Feature Story: Talking about the Boston Celtics with Jacob Sutton!!!
Edition #63! Special Story!
HEADLINES:
BAKER MAYFIELD SIGNS HUMONGOUS CONTRACT
FLETCHER COX RETIRES FROM THE NFL
RUSSELL WILSON… PLANS TO… SIGN WITH…
MAC JONES IS TRADED FOR A… PICK.
CHRIS JONES AGREES TO A DEAL WITH THE???
ANTHONY DAVIS = NBA RECORDBREAKER
Rudy Gobert involved in another… incident.
INTRO:
Smayan:
Let’s play a little game. Here’s a riddle.
I’m 1st in my conference. I have 3 star players. I’m towards the Eastern side of the United States of America, and I’m located in a place that has a lot of history. What team am I? (THIS COULD EVEN BE A TEAM THAT’S SPORT SEASON ENDED.)
The answer?
Put your hands together for the Boston Celtics.
This team has 48 wins and 12 losses. This team has 3 50+ point wins, including a recent one against the Golden State Warriors. THE Golden State Warriors. In fact, the Celtics have already made the playoffs. Even if they lose every single game, they’re going to finish no lower than the play-in.
But, what’s the recipe for success? How are the Celtics able to win? What are they doing better than last year? I can answer these questions, but probably in quick sentences. That’s bad. That’s not a good article. What do you then? Bring in another amazing writer. Welcome back to Sports Square, Jacob Sutton (writes JSuttHoops).
Celtics
Smayan: I want to focus on the departure of Marcus Smart. I think this change made a monumental impact. Didn’t it? And if it did, in a good way or a bad way?
Short answer: Yes and no.
Yes. Marcus Smart leaving made a humongous impact, but it isn’t because he didn’t deliver. So, it isn’t exactly in a bad way. But, what I see here is that the players the Celtics got in that trade? They were better than Marcus Smart. So it isn’t really in a very good way, either.
I mean… Compare this.
KRISTAPS PORZIŅĢIS
To this.
MARCUS SMART
To my statistical understanding? Kristaps Porziņģis is WAY better. Is he? Let’s hear Jacob’s perspective.
Jacob:
From an offensive standpoint, abso-freaking-lutely KP is the better player. This season, The Unicorn has a +2.8 Offensive eRAPTOR, while Marcus Smart had a +0.7 last season. While Smart’s distribution skills were a solid piece of the puzzle back then, Porzingis provides offensive switchability that even Smart couldn’t provide. By having KP on the roster, the Celtics can run effective two big lineups, or they could use him as the sole anchor big, spreading the floor with his sharpshooting range.
On the defensive side it’s a little more complex. From a RAPTOR/eRAPTOR standpoint, he’s producing an extra 0.2 in the defense department than Smart did last year, but he’s an entirely different defensive player. KP specializes in rim protection, causing opponents to shoot an insane 14.8% worse within 6 feet of the basket. Yet, while his perimeter defense is more than serviceable for his size, he isn’t the pest beyond the arc that Smart was.
Does it matter? No, I don’t think so. The Celtics brought on Jrue Holiday to figure out the perimeter defense part. What are your thoughts on Holiday this season, Smayan, since he’s been purposely taking a back seat compared to his Bucks days?
Smayan:
Jrue Holiday is not one of the best defenders in the league. He is the best defender in the league.
As you said, he has taken a step back. Even though he has the third-most minutes played on the Celtics. But, what if I told you that Jrue Holiday had 64 blocks in one season? And, he didn’t play for either the Bucks or the Celtics. It was for the Pelicans.
But even that isn’t a big number. Victor Wembanyama has 193 blocks. 193. The thing is, we’re comparing unnecessary stats. Jrue has never been a big blocker and that isn’t his style of defensive game either. His stats aren’t very appealing either, but if you watch the game, and if you watch him closely. He helps the Celtics in ways he doesn’t gain stats.
I’ve played American football recreationally and for a team. When I was playing for a team, I played Middle Linebacker. Half the time, I never made the plays. Heck, that season, I never got an interception. But, my coach kept telling me that even though I didn’t see that stat pop up, you were the major reason for that pick. The other guy just made the play – same thing with Jrue Holiday.
I want to compare it to the 2021 NBA Finals. Holiday had to guard 2 of the best players in the league. Chris Paul and Devin Booker. They were coming off a fantastic season and were the main reason this team was at this stage. Holiday’s strength? Being a perimeter defender. The Suns knew this, so they used many screens and pick plays to throw off Holiday on the perimeter, via the 7-footer, DeAndre Ayton.
By the way? That never worked. All Jrue had to do was spin around him, and then he went straight at the man driving in (which was mostly Chris Paul). That caused turnovers and poor shot selections. As we know, poor shot selection usually equals pressure from the defender – and Jrue Holiday is a master at exuding defensive pressure.
Okay, but enough of this. Let me answer your main question, Jacob. He’s done all this. His perimeter defending has been incredible and if you still don’t believe me, here is the proof.
All the plays? All the effort? It’s pretty crazy. There’s a reason this guy’s been on the All-NBA Defensive team 5 times.
The thing is, Jrue Holiday may have had Giannis and Lopez back in Milwaukee, but he still had to do most on the defensive side. Here? He’s settled in a place where they already have an amazing defensive part of the ball. Jrue Holiday just makes things even more advanced. No wonder they stopped the Warriors to 88 points.
Why else are the Celtics winning Jacob? The first person that comes to mind to answer this question is Tatum and Brown. The basics. What the heck are they doing if Jrue Holiday is already doing this much?
Jacob:
Yeah, the two Jays (Tatum/Brown) are doing a phenomenal job. Tatum has garnered MVP talk, while JB has been playing at an MVP level over the past few weeks in particular.
Over his last ten games, Brown has averaged over 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and is shooting 39% from range — for a secondary star, that’s phenomenal. Throw in Tatum’s 28 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 41% three-point shooting, and you’ve got a nuclear duo.
It’s really a case of just overwhelming power here. You have two All-Stars who can carry the team by themselves on any given night, along with a Unicorn, a tenacious defender, one of the most underrated players in the league (Derrick White), and a conglomerate of solid role players.
Now, there is the concern of Tatum’s perceived clutchness, or the lack of it. Tom Haberstroh recently wrote about the stats behind Tatum’s (and the Celtics overall) chinked armor in clutch time, which could become a problem in the playoffs. What do you think, Smayan?
Smayan:
Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. Tatum has won 52 times in the playoffs and fallen short 42 times. That's a winning percentage of 55.3%. Comparatively, Ben Simmons, drafted the same year, has 19 wins and 15 losses, with a winning percentage of 55.9%. However, Tatum's percentage is lower because he's been to the playoffs every year he's been in the NBA, while Simmons has only been three times.
Another question you would ask and I would too. Does the winning percentage matter when we are trying to compare this stuff?
No!
For example, if Player A were being carried by his teammates to the playoffs while Player B was actually doing the heavy lifting, then we wouldn’t be able to say that the former were any better than the latter due to playoff status alone.
Jacob. We talked about Tatum, Brown, Kristaps, and Jrue Holiday are the players. Heck, their core is completely solid. But, what are the Celtics' weaknesses? Is there any?
Jacob:
Before I dive into that, I must mention that not only was Simmons injured for his first year in the league, but he was an All-Star as soon as his official sophomore season in the league. The playoff issues are there, but I’d say it’s more about the 76ers teamwide issues than Simmons himself – Tatum was surrounded by Kyrie Irving, a prime Al Horford, a non-injured Gordon Hayward, and a young Jaylen Brown in his first season. But I digress.
I truly don’t think there is a major weakness on this team. One of the things fellow Substacker Quinn Everts mentioned is the Celtics’ lack of forced turnovers, which I generally agree with. If you dig into the data, you’ll see that the Celtics are last in deflections, which, for a team with deflection-king Jrue Holiday, is somewhat strange. While it isn’t a dealbreaker by any means and likely won’t prevent them from winning a title, that could be a crunch time stat to monitor.
Outside of that, I suppose you could bill the Celtics' overreliance on the three-ball as a potential playoff weakness, though they’re shooting it phenomenally at the moment. Boston ranks first in three-point frequency (over 42 attempts per game!) and is fourth in downtown shooting percentage, which, while not an issue for now, could break them if they see a cold shooting stretch in the postseason.
But let’s be real: this team doesn’t have any major weaknesses. It’s as simple as that. What do you think, Smayan?
Smayan:
Obviously, weaknesses come back to hit you (looking at you eagles), but it isn’t very major and the truth is? It doesn’t matter the way you win. It matters if you win.
On that note, I’m going to close this article up. But, before we do anything else, I just wanted to share a prediction.
I think most people think about the Celtics as a dynasty. The next big one. Just like the Warriors. I’m going to be very blunt here.
I don’t think so.
I also don’t have an explanation. It’s just a gut feeling.
What do you think? Few polls here!
A special thanks to
for coming on today. Make sure to subscribe to his newsletter if you haven’t already. (Use this link: Link.)Sports Quotes
“What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.” —Andre Agassi
“You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.” —J. Askenberg
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