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Rotation Battles in Training Camp

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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#21 » by Parliament10 » Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:27 am

cloverleaf wrote:
snowman wrote:Starters:
Walker, Brown, Tatum, THEIS, Kanter
Theis should be starting 4 in place of Hayward, allowing more defense in the middle, and a second ball handler too come off the bench. Theis is a good 3 pt shooter, and should get plenty of open looks with all the other offensive player on the court.

Bench/ rest of rotation players:
Smart, Hayward, G. Williams, R. Williams, Poirier

deep bench:
Edwards, Wannamaker, Langford, Semi, Tacko.

Smart, Hayward and Poirier could all be in the starting lineup by allstar break, replacing Brown, Theis and Kanter.
snowman wrote:Starters:
Walker, Brown, Tatum, THEIS, Kanter
Theis should be starting 4 in place of Hayward, allowing more defense in the middle, and a second ball handler too come off the bench. Theis is a good 3 pt shooter, and should get plenty of open looks with all the other offensive player on the court.

Bench/ rest of rotation players:
Smart, Hayward, G. Williams, R. Williams, Poirier

deep bench:
Edwards, Wannamaker, Langford, Semi, Tacko.

Smart, Hayward and Poirier could all be in the starting lineup by allstar break, replacing Brown, Theis and Kanter.


I think the expected plan would have Gordon at the 3 and Tatum at the 4, but Brad's system really needs Hayward in there starting as a secondary ball handler, a role that Al used to fill.

Also, Edwards is gonna force his way into the rotation from the start. Grant more likely at the 4 than 3 and Rob and Poirier probably don't work on the court together, as they are both offensively challenged with little range.

It's such a Catch-22 with Smart, Brown, Hayward and Tatum.
Tatum can't effectively play the 4.

And, Brown can't handle the ball, so we need Hayward in there, or Smart.
I'm thinking that this would be a better Lineup.


2019-20 Tentative Roster
Kemba - Brown - Hayward - R. Williams - Kanter
Wanamaker - Smart - Tatum - Theis - Poirier

Edwards - Langford - Ojeleye - G. Williams - Fall
Two-Ways = Strus; Waters
"You have to put the work in.
Nothing is given."

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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#22 » by Triple7 » Sun Jul 28, 2019 3:12 am

Curmudgeon wrote:The starting 5 should be Theis-Tatum-Hayward-Brown-Walker. I feel strongly that Kanter should come off the bench. 6th man is Smart, then Kanter-G. Williams-Ojeleye (or TL or Poirier). You always want Smart and a second good interior defender on the floor with Kanter. Let Enes do what he does best: score the basketball against the other team's second unit.

If Kanter starts at the beginning of the season, I expect that to change after a few games.


6’8 Theis is too small at the 5. He could start at the 4 against bigger matchups. The starters for the opening would be kemba, brown, hayward, tatum and Kanter. Against bigger teams like the sixers, we could start kemba, brown, tatum, R.Will/theis, Kanter
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#23 » by JHTruth » Sun Jul 28, 2019 3:55 am

Elrod is Back wrote:Jay King has a new piece on The Athletic trying to project the Cs rotation for next season. https://theathletic.com/1092944/2019/07/25/king-taking-a-guess-at-how-celtics-new-rotation-will-play-out/?source=dailyemail

Jay did as well as one could expect, but I think it is a thankless, and fruitless, exercise. The best we can do is forecast what the key battles will be for slots in the rotation. There are simply too many unknowns this year to do anything more. That is the point of this post/thread.

As I see it six players are sure bets to get major starter/rotation minutes barring injury. They are Walker, Brown, Hayward, Tatum, Kantor and Smart. Probably all five starters and the first guy off the bench are among those six. Between them they will probably play around 180 of the 240 game minutes. That leaves around 60 minutes for the rest of the rotation.

In my view a rotation guy plays a minimum of 10-12 minutes per game, and probably more like 14-20. They play in both halves and have a regular role. There may be guys who play every now and then as situation guys—last year’s Semi Ojeleye, anyone?—but that is not a rotation guy. I think the Cs will probably have three such rotation slots available after the first six guys, making for a nine-man rotation. Four guys after the first six at most. If Brad tries to squeeze five guys into 60 minutes there will not be enough time to develop consistency and continuity.

As I see it there are three main battles for rotation slots.

Battle Number One: Back-up 5. The Cs will need to have a rotation big to be able to defend the 5. The battle here, as I see it, is between Vincent Poirier and Robert Williams. Daniel Theis could get spot minutes here if the other team goes small, but I think the Cs need to develop a legitimate 5 in their rotation, someone who plays at least 15 minutes per game. I think this is completely wide open and either Williams or Poirier can win it.

Battle Number Two: Back-up 4. The Cs will likely start Tatum at the 4, and at any rate he will play at least half of his minutes there, if not more. They need a legitimate 4 to play many of the other minutes, one who can defend an NBA 4 and nail a three pointer. The battle here is between Daniel Theis and Grant Williams. (I do not include Semi Ojeleye as a back-up 4 because he is purely a spot guy here—useful to take on big 3s playing as small ball 4s, but not good against strong guys 6-8 or taller. Semi is better laterally than he is vertically, and as far as rebounding goes he makes Brian Scalabrine look like Bill Russell.) In this case I think the edge goes to Theis because of his experience. The Theis of 17-18 was a damned good player, and no reason to think Theis won’t return to form now that he has had time to recover from his knee injury. It is not out of the question that Williams gains ground during the course of the season, and is in the rotation come the spring. He is really hard to project. I will say that were Williams two inches taller I’d like his chances right out of the gate a lot more.

Battle Number Three: Back-up Guard: The Cs are stacked at the wing position and all those minutes will be covered by Tatum-Brown-Hayward-Smart. But there will be minutes available at back-up guard, and because of Smart’s flexibility—he can play the 1, 2, or 3—Brad can opt for any type of guard. The candidates are Edwards, Langford and Wanamaker. They each have a shot. Edwards looks to be on the inside track because he has the instant offense thing going, which can be helpful. But Langford may surprise—we are all keen to see him in action—and Wanamaker was steady in limited minutes last year. If Semi Ojeleye makes a quantum leap in training camp he could bully his way into the rotation, with Marcus playing most of the back-up guard minutes. But I think that is a long-shot. I think Semi is more likely to be in line for irregular spot duty depending upon match-ups.

So that is how I project the training camp battles to be. I have no idea how they will turn out, and I suspect they are wide open right now. It is worth noting that having this many training camp battles on a team expected to make the playoffs and win a round or two in the playoffs is unusual. Last year, by comparison, we pretty much knew who was going to play before training camp. The only question was how the minutes would get divvied up.


Theis will back up Gordon at the 4. He's just not big enough for C.

There's a reason Enes is on his 6th franchise. His defense is miserable. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see him moved at the deadline. Poirier starting, TL as the back-up.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#24 » by LuckyLeprechaun » Sun Jul 28, 2019 7:59 am

Parliament10 wrote:
cloverleaf wrote:
snowman wrote:Starters:
Walker, Brown, Tatum, THEIS, Kanter
Theis should be starting 4 in place of Hayward, allowing more defense in the middle, and a second ball handler too come off the bench. Theis is a good 3 pt shooter, and should get plenty of open looks with all the other offensive player on the court.

Bench/ rest of rotation players:
Smart, Hayward, G. Williams, R. Williams, Poirier

deep bench:
Edwards, Wannamaker, Langford, Semi, Tacko.

Smart, Hayward and Poirier could all be in the starting lineup by allstar break, replacing Brown, Theis and Kanter.
snowman wrote:Starters:
Walker, Brown, Tatum, THEIS, Kanter
Theis should be starting 4 in place of Hayward, allowing more defense in the middle, and a second ball handler too come off the bench. Theis is a good 3 pt shooter, and should get plenty of open looks with all the other offensive player on the court.

Bench/ rest of rotation players:
Smart, Hayward, G. Williams, R. Williams, Poirier

deep bench:
Edwards, Wannamaker, Langford, Semi, Tacko.

Smart, Hayward and Poirier could all be in the starting lineup by allstar break, replacing Brown, Theis and Kanter.


I think the expected plan would have Gordon at the 3 and Tatum at the 4, but Brad's system really needs Hayward in there starting as a secondary ball handler, a role that Al used to fill.

Also, Edwards is gonna force his way into the rotation from the start. Grant more likely at the 4 than 3 and Rob and Poirier probably don't work on the court together, as they are both offensively challenged with little range.

It's such a Catch-22 with Smart, Brown, Hayward and Tatum.
Tatum can't effectively play the 4.

And, Brown can't handle the ball, so we need Hayward in there, or Smart.
I'm thinking that this would be a better Lineup.


2019-20 Tentative Roster
Kemba - Brown - Hayward - R. Williams - Kanter
Wanamaker - Smart - Tatum - Theis - Poirier

Edwards - Langford - Ojeleye - G. Williams - Fall
Two-Ways = Strus; Waters
There is about 0% chance Brad starts RW3 and Kanter together. The lack of floor spacing would drive him insane.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#25 » by cloverleaf » Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:26 pm

Agreed, Kanter and Rob aren't starting together. The best thing possible for this team would be for Rob to exceed his management's apparent expectations and have him win the starting 5 role within a couple of months of the start of the season. Otherwise I think Danny will continue to seek a deal to strengthen the frontcourt and particularly the D in the frontcourt.

Since they reportedly want Tatum to up his D with Al's departure, I'm pretty sure they mean that to be at the 4 position, which he really ought to be able to manage, even though he is still young for reaching his maximal natural strength. It is Al's quickness, smarts, length and winnowy strength that let his D be so good. Tatum ought to be able to have or develop the smarts and strength for that, with length that at least approaches Al, though he may not ever quite have Al's speed.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#26 » by djFan71 » Mon Jul 29, 2019 6:44 am

Slartibartfast wrote:
djFan71 wrote:
BfB wrote:
No question. We’ll see how that plays out with the options on hand. If it can’t be solved internally the team is positioned to seek alternatives on the market.

Lots of player development storylines at other positions need to shake out before there’s a clear go-forward.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

I’m genuinely curious, how are they positioned? That’s the one thing I don’t love about this off-season. No flexibilty for trades. We have valuable assets, but it’s hard to compile a lot of them to match salary without giving up Smart or a bunch of guys we like. It feels like we’re limited to overpaying for bigs on rookie contracts or sending out people we don’t want to.


I don't think they are necessarily shooting for someone superamazing. The brass's apparent refusal to think of trading Tatum and reluctance to pay Horford makes me think they are comfortable with Tatum at the 4 long-term even if his body isn't filled out enough yet.

If they feel they have star-ish talents 1-4 with Kemba/JB/Hayward/Tatum, then they might be cool with an offensively limited 5 that has more defensive value than our current assortment.

I think that's fairly doable with our bargain bin big platter or with smaller deals centering on picks. My favorite target is Cody Zeller as I think he would come very cheap. Mason Plumlee from Denver might be available. Allen from BK might be available now that they have Jordan (though he wouldn't be cheap).

I don't think our 1-4 set-up will work as well as Ainge and Brad seem to, but if they do, our 5 spot will be simple to address. Kanter and co. just aren't the right guys to do so.

For super-amazing we have Gordon's contract. For salary up to ~$16.5M we have a Jaylen/Theis package. It's the dead space between we can't really trade for without giving up Smart. Or stacking a ridiculous # of guys.

Someone like Aaron Gordon at $19.8 is hard to get without sending Smart. Not saying he's untouchable or anything, but there are guys in that salary range that could help, that you don't want to send Smart for. And with our salaries, it gets hard.

Even Zeller ($14.47M), you're not sending Jaylen. So, you gotta do Theis and Kanter (who supposedly just took less as a FA to sign here, so not a great look). Or Theis and another $4.47M somehow. Grant & Poirier? Langford & Semi? Not really cheap anymore.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#27 » by cloverleaf » Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:11 pm

Please, not Zeller! (Any of them!) I think one thing that could trip people up is Danny's tendency when he's anticipating a mid-year trade to sometimes try to feature some guys as a way of plumping his wares -- and hide, for a time, those he really believes in. That's why I don't necessarily believe, for example, that Zarren, as Smitty's SL source, would have been earnestly spilling his guts when he played down Rob and Tacko and talked up Poirier. I at least like to think that there may have been a little more art to his comments that he knew were going to get published. Certainly, Danny has shown that caginess in the past.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#28 » by Slartibartfast » Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:33 pm

djFan71 wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:
djFan71 wrote:I’m genuinely curious, how are they positioned? That’s the one thing I don’t love about this off-season. No flexibilty for trades. We have valuable assets, but it’s hard to compile a lot of them to match salary without giving up Smart or a bunch of guys we like. It feels like we’re limited to overpaying for bigs on rookie contracts or sending out people we don’t want to.


I don't think they are necessarily shooting for someone superamazing. The brass's apparent refusal to think of trading Tatum and reluctance to pay Horford makes me think they are comfortable with Tatum at the 4 long-term even if his body isn't filled out enough yet.

If they feel they have star-ish talents 1-4 with Kemba/JB/Hayward/Tatum, then they might be cool with an offensively limited 5 that has more defensive value than our current assortment.

I think that's fairly doable with our bargain bin big platter or with smaller deals centering on picks. My favorite target is Cody Zeller as I think he would come very cheap. Mason Plumlee from Denver might be available. Allen from BK might be available now that they have Jordan (though he wouldn't be cheap).

I don't think our 1-4 set-up will work as well as Ainge and Brad seem to, but if they do, our 5 spot will be simple to address. Kanter and co. just aren't the right guys to do so.

For super-amazing we have Gordon's contract. For salary up to ~$16.5M we have a Jaylen/Theis package. It's the dead space between we can't really trade for without giving up Smart. Or stacking a ridiculous # of guys.

Someone like Aaron Gordon at $19.8 is hard to get without sending Smart. Not saying he's untouchable or anything, but there are guys in that salary range that could help, that you don't want to send Smart for. And with our salaries, it gets hard.

Even Zeller ($14.47M), you're not sending Jaylen. So, you gotta do Theis and Kanter (who supposedly just took less as a FA to sign here, so not a great look). Or Theis and another $4.47M somehow. Grant & Poirier? Langford & Semi? Not really cheap anymore.


I sincerely hope we are not reluctant to trade Kanter because he signed for the room. We can't afford to be beholden to mediocre journeymen in free agency. Besides, Charlotte would be a great spot for Kanter. An almost certain starting gig with plenty of usage (and tons of bricklayers to create offensive rebounding opportunities).
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#29 » by djFan71 » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:31 pm

Slartibartfast wrote:
djFan71 wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:
I don't think they are necessarily shooting for someone superamazing. The brass's apparent refusal to think of trading Tatum and reluctance to pay Horford makes me think they are comfortable with Tatum at the 4 long-term even if his body isn't filled out enough yet.

If they feel they have star-ish talents 1-4 with Kemba/JB/Hayward/Tatum, then they might be cool with an offensively limited 5 that has more defensive value than our current assortment.

I think that's fairly doable with our bargain bin big platter or with smaller deals centering on picks. My favorite target is Cody Zeller as I think he would come very cheap. Mason Plumlee from Denver might be available. Allen from BK might be available now that they have Jordan (though he wouldn't be cheap).

I don't think our 1-4 set-up will work as well as Ainge and Brad seem to, but if they do, our 5 spot will be simple to address. Kanter and co. just aren't the right guys to do so.

For super-amazing we have Gordon's contract. For salary up to ~$16.5M we have a Jaylen/Theis package. It's the dead space between we can't really trade for without giving up Smart. Or stacking a ridiculous # of guys.

Someone like Aaron Gordon at $19.8 is hard to get without sending Smart. Not saying he's untouchable or anything, but there are guys in that salary range that could help, that you don't want to send Smart for. And with our salaries, it gets hard.

Even Zeller ($14.47M), you're not sending Jaylen. So, you gotta do Theis and Kanter (who supposedly just took less as a FA to sign here, so not a great look). Or Theis and another $4.47M somehow. Grant & Poirier? Langford & Semi? Not really cheap anymore.


I sincerely hope we are not reluctant to trade Kanter because he signed for the room. We can't afford to be beholden to mediocre journeymen in free agency. Besides, Charlotte would be a great spot for Kanter. An almost certain starting gig with plenty of usage (and tons of bricklayers to create offensive rebounding opportunities).

Not specific to Kanter at all, but trading a FA midseason when you courted and signed to be a starter seems mildly harsh. If you get back Kawhi, all is forgiven. If you get back Cody Zeller??? But agreed, it's not going to stop a trade. It would probably reinforce the "Danny would trade his own mother" rep, though.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#30 » by thomas1897 » Sun Aug 11, 2019 3:00 pm

Remember 2019-2020 season should not be compared to 2018-2019 season because the Celtics were ball dominated by Kyrie Irving. Brad Stevens will be making adjustments because Kemba Walker is a very good offensive player and he scores well off the ball. Gordon Hayward is an excellent facilitator who passes exceptional well and can be used to free up Walker, Tatum and Brown Enes Kanter are another options. Last season the Celtics were weak in the post up game. Can the Celtics use Robert Williams and Kanter together or Daniel Theis to solve that problem? Establishing the starting five is very important because the player combinations coming off the bench will have an impact on how this group (starting team) will play. Finding out who will start will help define everyone's role and there should not be any second guessing the coach (player conflict). Once the parameters are set Brad Stevens can develop players and have the flexibility to move players around to other positions and playing good fundamental winning basketball will be the message for 2019-2020 season (please no hero ball in 2019-2020). The focus is winning with a strong effort from everyone is important this needs to be establish ASAP. It is too soon to speculate who will be in the starting line up but time will tell. Brad Stevens should be given credit for the season of 2017-2018; he used players that were rookies and first and second year players and the results were spectacular.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#31 » by sam_I_am » Sun Aug 11, 2019 4:26 pm

I think Kanter is going to unlock our offense in such a way as to negate his defensive limitations for 85% of games. We might surprise and be a flawed high scoring team that wins 50-55 games. Come playoffs, my hope is that Grant, RW, Poirier have developed enough that we can have them be part of legitimate playoff rotation when Kanter could be a net negative - for instance against Bucks or Sixers.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#32 » by JHTruth » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:50 pm

cloverleaf wrote:Please, not Zeller! (Any of them!) I think one thing that could trip people up is Danny's tendency when he's anticipating a mid-year trade to sometimes try to feature some guys as a way of plumping his wares -- and hide, for a time, those he really believes in. That's why I don't necessarily believe, for example, that Zarren, as Smitty's SL source, would have been earnestly spilling his guts when he played down Rob and Tacko and talked up Poirier. I at least like to think that there may have been a little more art to his comments that he knew were going to get published. Certainly, Danny has shown that caginess in the past.


Yeah I remember we were getting all these reports about what a beast Zizic was in Europe only to see him get traded almost immediately when he got stateside lol..
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#33 » by Tiny ball » Mon Aug 12, 2019 6:27 pm

JHTruth wrote:
cloverleaf wrote:Please, not Zeller! (Any of them!) I think one thing that could trip people up is Danny's tendency when he's anticipating a mid-year trade to sometimes try to feature some guys as a way of plumping his wares -- and hide, for a time, those he really believes in. That's why I don't necessarily believe, for example, that Zarren, as Smitty's SL source, would have been earnestly spilling his guts when he played down Rob and Tacko and talked up Poirier. I at least like to think that there may have been a little more art to his comments that he knew were going to get published. Certainly, Danny has shown that caginess in the past.


Yeah I remember we were getting all these reports about what a beast Zizic was in Europe only to see him get traded almost immediately when he got stateside lol..
If I remember right he killed it against us last time we played against Cleveland? I'm kind sure even this late at night here in Asia and drinking for hours I do remember him playing very ok end of last season?. Give him to Pop he would have nice run.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#34 » by ParticleMan » Mon Aug 12, 2019 8:41 pm

The main battle is at the 5. Otherwise is Hayward/Tatum/Brown/Kemba with Smart getting starter mins at the 1/2.
The key is going to be who can defend. That's all we need, really. No scoring, not even spacing. So I wouldn't say Kanter particularly the inside track on starting.

RWill: Best defensive potential, but still lost most of the time, and gets faked out way too easily. Just seems like he needs playing time with constant coaching. May be better off with the Red Claws most of the year.

Theis: Great weakside shotblocker but at 6-8 just can't offer any resistance to legit 5's. Still firmly in a backup role.

Kanter: Legendarily bad on D. For reasons I can't even honestly figure out, he's got decent size and quick feet. Maybe Brad can get him to be passable. Many have tried. Even passable on D would be fine, given what he brings on O and on the glass.

Poirier: Le Grande Unknown. He's supposed to be a good defender and rebounder, and he has legit size. Looked great dunking on 6-6 eurotrash dudes. Could be a dark horse if he can actually run at NBA speed.

With Tatum and Hayward at the 3/4, a muscular defender is the #1 need. I just don't know if that guy is actually on our roster right now. Maybe GWill can channel Draymond at the 5.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#35 » by Parliament10 » Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:52 pm

ParticleMan wrote:The main battle is at the 5. Otherwise is Hayward/Tatum/Brown/Kemba with Smart getting starter mins at the 1/2.
The key is going to be who can defend. That's all we need, really. No scoring, not even spacing. So I wouldn't say Kanter particularly the inside track on starting.

RWill: Best defensive potential, but still lost most of the time, and gets faked out way too easily. Just seems like he needs playing time with constant coaching. May be better off with the Red Claws most of the year.

Theis: Great weakside shotblocker but at 6-8 just can't offer any resistance to legit 5's. Still firmly in a backup role.

Kanter: Legendarily bad on D. For reasons I can't even honestly figure out, he's got decent size and quick feet. Maybe Brad can get him to be passable. Many have tried. Even passable on D would be fine, given what he brings on O and on the glass.

Poirier: Le Grande Unknown. He's supposed to be a good defender and rebounder, and he has legit size. Looked great dunking on 6-6 eurotrash dudes. Could be a dark horse if he can actually run at NBA speed.

With Tatum and Hayward at the 3/4, a muscular defender is the #1 need. I just don't know if that guy is actually on our roster right now. Maybe GWill can channel Draymond at the 5.

The Main Battle is definitely at the 5. But the 4 is basically Vacant right now.
We'll see what Tatum can do there, with some more muscle and experience.

I think that Theis, GWill and RWill with all get time at the 4.
Maybe even Semi.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#36 » by Parliament10 » Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:13 am

Tatum is starting to look Stronger at the 4, while practicing with Team USA.
Hopefully, that bodes well for the Celtics.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#37 » by Elrod is Back » Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:10 pm

Watching the USA team with Jaylen and Jayson thriving alongside Kemba has led me think that maybe there is a better line-up/rotation to maximize our success in 19-20 and in the years thereafter. I am also intrigued by what Theis and Poirier can add to the mix.

Rather than force-feed Tatum into the 4 role so we can have GH and Jaylen both also start, maybe we should just accept that Jayson is a 3 fundamentally, who can occasionally defend the 4, depending on matchups.

Since Jayson is our most talented player, it seems wise to put him in the best position to prosper, and that is at the 3.

By taking Hayward out fo the starting line-up it also means we can get somewhat better balnce in the roation.

So here goes:

5—Kanter…..Poirier
4—Theis ……R. Williams/G.Williams
3—Tatum……Hayward
2—Brown……Smart
1—Walker…..(Edwards)


Putting Theis in the starting line-up makes this defensively tougher, and lets Kanter be Kanter.

Play Tatum, Brown, Walker and Hayward each 30-32 mpg. Play Smart 28-30 mpg. Play Theis and Kanter each around 24 mpg and Poirier 16-18 mpg.

I’d have the two Williamses duke it out for the remaining 16-18 mpg slot in the frontcourt. I would hope Timelord could win it because he can be such a gamechanger defensively if he gets it together. But GWill is OK, too. I don’t think there are enough minutes to get each of them in the flow.

I’d play Edwards spot minutes but not a whole lot. I see Marcus as the main back-up at point.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#38 » by Disinformation » Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:29 pm

I know he's a rookie and undersized, but I will be surprised if Grant Williams doesn't carve out a significant role for himself in the rotation.
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#39 » by cloverleaf » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:21 pm

Elrod is Back wrote:Watching the USA team with Jaylen and Jayson thriving alongside Kemba has led me think that maybe there is a better line-up/rotation to maximize our success in 19-20 and in the years thereafter. I am also intrigued by what Theis and Poirier can add to the mix.

Rather than force-feed Tatum into the 4 role so we can have GH and Jaylen both also start, maybe we should just accept that Jayson is a 3 fundamentally, who can occasionally defend the 4, depending on matchups.

Since Jayson is our most talented player, it seems wise to put him in the best position to prosper, and that is at the 3.

By taking Hayward out fo the starting line-up it also means we can get somewhat better balnce in the roation.

So here goes:

5—Kanter…..Poirier
4—Theis ……R. Williams/G.Williams
3—Tatum……Hayward
2—Brown……Smart
1—Walker…..(Edwards)


Putting Theis in the starting line-up makes this defensively tougher, and lets Kanter be Kanter.

Play Tatum, Brown, Walker and Hayward each 30-32 mpg. Play Smart 28-30 mpg. Play Theis and Kanter each around 24 mpg and Poirier 16-18 mpg.

I’d have the two Williamses duke it out for the remaining 16-18 mpg slot in the frontcourt. I would hope Timelord could win it because he can be such a gamechanger defensively if he gets it together. But GWill is OK, too. I don’t think there are enough minutes to get each of them in the flow.

I’d play Edwards spot minutes but not a whole lot. I see Marcus as the main back-up at point.


Pop hasn't started Kemba, Jaylen and Jayson together once, has he?
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Re: Rotation Battles in Training Camp 

Post#40 » by cloverleaf » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:35 pm

Elrod is Back wrote:Watching the USA team with Jaylen and Jayson thriving alongside Kemba has led me think that maybe there is a better line-up/rotation to maximize our success in 19-20 and in the years thereafter. I am also intrigued by what Theis and Poirier can add to the mix.

Rather than force-feed Tatum into the 4 role so we can have GH and Jaylen both also start, maybe we should just accept that Jayson is a 3 fundamentally, who can occasionally defend the 4, depending on matchups.

Since Jayson is our most talented player, it seems wise to put him in the best position to prosper, and that is at the 3.

By taking Hayward out fo the starting line-up it also means we can get somewhat better balnce in the roation.

So here goes:

5—Kanter…..Poirier
4—Theis ……R. Williams/G.Williams
3—Tatum……Hayward
2—Brown……Smart
1—Walker…..(Edwards)


Putting Theis in the starting line-up makes this defensively tougher, and lets Kanter be Kanter.

Play Tatum, Brown, Walker and Hayward each 30-32 mpg. Play Smart 28-30 mpg. Play Theis and Kanter each around 24 mpg and Poirier 16-18 mpg.

I’d have the two Williamses duke it out for the remaining 16-18 mpg slot in the frontcourt. I would hope Timelord could win it because he can be such a gamechanger defensively if he gets it together. But GWill is OK, too. I don’t think there are enough minutes to get each of them in the flow.

I’d play Edwards spot minutes but not a whole lot. I see Marcus as the main back-up at point.


I'm not so sure Theis at the 4 can compensate all that much for Kanter's D at the 5 in starting lineups, since an issue for Kanter would be the big starting centers that neither he nor Theis can that well defend. And I don't see Stevens playing any two of Kanter, RW or Poirier at the same time, so I don't think there are more than 48 minutes to be had among them. JT I think will play better as a stretch 4 this year, as he is bigger, stronger and better at taking contact than he was his first two years in the league. And I think Edwards and Smart are a good pairing, with Smart playing the 1 on O and 2 on D when they are sharing the backcourt together. I think Edwards' O will translate pretty quickly for some needed offensive punch off the game, so I bet he's in 10 minutes a game from the start of the year.

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