During one sequence midway through the second quarter, Mazzulla called for three subs in less than 20 seconds as his team gave up three consecutive offensive rebounds before a 24-second violation mercifully ended the possession.
Anfernee Simons got caught out of position and Mazzulla pointed to Derrick White to replace him. Neemias Queta couldn’t corral the next misfire and Mazzulla called for Josh Minott to sub in. When rookie Hugo Gonzalez failed to secure the next rebound opportunity, Sam Hauser joined the growing cluster at the scorer’s table.
It felt like a bit [the scene in *Christmas Vacation* where Clark Griswold brings a gift to his boss](https://clip.cafe/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-1989/get-somebody/), Frank Shirley. An annoyed Shirley doesn’t have time for small talk and picks up his office phone and tells his secretary, “Get me somebody. Anybody. And get me someone while I’m waiting!”
Boston’s defensive rebound rate this preseason is 64.3 percent. That’s 7.4 percent below the team’s 71.7 defensive rebound rate last season, which ranked seventh in the NBA. The Celtics’ current 64.3 percent mark would have been 3.5 percent worse than last-place Philadelphia for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.
Rebounding and interior defense are going to be issues all season long, and we knew that was going to be the case, after we lost our top three bigs this offseason.
I wonder if this is where Walsh got the 5 in 5 out that Joe kinda walked back before the preseason. Joe probably made it clear that effort in the defensive end, especially rebounding is a non-negotiable. And that you or the whole group will get pulled immediately. In the raptors game he did the 5 in 5 out at least once that I remember.
*The Celtics’ current 64.3 percent mark would have been 3.5 percent worse than last-place Philadelphia for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.*
Could be an issue.
This is what happens when you don’t have a starting quality center on the roster. He needs to be talking to Brad about finding a center who can rebound not benching players and replacing them with other guys that aren’t going to fair any better.
I tried going through rosters to see what potential sub-$10M bigs could be traded for. Nets have DayRon Sharpe and Noah Clowney. Utah has Kessler and Filipowski. Blazers have Duop Reath. Suns have Mark Williams and Nick Richards. Bulls have Jalen Smith. Rockets have Capela.
Kessler is probably a pipe dream, but these other guys seem like they could potentially be attainable. And all of them would be better options than most of what we have.
I get that everyone is going to say that this is what you get when you don’t have a center but the problem with that is that the ball doesn’t just magically bounce to the tallest guy on the floor on every possession. Rebounding comes down to positioning and effort. Don’t get me wrong, having a quality center doesn’t hurt but height isn’t the only factor in rebounding.
Our positioning has been pretty awful and blocking out and taking up space has been nonexistent for much of the preseason. This along with over extending defensively has led to some really bad numbers. The most frustrating part is the fly by a guy defense where the defender is closing out to the shooter and they fly past him to try and block the shot(which statistically works about 10% of the time) only for that shooter to miss and have an empty path to get the rebound or if the shot is short they take a half step to the basket and get the rebound.
Somewhere along the way we forgot the golden rule of defense: stay between your man and the basket. This rule also leads you to be in the correct position for a rebound.
The last couple of years we had arguably the best 4/5 rotation in the league. Among his other gifts, Tatum was a top 2 or 3 rebounding forward in the league, and our 3 man center rotation was incredible despite age and injuries. They’re all gone or out now, replaced by Chris Boucher and end of the bench big men. I’m positive no one on the court or on the bench intends to tank this year away, but the actions of the front office w/regards to our center rotation certainly shows that they view 25/26 as a gap year.
I also feel that it’s nearly impossible to focus on getting out in transition AND focus on defensive rebounding. Have at it Joe, but to me it feels like focusing on one means ignoring the other, particularly without any standout rebounders.
This team is a Tatum return and a legit big man acquisition away from being finals bound
Don’t need offensive rebounds if you never miss. Boom, half the problem solved.
Daniel Theis!!!
We don’t have the personnel to rebound. It is glaringly obvious. Brad needs to make a trade. Kessler for a pick + filler?
12 comments
From Chris Forsberg:
An often exasperated Joe Mazzulla spent much of his Sunday night pointing down the bench for subs each time his team failed to secure a defensive rebound [against the star-less Cleveland Cavaliers](https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/nba/boston-celtics/live-updates-cavaliers-preseason-highlights-analysis/738090/).
During one sequence midway through the second quarter, Mazzulla called for three subs in less than 20 seconds as his team gave up three consecutive offensive rebounds before a 24-second violation mercifully ended the possession.
Anfernee Simons got caught out of position and Mazzulla pointed to Derrick White to replace him. Neemias Queta couldn’t corral the next misfire and Mazzulla called for Josh Minott to sub in. When rookie Hugo Gonzalez failed to secure the next rebound opportunity, Sam Hauser joined the growing cluster at the scorer’s table.
It felt like a bit [the scene in *Christmas Vacation* where Clark Griswold brings a gift to his boss](https://clip.cafe/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-1989/get-somebody/), Frank Shirley. An annoyed Shirley doesn’t have time for small talk and picks up his office phone and tells his secretary, “Get me somebody. Anybody. And get me someone while I’m waiting!”
Boston’s defensive rebound rate this preseason is 64.3 percent. That’s 7.4 percent below the team’s 71.7 defensive rebound rate last season, which ranked seventh in the NBA. The Celtics’ current 64.3 percent mark would have been 3.5 percent worse than last-place Philadelphia for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.
[Read more here](https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/nba/boston-celtics/joe-mazzulla-press-conference-rebounding/738469/).
It’s not a surprise.
Rebounding and interior defense are going to be issues all season long, and we knew that was going to be the case, after we lost our top three bigs this offseason.
I wonder if this is where Walsh got the 5 in 5 out that Joe kinda walked back before the preseason. Joe probably made it clear that effort in the defensive end, especially rebounding is a non-negotiable. And that you or the whole group will get pulled immediately. In the raptors game he did the 5 in 5 out at least once that I remember.
*The Celtics’ current 64.3 percent mark would have been 3.5 percent worse than last-place Philadelphia for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.*
Could be an issue.
This is what happens when you don’t have a starting quality center on the roster. He needs to be talking to Brad about finding a center who can rebound not benching players and replacing them with other guys that aren’t going to fair any better.
I tried going through rosters to see what potential sub-$10M bigs could be traded for. Nets have DayRon Sharpe and Noah Clowney. Utah has Kessler and Filipowski. Blazers have Duop Reath. Suns have Mark Williams and Nick Richards. Bulls have Jalen Smith. Rockets have Capela.
Kessler is probably a pipe dream, but these other guys seem like they could potentially be attainable. And all of them would be better options than most of what we have.
I get that everyone is going to say that this is what you get when you don’t have a center but the problem with that is that the ball doesn’t just magically bounce to the tallest guy on the floor on every possession. Rebounding comes down to positioning and effort. Don’t get me wrong, having a quality center doesn’t hurt but height isn’t the only factor in rebounding.
Our positioning has been pretty awful and blocking out and taking up space has been nonexistent for much of the preseason. This along with over extending defensively has led to some really bad numbers. The most frustrating part is the fly by a guy defense where the defender is closing out to the shooter and they fly past him to try and block the shot(which statistically works about 10% of the time) only for that shooter to miss and have an empty path to get the rebound or if the shot is short they take a half step to the basket and get the rebound.
Somewhere along the way we forgot the golden rule of defense: stay between your man and the basket. This rule also leads you to be in the correct position for a rebound.
The last couple of years we had arguably the best 4/5 rotation in the league. Among his other gifts, Tatum was a top 2 or 3 rebounding forward in the league, and our 3 man center rotation was incredible despite age and injuries. They’re all gone or out now, replaced by Chris Boucher and end of the bench big men. I’m positive no one on the court or on the bench intends to tank this year away, but the actions of the front office w/regards to our center rotation certainly shows that they view 25/26 as a gap year.
I also feel that it’s nearly impossible to focus on getting out in transition AND focus on defensive rebounding. Have at it Joe, but to me it feels like focusing on one means ignoring the other, particularly without any standout rebounders.
This team is a Tatum return and a legit big man acquisition away from being finals bound
Don’t need offensive rebounds if you never miss. Boom, half the problem solved.
Daniel Theis!!!
We don’t have the personnel to rebound. It is glaringly obvious. Brad needs to make a trade. Kessler for a pick + filler?