A Tale of Two Celtics, +1

Marcus Smart this year:
.354% from 3, .767 ft%, 7.7 ppg, 4.0 assists, 2.8 RB, 1.7 Stl in 26.4 minutes

Jaylen Brown:
.305% from 3, .657 ft%, 12.0 ppg, 1.5 assists, 4.1 RB, 0.8 Stl in 26.1 minutes

Gordon Hayward:
.327% from 3, .852 ft%, 11.1 ppg, 3.6 assists, 4.8 RB, 0.9 Stl in 26.4 minutes

Draw your own conclusions...

worcester wrote:Marcus Smart this year:
.354% from 3, .767 ft%, 7.7 ppg, 4.0 assists, 2.8 RB, 1.7 Stl in 26.4 minutes

Jaylen Brown:
.305% from 3, .657 ft%, 12.0 ppg, 1.5 assists, 4.1 RB, 0.8 Stl in 26.1 minutes

Gordon Hayward:
.327% from 3, .852 ft%, 11.1 ppg, 3.6 assists, 4.8 RB, 0.9 Stl in 26.4 minutes

Draw your own conclusions...

Worcester

I can conclude that Marcus Smart has been an efficient shooter and scorer for Boston.  He is only taking 6.3 FG per game which is 2 attempts below his career average.  This does not look like some 3 to 5 game fluke.  He is putting the ball in the hole consistently game after game.  His stroke looks consistent game after game and he is taking those shots within the flow of the offense.  I can conclude that he is more than just a bulldog on defense.

Jaylen Brown struggled right out of the gate shooting the ball this year.  In the 7 Oct games he shot .321 from deep and it seemed everyone was struggling with their shooting early on.  KI shot .125, JT shot .286, AH shot .290..  Only Morris .484, TRoe .400 and GH .364 were shooting the 3 ball with any semblance of consistency.  I think Jaylen began to really press and it was not helping.  His shooting took another dive in November down to .213.  It started to come around late November and he played back to back solid games against Atlanta and Dallas.  He started getting to the rim but he got injured and after missing 3 games he found himself on the bench in place of Marcus Smart when he returned to action.  This was a difficult time for him given all the lofty expectations and the move appeared to be the right move after Boston went on a 8 game streak.  Since then he has settled in to his new role.  He shot .341 from deep in December and thus far in 6 January games his 3 point shooting is .438% from deep and has become more efficient as he is shooting .519 FG.  My conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with Jaylen Brown.  He is a young player that is oozing with talent and he will find his way.

Gordon is an enigma.  We see some spark there and then a nice flame up but it keeps dying down.  He is  a most unselfish basketball player.  He understands how to play the game but is still struggling to play consistently.  He had 4 strong games in our 4 straight recent wins and then he completely disappeared in both losses to Miami and Orlando.  Defensively his is a liability because he lacks lateral quickness.   He cannot check opponents that play his position.  Pairing him with Jaylen Brown makes sense because Jaylen can play the defensive role in that pairing.  I know everyone has been all over Jaylen because of a few defensive lapses but make no mistake here.  Jaylen is our second best pure defender behind Marcus Smart.  He will get the tough assignments when paired with Gordon.  My conclusion is that Gordon has talent but he remains a distant relative of the allstar that regularly dropped 22 per night in Utah. His story has yet to be written.

Excellent analysis Dboss...

Dboss your good, spot on....