Brad Stevens: ‘I couldn’t be more unimpressed after our first three exhibition games’
It is only preseason, but Stevens says the Celtics have a lot of work to do.
“We’re not as good as advertised right now. At least we know that a week in.”
Coach Brad Stevens isn’t pleased with what he’s seen from his team.
“I couldn’t be more unimpressed after our first three exhibition games,” he said after Boston’s 102-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night.
Against the LeBron James-less Cavs, the Celtics looked far from a team poised to make a championship run. On offense, they shot 16.1 percent from three-point range. On defense, they gave up 32 first-quarter points and committed 30 fouls. It is only preseason — point guard Kyrie Irving didn’t play Tuesday due to rest and the remaining starters were on a minute restriction — but Stevens knows this team still has to make corrections in order to achieve what they think they are capable of.
“No shot we dominate off talent alone,” he said. “No team does that. You have to play together. You have to play the right way. If you have really good players and they all do that, then you can have a special year.”
Defense has been a point of emphasis for the Celtics, who finished last regular season with the league’s top defensive rating (101.5), but the execution has been subpar through one win and two losses in exhibition play.
“We’re doing things we usually don’t do on the defensive end,” shooting guard Marcus Smart said. “We’re being lazy. Guys were switching onto guys instead of guarding their own guy. We want somebody else to do the job for us, and that’s just not us. Rightfully so, Brad wasn’t happy, and he let it be known.”
Boston’s opponents have averaged 37.6 free-throw attempts per game this preseason, up from 21.3 average attempts last regular season. Guarding without fouling is just one of the many items — others include giving up “wide-open layups, wide-open threes, [and] wide-open shots” — on Stevens’s list of areas to improve.
“We have to play better,” he said. “Certainly, overall, the first week has not been effective. … I think obviously we’ve done a lot of work up to this point. It hasn’t translated, so it needs to be taught better.”
Forward Jaylen Brown, who scored 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting, said Stevens’s criticisms were “fair words.”
“It’s early though,” Brown said. “It’s not over yet, but it’s a fair assessment. At the same time, let’s not jump ship. Let’s still stay locked in and stay the course.”
Brown said he’s not panicking, but he acknowledged the team has plenty of work to do to “perform to the level of the expectation that [they] received.” The 21-year-old said he’s been talking to his teammates, for “building relationships off the floor helps carry them on the floor,” and expressed optimism about the future.
“We’re still trying to figure stuff out,” Brown said. “We got to find a rhythm, a chemistry with that first unit. There’s a lot of talent in that first unit, and nobody wants to step on each other’s toes, but, at the same time, we’re not helping each other execute. We’ll figure it out. I have no doubt in my mind we’ll figure it out. Just need to take a deep breath, smile, and continue to get better each and every day.”
Smart, who scored a team-high 15 points, and forward Marcus Morris shared Brown’s attitude. The Celtics have a front-loaded preseason schedule, with their last game set for Saturday in Cleveland. The team will have over a week — presumably ample time to address nagging concerns — before their season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 16.
“Preseason is for learning,” Morris said. “We’re chasing something special, so we’re going to use every game as a building block to get better.”
“We got a lot of attention over the last couple months about how good this team can be — and we can,” added Smart. “We have the potential, but we can’t turn it on and off.”
