Welcome to Boston Enes Kanter!

[brackdan70]

Yeah, with Kanter on board, we should, health-permitting, be a top 10 team offensively.

Tons of shooting and scoring on the wing. Kemba's dynamic ball-handling and scoring at the point of attack. And Kanter as a high-level paint scorer and possession creator working off of others. There will be some ruffled feathers with so many shot-hungry players and we will be prone to stretches of bad shots and iso ball, but the talent should overwhelm most of those concerns.

Defensively, it's going to be much uglier. Kanter/Kemba is just bad news and there's no way of getting around it - both are terrible shot contesters and Kanter is slow to boot. Tatum is going to be very key using his length to sag weakside and deflect passes or help protect the rim. Need him to be much better on the defensive boards.

I expect us to ultimately settle on Kemba/Smart/Brown/Tatum/Kanter as the starting line-up. It's the best combo of offense/defense that we have. Our success really hinges on Tatum's ability to play big on the boards and on D.

It will be interesting to see just how the coaching staff/team compensate on defense. I suppose there is some possibility that Kemba and Kanter step up their defensive game a bit, but their track record does precede them. I imagine in the end that we will not be a league leader in defense, but may be better on offense. I'm not so worried about Kemba. Kyrie did not have a good reputation as a defender before coming to the Celtics, but he did improve that part of his game. Hopefully, we will be able to say the same for Kemba. Kanter? Well, I like his enthusiasm. Maybe he can up his defensive game a bit too. Fingers crossed.

Players who play for the team than rather for themselfs thrive under Brad's coaching. Kanter and Kemba will look much better defensive players if they understand Stevens as a coach and his gameplans.

We forget sometimes over here that every player who has left our team didnt play on the same level again. It's Brad who makes his players look so good. Even Jordan Crawford looked like decent guard under Stevens. Isaiah had a career year. Kyrie couldve had a great season as well if he wasn't that hard headed and had such a huge ego.

With Kemba and Enes we signed teamball minded players. Our team will look much better next season.

Kyrie had far and away his two best years as far as BPM goes... will be interesting to see how he is in his dream scenerio in Brooklyn.

[claycarver]

Defensively, it's going to be much uglier. Kanter/Kemba is just bad news and there's no way of getting around it - both are terrible shot contesters and Kanter is slow to boot. Tatum is going to be very key using his length to sag weakside and deflect passes or help protect the rim. Need him to be much better on the defensive boards.

Stevens showed he's not infallible last year, but if you had to hand Stevens one deficit in a roster and have confidence, it has to be defense. It's not saying much, but Kemba should be the best defensive starting point guard Brad's had since IT arrived. I would be surprised if the subtraction of Horford crippled Stevens ability to work out that side of the court.

[AgentGreen]

It will be interesting to see just how the coaching staff/team compensate on defense. I suppose there is some possibility that Kemba and Kanter step up their defensive game a bit, but their track record does precede them. I imagine in the end that we will not be a league leader in defense, but may be better on offense. I'm not so worried about Kemba. Kyrie did not have a good reputation as a defender before coming to the Celtics, but he did improve that part of his game. Hopefully, we will be able to say the same for Kemba. Kanter? Well, I like his enthusiasm. Maybe he can up his defensive game a bit too. Fingers crossed.

Players who play for the team than rather for themselfs thrive under Brad's coaching. Kanter and Kemba will look much better defensive players if they understand Stevens as a coach and his gameplans.

We forget sometimes over here that every player who has left our team didnt play on the same level again. It's Brad who makes his players look so good. Even Jordan Crawford looked like decent guard under Stevens. Isaiah had a career year. Kyrie couldve had a great season as well if he wasn't that hard headed and had such a huge ego.

With Kemba and Enes we signed teamball minded players. Our team will look much better next season.

Kyrie had far and away his two best years as far as BPM goes... will be interesting to see how he is in his dream scenerio in Brooklyn.

That's true. But teamball wise he wasn't a succes unfortunately.

But when the dude was locked and just wanted to win and play some good ball he was hard to stop. His defense was even good when he was attacking the ball. But he isn't mentally tough and after some lockerroom issues again i think he gave up on the team.

[Slartibartfast]

Defensively, it's going to be much uglier. Kanter/Kemba is just bad news and there's no way of getting around it - both are terrible shot contesters and Kanter is slow to boot. Tatum is going to be very key using his length to sag weakside and deflect passes or help protect the rim. Need him to be much better on the defensive boards.

Stevens showed he's not infallible last year, but if you had to hand Stevens one deficit in a roster and have confidence, it has to be defense. It's not saying much, but Kemba should be the best defensive starting point guard Brad's had since IT arrived. I would be surprised if the subtraction of Horford crippled Stevens ability to work out that side of the court.

I think Stevens does excellent work getting defensive effort, but he's not a miracle worker. IT was plenty horrific under Stevens. Walker's defensive limitations are not fixable. He's a high volume scorer/penetrator who should not be tasked with playing Phil Pressey style ball pressure for more than short stints. And in the half-court, his short-armed shot contests rarely bother anyone. He's got the quickness and strength to bother people a little but it's just not enough to erase the big negatives.

And Kemba has played under good defensive coaches. It's not like he's been D'Antoni'd his whole career.

As for Kanter, he's got better physical tools so maybe. But he's been such a disaster under every coach he's had that I'm skeptical.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Kemba’s not a good defender - Smart and Brown are, so one of them is likely to guard the other team’s best backcourt scorer - but that breaks down against teams with two scoring guards, or shooting guards with size and range. It will be a weak point - so will Kanter.

No way to get him easily now, but Capela would have helped as a switch defender and rim protector.

[OldCeltics]

Western Conference Finals 2019

Kanter Vs. Adams

Watch on YouTube

[Andrew McCeltic]

We were 13th in defensive rating in IT’s last year, but that was with Horford.. and we were 1st in Irving’s first year - with Tatum and Morris added to the mix. If we’re lucky we can be top 15, but it’s going to be a weak point.. Our offense, at least, should be better - although subtracting Rozier, Morris, Baynes and Horford for Kemba and Kanter doesn’t open many shots for Brown or Tatum, at least the ball should move better - and I can see Walker taking fewer shots on higher efficiency..

[000078ude54]

When's the last time we had an actual traditional center? Perk?

Robert Parish, Eric Montross before that?

Shaq?

Ha true. I forgot he ever played here. Wow.

[Andrew McCeltic]

When's the last time we had an actual traditional center? Perk?

Robert Parish, Eric Montross before that?

Shaq?

Ha true. I forgot he ever played here. Wow.

Al Jefferson was close.. the other day I almost claimed that Kanter would be the best rebounder we’ve had since the 80s.. KG beats him on defensive board percentage, not offensive - early Al, before his first injury, was comparable - and I guess there’s Dino Radja - but Ainge has never made the center position a priority.. don’t know if he has a blind spot or a philosophical reason for it.

[Fencer reregistered]

Ainge has never made the center position a priority.. don’t know if he has a blind spot or a philosophical reason for it.

Raef Lafrentz was a pretty big investment in the position.

[Fencer reregistered]

And speaking of investments and of traditional centers since Chief, let us not forget Travis Knight.

[ParticleMan]

ainge is just bad at picking C's. we've had a parade of them and most have completely sucked. he is much better at guards and wings.

[GoCeltics123]

Read on Twitter

[Bleeding Green]

Kanter is gonna come out and rip 200 threes this year, isn't he?

[BleedGreen1989]

Kanter is gonna come out and rip 200 threes this year, isn't he?

In all seriousness, I’m surprised how he’s never taken 3’s.

Brad let freaking Aron Baynes jack up 3’s with some level of success.

I’ll be shocked if Enes isn’t shooting 3’s under Brad...

[Feed Your Head]

Kanter is gonna come out and rip 200 threes this year, isn't he?

Dude will absolutely have a Brook Lopez esque jump in threes.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Can we hire Zaza Pachulia to coach him into not being bad at defense

[Andrew McCeltic]

Somebody get on Twitter and tag the relevant people

[Andrew McCeltic]

And speaking of investments and of traditional centers since Chief, let us not forget Travis Knight.

It was so bad, I genuinely liked Vitaly Potapenko and Tony Battie..

[FlatearthZorro]

Kanter is gonna come out and rip 200 threes this year, isn't he?

Dude will absolutely have a Brook Lopez esque jump in threes.

Please, no.. Guy's best ability is rebounding.. If we take him away from the basket it will be a huge mistake. Wouldn't shock me, tho...