Boston Celtics Coach Wants Team to Play Faster
The NBA season is only weeks away and team are already preparing their teams for the coming matchups. The Boston Celtics coach, Brad Stevens, wants his team to be faster with more passing, more ball control, and more freewheeling style. For contrast, the Celtics finished in 17th place last year.
"I want more aggression on sets overall, offensively and defensively. More pressure, more pace," Stevens said earlier this week as he prepared his team for training camp.
It would look as if Stevens wants to put more pressure on his team, but the players understand his demands and aren't forced to make the changes.
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"The pace is a lot faster. Stevens is putting us in spots where we can succeed and get great shots. He's putting everybody in a comfortable position rather than just trying to force the system on us," said swingman Jeff Green.
Rookie guard Marcus Smart on the other hand says that the coach is "trying to get us all together at one pace, everybody going at the same effort, day in and day out, and get the ball down the floor as quick as possible and get into our offense."
"Playing fast is good. When I grew up watching those Phoenix Suns games with Steve Nash all the time, that's something that's tough to stop," said Kelly Olynyk, Celtics forward. "That offense was tought to stop. When you play at that pace, keep defenses on their heels, they don't know what's coming, it makes it tough to stop."
Of course, it's going to be difficult for the Celtics to play read-and-react basketball at the start of the season, especially with point guard Rajon Rondo with a hand fracture. Still, the change in pace is a welcome one and the Celtics haven't been a run-and-gun team in years.
