Celtics get Holladay: Bet on an upgrade to block a back road

The Celtics took Holladay and sent Brogdon and Lowe to complete the Trail Blazers' rebuild, and by the way, decisively gambled one hand and blocked another:

The lineup upgrade also blocked a back road.

After trading with the Bucks and Celtics, the Blazers traded 33-year-old Lillard + 29-year-old Nukic for 25-year-old Ayton + 30-year-old Brogdon + 25-year-old Lowe.

Trailblazers of the moment:

25-year-old center Ayton, 25-year-old defensive droid Lowe.

20-year-old Sharp, 24-year-old Anzai.

20-year-old newcomer Henderson.

Brogdon and Jerami Grant can pass the lead.

The age structure is perfect to rebuild the squad and maybe even make it to the play-offs.

As a rebuilding team, Ayton + Lowe are 50 years old, but they have both played in the Finals, and Grant has played in the Western Conference finals. Young, experienced, there is no shortage of anything.

It's just that sentence:

The Blazers have previously experienced champion Bill Wharton, Sam Bowy who missed Jordan's selection, champion Auden... As well as their injuries.

Ayton played 60 regular-season games a year during his five-year career.

Lowe played 42 regular-season games a year for five years...

I wish Ayton and Lowe health.

On the other side, the Celtics brought in Holladay.

Two days ago, I also said something about the team that uses Holladay:

The Raptors (the current ball holding task is all up to Schroder, there are a bit more people on the wings), the Knicks, Pelicans and Bulls (who have big balls and are all suitable for Holladay), the Celtics (who just sent Smart away) and the Heat, can all use Holladay. After all, as mentioned above, Holladay is just an unreliable playoff offensive firepower, but he was still an All-Star last season.

But don't look at the deal alone.

In their defeat to the Miami Heat last season, the Celtics were:

Defenders: Smart/White/Brogdon/Pritchard

Wing: Tatum/Jaylen

Inside: Gwee/Horford/Lowe

Today, it is:

Defender: Holladay/White/Pritchard

Wing: Tatum/Jaylen

Inside: Perzingis/Horford/Cornet

In fact: Smart + Brogdon, exchange a whole bill into Holladay; Changed the Gwey + Lowe into a whole banknote into Poggis.

Newcomers, no need to introduce more: Holladay has not played well in the playoffs in the past three years, but his defensive ability is still at the top of the league; In terms of mentality, Black Eight has passed the Bull (2012), Xia Ke has been on Lillard (2018), won the championship (2021), and hob meat.

What Smart can offer - positional warfare organization and quality defense - Holladay is basically fine, and it is an enhanced version: Holladay really won the championship.

Poggins, not to mention his 11% shooting percentage from the basket last season, the fourth in the league in defense and the fifth in the league in back scoring, averaged 23+8+3+2 per game last season, and it is not comparable to either Gwi or Lowe: Gwei and Lowe are excellent blue-collar workers, and Poggingis is an authentic quasi-star player, a 224-centimeter unicorn.

Strength on paper, impeccable.

But the Celtics' move is still very gambling and blocked.

The so-called gamble is clear at a glance: the Celtics have now experienced high-intensity bloody battles inside, only 37-year-old Horford. Poggis' only playoff experience was with Luca against the Clippers — and he didn't play well.

But if one person is injured, the Celtic interior line will collapse.

The Celtics' current backcourt height: Holladay 191cm, White 193cm, Pritchard 185cm. When you meet a two-meter counterpoint, you have to look up at the sky.

You will say: just transfer Shuangjie over! - Nor will it.

This has to say blocked:

In the 2020 and 2023 seasons, the Celtics played a single long team, that is, double guard + double probe + single inside, and the Eastern Conference finals were lost to the heat.

In 2022, the Celtics played a double long team, that is, single guard + double scout + double inside, fought to defend until the finals, and lost to the Warriors.

Coach Stevens and Coach Mazura both use a single tower and stop at the East final; Coach Uduka fought the two towers to defend and reached the finals.

Therefore, last season, the Celtics also hesitated, although the main single-tower space array, but after all, the regular season single-tower and double-tower were placed, and the playoffs were determined to start all the way to the end.

Now sending away two Williams, the Celtics can't return to the 2022 lineup: unless there are another lineup changes, Poggingis is bound to start, and Horford is bound to come off the bench.

It must be Holladay + White + Double Jay + Poggis: Hard work, can't you not use it?

This lineup is full of firepower, brilliant on paper, old (Holladay's championship experience) and few, talented and sizeable, and all have three-pointers.

But as mentioned above: the height at the back is not great, and it is doubtful whether Pockis can carry meat on the inside.

The substitutes Pritchard, Horford and Konate had to be mixed and matched.

One factor I can imagine: Shuangjie's blocking.

Jaylen already showed his obvious strengths and weaknesses in blocking with the ball last season. He tends to use cover to break through or make a mid-range shot, which is where he overtakes Tatum, but he lacks a little patience and often puts himself in the pinch, and the result is the seventh battle against the heat, when Tatum is injured and needs him to take over, playing a career humiliating battle.

Tatum had a strange performance last season: he was average when he played with the starter as the main ball bearer; But last season, when he wasn't with Smart, Brogdon and Pritchard — that is, with the ball and a second team — he scored 123 points per 100 rounds and 16 points per 100 turns.

Perhaps this is what Manager Stevens thought:

Continue to follow the space strategy, so that Jaylen can be a little wider.

As for the thin bench, let Tatum bring it, and it's great to match him with a White/Holladay help.

In short, the Celtics also completed their own roster upgrade, sacrificing thickness to improve quality.

But it is also far away in the strategy of double guard + double jack + single tower space, and can no longer return to the style of relying on twin towers + unlimited defense, bloody battle Bucks, heat and warriors in 2022.

year

Considering that Smart and Gwee, who had been complaining about the coach last season, are gone, and Brogdon, who is not very happy that he will be traded, this roster upgrade can also be seen as Stevens' support for coach Mazura.

"Don't think about it, the lineup is matched according to your liking, and it has been strengthened, let's go!"