We will have to agree to disagree. Imo IME is heads and shoulders above Mazzulla and he accomplished what Stevens couldn't in just one season. Stevens stepped down because he couldn't reach or connect with his players anymore. That is one of Ime's strengths. Maybe the Celtics turn it around and win it all this year and I will sound like an idiot lol. But I just don't see it.
I can tell you that Mazulla is in over his head. Have you seen that confused face he always has? He preaches offense first all the time. The greats do defense first and accountability
every time Mazulla is asked a question about the defense, he gives an answer about the offense Celtics are also now all-in on Moreyball with their goal being to take between 40-50 threes every game Joe Mazzulla had a message in regard to his team’s 3-point shooting following a 16-of-32 effort from deep during Wednesday night’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. “Shoot more,” he urged. Boston is already attempting 41.9 3-pointers per game, which is nearly five more attempts per game than last season’s franchise record of 37.1. However, the data backs up Mazzulla’s request. When the C’s shoot threes at a high volume, they win. There have been 25 instances of a team attempting at least 50 3-pointers in a game this season and the Celtics are responsible for seven of them. I think I saw a quote after their game 1 loss where they only took 26 threes that he wanted them to approach 50 in game 2 if they get off 40-50 threes and shoot a high percentage, they’re tough to beat…if they don’t, well, the Rockets showed for years what happens
Ime was defense and toughness 1st Mazulla is threes and spacing 1st The Celtics have gone all-in on three-pointers. Anyone who was following this season’s start would have been hard-pressed to argue with the results offered. Anytime the team shot above 40% on three-pointers, they won. Anytime their three-point percentage dropped below 40%, however, they lost. Viewed in this way, the Celtics’ three-point percentage offers a snapshot of their success. But as the season has advanced, their ability to sink those threes has lessened. Jayson Tatum, for context, was shooting 40.8% in October. By December, that number slumped to 33%. Grant Williams made 66% of his three-pointers in October, then 42% in December. With such volatility tacked on to the Celtics’ ability to sink three-pointers, it’s a high-risk and high-reward approach to the game. When it works, a team is almost unstoppable. And when it doesn’t… well, Celtics fans have the recent loss in New York City to remind them. Celtics this series 10-26 from three: loss 20-51 from three: won 16-45 from three: won 17-44 from three: loss 12-38 from three: loss
https://theathletic.com/4502866/202...k-chapter-1-spacing-mismatches-and-screening/ Ime Udoka’s coaching book, chapter 1: Spacing, mismatches and screening Now that Ime Udoka is the head coach of the Houston Rockets, what will his team look like tactically? How will he influence how this team looks on both sides of the ball? Over the next few weeks, The Athletic’s Rockets beat writer Kelly Iko will take you inside Udoka’s playbook, attempting to shed some light on what to expect from an X’s and O’s standpoint. First up, a look at two Udoka offensive staples with Celtics beat writer Jared Weiss. Iko: It was quite the basketball journey in preparation for this piece, sifting through the Celtics’ 2021-22 NBA Finals run with a coherent NBA offense and comparing it to Houston’s mess of a 2022-23 season. But in all exercises, there are things to take away. Per Game Stat (Rank) | 2021-22 Celtics | 2022-23 Rockets Offensive Efficiency: 114.3 (10th) | 111.0 (27th) Effective FG %: 54.2 (13th) | 51.7 (30th) Passes Made: 289.0 (12th) | 284.6 (14th) Assists: 24.9(14th) | 22.4 (30th) Drives: 45.8 (13th) | 50.2 (7th) Isolation: 9.2 (5th) | 7.7 *13th) PnR Ball Handler: 17.3 (19th) | 22.4 (4th) Off Screen: 5.2 (8th) | 2.2 (T-30th) You can obviously speak to this better, but it seemed like the overarching theme of Udoka’s offense was the creation and exploitation of mismatches through Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Now, it’s easy to simplify things when you have two All-NBA talents in Brown and Tatum, but Udoka seemed to excel in pragmatism and turning that into efficiency. The purpose of this is to extract some of Udoka’s favorite sets from his Celtics playbook, compare it to things the Rockets ran and search for any potential overlap or improvement. I understand the level of basketball is vastly superior in Boston and this requires some squinting of glasses, but this is the offseason for Houston fans. Udoka made his living off of his defensive acumen, but as you covered closely last year, it was actually his offensive tweaks that rose to the occasion, particularly against his former team, sweeping the Nets in the first round. “I think it’s obviously come a long way throughout the season,” Udoka said during the 2022 playoffs. “I like to coach on the fly at times, and I’ll call some things out that I see from the broad view of seeing the court and seeing where guys are spaced. But at the same time, Marcus (Smart) and Jayson, Jaylen and those guys, as well as our bigs, have done a great job of understanding where they’re at on the court with certain personnel.” Weiss: The biggest evolution Udoka brought to the Celtics’ offense was, ironically, to make it play smaller, even though they were in double big lineups with Al Horford and Robert Williams III so much of the time. When Brad Stevens moved to the GM’s office, his first move was to trade Kemba Walker and a first-round pick for Al Horford, who turned out not to be washed, as we all presumed at the time. This move signaled several seismic shifts in the way the Celtics would operate. Marcus Smart was finally running point, something he had done successfully with the second unit whenever Kyrie Irving or Walker would sub out. It also meant Tatum was going to take on significant playmaking responsibility. When Horford returned, the presumption was he would go back into his prior role running dribble handoffs, but Udoka had him mostly operate as a spacer so that Tatum, Brown and Smart could dominate the ball. So while Horford and Williams would run plenty of pick-and-roll, the new wrinkle from Udoka was to bake in a lot of high-speed guard-guard pick-and-rolls in space. So Tatum would have the ball at the top of the arc, and Smart or Derrick White would sprint from the elbow to quickly set a ghost screen (a term for when the screener veers as if to set a screen, but never or barely stops) before flaring out to the other side. Just running by the defender and tapping him on the back would often trigger a switch, and Tatum or Brown would attack amid that confusion. Whether it meant them drawing a double team to create an easy open shooter or getting a mismatch they could drive right through, this worked so well most of the year. Udoka wanted to change things up in Boston and he did that almost as much on the court as he did off of it. He made their offense more fluid, though they have continued to struggle to go back to the drawing board when the defense takes their favorite things away. A big part of that is that Tatum and Brown are still developing toward their primes. In Houston, well, there’s gonna be a lot of development to do. Iko: We’re looking for any offensive similarities or areas where Udoka can immediately improve Houston from an X’s and O’s standpoint. We don’t have the benefit of knowing exactly who’s going to be on the roster once training camp rolls around, so unless there’s a franchise-altering move, Udoka will need to work with young players like Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. for the foreseeable future. Stephen Silas, his Rockets predecessor, repeatedly stressed the need to run a simplified offense with his group. At its core, amid all the chaos, was a desire for a free-flowing system predicated on basic reads, simple motions and playing to the strengths of Green and Kevin Porter Jr. Smith struggled offensively for a good chunk of the season but Houston started to fold him into the Green/Porter group seeking out mismatches and trying to take advantage of them during the final weeks. This is where we’ll begin. Now, it’s important to remember Green and Smith are several tiers below Boston’s Tatum and Brown, but again, at its core, the Celtics played through them and sought advantages. The Rockets also did that with Green and Smith at times. In 2021, Boston was a top-five team in isolations run and was a middle-of-the-pack team in its efficiency. The Rockets were 13th in isolation frequency last season and were in the 65th percentile in efficiency. There’s something to work with there, right? Weiss: The obvious first objective is to get Green, Porter Jr., and whomever they draft in June up to NBA speed making drive and kick reads and forcing the hand to get cross matches. It starts on the defensive end, as pace off turnovers and rebounds is the best way to create those advantages. So the challenge for Udoka is to get this team to buy in on defense and then show some composure operating at high speed with the ball. The Rockets were one of the highest frequency pick-and-roll teams in the league, but had terrible efficiency in those situations, so you want them to be flowing into those in early offense so their speed and athleticism are the advantages. That’s where the isolation approach comes into play. If someone like James Harden happened to come to town, that changes the way they play. But if we’re looking at KPJ and Green as the primary creators, they need to be operating in transition as much as possible. If they can get a cross match, will the Rockets have the awareness and spacing to read that quickly and target it before the defense can reset? Those are the kinds of decisions that define a mature offense.
Iko: The Celtics routinely hunted mismatches with Tatum on the floor by running “1-4 short,” a simple half-court action designed to get Tatum the ball in isolation around the free-throw line. As you can see, Derrick White and Grant Williams are spaced in both corners, Tatum screens for Smart and quickly pops in order to force the switch and not give the Pistons enough time to keep Jerami Grant on Tatum, his preferred matchup. Boston liked quick-hitters like this because it put the ball in their best player’s hands, gave him a favorable defender and, more importantly, the freedom to do what he wanted. Everything is read-based at that point. He can either take the defender off the dribble and drive to the paint… Vid Or he can pop out to the perimeter for a 3-point look over a smaller defender or revert to his signature dribble pull-up. In Smith, the Rockets have a 6 ’11 forward with shooting range who will give Udoka a good amount of lineup flexibility. His natural position is power forward, but he can play center in small lineups or even slide down to small forward if need be. It took Smith quite some time to find an offensive groove but once he did, Houston found it much easier to feed into his aggression and let him work. The Rockets will be banking on Smith’s momentum to end his rookie season carrying into his second year. I’m interested to see what his comfort level creating offense with the ball in his hands looks like in Year 2, rather than have shots generated for him. If he can add a decent handle and driving ability to his game — which he already showed shades of last season — Smith can open up Houston’s offensive capabilities. Silas’ offense wasn’t without faults, but one thing he did a solid job of was letting his young players play and learn on the fly. Of course, they could have benefited from more structure, but every now and then, you would see glimpses of them understanding simple reads to generate mismatches for Smith to attack. Below is one of those moments. Two players spaced in the corners, a quick flare screen by Usman Garuba to force Brooklyn’s Royce O’Neale off Smith and get him in space with Nic Claxton hanging back in drop coverage. Smith can hit these shots. Vid According to Second Spectrum, Smith had 0.5 isolations per game, compared to 2.6 for Green. Not only do I expect both of those numbers to go up, but I also expect the gap between the two to shorten. Smith’s handle still needs a lot of work, but that 7’2 wingspan comes in handy sometimes. When the Rockets can isolate him around the elbows with a smaller defender, good things can happen. He just needs more time, reps and confidence. Vid Weiss: The guard-guard screening was a Udoka staple, the best way to slow things down to put the ball in a scorer’s hands while then injecting some speed into the play. The Celtics did often struggle with offensive stagnation, especially because their best players, Tatum and Brown, are average playmakers. Teams like Philadelphia and Dallas can play slow because they have elite, big bodied playmakers who can lure traps and then pass over or through them to anywhere on the court. Tatum has kind of gotten there at a playoff level and Brown is probably a step behind, though he makes up for it with his interior scoring. The Rockets have a similar roster dynamic, just at a much earlier development stage. So the idea of getting into guard-guard screening actions is exciting because it teaches these playmakers how to make reads quicker and leans into their speed advantage. Then it can be applied to Sengun operating out in the high post, where he can get quick screens from guards to see if teams will bite on the switches. To unlock Sengun’s playmaking ability, they’ll need to find him more mismatches so he can start commanding more double teams than most players early in their career. Vid Iko: In a late March game against Detroit, Green and Porter exploded for a combined 65 points. What stood out from that game, however, was the backcourt making plays off each other, something that really hadn’t been seen in Houston since the days of Chris Paul, James Harden and Mike D’Antoni. “(Assistant coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah has) been telling me to put that pick and roll in for a month,” Silas said. “And (assistant coach) Rick Higgins was like ‘put it in’ so I put it in and they went. Playing off each other, getting downhill. Attacking and making reads.” Basketball is rhythm, a dance. Şengün is key here, being able to seal twice — the first for Porter and the second for Green via a flare screen. Once Green realizes he has the slower, bigger Jarrett Allen on him, it’s game over. Vid Assuming Udoka can’t fundamentally change the DNA of his roster, he’ll need to play to their strengths. Green averaged a shade under 14 drives per game after the All-Star break, on par with All-NBA players like Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo. His efficiency on such drives needs fine-tuning, but putting him in positions against smaller players that can’t handle his quickness or power is the right way to go for his development. Vid
Talent gets you to the playoffs but coaching does matter especially in a seven game series where multiple adjustments are needed.
Everybody thought Udoka was a genius because the Celtics had a good 50 game stretch that coincided with Robert Williams being fully healthy and the adjustment to playing him as a help defender, then he got hurt before the playoffs and the Celtics sputtered out. Doesn't seem like they've been able to recapture that magic since and he hasn't been the same player.
They also lost to a Golden State team that won their 4th title in 8 years and had been playing together for multiple years.
According to @SamFisher, it doesn't matter who the coach is. All about the players, and only about the players. Weird hill to die on.
Ime Udoka i hope that he does a good job in Houston. Im not hating on him, and i hope the players listen to him and mature. Im all for him but he taking on a really hard job. He might be as great as everyone keeps saying what they think he can do for Rockets Organization. If the players right now plus or minus a few can get on the same page, and Ime brings in Some Hard nose Coaching, and vets to surround these young upcoming stars. Yes Kpj can be a 3rd tier star, he has the talent. That should be right what the rockets need. If he can get this young group to win 35 games that would be great accomplishment. Next year if they cant sign a big time free agent there should be a crop of 2-3 good free agents in 2024. So make sure you dont over spend money just to spend it.
I absolutely would because I watched their playoff run. It was a disaster after the 1st round wipeout of Brooklyn. They got pushed to the absolute limit against mediocre opponents (banged up Milwaukee (no Middleton) and a Heat team where Herro and a washed Lowry got injured, and whose 3rd leading scorer was Victor Oladipo with 9.7) and they were spent by the time they got to the finals. I mean, watch the last 2 minutes of Heat-Celtics game 7 last year if you want to see a monumental meltdown worse than anything against 76ers, even though they won the game. I don't put that on Udoka, I put it on the players, fwiw. This isn't revisionist history - it was what people were saying contemporaneously. The Zac Lowes, the Hollingers etc. They wre absolute monsters in terms of how they played in Jan-Feb-March - by April/May it was kind of gone.
I'm going to reserve judgement on Ime. The Mazzula comparison can only go so far because the Celtics is at a more mature state than our young core. Even the Nets years had the KD/Harden/Kyrie trio. To see how he is with younger players, it might be better to look at his earlier years, his stint with Spurs. The time he spent in Boston, Brooklyn and Philly were incredibly short.
I believe coaching matters. We've all seen what damage an incompetent coach can do to a team. But you guys should curb your expectations about Udoka. I think he is good. But he is not a miracle worker. IMO, there isn't that much difference among competent coaches. It's all about fit. Almost no coach is good for every team, every situation. A coach could win COY one year and got fired the next year.
It is a microwave culture right now. They want to speed things up but along the way something will go amiss. The fact that we still do not know who will be here in 2 years says it all. I am not too worried. Let it happen.
No way coaching is that low. I would say a good 15-20% goes to coaching. Min rotation Time out usage Challenges Culture/discipline In game adjustment Offensive/defensive system Morale raiser If it was only 5% anybody could do it.
