The Rondo-less Celtics Offense

The Celtics have won 6 games without Rondo, driven by a potent high scoring offense.  Previously, they had lost 6 games with Rondo, and before that – they had won 6 games with Rondo (and a newly returned Avery Bradley.)  What does it all mean?  Is the last six game winning streak any more significant than the last one?

If you look at the last six teams the Celtics have beaten, 5 have been teams that are either straight out awful, or missing key players.  The Celtics beat the Clippers without Chris Paul, a team that has been blown out so much lately that Blake Griffin now looks like a cast member of Jersey Shore.  The Celtics beat the Lakers without Pau Gasol, but with a fresh shamed off the injury-list Dwight Howard, and an accompanying uncomfortable team dynamic.  They also beat the Kings, the Magic, and the Raptors.  Those are games that they are expected to win, and all but the Raptor’s game were played at home.  Their one big win came against the Miami Heat, but that was before anyone on the team even knew that Rondo was out for the year, and before the Celtics had time to adjust their offense in any way.  Rondo was actually attempting to warm up before the game, until the doctors found he had a torn ACL.  The Celtics shortly thereafter also ended up losing epic rebounder Jared Sullinger for the season, who was at the time leading the team in overall plus-minus.

The Celtics have adjusted their offense since then to be more free flowing, and we’ve seen a scoring uptick from the bench, and new starter Courtney Lee is more involved.  Courney Lee in the starting lineup opens up more minutes for streaky scorers, Barbosa and Terry off the bench.   But the team’s they’ve faced haven’t challenged them on what their weaknesses without Rondo and Sullinger are going to be.  They haven’t faced a team that was able to force the Celtics into a offense that requires precise half-court execution, which Rondo is able to do so well.  They haven’t faced a team that was able to punish the Celtics for their poor rebounding without Sullinger.  And they have yet to face a team that can pressure the Celtics for their lack of expert ball-handling in the back court.   This stuff will not happen when you face the dregs of the league, and backsliding teams.  This will happen when you end up in playoff style basketball.  Until we see the Celtics without Rondo in this type of environment, we don’t know how they’ll handle it.  Remember that during the 6 game losing streak, 3 of those games were lost in the final minutes due to sloppy turnovers in the final minute of the game, turnovers committed by Paul Pierce.  The Celtics can’t afford that in the playoffs.  During the winning streak we’ve seen Jason Terry’s penchant for dangerous cross-court passes, a new dose of hero-ball style dribbling from Pierce, and Leandro Barbosa’s role as PG with blinders on.  But none of that mattered and the Celtics still won their games relatively comfortable.

Finally, it’s difficult to isolate what a missing Rondo really means on the team. Throughout his tenure as Celtics’ coach, Doc Rivers has been notoriously bad at managing player rotations.  From time to time, injuries force him into a lineup that appears to work.  This happened last year, when Ray Allen and Pietrus were injured, and Avery Bradley popped into the starting lineup.  It happened when Ryan Gomes and Leon Powe ended up playing out of necessity. It happened when Rondo finally broke into the starting lineup his rookie year, after playing behind such greats as Sebastian Telfair, and Delonte West.   The Celtics advantage this year over other teams in the league, was always depth.  They lined the pine with two former sixth men of the year in Terry, & Barbosa, and former starters, Green, Wilcox, and Lee.   With Rondo in the lineup, it’s no question that these bench players were being under utilized, and Rivers made no attempts to leverage his depth into a team advantage.  As broadcaster and coaching legend Tommy Heinsohn explained, the way you exploit depth is by tiring the other team, while minimizing your own players minutes.  This requires an uptempo style, with a pressuring defense.  Exactly what the new-look Celtics have implemented.  Is there any reason, this style could not have been implemented with Rondo?  No – Rondo and Pierce were playing 38 and 34 minutes a night, when they have starter quality players behind them on the bench.

I think that this ‘success’ of the Celtics is 70% schedule, 10% change in style, 10% better usage of talent, and 10% KG induced adrenaline.   With Rondo, the team was always capable of doing what they’ve done in the last six games, but they’d also be better prepared for the playoffs and true competition.

Andrew Bynum can’t be helped by Kareem

Kareem and Bynum (Getty)

Andrew Bynum no longer feels that he needs the services of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Bynum unilaterally ended the relationship this past week. Instead of training Bynum, Kareem will now spend much of the season in his home in New York. For a player that has only started 128 career games, Bynum is excessively confident. Around the same time last year, Bynum was proclaiming that he was going to be a 20 and 10 player. When all was said and done, Bynum averaged just 14 and 8 and was a minor piece on a Laker team that played better with a Odom and Gasol front court.  Bynum’s cocky, I’m better than Kareem attitude, may add to the Lakers’ brewing personality problems as they try to repeat as champions.  When Bynum started speaking out of turn last season, Phil Jackson put him in his place.  Phil is lucky that they only let Bynum fire his assistant coaches.

Europe Gets Dunked On

The NBA tries to build basketball’s international appeal by sending a few teams into Europe for training camp.  While in Europe, the teams compete against local franchises like the Nuggets did yesterday against Partisan Belgrade.  For members of teams like Partisan Belgrade it’s an opportunity to gain NBA experience.  However, by taking part in the NBA’s experiment, they run the risk of being enshrined in Nene’s line of 18 by 36 inch color glossy wall hangings.

Kevin Garnett has No Knee Problems

Garnett playing in Saturday's Scrimmage (Getty)

Good news for Celtics fans. Here’s KG’s quote from the Boston Globe Celtics Blog

“I don’t have any knee problems. I don’t have any knee problems. I’m not trying to get in depth with my injury and all that but the things are bothering me are secondary and not even primary. So I’m excited about that because it’s nothing be strengthening the knee and playing again. You gotta remember, I have been out since what, March? I haven’t done anything since then. I have just been rehabbing, strengthing. Nothing simulates basketball play. The pounding, the churning, the reactions, the stuff you have to react to in games you can’t get that in trying to that with the rehab and the trainers and all that other stuff.

“I feel really good, I wouldn’t (BS) you guys if I was hurting I would tell you. I’m pretty straight up with everything that’s going on with me. I feel good. I’m excited about how we are and I’m just trying to get my part together to make sure I’m ready for when we need to be like we need to be.”

Some NBA fans were concerned after this video of a limping Garnett appeared online two days ago, but according to Garnett there is no need to worry.

Practice Footage Oct.2, 2009- Kevin Garnett Limping from xiehaorong on Vimeo.

The Celtics also broadcast an open scrimmage yesterday on nba.com and Garnett seemed to be moving smoothly.  Unfortunately, the NBAtv camera crew concentrated their cameras on commentators and players on the bench instead of the actual game, so fans will now have to wait until preseason to see if Garnett’s knee is truly better.

What’s up Doc? Injury Updates

AP Photo

Earlier today I wrote about Delonte missing practice.  Well he’s back so I guess the chicken trick worked.  Good job Z!  SI

Of course, there now are more injury reports that I missed out on.

76ers – Dalembert’s shoulder problems from last year have returned in the first few days of practice, but he says it’s not as bad as it was last year.  Of course it’s not as bad, it’s the first week of practice!

Celtics – Bill Walker has officially torn his meniscus.  He will miss 6-8 weeks.  On the bright side, I don’t think he’s torn that one before, and he’ll have time to explore some new pain medications.

Rockets – Shane Battier, perhaps the Rockets’ best player this year, has pulled a muscle.  But don’t worry it’s not ‘severe.’

Hornets – Emeka Okafor could miss the rest of the Hornets training camp with a sore knee.  Trading the oft-injured Okafor may not have been a bad idea after-all.

Training Camp Injuries Piling Up

Get the Delonte West KFC Shirt at I love the hype

We’re only a few days in and teams are already being bitten by the injury bug.

Celtics

Bill Walker may have torn his twice before injured ACL.  Assessment: Bill has some potential, but he’s not part of the Celtics’ core rotation.  The Celtics know Bill Walker would have been a lottery pick were it not for the knee problems.  Providence Journal

Knicks

Eddy Curry tore  his Plantaris muscle and will miss 3-5 days of camp.  Assessment: Not a shock or a big blow.  It’s debatable whether Curry will even play this year.

Oddly according to the New York Post, the plantaris is a vestigial muscle which only 40 percent of the population still have.  Since the muscle has basically no function,  Curry will only miss a few days of camp after the Knick’s medieval medical staff drain the blood.  New York Post

Thunder

James Harden, the Thunder’s top pick in the draft has rolled his ankle. He left practice, but the severity of the injury is unknown.  Assessment: The Thunder are relying upon high draft picks to make their team better, but a rolled ankle will not keep Harden out for long.  Seattle Times

Kings

Tyrese Evans, the King’s top pick and point guard of the future suffered a bone bruise in his knee and is now listed as day to day.  Assessment: Welcome to the NBA, young fella.  Something to consider if you’re drafting him in fantasy, as these injuries can linger.  Espn

Warriors

CJ Watson sprained his left knee ligament (MCL) and will miss 1-3 weeks.  Assessment: It makes no difference to the Warriors.  It’s not like they are going to run out of guards anytime soon.  SFChronical

Cavaliers

Delonte West, while not injured, has disappeared down a Bugs bunny hole and as of yet has not practiced with his team.  Assessment:  Have the Fudd-like Ilgauskus lure him out of his hole with a plate of KFC chicken.

How Tall is Anthony Randolph?

Copyright NBAE 2008 (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

Media Day is always fun, players across the league return to camp with extraordinary tales about muscle gain and weight loss.  Occasionally, in the case of young players, like the Warriors’ Anthony Randolph, they also claim to have grown taller.

The NBA is interesting in that player measurements are rarely if ever up-to-date or accurate.  Kevin Garnett, who came into the league as a 6’10” 18 year old, is listed at 6’11,  but has admitted to reporters in the past that he is in fact  6’13″(i.e. 7’1″.)  Randolph at the age of 20, is claimed to have grown anywhere from 2 to 4 inches over the summer from his listed height of 6’10”.

To put his claim to the test, we’ll use the latest NBA photograph of Randolph available, taken Monday during the Warriors’ Media Day.  To find Randolph’s height we need a reference, and the orange roundie he’s holding makes a good one.  A regulation NBA basketball has a diameter 9.55 inches.  The basketball in the photo has a diameter of 74 pixels.   From head to toe, Randolph is 644 pixels tall, or 8.703 basketball talls.  Translated into familiar terms, this makes Randolph 83.11 inches tall, or 6’11 going on 7 feet.  It’s evident that Randolph did grow some from his listed height of 6’10, but he didn’t make any fantastic leaps in height and he is certainly not anywhere near 7’2″.    Still, if this growth spurt keeps up, by the end of the season, maybe even the end of the calendar year, the Warriors will have a bonafide 7 footer.

Can Mark Price help Rondo?

Rondo Fires Up A Shot (Photo by Lisa Hornak)

Comcast SportsNet New England reported last night that Rajon Rondo has been working with former Cavaliers guard Mark Price, on fixing his shooting mechanics.

This is an important change. In the past, Rondo stated that he believed  that practice alone would improve his shot and that he could keep his awkward mechanics.   In the first day of camp, Rondo’s shot has already wowed Doc Rivers:

“I’m impressed with the way he played,” Rivers said after practice yesterday. “He shot the ball really well. He ran the team well.”Providence Journal

Price’s talent that may help Rondo the most is Free Throw Shooting.  Rondo is a  poor FT shooter, but has the talent to draw fouls at a very high rate.   If Rondo is able to convert his FTs, he will become even more confident playing inside, and instead of avoiding contact as much as possible, he may actually begin to complete some And-1 opportunities.