Three games in: is this roster fixable?

[Celtics2021]

I did some stat diving relative to what I call possession points; net points off turnovers (Pts off TO) and net 2nd Chc Pts.  Net meaning what you get minus what you give up.  So a positive number is good and a negative number is bad:

Net 2nd Chc Pts:   -10.4   (30th)
Net Pts off TO:        -3.4   (23rd)
Net Combined:      -13.8   (30th)

I suspect this does not surprise anyone.  These are horrible numbers.  There is no way that this team is going to overcome loosing these stats by this much.  If this keeps up they will literally lose every game.  It likely won't be this bad every game of course.  The second chance points thing has to be the main focus.

Points off turnovers should improve.  The Celtics are 2nd in turnovers given up and fifth in turnovers forced, for an average of +3.8 turnover per 100 possessions.  It?s not likely they will continue to have such. Positive turnover margin and a negative turnover point differential.  Definitely some small sample size things going on.

[Vermont Green]

I did some stat diving relative to what I call possession points; net points off turnovers (Pts off TO) and net 2nd Chc Pts.  Net meaning what you get minus what you give up.  So a positive number is good and a negative number is bad:

Net 2nd Chc Pts:   -10.4   (30th)
Net Pts off TO:        -3.4   (23rd)
Net Combined:      -13.8   (30th)

I suspect this does not surprise anyone.  These are horrible numbers.  There is no way that this team is going to overcome loosing these stats by this much.  If this keeps up they will literally lose every game.  It likely won't be this bad every game of course.  The second chance points thing has to be the main focus.

Points off turnovers should improve.  The Celtics 2nd in turnovers given up and fifth in turnovers forced, for an average of +3.8 turnover per 100 possessions.  It's not likely they will continue to have such. Positive turnover margin and a negative turnover point differential.  Definitely some small sample size things going on.

Agree completely, BOS is forcing more Turnovers but getting less points off turnovers.  That is not likely to survive beyond the small sample size.  The ORebs is a real problem though.  BOS is -6.7 in ORebs per game leading to -10.4 second chance points.  This should be fixable, or at least they should be able to limit the damage.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

It's fixable with enough spending, but they aren't spending that kind of money this season. Is it fixable within the budget they've set? No, I don't think so.

[keevsnick]

I did some stat diving relative to what I call possession points; net points off turnovers (Pts off TO) and net 2nd Chc Pts.  Net meaning what you get minus what you give up.  So a positive number is good and a negative number is bad:

Net 2nd Chc Pts:   -10.4   (30th)
Net Pts off TO:        -3.4   (23rd)
Net Combined:      -13.8   (30th)

I suspect this does not surprise anyone.  These are horrible numbers.  There is no way that this team is going to overcome loosing these stats by this much.  If this keeps up they will literally lose every game.  It likely won't be this bad every game of course.  The second chance points thing has to be the main focus.

Points off turnovers should improve.  The Celtics 2nd in turnovers given up and fifth in turnovers forced, for an average of +3.8 turnover per 100 possessions.  It's not likely they will continue to have such. Positive turnover margin and a negative turnover point differential.  Definitely some small sample size things going on.

Agree completely, BOS is forcing more Turnovers but getting less points off turnovers.  That is not likely to survive beyond the small sample size.  The ORebs is a real problem though.  BOS is -6.7 in ORebs per game leading to -10.4 second chance points.  This should be fixable, or at least they should be able to limit the damage.

To back this up: the Celtics are averaging .89 points/possession in transition this year. No team in the last 10 years has average less than .99 points/posseion in transition over a full season. So that number will improve, I don't see any reason they can't average or better in that category.

[SCeltic34]

Brad made the roster flawed on purpose.  Or kept it flawed on purpose.  Most of us knew that rebounding would be a big problem.  If we saw it, Brad definitely saw it, and so did Joe.  That's why Joe was putting such a big emphasis on it during preseason.  Despite the emphasis we just don't have the personnel.  We lack quality bigs.

I hate to use "if only" because sports don't work like that.  But "if only" PP and/or DWhite shoot at near their normal percentages from 3, we could conceivably be 2-1 despite the flaws in our roster.  Both PP and White have been struggling shooting the ball.  If this continues it's going to be very difficult to win games.  Edit: Simmons too.  Only 29% so far from 3.  Small sample size, but perhaps coming off the bench isn't his strong suit.

No point in being impatient.  Without Tatum, I see this as a lost season, at least in terms of competing for the end prize.  If the roster is flawed, so be it.  Brad is evaluating what moves to make every day.  I see no reason to trade assets without meaningful return in a lost season, even if it improves the roster short term.