Official Celtics 2020-21 Regular Season Thread

[zoyathedestroya]

Theis is a good player who has great chemistry with our best players. He honestly is the most consistent of our guys. He can stretch the floor. He is a great screener in the lane to help get open looks at rim. He is a guy who can defend multiple positions.

He lacks length/ht for center
He fouls a lot.
He can't really create much off dribble.

He is limited but for 5 mil he is a very productive player. He can help ALOT of teams including ours. But if Rob Williams can elevate his game like today he is the guy you would ideally want to take over.

That's why Ainge has a decision to make.

Is Theis worth keeping long term?

Or will Ainge trade him on or before the trade deadline so that the Celts will not have to worry about Theis' impending free-agency?

I don't even know who would want Theis. Not sure who needs a big

Without considering finances and ability to re-sign him, CHA, GSW, TOR, BKN, MIL are all good fits.

No secret that I'd want the Cs to keep him for at least 2-3 more seasons.

[Curmudgeon]

Theis never was a center. He was always a power forward. He got pressed into service as a center after Horford left.

[Bleeding Green]

I hate Theis at the 4. As a Center, he's fantastic. I watch a different game I think. You should never have two bigs on the floor ever.

[Gomes3PC]

I hate Theis at the 4. As a Center, he's fantastic. I watch a different game I think. You should never have two bigs on the floor ever.

Two bigs works if you have a freak athlete one of those two spots like AD, but short of that, give me skill/spacing over size in the modern game.

[Justin33]

Read on Twitter

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[FlatearthZorro]

Didn't post in the thread last time and we won(during the game). Gonna do it again.

[Fencer reregistered]

Tatum - 34
Brown - 32
Smart - 32
Kemba - 30
Theis - 26
Timelord - 22
PP - 24
Nesmith - 20
Semi - 10

Remaining 10 mins. go to one of Grant/Thompson/Javonte/Edwards as situational players. Thompson increases minutes depending on matchup.

Just about exact for me. Theis 24 - Timelord 24. Of course so much depends on Theis and Foul trouble.

I'd throw Semi in the bucket with the others and call that 20 minutes, but in essence I agree.

Also, the moment there's a health issue, as there usually is, the guys in the "bucket" get a lot more than 20 minutes to divide up.

Of course, this is all w/o trades and w/o Romeo.

[Fierce1]

The question is how many more losses before we see ZERO minutes from Semi, Grant, Javonte, Teague, and Carsen?

[Fencer reregistered]

This can all get overcomplicated.

Brad's coaching emphasis on offense should be almost entirely:
-- Keep doing what you're doing ...
-- ... but always remember to either shoot when open or pass the ball very crisply for a better shot.
-- Also, move without the ball.
-- Also, pass to the guys who move without the ball.

Brad's rotation emphasis should be to give more minutes to the young guys with upside -- Timelord, Pritchard, Nesmith, Romeo when he's back. Maybe one of the others if he can turn things around.

That's about all the change we can realistically ask for from Brad this season.

Next offseason, Brad and Danny should hire an assistant coach who will yell at Tatum once every few weeks, because Tatum seems to need and even want that.

[Bleeding Green]

You can't get zero minutes for all of them and two of them are worth developing as second-year players.

[Fierce1]

You can't get zero minutes for all of them and two of them are worth developing as second-year players.

If the Celts get Harrison Barnes and Romeo Langford returns from injury, I'm sure Javonte, Semi, Grant, Carsen, and Teague will get a lot of DNPs.

Last season when Hayward was a Celtic, those bench players barely played.

[Bleeding Green]

You can't get zero minutes for all of them and two of them are worth developing as second-year players.

If the Celts get Harrison Barnes and Romeo Langford returns from injury, I'm sure Javonte, Semi, Grant, Carsen, and Teague will get a lot of DNPs.

Last season when Hayward was a Celtic, those bench players barely played.

So if two things happen that won't happen, then another thing will happen. When is the last time the Celtics went a week without 3-4 players being out with injury?

[Fierce1]

You can't get zero minutes for all of them and two of them are worth developing as second-year players.

If the Celts get Harrison Barnes and Romeo Langford returns from injury, I'm sure Javonte, Semi, Grant, Carsen, and Teague will get a lot of DNPs.

Last season when Hayward was a Celtic, those bench players barely played.

So if two things happen that won't happen, then another thing will happen. When is the last time the Celtics went a week without 3-4 players being out with injury?

Of course injuries will affect the rotation.

But last season the Celts also had injuries but it didn't really affect the team's performance that much because the Celts basically had 4 star players.

Right now the Celts are down to 3 star players and one of them can't play on the 2nd game of a back to back.

A roster upgrade is a must and it must be done ASAP!

[Triple7]

If the Celts get Harrison Barnes and Romeo Langford returns from injury, I'm sure Javonte, Semi, Grant, Carsen, and Teague will get a lot of DNPs.

Last season when Hayward was a Celtic, those bench players barely played.

So if two things happen that won't happen, then another thing will happen. When is the last time the Celtics went a week without 3-4 players being out with injury?

Of course injuries will affect the rotation.

But last season the Celts also had injuries but it didn't really affect the team's performance that much because the Celts basically had 4 star players.

Right now the Celts are down to 3 star players and one of them can't play on the 2nd game of a back to back.

A roster upgrade is a must and it must be done ASAP!

People tend to forget the importance of having a healthy Hayward on the team. He is probably our best playmaker. He runs the floor. He can attack inside, and is our best perimeter player. We were more dynamic laat year offensively. If we only had a legit big that can block shots and score inside, we could have went all the way. I remember with a healthy hayward, we blew the lakers on our home floor, and lost a close one at the road.

[Fierce1]

People tend to forget the importance of having a healthy Hayward on the team. He is probably our best playmaker. He runs the floor. He can attack inside, and is our best perimeter player. We were more dynamic laat year offensively. If we only had a legit big that can block shots and score inside, we could have went all the way. I remember with a healthy hayward, we blew the lakers on our home floor, and lost a close one at the road.

True.

Hayward brought stability to the team last season.

That's what the Celts are lacking right now.

Tatum and Brown are great players, but sometimes they make bad decisions.
That will change once they get older.

Right now the Celts need veteran players who won't make stupid mistakes.

[Triple7]

People tend to forget the importance of having a healthy Hayward on the team. He is probably our best playmaker. He runs the floor. He can attack inside, and is our best perimeter player. We were more dynamic laat year offensively. If we only had a legit big that can block shots and score inside, we could have went all the way. I remember with a healthy hayward, we blew the lakers on our home floor, and lost a close one at the road.

True.

Hayward brought stability to the team last season.

That's what the Celts are lacking right now.

Tatum and Brown are great players, but sometimes they make bad decisions.
That will change once they get older.

Right now the Celts need veteran players who won't make stupid mistakes.

I agree. Plus he can carry the load if one or both the J’s gets cold. You are right, we had practically 4 all stars last year. And Kemba was healthy then. Wanamaker is even a reliable back up. I juat don’t underatand how Stevens could play Teague. There was a play near the end, where teague was wide open, 2 ft to the basket, and he still opted to do a floater??? I think he plays teague because of Ainge.

[Fierce1]

I agree. Plus he can carry the load if one or both the J’s gets cold. You are right, we had practically 4 all stars last year. And Kemba was healthy then. Wanamaker is even a reliable back up. I juat don’t underatand how Stevens could play Teague. There was a play near the end, where teague was wide open, 2 ft to the basket, and he still opted to do a floater??? I think he plays teague because of Ainge.

Agree.

I think this thing with Teague is temporary and he'll most likely end up as trade filler.

[Fencer reregistered]

This clip was selected by CelticsBlog to show Rob Williams blowing up a Murray/Jokic P&R. It also shows two other things:
-- Kemba not even having a theory as to how he could defend that action.
-- Pritchard sprinting down the court in transition while Jaylen and Javonte ... didn't.

Those two are among the last guys I'd have expected to miss a chance to run, actually.

https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2021/02/16/0022000427/230/3eace226-b772-ac53-875c-df374284b0bd_1280x720.mp4

[Fierce1]

This clip was selected by CelticsBlog to show Rob Williams blowing up a Murray/Jokic P&R. It also shows two other things:
-- Kemba not even having a theory as to how he could defend that action.
-- Pritchard sprinting down the court in transition while his teammates ... didn't.

https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2021/02/16/0022000427/230/3eace226-b772-ac53-875c-df374284b0bd_1280x720.mp4

That's why I keep saying Kemba's offense is not the problem, it's on the defensive end that he's a liability.

I saw the clip and it was clear, if Rob didn't steal the ball, Denver would've scored because Kemba was badly beaten on that play.

[Fierce1]

Celts are just 28 games into the season.
It's not too late to turn things around.
There's 44 games left.

Trading Kemba should be considered.

If Kemba's staying then the Center position should be upgraded.

The top 4 players, Kemba, Smart, Brown, and Tatum, will all get 40 minutes or close to 40 minutes per game in the playoffs.
Right now Daniel Theis is the team's best Center.
But Theis is not a starting caliber Center in the NBA.
He's just better than the other Celtic Centers.
So the Center spot is the weakest link.
Upgrade the Center position and this Celtics team will be legit contenders.