Not enough shooters?

[Celtics4ever]

Grant has been playing well on offense.    Some of the other guys I would hardly call shooters.  Nesmith came into the league with that reputation but he is so inconsistent that he is unreliable.   Romeo is a good on D, and a work in progress on offense.

Tatum seemed to take some of the motion out of his shot and shot a little better.

We had a good team that was hovering in the ECF for several years.    But some of these other teams are better than us down because of this depth.  Hopefully Brown coming back will help this but I still think depth and missing on draft picks ( on Ainge) has hurt us a great bit.

[Birdman]

Ainge hurt this bench drafting Romeo, PP, Grant, Nesmith & others before them..team needs vets on this bench, not D-leaguers..hopefully Brad will change this team during next offseason

[SHAQATTACK]

Will be interesting to see how Stevens does drafting .    Some teams just find guys down in the draft more consistently than the Ainge era.   

[Goldstar88]

5 rotation players, 7 including Nesmith and Pritchard, are shooting below their Career 3P%, not last season's 3P% or career best, their career 3P%. Pritchard was one of the best 3P shooters in the league and an elite spot up shooter last season. A 15 game sample isn't enough to forget about the 150+ game sample we have for all of those players, this is a team-wide shooting slump.

Tatum and Horford have never shot this poorly over an entire season and Smart hasn't shot like this in 5 years. Langford and Grant were poor shooters, until they weren't... By the end of this season these threads won't age well.

Nesmith and Pritchard were both rookies last year, so how can we really put any stock in their career averages? They haven't played 150+ games. Both seem to have decent shooting strokes, but neither can make a bucket this season. The bigger issue with those two is that they seem to have regressed overall from last year on both ends of the court and are liabilities while in the game at this point. They need to develop in the G-league.

Smart, Richardson, and Schroder who are getting virtually all the minutes at the 1 and 2 are below average 3pt shooters for their 7+ year careers.

[PAOBoston]

No one should be surprised by this. Offense and shooting were question marks once they made the moves they did in the offseason. Anyone with a brain could figure out that spacing and 3 pt shooting would be an issue by adding multiple players who quite literally can’t shoot the three (Schroeder/Richardson) and Horford’s range looks like it is toast. Throw in extending Smart instead of Fournier who shot 46% from 3 while he was in Boston last year and it is no surprise the offense is a disaster.

[#1P4P]

5 rotation players, 7 including Nesmith and Pritchard, are shooting below their Career 3P%, not last season's 3P% or career best, their career 3P%. Pritchard was one of the best 3P shooters in the league and an elite spot up shooter last season. A 15 game sample isn't enough to forget about the 150+ game sample we have for all of those players, this is a team-wide shooting slump.

Tatum and Horford have never shot this poorly over an entire season and Smart hasn't shot like this in 5 years. Langford and Grant were poor shooters, until they weren't... By the end of this season these threads won't age well.

Nesmith and Pritchard were both rookies last year, so how can we really put any stock in their career averages? They haven't played 150+ games. Both seem to have decent shooting strokes, but neither can make a bucket this season. The bigger issue with those two is that they seem to have regressed overall from last year on both ends of the court and are liabilities while in the game at this point. They need to develop in the G-league.

Smart, Richardson, and Schroder who are getting virtually all the minutes at the 1 and 2 are below average 3pt shooters for their 7+ year careers.

Their career averages are averages with a much larger sample size than these 15 games. It’s more reasonable to expect them to rebound upward toward their average, unless there’s been a change factor.

The “150 game” sample size was obviously excluding Nesmith and Pritchard because they’re sophomores. The point remains that the larger sample size > smaller sample size. Payton shot 248 3PA at a 41% clip last season and only has 25 3PA this season, Aaron 108 at 37% to 28 this season.

They’re being asked to adjust to a new coach and approach with a keener focus on defense (for Pritchard) and slower pace (for Nesmith), there’s going to be an adjustment period. I assume neither has played with the hook hanging over their head to play well or get subbed out. Whether the solution is patience or minutes in the G-league, I’m going to bank on these 2 figuring it out.

[tstorey_97]

Ime isn't giving any minutes to Pritchard and Nesmith. It is their sophomore year, thus, maybe the jinx is in but, they both have been way above average shooters in their careers in college and pretty much last year.

Pritchard
Last year - 41% from three102 for 248(1280 minutes)
This year - 24% from three 6 for 25 (128 minutes)

Nesmith
Last year - 37% from three 40 for 108 (669 minutes)
This year - 17.9% from three 5 for 28 (116 minutes)

The rotation is
Richardson
Langford
Grant
Parker

Smart + Horford + Josh = combined 28% from three?
 Smart hasn't been shooting much of late which is ok, it's just the guys he's passing to aren't shooting much better than him anyways.
 
Once the team picks up their shooting, the wins will come, but right now watching the Hawks shoot 50% last night? What chance did they have?

I have a theory which may, or may not apply to the Celtics of today.

When Tacko came on the floor last year the place would just explode. The Celtic's bench would be up on their feet going nuts for him. This is a critical aspect of team morale. The starters NEED someone to cheer for also....no matter how minor their contribution may seem.

Pritchard hit three of four threes last year and the Garden was rocking...

...None of that this year.

It's a freaking game....relax and have some fun a little bit...right?

Anyways the team is waaay too tight sitting watching Tatum trying to figure it out.

Their defense is 14th in the NBA (points/GM) Rebounds 12th, assists 20th, three pt % 26th.

At this point, there are too many teams that are playing better than the Celtics right now..

Smart and Schroder are an excellent back court.
Robert and Horford an excellent front court and Tatum and Brown are all stars. It has to come together and it better be THIS season.

If Red was alive, he'd be trying to figure out a way to break the ice.

(BTW, I was so happy to see Tacko playing the other night!)



 

[Celtics2021]

It’s not a playing time issue for Nesmith.  In his 7 games with 10+ minutes, he’s averaged 13.7 minutes (compared to 14.7 last year), he’s shot 3-22 from 3 (13.7%), compared to 37% last year.  He’s taken 8.25 3’s per 36 in those appearances, compared to 5.8 per 36 last year, so it’s not a case of him not getting opportunities to shoot when he’s out there.

He’s just been bad.  Maybe it’s a sophomore slump, maybe it’s the new ball, maybe it’s just a small sample size.  But he’s been given extended run and ample opportunities in half of the team’s games, and has not responded.  Nothing in his performance says he deserves more chances than he’s been given, and it’s probably time to try something different.

[footey]

Bane one of Danny's worst moves.  Could really use his efficiency right now.  Guy was a steal, and we trade for 2nd round picks?  Horrible move.

[liam]

Bane one of Danny's worst moves.  Could really use his efficiency right now.  Guy was a steal, and we trade for 2nd round picks?  Horrible move.

BAAAAANNNNEEEEEE!!!!!

[liam]

One of the rotations with Kanter, Tatum, J. Rich, Smart and Schorder was one of the worse shooting lineups you could put on the floor.

[LilRip]

The general sentiment around this team entering the season was “good defense, lack of shooting”. So far, I think that’s generally held. The team, when focused, looks to be a good defensive unit with multiple above average individual defenders. On the flip side, our few shooters are slumping, injured or barely playing (Tatum, Brown, Pritchard). 

Grant’s shooting has been a revelation though.

[liam]

Ime thinks if you get open shots that it's good enough. You have make those shots. Maybe take more two point shots and don't pass up layups!!!


“Overall, the effort wasn’t the problem with anybody,” Udoka said via The Athletic. “It was just a matter of knocking down shots — I​​t’s gonna put a tremendous amount of stress on your defense to be perfect when you don’t make shots, and sometimes that’s what it comes down to.”

“Several wide-open looks, shooting 11-for-42 from 3, it puts stress on your defense to be perfect when you’re not making those shots,” he continued. “We did what we’ve been doing all year: penetrate, kick and get guys wide-open looks. And we’re not knocking them down. Not going to hold people in the 90s every night, but we have to score more than 99 ourselves.”

[nickagneta]

Tatum's slump and Brown's absence accounts for a bunch of lost shooting, hence lack of shooters, especially given their volume.

Regarding Tatum's slump, for Tatum to return to his career shooting norms as quickly as possible, he would need to hit about 30 straight shots with 18 of those shots being three pointers.

We know that's not going to happen, so hopefully he just gets back to his normal shooting and by year's end it looks like he only had a slightly less than normal shooting year.

[Goldstar88]

Another horrible shooting night. 37% from the field and 15% from 3pt. Starters were 1-18 from deep. Only bright spots were Grant and Romeo who shot 5-10 from the field, 2-4 from 3pt. Idk, maybe have them shoot more? I can’t remember a C’s team shooting this poorly. Jaylen coming back soon will help, but  Brad really needs to make a move or two in order to balance out the roster. Who would you like to see the C’s bring in with the TPE?