I'm back home after a long golf weekend in Louisville and then a quick trip to Vegas to see a good friend and check out some summer league basketball. I am, quite frankly, exhausted, and I'm completely daunted by the idea that in a month, I'll be starting in a new job in a new city. It's going to be an even busier few weeks, and so now is probably my best (only?) opportunity to write a bit about the Celtics' offseason.
Boston has had a pretty busy couple of weeks themselves, actually. They sent their summer league squad to both Orlando and Vegas. And then today, they finalized a sign-and-trade deal for Houston's Courtney Lee.
We'll start with Lee, since that's the big news. The problem is that I haven't paid much attention to him during his NBA career. From what I understand, though, everyone is pretty excited about it. He can shoot -- not as well as Ray Allen, but he can shoot -- and he can defend, which was one of Allen's weak spots. And he's 26. That sounds pretty good for four years and $21.5 million, which is the contract we gave him. He'll likely settle into a backup role in the backcourt alongside the newly-acquired Jason Terry, but if Avery Bradley's shoulders haven't healed, he'll begin the season as our starting two-guard, with Terry remaining in the sixth-man role in which he thrived in Dallas.
Lee, while not a star, is clearly an NBA rotation player, and that's something we sorely needed last year. The money's good, so the signing is good. The only other factor to be considered is what we gave up for him, because it was a sign-and-trade. I don't know all the details, and it sounds like Portland is involved somehow, but the bottom line appears to be that we gave up JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Sean Williams, Sasha Pavlovic, and a 2nd-round pick for him.
I don't care about Williams and Pavlovic, two guys who don't fit into anyone's long-term plans. Picks are always nice to have, but what is likely to be a late second-rounder shouldn't at all be a deterrent to add a guy who will be an integral piece to what hopefully is a deep playoff run. That leaves Johnson and Moore, the two kids we took out of Purdue two drafts ago and who played very limited minutes in their first NBA seasons.
The funny thing about this trade from a RwH perspective is that other than Jared Sullinger, the guy I had planned on writing most about based on my observation of one summer league game in Vegas was Moore. I thought Moore was better in the few opportunities he had last season than Johnson was in his, and Moore was clearly the more advanced player against the Bulls in summer league action on Tuesday. Moore was on fire from the outside, but he also did a nice job running the team from the lead guard position. Lee is clearly an upgrade, but I wouldn't have been totally uncomfortable entering the season with Moore as our fourth guard. With that said, the Rockets are reportedly releasing Moore (as a second-round pick in 2011, his contract isn't guaranteed) so I think there's a chance we could eventually get him back, were we so inclined.
As for Johnson, I doubt very much that we'll be regretting this trade a couple of years from now. He's a long, tall kid with good range and athleticism, but he doesn't seem like a guy who is going to develop into a post threat, and as an inconsistent stretch 4 his value is limited. He obviously didn't get much of a chance to make a splash in his one season in green, but there isn't a lot of evidence that he'll be any good down the road.
In other words, I'm pretty happy with this deal. With Lee, Terry, Bradley, and Rajon Rondo, we've got a deep, versatile backcourt that is strong defensively.
Onto the rookies, the only guys now worth talking about at summer league. Kris Joseph didn't do anything to impress, but like most second-rounders, he wasn't likely to be a big part of the team's plans. Fab Melo didn't do anything to alleviate my concerns about him -- he wasn't a disaster, but the only positive thing I can say about him is that he runs the floor better than most guys his size.
That leaves Sullinger. The guy is a load, no question -- he's got a huge lower body. He doesn't necessarily look like an NBA player because his arms aren't defined and he looks a little flabby up top, but you could say the same thing about Charles Barkley and Glen Davis and those guys didn't have any problems from a strength perspective. Sullinger proved all he needed to prove to me with regards to his strength, in fact, by repeatedly holding off Leon Powe in the post and on rebounds. Say what you want about Powe, who was playing for Chicago's summer league squad in an attempt to find an NBA job somewhere, but Celtics fans know how strong he is and how hard he plays. If you are strong enough to handle Powe, you are strong enough to handle just about anyone at the four position.
Offensively, the game I saw was not his best of the summer, but judging his offensive ability on one summer league game would be foolish. Defensively, a big concern with him has been his pick-and-roll defense. I didn't notice him getting exploited, but similarly, defending during summer league and defending a pick-and-roll run by actual NBA players is something else entirely. We'll have to wait-and-see about him, although all the evidence points to him being able to hack it at the NBA level. The other thing that jumped out at me was his second jumpability; he got off the ground a lot more quickly than you'd expect from a guy his size. This had me pretty excited about him being light on his feet, until one of my friends pointed out to me that it's easy to look like you're getting off the ground for your second jump quickly when you don't get up very high on your first jump. I guess we'll have to see about that.
As a quick aside, I did get a chance to watch Royce White, the guy from Iowa State who some Cs fans were excited about before Houston scooped him up. He's a great passer for a guy his size, but nothing else stood out. I was more impressed with Terrence Jones, who the Rockets also took in the first round. Jones is a lot bigger than I thought he was, and he's got very good ball skills for a guy his size. There's still a question about his position, but I have a feeling he's gonna be a nice NBA player for them.
Showing posts with label JaJuan Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JaJuan Johnson. Show all posts
Friday, July 20, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Atlanta 97, Boston 92
[recap] [box score]
Remember when I said that with Rajon R-ndo, Ray Allen, and Mickael Pietrus out, Doc Rivers had no choice but to play Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett Friday night against the Hawks? Yeah, I was wrong about that. Doc elected to sit the veterans and take on Atlanta with the following active roster:
Starters: Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling, Sasha Pavlovic, Brandon Bass, Greg Stiemsma
Bench: Marquis Daniels, Ryan Hollis, E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson
Hey, it's not really any worse than the roster Toronto beat us with a few weeks ago.
Anyway, the fun thing is that we nearly pulled it off. The Celtics JV team hung around most of the game, never staying down by double-digits for very long, then surged to within one point in the fourth quarter. Boston had three, maybe four possessions to take the lead, too, but couldn't convert. Atlanta got some timely jumpers from Willie Green to hold us off, and then Joe Johnson applied the kill strike, an and-one off of a drive past Daniels with under two minutes to go that put the Hawks up four. He added two free throws on the next possession after Boston couldn't answer, and after that, the Cs just couldn't quite catch up.
As surprising as the outcome was given the players involved, I actually had a hunch it might be a close game when I heard the ESPN broadcast team quote Josh Smith as saying that the Hawks wanted to blow the Celtics out. Smith should get a lot of credit for getting his act together somewhat and really trying to become a leader, but he's still a headcase, and I knew that putting that kind of pressure on himself was going to have negative consequences. Indeed, though Smith added three blocks and three steals to 19 points and 12 rebounds, he committed seven turnovers, many of which were on bizarre passes that stunk of trying to do too much. And while he's largely moved inside the three-point line this year, he still can't seem to quit the long jumpers that have prevented him from becoming a truly elite weapon.
The funny thing is that it's not like Boston played out of its mind, either. Bradley was sensational; I'd figured that his recent effectiveness was due in part to getting good looks by virtue of the defense concentrating mostly on his teammates, but he was option 1 Friday night and the Hawks knew it, and he still managed a career-high 28 points on 12-for-22 from the field. Daniels, Dooling, and Hollins were better than they have been in quite a long time, but Bass really struggled with Smith's length on his way to 4-for-15, Stiemsma only played 9:35 before sitting due to the plantar fascitis that has prevented him from practicing for much of the second half of the season, and JJJ badly missed a couple of wide-open jumpers on those possessions where we could have taken the lead. (To be fair, he hasn't gotten significant playing time in quite a while.) We really were close to winning this game.
Close, of course, only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The announcers were trying to say that the win would be psychologically damaging to Atlanta because they had to gut it out against Boston's bomb squad, but, with the possible exception of Smith, I don't think NBA players think that way. The Hawks must have relaxed when they learned that all those guys for Boston would be out; they got the win, so who cares? Next game.
One last thing: I didn't think to mention this in Thursday's post because I was convinced that Pierce and Garnett would play due to sheer necessity, but Boston has three days off between now and and its next game. That's a lot of time to rest. I don't know how much Pierce and KG are hurting, and we had played 11 of the 15 previous nights, short-handed for many of them. So I'm going to give Doc the benefit of the doubt, particularly because we'd be playing for home-court in the first round only. The only way we'll feel the pain of this loss is if we end up losing Game 7 in Atlanta in the first round. But it's worth mentioning. As is this.
Have a good weekend, all. Tuesday night against the Heat on TNT at 8 Eastern, though who knows who will suit up.
Remember when I said that with Rajon R-ndo, Ray Allen, and Mickael Pietrus out, Doc Rivers had no choice but to play Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett Friday night against the Hawks? Yeah, I was wrong about that. Doc elected to sit the veterans and take on Atlanta with the following active roster:
Starters: Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling, Sasha Pavlovic, Brandon Bass, Greg Stiemsma
Bench: Marquis Daniels, Ryan Hollis, E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson
Hey, it's not really any worse than the roster Toronto beat us with a few weeks ago.
Anyway, the fun thing is that we nearly pulled it off. The Celtics JV team hung around most of the game, never staying down by double-digits for very long, then surged to within one point in the fourth quarter. Boston had three, maybe four possessions to take the lead, too, but couldn't convert. Atlanta got some timely jumpers from Willie Green to hold us off, and then Joe Johnson applied the kill strike, an and-one off of a drive past Daniels with under two minutes to go that put the Hawks up four. He added two free throws on the next possession after Boston couldn't answer, and after that, the Cs just couldn't quite catch up.
As surprising as the outcome was given the players involved, I actually had a hunch it might be a close game when I heard the ESPN broadcast team quote Josh Smith as saying that the Hawks wanted to blow the Celtics out. Smith should get a lot of credit for getting his act together somewhat and really trying to become a leader, but he's still a headcase, and I knew that putting that kind of pressure on himself was going to have negative consequences. Indeed, though Smith added three blocks and three steals to 19 points and 12 rebounds, he committed seven turnovers, many of which were on bizarre passes that stunk of trying to do too much. And while he's largely moved inside the three-point line this year, he still can't seem to quit the long jumpers that have prevented him from becoming a truly elite weapon.
The funny thing is that it's not like Boston played out of its mind, either. Bradley was sensational; I'd figured that his recent effectiveness was due in part to getting good looks by virtue of the defense concentrating mostly on his teammates, but he was option 1 Friday night and the Hawks knew it, and he still managed a career-high 28 points on 12-for-22 from the field. Daniels, Dooling, and Hollins were better than they have been in quite a long time, but Bass really struggled with Smith's length on his way to 4-for-15, Stiemsma only played 9:35 before sitting due to the plantar fascitis that has prevented him from practicing for much of the second half of the season, and JJJ badly missed a couple of wide-open jumpers on those possessions where we could have taken the lead. (To be fair, he hasn't gotten significant playing time in quite a while.) We really were close to winning this game.
Close, of course, only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The announcers were trying to say that the win would be psychologically damaging to Atlanta because they had to gut it out against Boston's bomb squad, but, with the possible exception of Smith, I don't think NBA players think that way. The Hawks must have relaxed when they learned that all those guys for Boston would be out; they got the win, so who cares? Next game.
One last thing: I didn't think to mention this in Thursday's post because I was convinced that Pierce and Garnett would play due to sheer necessity, but Boston has three days off between now and and its next game. That's a lot of time to rest. I don't know how much Pierce and KG are hurting, and we had played 11 of the 15 previous nights, short-handed for many of them. So I'm going to give Doc the benefit of the doubt, particularly because we'd be playing for home-court in the first round only. The only way we'll feel the pain of this loss is if we end up losing Game 7 in Atlanta in the first round. But it's worth mentioning. As is this.
Have a good weekend, all. Tuesday night against the Heat on TNT at 8 Eastern, though who knows who will suit up.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Boston 87, Orlando 56
[recap] [box score]
Raise your hand if you predicted a 30-point game Monday night.
:Raises hand:
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I predicted an even larger margin of victory.
"Darn," I said to my girlfriend when we I saw all the Celtics who were inactive for the game, using a word that is a bit stronger than "darn."
"We're going to lose by 100."
I was exaggerating, of course, but not by much. A blowout seemed imminent. Rajon R-ndo, Ray Allen, Keyon Dooling, and Mickael Pietrus were all in civilian clothes with various maladies. That's our starting point guard, our starting shooting guard, and the two men who back them up, all out of commission. In addition, Chris Wilcox, one of just three big bodies on the Boston roster, was down with an injury -- with the league's most dominant center since Shaq's heyday coming into town. How could the Celtics keep it competitive, never mind win?
The answer, of course, is that I have no idea. I can't explain why Kevin Garnett looked better than he has all season, why Marquis Daniels and Jermaine O'Neal played with more energy than they have in weeks, or why Sasha Pavlovic was flying around the court, making steals and blocking shots. And I certainly have no explanation for why the now 11-5 Magic played as poorly as they did, setting a franchise record for offensive futility.
I'd like to say that the Celtics turned a corner tonight, but Orlando was so bad that this game is probably best described as an anomaly, just another funny night in an NBA season that promises to be even more full of surprising results than usual. The win is significant, sure, and could be a big confidence boost moving forward, but as fans, I would caution against reading much into the margin of victory and the dominating nature of the performance.
With that heaping spoonful of salt served, I'd be remiss to not mention that the defense, almost from the beginning, was excellent. Garnett and Pavlovic each had steals on one of Orlando's first three possessions. O'Neal blocked two shots and drew a charge in the first seven minutes. Howard had 12 points in the first quarter, but went 0-10 the rest of the way. Boston doesn't double Howard much, and O'Neal and Greg Stiemsma did a good job, as Kendrick Perkins did before them, of pushing Howard a bit farther from the basket than he likes, forcing him into a number of tough running hooks.
No one was better defensively than Avery Bradley, however. He had three steals and one block, and hounded Jameer Nelson into at least two other turnovers with the kind of hounding, full-court defense you don't often see in the NBA. His only two baskets came early in the first quarter, and his offensive limitations will probably limit his role considerably once the regulars heal, but he didn't turn it over once on Monday, a major plus after he coughed it up six times against Washington on Sunday.
Honestly, you could go down the roster tonight and say nothing but good things about everyone who suited up. Garnett had a double with 14 points and ten rebounds, adding five steals and two blocks for good measure. Paul Pierce with a 19/5/7. Brandon Bass burning his old team, tying Pierce for game-high honors with 19 points. Even JaJuan Johnson, the only one of ten Celtics in uniform who didn't play until garbage time, had a thunderous jam and a nice baseline turnaround. (His other two shot attempts were blocked, however -- so much for nothing but good things.)
A few non-game related notes:
* Glen Davis got a nice acknowledgement from the team and the crowd, in recognition of his four years of service in green. He then went out and made two of nine shots, making the Celtics fans even more appreciative of Bass than they already were. Von Wafer got no such recognition, and took out his aggression with five quick points in the final seconds.
* As they do a few times a year, Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman brought Celtics CEO and co-owner Wyc Grousbeck to the broadcast table for the second quarter. I love it when they do this; I don't know if other teams do it, but they should. Grousbeck didn't sugarcoat the team's early season struggles, noting that the team wasn't ready (read: was out of shape) when they tipped off in December. He didn't speak entirely frankly about the potential of blowing up the Big Three, but he didn't talk with blind optimism about the team, either. He's less caustic than Danny -- I don't know, but listening to him talk makes me more confident that whatever decisions the front-office makes will be good ones.
* Line of the night, from Grousbeck, on Kendrick Perkins: "He's a great guy. He told us he wasn't gonna re-sign here, but he's a great guy."
Orlando will look to work out its frustation against Indiana on Tuesday night. They won't have to wait long for revenge, either; Boston travels to Florida on Thursday for the rematch. The Celtics are off until then, which hopefully will some of Boston's injured players a chance to get healthy. I've got a feeling we'll need them next time around.
Raise your hand if you predicted a 30-point game Monday night.
:Raises hand:
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I predicted an even larger margin of victory.
"Darn," I said to my girlfriend when we I saw all the Celtics who were inactive for the game, using a word that is a bit stronger than "darn."
"We're going to lose by 100."
I was exaggerating, of course, but not by much. A blowout seemed imminent. Rajon R-ndo, Ray Allen, Keyon Dooling, and Mickael Pietrus were all in civilian clothes with various maladies. That's our starting point guard, our starting shooting guard, and the two men who back them up, all out of commission. In addition, Chris Wilcox, one of just three big bodies on the Boston roster, was down with an injury -- with the league's most dominant center since Shaq's heyday coming into town. How could the Celtics keep it competitive, never mind win?
The answer, of course, is that I have no idea. I can't explain why Kevin Garnett looked better than he has all season, why Marquis Daniels and Jermaine O'Neal played with more energy than they have in weeks, or why Sasha Pavlovic was flying around the court, making steals and blocking shots. And I certainly have no explanation for why the now 11-5 Magic played as poorly as they did, setting a franchise record for offensive futility.
I'd like to say that the Celtics turned a corner tonight, but Orlando was so bad that this game is probably best described as an anomaly, just another funny night in an NBA season that promises to be even more full of surprising results than usual. The win is significant, sure, and could be a big confidence boost moving forward, but as fans, I would caution against reading much into the margin of victory and the dominating nature of the performance.
With that heaping spoonful of salt served, I'd be remiss to not mention that the defense, almost from the beginning, was excellent. Garnett and Pavlovic each had steals on one of Orlando's first three possessions. O'Neal blocked two shots and drew a charge in the first seven minutes. Howard had 12 points in the first quarter, but went 0-10 the rest of the way. Boston doesn't double Howard much, and O'Neal and Greg Stiemsma did a good job, as Kendrick Perkins did before them, of pushing Howard a bit farther from the basket than he likes, forcing him into a number of tough running hooks.
No one was better defensively than Avery Bradley, however. He had three steals and one block, and hounded Jameer Nelson into at least two other turnovers with the kind of hounding, full-court defense you don't often see in the NBA. His only two baskets came early in the first quarter, and his offensive limitations will probably limit his role considerably once the regulars heal, but he didn't turn it over once on Monday, a major plus after he coughed it up six times against Washington on Sunday.
Honestly, you could go down the roster tonight and say nothing but good things about everyone who suited up. Garnett had a double with 14 points and ten rebounds, adding five steals and two blocks for good measure. Paul Pierce with a 19/5/7. Brandon Bass burning his old team, tying Pierce for game-high honors with 19 points. Even JaJuan Johnson, the only one of ten Celtics in uniform who didn't play until garbage time, had a thunderous jam and a nice baseline turnaround. (His other two shot attempts were blocked, however -- so much for nothing but good things.)
A few non-game related notes:
* Glen Davis got a nice acknowledgement from the team and the crowd, in recognition of his four years of service in green. He then went out and made two of nine shots, making the Celtics fans even more appreciative of Bass than they already were. Von Wafer got no such recognition, and took out his aggression with five quick points in the final seconds.
* As they do a few times a year, Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman brought Celtics CEO and co-owner Wyc Grousbeck to the broadcast table for the second quarter. I love it when they do this; I don't know if other teams do it, but they should. Grousbeck didn't sugarcoat the team's early season struggles, noting that the team wasn't ready (read: was out of shape) when they tipped off in December. He didn't speak entirely frankly about the potential of blowing up the Big Three, but he didn't talk with blind optimism about the team, either. He's less caustic than Danny -- I don't know, but listening to him talk makes me more confident that whatever decisions the front-office makes will be good ones.
* Line of the night, from Grousbeck, on Kendrick Perkins: "He's a great guy. He told us he wasn't gonna re-sign here, but he's a great guy."
Orlando will look to work out its frustation against Indiana on Tuesday night. They won't have to wait long for revenge, either; Boston travels to Florida on Thursday for the rematch. The Celtics are off until then, which hopefully will some of Boston's injured players a chance to get healthy. I've got a feeling we'll need them next time around.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
A Few Thoughts on the Schedule
The lockout-shortened NBA schedule was announced yesterday, with the league trying to cram 66 games for each team into a time period stretching from Christmas Day to April 26. The result of the labor dispute from a scheduling standpoint is a lot of stuff we're not used to seeing, from back-to-back-to-backs (each team has at least one) and ridiculous stretches like the Hawks playing nine games in the season's first 12 nights.
My first thought when I heard about all of this is that there's going to be some bad basketball played this year in the NBA. While I wasn't a night-to-night fan of the whole league in 1999, the last time a labor dispute shortened the season, I can't imagine that the product that season was up to our usual NBA standard.
I'm not going to spend much energy talking about the Celtics' schedule as compared to the rest of the league's, save a point I heard Jackie MacMullan make on "Around the Horn" this afternoon, which is that, because of TV, the marquee teams (like the Celtics) end up with tougher relative schedules than normal due to the league not wanting to lose premier matchups. Thus, while each team plays only 18 non-conference games (and therefore twice against only three non-conference opponents, Boston's home-and-home Western Conference foes are Dallas, Oklahoma City, and, of course, the Lakers.
Other than that, I'm not going to spend time arguing the league screwed Boston by giving them their back-to-back-to-back on the road in the middle of April during the season's stretch run, or analyzing whether we have more tough Western opponents on the road or at home. I abhor this phrase, but the schedule "is what it is," it sucks for everybody, and nothing can be done about it.
I'm also not going to go through the schedule and highlight the key games and stretches -- you can do that yourself by looking here. But there are a few things the schedule affects that I do want to discuss. (Good thing I have a blog, then!)
I have very low expectations for the regular season. Another point I heard MacMullan make today is that the shortened schedule favors veteran teams -- I have no way of verifying this, but she asserted that the top four teams in 1999 were also the four oldest. Boston certainly qualifies as one of the oldest. In some ways, this makes sense -- the lockout means a very abbreviated training camp and preseason schedule, which benefits veteran teams that have a lot of experience playing with each other. And, as MacMullan pointed out, older players tend to take better care of themselves in the offseason (out of necessity).
On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that playing 17 games a month for four month's is going to be easy on the Boston veterans' legs, well-conditioned though they may be. So as long as we're safely in the playoffs, I'm not going to start freaking out if we don't show up on random nights throughout the season.
Doc's most important job is managing minutes. There's a caveat to my above promise, and that is if that we lose games in March and April while Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are playing 38 minutes per. Most of the things I criticized Doc for in past years have gotten a lot better, but he still rides the horses too hard. Allen is 36 and played 36 minutes per game last year (just one off his career average); Pierce is 34 and played 34 per last season; KG is 35 and played 31. I don't have a number in mind for each of these guys; I just know it needs to be lower. Playing 66 games instead of 82 theoretically means fresher legs in the postseason, a good thing for an older team like ours, but Boston's legs won't be fresh if the studs are playing huge minutes night after night after night, with fewer days off in between.
The rookies better be ready. To that end, there's some opportunity here for Boston's two draft picks, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore. It depends on what Boston does in free agency, but it's quite possible that the former Purdue teammates will be asked to play significant minutes during the regular season. (The same goes for second-year point guard Avery Bradley.) I'm excited by this prospect -- Doc hasn't done a great job breaking in rookies over the last four years, and so this is a good opportunity to get them some playing time in advance of the rebuilding period that will follow the Big Three era in Boston. The abbreviated preseason makes it harder on these guys because they won't have as much time to prepare, but Johnson and Moore are probably better-prepared to handle it then some other members of their draft class, because they -- unlike their peers -- have four years of college playing experience.
My first thought when I heard about all of this is that there's going to be some bad basketball played this year in the NBA. While I wasn't a night-to-night fan of the whole league in 1999, the last time a labor dispute shortened the season, I can't imagine that the product that season was up to our usual NBA standard.
I'm not going to spend much energy talking about the Celtics' schedule as compared to the rest of the league's, save a point I heard Jackie MacMullan make on "Around the Horn" this afternoon, which is that, because of TV, the marquee teams (like the Celtics) end up with tougher relative schedules than normal due to the league not wanting to lose premier matchups. Thus, while each team plays only 18 non-conference games (and therefore twice against only three non-conference opponents, Boston's home-and-home Western Conference foes are Dallas, Oklahoma City, and, of course, the Lakers.
Other than that, I'm not going to spend time arguing the league screwed Boston by giving them their back-to-back-to-back on the road in the middle of April during the season's stretch run, or analyzing whether we have more tough Western opponents on the road or at home. I abhor this phrase, but the schedule "is what it is," it sucks for everybody, and nothing can be done about it.
I'm also not going to go through the schedule and highlight the key games and stretches -- you can do that yourself by looking here. But there are a few things the schedule affects that I do want to discuss. (Good thing I have a blog, then!)
I have very low expectations for the regular season. Another point I heard MacMullan make today is that the shortened schedule favors veteran teams -- I have no way of verifying this, but she asserted that the top four teams in 1999 were also the four oldest. Boston certainly qualifies as one of the oldest. In some ways, this makes sense -- the lockout means a very abbreviated training camp and preseason schedule, which benefits veteran teams that have a lot of experience playing with each other. And, as MacMullan pointed out, older players tend to take better care of themselves in the offseason (out of necessity).
On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that playing 17 games a month for four month's is going to be easy on the Boston veterans' legs, well-conditioned though they may be. So as long as we're safely in the playoffs, I'm not going to start freaking out if we don't show up on random nights throughout the season.
Doc's most important job is managing minutes. There's a caveat to my above promise, and that is if that we lose games in March and April while Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are playing 38 minutes per. Most of the things I criticized Doc for in past years have gotten a lot better, but he still rides the horses too hard. Allen is 36 and played 36 minutes per game last year (just one off his career average); Pierce is 34 and played 34 per last season; KG is 35 and played 31. I don't have a number in mind for each of these guys; I just know it needs to be lower. Playing 66 games instead of 82 theoretically means fresher legs in the postseason, a good thing for an older team like ours, but Boston's legs won't be fresh if the studs are playing huge minutes night after night after night, with fewer days off in between.
The rookies better be ready. To that end, there's some opportunity here for Boston's two draft picks, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore. It depends on what Boston does in free agency, but it's quite possible that the former Purdue teammates will be asked to play significant minutes during the regular season. (The same goes for second-year point guard Avery Bradley.) I'm excited by this prospect -- Doc hasn't done a great job breaking in rookies over the last four years, and so this is a good opportunity to get them some playing time in advance of the rebuilding period that will follow the Big Three era in Boston. The abbreviated preseason makes it harder on these guys because they won't have as much time to prepare, but Johnson and Moore are probably better-prepared to handle it then some other members of their draft class, because they -- unlike their peers -- have four years of college playing experience.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Celtics Add Pair of Former Boilermakers
Boston didn't have a lot to work with in Thursday night's NBA Draft, but they made the most of the two picks they did have.
First, they traded the 25th pick to New Jersey for the 27th and a future second-rounder. They used #27 to draft JaJuan Johnson, a 6'10" power forward out of Purdue.
When I jotted down some thoughts on Johnson after watching him against Northwestern in December, I wasn't terribly high on him. He's a big guy who likes to play 17 feet from the basket, and I just don't think he's good at shooting those jumpers to justify taking them rather than going into the post, especially in college. He was passive on defense, also, though that may have been because he has a history of foul trouble and Northwestern's Luka Mirkovic isn't worth worrying too much about. (Though Mirkovic did burn Johnson a few times in the second half.)
My evaluation of Johnson hasn't really changed since then, but I do think Boston is a great spot for him. Mainly, I think Kevin Garnett is the perfect mentor. They play the same position and have the same type of offensive game. There's a good defensive player lurking inside Johnson -- I believe he was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season -- and KG's intensity is contagious.
Johnson spent four years in college, so he should be mature enough to handle the pressure of playing with an intense, veteran group like the one in Boston. And with Shaquille O'Neal retiring and Nenad Krstic off to play in Russia, the Celtics need someone to step into backup minutes in the pivot right away. That may have tipped the scales to Johnson from young Jeremy Tyler.
Johnson is far from a sure thing. There are plenty of rangy, athletic bigs who prefer the perimeter who haven't made it in the league, and it's unclear to me that Johnson will ever be comfortable in the post. He weighs just 220 pounds and isn't likely to get much bigger -- he has long arms but not a particularly broad frame, and he's already put on 40 pounds since his freshman year in college. But he's a great upside pick at the end of the first round.
Boston might've rolled the dice with dynamic scoring wing MarShon Brooks from Providence (the player they originally took for Jersey with the 25th pick) or Texas' Jordan Hamilton (the player other than Chris Singleton -- who is going to be really good, by the way -- who dropped the most in the first round) instead of Johnson. But given the team's needs, and given the guy they got with the 55th overall pick -- Johnson's classmate at Purdue, E'Twaun Moore -- Johnson was probably the right call.
Moore is a 6'4" shooting guard with a good floor game and solid leadership skills. He's a streak shooter -- that same game against Northwestern, he hit a bunch of threes on his way to 31 points -- and a good defender. I like him a touch more than guys like David Lighty and Ben Hansbrough, because I think he's more dynamic offensively.
There are a bunch of guys every year who have his skills, and most of them don't have NBA careers that amount to much. But every so often, a guy like Wes Matthews ends up exceeding everyone's expectations. I'm not saying Moore will be that kind of guy, but the possibility that he could be is all we could ask for out of this pick in this draft, a draft in which most of the last several selections were used on foreign players who can only be defined as prospects in the loosest sense of the term.
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