The biggest storyline coming out of the first preseason game was the Celtics defensive switching that caused more than a few breakdowns.
“Sometimes (when) you switch everything, you get a little bit lazy and don't communicate, don't come together on some switches,” Dennis Schröder said after the team’s Wednesday practice. “We see them in the game as well where they had open layups or open 3s. But we looked at film and tried to get better at it and we're going to get better at it.”
Switching is one thing -- every team has schemes where they switch certain actions -- but the Celtics took it to a bit of an extreme on Monday, which begged the question of whether Ime Udoka had some sort of ulterior motives with the game plan.
“No, it's been the major scheme that we put in since we've been in training camp,” he said. “We wanted to work on some things on and off ball switching, specific lineups we feel we have the personnel where our bigs can guard on the perimeter, and our big wings can guard in the post.”
One danger of switching is that teams can hunt mismatches. The Celtics hope they can put lineups on the floor that minimize those, but there’s nothing they can do about a big man ending up on a point guard. That will put a lot of pressure on Robert Williams, who has had issues with lateral movement in the past, and Al Horford, who is older, to stick with quick guards on the perimeter.
“We'll go game to game and obviously it'll be personnel based but something that we've had (Williams) do for the last four days of practice and in the scrimmage to kind of implement that and get those guys used to that,” Udoka said. “Depends on the personnel. As you saw later in the game we were getting hurt by it and took Enes (Kanter) out of that, so it's definitely game by game plan but that's one of our schemes for sure.”
Asking Kanter to switch onto guards is a death wish, so they’ll have to employ at least some situational drop coverage in pick-and-rolls if he’s playing, but the switching scheme does put the team at some risk of sapping Robert Williams’ super powers. Also, teams need to have multiple defensive options at their disposal to truly be effective, which means there will be some drop coverage, some trapping, and some zone mixed into the defensive playbook.
“We really wanted to work on something that they're not accustomed to,” Udoka said. “So, first week or so of practice, first game, we really overemphasized switching on and off ball, the communication piece, and that was the scheme for the game."
The switching seems to be a major focus for the Celtics right now, and it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment for everyone.
“For me, it's tough. I've never been in an organization where you just switch everything,” Schröder said. “So I have to adjust to it a little bit more, but I'm getting used to it a little bit. So day-by-day, trying to get better at it and trying to impact the game that way as well. Still trying to learn a little bit.”
OTHER PRACTICE NOTES
NEW RULES HAVING AN IMPACT
NBA officials are not going to be calling some of the frustrating fouls given to players like Trae Young and others when they make unnatural movements on “shot attempts.” Last season was clearly a breaking point for perimeter defenders, but so far it seems like the new emphasis on no-calls or offensive fouls is having an impact.
"I think it is a little bit easier now. They were calling it a little bit too much before,” Aaron Nesmith said. “So I think they definitely made it a little bit easier to defend and scoring harder. Which is, you know, a good thing in my opinion."
SCHRÖDER’S ROLE
Schröder is only expected to be here for one year, which allows him and the team to be more flexible with how things are working. It’s basically a “we both know what we need out of this relationship, so let’s just accept this for a season and move on.”
And so Schröder is buying into his bench role.
“It is always great to be a starter as well, and I think everybody knows that as well, that I'm a starter, but right here, right now, what we need is whatever coach needs me to do, I'll do it,” he said. “I'm a winning person, I'm a team player. So, end of the day, whatever coach is telling me to do and whatever the group thinks is the best.”
The real question will come at the end of games and whether Schröder is cool with being on the bench down the stretch. That’s not only crunch time for the team, it’s the highest visibility time, and perhaps the biggest selling point he can make as a potential free agent.
He can be a great teammate and good player for 25 minutes or so, but being on the floor for the final five minutes and having a positive impact there will earn him some extra cash. What happens if he doesn’t get those opportunities?
OVER-SHARING
The Celtics were a little pass-happy early in the game, and Schröder was as guilty as anyone of passing up some scoring chances in order to make the extra pass. He’s not too worried about it.
“It's preseason. When the regular season starts, I think you just got to get to know each other a little bit more,” he said. “We did it quite a few times, but I think in the end, you got to know what you have to do situation-wise. I don't want to worry about that. Over-passing is better than don't pass it at all, so we're going to figure that out.”