Celtics 2023-24, Season Thread, (con't)

zoyathedestroya · Post #1461 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 8:24 am

Post-ASB, Celtics are making 17.5 threes per game at a 41.4% clip. If they keep that pace for the final 7 games, they will break the NBA single-season record of made threes set by the Dubs last season (1,365 vs. 1,363).

playa-hater · Post #1462 » by **playa-hater** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 3:45 pm

Just a random thought. But any hope/expectation or desire to see J Begarin or Nadar for next season? Or did their ship sail from Boston/NBA??

I feel Nadar will never come over and Begarin just doesn't have enough shooting.. But will admit I haven't seen/heard much these last few months on them.

playa-hater · Post #1463 » by **playa-hater** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 3:46 pm

zoyathedestroya wrote:Post-ASB, Celtics are making 17.5 threes per game at a 41.4% clip. If they keep that pace for the final 7 games, they will break the NBA single-season record of made threes set by the Dubs last season (1,365 vs. 1,363).

Big credit to Hauser for that. I believe is still #1in 3pt% since Post ASB.

Hal14 · Post #1464 » by **Hal14** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 7:36 pm

playa-hater wrote:Just a random thought. But any hope/expectation or desire to see J Begarin or Nadar for next season? Or did their ship sail from Boston/NBA??

I feel Nadar will never come over and Begarin just doesn't have enough shooting.. But will admit I haven't seen/heard much these last few months on them.

I definitely don't think their ship has sailed. I posted this recently in the Begarin thread, but a lot of the overseas guys who have come over to the NBA in recent years have been older guys..

Vasilije Micic - draft and stash - came over at age 29 after winning EuroLeague MVP
Sasha Vezenkov - draft and stash - came over at age 28 after winning EuroLeague MVP

Other guys who came over to NBA from overseas recently but were not drafted:
Fontecchio - signed with Jazz at age 27 after being a top 5-ish player in EuroLeague
Jack White - signed with Nuggets at age 25 after being a top 5-ish player in Australia league
Duop Reath - signed with Blazers at age 27 after being a top 5-ish player in Australia league
Xavier Cooks - signed with Wizards at age 27 after being MVP of Australia league

So the trend seems to be that these overseas guys / draft and stash guys tend to stay overseas for their whole career, or perhaps make the jump to the NBA sometime between age 25 - 29 but only after they've been an MVP (or at least a top 5-ish) player in the EuroLeague (or a different league that's a top pro league in the world like NBL - the australia league)

Daniel Theis also supports this narrative. Undrafted but then was an all-star, league's best defender and won championships in the German league and then signed with Boston at age 25.

I think there's 2 reasons for this:

1) And NBA team isn't gonna just bring a guy over from overseas who's merely a role player on their overseas team..they're only gonna bring over a guy who's REALLY crushing it overseas, so that player is more likely to make it in the NBA, which is of course much better than all the overseas pro league

2) These overseas guys are content with just staying overseas..they get good money over there, plenty of playing time. Often times they're living/playing in their home country where their friends/family are there, they know the language, they know the food, etc. So if they're gonna go and leave to try and join the NBA, they're not gonna do it to just be an end of the bench guy or a 2-way contract guy. They're only gonna do it if they have a legit chance at getting some real minutes. And typically it's only the best of the best (guys who are EuroLeague MVPs..) who are good enough to leave their overseas league and actually get mins in the NBA.

Of course, like with anything, there are exceptions. This season we saw 2 guys (Karlo Matkovic and Tristan Vukcevic) who are draft and stash guys, both younger (around same age as Begarin and Madar) who left their overseas team to join the NBA team that had their draft rights.

Matkovic though has just been in the G league for the Pelicans..has not played in an NBA game yet for them (probably because the Pelicans are the 6 seed in the west, so they're not gonna just throw some young, unproven rookie who just came over from Europe into the fire (yet). Even though he's not getting mins yet for the Pelicans, I think they brought him over because:
a) they had a legit need at the backup center position
b) Matkovic made some impressive improvements during his first 34 games this season, compared to last season. He went from 16 MPG to 28, he went from 8 PPG to 15. And he actually finally started taking (and making 3's)..going from a non-shooter his whole career to 42.6% from 3 on 1.3 attempts per game.

Vukcevic has at least gotten some playing time for the Wizards but not much (5 games so far, 6 MPG, 1.8 PPG). Also, the team context is much different for the Wizards (young, tanking team that has basically no one else who can play center) so much more of an opportunity to play for Vukcevic.

What does this all mean for Madar and Begarin? It probably means they'll never come over. If they do, it'll probably be for an NBA team that has more of an opportunity for them to get mins (like the situation that Vukcevic has in Washington). So perhaps at some point we might trade Begarin/Madar's draft rights? Or just keep them stashed over there and hope they develop into a top 5-ish player in Europe, in which case they could come over and compete for some legit mins in Boston.

Or perhaps Begarin or Madar makes a really significant improvement as a player and the Celtics have more of a need at their position (like the situation with Matkovic)..

TL/DR I would say that Begarin and Madar are both definitely long shots to play for Boston, but you never know..I wouldn't completely close the book on them..

fallguy · Post #1465 » by **fallguy** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 11:06 pm

Better peak years: Rajon Rondo or Jaylen Brown?

playa-hater · Post #1466 » by **playa-hater** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 11:26 pm

fallguy wrote:Better peak years: Rajon Rondo or Jaylen Brown?

Brown.... And i'm hoping he has not even peaked yet..

Fierce1 · Post #1467 » by **Fierce1** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 11:28 pm

Brown will peak when he's 29 or 30.

sam_I_am · Post #1468 » by **sam_I_am** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 11:35 pm

fallguy wrote:Better peak years: Rajon Rondo or Jaylen Brown?

Interesting partly because Rondo’s career as an elite player was over at 26, probably due to his knee injury. Brown just got to his peak last season at the age of 26. Is this season for Brown better than Rondo in 2009-2012? I think so but Rondo was so unique that it’s hard to compare him.

Fierce1 · Post #1469 » by **Fierce1** » Tue Apr 2, 2024 11:54 pm

The final piece to the puzzle for JB is when he stops making stupid mistakes.

When that happens, that's his peak.

ConstableGeneva · Post #1470 » by **ConstableGeneva** » Wed Apr 3, 2024 4:11 am

Read on Twitter

Nice. Have they won the title yet?

Joshyjess · Post #1471 » by **Joshyjess** » Wed Apr 3, 2024 5:09 pm

ConstableGeneva wrote:

Read on Twitter

Nice. Have they won the title yet?

5....4....3....2....

itrsteve · Post #1472 » by **itrsteve** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 2:04 am

Don’t get me wrong as I get down on this team as it feels like we’re finally there

But let’s be real, only 3 losses at home this season and they just clinched HCA for the league.

There’s no way that cant help.

zoyathedestroya · Post #1473 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 4:09 am

Celtics bench net rating is now 6.1. Previous recorded high on nba.com is 5.8 by the 2016 Spurs and 2012 Bulls. Their 60.4% TS% is also an all-time (recorded) high.

Celtics have no depth though.

Fierce1 · Post #1474 » by **Fierce1** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 4:16 am

zoyathedestroya wrote:Celtics bench net rating is now 6.1. Previous recorded high on nba.com is 5.8 by the 2016 Spurs and 2012 Bulls. Their 60.4% TS% is also an all-time (recorded) high.

Celtics have no depth though.

Cs must have a great coach for something like that to happen.

zoyathedestroya · Post #1475 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 6:28 am

Of the non-shortened 82-game seasons, there have been 22 instances when only a single team reached 60 wins. In half of those instances, the 60-win team won the title.

Results:
• 11 won the title
• 7 lost the conference finals
• 3 lost the conference semifinals
• 1 lost in the 1st round

The Celtics are the only 60-win team in 2023-24.

Read on Twitter

Only six of the previous 13 went on to win the title.

zoyathedestroya · Post #1476 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 11:33 am

zoyathedestroya wrote:Post-ASB, Celtics are making 17.5 threes per game at a 41.4% clip. If they keep that pace for the final 7 games, they will break the NBA single-season record of made threes set by the Dubs last season (1,365 vs. 1,363).

For this season, the Celtics now...
• have the highest three-point attempt rate (.472)
• have the highest three-point percentage (42.5%)
• take the most threes per 100 possessions (43.1)
• make the most threes per game (16.6)

Celtics need 104 made threes in final six games to break Dubs record.

zoyathedestroya · Post #1477 » by **zoyathedestroya** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 11:47 am

Read on Twitter

Celts17Pride · Post #1478 » by **Celts17Pride** » Thu Apr 4, 2024 3:46 pm

Read on Twitter

Post #1479 » by **bisme37** » Fri Apr 5, 2024 4:31 pm

Read on Twitter

Deivork · Post #1480 » by **Deivork** » Sat Apr 6, 2024 11:52 am

Funny ending against the Kings. Last year, Tatum was much more of the engine, now we kinda struggle without White. I guess it's mostly the system, but I feel Tat's a bit more limited in moves and creativity compared to previous years. Feels like a bit of regression, but it's probably circumstancial.

On top off that, when pre-2024 Brown would miss a game the Cs used to play better, more fluid. Now he's missed too because he's improved and plays much better within the system.

I'm gonna make a wild bet here: if the Cs actually win the title this year, it'll be with Holiday as our playoff MVP.