Boston Celtics News (2023-2024)

https://theathletic.com/5126541/2023/12/11/joe-mazzulla-boston-celtics/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983



Joe Mazzulla’s empowerment plan is paying off for Celtics: ‘We’re all connected’



By Jay King
4h ago


BOSTON — One locker room theme emerged after the Boston Celtics handled the New York Knicks on Friday night. The Celtics want to empower each other. At the very least, Joe Mazzulla and his players seemed, um, empowered to say the word empowered.

Mazzulla started the trend while praising the performances of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The All-Stars only scored 42 combined points during the 133-123 win, far from a huge night by their standards, but Mazzulla said their impact extended beyond buckets. He thought they — you guessed it — empowered their teammates.

“For Jaylen and Jayson, there was a point where Jayson didn’t score in the first quarter and Jaylen had taken like three shots, and you couldn’t tell because they were doing other stuff,” Mazzulla said. “Those guys are defined by one thing, but in reality, that to me is success because they allowed their teammates, and their teammates took the pressure off of them and they facilitated.

“That is what it’s going to take for us to be great, is the balance. There’s going to be nights where they’re going to have to be amazing, and there’s going to be nights where we got to play like we did tonight. The more we can be connected and trustworthy on that, it’s super important. But I thought that was great by both of them to be facilitators, and it shows because they empowered the rest of the guys. We’re all connected.”


Brown spent most of his press conference addressing an ejection he deemed unfair, but also touched on the importance of helping his teammates flourish. Against the Knicks, he said he wanted to help get Kristaps Porziņģis involved early during his first game back from a calf injury. Though Brown only finished with four assists against New York, he led the Celtics with 10 potential assists, a better measurement of his passing in the game. Tatum landed right behind him with nine potential assists.

“I think it’s one of the themes for us as a team,” Brown said. “Other organizations do a good job empowering (their) guys and we got to continue to do that too. Empowering Payton (Pritchard), empowering Derrick (White). Empowering guys, Jrue (Holiday), everybody else around, Luke (Kornet), to play at a high level and that takes just instilling confidence and trust. It takes chemistry that needs to be built. But that’s definitely been an emphasis of mine as the season starts because the goal is obviously to win as many games as possible, but to be ready to win when the playoffs start.”

Brown wasn’t the only Celtics player to note a desire to empower Holiday. During his first season in Boston, Holiday has not scored 20 points yet in a single game. In fact, his season high of 18 points is lower than the 19.3 points per game he averaged while making the All-Star team for Milwaukee last season. Holiday doesn’t seem to care about his shrunken usage rate. He can impact a game in a long list of other ways, but Mazzulla said it was “great to see Jrue aggressive” after the guard scored 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting against the Knicks. White, like Brown, suggested the Celtics need to do more to help Holiday.

“It’s not easy to come to a team where it’s kind of established with people that have been here a couple years,” White said. “And he’s a great player and he’s done so many great things in this league so we just have to do a better job of empowering him more to do what he does. And we’ve got a long way to go and we’re going to need him this whole year. So he had a great game today. Even when he doesn’t have great numbers, he still has good games and impacts winning a lot. So any time we can, just to empower him and help him out any way we can, that’s what we need to do.”

Something tells me the Celtics are taking the concept of empowerment seriously.


Turnover issue on defense?

After a recent practice, Mazzulla didn’t need to wait for the end of a question about one of his preseason goals. He interjected as soon as he heard the topic of conversation: his desire for the Celtics to force more turnovers this season.

“How’s that going?” Mazzulla asked.

He knew the answer to his question, of course: not well. Despite having the best record in the Eastern Conference and the third-best defense in the NBA, the Celtics ranked 28th in opponent turnover rate as of Sunday evening. An inability to create mistakes has become one of Boston’s most glaring statistical red flags. It was one of their issues last season, too, which is why Mazzulla targeted the area for improvement over the offseason. He stressed that forcing turnovers would be one key to Boston’s chances of survival on cold shooting nights. But, well, the Celtics have gotten worse at forcing turnovers. They have fallen two spots from their 26th-place finish last season.

“It’s a tough one,” Mazzulla said. “It’s something that you really, really have to commit to consistently. It’s a matter of like, what’s the DNA of our defensive identity versus what can we realistically be really good at over a long period of time, and so it’s still something that we’re working to do is some of our defensive adjustments. Obviously you can always get better at the little things. Your ball pressure, your active hands, trying to get deflections, but we’ve cleaned up a lot of other areas that we haven’t been great at over the years like our offensive rebounding, our crashing and stuff, and so really deciding is it the true DNA of our team or is it more about can we get better at having some different adjustments that we can go to and be good at those?”

Despite a roster loaded with high-level defenders, the Celtics have forced fewer than 10 turnovers in 10 of their 21 games. It’s one reason why they rank 19th in points added through transition per 100 possessions and 22nd in transition frequency, according to Cleaning the Glass. Mazzulla may not abandon hopes of forcing more turnovers in the future, but sounded ready to accept that won’t be one of his team’s strengths this season.

“I look at that and I say like what’s the more DNA of our team?” Mazzulla said. “What can we realistically get better at and coach because you can’t even control forcing turnovers. You almost have to sell out to that, so to speak, or have certain types of guys where for us we can get better at our decision-making, our offensive execution which keeps our turnovers down. We’ve really grown in our crashing and our offensive rebounding, so we’ve found a couple other areas to help control the shot margin and so I think it’s focused around what makes sense and what puts our team in the best position to be successful.”


Bob


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Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 12 minutes ago
99 players in the NBA averaging 30+ minutes per game. Net rating leaders: 1. Derrick White +13.5 2. SGA +13.0 2. Joel Embiid +13.0 4. Anthony Edwards +11.9 5. Nikola Jokic +10.4 Let’s gush about Derrick White.



https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/nba/boston-celtics/does-derrick-white-deserve-all-star-consideration-for-celtics/572649/



Does Derrick White deserve All-Star consideration for Celtics?


The Celtics guard is putting up some eye-opening numbers.

By Chris Forsberg, Celtics Insider • Published 2 hours ago • Updated 2 hours ago



The premise of this article was to emphasize just how good Derrick White has been for the Boston Celtics to start the 2023-24 season. But that's too obvious. So we were going to hit you with a hot take: Derrick White deserves to be an All-Star and here’s why.

On the surface, that isn’t a very toasty take. There’s a case that, beyond only Jayson Tatum, White has been the second-most impactful player on the Celtics’ roster. His stat line doesn’t necessarily pop the way it does for some of his other teammates, but White is a big reason why those players are thriving, too.

The trouble comes when you start doing the math on how many players Boston might actually get to Indianapolis in February. More on that later. For now, here are four numbers that would top our pitch for White’s All-Star case (all ranks are entering Wednesday’s action).





+13.5


That is White’s team-leading net rating, with Boston outscoring opponents by 13.5 points per 100 possessions when he's on the court.

What’s maybe more notable is that Boston’s net rating drops to a team-worst +1.3 in the 446 minutes with White off the court this season. Those are the sort of on/off numbers that MVP candidates like Tatum typically puts up.

If you zoom in on the 98 players in the NBA averaging 30+ minutes per game, White ranks No. 1 in net rating. Here are the four players directly behind him: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic.

That’s four rungs on a very realistic MVP ladder. Maybe our hot take should have been that Derrick White deserves MVP consideration. (Hey, fans were chanting it at TD Garden recently.)


Continuing a career-long trend, White simply makes his team better when he’s on the court. The Celtics have outscored opponents by 178 total points in White’s 19 games this year. And he doesn’t even have to dominate the ball to be great.

Out of the 225 players who log more than 20 minutes per night, White ranks 137th in usage rate.



65.6


That is White’s true shooting percentage this season.

White is posting career marks in both field goal (48.2) and 3-point percentage (42.5). If we zoom in again on that same group of players averaging 30+ minutes per game, White is tied for third in the NBA in true shooting percentage. The only players in front of him: Tyrese Haliburton and Steph Curry. That’s decent company.

White has very quietly turned into a knockdown shooter. Outside of only maybe Sam Hauser, you feel confident that every shot he puts up is going in the basket. White isn’t hesitating with catch-and-shoot opportunities and that only makes Boston that much more dangerous when he’s shooting north of 40 percent on those attempts.



2.1

That is White’s average of stocks (steals + blocks per game). It's the second-best mark on the team behind only Kristaps Porzingis (2.4 stocks per game).

White ranks 34th overall in the NBA but would be top five among all guards in total stocks if he hadn't missed three games earlier this season.

It was White’s father, Richard, who dubbed Boston’s defensive-minded backcourt as the “Stock Exchange.” But it might be time to just make it a team nickname. Boston’s top six players -- Tatum, Brown, White, Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford -- all reside in the top 100 for stocks this season.

The Boston Stock Exchange is bustling (or bussin’, as the kids say).



12.6


That is the amount of assist points created per game by White. It’s second-best on the Celtics behind only Holiday (14.4). White actually leads the team in assists and averages 7.7 potential assists per game (only Holiday and Tatum generate more).

As good as he’s been as a shooter, White is more than capable of running the offense. He does need to tighten up his turnover rate a bit, but that’s nitpicking with a larger role.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla confidently declared that White would be Boston’s starting point guard over the summer but then Boston traded for Holiday. The team remains committed to letting White play quarterback at times, in part because he always seems to make the right play.

Now back to that whole All-Star proclamation. All-Star voting opens next week and the Celtics are so good they might struggle to get multiple players to Indy.

If that sounds oxymoronic, it’s because it is. The Eastern Conference is chock full of individual talent, and even with the best record in basketball, the Celtics run the risk of splitting the vote for a potential second (or third?) star.

We know Tatum can confidently make his February travel plans. Fan voting should get him to Indy. But should he book a companion fare? That’s where things get tough.


Ultimately, the Celtics might be at the mercy of how East coaches (or the assistants that end up with their ballots) vote for the East’s seven reserves. Will the coaches give the nod to two-time All-Star Jaylen Brown? Will they acknowledge the impact that Porzingis since his arrival in Boston? Might they go outside the box and vote for White while acknowledging that his value goes beyond the nightly box score?

The fear for Boston would be splitting that vote and watching a player from a less successful team sneak into the February exhibition only because that team didn’t have other options to consider.

There are at least 10 players in the East who feel like slam dunks to us, whether based on performance or reputation. That list would include Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard; Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey; Indiana’s Haliburton; New York’s Jalen Brunson; Miami’s Jimmy Butler; Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, and Atlanta’s Trae Young. The soaring Magic absolutely need a representative, so Paolo Banchero gets our nod as well.

That’s pretty much a full roster, and there are six teams in the East that don't even get a player invite. You might protest that Brown, Porzingis AND Brown all deserve a spot more than some of those players on the list -- especially those from teams lingering in play-in range -- but fan voting could go a long way towards complicating matters, too, with a propensity to reward familiar names regardless of their overall merits.

The good news is that we have more than a month to debate this topic. Health — along with team performance — could go a long way towards dictating just how coaches might eventually vote.

Maybe Brown dominates the next two weeks and makes it easier to pick Boston’s second star. But, if you made us vote right now for someone to join Tatum, we could make an awfully strong case for White.


Bob


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My guess is White misses out on All-Star consideration. The number of hot hands with bigger name recognition in the East combined with more well-known players on the Celtics look like the culprits in a potential snub.

He is having a great season and has been a fantastic addition. White is a key part of any success the Celtics enjoy this season. Hopefully his being a starting guard on a title team makes up for getting an All-Star snub, should both come to pass.

I can promise you DW will take Banner 18 over All-Star, hands down. Knowing his behavior, mindset and demeanor, he doesn't give a rat's ass about it. He knows what he's doing.

db

Bob


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Some nice analysis but a great summation of how the Celtics starting 5 were assembled by the Celtics front office going 2 and 3 trades back.





Bob


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Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 12 hours ago
NBA - 2023-24 100 assists 25 steals 25 blocks 60 3's Derrick White That's the list.


Bob

Just being on the court is a plus for the Celtics. Derrick does so many things well, and is a threat that many teams are still not taking seriously. He finds a way of getting free, whether it be at the top of the key or one of the corners, and when he is on, he is deadly. Look at that block/steal stat. Is that a joy to look at. Brad, this guy was a steal!!!!!!!!

Bob, Thanks for posting these amazing video analyses. This Celtics team's play is like a gourmet meal prepared at a 5-star restaurant by a master chef (Joe Mazzula) with a world-class purveyor (Brad Stevens) for customers with very discerning palates (us Celtics fans). The season has been amazing so far with only a few hiccups (OT losses to Minny and GSW). The style of play is abundantly fun to watch and the cast of characters 1-8 very entertaining. Roulez les bon temps.

#8 is the only type of White Supremacy I could ever get behind, and Derrick IS Supreme.

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
The Celtics are an NBA-best 22-6 despite playing the league's toughest schedule thus far (.539 opponent win percentage).

The "easiest" remaining schedule?

You guessed it.






Bob
MY NOTE:  Great news UNLESS we do what we've seen us do and that is get overconfident, complacent and lazy.  This "easiest remaining schedule" is actually really important to ascertain our mental maturity.


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Just a little Christmas cheer.


The Celtics have the:

#1 W-L record
2nd best MoV (+10.2)


OFFENSE

6th best offense (119.9 ppg)
8th best 3pt fg% (37.8%)
#1 3pt fgas (43.3)
11th fg% (48%)
7th ft% (80.5%)
21st ftas (21.3 pg)
2nd rebounds (47.1pg)
#1 fewest opponent blocks (3.9/gm)
3rd eFG% (57%)


DEFENSE

3rd best defense (109.7 ppg allowed)
5th most blocks (6.3/pg)
4th lowest opponent fg% (44.7%)
2nd fewest opponent ftas (19.0 ftas/gm)
3rd fewest opponent assists (24.0/gm)
4th best Defensive Rating (110.3 points/100 possessions)
8th fewest opponent points off 2nd chances (13.7/pg)
5th fewest opponent points off fast breaks (12.4 pts given up/gm)
4th fewest opponent points in the paint (45.1/gm)


Bob


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This should make Cowens head explode.
https://nbcsportsboston.app.link/L0HnNiFBPFb

My guess is that this never happens. What would they have to give up to get him. I am betting Danny is looking at Pritchard or Hauser. Do not see that happening. Al is going no where. So who?????? I am not a money person, obviously the TPE we have will not cover it

The only way I see this happening is a buy out and signing to a lesser contract. Do not believe Stevens will let Ainge fleece him

Much ado about nuttin'
- Billy Shakespeare

https://www.celticsblog.com/2023/12/28/24015858/will-luke-kornet-or-neemias-queta-play-a-bigger-role-for-the-celtics-at-center-boston-nba-pistons



Will Luke Kornet or Neemias Queta play a bigger role for the Celtics at center?


Neemias Queta played over Luke Kornet for the first time this season after three strong showings to begin the team’s west coast trip.



By Bobby Manning@RealBobManning  Dec 28, 2023, 8:00am EST  46 Comments / 46 New




Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images



Head coach Joe Mazzulla declared shortly before the Celtics left for their west coast trip that Al Horford, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet would comprise the bench unit in Boston’s nine-man rotation when healthy. Then, Luke Kornet got hurt, and when he returned from his adductor strain in Los Angeles for the Christmas Day game against the Lakers — he stayed on the bench while Neemias Queta stood up for a first half stint at back up center.


Queta lasted six minutes in the first half, playing alongside Al Horford in a pairing that saw success through 40 minutes. Queta didn’t shoot, fouled twice and only returned for 26 seconds in the third quarter. Kornet did not play at all as the Celtics closed with Horford logging the first four minutes of the fourth before Kristaps Porzingis returned for the final eight.

Queta failed to build on his three stellar showings to begin the road trip, but his appearance on Monday reignited the depth center debate from the preseason. Boston faces the Pistons and Raptors on a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday, with Horford inevitably sitting the second game and Porzingis historically splitting the games, too. Whether Boston returns to Kornet or pushes Queta again will be telling for where the Celtics view the position turning ahead of a deadline where big man could emerge as a need.

Multiple reports to close the calendar year have signaled the Celtics’ interest in front court help. Centers like Isaiah Stewart and Kelly Olynyk or versatile wings like John Konchar who could help at the four when the front court plays short-handed. With the first two players too expensive to acquire without overhauling a largely successful bench unit, a Konchar-like addition seems more realistic.




Queta, who averaged 10.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game against the Warriors, Kings and Clippers, and Horford combined to outscore opponents by 30.9 points per 100 possessions as a two-man lineup. Even factoring in his -10 minutes against the Lakers and 50% shooting around the rim, Queta remains +16.3 per 100 through his first nine Celtics appearances.

Kornet, by contrast, has worked a +1.2 individual net rating through 17 games and +3.4 playing next to Horford in 44 minutes. That difference alone likely changed minds inside the Celtics’ coaching staff, alongside Queta’s astonishing 21.8 OREB% that would edge out Mitchell Robinson for the top mark in the league if he qualified.


It’s December 25, 1995. Merry Christmas! We’re in Orlando for a finals rematch between the title losers and the title winners. (or as they prefer to be called The Magic and the 2-time title-winning Rockets.) The score is tied with 8 seconds left. The Magic need a win for revenge. The Rockets need a win for respect. Wait, didn't I just say the Rockets are repeat champs? Shouldn't that give them respect..? Let’s get into it. Let’s rewind.



“It seems to me, the game comes easy to him,” Horford noticed late in training camp. “Especially around the basket. He has a really good feel for finishing and rebounding, and being there in the right place, right time. That’s been the impressive part to me. He’s a bigger guy, he can finish pretty well at the rim. That’s been the most impressive.”

The Kornet versus Queta question resembles arguments for Daniel Theis and a young Robert Williams III between 2020-21. Brad Stevens relied on Theis, often in tandem with Tristan Thompson, despite flashes of athletic and defensive brilliance from Williams III that season because Theis proved more reliable play-to-play. Danny Ainge ultimately traded Theis at the deadline, thrusting Williams III into more action and coincidentally acquiring Kornet from Chicago for his first stint with the Celtics.

After, Kornet signed with Maine and spent most of 2022 developing there, he entered 2022-23 as the team’s depth center and fared well despite the team adding Mike Muscala and Blake Griffin as insurance. They didn’t bring added depth into camp this year, even after trading Williams III for Jrue Holiday, in a stronger endorsement of Kornet as a depth center. He’s currently older and in a better place than Queta as a finisher, passer and positional defender, and while Queta brings better physicality and rebounding, he also surprised as a screener this month. Queta had shot 13-for-15 in the preseason with 4.7 RPG.

That proved enough for the Celtics to plan to keep Queta, initially a two-way signing, with the NBA roster once Maine’s training camp began. A stress fracture, however, derailed the start of his season that originated from his Summer League stint in July with the Kings and he missed the Celtics’ first 12 games. Kornet averaged 4.0 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 11.6 minutes across nine appearances over that stretch, only attempting 2.1 shots per game. He fared slightly better before straining his adductor in layup lines against the Cavs, missing six games.

Perhaps the strongest advantage Kornet holds over Queta, for now, is his active roster contract. Queta can’t play in the postseason unless the Celtics sign him to a standard contract in the coming months, which will carry a luxury tax hit and fill Boston’s only open roster spot if they don’t make any moves first. That feels inevitable, but Queta has also mentioned that he’s had highs-and-lows in his continued foot injury recovery. He told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog he’s closing in on 100%, but the Celtics could have pause until then.

The easy answer in the argument for now is utilizing both, or neither if Boston wants to tighten its rotation in certain games, as they inevitably will when healthy in the playoffs. The Celtics can also play smaller, as they did with Kornet and Porzingis down against the Magic. That game allowed Oshae Brissett to reemerge as a rebounding and slashing four, now posting a +5.4 net rating in 32 minutes next to Horford. Boston has to ask itself what it wants from its depth center, whether stability, a change of pace or insurance in case of injury. Despite visible strides from both players, an addition might need to fill the latter role.

“We’ll continue to look at it,” Stevens said before training camp. “We’ll see how it all looks. We’ve had the real benefit of watching a packed gym for the last few weeks, in small groups and some open gyms that guys have played. We’ve been really encouraged and impressed by some of the people that people don’t talk about on our team a lot. We’ll see how that all plays itself out, but we’ve talked about trying to balance that.”


Bob
MY NOTE: Queta is more physical, Luke is more finesse. Queta is more raw, Luke is more polished (as weird as that is to say). The only areas where Luke outshines Neemi, really, are ft% and NBA minutes (3144 vs 284). Neemi's /minute numbers are off the charts. That doesn't mean they wouldn't go down if he played more minutes, they most likely would, but if you compare Neemi's limited minutes vs Luke's limited minutes Neemi is a beast. Neemi's chronic and unhealed foot injury is getting my attention too. Possible stress fracture or plantar fasciitis candidate? Why does his foot generally hurt?


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Boston Celtics
@celtics
The only player w/ 100+ AST and fewer than 25 TO





Bob
MY NOTE:  105 assists and 21 turnovers, that's a 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.  Payton is #5 in the league.  Kessler Edwardsof Sacto is #3 with 6:1, but he only has a grand total of 6 assists and 1 turnover in 131 minutes.  So, as far as players who are rotation or starters go, Paytonis really 4th.




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Notice that Brad extended everyone with contracts for the rest of the year. I am glad, although I thought Svi might have gotten the ax. Could it be that he needs contracts to include in a trade if someone comes along????

Yes, Rosalie.

Only :48 long







Bob


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Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 3 hours ago
Derrick White’s January “slump” … * Team-best net rating this month (+14.eight) * Team-worst -4.8 net rating without him * Team-best offensive rating (127.3) +68 in White’s 201 minutes in January; -22 in his 140 minutes on bench. Still making good things happen.


Bob


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Jordan Walsh has been called up.

DW, KP and JH are in the questionable status for the Spurs game.

well, we will see how the team responds to their backcourt being out? Of course 6:00 could come and KP could be the only one out or will Al be out too