NBA's Power of Average: How teams can improve without chasing stars

http://www.si.com/thecauldron/2015/10/19/nba-preview-average-players-teams-boston-celtics



NBA's Power of Average: How teams can improve without chasing stars

Fast Breaks: Boston Celtics team preview
Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix previews the 2015-16 NBA season for the Boston Celtics.

BY IAN LEVY

Posted: Wed Oct. 21, 2015





bob
MY NOTE: Unfortunately, there are graphs I cannot copy here, so you should go out to the website and read the article there so you can see them.


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Bob,

Even without seeing the graphs, it only makes sense that every team can improve to some degree every year even without a trade or a big free agent signing to get a "star" player.

The Cs of the last portion of last year proved this and they only added Thomas (who I do not yet consider a top "star" and a few "pieces" type players when we go them in Crowder, Zerebko and Datome.

If last year's group was good in the last part of the season, this year's team should be even better.  Johnson and Lee are not full blown stars either but both are good, solid pro players who have seemingly fit in nicely and quickly.

The other guys returning all have had five full months to find at least one part of their game to improve upon, and Stevens and his staff now have the entire season to keep improving them as individuals and as a team.

Sometimes, stars are "developed" which the Cs could be doing right now with their current roster.  Just think if a guy like Bradley gets his scoring up to 18 or 20 points per game this season at age 24 wouldn't most people consider him at least a "semi star"?  Kris Middleton in Milwaukee did not average 20 last season but he signed a contract as a 'star' this past summer.

My point is if every one of the eight younger guys returning from last year can make even one more shot per game this year (and, never mind increasing stats in other areas such as rebounds, free throws, box outs, assists, shooting percentage, cutting back on turnovers, etc) the team will average over 16 points more on offense than last season which would certainly make the team's record better this year.

Obviously, coaching is a very important key in individual and team improvements, but I think that we all think that we have one of the best (and his staff) already working for the Celtics.