On our offense:
One thing that really jumps out to me is that we are doing a very poor job on two particular shot types that it is very important to be successful at: Shots 'at the rim' (i.e., within 3ft of the hoop) and 'wide open threes'. Wide-open shots are shots with no defender within 6 feet.
Those are normally the two most efficient shot types and you want to get as many of each as you can and convert them when you can.
We do a poor job of getting to the rim. We are are ranked 25th in share of our shots that are within 3 ft of the rim. Further, we do a terrible job of finishing those shots, ranking 26th in FG% on shots within 3ft.
We actually do a great job at generating "wide open threes". We have generated the 4th most 'wide open' 3PT attempts in the NBA.
Unfortunately, we pretty much suck at hitting wide open threes. We are ranked 27th in 3PT% on wide-open threes, hitting them at just a 36.7% clip.
League median on wide-open threes is about 40%. So that is a pretty significant under-performance and, ultimately, a lot of wasted possessions.
It's a very strange thing on this team. The vast majority of players around the league tend to shoot much better on wide-open threes. But on our team, we have only 4 players who shoot above even 36.1% on wide-open threes (Jayson, Yabusele, Horford & Jaylen). Those 4 guys are all shooting 40% and higher on wide-open threes.
Everybody else on the roster just sucks on wide-open threes. I don't know why. Stage fright?
Even Kyrie, who in prior seasons shot very well on wide-open, is shooting a miserable 34.1% on such shots.
I probably don't have to mention how bad Marcus Smart is on such shots - but it bears noting because not only is he horrific (28.7%) on such shots, he takes a ton of them (101 of his 211 threes on the season have been with no defender within 6 ft).
Maybe Brad needs to bring in a sports psychologist or something. Or have guys practice shooting in an empty freaking gym!
And sheesh! We have to do something to get plays going to the darn rim more often!!!
How many of those wide open threes are from people who can actually shoot? Kyrie is our only high volume shooter right now, which is a big problem.
So far this season, the Celtics have attempted 927 'wide open' threes (6th most in the NBA).
Those have been distributed as follows:
Player 3PA 3PT%
Horford 138 45.7% *
Rozier 127 33.9%
Brown 118 40.7% *
Smart 100 29.0%
Tatum 96 46.9% *
Irving 80 35.0%
Morris 74 36.5%
Ojeleye 74 29.7%
Theis 43 32.6%
Larkin 28 35.7%
Nader 24 29.2%
Yabusele 11 45.5% *
Baynes 8 0.0%
Allen 3 0.0%
Bird 1 0.0%
Hayward 1 0.0%
Eddie 1 0.0%
The players with an "*" next to them are the only ones who are hitting these shots at league-median or better.
Another problem with our offense is the regression of Big Al. His play drop significantly from the beginning of the year.
Not sure I concur about Horford. Looking at his monthly splits, his efficiencies and rates haven't really changed much. His scoring per game is almost identical each month. His rebounds and assists per game are just barely slightly down this month, but so are his minutes. And the assists are dependent on his teammate's shooting, which has sucked lately.