Getting Defensive

Well, I hope this guy is as good as advertised and Doc hands over the whole defensive side of things to him – and he totally revamps the schemes that have been in place in Doc’s tenure.

Even, last year, with all the injuries, this team would’ve been 10-15 games better if they could’ve played anything even approaching NBA defense.

I wouldn’t worry about the defense. Anyone thats coached under Van Gundy is going to have some skills in coaching that side of the ball.

Say what you want about the brand of basketball Van Gundy employs, but that guy DEFINATELY knows defense.

Between Van Gutsy’s endorsement and KG saying defense will be a priority, it’s a safe bet the defense will improve. Pierce may be the Captain, but I think this is now KGs team. Based on what I heard from his days in Minny (boy that’s fun to type), KG will keep everyone in line. Happy D is here again!

College defense is about coaching…in the NBA defense is about #1-experince,#2-effort ,#3-talent…Doc,Tony B,Thibby etc are there but KG and effort will tell this story…and Doc is 100% responsible as to how they do but KG is “The Man” here

Defense is about coaching in the NBA too. That’s why coaches who know how to teach defense— and devote the practice time to defense, which Rivers never did— consistently overachieve givien the talent on their rosters.

Ainge has made his roster alot more “Rivers-proof” and now he appears to be doing the same with the coaching staff. It would have been alot easier just to fire the guy.

I was wondering how long it would take for people to say this is KG’s team. Sorry, it’s still Paul’s team. KG is probably the best player but Paul is the only one that bleeds green. 34 is getting retired not 5. Paul brought this current team together because he wants to win in a Celtic uniform. He could have forced a trade years ago. This is his team, if it’s anyone’s.

Now, I am quite interested to see what our defense is like this year. I’m tired of seeing teams kill us on screens and back door cuts. Even in Obrien when our defense was solid, it was scrappy at best. Defense actually may be the x factor in whether we can pull this thing off rather than the depth of our bench

i agree that pierce and allen CAN play defense. they certainly are good atheletes and have the physical ability. it just hasnt been much of a priorty for them.

if thibodeau can get pierce and allen to REALLY play intelligent defense, then honestly, i think the celtics’ are clearly on their way to a championship.

Surprisingly management has complied with most of our suggestions and wishes for improvement. With the hiring of Tom Thibodeau we’ve come full circle as a franchise.

What more can we suggest or complain about? Brick would have us playing bb so that he could ascertain whether he prefers Toronto or Boston. If only Boston had the gustatory excellence of our northern neighbors….

Our franchise has been reconstructed in a manner that best affords us the opportunity to enjoy championship caliber playmaking on a nightly basis, instead of suffering through the agony of mistake prone would-be professionals.

Shouldn’t we be concerned that the USUAL “whipping boys” are moving beyond our reach? What will become of us dissatisfied citizens when our “toys” are snatched from our POISON PENS?

moskqq,

I suggest we all pull together and get this team to start planting seeds in AJ’s and Kevin Durants heads that we will pay top dollar for them to come here when their contracts end.

Nothing would please me more than to see AJ coming back to the Celtics right around the time, the new trivrant are on their way out.

MB..I agree it’s about coaching and now 100% on Doc to produce defense,wins,points etc…but NBA defense requires experience for ANY coaches/asst coach…we got that now therefore NO excuses/reason to fail…If Doc can’t do it Larry Brown will…he’s in the bullpen like Mo Rivera…lol

a good signing. this will help us win. the big thing not mentioned so far about good d is that it takes a lot of effort and no loafing. with our aged players that means doc has to give them rest during the games and not burn them out. it also means the scrubs have to really play d. do you hear that mr. house.

Almost as bad as another year of coaching from Doc is the thought of having to endure the constant infantile comments from Larry Brown on playing the right way. Of course, Brown never talks about coaching the right way and has an unsavory history of breaking agreements and blaming others for the failures of his teams. Get rid of Doc by all means but find someone other than Brown – Hello, Jeff Van Gundy – to replace him.

I do like the Thibodeau hiring although I wonder what will happen when Doc decides to play one of nutty hunches and tosses out the defensive scheme Thibodeau has devised. Let’s not guard the in-bounds pass. Tom T is on a one-year contract, which is curious for a guy who could have signed a longer deal elsewhere. I wonder if Ainge made him a promise that should things go South with Doc at the helm, he would be considered (wink-wink) for the job opening.

It’s kind of funny when you recall all the posts on this site begging the C’s to develop a Suns-style offense. All of a sudden, defense is in and that’s what wins titles. I wonder if they’re thinking that way in Phoenix these days, or are D’Antoni and Stoudemire still crying about the NBA robbing them of the title?

We have to keep in mind that we have a rebuilt team, we can compare what we did last season with the one is coming. I believe this guy will bring good defensive ideas to the team that will be consolidated with KG’s abilities and knowledge.

Viva Mexico!!!

The Celtics could have implemented a Suns’ style offense if they had kept the youngsters and traded Pierce. Rondo is perfect for that style, and West and Jefferson would have been perfect. But they certainly aren’t going to play that style now, even if Rivers were capable of coaching it— which he isn’t.

You can play an up tempo style and be a good defensive team. Auerbach’s Celtics were, and so were Heinsohn’s Celtics.

Phoenix’ up tempo style leads to more possessions for both teams, hence higher scores. It doesn’t preclude good defense. Phoenix has decent individual defenders (e.g. Raja Bell and Boris Diaw) but if they want to win a title they probably do have to improve their team defense.

I’m more comfortable looking to the Spurs as our role model than the Suns.

Second that no kidding.

The problem with that theory Brick is that we would be still 3-4 years away from being legitimate contenders. That is with some luck as well. The Bulls tried to go real young and play uptempo and is still a ways away from being in contention. Then, if we run into a dominate team, we may be sitting on the outside. It’s about the timing and window as well. With the weakness of the East right now, we needed to make a move. The next 3 years is a great time to sweep in and take a shot. I applaud what they are doing, even if it doesn’t work!

Adding Thibodeau doesn’t change the offensive style of play and may even enhance it. Developing a defense merely signifies that the Celtics plan to play at BOTH ends of the floor. A welcome relief if it develops the way it should.

It’ll be hard for me to fathom Paul playing the solid defense he played under Carroll, Obie and Pitino for any coach after 3 seasons of being required to play none at all. Possible, but not probable. The Thibodeau signing is a great sign that defense going to be prioritized. But Rivers is still head coach of this team. So 45-47 wins and hopefully getting past round one of the playoffs. A championship is a pipe dream at this point.

It’ll be fun to watch for the first time in a long time.

You softie Plowboy/Shak…i’m 50ish and your coming around slow but sure..lol..KG is the man and Doc will ride his coattails as all coaches do…Pop w/Duncan,Red w/ Russell,KC w/Larry etc etc..#17? no clue yet but ready to play??? Game On!!!!…be good

The only reason Doc is still here is b/c he agreed to tanking last season. I remember him being quite controlling, or attempting to be, in 2005 when Antoine would mouth at the refs and other players.
That stuff doesn’t bother me…in fact I like a little fire.
Hopefully he’ll let KG be KG.
It almost seems as if Doc tries too hard sometimes to show some fire (like when he wants to get kicked out of games).

Had they traded Pierce and fired Rivers, how far away would have depended on a variety of factors, starting with what they received in return for Pierce— and if draft picks were part of the deal, how they were used— and who was hired to replace Rivers. But developing into a contender in 2-3 years was not out of the question.

Let’s see how the rebuilding efforts go with the Timberwolves, who are now basically “Celtics West.” Also keep an eye on the Sonics, a team that basically took the road that the Celtics did not take by shedding its two high priced veterans for younger talent (plus Kurt Thomas with his expiring deal).

Boston ought to be significantly better than those two teams for two more years. After that, I’m not so sure.

The notion that West and Jefferson could play in an uptempo style is ridiculous. West was terrible at running the break, as he would go numerous possessions going one on three and Big Al, who I love, is a quintessential half court player.

Gomes, Green,and Telfair are fast break players.

On the assistant hiring, good job. Doc’s a people coach so maybe this works out. One problem with the Pistons is that the players were not supportive of Flip Saunders.

If this season starts to unravel for any reason, Doc should and probably would be fired in a NY minute. Doc has got about a 30 game window and if we are not 18-12, then meet the no coach, not the same as the old coach.

ChiefDK said:
  Just what I wanted to do – trade Pierce for a future. The future is now. Seattle and Minnesota can have the future, I’ll take the present.

Perhaps you will feel the same way next May, perhaps not.

On rebuilding, it was always going to a dicey situation. Many younger clubs going that direction. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Trailblazers, Sonics, Bulls or some other team (Raptors,Magic, Cavs, could even end up being Minny) be able to have a 7 year run or so like the Spurs.

The main thing is with 30 NBA teams it is so difficult to be the team and have the that type of run.

I’m liking my window, 3 or 4 years, especially when you look around at leat the East and see all the holes that other teams have too.

There is a nastiness that KG brings to the defensive end of the court. With the new hire and KG, I see this rubbing off on the rest of the Celtics. Good move.

New KG/Colin Cowherd post:

www.sportsguyredux.blogspot.com

Got to agree with soap07. West is a horrible PG for a fast break offense – you need to be able to make good decisions quickly. And Al is exactly the PF you want on a slow, grind-it-out team. Imagine if Cleveland had him? Or better yet, don’t – it would be the most unwatchable team in the league. If they’re not already.

maybe thibodeau can lie in the grass til doc goes.

Its Great thinking that agine would think to hire a veteran of 15 years as an assistantcoach for sveral teams to become our new head coach when he fires Doc. I can’t believe someone could think up that kind of a statement. its unreal.
 another point, Too bad we will never know what thibo could have done with our youth we just traded. Not much I am sure. Those guys including jefferson (excluding Gomes of Course) never knew defense was a part of the NBA game. None of them ever had to play defense in high school and all of them needed three years to learn the fundamentals of the game. We may have had the potential but not the knowledge of the game or experience to play any quality defense especially team defense.