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The Celtics are 4-6 but 7-3 was within reach with two 1 point losses to Philadelphia and a 2 point loss to Utah. Despite a heavenly start to the season by Jaylen Brown, and a number of Celtics simply exceeding expectations (Minott, Scheierman, Garza), there have been 3 notable disappointments (White, Pritch and Hauser).

Derrick White
In 2025 76 Games 58% Effective Shooting %, 1.3 Points Per Shot
In 2026 10 Games 41% Effective Shooting %, 0.953 Points Per Shot

Payton Pritchard
In 2025 80 Games 62% Effective Shooting %, 1.32 Points Per shot
In 2026 10 Games 51% Effective Shooting %, 1.19 Points Per Shot

Sam Hauser
In 2025 71 Games 63% Effective Shooting %, 1.27 Points Per Shot
In 2026 10 Games 51% Effective Shooting %, 1.06 Points Per Shot

Championship Teams typically average 1.3 Points Per Shot or Better, with an Effective Field Goal % of 55% or Better.

The loss of Tatum, the floor Spreading Porzingis and Horford, the consummate teammate in Jrue Holiday and the rim running Kornet seem to have increased the defensive attention White, Pritch and Hauser are commanding. Their looks are hurried, just a bit, and they're not hitting their wide open looks at the same rate as last season.

This team has actually played pretty well as a team, with significant contributions from newcomers Josh Minott and Luke Garza, and some glimmers of hope from Hugo Gonzalez, and a coming of age, it seems, for Baylor Scheierman, that if White, Pritch and Hauser were anything close to last season the team would be 7-3.

From what I've seen so far, as much as I'd like to criticize the lack of originality on offense, the fact that 3 of the teams 5 natural scorers need a bushel for a basket is the main thing that has gotten in the way of a 7-3 start vs their 4-6 actual start.

On the other hand, non-Tatum health has been pretty good.

One or more of the guys you named may be playing through something -- White is the top candidate -- but otherwise it's been nearly perfect.

Yes


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Thank goodness for them
At least some people know how to drive a tank
I would like boozer to walk through that door

This is what happens with losing teams. A ton of ifs.

Okay?

PP with a .535 TS% and +8.3 on/off to DWhite's .453 and -6.9.

And Sammy's .366 from 3 isn't that far off his usual, given it's the start of the year and he's only shot 6/game.

Are they shooting poorly because they are supplementary players being asked to take on too large of a role?

White shot well when it was time to win the game. And his defense was excellent throughout. The shooting will come around. When a team plays five games in 7 nights and multiple back to backs the legs get tired, and that's when the shot goes.

Typically when teams score more they do better yep.

The front court rebounding woes have been discussed ad nauseum, but we should really be talking about the bigger impact on our offense.

White needs more than a lob threat to get his space and separation offensively. Success in todays league is predicated on a teams ability to be effective out of high pnr.

For as hard as Queta plays, defensive schemes don't respect him, you're not switching anything and teams are incredibly comfortable pushing out on the ball hander - which leads to a predictable lob heave or lateral ball movement around the perimeter. This is a massive change from having an elite two man game available to him last season, or happily being the perimeter trailer when Tatum or Brown are at the point of attack on a break.

Payton is no longer receiving wide open set shots off a second or third pass originating from Tatum/Brown/White/Porzingis actions. I don't think the drop in FG% should come as a surprise, he was in the perfect setting to maximise his strengths and limit his weakness.

I expect the shooting will lift slightly as the season progresses, but this is just a consequence of shifting from the best roster construction in the nba, to one with the worst front court in the league.

I expect White's shooting %'s will improve. However, Jrue Holiday is playing better than White this year. Jrue has 2 more season on his deal at $35M avg, Derrick has 3 more yrs left averaging $32M. For Jrue we could only get an expiring Simons who we couldn't move for pick/prospect value

I'm starting to think under the new tax/apron system of this CBA that Derrick is veering away from "value contract" status & towards "bad contract" status, which sucks. PP is playing better than Derrick this year and Payton is making about 25% of Derrick's salary.

The financial bind of our team kind of sucks right now. I'm grateful that we won in 2024 and raised that banner because if we hadnt won it, dismantling the team because of the tax/aprons would be unbearably deflating

cloverleaf wrote:PP with a .535 TS% and +8.3 on/off to DWhite's .453 and -6.9.

And Sammy's .366 from 3 isn't that far off his usual, given it's the start of the year and he's only shot 6/game.

Last year I think Tatum was the focus of opposing defenses, followed by Brown, and then White.

This season it seems to me that White is the Focus of opposing defense, followed by Brown. The added attention teams are placing on making White's job more difficult is affecting him. He went from being the third concern to the primary, and it's tough to be in that role (though Tatum seems to deal with it without too much difficulty).

Jammer wrote:Last year I think Tatum was the focus of opposing defenses, followed by Brown, and then White.

This season it seems to me that White is the Focus of opposing defense, followed by Brown. The added attention teams are placing on making White's job more difficult is affecting him. He went from being the third concern to the primary, and it's tough to be in that role (though Tatum seems to deal with it without too much difficulty).

Tatum, Porzingis, Holiday, Horford, and Kornet have all been replaced by significantly inferior offensive players. White, Pritchard, and Hauser are being asked to create their own offense which isnt their strength. Tatum dominated the ball last year and had 6 assists per game, Brown dominates the ball this year and has 4. Pritchard and White arent going to shoot under 30% from 3 for the year, but to expect the offense to be as smooth as it was at times with last years roster this year is delusional.