The Boston Celtics need to score more when Isaiah Thomas isn't on the court

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The Boston Celtics need to score more when Isaiah Thomas isn't on the court






Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) charged the team's offense last season. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Print Email Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on September 28, 2015 at 1:20 PM, updated September 28, 2015 at 1:35 PM




WALTHAM -- At media day Friday, Danny Ainge was asked to evaluate his own offseason.

The Boston Celtics followed a trip to the playoffs by signing Amir Johnson, trading for David Lee and keeping almost every major contributor from last season. They maintained future salary cap flexibility, added some draft picks to their ever-growing collection, and took a flyer on intriguing talent Perry Jones. The Celtics look better on paper, but probably still reside somewhere in the land of average.

"I'm excited about the team," Ainge said. "There's always things that you want to do that you don't get to do. We don't always get what we want. But I'm excited about about each and every guy on this roster."

One goal Ainge did not accomplish: acquiring another fourth-quarter scorer to pair with Isaiah Thomas. Before the summer, Ainge specifically noted, "It would be nice to find one or two more of those before the season starts next year, and ideally at other positions." Obviously, the search for those players continues; some of the youngsters, like Marcus Smart, could seize bigger roles this season, but Thomas looks (again) like the only threat capable of providing a consistent sizzle.

Acknowledging that, head coach Brad Stevens suggested the Celtics will need to let game flow dictate who supplements Thomas' scoring. With the playmaker on the court last season, the Celtics poured in 109.2 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com -- the equivalent of a top-3 offense. When he sat or missed games due to injury, Boston produced points at almost exactly the same rate as the Minnesota Timberwolves. During Thomas' one prolonged absence, the Celtics went 5-3 but did so mostly by getting stops.

Part of the huge discrepancy was due to competition. Thomas was Boston's best clutch scorer by a long shot, but played a lot of minutes against opposing benches. The Celtics also frequently overhauled their style when they went to the bench. Highlighting Thomas' strengths, Stevens called on a lot of small lineups to help spacing -- a strategy that could be limited this season due to a deeper, better frontcourt.

It wasn't just Thomas charging those bench units, but his presence made them go. One major task for Stevens will be finding other ways to generate offense. The Celtics obviously think Thomas can't or shouldn't play huge minutes -- even in the playoffs, he didn't quite average 30 minutes per game.

"That's a really hard thing to just develop a 20-point-a-game scorer, right? And a guy that's going to use 30-plus percent of your possessions and all those things," Stevens said before a practice Sunday. "But hopefully we can put guys in position where they can be most successful so that they can maximize as many of the opportunities to come close to that as possible. That's the deal. There's certain guys that have an ability to get to the line, to make shots, and those types that they're going to score 18-20 regardless. And then there's other guys that are going to be able to do it on certain days, but you're just trying to make that as consistent as possible based on the positions that you're putting them in and the extra work that they're putting in."

Boston's late-season success hid one dirty little secret: the starters were collectively no good. That unit had a Lakers-like -7.2 net rating, according to NBA.com -- most pathetic was Boston's first-unit offense, which was darn near 76ers-ish. With a trio of guys who couldn't shoot threes, very little off-the-bounce juice, and nobody who could consistently draw fouls, the Celtics starters offered many long stretches of offensive grossness.

After losing Brandon Bass to free agency, Stevens will be forced to at least tweak the starters, and you can bet he racked his brain all summer to find a combination that works. Moving Thomas into the starting five would boost the first unit, but the Sixth Man role fits him so well Stevens could be hesitant to make that change. Kelly Olynyk would help the spacing, Amir Johnson does a load of helpful things, and David Lee and Jared Sullinger both have neat skill sets to serve as secondary playmakers. All could be considered as possible starters, and all might upgrade the offense. Jae Crowder will play a big role off the bench or otherwise, but he didn't help out as much in traditional lineups as when he shifted over to power forward. Evan Turner doesn't score efficiently, but his ball-handling was needed next to Marcus Smart last year. If Smart can shoulder more playmaking responsibilities, he may no longer need that safety valve.

Clearly, Stevens has a lot of decisions to make. Ideally, the coach will be able to maintain the powerful bench while settling on five guys who can reverse the trend of bad starts.

"Danny and I were talking about this last night: The great, great scorers -- and that's a very, very unique crowd -- they can do it all the time," Stevens said. "But there's a lot of people that can really find a rhythm or find a matchup, or find a lineup that they play well with in a certain game against a certain team, and then you have good games. The consistency is what separates those great, great scorers. But there's certainly guys on this team that are capable of scoring the ball. Our goal is to put them in position to do that as consistently as possible."


bob


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Yes we are missing a primetime scorer in the starting lineup.

More pace and better shot selection will help but that need remains.

dboss