8/6/2023 0 Comments Current celtics rosterNew president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has already made a couple trades. With Thomas coming off the bench, he could provide quick offense that the combo of Smart and Bradley won't be able to.The Boston Celtics have been busy making changes to their roster since being eliminated by the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2021 NBA playoffs. When Turner went to the bench, Thomas averaged 1.05 points per possession.Ī starting backcourt of Smart and Bradley makes for one of the better defensive backcourts on the league, not to mention when playing together, they play better offensively. So with whom in the backcourt does Thomas play better? He has almost identical stats with or without Bradley.Įvan Turner played about 40% of the Celtics possessions at guard, and with Turner, Thomas had 1.16 points per possession. 07 fewer points per possession and has an Effective Field Goal Percentage nine percentage points worse. With Smart on the floor, Thomas averaged. While Smart makes Bradley better, the opposite is true for Thomas. He’s also shown he can be one of the best drivers in the league, ranking seventh in points per 48 on drives.īut as has been his weakness since he came into the league, Thomas has struggled at defense - among qualified players, he ranked in the bottom 20 in Defensive Plus-Minus. With a 44.8 eFG% on pull up shots, he’s proved himself as one of the best pull up shooters in the league. With Boston, Thomas averaged 19 points and 5.4 assists. ![]() Isaiah Thomas, the Celtics went 20-11, which translates to 53 wins across 82 games. The Celtics' most important player may be a player who didn’t start a single game for them last season. Bradley shoots almost a full seven percentage points better with his fellow backcourtmate playing with him. With Smart on the bench, that number dropped to 0.99. With both of them in the game, Bradley averaged 1.15 points per possession. Amongst qualified Celtics, he had the second worst Offensive Rating last season.īut Bradley performs much better with Smart on the floor. He averaged 13.9 points off of 43% shooting. Offensively, Bradley is decidedly below average. According to basketball-reference, he posted 2.1 Defensive Win Shares also similar to Smart. Per NBA.com, he ranked just behind Smart for third on the team in Defensive Rating. The advanced numbers tell a similar story. Yet, it’s hard to see his impact looking at the stats - last season, he averaged just over a steal per game while accumulating all of 15 blocks the entire year. Since getting drafted five years ago, the Texas product has made a name for himself as one of the very best defensive guards in the league, garnering an All-Defense award in 2012-13. ![]() The other incumbent starter is Avery Bradley, who started all 77 games he played in last year. After all, his Defensive Rating was second best on the Celtics last year according to NBA.com. In the three games he played in Las Vegas, Smart averaged 10.7 points per game while shooting 26.5%.ĭespite his efficiency troubles, Smart has shown he can make an impact on the defensive end. In the two games he played in Utah, he led the league in points and assists and shot a solid 44%. Smart’s had a back-and-forth NBA Summer League. Far from the most efficient player, he shot 37% and posted a nERD of -1.5. After Rondo was traded to the Mavs, Marcus Smart became the starting point guard - Smart put up 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists a season ago. Of the 10, three are no longer with Boston ( Rajon Rondo, Brandon Bass, and Jeff Green). The Celtics had 10 separate players start at least 10 games last season. But what does that mean? Is a major trade looming for Boston? The rumor mill has been relatively silent, so in the meantime, let's try to make sense of what Brad Stevens is looking to do with this roster. The Boston Celtics have no shortage of young players and draft picks.
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