ImNotMcDiSwear wrote: 
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Edit: to clarify my
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Tatum - 34.3 3FG% on 4 3FGA*
Horford - 35.5 3FG% on 3.6 3FGA
Brown - 34.1 3FG% on 1.7 3FGA
Baynes - 0 3FGA
Kyrie - 40.1 3FG% on 6.1 3FGA
Mook - 33.1 3FG% on 4.5 3FGA
Rozier - 31.8 3FG% on 2.4 3FGA
Smart - 28.3 3FG% on 4.2 3FGA
Not that impressive, is it? The asterisk represents a college basketball stat; the rest are these players' percentages and attempts from the prior year. How did all of these players (save Kyrie and Smart) suddenly improve so dramatically?
You can't tell me Brown is a better shooter than Booker. If that's your opinion, you rely too heavily on stats. We all complain about our coaching and culture and mix of players, and then we assume these factors that negatively impact our team's production somehow wouldn't have a depressing affect on our players' stats.
Bender shot better from 3 last year than Horford had during any year of his career, save for last season. Bridges shot much better in college than did Tatum. Why can't Jackson or Warren improve, with a system that caters to, and personnel that compliments, their abilities? If you tell TJ to focus on the corner 3, I bet you he can get to 35% on moderate volume. I think Jackson has high-thirties in him - and maybe better. Brandon's down to a career 35.7 3FG%, after his disastrous first two seasons in Phoenix - better than any of the Celtics' rotation players other than Kyrie if you're looking at the previous year's stats.
I submit to you that if you put our current cast in a good system with Ayton in the middle, you'll see our players' percentages more closely approach their full potential. Certainly, Smart doesn't prevent
other players from shooting the ball well. I submit to you that our roster as currently constructed - and with an additional point guard - will shoot the ball well and generate quality offense. Marcus Smart's deficiency in this regard I can't believe is so terrible as to negate that.
But what this squad does not have is great defenders. Dragan's good, but not great, and is limited in what he can do. Ayton obviously is no defensive savant. Booker's not a good defender and can only hope to get closer to average, IMO. TJ's underrated, but not great. Jackson should be solid but I don't think will ever be a stopper. And Knight - well, I'm just hoping for "not bad." Bridges is the only blue-chip defender in that core group.
I think Marcus Smart elevates his teammates, and that he would help plug the HUGE hole on the defensive end in our Booker-Knight-[???]-JJ-Daniels-[Okobo] backcourt rotation. If you don't see that the hole in the backcourt is not shooting, but defense, I don't know what to tell you. We have the talent on offense and a coach that can get us to good or great on that end. On defense? That's where we need better players. Ain't nobody coaching well enough to turn Knight/Booker into a solid defensive backcourt.
The ONLY reasons I'm dubious about the prospect of adding Smart is how impressed I was by Shaq's performance at the end of last season, and how willing Smart and Knight are to taking a bench role. If not for those factors, Marcus would be clear and away my Plan A for the offseason. I go back and forth on whether he's Plan or Plan B, but in any case, he's foremost in my mind when I think of this year's free agents.
