C's one Elite Passer away from Dynasty

[KG Living Legend]

 If Indiana wanted us to do a big favor for giving them their future in Aaron Nesmith,  a team leader the Marcus Smart of back up big men Daniel Theis and a juicy first round pick for taking the injury prone, ridiculous contract of Brogdon.

 They should take the Golden State firsts plus three more firsts and all our second rounders for Haliburton.  If we added that one player. It's game over for the league for 5 years.

 Tatum and Brown are very similar both natural scorers and pretty bad passing ability.  Brown is just awful,  while Tatum has promise, he's still not there.

 Jokic sets off the whole vibe for Denver.  It's so fun to watch. And the best player Nikola setting the example for Murray who avg 10 assists pee game,  makes the whole team unselfish. 

 One Elite passer would transform this team overnight.  Mark my words. The only realistic guy we could get is maybe Giddey,  not sure if he moves the needle right now, to make a nice offer but we desperately need am elite playmaker.

 It is the missing link.

Porzingis
Tatum
Brown
White
Haliburton

Timelord
Porzingis
Tatum
Brown
Haliburton

[gouki88]

I admire the optimism, but I don't think Indiana would trade Hali to us unless we sent them Tatum. Or Brown, plus all our picks. The latter is impossible due to his contract.

[KG Living Legend]

I admire the optimism, but I don't think Indiana would trade Hali to us unless we sent them Tatum. Or Brown, plus all our picks. The latter is impossible due to his contract.

 You do agree that if we had Haliburton we are champions in short order though

 Also.  Do you think Giddey would move the needle for this Celtic team.  Would he have the ball in his hands enough to make a difference.

[ozgod]

I admire the optimism, but I don't think Indiana would trade Hali to us unless we sent them Tatum. Or Brown, plus all our picks. The latter is impossible due to his contract.

Plus he can't be traded for a year after signing the supermax anyway.

I would probably see flying pigs over the Charles before Indiana would trade Haliburton to us for picks...I'm sure I could get it done in NBA2k somehow though 

[tenn_smoothie]

Along with his all-time great talent and hyper-competitiveness, the other big thing that Larry Bird brought to Boston was his passing, which became infectious with that team. They had some beautiful ball movement.

[gouki88]

I admire the optimism, but I don't think Indiana would trade Hali to us unless we sent them Tatum. Or Brown, plus all our picks. The latter is impossible due to his contract.

 You do agree that if we had Haliburton we are champions in short order though

 Also.  Do you think Giddey would move the needle for this Celtic team.  Would he have the ball in his hands enough to make a difference.

Yes, if we added a top 5 PG in the league for nothing we would be champions.

Giddey would be intriguing, but he doesn't nearly as much as Hali

[Neurotic Guy]

An elite passer who is an on-court leader would be great. That said, let’s wait on Derrick White to see how much he brings to the table as Smart’s replacement in the starting lineup.  White isn’t Halliburton or Lilliard, but is solidly skilled.  His presence is steadying - doesn’t seem to change his game up 10, down 10, or tied.  An intense, but not emotional player.  Looking forward to seeing him as a distributor and floor leader in an exceptionally offensively talented starting 5.  Won’t surprise me to see over 7apg for DW.

[Jvalin]

Elite passers don't grow on trees. They are fewer than the elite scorers.

Haliburton is a pipe dream. I bet we could have traded for CP3. For whatever reason, it seems that we weren't interested in him. In any case, he's far too old to help us create a dynasty (=multiple titles). Chances are Trae is available for the right price. Personally, I don't like his game. He's far too ball dominant and he's a hopeless defender.

[BitterJim]

An elite passer who is an on-court leader would be great. That said, let’s wait on Derrick White to see how much he brings to the table as Smart’s replacement in the starting lineup.  White isn’t Halliburton or Lilliard, but is solidly skilled.  His presence is steadying - doesn’t seem to change his game up 10, down 10, or tied.  An intense, but not emotional player.  Looking forward to seeing him as a distributor and floor leader in an exceptionally offensively talented starting 5.  Won’t surprise me to see over 7apg for DW.

It would surprise me a lot. Only 12 players had over 7apg last year, and none of them were their team's 4th offensive option. Not to mention that the last player to average over 7apg in a Celtic's uniform was Rondo (or Irving if you count 6.9 as close enough). I love Derrick White, but that isn't his game.

Edit: not to mention that White's career high is half a season at 5.6

[cman88]

I think white will fit perfectly fine into smarts role.

Didn't he average something crazy like 26ppg when smart was out and he was the starting point guard? Doubt he will do that a whole season.

But he fit in nicely.

[Surferdad]

An elite passer who is an on-court leader would be great. That said, let’s wait on Derrick White to see how much he brings to the table as Smart’s replacement in the starting lineup.  White isn’t Halliburton or Lilliard, but is solidly skilled.  His presence is steadying - doesn’t seem to change his game up 10, down 10, or tied.  An intense, but not emotional player.  Looking forward to seeing him as a distributor and floor leader in an exceptionally offensively talented starting 5.  Won’t surprise me to see over 7apg for DW.

It would surprise me a lot. Only 12 players had over 7apg last year, and none of them were their team's 4th offensive option. Not to mention that the last player to average over 7apg in a Celtic's uniform was Rondo (or Irving if you count 6.9 as close enough). I love Derrick White, but that isn't his game.

Edit: not to mention that White's career high is half a season at 5.6

I actually think 7 apg is very achievable. White could end up as a better distributor than Smart:
1. He is going to be surrounded by better offensive talent (adding KP)
2. He likely will not take the chances on nearly impossible passes that Smart sometimes tried to make.
3. He is also not going to think of himself as one of the big-3 to score the way Smart sometimes did.

[Neurotic Guy]

An elite passer who is an on-court leader would be great. That said, let’s wait on Derrick White to see how much he brings to the table as Smart’s replacement in the starting lineup.  White isn’t Halliburton or Lilliard, but is solidly skilled.  His presence is steadying - doesn’t seem to change his game up 10, down 10, or tied.  An intense, but not emotional player.  Looking forward to seeing him as a distributor and floor leader in an exceptionally offensively talented starting 5.  Won’t surprise me to see over 7apg for DW.

It would surprise me a lot. Only 12 players had over 7apg last year, and none of them were their team's 4th offensive option. Not to mention that the last player to average over 7apg in a Celtic's uniform was Rondo (or Irving if you count 6.9 as close enough). I love Derrick White, but that isn't his game.

Edit: not to mention that White's career high is half a season at 5.6

We’ll see how the offense is run.  If we continue to see the Jays bringing the ball up directing the offense or 10-15 second ISOs - probably 7 is too high. But if he’s coordinating and orchestrating, few pgs have three 20+ ppg talent to pass to -  7apg will be achievable. 

[Vermont Green]

My views on assists is different.  To me, team assists are more important than individual assists.  I don't think the passing ability of the PG is any more important than the passing ability of any other player.  If you look at the top teams for team assists last season:

GSW
DEN
SAC
PHX
SAN
IND
BOS

Many of these teams had a none PG as their top assist maker:

Green
Jokic
Sabonis
Paul
Tre Jones
Haliburton
Smart

Passing is not just about the PG.  The best shots come from multiple passes, not from a PG dribbling around and making 1 pass.  The Celtics should focus on offensive balance, off ball player movement, and of course, moving the ball (aka scheme).  The Celtics were 7th in the league in assists last season, with what most everyone agrees was kind of a stagnant, inefficient offensive scheme.  This isn't even a problem so there is no reason to something major to try and fix it.  You don't need a ball dominant PG to make the scheme better, to get more off ball movement, more cutting.  Scheme is about coaching and about 5 players being connected.

[No Nickname]

An elite passer who is an on-court leader would be great. That said, let’s wait on Derrick White to see how much he brings to the table as Smart’s replacement in the starting lineup.  White isn’t Halliburton or Lilliard, but is solidly skilled.  His presence is steadying - doesn’t seem to change his game up 10, down 10, or tied.  An intense, but not emotional player.  Looking forward to seeing him as a distributor and floor leader in an exceptionally offensively talented starting 5.  Won’t surprise me to see over 7apg for DW.

It would surprise me a lot. Only 12 players had over 7apg last year, and none of them were their team's 4th offensive option. Not to mention that the last player to average over 7apg in a Celtic's uniform was Rondo (or Irving if you count 6.9 as close enough). I love Derrick White, but that isn't his game.

Edit: not to mention that White's career high is half a season at 5.6

I actually think 7 apg is very achievable. White could end up as a better distributor than Smart:
1. He is going to be surrounded by better offensive talent (adding KP)
2. He likely will not take the chances on nearly impossible passes that Smart sometimes tried to make.
3. He is also not going to think of himself as one of the big-3 to score the way Smart sometimes did.

Agreed.  He'll most-likely try to be the conductor of the orchestra.  Make that early first pass, cut to the basket, get a second pass (hopefully) and drive-and-kick.

I think his focus will definitely be on passing, and only taking shots when the situation dictates it. 

I'd put the over/under on his APG this year somewhere between 5.9 - 6.2.

[W8ting2McHale]

Jaylen Brown has been a poor passer, but his assist totals have been trending upward every year since his rookie season. I believe he averaged 3.5 last year as a career high.

His other counting stats for points, rebounds and shooting percentage have also all been on an upward trend as an aggregate from his rookie season. He’s still improving even if the leaps are smaller now that he’s reached his prime. He just signed a super-max, but that doesn’t mean he’s peaked.

Jaylen playing less iso and making the extra pass just a few times per game could lift his assist average to 4.5-5.0, which would really boost this team. That could be done with a different offensive scheme, or better decisions and a different approach from JB, rather than requiring on a vastly improved skill. Mindset over talent.