How can Celtics improve their offense: Xs and Os with an NBA analyst

[ozgod]

From Jay King of the Athletic in a discussion with Mo Dakhil, former Spurs and Clippers video coordinator on a podcast. It's behind a paywall so I am sharing this article as I am a subscriber and I think it's interesting. Some points from Dakhil for those who don't want to read the whole thing:

• too much one on one basketball, not enough system basketball
• no true playmaker in the squad, and not enough connectors/table setters
• bad shooters make it hard for Tatum and Brown to try to make plays even if they get doubled
• offense hasn't changed at all from Brad to Ime
• no motion to their offense, it's very static with no cutting or off ball movement
• Tatum doesn't get to the rim enough, he settles too much. When he makes an effort to get to the rim he is very good
• Celtics are 28th in league in transition points, which doesn't make sense with how many athletes are on the team

The Celtics offense has played better lately.

Over a current three-game winning streak, Boston has scored 116.3 points per 100 possessions for an offensive efficiency that would lead the NBA over the entire season. With Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams back after extended absences and Jayson Tatum’s shooting percentages beginning to rise to sea level, there is reason to believe the Celtics could start building upon their recent success at that end of the court.

Still, in 18 games of the Ime Udoka era — nearly one-quarter of the regular season — Boston’s offense has lagged behind its defense. For a discussion of what has worked, what needs to improve and what Udoka is trying to accomplish, I brought former Spurs and Clippers video coordinator Mo Dakhil onto the “Anything is Poddable” podcast. Here’s our discussion. It has been edited for length, clarity and grammar.

King: Through 18 games, the stats haven’t always been pretty for the Celtics offense, which ranks 17th in offensive efficiency. I know you studied the team for this podcast. I know you study the league as much as anyone. Let’s start with a super broad question, so you can take it wherever you want. What are your initial thoughts while watching this offense?

Dakhil: I see a ton of one-on-one basketball. And I think that’s obvious for everybody who watches them. I’m sure people are listening, going, “That’s the expert opinion? Really? OK.” But it is that. And it’s been something that’s not even something under Udoka. It’s been that way the last two or three years, even with Brad Stevens. Stevens came in and he brought a very simple flex offense, but it worked. And it was something that, to be honest, a lot of NBA teams weren’t used to seeing the flex that often. And then it just kind of had a built-in system, built-in things, it created fluidity and everything like that. And now, the further they’ve gone away from that, the more it’s just become very centric on the Js: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. And they’re unbelievable talents, but the thing is it just becomes just an offense of the two of them and the other guys aren’t fully involved except for random plays here and there. And I think in the broad nature of it, that’s the first thing that stands out every time I watch a Celtics game.

King: Ime Udoka has come in, he is trying to change that. The first thing he said: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need to become better playmakers. He has kind of put everything on them to lift that part of their games. How do they get a more fluid offense if those guys are going to be the two stars, they’re going to be the guys who have the ball in their hands the majority of the time. What needs to improve to go away from the “your turn, my turn” offense as Udoka calls it?

Dakhil: I think you almost have to start with having some sort of system. This isn’t a group of guys you can just run plays for, can call a play or call different plays. That was kind of what worked under Stevens. And part of it is those guys weren’t there when Stevens started. It was a little bit of a different time. But running just even simple actions that force them to move and cut across and set a screen and come off a screen, a simple system like that. Or God, like, when we were kids, what was it? Pass and screen away (laughs). Maybe a little more complex because what you ran back in the day won’t work in an NBA game (laughs again), but having a little bit of something — just a starting point, almost like a base. And then from there you can build-out. And that will kind of make those guys get a little bit more involved in the actions. Because I think that’s the first thing they’ve gotta look at is just sort of running that stuff. And this is going to be redundant throughout the entire pod. And I apologize. But it’s been three years of just, one guy dribbles the ball up the court, the ball stays in his hands the whole time, sidestep for a 3, whatever, or driving into the lane and hoping you can create something. And when they do get assists, it’s kind of just almost out of necessity: “I drove, they stopped me, I kicked it out and the guy hit a 3.” It wasn’t like that was their main goal.

King: One thing I’ve harped on is if you want to make Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown better playmakers, giving them shooting around them would make it a lot easier. And obviously, this roster does not have a lot of shooting. Given that, what are the limitations for this offense and how do you kind of get around that? Obviously, they can put Tatum in the post, they can go to different things, but how do you get around that and still create pretty good opportunities?

Dakhil: Actually, that’s a great point you brought up — and you know how much it hurts me to say you made a great point. There’s no real way you can fix that, right? If you just don’t have the shooters at the end of the day, you just don’t have those guys. The one thing I would push back even on Udoka saying these guys have to be better playmakers, it’s not in their nature. It’s not who they are. And unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of guys on their roster who are playmakers. Dennis Schröder is a guy they brought in and he’s not a playmaker for others. Marcus Smart tries to be but he’s not good at it. He can get some assists and rack up some great nights, but it’s not something he does. It’s not something I look at — when I list the things Marcus Smart does, playmaking is not at the top of the list. And I think their real issue is — and I kind of call these guys connectors or table setters — that’s what they’re missing. Because their best shooters are Tatum and Brown for the most part. Brown’s shooting 40 percent from 3 this year. Granted he’s missed a ton of games. I know Tatum started slow, but we know he’ll get back up. I just think their issue is they don’t have somebody to pass to them to get them easy shots in those situations and get them the open 3s in those opportunities. And I think that’s part of what leads to the problem with that. And if you have bad shooters around you, it doesn’t matter if Tatum forces a double team in the post. They’re not going to make them and teams aren’t going to defend it. And that’s going to crowd the paint even more and that becomes a bigger issue for Boston’s offense.

King: What have you seen Udoka change so far from what Brad Stevens tried to do? And what does he need to change the most moving forward?

Dakhil: It’s kind of funny because I’ve looked at it and I still haven’t felt like the offense has changed at all. I feel like they’re the same team offensively.

King: The numbers are so similar. They still don’t produce attempts at the rim. They still shoot a lot of midrange jumpers. Tatum’s shot locations are almost the same to the percentage. It’s crazy.

Dakhil: It’s nuts. It’s nuts because I just haven’t even seen it. There hasn’t been one thing I can point to that I can just say, wow, Udoka has changed this. A little bit of a different roster this time around with Al Horford, no Kemba Walker, Robert Williams getting more minutes when he’s healthy and on the court. But it’s like not much has changed throughout all of this. People are like, look, Horford’s going to get more playmaking opportunities, play him at the high post and things like that, but I’d like to see some more elbow actions and elbow game. Give it to Horford there and have Tatum go screen for Brown even there and let the two of them play off of that. And make defenses have to defend that and figure out how they want to defend that with a pindown along the weak side. There are many things you can do that I just haven’t seen a single one where we’ve kind of gone like, “Oh, that’s new.” You tell me, Jay. You’ve probably watched more than me. Have you seen anything that stands out?

King: For whatever reason, it doesn’t seem like they’re using Robert Williams as much. His usage has gone down. They’re not running as many pick-and-rolls. That’s probably partly because Kemba’s gone, because Evan Fournier’s gone, because the roster has changed. But even Tatum hasn’t run as many pick-and-rolls. So that’s different. And I don’t know if that’s a good thing.

Dakhil: This isn’t a team that has a lot of motion stuff. Like, there aren’t a lot of guys that (make you think), “He’s so good at off-ball movement that we don’t have to run a ton of pick-and-rolls.” Like, this is going to be a bit crappy because it’s freaking Steph Curry, but the Warriors can run an offense that they don’t ever have to run a pick-and-roll if they don’t want to. Because Steph’s movement off the ball is so good and he has that gravity. Yes, nobody on the roster for the Celtics is on that (level) that can create, but there’s nothing along those lines. Even just not running the pick-and-roll seems a little bit funny, but I think a lot of those numbers were from Kemba and Fournier as much as anybody else last season. Tatum, bringing a second defender I think is something that some guys hate. They prefer isolation where they’ve just gotta beat their guy instead of having to worry about the big man’s defender, the guy coming and showing, hedging, are they trapping, what are they doing. A lot of guys tend to just prefer isolation so they don’t have to think about that. And that might be Tatum. But that’s also part of the problem. Again, they need to get out of isolation and get into more just get the ball moving, going side to side. How many possessions have you seen this year where you felt like, wow, that ball went swing-swing-3 to the corner, or whatever, swing-swing-drive into the lane, find the lob for the dunk? You just haven’t seen a lot of it where the ball’s kind of flown around and you’ve got five or six passes in a possession. Not that you need to have that to be a good offense, but I barely see any of that from the Celtics when I watch them.

King: Obviously, that’s been an issue dating back a couple of years now. And I think your point about the off-ball movement is a good one. Because I think Tatum has become a much better passer over the years, he’s gotten much better at dealing with double teams, he’s gotten much better at spraying a kickout to the opposite corner. The one area where I feel like he and Jaylen Brown need to improve the most is off-ball movement. Go get an easy bucket. You look at, like, Kevin Durant, he’s the greatest scorer right now in the game, maybe the greatest scorer ever. So many of his buckets are set up before he touches the ball. Like, he touches the ball and he’s ready to shoot, he’s in a position to shoot. Tatum doesn’t always do that. And that’s one of my biggest issues with his game is that he makes things more difficult on himself by allowing the defense to set up, by catching and holding and going into his isolation bag. Which is deep. But it’s also tough to score like that no matter who you are. You tweeted the other day that he’s “that dude” when he attacks like this. What do you see from him when he’s in that mode and is that something he can just go to all the time? Or is it just like, that’s something that happens randomly when Russell Westbrook is guarding him and the Lakers aren’t putting up much resistance?

Dakhil: Yeah, everybody’s biggest complaint is he doesn’t average a ton of free-throw attempts. … And it’s because he settles a lot. A lot of it is isolation, OK, dribble pull-up type of scenario. And everything that he goes into is that. But, like, when he attacks, and in that Lakers game it wasn’t just that he was attacking, but he was bumping guys off and getting to the cup. And when he’s at that level, he’s on another plane. He’s reaching that level which people thought, like, yo, this is the Jayson Tatum we were expecting after his rookie year. I think those are the things we want to see continue to grow from him along those lines. And yes, his passing has gotten better. But he’s never going to be like an eight or nine assist type of guy. That’s just not who he is. The dude can score, so why would you take that away from him? But he’s also, I love what you just said about he does make it harder on himself. There are times when he pump fakes out of a wide-open 3 to go take a contested 2. Like, part of you’s just like, nah, dude, that was a catch-and-shoot scenario. Get that shot off and fly with that.

I think when you’re looking at his evolution, you want him to be a three-level scorer, but he just doesn’t get to the rim enough. The Lakers game was a great example of when he does get to the rim, it opens up everything else for him. It will open up the midrange shot for him, it will open up the 3-point shot for him. Because teams have to worry about that. And then when teams collapse on him, he is a willing passer, it’s just I don’t know if he always sees those passes. But when teams start collapsing on him, then he’s going to start making those passes and those kickouts. Long-winded answer. But just one more thing I want to add because just talking about easy buckets: The Celtics are 28th in transition points.

King: That’s crazy. That’s one of the stats that has stood out to me most. It’s like, how? They have Tatum. They have Brown, they have Dennis Schröder, who’s almost as fast as anyone in the NBA. It makes no sense to me that their transition offense has been as bad as it is. And they get stops too. It’s not like they’re just giving up tons of buckets and they’re always taking the ball through the net. They’re getting stops and still not scoring in transition.

Dakhil: Yeah. They get the rebound and then, it’s like, all right, everybody slow down. And it’s like, no, ramp it up, man. You got the athleticism in most of these games, the youth. Run. Get it out. Get those easy buckets. I think, last I checked, they’re around 9.3 points per game in fast breaks. That’s not going to get it done. You got to get in there around 13 or 14 points per game. It’ll just make it so much easier for you offensively.

Part two of Jay’s conversation with Mo Dakhil will run Thursday.

https://theathletic.com/2975928/2021/11/24/how-can-celtics-improve-their-offense-an-xs-and-os-look-with-an-nba-analyst/

[Kiorrik]

Yeah, it's pretty simple tbh.

Cut to the hoop more. Both with and without the ball. Share it, and when you kick it out, ppl will be less contested and have easier shots.

"Pretty simple" as in, the words are simple.

Doing it on an NBA level, yeah, that's diff.

[tenn_smoothie]

Really good point he makes about playmaking just not being part of Tatum or Brown's basketball DNA. You can't twist someone into something they are not. Even when those guys try to focus on making plays for others, it is a clumsy effort that doesn't appear to suit them. Good offense should place players in their most effective mode that caters to their natural talents. It does not appear Ime has any idea how to create an offense that fits his team's talents. Also, as was mentioned, we desperately need shooters. Celtics have looked for awhile now like a team trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Definition of Square Peg into Round Hole: Something or someone that does not fit well or at all; something that will not succeed as attempted, except possibly with much force and effort.  Sound familiar ?

[Kiorrik]

Really good point he makes about playmaking just not being part of Tatum or Brown's basketball DNA. You can't twist someone into something they are not. Even when those guys try to focus on making plays for others, it is a clumsy effort that doesn't appear to suit them. Good offense should place players in their most effective mode that caters to their natural talents. It does not appear Ime has any idea how to create an offense that fits his team's talents. Also, as I have said a few times in the game threads, we desperately need shooters. Celtics have looked for awhile now like a team trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Definition of Square Peg into Round Hole: Something or someone that does not fit well or at all; something that will not succeed as attempted, except possibly with much force and effort.  Sound familiar ?

It's a little bit of both tho. People keep just ball-watching. That doesn't work. Nobody cutting means nobody to pass to.

I think the real difference is just the amount of time they dribble and "dance". There needs to be action sooner, so play can keep going.

If you slowly bring up the ball and then do a couple fakes, then reset a bit, couple more fakes, nobody will cut anymore. Waste of energy.

So it's a little chicken & egg thing.

They got nobody to pass to cuz nobody cutting.

But nobody cutting cuz they're not acting fast enough.

[Csfan1984]

Its clear for me the movement, shot quality, shoot %, and rotation all need improvement.

Guys need to be moving more off ball even if it's a means of distracting defenders. Iso and space is saved for end of quarter/game situations or in big mismatches. The current team doesn't have the shooters or playmaker to run so much space and Iso.

Better on point passing will lead to better catch and shoot numbers. Seen way too many passes throwing guys out of position. They need to get quick and smooth shots up. Ime needs to stress pass quality not just passes.

More Jays on the post with strong side shooter option.

More weak side sealing for open shots and cuts.

Get away from the double big starters. Start Schro.

Depth chart should be
PG- Schro, Smart, Josh, PP
SG- Smart, Josh, Langford, Nesmith
SF- JB, Tatum, Langford, Nesmith
PF- Tatum, Grant, Parker, JB
C- Al, TL, Kanter, Parker

Lots of five on five practice.

Extra shooting drills with "game simulation".

[td450]

Really good point he makes about playmaking just not being part of Tatum or Brown's basketball DNA. You can't twist someone into something they are not. Even when those guys try to focus on making plays for others, it is a clumsy effort that doesn't appear to suit them. Good offense should place players in their most effective mode that caters to their natural talents. It does not appear Ime has any idea how to create an offense that fits his team's talents. Also, as was mentioned, we desperately need shooters. Celtics have looked for awhile now like a team trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Definition of Square Peg into Round Hole: Something or someone that does not fit well or at all; something that will not succeed as attempted, except possibly with much force and effort.  Sound familiar ?

I think the takeaway is that most of this isn't Tatum and Brown's fault. Making plays means doing something that makes the defense decide, then you read that decision and choose the best option the defense gave you. If you don't move and cut, you don't force the defense to react, and you don't get a better team option out of a pass.

If this team just implemented a little Tommy Heinsohn basketball and pushed in transition as hard as it could every single play, it would win at least 6-8 more games. Brown is a top 5 finisher in the league in transition and Tatum is pretty great too. There are other guys that would benefit from this approach too.

If we end up in half court, we need more actions and cutting there too.

If everyone is standing around, its pretty hard to see how Tatum and Brown end up giving the ball up to someone with a considerably lower chance of scoring.

[Rosco917]

So kinda of like what everyone has been saying for two years...

The questions are, who's to blame? And how to change it.

[Rosco917]

So kinda of like what everyone has been saying for two years...

The questions are, who's to blame? And how to change it.

Oh and by the way, this next game coming Jaylan is looking to tie a personal best of no assists for 3 straight games. Imagine, in over 80 minutes of basketball, playing with the best players in the world, you can't make a pass that directly leads to a basket for someone else. You might think it would happen by mistake!

[SHAQATTACK]

Poor ball movement , people without the ball aren’t moving which is brutal to watch , makes my skin crawl . 
  Watch guys like Steph Curry , Ray Allen , Reggie Miller, Kobe great ones don’t stand and watch , only Lebron does this crap , because he is huge and force his way to basket anytime. 

Everybody has to move and this confuses the the defenses and put them a step behind , thus creating opportunities.   Too much standing and watching the game Celtics players ….be in the game !

[SHAQATTACK]

So kinda of like what everyone has been saying for two years...

The questions are, who's to blame? And how to change it.

players don’t listen to coaches or veterans as much IMO

Coaches that can really coach are not allowed to coach anymore . They are there now for everyone s various problems and basketball comes last today. 

No one said basketball at a NBA level is going to be all fun, no work and NOT listening to coaches.  Lebron and Kyrie ..two have ruined basketball….sooner they disappear the better.

I like how Time lord moves and stays involved at both ends of the court . 

Most Celtics just disappear out the play stand around waiting for their turn for a one on one play .

This allows the defense to set up . 

Coaches should be fired if they can not get players to play correct ,  anywhere I worked I had to do my job correct .  Players and coaches must do the same , or move on from them.

[Rosco917]

So kinda of like what everyone has been saying for two years...

The questions are, who's to blame? And how to change it.

players don’t listen to coaches or veterans as much IMO

Coaches that can coach are not allowed to coach anymore

I like how Time lord moves and stays involved at both ends of the court . 

Most Celtics just disappear out the play stand around waiting for their turn for a one on one play .

This allows the defense to set up . 

Coaches should be fired if they can not get players to play correct ,  anywhere I worked I had to do my job correct .  Players and coaches must do the same , or move on from them.

All 100% correct.

When you hand over the keys to the family car, make sure you're handing them to someone that can properly drive. Danny...

This is what happens when you draft high school players and then build a team around them, they're not a "finished" product yet, they lack the winning basketball IQ top college coaches would have provided them.

 

[todd_days_41]

What else is new? Lots of flat footed chucking, and whining to the refs. Cs offense is pretty painful to watch.

[Goldstar88]

Changes needed, IMO..

1) change the starting rotation to: Schroder, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford. This is clearly the best offensive unit. Let Timelord play his 25 minutes Off the bench so that he doesn’t break down. A 2 big lineup is not effective against 90% of teams anyway.

2)Stop shooting so many 3’s. Most of the players on this team cannot make them consistently and the players with the highest 3pt shooting percentages (Romeo and Grant) are getting very few attempts which doesn’t help. Team had almost 50 shots from behind the arc last game which is completely ridiculous.

3) Shorten the rotation. Starters: Schroder, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford. Bench: Timelord, Richardson, Langford, Grant, Kanter, Parker. Send Pritchard, Nesmith, Fernando down to the G-League so that they can develop. All 3 are clearly not ready to contribute.

4) Do a better job staggering minutes. There shouldn’t be points of any close game where one of Tatum or Brown are not on the court. Ideally we’d have a combination of 2 of the following on the court at all times: Horford, Brown, Tatum. Considering Horford can play the 4/5, Brown can play the 2/3 and Tatum can play the 3/4 this should be very doable.

5) Make sure there are 3 shooter on the court at all times. Some of the lineups Ime puts out there have 1 shooter on the floor and the offense struggles. Shocking, I know... Tatum, Brown, Horford, Grant, And Romeo are the players that can spread the floor for the C’s.

[todd_days_41]

Changes needed, IMO..

1) change the starting rotation to: Schroder, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford. This is clearly the best offensive unit. Let Timelord play his 25 minutes Off the bench so that he doesn’t break down. 2 big lineup is not effective against 90% of teams anyway.

2)Stop shooting so many 3’s. Most of the players on this team cannot make them consistently and the players with the highest 3pt shooting percentages (Romeo and Grant) are getting very few attempts which doesn’t help. Team had almost 50 shots from behind the arc last game which is completely ridiculous.

3) Shorten the rotation. Starters: Schroder, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford. Bench: Timelord, Richardson, Langford, Grant, Kanter, Parker. Send Pritchard, Nesmith, Fernando down to the G-League so that they can develop. All 3 are clearly not ready to contribute.

4) Do a better job staggering minutes. There shouldn’t be points of any close game where one of Tatum or Brown are on the court. Ideally we’d have a combination of 2 of the following on the court at all times: Horford, Brown, Tatum. Considering Horford can play the 4/5, Brown can play the 2/3 and Tatum can play the 3/4 this should be very doable.

5) Make sure there are 3 shooter on the court at all times. Some of the lineups Ime puts out there have 1 shooter on the floor and the offense struggles. Shocking, I know... Tatum, Brown, Horford, Grant, And Romeo are the players that can spread the floor for the C’s.

…and 6] trade for a real PG.

[SHAQATTACK]

Changes needed, IMO..

1) change the starting rotation to: Schroder, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford. This is clearly the best offensive unit. Let Timelord play his 25 minutes Off the bench so that he doesn’t break down. 2 big lineup is not effective against 90% of teams anyway.

2)Stop shooting so many 3’s. Most of the players on this team cannot make them consistently and the players with the highest 3pt shooting percentages (Romeo and Grant) are getting very few attempts which doesn’t help. Team had almost 50 shots from behind the arc last game which is completely ridiculous.

3) Shorten the rotation. Starters: Schroder, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford. Bench: Timelord, Richardson, Langford, Grant, Kanter, Parker. Send Pritchard, Nesmith, Fernando down to the G-League so that they can develop. All 3 are clearly not ready to contribute.

4) Do a better job staggering minutes. There shouldn’t be points of any close game where one of Tatum or Brown are not on the court. Ideally we’d have a combination of 2 of the following on the court at all times: Horford, Brown, Tatum. Considering Horford can play the 4/5, Brown can play the 2/3 and Tatum can play the 3/4 this should be very doable.

5) Make sure there are 3 shooter on the court at all times. Some of the lineups Ime puts out there have 1 shooter on the floor and the offense struggles. Shocking, I know... Tatum, Brown, Horford, Grant, And Romeo are the players that can spread the floor for the C’s.

This a poor coaching , planning , drafting .   Nothing is being managed correctly……if your going to win or die from three , then go after those guys and build around them .  This team is all over the place with no direction from top down .   It’s an awful look for the Celtics to be lost as a team so poorly