redslastlaugh wrote:The trade for Springer is still baffling, that on a second apron team, tight with roster spots cuz KP and Al aren’t gonna be big minute players so we need 3-4 backup bigs, that we traded for this guy.
I mean, we also traded for Tillman - a backup big..
redslastlaugh wrote:despite Mazzullas 3point heavy approach, he shot 18% from 3.
I wouldn't read very deeply into Springer's stats after the trade. He got thrown onto a new team in the middle of the season, with no training camp with his new team, barely any practice time..not to mention pretty much all the mins he got this season for Boston were in garbage time and those stats are basically meaningless to begin with (many sites filter out garbage time and there's a reason for that)..and he's only 21 yrs old. It's also a tiny sample size of games.
And we didn't get him for his shooting anyways. We got him for his POA (POint of attack) defense, hustle, energy, rebounding, athleticism, ability to turn defense into offense which creates easy baskets on the other end (something we've been lacking in over the past few yrs), etc.
In other words, a similar role to what Gary Payton II played for the 2022 champs Warriors..Bruce Brown on the 2023 champs nuggets, caruso on the 2020 champs lakers, Tony Allen played similar role on some good celtics and Grizzlies teams. Pat Bev has played a similar role on some good teams (where he didn't shoot the 3 ball very well)..Avery Bradley has played a similar role.
Clearly, they see upside. Untapped potential. He's only 21 yrs old. Already one of the better POA defenders in the league (who gave guys like Doncic, Brunson, Steph, SGA, etc.) fits this season in Philly. On our bench, you've Pritchard and Hauser. Plus Horford. We have plenty of shooting on our bench. What none of those 3 guys have though is athleticism. Pritchard and Hauser can shoot. So why not have another guy off the bench (who's bigger than Pritchard but shorter than Hauser) who might not be a great shooter but can be a defensive stopper out on the perimeter. Can defend the Luka's, Brunsons, SGA and Stephs of the world, the Donovan Mitchell, Maxey, etc. Many of these guys have been tough for us to contain in the past.
He's a defensive stopper, energy guy off the bench.
Plus, he's still just 21 so certainly still very much in development mode - by no means is a finished product..and (especially with our track record of developing our players' shooting ability) and the fact that Springer shot 43% from 3 and 80% from the FT line in college, they probably also think that there's some upside for him to develop and get better on offense - and if that happens, it'll look like a bargain of a contract.
And if he doesn't work out, it's no big deal. He can be used as salary matching in a trade, at some point down the road. We barely gave up anything to get him so it's a low risk, high reward type of move.
redslastlaugh wrote:Springers PER on the Celts was 11 in the regular season and 5 during the playoffs.
Again, I take the stats he had with the Celtics with a grain of salt - for reasons I mentioned above.
Also, I don't think many people really use PER anymore for evaluating players..