Magic Brad. His mere presence has caused the Wizards to pull a no-show defensively on the second night of a road b2b.He's getting a new and completely unwanted opportunity to show his worth.
Magic Brad. His mere presence has caused the Wizards to pull a no-show defensively on the second night of a road b2b.He's getting a new and completely unwanted opportunity to show his worth.
And doing a hell of a job, up 4 early in the fourth. Love the fight in this team.That starting lineup is in all likelihood the worst any team has put out on the floor this year .Gross
That was a fine, measured take on this team. I'm actually pleasantly surprised, thanks for sharing.usually not a fan of Nick Wright, but he is preaching to the choir.
If the Celtics backups take care of business vs. the tankers out West (Kings, Suns) and at home (Bulls, Hawks, Nets), this Celtics squad will end up with at least 54 wins, one more than last year.If liking your own thread is wrong, I don't want to be right. Best coach in the NBA right now. Period.
Yep, Danny has done a fine job building this team. But it's a pleasure watching a coach who can beat OKC and Portland back to back (the latter in their house) with a bunch of guys who wouldn't start on most teams. Almost complete roster turnover from last year. Larkin and Yabusele getting real minutes now. Tatum growing in leaps and bounds. Brad matches up well and takes advantage of what other teams do. Nurcic can't close out on Al at the 3, so they run that. Nurkic comes out, they crash the glass and get all the boards, and they start taking it hard to the basket. Need to go small? Yabusele out, Ojeleye in. Run Al at the 5 and Morris at the 4. How about Larkin and Rozier in the backcourt? No problem.If liking your own thread is wrong, I don't want to be right. Best coach in the NBA right now. Period.
And running up the court, fist-pumping and mocking Dennis Rodman in game 7 against Detroit is third.Brad Stevens is the best coach in the NBA right now. To be doing what he's doing without Kyrie, Smart, Hayward, and Theis is unbelievable. He even had a plan for when Walter McCarty eventually left the Celtics for a college job. It's like he expected it to happen and had the Red Claws guys ready. It's incredibly lucky that we have Brad as our coach. Getting KG was the best thing that Ainge has ever done, but prying Stevens out of Butler is a close, close second.
I thought biting Tree Rollins was third...And running up the court, fist-pumping and mocking Dennis Rodman in game 7 against Detroit is third.
I turned on the game with 7 minutes left, as Rozier's and-1 put us up 88-82. They got two quick scores to draw within 2. Brad takes a TO.Yabusele, Nader, Ojeleye and Bird all get non-garbage time minutes and we get the win.
You're talking about practice??So in that stretch, that's the team shooting 6/8 from the field, 2/2 from the line, with 2/2 3PT. I think Horford had 3 assists in that stretch. They're not known as an offensive team, but they absolutely could not be stopped. And in that same span, SAC went 1-for-9 from the field (with 2/2 FTs), despite some nifty offensive rebounds. I don't know what the Cs have been doing for conditioning or practicing their offensive action, but that went from "oooh, this could be tight at the end" to "easy double digit win" in a flash.
Kyrie is playing good defense because defensive win shares? Come on.Brad's defensive schemes are remarkable.
Brad is getting some recognition. E.g., https://thebiglead.com/2018/03/26/brad-stevens-is-putting-together-the-best-season-of-his-career/
Kyrie is playing good defense because defensive win shares? Come on.
The story on Irving was that he doesn’t play defense. Stevens has figured out how to change that.
Literally, yes you're right. So DWS measures how much defense you play?It doesn't say that he plays good defense. It says he used to not play defense and now he does.
The article was literally about how Brad Stevens has managed to hold the team together without GH and how he is continuing to hold the team together in Kyrie's absence and this is what you get from it?Literally, yes you're right. So DWS measures how much defense you play?
I'm not sure what you're looking for. The article simply doesn't say Kyrie is playing "good defense", but acknowledges his DWS has improved under Stevens. That's factual.Literally, yes you're right. So DWS measures how much defense you play?
The article seemed lazy to me, using DWSThe article was literally about how Brad Stevens has managed to hold the team together without GH and how he is continuing to hold the team together in Kyrie's absence and this is what you get from it?
I'm okay with using DWS as a proxy that the Cs are playing good defense as a team (since that's really what it measures). I'm also okay with using Kyrie's DWS as a rough approximation of what, as lexrageorge notes, we all see, which is that Kyrie is playing more defense than he did at CLE during the regular season.
How much more? Not sure. Really don't have a way to measure it. But more.
I think that was my point, that DWS is a better measure of team defense when you're on the floor than of individual defense. Early in the season I thought Irving's defense was pretty good, but it seemed that waned as the season went on. Maybe it was his knee bothering him, maybe he'll turn it back on. His DRPM is better (-1.43 vs. -2.30), but not a lot.The article was literally about how Brad Stevens has managed to hold the team together without GH and how he is continuing to hold the team together in Kyrie's absence and this is what you get from it?
I'm okay with using DWS as a proxy that the Cs are playing good defense as a team (since that's really what it measures). I'm also okay with using Kyrie's DWS as a rough approximation of what, as lexrageorge notes, we all see, which is that Kyrie is playing more defense than he did at CLE during the regular season.
How much more? Not sure. Really don't have a way to measure it. But more.
I totally agree. But doesn't this beg the question?Not playing hard defense is contagious. If the other four guys are not doing their part and helping out, there's not much point to the fifth guy giving it his max effort. But put that guy in a system where everyone is playing good defense, and someone NOT doing his share will stick out.
http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar/prac-100817-smarts-scrappiness-rubbing-new-celticsWALTHAM, Mass. – Brad Stevens made it a point during Sunday afternoon’s film session to single out a few of Marcus Smart’s hustle plays from Friday’s preseason win in Philadelphia.
Smart’s teammates watched replays of him diving on the floor for loose balls, ripping the rock out of the hands of a helpless opponent, and doing all of the dirty work that makes an impact on winning.
Seeing such plays were nothing new for guys like Al Horford, Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown, who all witnessed those efforts from Smart on a nightly basis last season. For everyone else, it was something new, exciting and motivational.
Stevens turned to the impressed Celtics newcomers and told them, “Now you guys know why we all love Marcus. He does things that other guys just don’t do.”
Kudos on correct usage of "beg the question"I totally agree. But doesn't this beg the question?
First part, yes, by definition. Second part, no, you really shouldn't be okay with using DWS like that. It's a top-down metric that stems primarily from team D-rating and minutes played. The Cavs were 21st in D-rating last year. The Celtics are first in D-rating this year. Kyrie is fourth on the Celtics in minutes played. Those factors account for the vast majority of his improvement in DWS. That doesn't mean he's not playing better defense, it just means we can't really tell that from DWS. It's also kinda weird that the author of that piece notes that the Celtics have a bunch of guys in the top 20 in DWS, without noting that, well of course they would since they have the best team D-rating. You'll see that even within any given team, there isn't a big variance in DWS and that it lines up pretty nicely with minutes. Kyrie isn't a better defender that Aron Baynes, Daniel Theis or Marcus Smart, but he has a higher DWS than them because he has played more minutes than them.I'm okay with using DWS as a proxy that the Cs are playing good defense as a team (since that's really what it measures). I'm also okay with using Kyrie's DWS as a rough approximation of what, as lexrageorge notes, we all see, which is that Kyrie is playing more defense than he did at CLE during the regular season.
FWIW, I think that we are putting too much emphasis on the peer pressure and coaching inspiration part of the equation. Yes, it exists. Brad makes you want to play defense more, and your teammates doing so will help keep you motivated also. You know that your effort means something.I totally agree. But doesn't this beg the question?
Q: How the fuck did he make that guy play defense for him???
A: Everyone plays defense for him.
Of course, this could just mean that @The Allented Mr Ripley 's Jedi Hypothesis is still in play...
I think a lot of it is a scheme/team thing. The Celtics are a more focused defensive team than Cleveland was. Kyrie is still the Celtics' worst defensive starter by a country mile.I get how Stevens can be so good in ways I don't understand in drawing up defenses and offenses. Like, I understand the process, the talent, the skills and learning involved. Even if I can't do it, I get how someone else can do it.
I even get how a great leader can inspire greater effort from people, and that some people have this ability be it through skill or natural talent or whatever.
I do not get how some rare individuals can get an NBA player who didn't play defense before to start playing defense.
Now, I also think there is some selection effect here in that Kyrie had a list of teams he'd go to and they almost all had good coaches. But the notion that Kyrie was seeking a guy like Stevens to make him do things he knew he should do but wasn't already doing only makes the whole thing more fascinating, imo.
This is so true and difficult to understand how this can still be debated. Kyrie's DWS have improved playing next to Horford, Smart, and Jaylen over playing next to Love, JR Smith, and Korver......and this is surprising? NBA defense is cultural and it's a team effort. Not to mention the Cavs veterans were on cruise control throughout the regular season and that includes Kyrie.I think a lot of it is a scheme/team thing. The Celtics are a more focused defensive team than Cleveland was. Kyrie is still the Celtics' worst defensive starter by a country mile.
Really? The thread is filled with posts saying how Kyrie didn't play defense before and now does. I'd argue he played better defense in the playoffs last year than he has in Boston this year.Still looking to see who said Kyrie was now a good defensive player.
I know a poster responded like someone said that, but no one actually did.
Who?Still looking to see who said Kyrie was now a good defensive player.
I know a poster responded like someone said that, but no one actually did.
Define Happy. <sosh>I would imagine that Kyrie looks distinctly... happy on the Boston bench comes in to play somehow too.
Show your work.I would imagine that Kyrie looks distinctly... happy on the Boston bench comes in to play somehow too.
Playing defense is not playing good defense.Really? The thread is filled with posts saying how Kyrie didn't play defense before and now does. I'd argue he played better defense in the playoffs last year than he has in Boston this year.
This person:Who?
That was in a response to an article someone posted that was lauding Stevens for keeping team playing well and in that article it was said "Irving is ranked 29th in DWS".Kyrie is playing good defense because defensive win shares? Come on.
He clarified, though:This person:
That was in a response to an article someone posted that was lauding Stevens for keeping team playing well and in that article it was said "Irving is ranked 29th in DWS".
And he's right, it's not that DWS doesn't tell us whether Kyrie's a good defender or not, it's that DWS doesn't really even tell us if Kyrie is defending better than he did last year, since it's primarily a function of team defensive rating and minutes, so it doesn't make any sense for the author of that article to cite it as evidence of anything.I think that was my point, that DWS is a better measure of team defense when you're on the floor than of individual defense. Early in the season I thought Irving's defense was pretty good, but it seemed that waned as the season went on. Maybe it was his knee bothering him, maybe he'll turn it back on. His DRPM is better (-1.43 vs. -2.30), but not a lot.
More to the thread topic, I thought the article was not particularly insightful, and I jumped on that one particular point as a means of illustrating that. I could have put more time into it, but it just didn't seem that worth it.
If that's the case, then stuff like this threw me off:I think this board understands DWS enough to know that.
Because Kyrie's DWS increase doesn't say that.It doesn't say that he plays good defense. It says he used to not play defense and now he does.