2017-18 Celtics Season Thread

Not to toot my own horn, but I really believed the sports media were wrong (duh!) about the Celtics defense without AB and Jae. Both are kind of overrated and the loss of IT absolutely helps as well. However, I never imagined they would be going with this beautiful switch everything zone defense they're playing right now. They don't look like a team that should play this well on defense, but seriously, if this were the Grizzlies people would be going nuts over the "grit and grind". Forget that, the C's flat out RIP AND TEAR on defense.

Cavs lost again last night lol.

I’m so impressed with how easy Kyrie has made the transition with regards to his attitude on wanting to be an all around player and leader. He doesn’t care about his stats; he’s getting guys involved, leading by example on defense and taking over when they need him to. It’s nice to see and he’s starting to get credit for it.

The comments he’s made about Stevens make me feel good. My biggest fear when Hayward went down was losing Kyrie and him bolting when his contract was up; now I’m hopeful he wants his number in the rafters.

I think AB and Jae are really good defensive players and they were at some point close to being elite, but the narrative about them would make you think they were Draymond Green or something, like the Celtics were a bad defensive team that lost its two best defenders. That's not entirely true because they defended poorly last year as well and the increase in length would at the very least offset their departure.

They're also limited in what they can or can't do. AB's size keeps him from being really elite and Jae's inability to guard quicker guards or power forwards also hamper the team's versatility and that's key. Previously the Celtics had a 2 that couldn't guard 3s, a 3 that couldn't guard 2s or 4s, and a 1 that couldn't guard sh*t from hitting the toilet. Now it seems like everyone can guard anyone to some level of competency. It's great.

Tom Haberstroh was on Simmons' Ringer Podcast saying that there was no greater discrepancy between the scout eye test and Avery Bradley's advanced defensive metrics. Effort only gets you so far when you're 6'2 and being asked to switch onto wings. As for Crowder, he's too slow to really be more than a decent outside shooter who can defend opposing power forwards. I think we are seeing that last year's conference finals run was orchestrated with a lot of smoke and mirrors.

Meanwhile Danny Ainge is coming up roses in all manner of transactions. Even Marcus Morris seems like a potential upgrade to Bradley with the subsequent uptick in minutes for Smart and Rozier.

Hard to overstate how big those two were yesterday. These are guards, each with a little less than 30 minutes on the court, and between them they pulled down 15 rebounds. In fact the team has out-rebounded every opponent but two. That's also because of better height at just about all the positions and better rebounders. That should put to rest all the chatter about the need for some sort of godsend for cleaning the boards. They have a lot of players, including guards, all of whom add up to a team that does just that.

Okafor was great his one season at Duke - you have reason to not want him but the garbage in those articles shouldn’t be one of them

Geeze, the Celtics might never lose now. Tatum is probably the best rookie out there this year and Kyrie with his best game as a Celtic. It's pretty incredible but even without Hayward, they still might be contenders. I will withhold judgments about the Cavs until Isaah comes back, but I still love to laugh at them in the meantime.

Kyrie has been amazing, and i agree with Norm. He’s embracing the role of point guard and leader and doing what needs to be done to win. He’s buying into an all around team system that needs leaders but relies on the whole to be successful and he seems to be eating it up. If they can extend him, that trade was a steal. I realize a great player could be had with that Brooklyn pick but Kyrie is showing me he’s a super star.

I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but Semi is a player and he’s not playing because Brad doesn’t have other options. He also gets his role and wants to be a 3 and D monster. Once he masters that I’m sure he will slowly expand his game but great teams have great role players who know and embrace that role. Usually they are veterans not rookies but whatever... this is how much the Celtics will be paying this guy for the next 4 years.... it’s amazing how much bang for your buck you can get when you can basically skip the development part of things...

Last night Tatum started the game somewhat poorly, he took some bad shots and he just looked off. He came back in the 2nd quarter looking much better and that carried over to the 3rd quarter. That ability to turn a performance around and not just chuck the ball hoping it would fall is another testament to how mature he is for a rookie. Guys his age rarely make adjustments on the fly and yet the Celtics don't win the game if he doesn't do that. Tatum is awesome, he plays a very smart game.

And agree 100% on the coaching. Maybe finally Stevens will win his long overdue COTY.

Is the other shoe going to drop or are the Celtics really this good? Could they be just scratching the surface given how young and new to playing together they are? It would be hard to believe they aren't going to get significantly better based on those 2 things and with GH coming back next year. Danny and Brad have done well.
Yes this team is deeper, longer and tougher. It just seems like they have all the pieces and they are still putting the puzzle together. On D it is as it is coached, they are on a string moving together cutting off angles and lanes. The great thing about D is that it isn't like shooting, which can come and go. Playing great defense is a mindset and these guys get it.
And yes Kyrie Erving has been so impressive in so many ways. He is playing tough D, he is creating and looking for others, he is dominating when needed, he is leading by example playing unselfishly and his handle is other worldly. Zen like yes!
Yes and Kyrie has said it, Tatum needs to start being more assertive with his shots. He can create, he can finish and he can shoot so its time for him to get more involved.
Yup Smart and Rozier are assassins off the bench and Semi is just scratching the surface, I believe. Theis and Baynes bring more rim protection than past bench bigs and Morris has hardly contributed yet.
I know they will come back to Earth but sure is fun to watch and dream.