Former Boston Celtics Join Rivals During NBA Rivals Week
For a random Tuesday toward the end of January, a lot was going on within the NBA's news cycle. The first shoe to drop was Terry Rozier being traded to the Miami Heat. That's a great deal for Miami.
Then, the Milwaukee Bucks cut ties with Adrian Griffin after half a season as the team's head coach and a 30-13 record. Doc Rivers was immediately r as the favorite for the head coaching vacancy.
I went to bed at 10:30 PM, UK time. That's 5:30 PM Eastern. I woke up at 6 am UK Time, which is 1 AM Eastern.
During my sleep, conflicting reports about Rivers had surfaced. CNN and NBA On TNT had both reported the deal was complete. That was followed up with a post from Bleacher Report.
Then, shortly after, more reports surfaced saying a deal hadn't been agreed but talks were progressing.
Which one is it? Make it make sense.
Still, things change fast in the NBA world.
Today, I want to look at how each of those moves impacts the Boston Celtics moving forward.
Former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers hired as Milwaukee Bucks head coach
As I woke up this morning, made a cup of coffee, let the dog into the backyard, and scrolled the newsfeed on my phone, I quickly learned the Bucks had moved swiftly to acquire Doc Rivers as their head coach. It was done – or so I thought.
Rivers – if he gets the job – will be tasked with unlocking the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard two-man game and helping them challenge for a championship.
BREAKING: Bucks are hiring Doc Rivers as HC, per @cnnsport pic.twitter.com/3e4NibmG55
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 24, 2024
Is it going to work, though? Let's look at what recent history tells us.
Rivers will always have a special place among Celtics fan's hearts. He was the last head coach to bring a championship to the franchise. That was in 2008. That was almost 16 years ago.
Rivers remained Boston's head coach for five more seasons. He took the Celtics to the NBA Finals in 2010. He got them to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2012. A first-round exit in 2013 signaled the start of the Celtic's rebuild.
A lot has changed. Since leaving the Celtics, Rivers has enjoyed tenures with the LA Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers. However, in both situations, he couldn't get past the second round of the playoffs despite having generational talents at his disposal.
Rivers had three different iterations of the Clippers. He had the "Lob City" roster featuring a prime Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan. He had the rebuilding roster with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, you know, the one that thrived on the Montrezl Harrell/Lou Williams pick-and-roll and pushed a prime Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
And he had one season of the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George team. Still, the second round of the playoffs was his ceiling.
Then, Rivers goes to the Sixers. He inherits Ben Simmons, who at the time was still an emerging star in the league and playing at an All-NBA level on defense, and Joel Embiid – who won the MVP under Rivers last season. Yet, in three seasons, the Sixers couldn't get over the hump.
Rivers got them to the second round of the postseason on each occasion. They lost to the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, in that order.
That brings us to now. There's no denying Rivers is a great head coach. He holds a career record of 1097 wins and 763 losses in 1860 games as a head coach during the NBA's regular season. He also has 111 playoff wins to his name in 215 games. I mean, that's a lot of experience on the sidelines.
What does Rivers to Milwaukee mean for the Celtics?
It's hard to tell right now. Adrian Griffin had the Bucks second in the Eastern Conference. They have a 30-13 record. Yet, despite the perceived success, there were some legitimate issues within his game plan.
Giannis wasn't pleased with a lack of defensive identity. Lillard hasn't enjoyed the offensive freedom that he had with the Portland Trail Blazers, which has limited his impact and shackled one of the best two-man tandems in the NBA. Brook Lopez hasn't looked like the defensive anchor he once was. Khris Middleton appears to have regressed.
If there's one thing for certain, it's that Rivers will heavily lean into the Giannis and Lillard pairing. We're going to see that duo receive significant attention from the veteran head coach as he looks to unlock their offensive potential. The bigger question lies on the defensive end.
We know the Bucks can score. Even against the Celtics' defense, a Giannis/Lillard combo is going to get buckets. The question is, can they stop them? Can Rivers find a system to stifle the Celtics' five-out offense? Can he figure out how to keep Lopez around the rim when Kristaps Porzingis is nailing threes on the perimeter?
Will that system be capable of limiting Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as they attack the rim or counter with mid-range jumpers? Can Lillard withstand being hunted on every possession? And how do you limit the offensive impact of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White?
Everything Rivers does has to be geared toward a potential Eastern Conference Finals clash with the Celtics. He also needs one eye on the Sixers, too.
Without a strong defensive base, the Bucks will need to believe they can outscore every opponent. That won't work against Boston, not in a seven-game series. Joe Mazzulla has too much firepower at his disposal. There are too many ways the Celtics can hurt you.
Internally, Milwaukee will be wondering if Lopez is still capable of being the defensive anchor the team sorely needs and if Middleton can still be the X-Factor as a floor-spacing self-creator who punishes defenses and stretches the floor for Giannis and now for Lillard.
Rivers has a big job on his hands. Yes, the Bucks will have regular-season success. That's not the goal, though. The goal is a championship. Despite having Lillard, the Celtic's depth and two-way capabilities make them the favorites in the East. For a coach with 15 years of a second-round ceiling, his latest gig must be a daunting one. It's one hell of an opportunity. Sometimes, though, those opportunities can weigh heavily.
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The Miami Heat acquired former Boston Celtics guard Terry Rozier via trade with the Charlotte Hornets
Terry Rozier has been rumored to be available via trade since last February. At first, the Los Angeles Lakers were reported to have an interest in bringing him to the Golden Coast. They opted for a reunion with D'Angelo Russell instead. That interest was once again expected to surface as we closed in on the February 8 trade deadline.
However, the Miami Heat beat Rob Pelinka to the punch. Miami needed a lead guard. Their fruitless pursuit of Damian Lillard left them short-handed in the ball-handling department to begin the season. Out went Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick, in came Rozier.
"The Miami Heat are on the verge of acquiring Terry Rozier from the Charlotte Hornets; Kyle Lowry and drafts picks, including a first round pick, I'm told going to the Hornets."@ShamsCharania on Miami nearing a trade to acquire Charlotte's Terry Rozier for a package sending… pic.twitter.com/MTjPHNlM3p
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 23, 2024
The Heat currently rank 21st in the NBA for offensive efficiency and 12th for defense, per Cleaning The Glass. Rozier isn't going to boost the Heat's defensive capabilities, or at least, that's not what I've got on my bingo card right now. What he will do, though, is legitimately improve their offense.
We all know what Rozier can do. That Scary Terry run during the 2018 playoffs was invigorating. It was exciting. It's what led to the dumpster that is the 2018-19 Celtics season. And then, it led to Rozier walking out the door and burning his bridges on the way.
"I feel like along with the coaches treating Gordon and Kyrie, I wouldn't say different than everybody else, but I just feel like they treated them like they was on that level where there were no adjustments that could be made because they are who they are," Rozier told ESPN on his way out the door. "We never figured it out. We never figured it out after that."
Rozier's ability to create for himself and others, score across all three levels, and his willingness to fight on defense will make him an ideal addition to a Heat team that's looking to prove last season's run to the NBA Finals wasn't a fluke.
How does Terry Rozier going to the Heat affect the Boston Celtics?
On paper, not much changes. The Celtics still have the deeper team, and have more top-tier talent available. Basketball games aren't won on paper, though. Rozier will give the Heat a spark. He will bring unpredictability in tight moments and will thrive when given the chance to take big shots in big games. After a four-year postseason hiatus, he will have something to prove, and that's exactly the sort of player Erik Spoelstra finds a way of improving.
With Porzingis and Luke Kornet on their roster, the Celtics are playing a lot of drop coverage this season. One of the easiest ways to counter that system is to get shots off in the mid-range, where there's space behind the perimeter defense and the players covering the low-help line. According to Cleaning The Glass, Rozier is shooting 50% from mid-range this season and has been hovering around 45% during his tenure with the Hornets.
It makes sense to envision the Heat allowing Rozier to attack close-outs like in the clip above. His first step is quick enough for him to create separation from his defender and will be an upgrade over the aging Kyle Lowry. Boston's half-court defense won't be as porous as the possession shown above, though. Mazzulla likes his team to cut off the middle of the floor by having multiple players pinching to block off middle drives.
The clip above is a good example of how the Celtics defend the center of their court. Notice how Al Horford, Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday form a wall around the elbow, forcing Kyrie Irving to almost turn the ball over before then forcing him to bail out of a shot attempt. Rozier will have a hard time breaking down that kind of mid-range defense when he's looking to get to his spots to release floaters over the dropping bigs.
Another way the Heat could look to utilize Rozier is by having him play as an off-ball threat while Bam Adebayo works as a facilitation hub around the elbows or via dribble hand-offs on the perimeter. Rozier has developed as a catch-and-shoot and catch-and-rip threat during his time with Charlotte, as he's often been utilized as a secondary or tertiary option behind LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward.
Don't let the above clip fool you, though. This season, Rozier is struggling to knock down his catch-and-shoot attempts. In 30 games, he's averaging 2.9 perimeter attempts off the catch, converting at a 29.9% rate. Last season was a similar story; he averaged 3.5 perimeter attempts off the catch and hit 35.8% of his attempts.
Whether the Heat can provide the additional spacing Rozier needs is something we will learn in the coming months. However, Spoelstra would be wise to let Rozier cook off the dribble, where he's shooting 39.3% from deep on 4.8 attempts per game.
Either way, when the Heat face the Celtics, Rozier will be tasked with breaking down either White or Holiday. So, it's fair to assume it's not going to be a walk in the park for Rozier, especially when looking to gain an advantage at the point of attack.
As Bill Sy, my editor at CelticsBlog and one of my favorite human beings, posted on Twitter yesterday, the Celtics still have the better roster and should match up well with Miami – should they meet in the postseason once again.
Not so scary.
Jrue | Terry
DWhite | Herro
JB | Martin
JT | Jimmy
Porzingis | Bam
Horford | Love
Pritchard | JRich
Hauser | Robinson
Kornet | JJJ
Ultimately, a series against the Heat will come down to one big matchup: Mazzulla vs. Spoelstra.— Bill Sy (@deliberatepix) January 23, 2024
When the playoffs do arrive, and we begin breaking down the offensive and defensive system of the Celtics opponents, we can take so deeper dives into how Rozier – and the rest of the Heat – match up with the Celtics. For now, though, it's fair to say the Rozier deal was a good move by Pat Riley, but it's not a move that tips the scales enough for the Celtics to be nervously looking over their shoulder. They've improved too much for that.
Oh, and as an aside, I want to give a shoutout to my one of my podcast cohosts: Greg Maneikis called the Terry Rozier to the Miami Heat trade last week during one of our podcast episodes. You can watch the episode in the embedded tweet below.
yeah so @miniminoe called this Rozier trade a few weeks back https://t.co/NkvOYvsIXu
— Green With Envy (@greenenvypod) January 23, 2024
Four Boston Celtics players added to the 41-man player pool for Team USA ahead of the Olympics.
The final tidbit in yesterday's news cycle was that four members of the Boston Celtics rotation were named to Team USA's 41-player pool ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
USA Basketball player pool of 41 finalists that will be used to select the 12-player roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris: pic.twitter.com/Bs1yqnQDQD
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 23, 2024
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White have all been named to the inflated short-list. Steve Kerr and his coaching staff will need to trim the 41 players down to 12 ahead of the trip to Paris.
After a fourth-place finish at the FIBA World Cup last summer, Team USA will likely want to bounce back by winning gold this time around. So, we will likely see a string of All-Star-level talent selected to the squad. It will be fun to see how many members of the Celtics roster make the cut and how a potential deep playoff run affects who is available and who withdraws.
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