Analysis of Celtics Games, '21-'22 Season

Jimbodandy

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I'd add to that to my untrained eye, he seems to have had some bad ball luck. A lot of balls rolling off the rim in the early going so far. His ball-handling ability and length is getting him to the rim, he's just not finishing those looks.
I agree with this, but the cause could be that he hasn't been near a rim much in the last few years. Maybe he's just a bit rusty. You see the scorer's ability though.
 

RorschachsMask

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I’ve posted a few times about how long Tatum is holding/dribbling the ball in comparison to last year, still down quite a bit from last year. This year he dribbles the ball 3-7+ times 43% of the time, last year it was 49% of the time. Same deal with how long he holds the ball, it’s 6+ seconds 23% of the time, as opposed to 29% last year.

When digging into this, Schroder caught my eye. He dribbles the ball for 3-7+ times 50% of the time(32% for 7+ dribbles), and holds the ball for 6+ seconds 36% of the time. I know he plays point guard quite a bit, but that seems like a really long time lol.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I'd add to that to my untrained eye, he seems to have had some bad ball luck. A lot of balls rolling off the rim in the early going so far. His ball-handling ability and length is getting him to the rim, he's just not finishing those looks.
Romeo has developed his 3-pt shot in a pretty quick manner. His next leap offensively has to come from him tightening up his handle. This begins with him not being so straight up when he’s penetrating…..you can’t get into the lane consistently with such a high and loose handle.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I’ve posted a few times about how long Tatum is holding/dribbling the ball in comparison to last year, still down quite a bit from last year. This year he dribbles the ball 3-7+ times 43% of the time, last year it was 49% of the time. Same deal with how long he holds the ball, it’s 6+ seconds 23% of the time, as opposed to 29% last year.

When digging into this, Schroder caught my eye. He dribbles the ball for 3-7+ times 50% of the time(32% for 7+ dribbles), and holds the ball for 6+ seconds 36% of the time. I know he plays point guard quite a bit, but that seems like a really long time lol.
Without digging up your old posts and since you know these numbers, how has Tatum’s pct in this area changed since earlier in year? Many times when a teams focus is in a specific area as the year goes on the player tends to revert to what he knows. Is Tatum maintaining that same pct from earlier in year or slowly returning to his natural game?
 

RorschachsMask

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Without digging up your old posts and since you know these numbers, how has Tatum’s pct in this area changed since earlier in year? Many times when a teams focus is in a specific area as the year goes on the player tends to revert to what he knows. Is Tatum maintaining that same pct from earlier in year or slowly returning to his natural game?
It corrected some after 3/4 games, but since then it’s stayed extremely steady. Actually both have gone back down a bit over the last few games.

He’s clearly made a concerted effort to stop the ball less, now if only his shot could fall at a normal rate. The potential assists are the exact same as last year, 8.5 a game. Only Smart (11), and Schroder (9.7) are above him, which makes sense. Jaylen way down at 4.3, he’s been a pretty massive black hole this year, but his shot has been falling more than most other guys.
 

Fishy1

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It corrected some after 3/4 games, but since then it’s stayed extremely steady. Actually both have gone back down a bit over the last few games.

He’s clearly made a concerted effort to stop the ball less, now if only his shot could fall at a normal rate. The potential assists are the exact same as last year, 8.5 a game. Only Smart (11), and Schroder (9.7) are above him, which makes sense. Jaylen way down at 4.3, he’s been a pretty massive black hole this year, but his shot has been falling more than most other guys.
Jaylen's first night back was particularly nightmarish w/r/t passing. Last night he looked a little more willing to pass but there were other takes when the corner shooter was wide open and Jaylen threw up a prayer instead. He had a nice play under the basket giving it to Richardson, who gave it right back for an easy two. Hopefully we see more of that.

Romeo has developed his 3-pt shot in a pretty quick manner. His next leap offensively has to come from him tightening up his handle. This begins with him not being so straight up when he’s penetrating…..you can’t get into the lane consistently with such a high and loose handle.
Makes sense to me. Seems he's driving closeouts pretty well, regardless. A lot of quick ball-fakes, and then driving with the left or the right hand. His handle doesn't look as loose as it did in summer league or last year, but it's not very tight either.
 

ugmo33

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Romeo has developed his 3-pt shot in a pretty quick manner. His next leap offensively has to come from him tightening up his handle. This begins with him not being so straight up when he’s penetrating…..you can’t get into the lane consistently with such a high and loose handle.
I've noticed a big improvement in his release. Last night his one make was when he caught the ball high and went straight into his shot. almost no gather
https://www.nba.com/stats/events/?ContextMeasure=FG3M&EndPeriod=0&EndRange=28800&GameID=0022100302&PlayerID=1629641&RangeType=0&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular Season&StartPeriod=0&StartRange=0&TeamID=1610612738&flag=3&sct=plot&section=game
 

HomeRunBaker

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Yes I went into detail on his improved mechanics this summer. The kid clearly has some level of behind the scenes work ethic to make the leaps he has with his shot since he left college.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Just glancing at team stats, the Celtics are 25th in EFG at 50.2% (for reference, league average EFG is 51.8% while the Currys lead the league at 56.6%) and they are 10th at Opponent EFG at 50.4%. Hopefully their shooting will improve as the season goes along but hope is not a strategy. The question is whether the C's can find enough offense internally via Tatum et al reverting to better production or others stepping up.

If not, they may go external but given their constraints, the sort of player that is likely to be available and fit with them is another Fournier-type who can fill up the bucket but tends to give it all back over time. Of course, adding a player like that is likely to hurt them defensively but if they do shop away, I am assuming Stevens/Udoka have a plan for that. Maybe they can pry someone like a Bryn Forbes loose given the Spurs system connection but the player doesn't matter as much as getting a solution in place sooner rather than later. This team would look just a bit better if it could hit shots at a league average clip.
 

lovegtm

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Just glancing at team stats, the Celtics are 25th in EFG at 50.2% (for reference, league average EFG is 51.8% while the Currys lead the league at 56.6%) and they are 10th at Opponent EFG at 50.4%. Hopefully their shooting will improve as the season goes along but hope is not a strategy. The question is whether the C's can find enough offense internally via Tatum et al reverting to better production or others stepping up.

If not, they may go external but given their constraints, the sort of player that is likely to be available and fit with them is another Fournier-type who can fill up the bucket but tends to give it all back over time. Of course, adding a player like that is likely to hurt them defensively but if they do shop away, I am assuming Stevens/Udoka have a plan for that. Maybe they can pry someone like a Bryn Forbes loose given the Spurs system connection but the player doesn't matter as much as getting a solution in place sooner rather than later. This team would look just a bit better if it could hit shots at a league average clip.
Totally agree that hope is not a strategy, but "Jayson Tatum completely forgets how to shoot 3s" wasn't something I had on my bingo card for 2021-22. At a certain point, if your star just sucks on offense (and we can debate where he falls in the NBA rankings, but he's definitely the Celtics star), you're kind of screwed no matter what you do.

Adding a low-D 3-point guy could actually make some sense if they do the Kanter thing where they keep 4 good defenders out there with him at all times. The problem with Fournier wasn't Fournier per se, more that the team had a shit defensive identity overall, and he was expected to also play with Kemba. This year's team could have fit him in quite well imo.
 

sezwho

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Totally agree that hope is not a strategy, but "Jayson Tatum completely forgets how to shoot 3s" wasn't something I had on my bingo card for 2021-22. At a certain point, if your star just sucks on offense (and we can debate where he falls in the NBA rankings, but he's definitely the Celtics star), you're kind of screwed no matter what you do.

Adding a low-D 3-point guy could actually make some sense if they do the Kanter thing where they keep 4 good defenders out there with him at all times. The problem with Fournier wasn't Fournier per se, more that the team had a shit defensive identity overall, and he was expected to also play with Kemba. This year's team could have fit him in quite well imo.
I wonder if there’s a knock on effect: having a plus three-point shooter would encourage better habits. I genuinely think Tatum has a voice in the back of his mind saying why the hell am I gonna throw to these bricklayers? I guess Grant is shooting well right now, but he isn’t putting fear in anyone or generating gravity.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Totally agree that hope is not a strategy, but "Jayson Tatum completely forgets how to shoot 3s" wasn't something I had on my bingo card for 2021-22. At a certain point, if your star just sucks on offense (and we can debate where he falls in the NBA rankings, but he's definitely the Celtics star), you're kind of screwed no matter what you do.

Adding a low-D 3-point guy could actually make some sense if they do the Kanter thing where they keep 4 good defenders out there with him at all times. The problem with Fournier wasn't Fournier per se, more that the team had a shit defensive identity overall, and he was expected to also play with Kemba. This year's team could have fit him in quite well imo.
Tatum's never been "efficient" either. Any slip in shooting will make that gainfully obvious. It's not so obvious when he's hitting 39% of his 3s.
 

Fishy1

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When I think of superstar efficiency, I think of Giannis, Prime Lebron, Steph, Durant: guys who TS% is north or around 60% on huge volume. Those guys, with a good supporting cast, can get you to a championship in part because they can get you a bucket whenever you need one.

Jaylen and Jayson have both been around 58% TS for their career. That's pretty fucking good on the volume they're shooting, and I could see Tatum making a leap to 60%+. It took all of the guys listed above quite a few years to get their TS% to that level -- around 4-6 years, in fact. Even Steph only became the TS% monster we know in his sixth year.

Right now Tatum's sitting at an abysmal 50%. A correction there is due, and will make a huge difference for this team. Jaylen appears to have petered out at around 58%, which is fine. If his three point shot gets any better, then we'll have a different conversation.

I'm hoping for the Durant timeline for Tatum. Tatum's not as long as Durant, but he's very, very long, and they've both got sweet jumpshots and a reputation for being able to take over a game. Both of them also came into the league as poor playmakers. It took Durant six years in the league to get a positive AST/TO ratio and an AST% north of 20%. At around the same time, his TS% skyrocketed as well. He was around 57-60% his first five years, and then in his fifth, he shoots up to 64.7%, and he's never really looked back as a shooter.
 

benhogan

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The very worthwhile Athletic subscription.

https://theathletic.com/2987267/2021/11/30/revisiting-the-kemba-walker-trade-a-new-found-freedom-and-more-celtics-observations/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

Maybe FREEDOM is the byproduct of playing 2BIGZ? It forced IME to stop with the DNP-CD nonsense with Kanter. IME had Kanter as the 6th string Center over the first 13 games, he finally capitulated after the C's blew a 19pt 2nd half lead in Cavs game #1 by playing Jabari at the 5.

Freedom Trail
Over the last eight games, Boston has outscored opponents by 61 points during Freedom’s 113 minutes played. That margin comes out to 24.7 points per 100 possessions. The Celtics’ rebounding numbers with Freedom in the lineup have just been silly. They have grabbed 41.3 percent of available offensive rebounds with him on the court this season. How impressive is that? The 1997-98 Nets own the best offensive rebound rate of the last 25 seasons at 38.3 percent. The Celtics OREB rate has almost doubled with Freedom on the floor compared to when he’s on the bench.

The big man even earned late fourth-quarter minutes against the Raptors. Udoka said he also almost gave Freedom the nod in crunch-time against San Antonio in Boston’s previous game.

“Even if he doesn’t get (offensive rebounds), he takes two, three bodies to keep them off,” Udoka said. “He played well against San Antonio the other night and I thought about leaving him at the end of that game. So we (stayed) with him (against Toronto), that unit was really rolling together and did a great job. (It) doesn’t always show up in the stat sheet, but, you know, nine points, 10 rebounds, offensive glass like I mentioned. He’s a great screen setter, so all those things go unnoticed at times.


Kanter's screen setting does open up shots & passing lanes at the top, not "unnoticed" around here


Jay does a postscript on Kemba
1. Kemba made them a "fringe contender", except for injuries to him and Gordon.

2. Signing Walker still wasn’t smart business for the Celtics.

Walker’s knees may have been damaged before he ever signed with Boston. Even if they weren’t, his ability to age gracefully was always in question. For a 6-foot point guard, any loss of shiftiness or explosiveness promised to cause major issues. Unfortunately for him, we’ve seen that play out over the last couple of seasons.

After Irving and Horford decided to leave, the Celtics had a chance to pivot into a youth movement. They could have done everything possible to build around Tatum and Brown, hoping to set up the franchise to peak when those two were beginning to hit their primes. Instead, the Celtics took a chance on an aging point guard who wasn’t enough to make them title favorites even at his best. The Walker era could have gone much differently if he had stayed healthy, but the downside of the signing became all too apparent instead. Even so, it was stunning to see Walker fall out of the Knicks rotation as quickly as he did.
 

HomeRunBaker

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When I think of superstar efficiency, I think of Giannis, Prime Lebron, Steph, Durant: guys who TS% is north or around 60% on huge volume. Those guys, with a good supporting cast, can get you to a championship in part because they can get you a bucket whenever you need one.

Jaylen and Jayson have both been around 58% TS for their career. That's pretty fucking good on the volume they're shooting, and I could see Tatum making a leap to 60%+. It took all of the guys listed above quite a few years to get their TS% to that level -- around 4-6 years, in fact. Even Steph only became the TS% monster we know in his sixth year.

Right now Tatum's sitting at an abysmal 50%. A correction there is due, and will make a huge difference for this team. Jaylen appears to have petered out at around 58%, which is fine. If his three point shot gets any better, then we'll have a different conversation.

I'm hoping for the Durant timeline for Tatum. Tatum's not as long as Durant, but he's very, very long, and they've both got sweet jumpshots and a reputation for being able to take over a game. Both of them also came into the league as poor playmakers. It took Durant six years in the league to get a positive AST/TO ratio and an AST% north of 20%. At around the same time, his TS% skyrocketed as well. He was around 57-60% his first five years, and then in his fifth, he shoots up to 64.7%, and he's never really looked back as a shooter.
As was mentioned above about Tatum trusting his shooters it isn’t a coincidence that Durant had a low AST% when the shooters around him, aside from Westbrook, were pre 3-pt shot Ibaka, Sefolosha, and Jeff Green then it took a significant bump once Caron Butler and Anthony Morrow replaced them. When you are the teams best scorer it all falls on you to score……if you don’t trust those around you the natural response is going to be in trusting yourself. Do you think Michael Jordan draws a double for Kerr’s open jumper to win the Championship if that was Randy Brown in the game rather than Kerr? Absolutely not.
 

Fishy1

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As was mentioned above about Tatum trusting his shooters it isn’t a coincidence that Durant had a low AST% when the shooters around him, aside from Westbrook, were pre 3-pt shot Ibaka, Sefolosha, and Jeff Green then it took a significant bump once Caron Butler and Anthony Morrow replaced them. When you are the teams best scorer it all falls on you to score……if you don’t trust those around you the natural response is going to be in trusting yourself. Do you think Michael Jordan draws a double for Kerr’s open jumper to win the Championship if that was Randy Brown in the game rather than Kerr? Absolutely not.
Of course not. But causality is more complicated than you present it: you don't turn the ball over more than you assist others just because the shooters around you are bad. Westbrook still managed to average around 8 or 9 assists a couple of those years.
 

slamminsammya

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As was mentioned above about Tatum trusting his shooters it isn’t a coincidence that Durant had a low AST% when the shooters around him, aside from Westbrook, were pre 3-pt shot Ibaka, Sefolosha, and Jeff Green then it took a significant bump once Caron Butler and Anthony Morrow replaced them. When you are the teams best scorer it all falls on you to score……if you don’t trust those around you the natural response is going to be in trusting yourself. Do you think Michael Jordan draws a double for Kerr’s open jumper to win the Championship if that was Randy Brown in the game rather than Kerr? Absolutely not.
I am with you until that lsat sentence. You mean they wouldn't double MJ off Randy Brown? Or did you mean to say MJ isn't passing out of that double team?
 

HomeRunBaker

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Of course not. But causality is more complicated than you present it: you don't turn the ball over more than you assist others just because the shooters around you are bad. Westbrook still managed to average around 8 or 9 assists a couple of those years.
Theoretically yes. If you aren’t trusting your shooters to pass the ball to you are going to be forcing more yourself which you would think could create more turnovers. Westbrook operated as the initiator and surely got many cheapos simply from dumping it to Durant especially at home with your own official game scorer.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I am with you until that lsat sentence. You mean they wouldn't double MJ off Randy Brown? Or did you mean to say MJ isn't passing out of that double team?
Jordan isn’t passing to Randy Brown with the game on the line was my point no matter how open he was.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I guess Grant is shooting well right now, but he isn’t putting fear in anyone or generating gravity.
I believe he's generating some gravity as my (failing) eyes tell me that teams are beginning to close out harder on GW than they have in the past.

It will be true gravity when they are unwilling to double off of him. maybe 20 more games for that. :)

I'm hoping for the Durant timeline for Tatum. Tatum's not as long as Durant, but he's very, very long, and they've both got sweet jumpshots and a reputation for being able to take over a game. Both of them also came into the league as poor playmakers. It took Durant six years in the league to get a positive AST/TO ratio and an AST% north of 20%. At around the same time, his TS% skyrocketed as well. He was around 57-60% his first five years, and then in his fifth, he shoots up to 64.7%, and he's never really looked back as a shooter.
One thing that KD has that JT doesn't is a shot KD can go to that is basically unguardable. When KD can pull up from 17 feet, his release is so high and he is so long that there's nothing anyone can do about it and when he needs a bucket, he goes there.

JT has a lot in his bag but he doesn't have that signature shot.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Of course not. Causality is more complicated than you present it, though you don't turn the ball over more than you assist others just because the shooters around you are bad.
Why not? Rather than pass the ball, maybe he tries to do too much with the dribble and turns the ball over.

Besides that, Tatum's TO% is at 9.9%. His career rate is 10.2%. He's not really turning the ball over more and despite what we game thread, TOs aren't a huge issue for Tatum. As a team, the C's are about mid pack and could afford to improve. That will be mostly up to DS and MS though.

The C's are 19th in APG, so slightly below average. That's a very crude way of measuring playmaking, but I think most people would agree the C's are a slightly below (or worse) average playmaking team. Couple that with average ball protection and inconsistency from game to game, and it seems worse than it is. Or accurate, if you have a lower opinion of me on the C's playmaking.

They have above average playmaking at the big spot and Tatum isn't "dreadful." Sometimes it does appear that way, but that's a function of Brown (who is a black hole) and Smart/DS arguably being below average for the PG position. Smart could also be above average if he's not playing PG. Tatum, himself, is probably average or maybe even slightly above average. I also think TL and AL are above average playmakers at their position but playing both together has diminishing returns.

The team could probably use a better playmaker than Smart, but they need a shooter/scorer more. Ideally, they'd find a player who could do all those things and play D. Good luck with that. More realistically, they might be able to acquire an Evan Fournier type/Ricky Rubio type player later in the season. With as bad as the O has been this year, any type of shooting and/or shot creation would help.

The C's can afford to sacrifice some D for O. The easiest way to do that is getting rid of the 2 big lineup. The drop in D may even be made up for it by being able to have one of TL or AL on the court at all times. I could get behind Grant Williams starting and playing 25 minutes a game. I'm not sure he's a shooter/scorer, but he's been an accurate shooter for awhile now and has been doing so with volume this year. If he's hitting his open 3s, he's going to be scoring by default. When he doesn't, it becomes problematic but they also have JRich who is more the shooter/scorer type. I'd be playing him closer to 30 too.

If Ime wants to go with a tight rotation, just play 8 guys close to 30 minutes a game. Maybe have Al, TL and Grant closer to 26 and Tatum, Brown Smart closer to 34. Have DS and JRich around 30. Could also go a little lighter on minutes played for a few of those players to make room for regular season Freedom. This is also the C's, so one of those 8 players is almost always going to miss the game. That's 30 minutes to spread out to whoever, probably Kanter, RL and the occasional PP/AN sighting. Play 6-8 more, not 1-5.

Grant's last 9 games: 10.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.6 TO, 0.9 blocks on .552/.500/1.000 shooting in 27.3 mpg. He has 8 blocks in his last 5. Probably just noise, but he's at 1.0 block/36 for his career (2.6% Blk%). Not great, not bad. He actually has more blocks this year than TO, 12 vs 11. If he does fill the C's Burke/Luke/3PPAG role, this team would actually be pretty good when healthy. It would extend the team a lot and makes scoring a non factor. Even if he starts, having Al, DS and JRich off your bench still provides plenty of scoring, though the shooting leaves some to be desired.

Of course the team is never healthy for any stretch of time, but having 8 players instead of 7 will help there too. Think how bad the C's would be with last years version of Grant Williams.

edit: Also, if Grant Williams ends up our Luke, we could still add our Rubio.
 

HomeRunBaker

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This idea reminds me of this play, which I recall Lebron getting a lot of shit for.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzw4GcA4TVM&ab_channel=PauPadilla


Hilarious in retrospect that it had people wondering if he was weak in the playoffs.
This is why I feel one play or even a handful of games for a player who was best at deferring entering the league is so overstated. Someone is going to get a steal in Ben Simmons unless his work ethic is horrific and he has no heart.
 

lovegtm

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I believe he's generating some gravity as my (failing) eyes tell me that teams are beginning to close out harder on GW than they have in the past.

It will be true gravity when they are unwilling to double off of him. maybe 20 more games for that. :)


One thing that KD has that JT doesn't is a shot KD can go to that is basically unguardable. When KD can pull up from 17 feet, his release is so high and he is so long that there's nothing anyone can do about it and when he needs a bucket, he goes there.

JT has a lot in his bag but he doesn't have that signature shot.
JT's sidestep 3 was well on its way to being that shot before this season
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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This year's Celtics team continues the club's recent trend of being a terrible assisting team (nominally - didn't look at potential). Its been this way for a few years now but the more important point is that a higher nominal APG doesn't necessarily translate into more winning. I understand that teams with superstars may see less ball movement but the point is, its not clear what better distribution gets you if you don't have that superstar talent or even enough skill to take advantage of the resultant open looks.

In short, to me they need more scoring. Both Tatum and Brown can play to their current ceilings and they will still need more. However they need to prioritize shooting/scoring over passing at present. The former is clearly affecting their results whereas its unclear that the latter will meaningfully change their trajectory.
 

HomeRunBaker

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This year's Celtics team continues the club's recent trend of being a terrible assisting team (nominally - didn't look at potential). Its been this way for a few years now but the more important point is that a higher nominal APG doesn't necessarily translate into more winning. I understand that teams with superstars may see less ball movement but the point is, its not clear what better distribution gets you if you don't have that superstar talent or even enough skill to take advantage of the resultant open looks.

In short, to me they need more scoring. Both Tatum and Brown can play to their current ceilings and they will still need more. However they need to prioritize shooting/scoring over passing at present. The former is clearly affecting their results whereas its unclear that the latter will meaningfully change their trajectory.
Totally agree. Ball movement is great when it involves Steph, Paul, etc……it’s not so great when it involves Grant, Romeo, and Marcus.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Yes I went into detail on his improved mechanics this summer. The kid clearly has some level of behind the scenes work ethic to make the leaps he has with his shot since he left college.
Romeo was lauded for his work ethic last season while he was recovering from the wrist surgery. He apparently had a lot of single sessions with a coach to work on his left hand and shooting in particular
 

Fishy1

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Brown is a dreadful playmaker, I certainly wouldn't call Tatum that. I find the business about turnovers being generated by trying to do too much with the ball pretty convincing, but have to think some of that improvement was also KD just getting better at moving the ball.

Anyway, I'm basically in agreement otherwise. This team needs a playmaker and a scorer, and ideally they would be packaged into one. Someone ideally much better than Schroder: on the other hand, I'm interested to see how this team looks once Tatum starts playing more consistently.

Agree as well that Tatum's side-step three was unguardable. I wish he would use it in the mid-range too, as I'm pretty sure his fall-away is a pretty bad shot numbers-wise - can anyone confirm that? (At the doctor's office...)
 

RorschachsMask

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Yeah I disagree when people lump the Jay’s together as playmakers (not talking about here, just an in general statement), Tatum is averaging double the potential assists a game as Jaylen, after averaging 3 more last year. The usage is pretty similar, as well. I only use potential assists just because it’s a good indicator of how much you’re actually setting guys up.

Obviously a big part of why Tatum averages so much more of them is because defenses load on him, but where I feel he’s made a leap this year is his recognition and reaction time when defenses swarm him.

His shot is due for some serious correction, and it’s going to be beautiful when it happens.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Broderick Thomas is showing himself to be a very strong scorer in the G League setting. Anyone know enough about him to know whether he has a future with the Cs as a Microwave-style scorer off the bench? Watching Maine Celtics highlights (I'm amazed that's a thing you can do), he looks like a guy who can finish from basically anywhere on the floor. But hard to tell if it's just because there aren't many elite defenders in the G League.
 

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Jay King's stat (quoted above by DeJesus Built My Hotrod) that the Celtics were only 4-8 when opponents score 100 points sounds bad (and does point to the team's offensive shortcomings). But the league as a whole is 168-283 (.373) in this situation, so it's not all that bad. (Worst are the Spurs at 1-12; best are the Warriors at 9-2.)
 

RorschachsMask

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Smart is now third on the team in drives to the rim per game, at 9.7, and over the last ten games that number is up to 12.8, which would be good for 24th in the league.

There was absolutely an adjustment period, but he’s starting to play like we need him to offensively.
 

chilidawg

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Smart is now third on the team in drives to the rim per game, at 9.7, and over the last ten games that number is up to 12.8, which would be good for 24th in the league.

There was absolutely an adjustment period, but he’s starting to play like we need him to offensively.
Karalis Locked on Celtics today was bullish on Smart's play the last 4 games. I was half listening, but he had a bunch of potential assist/passes made type stats to illustrate his point.

If Ime can get the buy in offensively that he's gotten defensively the next month could be fun.
 

RorschachsMask

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Karalis Locked on Celtics today was bullish on Smart's play the last 4 games. I was half listening, but he had a bunch of potential assist/passes made type stats to illustrate his point.

If Ime can get the buy in offensively that he's gotten defensively the next month could be fun.
Smart and Tatum have been the catalysts of the ball really moving around recently, but Smart is the biggest reason. Over the last 10 games, he’s at 12 potential assists a game. Over the last 5 games, it’s up to 13.8 a game. Tatum at 11 a game over the last 5 as well, Schroder next up at 8.8.

We haven’t hit enough shots, with Tatum being the biggest offender, but it seems like Ime has really gotten him and Smart to buy in.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Jesus. Six seconds left, Tatum having a good game, one basket ices it, and you run a play where he is wholly uninvolved - just watches Schroder predictably fuck it up. So stupid.

win anyway on a Rob block
 

pjheff

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Jesus. Six seconds left, Tatum having a good game, one basket ices it, and you run a play where he is wholly uninvolved
Was Tatum having a good game? I know that he made an impact on the boards, and his final stat line looks deceptively okay, but I had no confidence in going to him in that spot.
 

RorschachsMask

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Was Tatum having a good game? I know that he made an impact on the boards, and his final stat line looks deceptively okay, but I had no confidence in going to him in that spot.
He was definitely good in the second half, 16 on 6/11 shooting. Was excellent defensively the whole game though.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Celtics hold another opponent below their season FG average (76ers have been hitting at a 45.9% rate on the year) and yet another team below 40% from the floor - I believe that is seven times this year.

The offense is a different story.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Was Tatum having a good game? I know that he made an impact on the boards, and his final stat line looks deceptively okay, but I had no confidence in going to him in that spot.
We would have scored in the 70’s without Tatum. He was crucial tonight in this style of game.
 

Jimbodandy

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Well the offense is still a work in progress, but you can see them trying something different at least...at times.

The defense is a joy to watch. Embiid and Harris are going to sleep hard tonight, because neither could get comfortable the whole game. Everyone is buying in.

Team still looks like shit, but they're turning the page from last year's half assing it at one end and seeming working out the kinks are the other. I'm encouraged.
 

Eddie Jurak

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I'd love to see a stat on how Schroder does when he gets the ball and attacks, versus when he gets the ball and dribbles a bunch without going anywhere first. Obviously, on the last play that had a purpose - running time off the clock, which Schroder did even though he came nowhere near scoring. But it seems like things go well for Schroder when he gets it and goes, and not so well when he gets it, putters around,a nd then tries to go.

Tatum had 26 points on 9-20 shooting, which is good, so he is my go-to guy late.

This game amused me because of all the consternation about the Celtics starting double bigs. The Celtics jumped out to a 11-4 lead in the first quarter with Al scoring 7 points and Rob chipoing in the other 4. Alas, they cooled off quite a bit after that, with both ending the game with 10 points.

Marcus didn't shoot well, but led the team against with 8 assists, including at least 2 lobs to Rob. More than anyone else on the team, Marcus looks to get Rob dunks.

Brown looked off, hamstring clearly bothering him. If there is anything to be gained by shutting him down, I'd shut him down.

EK Freedom got 17 minutes. Held his own (-1), grabbed 7 boards, didn't shoot well. There is all sorts of potential for great game calls with him in there now. "Schroder drives, spins, tries to get to Freedom..."

Richardson took an elbow to the head that drew blood and required 4 stitches, but he returned to the game. What is it with the NBA head contact policy? For all the talk of protecting players by calling shots to the head, a lot seem to still go unnoticed. This one was pretty obviously unintentional.
 

lovegtm

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Richardson took an elbow to the head that drew blood and required 4 stitches, but he returned to the game. What is it with the NBA head contact policy? For all the talk of protecting players by calling shots to the head, a lot seem to still go unnoticed. This one was pretty obviously unintentional.
My sense is that the league is trying to go to replay less, so de-emphasized doing video review every time someone gets hit in the head. Honestly, I'm fine with it. If you play NBA basketball, you're going to get unintentionally hit in the head sometimes. It's not a regular thing like in football, and there aren't many concussions in the NBA. At a certain point, guys know what they signed up for when they're playing a physical sport.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Oh man. 5 in a row on the road against the Jazz, Blazers, Lakers, Clippers, and Suns. Then back home for the Bucks and Warriors. I’d be pretty much over the moon thrilled with 4-3 over that stretch, but that is a bloodbath schedule. Wouldn’t be shocked to see 2-5 or 1-6. Think we’ll learn a lot about this team over the next week and a half.
 

RorschachsMask

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Oh man. 5 in a row on the road against the Jazz, Blazers, Lakers, Clippers, and Suns. Then back home for the Bucks and Warriors. I’d be pretty much over the moon thrilled with 4-3 over that stretch, but that is a bloodbath schedule. Wouldn’t be shocked to see 2-5 or 1-6. Think we’ll learn a lot about this team over the next week and a half.
Lillard is out, LeBron is likely Out, obviously Kawhi too. And who knows about Booker, he hurt his hamstring the other night.

Still really tough games, but definitely winnable.