Sam Hauser

[Roy H.]

In assessing why the Celts haven't been as dominant lately as they were earlier in the season, I think a large part of it is the play of Sam Hauser.

October: 5.5 ppg / 55.6% 3PT% / .830 TS%
November: 8.3 ppg / 46.2% 3PT% / .709 TS%

December: 4.1 ppg / 28.3% 3PT% / .446 TS%
January: 3.8 ppg / 31.4% 3PT% / .513 TS%
February: 4.0 ppg / 33.3% 3PT% / .571 TS%

I think the understandable inclination of Mazz is to reduce Hauser's minutes, at times dropping him out of the rotation.  He's already a mediocre defender; if he's not hitting his shots, Hauser is contributing very little to the team. 

I wonder, though:  is it the best strategy?  Is Hauser salvageable?  If he could get back to hitting 38% - 40% of his 3PTs, he'd still be a valuable piece of the rotation, a designated shooter that this team hasn't had in years. 

It's not a matter of ability:  Hauser has never shot below 40% from 3PT, going back until at least his junior year in high school.  So, is it fatigue?  Psychological?  Just a slump that he might be able to work through?

Ideally, I'd like to see Mazz use the regular season to both keep the minutes of our key players down, while developing guys.  There's been a lot of chatter lately about how we need a wing.  It just strikes me that we had that wing earlier this year, and then he fell off a cliff.  Is he salvageable? 

[PAOBoston]

The issue with Hauser is if he isn’t a flamethrower from 3, he doesn’t bring anything else to the table (defense, rebounding etc). He’s a one trick pony and his one trick he’s supposed to be unicorn-ish at (3 pt shooting) which allows him to be playable with the rest of his faults. If he was average everywhere else, he’s still be getting time to figure out this shooting slump or whatever it is.

I’m not sure if it is just mental and he’s in his own head at this point but it’s been a couple of months. JT is playing insane minutes so I don’t think they can wait around and hope Hauser figures it out. Think they need a veteran guy they can plug in and soak up his minutes.

[slamtheking]

They've definitely got to start getting some scoring out of Hauser.  To be completely fair to Hauser, he's not the only one who's having shooting/scoring issues since that hot start --> PP, Grant, White, Kornet and Al have all dropped off.  Brogdon has also not been the PG godsend he was the first month either --> he's still scoring but the offense isn't running as well as it had been.

Hauser's defense and rebounding has been serviceable this season and has been improving as the year has progressed.  the issue is that it's not the reason he's on the team which is his shooting ability.   seems to be a recurring theme for the C's that they bring in players that are supposedly great shooters/scorers in college or elsewhere and they just don't perform at those same levels here.

[liam]

Hauser is shooting 38.9% from 3 this year...

[td450]

I think its a reflection of the team's offense. It does seem like there is less ball movement and cutting. We aren't running as hard. There is more ball stopping from Tatum up top now.

The other non-ball handlers aren't getting into the offense consistently either. There are a lot of games when Grant Williams and Horford almost completely disappear too. I think it should be viewed as a team wide issue.

[Roy H.]

Hauser is shooting 38.9% from 3 this year...

Does it matter when the change in performance is so starkly different, as identified?

[wdleehi]

How about a stint in the g league?   Force feed him minutes and shots to get his confidence back.

[Moranis]

You can't lose games to give minutes to a guy that at his peak probably won't be better than an 8th or 9th man.

[Roy H.]

You can't lose games to give minutes to a guy that at his peak probably won't be better than an 8th or 9th man.

We’re losing games anyway, and we’re playing JT into the ground.  It’s pretty important to have somebody who can competently eat some minutes.

[Who]

I'm not worried about Hauser. He is a top shooter. He'll come good again. Just play him through it.

[Moranis]

You can't lose games to give minutes to a guy that at his peak probably won't be better than an 8th or 9th man.

We’re losing games anyway, and we’re playing JT into the ground.  It’s pretty important to have somebody who can competently eat some minutes.

I agree but that guy isn't Hauser.

[Roy H.]

You can't lose games to give minutes to a guy that at his peak probably won't be better than an 8th or 9th man.

We’re losing games anyway, and we’re playing JT into the ground.  It’s pretty important to have somebody who can competently eat some minutes.

I agree but that guy isn't Hauser.

He was for the 1st part of the season.  We won’t know if he can rekindle that without allowing him to play through it.

He’s shown that he can be a rotation player.  An 8th or 9th man, yes, but somebody who can perform.  Until there’s somebody better added to the roster, I think he should be given a longer leash.

[Kuberski33]

I'm not worried about Hauser. He is a top shooter. He'll come good again. Just play him through it.

But Joe won't do that. 

[ozgod]

Without looking at detailed film of Hauser, it's very possible that he was an unknown quantity early in the season and caught teams by surprise. Once they started focusing on him and taking away his space his production has declined.

[Goldstar88]

He’s been bad over the last 10 games or so, shooting under 30% from 3pt. Hard to keep him in games to “play through it” when the team is losing. I don’t mind Hauser on the roster as a deep bench guy, like a 3rd stringer, but he’s too one dimensional for regular use. Sam doesn’t do anything well other than catch and shoot 3’s and right now he’s not even good at that.