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8 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
9 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
9 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

94
10 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
13 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
14 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

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Doc on Rebounding: “Not a Crisis”

The C’s rank 25th in offensive rebounding percentage (a measure of the percentage of avaialbe rebounds they grab on offense) and 11th in defensive rebounding percentage (the same thing on defense)

Last year, they ranked 8th in ORB rate and 3rd in DRB rate.

In 2008, they ranked 18th in ORB rate and 8th in DRB rate.

Here’s Doc on the rebounding decline, courtesy of the Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa:

“We have to be a more physical rebounding team,’’ Rivers said. “We’re not going to jump over everybody, we’re not a great athletic team that way. And, sometimes, we rely on that and we find out during the game we’re not, so I think that’s something we have to do better.

“We’ve been up and down in that. Overall, those are things we have to get better at. I don’t think it’s a crisis, or anything.”

I’m already on record (several times) as being concerned about the C’s early rebounding numbers, though I agree with Doc that it’s not a “crisis” until a) we see if it sustains over a longer period; and b) we see if Big Baby helps the ORB numbers a bit.

That DRB number really needs to be in the top 10. The C’s front line is filled with great defensive rebounders (KG, Sheed, Perk) who have never been elite offensive rebounders. Not only that, but some evidence suggests that (for various reasons) veteran big men improve as defensive rebounders and see their ORB numbers decline as they age.

In other words: This team should be really good at defensive rebounding—probably better than 11th-best in the league.

Offensive rebounding is a different story. Their personnel suggests the C’s will continue to fare poorly there. The big question becomes: Can the C’s find ways to score when perimeter shots aren’t falling? Right now, they rate poorly in offensive rebounding and getting to the foul line.

Can they improve in either area?

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