The Boston Celtics defense will struggle until they get their versatility back
The Boston Celtics are in the midst of the worst injury stretch of the season, with Al Horford being the only player to return. Kyrie Irving should be back sometime soon, Marcus Smart is out until the playoffs, Daniel Theis is done for the year and Jaylen Brown is a complete mystery.
The Celtics are certainly feeling the ramifications of missing their top two scorers, but they have won with a struggling offense already this season, and a lot of the young players have stepped up on that end. The Celtics have been scoring well enough despite these injuries, making the defense the major concern right now.
The frustrating part is that the Celtics still have a lot of capable defenders out there. The Celtics have not had to replace these top defenders with total liability. The bottom of the bench is still a problem with Shane Larkin and Abdel Nader. That being said, the Celtics still have players that can be a part of a great defense available.
The problem is that the Celtics have capable defenders, but they have lost almost all of their defensive versatility. They got Horford back, which could make all the difference in the world. The problem is that one of the reasons Horford is so effective in his role is because of the versatility around him.
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The Celtics do not have another second unit big that can shoot and defend the way Theis did. The Celtics gain a lot from being able to switch Theis onto quicker driving players. What they miss most, however, is Brown and Smart’s ability to guard four different positions.
The Celtics have a lot of movement and continually switch different players into different assignments. They do this because they can be confident in players like Brown or Smart to guard anyone they are switching onto.
Brown, Theis and Smart are also the keys to their small ball. They need capable shooting and defense beside Horford, and they need Brown and Smart to make up for size problems. Horford may be the most important defender on this team, but he is so good in his role largely because of the overall defense Brad Stevens has around him.
When you take away the three pieces that are most important to Horford’s defensive success and the small ball success of the overall team, there could be a lot of problems. The Celtics just got abused by Anthony Davis, and part of it was Horford trying to do everything himself, and a complete lack of communication and chemistry on that end.
The Celtics are so great on defense because of how they work together. The problem is that Stevens puts these defenders in difficult positions, with a high degree of difficulty. It is impossible for the Celtics to ask the backups to do what these guys did on defense, because it is way too far over their head.
Without their best versatility, the Celtics will not be able to get comfortable on defense, and Stevens is going to have to make a lot of adjustments in order to make these new pieces work.
The Celtics have accepted the fact that neither Theis or Smart will be back for the rest of the regular season, so Brown is the only one that can come back and help before the playoffs. that being said, he suffered a bad concussion and the Celtics are not going to rush any part of these injuries.
The Celtics have spent years building up their defensive versatility, and the results have spoken for themselves this season. The Celtics know they can still be a capable defense, but there is a lot of work to do while these players are hurt.
The more time Stevens has to figure out how to use the different pieces the better off they are, but it is hard to imagine the Celtics sustaining the leagues top defense, when you take away three of their four most important defenders.
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The Celtics will have to go out of character and use more traditional size with Aron Baynes and Greg Monroe, and that defense will never have the potential of their versatility.