FanPost

Another 20-game review

Who the C's are this season is a combination of offseason moves and the performance of the coach and players.

The GM

The offseason was primarily about fit and depth. Kemba with his knee and defensive issues were sent away for the first good option, fortunately it was Al Horford. Our big men last year were lane cloggers, so now we have Al back with his defense and shooting, and there's some salary flexibility. The other combination of moves was moving on from Evan Fournier as the 3rd wing who had pricey contract from NYK, and Josh Richardson provided a plan B. He's been a decent starter, and provides depth without needing as many touches. They added or retained Schroder, Kanter, and Parker. Along with existing players: Tatum, Brown, Smart, Williams, Williams, Langford, Pritchard, Nesmith, there could be 13-14 rotation players available for 9-11 typical slots. We lost some overall starting offense in Walker and Fournier, but we ended up with fit an depth. We also had a lot of players in a contract year, but then Brad made it rain. He locked up Smart and Rob Williams before they reached the end of the contract. Later he guaranteed Romeo for 5.6 million and Grant for 4.3 million. Four players could have been playing in a contract year, but the team chose roster stability instead.

The Coach

The other big decision over the summer was hiring Ime Udoka, a young highly regarded coach from the Poppovich tree and worked with the Olympic team. Early in the season his choices and a few OT games put a lot of minutes on the starters. The top 7 players have missed 25 games so far. Romeo and Grant have been the other consistent players, as they are suited for the switching scheme and are on their way to being solid 3&D players. The rest of the depth has not materialized. Pritchard and Nesmith have played their way out out of minutes. They both had a good summer, but poor shooting from deep is hard to handle. Kanter and Parker have had inconsistent playing time, and Hernangomez hasn't lived up to what he did last year. Udoka's rotations are inconsistent partly because of various injuries and partly because he's been stubbornly sticking with the top 7 with Romeo and Grant filling the rest of the gaps. Pritchard, Nesmith, Kanter, Parker are in and out of the line up, and look like they feel the pressure to "do something" while they are there because each opportunity could be their last one for 3 games.

The Players

And really the regular season is about the players on the court. Tatum is taking a lot of shots and getting points, but low percentages and lack of production at the start of games and crunch time have made him a lightning rod. Brown missed a bunch of games and only his scoring has been up to par. The Smart/Schroder has not been a 1-2 punch, instead they are known for their weaknesses instead of strengths. Rob and Al have been good together, but there are already 9 games missed, and too many minutes with no bigs. So far they are the opposite of synergy instead of being greater than the sum of their parts they are actually less.

Conclusion

Last year they were a #7 seed, in my head I thought they would be #4 (#3 with my heart). Right now, they usually beat the bad teams, but can lose to anyone. They have too many slow starts and bad finishes when their opponents are the most locked in. Their big runs have been when they have been down 20, when NBA teams get laxodaisical, but they wake up to close us off. It's too soon to make trades, but you need to shake up the rotation somehow. The coach has to play players who produce, and the players gotta play better.

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