BOSTON The Celtics are coming off their best win of the season on Wednesday, not a difficult thing to do when the opponent is the Bulls.But after a rough start that followed high expectations for coach Brad Stevens and the Celtics, questions about the state of the team remain, especially when it comes
Malik Taylor Jersey to the teams disappointing offense and the woeful play of wing Gordon Hayward, returning after a brutal ankle injury last season.MOCK DRAFT: As the Celticsprepare for one of their biggest games of the early season Friday nightagainst Toronto, we checked in with scouts and a sistant coaches to get their views on how to fix Bostons offense, then dove into the numbers to see how it all might work.Heres what we found... All about KyrieThe Celtics traded for star guard Kyrie Irving in 2017 to give themselves a reliable offensive centerpiece, and he delivered on that last season until a problem with his old knee injury flared upand forced him out of the postseason. To fix the Boston offense, one East a sistant coach suggestedthe Celtics should make Irving their emphasis again.The opinion:"Theyre asking a lot of guys to sacrifice for the team, but to me, the one guy who should not be sacrificing is Kyrie," the coach said. "You still have young guys on that team. You still have Gordon Hayward as a question mark until he gets comfortable. And as long as thats whats happening, you should be leaning on Kyrie."The numbers:Irving has, indeed, sacrificed this year, in part because hes still
Devonte Wyatt Jersey getting comfortable as he returns from the knee surgery. He remains a poor defender, and his on/off numbers are not pretty, as he is a because his defensive splits are poor. But then again, the Celtics as a whole have been disappointing defensively.The offense is where Irving is supposed to make the difference, though. He has gone from 19.7 field-goal attempts per game in his final season in Cleveland to 18.1 FGA per game last year, down now to 16.3 which does not seem to be enough for a guy who should be the fulcrum of the offense.Again, part of this might be a factor of Irving himself getting comfortable back on the floor. But Boston needs his aggre sivene s going to the rim; its e sential to the game plan. He has been gun-shy attacking the basket, and that has hurt the Celtics, especially when it comes to drawing fouls (theyre 29thin the league, with ).Irving was 19thin total number of drives to the rim per game two years ago and settled in at 27thlast year. This year, . Compare his drive-to-the-rim numbers in his two seasons in Boston, and see that he is not having the same impact when he goes to the rim this year.SeasonDrivesRankFG %FTMFTAA st2017-1811.62753.71.31.41.02018-199.24254.50.80.90.8 Change the lineupIts been suggested that Hayward become the most expensive sixth man in league history, a $31 million sub. There is some logic to the argument, because Hayward has struggled so
Preston Smith Jersey mightily to fit in with the Boston offense, trying to find the balance between a serting himself and blending into the mix.When Hayward agreed to go to Boston, he thought he was arriving as the No. 2 option. But with Irving on the floor and two budding stars who feel the need to prove themselves second-year forward Jayson Tatum and third-year forward Jaylen Brown its been tough for Hayward to find his comfort zone.Maybe hed do better, the thinking goes, .The opinion:"I think they have nothing to lose with moving him to the bench and letting him find his rhythm and his place in this offense,"one Western Conference a sistant coach said. "I dont think it is a long-term thing, but he is not himself. He looks nothing like himself yet there. Hes struggling. Its obvious."Get him into a comfort zone. Take some pre sure off him. Get him coming off the bench, and hell find his footing."The numbers: Hayward averaged just 9.1 points in 108 games as a reserve during his career, but the last time he came off the bench was March 2013, so those numbers arent particularly relevant.But Hayward is struggling. He has made 39.0 percent of his shots and 31.4 percent of his 3s, averaging 10.0 points. Hes been transformed into mostly a 3-point shooter, and he has taken 41.5 percent of his shots from the arc. In seven years with the Jazz, he took 30.6 percent of his shots from the 3-point line., Haywards on/off splits show that the Boston offense is 4.2 points per 100 po se sions worse with Hayward on the floor than off. The defense is not much better, at 3.
Jon Runyan Jersey 6 points worse with Hayward on the floor. Moving Hayward to the bench would give Stevens the option of going small and starting guard Marcus Smart, who is consistently an on/off wonder and is no different now hes a this year, and would fit well as a defensive-minded fifth option with the starters. Or Stevens could go big with Aron Baynes at center, and Baynes has been a .Its little more than fodder for conversation at this point, though, as Stevens has insisted he will not be making lineup changes anytime soon. But it could be something he is forced to revisit. Just relaxMaybe the panic in Boston is a bit overblown. Yes, their record is disappointing, but theyve had to contend with a particularly difficult schedule, playing nine of their first 13 games on the road and embarking on an early-November trip through the rest that dragged for five mostly miserable games four were lo ses and the fifth required a monster comeback to secure a win against the Suns.But they werent blown out in any of those games, and only once this year have they lost by double digits a 12-point lo s to Toronto that was actually a 3-point game with under three minutes to play.The record, perhaps, is muddled more because of the competition than Celtics dysfunction. And maybe, according to an Eastern Conference scout, Celtics fans everywhere should just take a deep breath and relax.The opinion:"They had that great start last year (16-2), and everything looked great and rosy,"the scout said, "but I can remember Brad (Stevens) saying that the record was a little bit fools gold, that they had pulled out some wins late in games that they should not have. Go back and look, and there were four or five games that they won that maybe they should not have."To me, theyre not playing that
Rasul Douglas Jersey different. Theyve had some shot-selection i sues. Theyre taking too many midrange jumpers. Theyre not comfortable with each other on both ends.You can see that. But some of these games, they could easily be 10-4, and no one would be that worried.The numbers:At a time when defenses are struggling to keep up with the NBAs new emphasis on player movement, the Celtics have improved, leading the league at after finishing second at 103.0 last year.Offensively, they were no jugge
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