Sam Perkins ( 1995 ) 9.0 - All-D Votes, 39.7% on 4.2 3PA
Kawhi Leonard ( 2021 ) 17.5 - All-NBA, all-D, 39.8% on 4.9 3PA
Paul George ( 2021 ) 17.6 - All-NBA, all-D votes, 41.1% on 7.7 3PA
Desmond Bane ( 2023 ) 16.2 - All-D Votes, 39.7% on 4.2 3PA
Chauncey Billups ( 2008 ) 11.2 - DPOY Votes, 40.1% on 4.4 3PA
Robert Williams ( 2021 ) 5 - Highest PER of career, 3.3 blocks per 36
Nic Batum ( 2021 ) 6.1 - Excellent D, 40.4% on 4.1 3PA
Terrance Mann ( 2021 ) 5.2 - Highest PER of career, 41.8% on 1.4 3PA
87.9 / 88.0 87.8
Sam Perkins (36) / Robert Williams (12)
Kawhi Leonard (38) / Nic Batum (10)
Paul George (38) / Nic Batum (10)
Desmond Bane (28) / Terrance Mann (12) / Nic Batum (6)
Chauncey Billups (38) / Desmond Bane (10)
Good luck, flaco.
Offensively, we've got three elite scoring weapons, eye-popping spacing, and the perfect floor general for this group in Chauncey.
We have solid counters to them in Perkins/Horford, George/Tatum, Kawhi/Pierce, Bane/Brown, and Chauncey/White.
In the end, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror. So I'll call out why we've got a bit of an advantage.
- Pierce doesn't add a lot to the Celtics. Really redundant with Tatum and Brown. Brown is forced out of position. None of the three are really backcourt players and just kind of triplicate a similar skill set. Meanwhile, Bane thrives at the arc and is the best three point shooter here.
- Pierce, Tatum and Brown are good defenders, but we have two absolutelty elite defenders in Kawhi and George while Bane is very solid. We should be able to offer a bit more resistance.
- I like Derrick White a lot, but he's a combo guard/role player who isn't really able to run the show quite like Chauncey. Our offense should flow a bit better because of this and Bane playing a more natural position than Brown.
- And I have to add I don't trust any statistic that shows James Wiseman as tops in the league.