Your Morning Dump… Where Lee says Stevens is like Steve

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

For newcomer David Lee, it was the first time to see Stevens lead a real practice.

“I was amazed,” Lee said. “The amount of details was the biggest thing. He’s a numbers guy, a technical guy as you probably well know. He showed us a lot of stats in there of where the team can get better than last year and how thin the line is between the fourth or fifth seed in the East or being 12th and missing the playoffs. So he did a really good job of illustrating those things and telling us defensively we need to be where we were last year, get even better. And offensively there’s a few categories we can get better at to improve that efficiency. So I think it’s good for players to know Day 1 what needs to be accomplished, and then you work every day to get there.” […]
“It was very similar to Steve Kerr last year actually,” Lee said. “They have a lot of similarities. They’re very positive. They’re teachers on the floor. It’s important to be a teacher with the amount of young guys we have. But all the little details are very important to him. And those details are the things that win basketball games.”

MassLive – After Boston Celtics’ first practice, David Lee compares Brad Stevens to Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr

The compliments keep piling up for Brad Stevens, the star of the Boston franchise. David Lee, NBA champion, just gave Brad the stamp of approval. If Brad ever displayed any ego, he’d probably enjoy being compared favorably to a peer who snagged the brass ring on his first go-around.

Also have to wonder how Stevens and Kerr would have done with each other’s roster if they had been duped into trading places.

It’s notable that Lee speaks well of Kerr, since it was Kerr who moved Draymond Green ahead of Lee on the Warriors’ depth chart. In hindsight we can say that was the right move, but a decision of that nature can affect team chemistry in real time. No veteran wants a diminished role, but Kerr’s leadership not only avoided trouble, it also helped Lee accept limited minutes for the good of the squad.

Lee’s comments yesterday reflect positively on not just Brad, but on Lee himself. All this is good news for the Celtics.

On Page 2: Isaiah studies Nash

During Media Day interviews, Isaiah Thomas divulged that over the summer he studied Steve Nash’s game to find new ways to get his shots up over bigger players (which for him is almost everyone). IT said he’s going to copy Nash’s off-one-foot runners even as far away as the three-point arc. Saturday, he reinforced that with this tweet.

A lot of it. RT @Almendiz: @Isaiah_Thomas Will we see something like this, this year? https://t.co/w5ywUq7jtl

— Isaiah Thomas (@Isaiah_Thomas) September 26, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThe Nash highlights are amazing (jump to 1:15 to skip over the intro). It makes sense for Thomas to emulate a two-time MVP, and this gives us something to watch for during the season. But does Isaiah even need to be more tricky and slithery? Watch this look back and decide for yourself, while considering that we’re about to see 82 games (or maybe 100) that feature these skills. Enjoy.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wQ-O_8Rp-8]