Celtics

[KilgoreTrout]

Guess none of you listened to the RKO broadcast last night. I started a thread about it but it died a quick death. Max was spouting off about EEI taking over (again) next year. Was very entertaining.

[Toro]

[ QUOTE ]
Guess none of you listened to the RKO broadcast last night. I started a thread about it but it died a quick death. Max was spouting off about EEI taking over (again) next year. Was very entertaining.

[/ QUOTE ]

Missed it, but as a listener of Max and that broadcast would you know the origins of " quack quack quack " as I can't for the life of me figure out it's significance.

[ThomasPHoolery]

I REALLY want to like the Celtics and have faith in them. I really do. As a huge NBA fan relocated to Boston, nothing would make me happier than having a franchise to root for who, even though they were struggling I could have faith in. For a long time, I though Danny Ainge had the plan, and things were going to turn around. For the past 2 years, time and again, I've defended this team to people, but I just can't do it any more. Reasons:

1. Toro was absolutely right at the start of this thread-- It really boils down to the fact that this team CAN'T shoot. I go to a number of Celtics games a year, and watch many more on TV and it's abundantly obvious that teams don't respect anyone save for Pierce pulling up on them. They're more than willing to collapse and cheat down low creating all kinds of spacing problems, that, no matter how good Al is (and Al is a very good player), he's not going to have the room he needs to operate. Looking at the spacing up close, it's striking how much teams are able to clog the Celtics up.

2. Beyond not being able to shoot, they really don't do anything well on offense, except get to the line, but that's entirely a function of Pierce, who gets there like a machine.

3. I had a striking conversation with someone in the Celtics front office 2 summers ago after the Scal signing. Of course I thought giving that guy 5 years was a horrible idea, as did the person in the front office, but Ainge was very much in favor of the signing because he believes on a very fundamental level that players can "learn to shoot." His argument is that he learned to do it ("I was terrible my rookie year.") Historically, this has proven to NOT be the case. A skill players don't tend to get good at over the course of their careers is shooting (some do show marginal improvements, but going from bad shooter to good shooter doesn't happen). Ainge continually stockpiles players who have this one huge hole in their game, thinking that if they improve that, he'll have gotten a bargain. It doesn't happen, and as such, he has a lot of assets who just don't fit well together.

4. Just to hammer home the point, for all you Celtics fans. Go to a game. Show up early and really play attention to warm ups. Watch the number of shots the guards brick. And I don't mean kinda brick, I mean have no shot in hell of going in. Then watch the other team. Watch their guards. You'll notice a huge difference.

5. All this would be fine, if I had faith that Ainge could take the assets that he has and leverage them into something sweet. I have no such faith though. He's shown a high willingness to trade, and a lot of creativity, but ultimately he has a pretty trade record.

6. Doc is the wrong coach for this team. A lot of players need wholesale changes in their games and the way they react and play as 5 man units, and Doc has shown no ability to help with this development.

7. The Celtics luckbox is broken. They're going to lose out on Durant and Oden, acquire another very productive but underdeveloped player, that player will get lost in the shuffle and not develop as well as he could, and next year Bob Ryan's gonna write about whether or not it's worth it to tank for Beasley.

[Green Kool Aid]

Celtics are the 5th best 3pt shooting team in the league and are top half in free throws.

Their team FG% is below average because they are a bad team that doesn't get good enough looks for themselves.

"Shooting" is wayyyyyy down the list of problems this current Celtics team has had over the course of the 2006-2007 season.

[ThomasPHoolery]

Their effective team FG% is 48%, ranking #24 in the league, which is not good. They don't take that many 3 pt shots because at least Doc has some sense to tell his guys not to just jack them up. In games where PP has played they average 3.2 3-pt makes per game among players not named Pierce, and those players shoot 34% from beyond the arc-- which are not good numbers. Teams don't respect the range and collapse down low. As such, Jefferson's usage rate is right around 20, when it should be around 26 or 27 on this team. They simply can't find him in space enough. Over 15 shots per game go to players who shoot a combined .382. Add Delonte and Green into that mix, and you have a huge chunk of your offense struggling night in, night out to reach the .400 plateau. It's a real problem. The Celtics have a lot of holes, but believing that shooting is something this team doesn't have to worry about leads to teh world of pain.

edit: 44% of the teams shots come from guards, who, combined shoot 40.4%. This is not me trying to fudge some numbers to throw in the outliers, it's just to say this team really needs players who can sink open jump shots (Note: I know they're missing Allen, but the numbers he put up in the games he played this year are an aberration. Do not EXPECT him to come back at that level)

[Green Kool Aid]

Thomas,

I know they have been very bad this year. Hense the second worst record in the league.

IMO the Celtics biggest problem by far is stopping point guard penetration, as Delonte is too slow, Rajon sticks to picks like velcro, and Sebastian is just not physically suited to play in the NBA.

[ThomasPHoolery]

GKA,
I agree, that's huge problem of theirs on the defensive end. Their offense has been bad, their D has been woeful, and really needs to be improved. Their inability to stop guard penetration is so bad that you can actually see it happen before it happens.

[VickreyAuction]

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This looks really terrible for next year.

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There's a realistic chance that they'll pass the Bucks at this rate. Their remaining schedule is pretty soft. The Celtics play:

Philly x2
Cleveland
Milwaukee x2
Miami x2
Indiana
Atlanta
Orlando
Detroit

The Celts are better at this point than Milwaukee and Atlanta. They're probably better than the Sixers and Hawks. They beat Orlando last night. Indiana is falling apart. And Scalabrine's out for the season. All I'm saying is, it could happen.

[kidcolin]

PP might be shutting it down. He's apparently really hurting after that double OT game.

[Green Kool Aid]

JUst wanted to announce I'm officially part of the "I'm okay with Brandan Wright" team.

He won't be a big media distraction like Oden/Durant, won't have an ego, and will fit in right away as a 15-20mpg energy big off the bench. Basically a bigger Tyrus Thomas with the Bulls this year.

That said, I will cry tears of joy if we get a top 2 pick. As long as we don't fall out of top 3 I won't be too upset.