Kemba is a deteriorating asset. Great human being and a proven NBA scorer. But he's not a creator, he's a defensive liability and his game is built on those explosive stop start moves. Chronic knee issues could make him a diminished player going forward. What he was the last few years doesn't matter any more. What is he next May? Probably even less than he was in the recent playoffs.
He also showed us a lack of poise under pressure. Regardless of how healthy he was, he didn't give the team the ball movement it needed in crunch time.
I would be happy with any trade that moved him on. If he stays, I hope he assumes a Lou Williams type role on this team.
Max contract for Lou Williams role. Ouch.
Danny may have screwed up with this signing.
Kemba's 30. He was available 56/72 games. Played 31 mpg.
20 pts, 4.8 ast, 3.9 reb, 0.9 steals, 4.3 FTA
57.5% True Shooting, 24% AST%, 10.5% TOV%.
Compare that to his previous season, where he played all 82 games and scored 25 per game but was a bit less efficient as the #1 scoring option.
Overall he was very good considering he was the 2nd or 3rd scoring option for the team all year. He's a bit of a liability on defense, but that's true of most scoring oriented guards. He does not compare at all to Lou Williams in that regard -- Sweet Lou is a sieve.
If Kemba was above average for his position on defense he'd be fantastic, and probably would not have been available for the Celts to sign.
He wasn't quite at the same level in the playoffs, but you expect that for a smaller guard. Yet overall his scoring efficiency in the playoffs remained about the same (57.3% TS) and he was available for all 17 games while playing 37 mpg.
Kemba wasn't signed to carry the franchise. Yes he's making a lot of money. But that's the price of a perennial All-Star in his prime. He's got two years left and it's probably reasonable to expect his production to decline slightly even as his salary rises. Again, that's what you're going to get when you sign a guy in UFA.
It's simply not true that Kemba is inefficient, that he's not a passer, or that he's a bad value on his contract. It is true that his contract isn't anything close to a steal. It's market value.
Kemba's deal would bother me if he was signed to be the best player on the team. He's obviously not up to that. Thankfully he's not required to be the best guy, and his age-related decline should coincide with the rest of the team getting better and more mature.
More than anything Kemba provided stability and positive leadership in the wake of the disaster of the 2019 season which resulted in Kyrie and Horford departing. The Celts would have faced a much more drastic overhaul of their roster and system if they hadn't been able to plug in a relatively similar player to Kyrie's spot. I expect they would have struggled this season without a lead guard with Kemba's scoring profile, especially early on.