Not everyone buying Celtics' ability to put up points

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Bulpett: Not everyone buying Celtics' ability to put up points






Photo by: Matt Stone
Isaiah Thomas

Monday, October 5, 2015 PrintEmail0 Comments
By:  Steve Bulpett



The Celtics have yet to play their first game, which means they are tied for the best record in the NBA. The most optimistic hopes of their followers are as yet uncrushed.

Kelly Olynyk will emerge as Canada’s answer to Dirk Nowitzki, pouring in 20-plus points a night and becoming the frontcourt scoring counterbalance the club desperately needs.

Jared Sullinger will trim down his body and bulk up his stats, signing a cap-friendly contract to stay with the Celts because he’s agreed to a multi-million-dollar deal to replace the other Jared as Subway’s spokesman.

Isaiah Thomas will stun the medical community with a mid-20s growth spurt that adds 7 inches to his height and transforms him into an unstoppable 6-foot-4 scoring force — instead of a 5-9 scoring force who can be severely curtailed by a roving gang of Cavaliers.

Greenhearts can cling to the fact they have no evidence to the contrary. But those who are paid by other NBA clubs to evaluate talent around the league, both to game-plan against them and as potential trade targets, have a more evidentiary-based point of view. In other words, they’ll believe things when they see them. And as of now, they have more questions than answers regarding this edition of the Celtics.

All with whom we chatted see the outfit as well-coached and decently talented with a better work ethic that can allow them to overachieve to a degree.

“The East is better this year, I think, but in that conference, that still gets you a lot,” one personnel person said. “They made the playoffs last year, and now they’re going to have Thomas from the start.”

But therein lies a dilemma. How best to use their best player?

The Celtics seemed to identify last season that, while Thomas was producing very well at the end of games with the opponents’ best on the floor, it was helpful to jump-start his production by bringing him off the bench against the other club’s subs or when its starters were nearing time for a break.

“They’re asking a lot from that guy,” a scout said. “He’s a tough kid and he produces, but there’s a lot on his shoulders. And you saw what happened to them when Cleveland put all its focus on him in the playoffs. They really need other people to step up consistently. If they get that somehow, they could be better than people think.”

As coach Brad Stevens and others have pointed out, the Celtics have a number of players capable of striding into the scoring spotlight on given evenings, but there is no one beyond Thomas with both the skill and, maybe more important, the mentality to be one of those guys.

“They still have a lot of young people who are still developing,” an opposing evaluator said. “I totally expect (Marcus) Smart to take a big step this year. And I’m still not giving up on (James) Young, but even though he’s just 20, I thought he’d be doing more by now. Maybe it’ll still happen. He’s had a bunch of injuries to deal with, and I’m reading where they say he’s more committed to his defense this year. But I’ve also heard that he’s had some issues with just getting it — getting what it takes on this level. But like I said, he’s only 20. We’ll see. But Boston really needs a guy like that to move up and be an offensive threat for them.”

The Celts have said they’d like Olynyk to show a little more interest in this area.

“That’s a tough one to figure out,” a scout said. “We’ve always seen him as someone who has a good skill set, but it’s strange when you see a guy who’s not that aggressive looking for his shot when his coach is telling him to. I don’t know what to make of that, but that has to work itself out one way or the other this year.”

This would seem to be a crossroads, as well, for Sullinger. The Celtics would be waiting as long as possible on a contract extension under most any circumstances with him, but the key here is seeing how his summer of conditioning both mind and body with John Lucas translates to his game — and whether he’s following through as they hope.

Of the 16 players under guaranteed contracts for this season, at least one will have to be eliminated to get down to the NBA maximum roster of 15, and 10 of the 16 are either in the final year of their deal or are non-guaranteed or under a team option for next season.

“They have a lot of guys with something to prove this year,” one opposing source said. “That could make things very interesting.”



bob



.

I think that the Celtics will score more points this year due to a variety of very important reasons.

First, is that at least until Ainge makes a trade or two, this team has a much more stable core at the beginning of the season than did last year's team. They are at least all talking about building off last year's second half run to the playoffs. Second, with what Stevens and his staff have done by improving individual players on a regular basis, the returning players will not only improve again, but will have a better understanding of "team offense". Third, now with Lee and Johnson on board (as well as the improving younger players) they will rebound much better at the offensive end which will yield additional points. Fourth, there seems to be a new approach to drive the ball to the hoop more, and this will garner more free throws as well as likely force the other team to play more second unit guys. And fifth, better defense and defensive rebounding will allow for more fast break attempts and more easy baskets.

50 wins in 2016 !