That's good to hear. What KW has been really good at recently is driving the ball deep and finding the open man. If he can average 6 assists down the stretch that would be a real plus. KW doesn't have to score to impact the game or be really good on this team, particularly when EF comes back.
Karalis had a good article about Walker's adjustment to playing with the Js. More spotting up, especially from the corner, less pick and roll ballhandling, more distribution.
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2021/04/16/evolution-kemba-walker-hes-adjusting-complementary-role/
Walker was 2-5 on corner 3-pointers on the road trip. The five corner 3’s that he took equals one-third of the total corner 3’s he’s taken in 36 games this entire season. And of the 15 corner 3’s he’s taken, 12 have come since the All-Star break and 7 have come this month.
NBA Tracking data shows Tatum is being used as the pick-and-roll ballhandler 29.6% of the time this season, a 4% increase from last season and nearly double the frequency from two years ago. Add to that an increase of 2.3% for Jaylen Brown from last season, and a similar bump from Marcus Smart, and Walker is starting to see a little drop in how often he’s running that play at the top of the key.
It’s a minor drop, but it’s happening. He’s dropped from 9.8 to 9.2 possessions per game as the pick-and-roll ball handler, and his number possessions as a spot up shooter have gone up from 2 to 2.8. It’s a trend that has been more noticeable recently as the Celtics get more used to playing with each other.
Walker is also becoming more of a distributor. He was averaging 4.6 assists before the break, but is up to 5.8 after and 7 in April.
More importantly, it’s the types of shots he’s generating. He’s generating 17.7 points per game on his assists this month, a 5 point jump from his overall season average and 6.7 more points per game than his pre-break average. So, in total, Walker was accounting for 29.5 Celtics points before the break, but 32.1 this month while taking 3 fewer shots per game.
Walker is dropping some of his dimes in the traditional fashion, hitting rolling bigs off pick-and-rolls. But he’s also using his gravity in the corner and moving the ball quickly.
Not directly. Theis was either 1 or 1A with TT. Now it’s RW, TT and even GW given the matchup before Kornet. He’s in a nice spot for his skill level as CBS can throw him out there for Kornet’s best look. It’s a roster upgrade whether they keep Fall or not.
Agree. Kornet looks like a a guy guy to have around in a limited, situational, deep bench role.
Going into the playoffs:
Starters: Tatum-Brown-Walker-Smart-Rob Williams
Bench regulars: Thompson-Fournier-Pritchard
Deeper bench: Grant-Parker-Kornet-Ojeleye-Langford
"We're fucked if we need them to play": Edwards-Nesmith-Fall(tw)-Waters(tw)
Which guys from the deeper bench get minutes depends on matchups. Grant for smallball defense, Parker for smallball scoring, Kornet to draw out an opposing big or take 3s while not being clueless on D, Semi to defend Giannis, Langford for wing defense.