Boston Celtics 2021-2022 Season

The continued lack of bench playing time is outrageous. I’m generally not a fan of the front office micromanaging coaching, but it’s clear Ime has no clue what he’s doing so far.

The minutes aren't bad. He could (and should) save Al and Timelord some time by playing Nesmith AT ALL, but I don't think the rotation is hopeless.

I put a minutes minimum on it to sort out all lineups that have barely played. It’s still a plus 13.7.

What is plus 13.7?

They are plus 23 total on the year, 8th on the team now after last night's blowout win. They are plus 4.6 per game. Yet that pairing is 25th on the team in minutes totaling 56 minutes together or 11.1 minutes per game. The top pairing has 198 minutes together. Which seems to fit Ime pattern of only playing them together to start each half for 5-6 minutes.

Which just shows you the issues, if that's a great pairing why isn't he playing them more together? 

It's the effect of starting each game without your best lineup to help Tatum and Brown, then the effect on the rotation after that. It's about matching up correctly to the other teams. Playing your bigs more minutes than you should and Tatum not playing PF. What have you seen that makes you think that’s a good pairing in today's NBA?

As of last night Rob Williams and Al Horfords net rating when playing together was 13.7. After last night it’s 19.7. This isn’t that hard.

You’re making something out of nothing. I simply showed the numbers to counter the narrative that the double big lineup has been a disaster this year. It hasn’t. In fact, it’s worked. I’m not advocating to play it more together.

Add: sometimes (often times?) lineups work because they aren’t over exposed.

Also, there can be reasons why you don’t want to play guys together like how it affects your other lineup options.

But to say the Al and Rob combo hasn’t worked while on the court together is a false narrative.

It would be nice if Tatum actually prepared himself in the offseason.

Turns out that Aaron Nesmith can help this team. The defensive energy and crispness of rotations has been a nice sight over these last two games as well.

6 quarters of really elite defense. Look at the personnel, the Celtics have all the tools to be a lockdown defense.

Personally, I’d start this lineup:

Schröder - Nesmith - Brown - Tatum - Williams

Bring Smart, Pritchard, Richardson/Langford and Horford off the bench to play with Tatum/Brown

And obviously mix in other guys like Grant Williams too.

I see the argument for swapping Al and Rob in those lineups… Williams and Smart do have good chemistry, but I think Al fits the second unit better.

I want Schöders penetration and passing in the lineup and I want Nesmith energy and shooting. You have to just let Nesmith go for a few games, give him minutes and take the ups and downs. See if you can get him in a groove. This team desperately needs a 3rd scorer/shooter who can be consistent and he’s the only guy on the team who can possibly be that dude. Ride or die.

I certainly enjoy the wins, playing hard and good D. Yet is anyone surprised? Last night who was your worst defender Nesmith? This team was built to be darn good on D. The difference between a guy like Schroder and Kemba Walker is massive. For me the issues were and have been all the way back to 2018 the offense.

At this point it's clear Ime message to Tatum is drive more, score more near the basket. Which I love, it's what Tatum needs to work on. Yet playing two bigs is clogging up the paint. It's why I have changed my mind, I'd start Horford and move Robert Williams to the bench. I'd also have him work on a ten foot jumper. He's so used to last years jump shooting team, he's just always waiting to get rebounds in the paint or going for dunks.

I'll give Ime credit for mixing things up, you actually had 5 bench players on the court for a few minutes anyway last night. I'm not a fan of playing Parker and Grant together. At least he's trying new things.

I absolutely love punking the Heat, them with Lowry just makes it so much sweeter. I just can't stand watching Bam and Lowry play crazy physical and complain like babies about fouls non stop. Bam trying to sneak in on the jump ball and trying to push Schroder away like he wasn't trying to cheat. Absolutely love Schroder not backing down. I love Schroder, he's not perfect by any mean. I just love the way he plays at PG.

Yet you need to fix your lineups to get your offense going. You can't play D at that level with that engery for too long. You won't get many games with three of your four top scorers were coming off the bench. Ime getting the D going was the easy part, now work on the offense. Still say Horford, Schroder, Tatum, Brown and frankly whoever you want that isn't a big. I'd still probably start Richardson because he's a veteran, yet I wouldn't complain about a lot of players. Yes in theory Nesmith would be perfect, yet he's last on my list till he shows consistency. He's also needed on the bench for his shooting if you aren't going to play Pritchard. Last night showed you a glimpse of what should happen a lot with this team. You should have a better bench than most teams. Ime just has to learn to use the bench and hopefully tonight was the first step.

Third game in 4 nights tomorrow, on the road against a good team. It's the first game this season I won't be pissed off if they lose, but I'm hoping they surprise me!