cfoo
Welcome To Celtics Green!
Posts: 1
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 14:27:04 GMT -5
Post by cfoo on Jul 18, 2006 14:27:04 GMT -5
We are literally becoming the Suns of the East, but my main concern is whether or not this team ultimately will be able to play defense. I just don't know what type of team Danny is going for here. We are still looking for an identity. It looks like to me we are going to be all scoring with very little defense being played as it stands right now. Yeah we have Rondo, Allen Perk, and Ratliff but other than that, we are a very weak defensive team. In recent times there has not been a team that has won because of all offense. Ultimately if we are looking at Telfair, Green, Pierce, Jefferson, Perk or even going small at times with Jefferson at center I think this team is going to really struggle to stop people. Gomes is not a defensive specialist. Neither is Jefferson. My main concern is having Green and Paul, or Wally and Paul at the 2 and 3 ultimately. Yeah both players are potential 20 point scorers easily but where is the D? and are there going to be enough balls to go around? Is Green going to be a great defensive player? I doubt it. You look at teams that have won they usually have a defensive player at one of those positions whether it's Posey or Bowen or Prince to slow down the opposing teams best scorer. Sure this team will be fun to watch, but ultimately every team that has won in recent times has had defensive stoppers.
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 14:47:41 GMT -5
Post by FLCeltsFan on Jul 18, 2006 14:47:41 GMT -5
I agree that we need to play defense to win in the playoffs especially. You may be able to get by in the regular season playing passable defense, but if you can't play good team D in the playoffs you are out of there pretty quickly.
Even if we do have players that play defense, last year Doc didn't seem to place a premium on defense. It still gets me when I think of that statement by Doc that they didn't work on defense in practice because offense is harder to learn and they will pick up defense because while they are practicing the offensive sets half the team has to play defense. Doesn't sound like he thinks defense is all that important. However after Danny was talking about how bad our defense was and that was what we needed to work on, Doc may sing another tune. Plus Danny stressed that each player needed to work on defense in the off season and clearly that is what Big Al has been working on. Hopefully they all come back a little better on D and Doc will work on team D. Rondo and Allen can be defensive stoppers... Perk and Ratliff will be good defensive players and shot blockers. Other than that, we can only hope.
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 15:00:34 GMT -5
Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 18, 2006 15:00:34 GMT -5
Playing better defense is indeed the next step we need to take. We will be a scary offensive team, but without defense, we will not be able to get over the hump. Dallas was finally able to get over the hump because they started to play defense. And if you look at their team, there are only a handful of guys you would call defensive players. All the rest aren't good one on one defenders. But they've learned how to play team defense.
I think the first area we need to improve on is rebounding. A team will not win many games if they cannot rebound. We have been very poor for years in this department and unless we turn the table and start becoming a solid rebounding team, we won't win consistently.
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cfoo
Welcome To Celtics Green!
Posts: 1
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 15:21:42 GMT -5
Post by cfoo on Jul 18, 2006 15:21:42 GMT -5
Good points. I hope I'm wrong and Doc can get this team really working on the defensive end, and get some of these guys that aren't defensive players to be that. Like FL said he hasn't really shown he cares much for defense though, but maybe he was just letting this team feel it's way around a bit last year. He had the magic playing pretty good D when he was coach of the year I think? Or am I mistaken?
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 15:48:27 GMT -5
Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 18, 2006 15:48:27 GMT -5
When Doc was set to become our coach, he was still doing color commentating and at that time, he was covering the Finals. He witnessed first hand what a suffocating defense could do, and he had big praises for Detroit.
I was sure that he was going to want to incorporate the same emphasis on defense as Detroit, but he hasn't so far. Danny loves offense (more than defense), and this could be the reason why he hasn't gone all out to focus primarily on defense in practice, but instead put more weight on the offensive end.
I think we'll be a better defensive team. Its easy to forget that defense doesn't come easy for young players. It takes some time to learn how to play defense in the NBA, especially the complicated schemes that teams come up with. And from what we've heard from Ainge, Doc tried out a lot of different variations on defense. Ainge wants him to pick one and try to perfect that.
We may not be a shut down/lock down defensive team this year, but with our speed, we should be able to get more steals. And if we can improve our rebounding, these 2 specific areas should help us be a better defensive team.
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 18:28:23 GMT -5
Post by goceltics34 on Jul 18, 2006 18:28:23 GMT -5
I'm glad this board is realizing defense is essential in taking the next step. Defense is a mentality. I know perk, allen, delonte, and rondo have a defensive mindset. We have the athleticism to be a good defense team. The coach first off must be committed to playing defense, if he's not on board the players will never motivate themselves into becoming a good defensive team.
With telfair, and rondo we should be able to pressure teams full court,and make teams use time off the shot clock. The key to this team becoming a good defenisve team is perk and Big AL staying out of foul trouble early. They committ senseless fouls which prevents them from contributing more effectively in the games.
Hopefully Ratliff can be our alonzo mourning, especially at the end of games when stops are essential. This ultimately comes down to rivers. Is he committed to playing defense?
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 19:55:18 GMT -5
Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 18, 2006 19:55:18 GMT -5
Oh, don't get FL12 started on defense ;D Yes, we are already a good offensive team, but as we see, it doesn't get us anywhere if we are allowing more points than we score. The only way we are going to be a team to reckon is by playing defense. And like you said (which is how I see it as well) we need to rebound and force more turnovers.
You are right--defense is a mindset. Its a mentality that all of our players need to have. All of our players have to want to stop their man from scoring, and from getting to the rim.
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Defense
Jul 18, 2006 22:25:24 GMT -5
Post by Roadrunner on Jul 18, 2006 22:25:24 GMT -5
Our faith is tied indirectly to Clifford Ray. Hopefully he will teach our bigs the way to play the game.
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