Who is the most underrated Celtics player?

https://www.celticsblog.com/2017/8/11/16116586/who-is-the-most-underrated-player-on-the-boston-celtics



Who is the most underrated Celtics player?



The Celtics have a lot of unheralded players on the roster, but who gets the least due?



by CelticsBlog Staff  


Aug 11, 2017, 8:00am EDT


Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports




Roundtable Discussion: Who is the Celtics’ most underrated player?

Mike DePrisco

It’s so difficult to pick one because the entire Celtics roster is made up of players who are overlooked. I’ll say Isaiah Thomas, though.

The man faces double teams every night and averages almost 30 points, on a contender, as a 5’9” guard. I don’t know how you watch the performance Thomas put on through the tragedy of his sister’s passing and not think he’s one of the best players in the NBA. He’s everything you want in a player besides his short stature.

Simon Pollock

I almost want to say that it’s Al Horford, maybe just for argument’s sake.

I’m not sure there was a better big that the C’s could have added to unlock Thomas in the pick-and-roll. He is SUCH a good passer and reliable from deep. The C’s don’t get to whip the ball around and create opportunities all over the floor without that. Maybe he’s not the 5 we all wanted in terms of rebounding and shot blocking, but he’s absolutely the 5 that a Brad Stevens offense needed to make it go.

Greg Cassoli

Jae Crowder. He’s not a perfect player, which is probably why he gets thrown into so many hypothetical trades, but he doesn’t deserve that. Crowder is critically important to Boston’s ability to go small, he’s a versatile defender, and a very good, albeit somewhat streaky, shooter.

He’s not great off the dribble, which can slow offensive possessions, but the fact of the matter is that the Celtics are way better with him on the court (Like 11.5 points per 100 possessions better). Not to mention the fact that he’s in his prime, with three more years on a bargain contract. That’s not the kind of player you think about giving away, unless he’s underrated.


Tim MacLean

I have to agree with Greg on this one.

It seems as though a lot of people are in a hurry to move on from Crowder whenever his name is brought up in trade rumors and I’m not sure why. He’s a solid offensive player with the versatility to fill multiple roles on the defensive side of the ball.

Whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, Crowder has the ability to be a steady contributor on a championship-caliber team. Add his cheap contract to the mix, as Greg alluded to, and you’ve got yourself a pretty valuable piece to your puzzle.

Bill Sy

He hasn’t played a single game in green yet, but I’m going with Marcus Morris. His numbers coming out of Detroit are a little underappreciated because he shot 41.8% from the field (33% from behind the arc), but he’s a plus defender that can guard multiple positions and his game is more diverse than you think. For Stan Van Gundy, he played small forward next to Tobias Harris and Andre Drummond, but I think his game will be unlocked under Brad Stevens as a playmaking big that can back down smaller defenders and face up against bigger players.



bob
MY NOTE:  This board works differently from Celticsblog in that we don't have a staff who do round tables among ourselves.  If we did have a round table, however, I'd be Sir Rant-a-Lot.  So, I'm posting their blog (I don't want anybody to think I'm stealing their ideas or topics) but am throwing it out to everybody here for discussion. Everybody jump in, the water's fine.

The list includes players who are expected to be on the roster next season or have a legit shot of making the roster like Larkin and Nader.  I went back-and-forth with including the rookies in the poll.  How can someone be underrated, or overrated, if he has never laced up an NBA sneaker?  I decided, in the end, to include them and just let all of you decide whether you want to include them in your votes and/or comments.

Who's our Dark Horse?  Who's our sleeper?  Who is the one who is going to snap our eyes open and heads up?


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Most underrated on this forum?

Isaiah Thomas.

On this forum it's Thomas by far.

An offensive machine, team leader and All-Star, yet his minuses get constant play.

Have to agree, not only in this forum, it's Isaiah Thomas.

Some Celtic fans are too narrow-minded.
They say you will never win a championship with a star player who's height is below six feet.

On this forum IT by a mile.

Isaiah Thomas, 4 for 4 in the comments, yet only 2 votes.  He comes up short once again.  

isn't it kind of hard to be under-rated when you are an all-star?

in my mind it is.

also hard to be under-rated when you are making max money for me.

so that puts IT, Horford and Hayward off ANY of my under-rated lists...because they have been "rated".....LOL.

of the rest, I say Smart, with Morris a close second.

Smart for his intensity and defense and ability to change games on that end alone.

Morris because many seem to think he won't even be a starter here.

Hi,
I think it's too early for that. There're 6 players on this list who haven't played in NBA, yet.
How, for instance, you can say that IT is more underrated than Tatum?

AK

I'm with sinus and kdp. It's too early for this and if you are an all star or on a max contract you have been rated.
It's true that IT doesn't enjoy 100% favorability on this forum. But his skills and deficiencies are honestly addressed. Same for Horford and the new guy.
Smart would get my vote if this was for over rated.

So I'm going with Yabusele. He gets virtually no respect on this forum despite what he has accomplished in his young professional career. When video surfaced of him rehabbing from surgery on both feet the comments ranged from suspicion of how serious bone spurs on the top of the feet could be to calls for him to get stashed another year in favor of a second round player with no pro experience. Yet his skill set is exactly what this team has needed. We don't have a lot of ball handlers so all four will get playing time and have a chance to earn minutes. The same is true for our bigs. Guerschon is going to get a chance to earn minutes and he won't disappoint.
Honorable mention goes to Daniel Theis who has gotten almost no conversation due to him playing exclusively in Germany and getting no notice here. We've enjoyed the luxury of posts from International and BobH that have shown us some of the play Yabusele and Zizic are capable of, not so much for Theis.

While it is indeed difficult to assess the capability of players who have not laced up an NBA sneaker I based my decisions on the way I've reacted to the posts here.

for us old timers, watching this video he reminds me of Bobby Jones.

kdp59 wrote:


for us old timers, watching this video he reminds me of Bobby Jones.

he does remind me of a more physical version of Bobby Jones, great defensive sequence on Zizic, competition at PF is gonna be fierce this year.

The players the Celtic's have this year are better to protect Thomas on the pick and rolls. Great choice of players this year.

Theis looks like he has a really long reach and is mobile. Will be interesting to see how he transfers to the NBA game but I have a feel Stevens has given his thumbs up and Stevens seems to have a great eye for how to use players.

I personally feel that the underrated player on this team last year was Al Horford. I know alot of people felt that, for the money he was being paid, that he should have been more razzle and dazzle. That is not Al. He came to work everyday and did whatever Brad wanted of him. He was never a huge rebounder, or even a huge scorer. He had some good scoring games, and some good rebounding games, but not everynight.

Al kept the team stead y when he was on the floor, and that is what Brad wanted. And i the playoffs he was wonderful, so Al gets my vote

Best player on Celtics is Thomas. How can he be underated?

I went with Crowder.

Dboss

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I personally feel that the underrated player on this team last year was Al Horford.  I know alot of people felt that, for the money he was being paid, that he should have been more razzle and dazzle. That is not Al.  He came to work everyday and did whatever Brad wanted of him. He was never a huge rebounder, or even a huge scorer. He had some good scoring games, and some good rebounding games, but not everynight.

Al kept the team stead y when he was on the floor, and that is what Brad wanted.  And i the playoffs he was wonderful, so Al gets my vote

as perhaps the most vocal person on this board, giving my opinion that Horford was overpaid at least.......I agree with your assessment of Horford's game. He did what was asked during the season and stepped his game up come playoff time as well.Big Al is no longer the highest paid player on the team, so I will cut him more slack this year...

he IS a key part of this team now ,as they are built and i hope he can stay healthy for the duration of his contract.

Great!! Let's see if we are both right!

Al Horford is a Jack (I'd say higher but don't want to call him a Queen) of all basketball trades.

He's a solid scorer, but he's not a KAT or Embiid or Cousins.

He's a solid rebounder, but not exceptional.

He's a good, solid shot blocker but not exceptional.

He's an above average 3pt shooter for a big but, his biggest asset is his floor generalship.  He is a superior, even elite, passer for a big (in fact, he leads the leage in assists by a center and set a career high in that stat last year) and his assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.89:1.  That is a ratio many point guards would be proud of.  For example, the much-discussed Kyrie Irving's assist-to-TO ratio is 2.31:1 (and Al dishes almost as many assists/minute as Kyrie too!).  Reigning MVP and Mr. Triple-Double Russell Westbrook's assist-to-TO ratio is 1.93:1 and James Harden's is 1.94:1.  In other words, in terms of efficiency, Al Horford is a better floor general than any of them.

Last year, and this year too from the looks of it so far, we don't have a lot of true ball-handlers, although I have high hopes that Rozier will take another step up in that category this year.  We have IT and, maybe Shane Larkin with Smart being a decent half-court point guard.  Adding Hayward will give Al Horford another player to run the half court offense through and allow IT to play off the ball.  Can't triple-team a player who doesn't have the ball.

On the other hand, if the ball is in Hayward or Al's hands does that mean that Smart is playing offense off the ball too?  That does not please me much  since I do not want him shooting.


bob


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Remember, the topic of this post is "THE MOST UNDERRATED". So Thomas is out of the question here. Jae Crowder has gotten the accolades he deserved over the last couple of years. There really are no other players other than Al to consider. I really do believe that he is not only underrated but unappreciated. I enjoyed watching Al take over the leadership of this team last year quietly yet firmly. That is the sign of a guy who likes where he is and will do anything to succeed.

This is going to be an interesting season. I am anxious to watch Hayward fit in with the rest of the guys, and the advancement of the young guys, Brown and Tatum. We may just surprise some people once the second half of the season comes along.
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I voted for Crowder - great shooting percentages for both 2 and 3 point shot attempts - starter minutes - and all for just 6.7 mil per year - what a bargain!

swish