still there defensively but we haven't really seen it in the same way.
100% agree on the Defense being a notch below. It looks like starting Double BIG will be put to the side for going 5-wide on offense.

Smart & TL are still banged up and I hope they have tonight off. The #1 seed isn't all that important (or realistic) at this point. Horford is definitely a hair slower/jumps less, and really struggles on the boards. Al really needs to be paired with a "Sweeper BIG" to be effective defensively, something to worry about next season.
 

PedroKsBambino

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I will admit---I didn't see the reason for Poeltl at the deadline (at least, it felt like it wasn't at the top of the list) and now I regret we don't have that as a fallback defensively/rebounding.

A healthy TL goes a long way to making that a non-issue.
 

TripleOT

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The one big line up can be a defensive force when Rob Williams is the big. When it’s Horford, there better be a concerted effort to box out. Grant is going to have to play well in the playoffs if they want to play two bigs for extended minutes.

If the offense is clicking with one big, it won’t really matter if the defense is as stout as last season. When the Celts put up 120 points, they are virtually unbeatable, 35-3, with all three losses in OT. NBA teams try to play consistent defense in the playoffs, but if the Celts can put up 30+ point quarters early with their one big lineups, they can grab control of playoff games.
 

TripleOT

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Yeah, I actually didn't like the shot selection for many of them - but he stuck them.
Tatum’s three ball is off if he’s sloppy or weak in his gather, usually when trying to take a three after a lot of high, wide dribbles, expending a lot of energy. When he’s dialed in and tight with his handle and gather after getting the ball in a good spot, usually the left slot, the defender is irrelevant. He tightened things up, from the bag dribbles, to the gather, to the shot and follow through.
 

InstaFace

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I don't think anyone would disagree with that if we were getting DPOY Marcus Smart. The current, coming off injury, slower, fouling more Marcus just doesn't seem to me as such a huge improvement on the defensive end over Brogdon/White, as to outweigh what you're giving up on the offensive end when Tatum and Brown get swallowed up and have to kick out to an open man (which inevitably feels like it'll be Smart when it matters most).
Just to go back to the Marcus Smart debate for a sec, this may kinda be the answer to "why don't we look like the world-beaters that our roster should be this year, when the Jays are a year more experienced, they went to the Finals last year, and added Brogdon?"

It's not dispositive, but Marcus's +/- per-100 numbers took a nosedive. +/- on-court is mostly an assessment of how awesome your team is, of course: Marcus's pm/100 the last 4 years goes: +7.1, +2.7, +9.7 (!), +6.1 this year. And that's with 100% of his games being a starter, so it's a measure of how good we are at outscoring the other teams' starters. Fine. But while that helps mitigate any confounding effect from "who on the other team are you facing", it doesn't help isolate Smart's specific effects. Here are his On-Off/100 numbers those last 4 years:

2019-20: +1.3
2020-21: +3.3
2021-22: +4.7
2022-23: -1.0

Yes, that's a negative this year on the on-off numbers. Now, there's context to add there:

- Our bench is a lot better, so when they beat up the other team's bench better than our starters beat their starters, Marcus looks worse, in fact all our starters do, but it's still a good thing because depth is good (even if it's less good in the playoffs)
- Those first 2 years, Marcus spent 73% and 55% of his minutes at the 2 rather than at PG, because we had Kemba. The last 2 years he has been PG for 92% and this year, 98%, of his minutes. That affects who he's covering, and he has always had a weakness against the exceptionally quick guards, your DeAaron Foxes of the league.
- Have to evaluate with respect to the alternatives. Malcolm Brogdon is at +5.2 on-court, but -2.4 on-off, worse than Smart; given that he usually leads the second unit, this argues against the idea that the Celtics ride a great bench. But also, Derrick White (3rd on the team in minutes) is +10.6 on-court, and +9.6 on-off, leading the team by a mile (Tatum: +5.9).

But what it does say is, (1) we have generally had better people to play at his spot, when available, particularly White for PG duty, and (2) our eye test that we're getting a gimpy, well-less-than-100% Smart this year, who is a long way away from DPOY Smart, has plenty of confirmation to it.

But when he's available to the roster, he plays. He starts, in fact: 59 games played, 59 games started. So what's so different? Do we see any clues to it showing up in the stats? Looking again at the last 4 years, for context vs the present (And bearing in mind that he's only been primary PG this year and last year), we see:

FGA/36': 12.8, 11.6, 11.3 -> 10.8. He has been more-selective about shooting it this year. USG% says the same thing.
eFG: .476, .489, .501, -> .512. He has been more efficient at shooting in general this year, and steadily improved.
FT%: .836, .790, .793, -> .757. Well, that's about a 5% drop-off this year, maybe that's "something bugging his hip" in his mechanics.
DRB/36': 3.4, 3.0, 3.6 -> 2.7. That's about a 20% dropoff in defensive rebounds from the prev 30-year average, even while ORB is largely constant. Going for less, or less effective at it, either way.
AST/game: 4.9, 5.7, 5.9 -> 6.4. He's assisting more than ever before, and anecdotally he's looked like a more-ambitious and more precise passer, too. What about his Points Generated from Assists?
PGA tot: 658, 678, 977 -> 899. Some of the increase comes from being PG more often, but he's being just as effective as a creator this year as last year. Turnovers?
TOV/36': 1.9, 2.2, 2.5 -> 2.6. A little more than last year, but much of the change is probably just from the role change post-Kemba. Nothing surprising. Same is true if you categorize the turnovers.
PF/36': 3.0, 2.9, 2.5 -> 3.1. He has been fouling more, after reducing it greatly last year. Similar % increase in Shooting fouls vs Off-Ball fouls.
OBPM: 0.0, -0.4, -1.2 -> -1.7. He has been less-valuable as an offensive player this year, relative to his previous acceptable level of moderate suck.
DBPM: 1.4, 0.2, 1.7 -> 0.8. He has been dramatically less valuable as a defender, with the net result leaving him not meaningfully above replacement-level as a PG this year (+0.5 VORP).
Fouls drawn shooting: 53, 64, 69 -> 46. He has been less-aggressive about driving the ball this year, and/or inviting contact. Off-ball fouls not so much, those are 30, 31, 46 -> 48, if anything he's doing more of that.

OK so those are some clues, but none of them are slam dunk answers.

What does DARKO say? Let's compare against teammates, and also FVV because why not.

62870

So a slight drop-off, with a mildly-concerning trendline, but not exactly falling off the table. The bigger effect to notice is how much better Derrick White has gotten this year.

Anyway my conclusion is, to the extent that we have any suggestions as to why he's doing so much worse than last year - and to the extent we can control for variables like "Derrick White is awesome" - it seems to be mainly an issue of mobility, since all the notable departures (fouling the ball-handler, FT%, drawing shooting fouls) seem like they're functions of agility and playing pain-free.

I don't know whether this means we should put him on the 2nd unit and start White / Jaylen, or try more White-1/Smart-2 lineups, or change who he's guarding, or give him the next 2 weeks off. But we can't paper over the gap between Smart This Year and Smart Last Year, the end result has definitely been measurable and substantial on the court.
 

InstaFace

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The main positive I see there is that they've been consistently very, very good against good teams this year. It's a cliché, but they really can flip the switch. I didn't see that in the same way last year, even during their huge late-season run.
Yeah if you're going to look at the team's performance against top teams, focusing on the availability of our top 8, we've got:

10/18 vs PHI: W, 126-117 (no: TL)
11/7 @ MEM: W, 109-106 (no: TL)
11/11 vs DEN: W, 131-112 (no: TL, Brogdon)
12/10 @ GSW: L, 107-123 (no: TL, Horford)
12/25 vs MIL: W, 139-118
1/1 @ DEN: L, 111-123
1/19 vs GSW: W, 121-118 (OT)
2/8 vs PHI: W, 106-99 (no: TL, Smart)
2/12 vs MEM: W, 119-109 (no: Brown, Smart, Brogdon)
2/14 @ MIL: L, 131-125 (OT) (no: Tatum, Brown, Smart, Horford)
2/25 @ PHI: W, 110-107 (no: full-court heave for Embiid)
3/30 @ MIL: W, 140-99 (no: chill whatsoever)

Total: 9-3, 6-0 at home 3-3 on the road. Denver is the only top team to beat us this year when we've been anything close to full strength.

The 5 teams included here also round out the top 6 in Win % against top-10 teams, i.e. GSW is viewed as a top team despite their record, partly because they're the champs and partly because we match up so poorly with them, but also because they similarly get up for big games. Cleveland is the only other good team that seems to match up well against us and can beat us on a night when we show up, and they're all but locked into the 4-seed so we may not see them at all.
 

Auger34

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If I were a bucks fan Giannis's thing about jacking threes against the celtics would send me to the madhouse.
When Giannis is putting his head down and getting to the rim he’s incredible. If that gets walled off or he has to shoot outside of the restricted area, he’s pretty damn mediocre.
(I mean specifically when he has the ball and tries to score. He’s so damn good and getting to the rim that setting up “the wall” gets his teammates open looks)
 

benhogan

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Just to go back to the Marcus Smart debate for a sec, this may kinda be the answer to "why don't we look like the world-beaters that our roster should be this year, when the Jays are a year more experienced, they went to the Finals last year, and added Brogdon?"

It's not dispositive, but Marcus's +/- per-100 numbers took a nosedive. +/- on-court is mostly an assessment of how awesome your team is, of course: Marcus's pm/100 the last 4 years goes: +7.1, +2.7, +9.7 (!), +6.1 this year. And that's with 100% of his games being a starter, so it's a measure of how good we are at outscoring the other teams' starters. Fine. But while that helps mitigate any confounding effect from "who on the other team are you facing", it doesn't help isolate Smart's specific effects. Here are his On-Off/100 numbers those last 4 years:

2019-20: +1.3
2020-21: +3.3
2021-22: +4.7
2022-23: -1.0

Yes, that's a negative this year on the on-off numbers. Now, there's context to add there:

- Our bench is a lot better, so when they beat up the other team's bench better than our starters beat their starters, Marcus looks worse, in fact all our starters do, but it's still a good thing because depth is good (even if it's less good in the playoffs)
- Those first 2 years, Marcus spent 73% and 55% of his minutes at the 2 rather than at PG, because we had Kemba. The last 2 years he has been PG for 92% and this year, 98%, of his minutes. That affects who he's covering, and he has always had a weakness against the exceptionally quick guards, your DeAaron Foxes of the league.
- Have to evaluate with respect to the alternatives. Malcolm Brogdon is at +5.2 on-court, but -2.4 on-off, worse than Smart; given that he usually leads the second unit, this argues against the idea that the Celtics ride a great bench. But also, Derrick White (3rd on the team in minutes) is +10.6 on-court, and +9.6 on-off, leading the team by a mile (Tatum: +5.9).

But what it does say is, (1) we have generally had better people to play at his spot, when available, particularly White for PG duty, and (2) our eye test that we're getting a gimpy, well-less-than-100% Smart this year, who is a long way away from DPOY Smart, has plenty of confirmation to it.

But when he's available to the roster, he plays. He starts, in fact: 59 games played, 59 games started. So what's so different? Do we see any clues to it showing up in the stats? Looking again at the last 4 years, for context vs the present (And bearing in mind that he's only been primary PG this year and last year), we see:

FGA/36': 12.8, 11.6, 11.3 -> 10.8. He has been more-selective about shooting it this year. USG% says the same thing.
eFG: .476, .489, .501, -> .512. He has been more efficient at shooting in general this year, and steadily improved.
FT%: .836, .790, .793, -> .757. Well, that's about a 5% drop-off this year, maybe that's "something bugging his hip" in his mechanics.
DRB/36': 3.4, 3.0, 3.6 -> 2.7. That's about a 20% dropoff in defensive rebounds from the prev 30-year average, even while ORB is largely constant. Going for less, or less effective at it, either way.
AST/game: 4.9, 5.7, 5.9 -> 6.4. He's assisting more than ever before, and anecdotally he's looked like a more-ambitious and more precise passer, too. What about his Points Generated from Assists?
PGA tot: 658, 678, 977 -> 899. Some of the increase comes from being PG more often, but he's being just as effective as a creator this year as last year. Turnovers?
TOV/36': 1.9, 2.2, 2.5 -> 2.6. A little more than last year, but much of the change is probably just from the role change post-Kemba. Nothing surprising. Same is true if you categorize the turnovers.
PF/36': 3.0, 2.9, 2.5 -> 3.1. He has been fouling more, after reducing it greatly last year. Similar % increase in Shooting fouls vs Off-Ball fouls.
OBPM: 0.0, -0.4, -1.2 -> -1.7. He has been less-valuable as an offensive player this year, relative to his previous acceptable level of moderate suck.
DBPM: 1.4, 0.2, 1.7 -> 0.8. He has been dramatically less valuable as a defender, with the net result leaving him not meaningfully above replacement-level as a PG this year (+0.5 VORP).
Fouls drawn shooting: 53, 64, 69 -> 46. He has been less-aggressive about driving the ball this year, and/or inviting contact. Off-ball fouls not so much, those are 30, 31, 46 -> 48, if anything he's doing more of that.

OK so those are some clues, but none of them are slam dunk answers.

What does DARKO say? Let's compare against teammates, and also FVV because why not.

View attachment 62870

So a slight drop-off, with a mildly-concerning trendline, but not exactly falling off the table. The bigger effect to notice is how much better Derrick White has gotten this year.

Anyway my conclusion is, to the extent that we have any suggestions as to why he's doing so much worse than last year - and to the extent we can control for variables like "Derrick White is awesome" - it seems to be mainly an issue of mobility, since all the notable departures (fouling the ball-handler, FT%, drawing shooting fouls) seem like they're functions of agility and playing pain-free.

I don't know whether this means we should put him on the 2nd unit and start White / Jaylen, or try more White-1/Smart-2 lineups, or change who he's guarding, or give him the next 2 weeks off. But we can't paper over the gap between Smart This Year and Smart Last Year, the end result has definitely been measurable and substantial on the court.
Good post, thanks for all the work.

Not really bothered who starts, but I hope CJM has the guts to close with DW (& play him serious minutes) at PG
 

Smokey Joe

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Good post, thanks for all the work.

Not really bothered who starts, but I hope CJM has the guts to close with DW (& play him serious minutes) at PG
I believe that Kirk Goldsberry on Zach Lowe’s podcast today was talking about Giannis’ frustration with playing against the Celtics. He basically said that almost every starter can credibly defend him, but he expects the Bucks to focus on DW in the future because Giannis can overpower him.
So again, it’s situational. Marcus is out there for reasons that are not easily quantifiable.
 

chilidawg

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I believe that Kirk Goldsberry on Zach Lowe’s podcast today was talking about Giannis’ frustration with playing against the Celtics. He basically said that almost every starter can credibly defend him, but he expects the Bucks to focus on DW in the future because Giannis can overpower him.
So again, it’s situational. Marcus is out there for reasons that are not easily quantifiable.
I'd agree. We've got 3 combo pg/sg guys who are all excellent, with varying strengths and weaknesses. I'd hope that their usage is at least somewhat matchup dependant.
 

benhogan

Granite Truther
SoSH Member
Nov 2, 2007
22,279
Santa Monica
I will admit---I didn't see the reason for Poeltl at the deadline (at least, it felt like it wasn't at the top of the list) and now I regret we don't have that as a fallback defensively/rebounding.

A healthy TL goes a long way to making that a non-issue.
HRB isn't even here to take a victory lap ;) Hopefully, he'll see it once he returns

Adding a springy Center (TL facsimile) would be a nice addition this summer since this roster is intact for next season(Grant RFA?)
 

benhogan

Granite Truther
SoSH Member
Nov 2, 2007
22,279
Santa Monica
I believe that Kirk Goldsberry on Zach Lowe’s podcast today was talking about Giannis’ frustration with playing against the Celtics. He basically said that almost every starter can credibly defend him, but he expects the Bucks to focus on DW in the future because Giannis can overpower him.
So again, it’s situational. Marcus is out there for reasons that are not easily quantifiable.
Good point on Giannis, although DW would pick him or draw a charge a few times. Go ahead and focus on White, see how that works out GA

100% Yes to a healthy Marcus playing serious minutes, less so when he is hobbled

Definitely match-up dependent/situational, but I want White's minutes to reflect what his +/- and On-Off have said this year and his entire career. His intangibles may be even greater than Smarts
 

CaptainLaddie

dj paul pfieffer
SoSH Member
Sep 6, 2004
39,353
where the darn libs live
Nice to see them have another strong game, especially one against a team that beat them in pretty brutal fashion recently.

The games against Washington, Houston, etc are infuriating but whatever. They're playing to the talent of their opponents sometimes.