Official Celtics 2022 Off-Season Thread

[Triple7]

you're a casual fan who only looks at 3 point %.

Advanced stats like on/off rating factor in the player's value to the team and measure how well the team performs with him on the court compared to how well the team performs with him off the court.

in other words - it factors the shooting in, but there's A LOT more to basketball than just shooting 3's. If there's 100 possessions in a game and Smart takes 5 three-point attempts. That's 95 other possessions. On/off rating is looking at all 100 possessions. You're only looking at the 5 possessions where he took a 3, lol.

"Smart can play great for 46 minutes then cost the Celts the game in the last 2 minutes and the stats will not show that." is another statement of a casual fan. Let's break it down, shall we?

Player A = only shoots 1/5 from 3, and makes a really dumb foul at the end of the game which costs us a chance to MAYBE get a last second shot that may or may not go in, but that's only 6 possessions in a game. over the course of ALL 100 possessions that game, his play overall had a on/off rating of +15

Player B = shoots 2/5 from 3, doesn't make any dumb fouls but over the course of ALL 100 possessions that game, his play overall had a on/off rating of -1

Guessing you would pick Player B as the better player, but a more informed fan would pick Player A (Smart) every time..

Casual fan?

I've been a Celtic fan for more than 30 years and what's important in the game of basketball is winning, not stats.

You can manipulate the stats all you want, but Smart and the Celts have not won a championship yet.

The Lakers already got Banner 17.

It's been 11 years and the Celts still have not made it back to the finals.

Right now the Celts are a team below .500.

If according to the stats Marcus Smart is so good, why is the Celts just a play-in team right now?

The guy is shooting 34.6% from the field and 26% from 3pt land.

When you play a lot of minutes, 35.8 minutes per game, and you shoot that horribly, your team isn't going to win many games.

Proof of this is the Celtic record!

I have been a fan for over 35yrs. Not much of stat tracking back then, even on the 90’s. You rely on just watching the game, and you knew who is reliable, clutch or not. A player can be great for 46mins, but cost us the game in the last 2mins, are definitely true. A lot of factor’s there. Clutch and nerves are a factor. Confidence as well. So saying that guys who think that are “casual fans” don’t know **** at all. Probably some kids focused on just numbers and can’t really analyze the game.

[zoyathedestroya]

Sign John Wall, Goran Dragic, Terrence Ross, and Kevin Love when they get bought out. INSTANT OFFENSE!

[zoyathedestroya]

Tatum, Big Al and Smart shooting around their career averages from 3 would be a big help..

Tatum this year is 32.5. His career average is 39%.
Big Al this year is 27.8%. His career average is 36%.
Smart this year is 26%. His career average is 31.8%.

It's not like their career averages are small sample sizes either...

With just those three players shooting average from beyond the arc, Celtics would move up from 23rd in offensive rating to about 15th or 14th, where the Nets rank right now. Add in our top scorer coming back...

I don't expect either Horford or Tatum to keep shooting this poorly from three. Tatum has been shooting 39.3% on 8.7 attempts the last 7 games. Maybe he's starting to turn the corner. If not, we're screwed, no matter what the role guys do.

[Fierce1]

Back in 2019-20, Hayward's last season with the Celts, Jayson Tatum only averaged 20.3 ppg, shot 42.1% from the field, and 31.3% from 3pt land in the month of November.

But the Celts were 13-5 by the end of November, 2019.

Tatum scored over 30 points against the Mavs and Hawks and the Celts still lost both games.

So it's not totally true that if Tatum doesn't play well the Celts are doomed.

Back in 2019-20, Celts were 13th in the league in 3pt shooting %.

Celts were also on pace for a 50-win season then the pandemic happened.

Whether it was Isaiah, Kyrie, Kemba, or even Rozier, starting at PG, the Celts were always a team above .500.

It was only when Kemba got injured in 2019-20 that the Celts started to decline.

[Fierce1]

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/11/boston-celtics-mailbag-trade-exception-possibilities-ime-udoka-lineup-choices-starting-five-outlook.html

The team’s biggest problem has been with their point guards in this department as Smart and Dennis Schroder have been turnover prone, which has been the case for most of their careers. However, as a team, missed shots is a far bigger issue than miscues for this group at the moment.

[zoyathedestroya]

Back in 2019-20, Hayward's last season with the Celts, Jayson Tatum only averaged 20.3 ppg, shot 42.1% from the field, and 31.3% from 3pt land in the month of November.

But the Celts were 13-5 by the end of November, 2019.

Tatum scored over 30 points against the Mavs and Hawks and the Celts still lost both games.

So it's not totally true that if Tatum doesn't play well the Celts are doomed.

Back in 2019-20, Celts were 13th in the league in 3pt shooting %.

Celts were also on pace for a 50-win season then the pandemic happened.

Whether it was Isaiah, Kyrie, Kemba, or even Rozier, starting at PG, the Celts were always a team above .500.

It was only when Kemba got injured in 2019-20 that the Celts started to decline.

Those numbers don't mean anything. We still didn't win the title in any of those seasons no matter the PG.

[Fierce1]

Back in 2019-20, Hayward's last season with the Celts, Jayson Tatum only averaged 20.3 ppg, shot 42.1% from the field, and 31.3% from 3pt land in the month of November.

But the Celts were 13-5 by the end of November, 2019.

Tatum scored over 30 points against the Mavs and Hawks and the Celts still lost both games.

So it's not totally true that if Tatum doesn't play well the Celts are doomed.

Back in 2019-20, Celts were 13th in the league in 3pt shooting %.

Celts were also on pace for a 50-win season then the pandemic happened.

Whether it was Isaiah, Kyrie, Kemba, or even Rozier, starting at PG, the Celts were always a team above .500.

It was only when Kemba got injured in 2019-20 that the Celts started to decline.

Those numbers don't mean anything. We still didn't win the title in any of those seasons no matter the PG.

Yeah, but the Celts reached the eastern conference finals and were just 2 games short of making it to the finals.

A trip to the east finals is way better than being a play-in team.

[Fierce1]

That season it was Theis, Brown, Tatum, Hayward, and Kemba starting.

It was a small team that had problems against bigger teams.

But that team was hard to guard because every player on that starting unit could shoot the ball from 3pt land.

This season's team is the opposite of that 2019-20 team.

Sure this current Celts team is bigger and very good on defense, but they just can't make shots on a regular basis.

[zoyathedestroya]

Back in 2019-20, Hayward's last season with the Celts, Jayson Tatum only averaged 20.3 ppg, shot 42.1% from the field, and 31.3% from 3pt land in the month of November.

But the Celts were 13-5 by the end of November, 2019.

Tatum scored over 30 points against the Mavs and Hawks and the Celts still lost both games.

So it's not totally true that if Tatum doesn't play well the Celts are doomed.

Back in 2019-20, Celts were 13th in the league in 3pt shooting %.

Celts were also on pace for a 50-win season then the pandemic happened.

Whether it was Isaiah, Kyrie, Kemba, or even Rozier, starting at PG, the Celts were always a team above .500.

It was only when Kemba got injured in 2019-20 that the Celts started to decline.

Those numbers don't mean anything. We still didn't win the title in any of those seasons no matter the PG.

Yeah, but the Celts reached the eastern conference finals and were just 2 games short of making it to the finals.

A trip to the east finals is way better than being a play-in team.

Snooze. Kemba, Kyrie, Rozier, Smart, and IT all couldn't get us to the Finals. As far as I'm concerned, they're all the same player.

[Fierce1]

Snooze. Kemba, Kyrie, Rozier, Smart, and IT all couldn't get us to the Finals. As far as I'm concerned, they're all the same player.

Kemba, Kyrie, IT, and Rozier can shoot and will make shots on a regular basis, if left unguarded.

Can't say the same for Smart.

[Hal14]

My god man, we get it, you hate smart, cannit all just stop?

We know what you willnpost on the matter.

Smart makes an error you will scream about it someone says something positive about him you will scream about it.

We get it mate.

Talk about tatum or schroder or someone for a while.

I'm just replying to someone who called me "a casual fan".

It's not that I hate Marcus Smart, it's about I just want the Celts to win.

we all want the celtics to win.

but what the stats tell us (us being people who actually know how to interpret advanced stats) is that Smart is not the one to blame for the team's struggles.

which i've already explained multiple times so this is like talking to a wall at this point, lol.

[Fierce1]

we all want the celtics to win.

but what the stats tell us (us being people who actually know how to interpret advanced stats) is that Smart is not the one to blame for the team's struggles.

which i've already explained multiple times so this is like talking to a wall at this point, lol.

Your explanation is not practical.

The wins and losses don't support your stats.

FYI, the last 2 seasons, the only major change is Smart became a starter instead of being a 6th man where he is at his best.

And from your responses, apparently you like talking to walls! lol

[Fierce1]

Multiple articles have been written about the Celtics' shooting woes.

Who's the #1 culprit?

Obviously it's Marcus Smart.

[Feed Your Head]

Multiple articles have been written about the Celtics' shooting woes.

Who's the #1 culprit?

Obviously it's Marcus Smart.

Actually Tatum and Al are shooting further below their career numbers from three.

[Feed Your Head]

we all want the celtics to win.

but what the stats tell us (us being people who actually know how to interpret advanced stats) is that Smart is not the one to blame for the team's struggles.

which i've already explained multiple times so this is like talking to a wall at this point, lol.

Your explanation is not practical.

The wins and losses don't support your stats.

FYI, the last 2 seasons, the only major change is Smart became a starter instead of being a 6th man where he is at his best.

And from your responses, apparently you like talking to walls! lol

This is you misunderstanding stats. Yes they’re only 7-8, but what the stats show is that without Smart, they’d probably have half the wins.

[Fierce1]

Multiple articles have been written about the Celtics' shooting woes.

Who's the #1 culprit?

Obviously it's Marcus Smart.

Actually Tatum and Al are shooting further below their career numbers from three.

Yeah, that's that's true.

But just like in 2019-20, Tatum had a bad November shooting the ball and the Celts still ended up with a 13-5 record at the end of November, 2019.

This season Tatum had more than 30 points against Dallas and Atlanta and the Celts still lost both games.

The difference between Schroder, Richardson, and Smart is Smart is getting the most minutes and the least production on offense.

Schroder is getting less minutes than Smart but he's producing points.

Josh is reasonably productive in 24 minutes per game.

If Smart is just a 6th man, the poor shooting % can be overlooked.
But Smart is a starter getting around 36 minutes per game and he's very inefficient shooting the ball.

It's a momentum killer when Tatum or Brown gets doubled then passes it to an open Smart and Smart misses.

The Celts had less talent in previous years and they were able to win 50 games.

Only difference is the Celts had starting PGs in the previous years who could shoot.

Once Tatum and Horford will improve their shooting %, it still will not change the fact that the opposing coach will tell the one guarding Smart to let Smart shoot and focus on doubling Tatum or Horford.

In years past you could never leave the starting PG of the Celts because IT, Kyrie, Kemba, and even Rozier would make you pay if you leave them open at the 3-point line.

[Fierce1]

we all want the celtics to win.

but what the stats tell us (us being people who actually know how to interpret advanced stats) is that Smart is not the one to blame for the team's struggles.

which i've already explained multiple times so this is like talking to a wall at this point, lol.

Your explanation is not practical.

The wins and losses don't support your stats.

FYI, the last 2 seasons, the only major change is Smart became a starter instead of being a 6th man where he is at his best.

And from your responses, apparently you like talking to walls! lol

This is you misunderstanding stats. Yes they’re only 7-8, but what the stats show is that without Smart, they’d probably have half the wins.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/what-is-the-celtics-record-without-marcus-smart

Celts are 10 games over .500 without Smart all-time.

[ballup]

Is Smart part of the problem? Yeah, but him moving to starting lineup isn't some kind of magic hindrance to 3pt shooting. Smart has always played starter minutes or close to it. The problem is the Celtics shooters being cold and having too many below average shooters on the floor at once. Tatum shooting at 33% is no good and neither is Al shooting 28%. The issue is compounded when guys like Schroeder and Richardson also get so much burn being at 33%. Changing whether Smart starts or comes off the bench isn't all of a sudden going to turn around the shootong.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Fierce1]

Is Smart part of the problem? Yeah, but him moving to starting lineup isn't some kind of magic hindrance to 3pt shooting. Smart has always played starter minutes or close to it. The problem is the Celtics shooters being cold and having too many below average shooters on the floor at once. Tatum shooting at 33% is no good and neither is Al shooting 28%. The issue is compounded when guys like Schroeder and Richardson also get so much burn being at 33%. Changing whether Smart starts or comes off the bench isn't all of a sudden going to turn around the shootong.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

You know why it matters?

Because Celts are having slow starts when Smart keeps missing 3-pointers in the 1st qtr.

Numerous times Celts fall behind early, this season, because of poor shooting.

[Feed Your Head]

Your explanation is not practical.

The wins and losses don't support your stats.

FYI, the last 2 seasons, the only major change is Smart became a starter instead of being a 6th man where he is at his best.

And from your responses, apparently you like talking to walls! lol

This is you misunderstanding stats. Yes they’re only 7-8, but what the stats show is that without Smart, they’d probably have half the wins.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/what-is-the-celtics-record-without-marcus-smart

Celts are 10 games over .500 without Smart all-time.

Celtics are 18 games over .500 without Jaylen, over his career.

Guess what? It doesn’t mean anything, and has absolutely nothing to do with this years team.