Offensive Offense - Turning Point or Trend?

this is my team, even if we dont make the playoffs. I dont like this team because I feel they have the best chance at winning a title…i like them because of their history, their team play and a handful of other things….BUT, this team night in and night out lacks killer instict. They take plays, quarters, even games off consistently. Thats not what championship calibur teams do. With that said, im along for the ride…no matter if thats a championship or if dont makr the playoffs.

So if the Indiana game came after a rare day of practice, what should we expect with the Dallas game coming after an even more rare two days of practice?

And if the starting five think they still have the firepower they used to have, that could be half of their troubles right there.

I understand we have a defensive system which causes us to rush back on d once we take a shot, which in turn lowers our offensive rebound numbers, but our pf and c’s should all be getting AT LEAST 5 rebounds per game. Our guys dont box out, they just watch. This is a huge problem. I was taught to box out and rebound when I was 10, so why is it so difficult to instill it in the pros heads? I truely enjoy this team but there are a handful of things that make me just scratch my head….rebounding, good passing, hustle, leaving it all on the court every night…those are a handful of things that our team just doesnt do (while making millions to NOT do basic basketball fundamentals)

is in what Jeff was referring to, in that the Big 3 aren’t the Big 3 anymore. We fans, however, keep thinking of them as what they were in their prime.
There are lots of aging stars in the league, and they’re still nice players, productive, and capable of dropping 25/30 on you once in awhile, but none of our 3 can take over a game anymore. To rescue you, when the team is sputtering, like a Kobe or LBJ.
I think we’re all hoping against hope, that somehow we will miraculously come together. The negativity some have posted about is that alot of us are hurting…a defense mechanism against adversity. We want the glory days of yesteryear, a couple of hours away from daily problems, only to be frustrated by OUR team!
DA was in a tough spot this year with a big decision, and not much time to move on it. Bad news on trade for CP3, more on DWest, and top it off with JG. Kind of like a trip to the in-laws. You don’t want to do it, but you just hope you can hang in there and get thru it.

i think we when out against the pacer thinking we had to show west why he made wrong decision instead of focusing in are def. we got good def. in bench and starters that who we are lets stop pretending like were i high off. team we can score don’t misunderstands but we score when we make stops!!!! are def. is key and i think that we doc. look at in this practice days practice never hurts. ( i think).

Whoever advised you to delete it from your DVR gave you great advice.

I think with an old team that’s clearly not in NBA shape yet you’re going to get stinkers like the Indy and New Orleans game occasionally. Although not being a back to back…Friday was an unpleasant surprise. There’ll be less of them as the season goes on and the vets get back into shape.

Based on the eight games played, it is very fair to state that Ray has been the only consistent scorer on this team. He is the one veteran that can be counted on. He is a player I would like to have on my team – as a starter now, and off the bench in the near future.
Rondo is a great passing point guard. He is quick and can set the offense. However, he needs a player or two, for instance D. Howard, to compliment his style and capabilities. For example, with Howard on the team, Rondo can drive to the basket, draw a double team, pass it to Dwight and the rest is history. Or if he is open, he can lay it up for easy two points or possibly three. But in the absence of a dominant low-post player, Rondo’s abilities as a point guard diminish and that is because he is not a scoring guard. This is why as of right now, Rajon cannot help this team. We have no players that can score/ no big men.
Pierce might be able to contribute with scoring more than he has – given the fact that he has not played in any pre-season games or even practiced. The same goes for MP, but if that does not happen, then this team is in trouble.
KG; well I am not sure what is going on there. If he does not improve his play, he is better off retiring after this year.
The bench; by the exception of Bass, is flat. We do not have players that can come in THR game and score; or provide a spark when the first unit is down.
All together, I think this team’s legitimate chances at winning this year are very low. They still have my support, but I do not think re-tooling or even blowing up the team is a bad idea at all. We need some lottery picks, trading expiring contacts for some value, and enough pieces in place to attract players like Howard.

Danny did a good job assembling talent this offseason, given his constraints. KG is going to be fine in a short while – GIVEN HIS CONSTRAINTS (age). The person who has to stop talking “bench play” and who has to start making “bench play” is Doc. The bench can’t develop on the bench. Doc has shown that he can motivate and manage stars. He has shown to be pretty good at the X&Os of inbounds plays etc. He has shown that he will empower an assistant to run the D. What is on him is to develop the bench. The payoff won’t be right away. I like what he’s doing with Bradley. I think the only reason Stiemsma got on the floor was because ONeal stinks and Wilcox got hurt, so I wouldn’t overly credit Doc there. But he needs to go deep to that bench. It won’t be there in April if he doesn’t commit to it now.

Center play is not so bad. PF is ok to good with KG and Bass. SG is ok when Ray is on the floor. Pg is OK with Rondo, a black hole on offense with Bradley. Pg is not great with Dooley but better then with Bradley. Bradley is the biggest ‘Black Hole’ I’ve ever seen on the Celtics.

SF Sucks!

Daniels has yet to play even an acceptable game, they’ve all been bad. Pavlovic has not been as bad as Daniels because he has stayed invisible. That leaves PPierce , who shot 3 for 17 against Indiana. If he’d gone 9 and 8 ……. HOPEFULLY: Maurice Speights can do a decent job replacing Daniels and Pavlovic. If he can’t, it’s gonna be a long, long season.

Pietrus will be comming back.
There are a few players we can still sign, Arenas, Pryzibilla, etc.

One thing to keep an eye on is that we have been led to believe that this coming summer is this team’s time of change with the cap space Ainge has been guarding religiously. But after the big three of Howard, Paul and Williams, the available free agents are not be as significant. Ainge may have another deadline target in mind to use his money on. This coming trade deadline he may decide to move a player for another that he wants to build around going forward. There well may be teams that want to trade a guy with several years of big money left on his deal that would want back an expiring contract plus the experience and talent, however diminished by age, that a KG or Allen represent. Would a Memphis, with Randolph out for a good portion of this season, be interested in KG? And would they consider moving a Rudy Gay for him? Is Gay somebody that Ainge would want to build around along with Rondo going forward? I’m sure there are other examples. It’s something Danny may well look into. He also could possibly move Rondo by the deadline. I think Ainge might move KG more so than Ray. I think Ray may be here a couple more years. Danny may find that his free agent cap space money is better used by this year’s trade deadline.

But I have to think that part of the problem is that our vets can’t consistently score like they could back in the day. Anyone with talent can score 20 or even 30 points in a particular game. It takes a real star to be able to contribute night in and night out and I’m afraid that might not be the case with our veterans.

Not sure if I by that argument of being older and not being able to score. I don’t think scoring is the issue, but more of defense, aggression and rebounding. What I’ve noticed during the eight games with the Celts is poor transition defense, over-playing on defense, allowing opposing guards to penetrate the lane, not boxing out, poor rebounding.

Also why does Doc insist on playing Bradley and Dooling together? Dooling is a good player, but dribbles too much and Bradley can’t dribble so their’s one a few problems. Wilcox isn’t in game shape because of his shoulder. Why does Doc give Steisma limited minutes when he can be used for defense.

Where’s Garnett’s aggression and intensity? I saw it during the Knicks game, but after that it disappeared.

We have the worst bench since we have the Big 3. Danny failed us and didn’t bring any significant addition to the team. Wilcox? Dooling? Are you serious.

And I think he overpaid Doc Rivers who can’t develop a rookie.

Time for him to go. And bring Doc with him.

The team has been alternating between missing key players (Pierce in gms 1-3, Ray in gm 7) and getting good/bad performances from the ones that are playing.

Pierce missed much of the already short ‘training camp’, played 4 very good games, then stunk up the joint with a rare (for him) 3-17 shooting effort. That’s hopefully the last time we see that for a while. I’d be willing to bet he’s spending a ton of time taking his shots during this extended break.

Our ‘Big 3’ no longer are at the peak of their HoF careers. We know that. That’s okay. As long as two of them play their ‘normal’ game, and one of them has a stud game, we’ll usually win. But it’s been the case for 4 years now that when we don’t have all three of those guys on the court and playing at least an ‘average’ game, we suck. Other than the 2009 season when KG went down and we at least still went two rounds into the playoffs, in most games since then when we have been missing 1 or more of the Big 3, we have not done so well. I’ll contend that Paul Pierce shooting 3-17 is tantamount to him ‘not being there’.

I’m not particularly worried yet.

I think as everybody gets their rhythm back our offense will be fine. In particular I think our bench will provide more scoring than what we’ve been getting the last couple of years. Bass is looking like a real ‘goto’ scorer off the bench – something we simply have NOT had in ages.

That said, I would like to see our bench bigs (Bass, Wilcox, Stiemsma) continue to improve in their help rotations. That’s still a weakness.

Good article Jeff – many of us have been harping on the offense for awhile. Nice to see the ‘offensive offense’ reference also. Quite often it’s in 4th quarter when the offense has become stagnant which played a huge part in the Celtics being at the top of the NBA in blowing double digit leads last season. Many times that has been explained away by using excuses such as fatigue. To see the offense struggling in the beginning of games is even more worrisome.

Watching Portland play the other night it was striking to watch Jamal Crawford. He is a terrible defensive player most nights but to have a guy who can come in and just light up the scoreboard on any given night is invaluable. At this point in their careers KG and Ray depend heavily on others to get set up for scoring chances. Pierce is still capable of creating scoring chances on his own but that could be starting to diminish. Rondo is such a liability with his ever sinking free throw percentage that he is not a viable option late in games most nights either.

Other than Bass the Celtics bench has no dynamic offensive weapons. Daniels can’t make a shot even at point blank range while Dooling, Bradley, Wilcox, Steimsma do not excel at creating their own shots. Pietrus may open up the offense with his spot up 3 point shooting but is not a ‘scorer’ either. Delonte was one bench player who could create his own shot at times but now he is gone.

Celtics definitely need an infusion of offensive firepower and the potential sources appear to be limited. When the offense breaks down as it often does especially late in games there needs to be some alternative to get key baskets in clutch situations.

Hopefully during this break Doc and the team will get things straightened out. There won’t be many more long breaks for practice during this shortened season so it’s imperative that the Celtics start playing well immediately…