Around The League: 2021-2022 Season 2.0

[stormi]

Celtics are just way too gritty, and they've shown that toughness all playoffs outlasting the Bucks and Heat in 7. And then tonight winning the offensive board battle by 9, and generating more steals & blocks.

This roster needs a dire cleansing of defensive atrocities like Tobias Harris and Furkan Korkmaz, until that happens we won't be joining the big boy table where Boston sits.

[76thBearCub]

But this year was wide open. Pretty disappointing we didn't at least act like we wanted a crack at it.

[76thBearCub]

Honestly the dog mentality guy has a point.

[FireMorey]

Both of these teams blow, honestly. Unless you have low standards.

Doesn't say much about us then.

Healthy Sixers probably win the Finals tbh.

[stormi]

But this year was wide open. Pretty disappointing we didn't at least act like we wanted a crack at it.

Having your core in place is the hardest part of it. We have a superstar top 5 talent, which is the most difficult part about trying to compete for a championship.

The Celtics wouldn't be where they are if they ran back last years team that got smoked in the first round giving big minutes to sieves like Evan Fournier, Kemba Walker and Tristan Thompson. Udoka came in and committed to defense and winning games through defending as a 5 man unit and generating enough second chance and transition points to outlast their opponents. They have built a system that allows them to win games without needing superstar production from Tatum nightly.

With Doc and defensive rotations of Harris/Harden/Maxey/Milton/Korkmaz/DAJ bleeding points, Embiid doesn't have the same luxurious afforded to come out cosplaying Kobe 3/17 shooting nights.

I think people view Morey and his Rockets as a 'chuck 3 and inshallah' system, but in 2018 they had a top 7 offense and defense. That's a championship formula.

Very curious to see how Morey can revamp a competent two way unit around Harden/Maxey/Embiid with our limited asset pool. If he can heist a team for Tobias like he did the Mavericks for Richardson then it's giant steps.

[76ciology]

Well yeah, that’s the bright spot. We already have a core. Unlike last season or pre-Harden, we were star hunting.

Key now is to learn from our experience and have a good cast of supporting players that fits our core and be good on a playoff equipped scheme (heavy on switch defense, attacking 1v1 and kicking out to open shooters)

[76ciology]

Celtics are just way too gritty, and they've shown that toughness all playoffs outlasting the Bucks and Heat in 7. And then tonight winning the offensive board battle by 9, and generating more steals & blocks.

This roster needs a dire cleansing of defensive atrocities like Tobias Harris and Furkan Korkmaz, until that happens we won't be joining the big boy table where Boston sits.

Yes. Have to upgrade the 3-4 positions

[76thBearCub]

My biggest question mark is accountability. It has to be from the top down, we've seen it time and time again.

[stormi]

Switching is essential. I hate our current drop coverage scheme where guards and forwards consistently get dribble penetration into the middle of the floor. Our defensive spine is continuously being compromised and guys are scrambling all over the floor giving up layups and corner 3's.

I'm not sure if this is to accommodate Thybulle's ball hawk skillset, or because we're trying to funnel everything into Joel Embiid because we believe it gives us the best chance at generating a stop.

[76ciology]

Switching is essential. I hate our current drop coverage scheme where guards and forwards consistently get dribble penetration into the middle of the floor. Our defensive spine is continuously being compromised and guys are scrambling all over the floor giving up layups and corner 3's.

I'm not sure if this is to accommodate Thybulle's ball hawk skillset, or because we're trying to funnel everything into Joel Embiid because we believe it gives us the best chance at generating a stop.

The problem with switching is teams tries to force Embiid to switch to the perimeter ball handler where he has to step out the paint, then they’ll have a cutter, roll man or a guy to attack OReb in the paint.

Ive pointed this one out in reg season. But im told in this board that we can solve his by adding more size in the backcourt

Another problem with switch scheme is it tires out Embiid that prevents him to average 30 per game.

And lastly, Harden and Maxey are average at best on being multipositional defenders. For instance, Maxey is being hunted by the Heat. And I’d imagine guys like Durant and Tatum wouldn’t mind to hunt Harden on defense.

We need to be accustomed to running a switch heavy scheme in reg season. It will be painful but its essential to win the championship. Bucks 2020-2021 had the same experience.

[stormi]

Switching is essential. I hate our current drop coverage scheme where guards and forwards consistently get dribble penetration into the middle of the floor. Our defensive spine is continuously being compromised and guys are scrambling all over the floor giving up layups and corner 3's.

I'm not sure if this is to accommodate Thybulle's ball hawk skillset, or because we're trying to funnel everything into Joel Embiid because we believe it gives us the best chance at generating a stop.

The problem with switching is teams tries to force Embiid to switch to the perimeter ball handler where he has to step out the paint, then they’ll have a cutter, roll man or a guy to attack OReb in the paint.

Ive pointed this one out in reg season. But im told in this board that we can solve his by adding more size in the backcourt

How would you combat this issue?

Or do you think Embiid is a liability on the floor and small ball reigns supreme.

[76ciology]

Switching is essential. I hate our current drop coverage scheme where guards and forwards consistently get dribble penetration into the middle of the floor. Our defensive spine is continuously being compromised and guys are scrambling all over the floor giving up layups and corner 3's.

I'm not sure if this is to accommodate Thybulle's ball hawk skillset, or because we're trying to funnel everything into Joel Embiid because we believe it gives us the best chance at generating a stop.

The problem with switching is teams tries to force Embiid to switch to the perimeter ball handler where he has to step out the paint, then they’ll have a cutter, roll man or a guy to attack OReb in the paint.

Ive pointed this one out in reg season. But im told in this board that we can solve his by adding more size in the backcourt

How would you combat this issue?

Or do you think Embiid is a liability on the floor and small ball reigns supreme.

I think small ball reigns supreme. Im not saying small ball 4-5 but super saiyan 1-2-3 positions with size up 4-5

But the same time I do think we just have to play our cards and In order to deal with this, we need to have an UNBIASED evaluation of Embiid and how the game is trending in general.

Second, I think the we need to slide Embiid to PF on defense. Let him step out more, let him anchor the defense less and this would also give him more energy on offense.

We need to partner Embiid with a big who can replace his role on defense as a goalie and only rebounder. While it will also help if we find an upgrade for Tobi on defense. But I really think adding a big to play with Embiid would move the needle more than upgrading Tobi.

Similar set-up I see is the Marion-Dirk-Chandler where Embiid plays Dirk’s role. Scenario if you ever replace Tobi for a defensive upgrade.

Or the Markanen-Mobley-Allen set-up where Embiid play’s Markanen or Mobley’s role on defense. Scenario if you ever won’t be able to replace Tobi for a defensive upgrade

You only have 24 seconds on the shotclock, you wont be able to keep running two man game until you have two bigs outside the paint. Once you run the two man game to get Embiid out, you probably have 10 secs left to do another action where you have another big who can rotate to the paint to protect the rim and rebound.

[76ciology]

If you take care of defense.. offense will be gravy. Because Embiid and Harden can generate 4v5 situations at will.

And if defense opts to put a defender who can switch at both Harden and Embiid, you can involve Maxey like what we did in the Raps series. Maxey-Harden two man game first then Harden-Embiid two man game.

Embiid then attacks mismatch from the FT line. Collapse the defense and then kick it out to open shooter.

[Iverson Armband]

Both of these teams blow, honestly. Unless you have low standards.

Yet, we’d be lucky to win I’d say about 2 games against both.

[76ciology]

Low standards?

We can have a debate on the quality of talent. But..

Steph is one of the greatest players ever
Tatum is top 2 in RAPTOR while averaging 27ppg

Their best players are best player in the playoffs, not just in meaningless regular season games..

When it comes to sacrifice and playing the right way, both these teams are in discussion for ATG.

Two of the best Switch defense schemes
Off ball movement and ball movement for GSW
ISO and Ball movement for Celtics

This is why both teams almost always overachieve in the playoffs.

[blargh]

Switching is essential. I hate our current drop coverage scheme where guards and forwards consistently get dribble penetration into the middle of the floor. Our defensive spine is continuously being compromised and guys are scrambling all over the floor giving up layups and corner 3's.

I'm not sure if this is to accommodate Thybulle's ball hawk skillset, or because we're trying to funnel everything into Joel Embiid because we believe it gives us the best chance at generating a stop.

We had a top 5 defense just last year, playing lots of Tobias, Furkan, and exclusively drop defense. Milwaukee built a top 5 defense on drop coverage. Yes, we had another elite defender, but he didn’t exactly hang his hat on grit and physicality.

We should avoid recency bias just because the current teams in the finals switch a lot. There are a lot of ways to build a winning defense.

[76ciology]

Celts - Warriors G3

Tatum runs 2 man game trying to hunt steph, even without the switch, Tatum can then just blow past his man who is trying to anticipate the switch. Collapse the defense into 4 v5 then kick to open shooters

Even Marcus Smart hunts steph..

Celts is just bigger allowing them to get extra possessions and easy baskets

Warriors have no one to hunt. Their best offense was Steph mid range pull up off the 2 man game. Attacking Al’s drop defense

Both Celts and GSW are really good on off ball actions. A lot of backdoors. A lot of misdirections A lot of off ball for shooters.

We dont have that, our guys are stationary. So its easy for defense to recover. See how we struggle to get good looks against the Raps where their 6’9” guys where covering distance and rotating to our guys

[GoSixersBro]

As much as I detest the guy, the Playoffs/Finals without LeBron just aren't the same.

[mjkvol]

Celtics are just way too gritty, and they've shown that toughness all playoffs outlasting the Bucks and Heat in 7. And then tonight winning the offensive board battle by 9, and generating more steals & blocks.

This roster needs a dire cleansing of defensive atrocities like Tobias Harris and Furkan Korkmaz, until that happens we won't be joining the big boy table where Boston sits.

And offensive liabilities like Thybulle as well. Look at the guys that Boston and GS play specifically for their defense, virtually all of them at least contribute something on the offensive end if needed.

Athleticism, defense, versatility, and rebounding, with some 3 pt. shooting - if we can somehow add that mix to Embiid, Harden, and Maxey, we can compete. To me, it starts with making Reed and Bassey rotation players right from the get-go next season, eliminating two needs from Morey's summer workload.

[mjkvol]

Honestly the dog mentality guy has a point.

No he doesn't, and he contradicted himself over and over and was called out on it here.

Get the right mix of players in here to compliment our 'big 3' and that will take care of itself. We were constantly in a gun fight using a knife, having to play the likes of Korkmaz, Milton, Jordan, and Thybulle, and depending on the fossilized Green for contributions beyond his capabilities at this point.