Brandon Bass in starting five to stay, says Doc Rivers
According to Doc Rivers, the new Boston Celtics starting lineup is here to stay*. (Boston Herald)
“We’re quicker, there’s no doubt, and Kevin has been fantastic at the 5,” Rivers said. “I had made the decision even before the injury — when Brandon and Kevin come back, that will be our starting five, and JO and Chris (Wilcox) and whoever else will come off the bench. I made that decision long before whether he was coming back or not.”
With apologies to Jermaine, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
KG looks more athletic at the five than he has in years (as Doc Rivers was quoted in Paul Flannery’s marvelous Garnett piece, “At four there’s a lot of fours as quick or quicker, now all of a sudden he’s the fastest five”), Bass provides infinitely more scoring punch than O’Neal, and Chris Wilcox’s emergence as a legitimate bench option means the Celtics suddenly have an athletic, if not large, front court.
All that being said, something to keep an eye on: the Celtics starting lineup has actually performed better with O’Neal than it has with Bass, according to BasketballValue.com.
In case you don’t have superhuman vision or a magnifying glass, the normal Celtics starters (including JO) are 7.98 points better than their opponents per 100 possessions. With Bass, the same lineup is 10.47 points per 100 possessions worse than its counterparts.
*As I typed this sentence, I was 100 percent sure another injury would be announced before I finished, which of course would change the starting lineup. Nothing yet. For now. Fingers crossed.
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Celtics Blog | Jay King | March 5, 2012
Mmmmm not too sure about this. This makes us EVEN SMALLER at the starting 5 and KG’s body isn bulky enough to bang with the big guys. Say we meet Indiana or Orlando in the playoffs. KG’s defense is all-star worthy yes, but do you want our emotional and inspirational leader potentially injuring himself going up for a rebound against Dwight Howard or Roy Hibbert? I mean I see the benefits of this lineup, but it comes with it’s cons too. We should have KG at the 4, where he’s spent his whole career at. He’s even publicly stated that he doesn’t like the 5 position. Wilcox has proven that he’s a starting 5 as far as I’m concerned. But 4-0 doesn’t lie. And that last onw was against Tyson Chandler and Amare Stoudemire. Say what you will about them being overrated, they are still a formidable matchup. So idk it could work, but idk.
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Not like JO can handle Howard or Hibbert anyway. Or for the fact, even Aaron Gray. He can’t shoot, can’t rebound anymore. The only plus point is that he block shots, and takes charges. I’ll rather take my chances with Wilcox.
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As do I. But only with Wilcox starting at the 5. Even though I like the idea of him playing against the other team’s scrubs.
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C`s trade Wilcox,O`Neal,Johnson,Pietrus,Bradley, & 1st round pick to Portland for N.Smith,J.Crawford, & M.Camby by this week. C`s trade Moore & Pavlovic to Atlanta for McGrady. C`s trade Dooling to Houston for T.Williams. More shooters more wins. With Camby their KG can play his 4 spot and Bass come off the bench to score.
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While I doubt any of these trades are close to happening, I like your ideas.
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C’s trade Daniels and Steimsma to Washington for McGee?
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Last time I checked, Chris Wallace wasn’t GM of the Wizards. So probably no.
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Would you do it though if you were the C’s? Imagine next year : Rondo, Green, Pierce and McGee.
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FINALLY DOC HAS DISCOVERED THE RIGHT STUFF FOR THE CELTICS.GO FOR IT
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If the team rebounds with effort and collectively this will work. So we give up pts at the 5. If we rebound, and that includes Bass getting more than 3 in his 30 mins vs NY on Sunday and CW getting more than the 3 rebs he got in his 17 mins and PP rebounds and RA gets more than 0 (as in not a f’in one reb in 45 mins) then this team will be better. If JO comes back then he should come off the bench. Rebound better + running more and this line-up is built for that. BB also has a very consistent jumper. Go Cs…
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this line up is seriously so much better. pietrus has also helped a lot. bass and pietrus were great pickups. moore and johnson are still too new but i would like to see johnson get some minutes behind bass. he can shoot which wilcox can’t and he’d excel in the new faster system. avery bradley has played amazing defense but his shot is still inconsistent. he has to learn to slow down at times. but untill then having johnson and wilcox available for lobs will help bradley.
the celtic’s are starting to show some promise.
they will actually be better suited to play mia or chi in the first round. not only would they battle it out with the top dogs right off the bat but kg can defend anthony and noah. it’s easy for kg to get into noahs head and that negatively effects noahs performance. i can see bass going tit for tat with the overrated boozer who like bass is a bit short for that position and bass is a better shooter.
rondo and bradley could play full court defense on rose which could slow down rose the way bigs n the front court haven’t been able to. pietrus is big enough to guard dang if pierce s resting and korver is predictable. i am starting to like boston’s matchup against chi.
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as for the mia matchup it shuld be easy for rondo to guard chalmers and bradley could force cole t turn the ball over. although i would actually like to see dooling guard cole so bradley could get some timeguarding d wade. his full court aggressive defense will be an asset. it could slow down wade and prevent some of the lobs mia always gets away with.
bass is shorter than bosh so wilcox should be looked at as a solid option at the 4 for this matchup.
kg will need to become an offensive threat as mia is weak at the 5. hopefully jo can get some minutes because for once he’d really be able to contribute by drawing charges. mia is very aggressive at attacking the paint and if bos can force charges it could disrupt mia’s game plan.
bos has shown how they can beat orlando and against indiana boston’s experience could prove to be too much for the younger team who lacks a superstar.
for the first time this whole season i will be confident boston can beat whoever they face in the first round.
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I think Doc made this change specifically for Miami and Chicago. Casey, you’re spot on. Wilcox will flourish against Chicago and miami’s scrubs. Think about it: Wilcox against Shane Battier and Kyle Korver?? That would be a site to see. This also gives Johnson more burn too, which you touched on. Rondo running with Johnson, Wilcox, KG? Lob city east.
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Im all about the team so what ever starting 5 gets the win, im all for it!!
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