There has been much hand-wringing over Jaylen Brown’s missed time so far this season. The Celtics All-Star wing has missed exactly half of Boston’s 26 games so far this season, leading to questions about the actual severity of his right hamstring and whether this will be a season-long issue.
“I don’t think so. That’s not the hope at all,” Ime Udoka said earlier this week. Their plan, he says, is about getting him right. “I think just getting him back to 100 percent ... once he's 100 percent, he should be good to go.”
This is Brown’s third issue with the right hamstring over his last four seasons. Both the team and Brown acknowledge the ongoing issue, and both say the goal is to eradicate it for good. Udoka said Brown could have played in last night’s game, but he would have been limited, which is not what they're looking for.
“We just want him to bounce back quickly and not have any soreness coming after and to not think about it at all,” Udoka said. “He could play if he had to but we’re looking at the big picture approach of the season.”
So what does 100% look like?
“Getting his burst and explosion back, what you naturally see from him,” Udoka said. “There's always going to be a little soreness and stiffness when you up the intensity to a game-line atmosphere. But just really the recovery is the biggest part. He could go out there and play 90% and then you take a few steps back as far as recovery, and so once he’s 100%, the bounce-back is quicker.”
ROBERT WILLIAMS STRUGGLING
Williams has made great strides since the beginning of the season, and is still very clearly one of the team’s most critical performers. However, he’s recently hit a bit of a rough patch on both ends of the floor, culminating in being benched after playing seven third-quarter minutes in which he committed three turnovers.
After going all season with only six games with a negative +/- and only two worse than -5, he was a -20 and a -17 in Los Angeles. Single game +/- can be a noisy stat, which is why those in the +5 to -5 range don’t tell us much, but being on the floor for a gigantic negative, especially in a game that was down to one in the final minute, does say something.
Earlier in the road trip, the issue was fouls.
“Some of the fouls were some of his old habits of reaching down and slapping down, getting ducked in, not doing his work early,” Udoka said after the Portland game where Jusuf Nurkic was able to bury Williams deep in the post. “A lot of them weren’t really due to aggression or being over-aggressive, but being out of position ... so breaking habits like I’ve mentioned quite a few times here, it’s hard. Some guys have habits of slapping down and we’re trying to break that one with Robert.”
In the Clippers game, it was the turnovers. And while every player goes through a down stretch, the Celtics are certainly hoping he can pull out of it soon. It’s no surprise their slip defensively coincided with Williams’. The Celtics simply need him to play at the high level he was at before the trip.
“That’s being an anchor defensively in a lot of different coverages,” Udoka said. “And then we start to see him mix in some scoring around the basket, hard roller. Mixing those things in, sometimes he gets too unselfish and kicks out, but we encourage that also.”
AARON NESMITH GETTING A LITTLE MORE OPPORTUNITY
We saw Nesmith get some early run against the Clippers, a nice departure for him after a string of DNP-Coach’s Decisions. If there's any solace, the coach making that decision was no stranger to those himself during his playing days.
“He understands the role that some of the guys are in, and he understands how challenging it can be at times,” Nesmith said. “So yeah, he does a good job of encouraging, of making sure that everybody’s ready for when their name is called.”
He didn’t get much run against the Clippers, though that might not have entirely been his fault. This is a tough stretch and the team as a whole has been in a two-game funk. Who knows what opportunities lie ahead for Nesmith as Jaylen Brown nears a return.
Until then, his off-the-court breaks are as necessary to staying focused as his on-court work.
“Just making sure I get my mental escapes, my sleep and just eating right – just those three main things – making sure that my routine stays the same,” Nesmith said, emphasizing that getting away from basketball for a little bit helps him focus on it when he needs to. “Reading, watching a movie – anything that’s not basketball-related.”
IME NEEDLES NETS
The current Celtics head coach is the former Nets head coach in charge of defense. So when he was asked to compare his switching schemes in Brooklyn and Boston, he couldn't resist the tweak of his former players.
“There’s some similarities as far as the amount of switching. Brooklyn does a lot more, but we tinker with that as well, one-through-five, early in the season especially to get guys accustomed to that. But it’s two different teams, obviously playing on both sides with Kawhi out. But we take some things from that. Don’t switch as much with the five like Brooklyn does to some extent. It’s two different teams and I think we have the personnel who can do different things. Brooklyn relies on it heavily for different reasons. Don’t want to work as hard on certain things, but we can do a little bit of both.”
He was wearing a mask, but the crinkling of his eyes told you he was smiling and hoping word got back to Brooklyn.
