The Role of IT

[freshnthehouse]

That's a good point. Teams seem to not lose a step when Gay leaves, and in Toronto's case, they actually improve.

[oldtimeball]

Aug 30, 2016 18:04:51 GMT -5 freshnthehouse said:

That's a good point. Teams seem to not lose a step when Gay leaves, and in Toronto's case, they actually improve.

Wrong thread lol.. ?

I agree that Thomas can help with his quickness on defense.. How well can brad disguise a zone?

[FLCeltsFan]

Here is Lee's latest Summer Quandaries post. It goes right along with the discussion in this thread.

SQ2016-8 Best Chance for [HASH]18







The Boston Celtics best chance for Banner [HASH]18 is for Isaiah Thomas to win the Sixth Man of the Year award! I've never posted an idea that I feel is so likely to draw ire, so I'd like to assure my 12 readers that I have sprayed my computer with flame retardant and am writing this column in nonflammable font, hence feel free to vehemently disagree with my premise and/or my reasoning.







Actually I started this article several weeks ago with the title, “No Going Back.” However, the more I thought about it, the logical conclusions were that the best way to climb the mountain was for the Celtics to, indeed, go back. Here's the beginning of that article:













No Going Back









The best value for Isaiah Thomas is spark plug for the second unit. The problem is that the ship has sailed on that one. To his full credit, upon arrival in Bean Town, Isaiah took the bit in his teeth and performed his way right onto the All Star team. He lobbied for the starter position, he lobbied for the All Star team, and he played his way into both. He has stated that he soon wants the Brink's truck backed up to his bank account. You can make a strong argument for Thomas being the best player on the team.









And yet . . .









The problem is that he is very nearly a stand-alone weapon on a team desiring to build a well-oiled machine based on passing and finding the open shot. Isaiah Thomas is also the most replaceable starter with the assets on hand. He is a defensive liability, and expects to be the very-well-paid starter far into the future. Finally, the pace and space ball sharing offense desired by Brad Stevens is not well served by a ball dominant player. In fact I thought the Celtics turned in an almost magical performance this past season with their two ball handlers, and leading assist men, firmly entrenched in the shoot-first category.









By the time I finished the last paragraph, it seemed obvious the Celtics could be the best version of themselves if Isaiah returned to his initial role as leader of the second unit. Unfortunately, beside the rather huge problem of him giving up his hard-won starting position, right now there is no replacement (much less a superior one.) Yet that better-fit is exactly what is needed.









The Celtics thrive with on-ball pressure—to drain the shot clock, to harry the passing lanes and opponent's offense, to slow ball movement and prevent passes arriving on-time and on-target, to thwart the “small ball” attacks growing ever more popular, and to lighten the load on a front court built for flexibility rather than to create a Great Wall of China. Isaiah is, at best, the 4th best defender among Boston's guards. He is vulnerable to being posted, is too easy to pass (and often shoot) over, and creates untenable mismatches when force to switch. He will likely never be a plus defender, and I say that with only admiration for the effort he puts into his defensive endeavors.









He is a consummate scorer but even that strength comes with its own weaknesses. His height, and his inclination, do not lend themselves to spotting, hitting, enabling, or assisting his teammates for easy and/or open shots. He has been far and away the highest assist player on these Celtics but I am left feeling that even this fact is a byproduct of having the ball in his hands almost all the time and having enough forays into the lane thwarted so that he is forced to relinquish the ball. To often this has led to a forced or hurried shot rather than an easy one.









For the Celtics to be all they can be, their lead guard (perhaps guards is a better option) needs to be unselfish and opportunistic (and by that I mean anticipating opportunities for all five on the floor). Strangely, the only guard on the team that I feel really looks for teammate opportunities, is R. J. Hunter who he lacks the ball security to control any sizable portion of the possessions, and may not even make the team. If that isn't depressing enough, the only other ball-handlers lack (or have lacked) consistent outside shooting efficiency and have not been all that sparkling in court awareness and spotting open (or even better, soon-to-be open) teammates. Recently both Smart and Rozier have shown encouraging signs of progress, but each has a long way to go. In fact the only ways that Marcus and Terry have reminded folks of Rajon Rondo is in their shooting. As for the other starting level guard, Avery Bradley has to list ball-handling and passing among his weakest assets.









I've painted a pretty dim picture, but I feel it is important to appropriately assess the teams needs, even if solutions are not available at the moment. If you don't know what you are looking for, how will you recognize it when you see it? In an ideal world, to me, Rozier and Smart would make giant strides, Thomas (and Bradley) would accept moving back to the second unit for the betterment of the team, and the rotation players would all make substantial progress in both court awareness and passing precision.









Do I think this will happen? No. Do I think Thomas will ever accept the loss of his starting role? No. Now if an equal solution presents itself, AND IF Danny and Brad can sell the 2nd team spark plug role as the 6th man super-sub in the vein of Hondo, Maxwell, and McHale—perhaps.









Just in case you have gathered the pitch but haven't decided to light it yet, let me add fuel to the fire. During the draft I kept dreaming of trading Isaiah to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns and their draft pick (Dunn)!

[oldtimeball]

Why would they do that? Towns is a really great player.. It wouldn't be fair to do a even swap.

Thomas is our Best asset. And one we can afford to lose IF we get a scorer back

[joshrblabber]

All of our concerns seem to be based on the assumption that IT's ego will prevent him from accepting a 6th man role. This may not be the case, he may be smart enough to realize that his career would thrive as a 6th man in Boston. If so, watch out world!

[oldtimeball]

Sept 5, 2016 1:35:17 GMT -5 joshrblabber said:

All of our concerns seem to be based on the assumption that IT's ego will prevent him from accepting a 6th man role. This may not be the case, he may be smart enough to realize that his career would thrive as a 6th man in Boston. If so, watch out world!

We'll see how he is during the season.. I think the main reason for bench duty is his defensive limitations.. On the bench he only has to outscore,outdefend second rate players

[freshnthehouse]

Sept 5, 2016 1:35:17 GMT -5 joshrblabber said:

All of our concerns seem to be based on the assumption that IT's ego will prevent him from accepting a 6th man role. This may not be the case, he may be smart enough to realize that his career would thrive as a 6th man in Boston. If so, watch out world!

I do not think it's so much his willingness to accept being a 6th man, it's that he'd be a sixth man making max or near max money, because that's what someone is going to be willing to pay him, and he'd a fool not to take it. For me the question becomes is he the kind of player you're willing to put a big chunk of your salary cap behind? To me that answer is no.

[FLCeltsFan]

I guess the max salary thing will work its way out when he hits free agency. For now, he's on a very, very good contract and he can prove his value to the team by being coachable and playing the position the team needs most. That will be up to Brad to determine. Like with Evan Turner. He loved being a Celtic and loved this team. I really like him and wish he could have stayed with the Celtics but teams were willing to pay him a lot more than Danny was and so he had to take the offer.

If IT remains the starter and proves he's worth it, Danny will give him the contract he wants. If not, he will take the money elsewhere and hopefully the Celtics replace him in the draft or with one of our guys who breaks out and can fill the role.

[oldtimeball]

When guys are making comments like its my turn to be paid that has to concern you. Will he be happy at this amount for 2 ye@rs?

No way would I pay him max money.

[FLCeltsFan]

I don't think I'd give him max money either... more than he's making, yes, but not max. He is under contract for the 2 years and so he'll have to be happy with it. If not, and if he asks for more than Danny feels he can pay him, and someone else is willing to pay it, he will walk just like Turner did. But in the meantime it's up to IT to prove that he's worth more by playing the best he can on both ends of the court, and that includes playing the role the coach gives him, whether starting or off the bench to the best of his ability without complaining. 

[oldtimeball]

In the perfect world Thomas accepts his contract and plays with all his heart. But this isn't a perfect world. Doesn't Tyler Zeller make more than him? Yeah... I can picture it being totally happy over that ..

[joshrblabber]

This may be premature, but alarm bells are going off in my head about the play of IT in the new system. He has been way off his game, and I fear it is because all this great ball movement has him second-guessing himself. It's not his style of offense and it's a big adjustment for him. Hopefully he will be able to figure it out, fingers crossed.

[DERRENMATTS]

IT will come up big when he plays the pick and roll game with Horford, and when he's tasked to catch and shoot the three ball on quick passes out to the perimeter.

As far as holding onto the ball and picking and choosing, dabbing and jabbing until he sees an opening in the lane to drive to the basket, we're moving away from that.

[oldtimeball]

He looks tentative. I am not seeing a lot from smart or I would say start Marcus.. I stand by my belief that Thomas is best as a sixth player

[joshrblabber]

I have to disagree about Smart, I think he is MUCH better on offense this year. The ball movement seems to suit his game, he is making good decisions. His 3s are uncontested, his drives are strong, and he is not stopping the ball.

Even as 6th man, which I agree is the natural role for IT, he is going to have to learn not to stop the ball movement. Our ball movement so far has been awesome.