Official Celtics 2021-22 Season Thread

[keevsnick1]

Romeo looked way better during the preseason than I expected. I think this was legitimately the first offseason he's been healthy as a pro, so maybe its not super surprising that he looks like he's gotten his sea legs.

I think the fact that Romeo, Langford, Nesmith and Grant have all shown some flashes is a huge development. My hope is some combination of those guys earn rotation roles that allows them to serve as significant pieces in a major trade or at least allows you to flip Schroder/Richardson for positive value. The c's dont have high level draft pics left, and no free agency space, so the next big piece is gonna probably come via trade and it would be nice if those young guys could build some trade value.

[Bill Lumbergh]

talk of roster additions are all over the place, so I will add this here as well. But players who are not signed at this moment that I would like to look at.

checking the waiver wire, notable 4/5 man players not signed (I don't think)

Luka Samanic, Daniel Oturu, Tyler Bey, Jordan Bell, Luke Kornet, Jahill Okafor, Harry Giles.

Would love a real good look at any of the Bolded players.

Samanic took a two way with the Knicks. He's got some talent.

[Parliament10]

What are we looking at, for a Rotation?:

Proposed Rotation, 2021-22:
Starters: Smart - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams
Rotation: Schröder - Langford - Nesmith - G. Williams - Kanter
Reserves: Pritchard - Richardson - Hernangómez - Fernando

[Fierce1]

What are we looking at, for a Rotation?:

Proposed Rotation, 2021-22:
Starters: Smart - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams
Rotation: Schröder - Langford - Nesmith - G. Williams - Kanter
Reserves: Pritchard - Richardson - Hernangómez - Fernando

Pritchard should be the 7th or 8th man off the bench.

He's one of the best, if not the best, 3-point shooters of the Celts.

[zoyathedestroya]

My preference based on preseason:

Smart | Brown | Langford | Tatum | Horford
Schroder | Pritchard | Nesmith | Grant | Rob

Richardson as guard/wing reliever. Kanter in very specific matchups or in case of injury. Juancho in whenever the young guys suck or are hurt. Fernando as lead towel waver.

[snowman]

Just my thought, but I think the Smart / timelord pairing and the Schroder / Horford pairing is something to look at going forward. Timelord seems to play his best with Smart, Tatum and Brown, and I don't think we can play "fast" as has been talked about with a two big lineup most of the time. I would like to see the following lineup:

Smart, Langford, Brown, Tatum Timelord
Schroder, Pritchard, Nesmith, G. Will, Horford
Richardson, ( ), Hernangomez, Bruno, Kanter

Hauser, ( )

[Bohemian]

Read on Twitter

[Bohemian]

Read on Twitter

[sam_I_am]

Luke Kornet seems like he will be #15 barring surprise addition.

[playa-hater]

Luke Kornet seems like he will be #15 barring surprise addition.

thought he was released.

[bisme37]

Hey Zach Lowe is really into Roblord...

(This is pretty long so I "hid" it, and there are videos in the original article that I couldn't share here.)

Spoiler:

Robert Williams III, Boston Celtics
How many elite dive-and-dunk bigs double as canny passers -- capable of facilitating the offense?
The number who do both at Williams' level is really small.
And how many of those can do this to James Harden in a close playoff game?
That is the promise of the "Time Lord" wrapped into one nine-second sequence: switching onto one of the greatest ball handlers ever, maintaining a stance, keeping his arms out, staying balanced against all fakery, and finally rising to reject a 3-pointer from an all-time scorer unaccustomed to such rudeness.
Williams had nine blocks in that game. When asked if he remembers that one, he simply says, "We lost. I know that." Teammates and coaches say Williams does not care about scoring or stats -- that he only wants to win. He works hard, and shows up on time now. (Williams concedes the Time Lord nickname will follow him forever. "It ain't going anywhere, so I accept it," he says.)
Williams has great hands. Only two rotation players -- Williams and Nerlens Noel -- averaged more than 1.5 steals and three blocks per 36 minutes last season, according to Basketball-Reference. The Celtics have tried everything from switching to blitzing with Williams, and he has looked at home doing all of it.
"He has natural ability on defense that not a lot of young bigs have," says Al Horford, a teammate both now and during Williams' rookie season. "From our very first pickup game, that stood out."
The raw materials of a special two-way center are here. That's why the Celtics' front office frantically canvassed sources in the middle of the 2018 draft, trying to figure out why Williams was slipping -- whether there was some medical issue -- and if they should trade up to get him, sources say.
The issue has been consistency. Williams has played only 113 games in three seasons, due mostly to nagging injuries. As Sam Vecenie has pointed out on the Game Theory podcast, Williams has logged 30 or more minutes in exactly one game.
On defense, his fundamentals come and go. Williams sometimes stands up instead of holding his crouch, and droops his arms to his sides. "I have to improve my stance -- my posture," he says. He can't resist some pump fakes. "That's hard, trust me," he says, laughing.
He can rotate late, and chase blocks he has no chance at -- leaving the glass naked. He sometimes swings his arms down instead of staying vertical. Boston coaches have been on him to keep blocks inbounds instead of swatting them into the stands. Back-to-basket behemoths -- a dwindling group -- can shove him backward.
As a rookie defending pick-and-rolls, Williams often abandoned ball handlers too early to get back to his man -- conceding easy drives. Now, he sometimes overcompensates by lingering too long on the ball, allowing his man to skulk behind him for pocket passes:
Mastering that stuff takes years, but Williams is trending the right way. He became more diligent on the glass last season.
Even his passing can go haywire, though it's not always his fault. He sees the game so fast, some of his passes -- especially tip passes on offensive rebounds -- catch teammates off guard.
"I just gotta slow it down a little sometimes," Williams says, "and stop throwing so many bullets."
The combined passing between Horford and Williams is the main reason the Celtics -- and the two principles -- are optimistic the double-big pairing can work. Horford can stretch the floor, then pump and drive, and lob to Williams in the dunker spot. Williams can orchestrate while Horford screens in off-ball split actions.
Space will open when Boston goes smaller, with only one of the Williams-Horford tandem. Williams is a cagey hand-off guy, outthinking defenses by flipping the direction of his screens and signaling his shooters to flare away for corner jumpers. He is starting to eat up the space defenses give him with hard dribbles leading into soft-touch paint shots:
He slips hard out of picks, and knows all the reads before he catches the ball: dunker spot, corner shooters, wing shooters.
The Celtics expect Williams to shoot more jumpers at some point. Posting up guards on switches will be one of the final frontiers -- something Williams hasn't done much, even as several teams, including the Brooklyn Nets in the playoffs, have switched point guards onto him.
Development is uncertain. Williams might top out as an average center; the Celtics paid him as such in his recent contract extension.
But the upside is so much higher -- like All-Star high -- and if Williams stays healthy, he's a good bet to unlock at least some of it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/32420384/lowe-five-most-intriguing-players-nba-season

[Feed Your Head]

Hey Zach Lowe is really into Roblord...

(This is pretty long so I "hid" it, and there are videos in the original article that I couldn't share here.)

Spoiler:

Robert Williams III, Boston Celtics
How many elite dive-and-dunk bigs double as canny passers -- capable of facilitating the offense?
The number who do both at Williams' level is really small.
And how many of those can do this to James Harden in a close playoff game?
That is the promise of the "Time Lord" wrapped into one nine-second sequence: switching onto one of the greatest ball handlers ever, maintaining a stance, keeping his arms out, staying balanced against all fakery, and finally rising to reject a 3-pointer from an all-time scorer unaccustomed to such rudeness.
Williams had nine blocks in that game. When asked if he remembers that one, he simply says, "We lost. I know that." Teammates and coaches say Williams does not care about scoring or stats -- that he only wants to win. He works hard, and shows up on time now. (Williams concedes the Time Lord nickname will follow him forever. "It ain't going anywhere, so I accept it," he says.)
Williams has great hands. Only two rotation players -- Williams and Nerlens Noel -- averaged more than 1.5 steals and three blocks per 36 minutes last season, according to Basketball-Reference. The Celtics have tried everything from switching to blitzing with Williams, and he has looked at home doing all of it.
"He has natural ability on defense that not a lot of young bigs have," says Al Horford, a teammate both now and during Williams' rookie season. "From our very first pickup game, that stood out."
The raw materials of a special two-way center are here. That's why the Celtics' front office frantically canvassed sources in the middle of the 2018 draft, trying to figure out why Williams was slipping -- whether there was some medical issue -- and if they should trade up to get him, sources say.
The issue has been consistency. Williams has played only 113 games in three seasons, due mostly to nagging injuries. As Sam Vecenie has pointed out on the Game Theory podcast, Williams has logged 30 or more minutes in exactly one game.
On defense, his fundamentals come and go. Williams sometimes stands up instead of holding his crouch, and droops his arms to his sides. "I have to improve my stance -- my posture," he says. He can't resist some pump fakes. "That's hard, trust me," he says, laughing.
He can rotate late, and chase blocks he has no chance at -- leaving the glass naked. He sometimes swings his arms down instead of staying vertical. Boston coaches have been on him to keep blocks inbounds instead of swatting them into the stands. Back-to-basket behemoths -- a dwindling group -- can shove him backward.
As a rookie defending pick-and-rolls, Williams often abandoned ball handlers too early to get back to his man -- conceding easy drives. Now, he sometimes overcompensates by lingering too long on the ball, allowing his man to skulk behind him for pocket passes:
Mastering that stuff takes years, but Williams is trending the right way. He became more diligent on the glass last season.
Even his passing can go haywire, though it's not always his fault. He sees the game so fast, some of his passes -- especially tip passes on offensive rebounds -- catch teammates off guard.
"I just gotta slow it down a little sometimes," Williams says, "and stop throwing so many bullets."
The combined passing between Horford and Williams is the main reason the Celtics -- and the two principles -- are optimistic the double-big pairing can work. Horford can stretch the floor, then pump and drive, and lob to Williams in the dunker spot. Williams can orchestrate while Horford screens in off-ball split actions.
Space will open when Boston goes smaller, with only one of the Williams-Horford tandem. Williams is a cagey hand-off guy, outthinking defenses by flipping the direction of his screens and signaling his shooters to flare away for corner jumpers. He is starting to eat up the space defenses give him with hard dribbles leading into soft-touch paint shots:
He slips hard out of picks, and knows all the reads before he catches the ball: dunker spot, corner shooters, wing shooters.
The Celtics expect Williams to shoot more jumpers at some point. Posting up guards on switches will be one of the final frontiers -- something Williams hasn't done much, even as several teams, including the Brooklyn Nets in the playoffs, have switched point guards onto him.
Development is uncertain. Williams might top out as an average center; the Celtics paid him as such in his recent contract extension.
But the upside is so much higher -- like All-Star high -- and if Williams stays healthy, he's a good bet to unlock at least some of it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/32420384/lowe-five-most-intriguing-players-nba-season

Spoiler:

[Curmudgeon]

LOL, if you plunk down $6.95 for me I might read it.

[Feed Your Head]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Spoiler:

[Curmudgeon]

Too bad Tatum didn't do it against Miami.

[bisme37]

LOL, if you plunk down $6.95 for me I might read it.

Well I copy and pasted the entire thing (minus the videos) so you wouldn't have to do that haha. I wouldn't pay for ESPN Insider by itself but I have the Disney Bundle and get access through that.

[Feed Your Head]

Too bad Tatum didn't do it against Miami.

I mean, why do you think Romeo got so many wide open looks? Heat were shading three guys towards Tatum anytime he put the ball down, and he swung the ball. He turned it over way too much, and forced a few shots, but he was infinitely quicker in his decision making during the preseason.

[Boss66]

Nesmith - https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/aaron-nesmith-breaks-jayson-tatums-3-point-record-dazzling-practice-performance

[Shak_Celts]

LOL, if you plunk down $6.95 for me I might read it.

Well I copy and pasted the entire thing (minus the videos) so you wouldn't have to do that haha. I wouldn't pay for ESPN Insider by itself but I have the Disney Bundle and get access through that.

wait, the bundle works for that? thanks!

[bisme37]

LOL, if you plunk down $6.95 for me I might read it.

Well I copy and pasted the entire thing (minus the videos) so you wouldn't have to do that haha. I wouldn't pay for ESPN Insider by itself but I have the Disney Bundle and get access through that.

wait, the bundle works for that? thanks!

Welcome! Yeah if you have ESPN+ you should be able to log into ESPN for their Insider content the same way.