Maine Celtics, 2024-25 – Loss in the EC Finals

ConstableGeneva · Post #421 » by **ConstableGeneva** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:55 pm

Ainge keeps poaching our guys. Why can't he just get Austin and leave everyone else alone? Lol.

Post #422 » by **Parliament10** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:59 pm

Hal14 wrote:Happy for Luka and wish him the best of luck!

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I'm not happy with this. We've had a 15th Spot since Vonleh was Traded.
We should have been bringing up our Maine Celtics on 10-Days.

Smart2Nesmith43 · Post #423 » by **Smart2Nesmith43** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:11 pm

Hal14 wrote:Happy for Luka and wish him the best of luck!

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Good. The more players Maine puts back into the league, the more attractive it becomes to free agents. Agents (and players) notice that stuff. The more attractive Maine gets, the easier it becomes to get top UDFAs like Hauser or fringe NBA guys like Kornet instead of strictly G-League level guys to join the Celtics development pipeline. It gets them familiar with the system so that they are ready to go faster with the main club if they turn out to be NBA caliber, and also it's much easier to evaluate them when they are in the building every day.

Post #424 » by **165bows** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:01 pm

Smart2Nesmith43 wrote:
Hal14 wrote:Happy for Luka and wish him the best of luck!

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Good. The more players Maine puts back into the league, the more attractive it becomes to free agents. Agents (and players) notice that stuff. The more attractive Maine gets, the easier it becomes to get top UDFAs like Hauser or fringe NBA guys like Kornet instead of strictly G-League level guys to join the Celtics development pipeline. It gets them familiar with the system so that they are ready to go faster with the main club if they turn out to be NBA caliber, and also it's much easier to evaluate them when they are in the building every day.

You can see my post in one of the other threads but I saw an interview with the Maine GM - apparently Tony Snell called Maine up and got turned down - them called them back and said he'd take any role they wanted. He got offered ninth man in the rotation and Snell snapped it up. Wouldn't mind him on the big club as a back up.

Post #425 » by **bisme37** » Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:21 pm

Maine is on ESPN2 right now playing in the G League playoffs fyi.

They had a bit of a lead in the first half but the other team is on a 22-5 run in the 3rd quarter and ahead now lol.

Smart2Nesmith43 · Post #426 » by **Smart2Nesmith43** » Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:39 pm

JD with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals off the bench (although he still played 37 minutes). Rough offensive game (at least in the boxscore) for Kabengele but he did get 6 blocks and a steal.

Snell must have gotten hurt during the game because he checked out in the middle of the second and never came back in (Maine was up 12 at the time).

Hal14 · Post #427 » by **Hal14** » Wed Mar 29, 2023 10:47 pm

Oozing with potential.

Plays so hard, so active on both ends. Always pushing the ball to get out and run, catch the defense before they're set..

LOVE the play near the end where he flies in from out of nowhere to steal the ball in the back court, then hits the open 3 from the corner.

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Half-Full · Post #428 » by **Half-Full** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 6:23 pm

Hal14 wrote:Oozing with potential.

Plays so hard, so active on both ends. Always pushing the ball to get out and run, catch the defense before they're set..

LOVE the play near the end where he flies in from out of nowhere to steal the ball in the back court, then hits the open 3 from the corner.

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Agree. Oozing with potential.

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ConstableGeneva · Post #429 » by **ConstableGeneva** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:22 pm

What are his perceived weaknesses? What's his fatal flaw? Why wasn't he taken earlier in the draft?

Post #430 » by **djFan71** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:28 pm

ConstableGeneva wrote:What are his perceived weaknesses? What's his fatal flaw? Why wasn't he taken earlier in the draft?

iirc, shooting, playmaking/turnovers, possibly D. He was a top prospect in HS, Alabama's spacing sucked so he didn't look as good in college. That's how I remember it, but I could be off on any/all that.

Hal14 · Post #431 » by **Hal14** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:41 pm

djFan71 wrote:
ConstableGeneva wrote:What are his perceived weaknesses? What's his fatal flaw? Why wasn't he taken earlier in the draft?

iirc, shooting, playmaking/turnovers, possibly D. He was a top prospect in HS, Alabama's spacing sucked so he didn't look as good in college. That's how I remember it, but I could be off on any/all that.

That's a solid rundown. To piggyback on that...

His weaknesses = gotta get the outside shot to be more consistent (he's been around 30% from 3 last season in college and this season in g league), cut down on turnovers (was an issue in college and this season in g league) and clean up some stuff on D (sometimes gets caught ball watching in help D and/or will get beat off the dribble sometimes guarding the ball)

Like DJ said, Alabama had bad spacing, they didn't use him correctly. Seemed like JD and the coach didn't see eye to eye so much. And it was a weird fit with JD and Quinerly (the team's starting PG the year before). The coach kept going back and forth between starting JD and starting Quinerly, sometimes playing them at the same time, it just never worked.

This year, Bama had not only Quinerly, but they brought in a transfer PG (Mark sears) and a highly rated freshman PG (Jaden Bradley). As you might imagine, it was a weird fit with all 3 of them there, a logjam and as a result, none of them were able to shine very much and none of them are on draft radars this year.

Post #432 » by **djFan71** » Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:07 pm

Hal14 wrote:
djFan71 wrote:
ConstableGeneva wrote:What are his perceived weaknesses? What's his fatal flaw? Why wasn't he taken earlier in the draft?

iirc, shooting, playmaking/turnovers, possibly D. He was a top prospect in HS, Alabama's spacing sucked so he didn't look as good in college. That's how I remember it, but I could be off on any/all that.

That's a solid rundown. To piggyback on that...

His weaknesses = gotta get the outside shot to be more consistent (he's been around 30% from 3 last season in college and this season in g league), cut down on turnovers (was an issue in college and this season in g league) and clean up some stuff on D (sometimes gets caught ball watching in help D and/or will get beat off the dribble sometimes guarding the ball)

Like DJ said, Alabama had bad spacing, they didn't use him correctly. Seemed like JD and the coach didn't see eye to eye so much. And it was a weird fit with JD and Quinerly (the team's starting PG the year before). The coach kept going back and forth between starting JD and starting Quinerly, sometimes playing them at the same time, it just never worked.

This year, Bama had not only Quinerly, but they brought in a transfer PG (Mark sears) and a highly rated freshman PG (Jaden Bradley). As you might imagine, it was a weird fit with all 3 of them there, a logjam and as a result, none of them were able to shine very much and none of them are on draft radars this year.

Thanks, I was hoping you'd put some meat on those bare bones I threw out there.

Smart2Nesmith43 · Post #433 » by **Smart2Nesmith43** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 3:42 am

djFan71 wrote:
ConstableGeneva wrote:What are his perceived weaknesses? What's his fatal flaw? Why wasn't he taken earlier in the draft?

iirc, shooting, playmaking/turnovers, possibly D. He was a top prospect in HS, Alabama's spacing sucked so he didn't look as good in college. That's how I remember it, but I could be off on any/all that.

In the G-league he averaged 7.7 assists against 3.2 turnovers which is a 2.4 AST/TO ratio (that's right in line with what Morant, Young or Fox are doing at the NBA level). During the second part of the season (26 games) he's up to 8.7 assists and down to 2.9 turnovers with a 37.8 AST% so I think it's fair to say he proved the critics of his playmaking wrong.

The shot needs work but it also trended up as the year went along. Still 30% from three and 72.5% from the line from a guard isn't going to cut it at the NBA level. It doesn't look broken, but it probably needs a lot more reps.

I haven't watched too much Maine lately but early in the season he would take terrible angles around screens on defense. That's pretty common for rookie guards though and it's usually fixable. The effort is there and with his athleticism he should hold up fine in the NBA even if he'll probably never a truly above average defender.

Post #434 » by **djFan71** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 5:27 am

Smart2Nesmith43 wrote:
djFan71 wrote:
ConstableGeneva wrote:What are his perceived weaknesses? What's his fatal flaw? Why wasn't he taken earlier in the draft?

iirc, shooting, playmaking/turnovers, possibly D. He was a top prospect in HS, Alabama's spacing sucked so he didn't look as good in college. That's how I remember it, but I could be off on any/all that.

In the G-league he averaged 7.7 assists against 3.2 turnovers which is a 2.4 AST/TO ratio (that's right in line with what Morant, Young or Fox are doing at the NBA level). During the second part of the season (26 games) he's up to 8.7 assists and down to 2.9 turnovers with a 37.8 AST% so I think it's fair to say he proved the critics of his playmaking wrong.

The shot needs work but it also trended up as the year went along. Still 30% from three and 72.5% from the line from a guard isn't going to cut it at the NBA level. It doesn't look broken, but it probably needs a lot more reps.

I haven't watched too much Maine lately but early in the season he would take terrible angles around screens on defense. That's pretty common for rookie guards though and it's usually fixable. The effort is there and with his athleticism he should hold up fine in the NBA even if he'll probably never a truly above average defender.

Yeah, I can't say I've followed him/Maine much, but what I've seen the playmaking has been solid, and the numbers look good like you showed. I'm super excited to see him next year. If we can lock him down in a Hauser-esque deal, it could be a steal. The weaknesses (pre-draft), you can teach and improve on. The athleticism and effort he has, not so much (in a good way).

Post #435 » by **snowman** » Sat Apr 1, 2023 3:35 pm

Is JD our Pritchard replacement if we choose to move him ?

Hal14 · Post #436 » by **Hal14** » Sat Apr 1, 2023 6:27 pm

snowman wrote:Is JD our Pritchard replacement if we choose to move him ?

Perhaps JD and Yam compete for the spot. But as of now, I would give JD the edge.

zoyathedestroya · Post #437 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 2:55 pm

KJelly made this list:

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zoyathedestroya · Post #438 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 6:04 pm

Congrats, KJelly!

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Scoonie · Post #439 » by **Scoonie** » Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:13 pm

Does Kabengele have a legit shot to make the Celtics 15-man roster next season? I wish he had gotten more minutes with us this year.

Post #440 » by **snowman** » Fri Apr 14, 2023 12:45 pm

I hope so. If we don't sign him to a regular contract, we will lose him. He can't be resigned as a two-way player any longer. He will be in his 4th season, so can't be a two-way for anyone. I really see his development at what Rob was in year 2 with us. Give him a full offseason working with Al and Rob, and I think he will become our 3rd/4th big. He could be our Grant Williams replacement if he shows improvement. He is bigger and stronger than Grant, shoots the 3 (just not as good as Grant yet) blocks shots, and best of all, is only 25 and healthy.