It feels a bit foolish to nitpick a workforce or their coach who simply gained an NBA title and are 3-0 to start out the season. Joe Mazzulla is a superb coach. Whether or not it’s instilling a championship mentality or putting in inventive schemes, he has earned the advantage of the doubt, particularly when all the pieces is seemingly going properly.
Now that I’ve given the right respect to Coach Mazzulla, I can query his choice to lean on double-big lineups via three video games, particularly double-big lineups that don’t embrace Al Horford.
When it was introduced that Sam Hauser could be out with a again damage for the Washington Wizards, in addition to the sport in opposition to the Detroit Pistons, it appeared apparent to me that Jordan Walsh would get the Hauser minutes. As a substitute, we noticed these minutes assigned to the secure of Celtic massive males. The minutes had been cut up between Al Horford, Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet, and Neemias Queta. I don’t thoughts experimenting with completely different lineups within the common season, particularly now that the Celtics have secured Banner 18; you by no means know what you may discover if you mess around with completely different lineups and rotations. That being mentioned, I’m undecided we have to run the experiment of Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman within the lineup concurrently.
Within the 21 minutes this season that Tillman and Kornet shared on the court docket, the Celtics have a internet ranking of -28.3. Though this can be a small pattern measurement, I don’t perceive the rationale for pairing these gamers collectively apart from hoping to dominate the rebounding battle in opposition to the smaller entrance traces of the Wizards and Pistons. It’s nice that Xavier Tillman is capturing and making three-pointers this season, however groups are usually not threatened by Tillman on the three-point line, which has led to some cramped spacing on offense.
Defensively is the place the pairing has notably struggled. Tillman has the power to change onto perimeter gamers in spurts, however asking him to primarily match up with wings, like Simone Fontecchio, is a giant ask. Detroit was in a position to exploit the slower footspeed of each Tillman and Kornet on the perimeter to create alternatives on the rim.
It’s very clear who’s inside Joe Mazzulla’s circle of belief: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Vacation, Derrick White, Al Horford, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, and Xavier Tillman. The one different participant on the Celtics roster who has performed actual minutes for Mazzulla is Neemias Queta. Which means 4 out of the top-10 gamers on the Celtics roster are massive males — three of that are primarily conventional facilities.
I perceive this places Joe Mazzulla in a bind with how we deploys his gamers. Admittedly, I’ll have drunk an excessive amount of Jordan Walsh Kool-Help throughout the preseason. Nevertheless, for those who’re not a Walsh believer I nonetheless suppose the Celtics could be higher off using considered one of Jordan Walsh, Drew Peterson, Baylor Scheierman, or Jaden Springer (in that order) as a substitute of making an attempt to shoehorn in a number of true facilities into the lineup. I’m assured both Jordan Walsh or Drew Peterson can not less than execute the offensive and defensive rules of the Celtic’s scheme.
It was not less than value making an attempt within the Pistons sport, as a substitute of letting the Tillman/Kornet pairing flounder. An alternative choice could be to easily improve Payton Pritchard’s minutes. I believed it was odd that Pritchard solely performed 19 minutes within the Pistons sport regardless of remaining scorching scorching, with 16 factors on 4-7 capturing within the first half.
I belief Joe Mazzulla. He is aware of much more about basketball than me. Nonetheless, I don’t perceive the reasoning behind not giving one of many deeper bench perimeter gamers an opportunity with Sam Hauser unavailable, in favor of a clearly awkward-fitting various. It’s probably Walsh, Springer, Peterson or Scheierman aren’t prepared however I’d wish to take the swing on the upside of one of many younger guys figuring it out.
