As part of their continuing efforts to cover every team and player in the NBA, Givony and Draft Express published
Part 1 of their Atlantic Division scouting report yesterday. I haven't seen it mentioned on the blog yet and it's worth a look.
Since I know everyone will want to pour over Cassell and Scalabrine's scouting reports, I'll just excerpt the Celtics entry here (sans player overviews).
Ray Allen:
Offense: The 2nd leading 3-point shooter in NBA history, behind Reggie Miller. Possesses one of the prettiest strokes in the entire league, complete with effortless mechanics, beautiful follow-through, deep range, and outstanding touch. Excellent shooter from a stand-still, but also very much capable of knocking down contested shots with a hand in his face—actually excels doing so. Outstanding moving off the ball and using screens. Smooth player who can handle the ball equally well with either hand. Uses the threat of his shot extremely well to create shots for himself inside the arc. Not just a 3-point shooter. Takes what defenses give him. Can drive to the rim left or right, but tends to pull-up when driving left. Has an outstanding mid-range game. Excellent at pulling up off the dribble. Not a great finisher due to average strength, but gets to free throw line at a solid rate thanks to his craftiness and aggressiveness, and knocks down his shots at a 90%+ clip. Very good passer, not selfish in the least bit. Extremely efficient. Very mistake-free. Just an average athlete in terms of his first step and overall explosiveness, making him best suited as a second or third option.
Defense: Puts in the effort, and understands how to maximize himself, but possesses average lateral quickness, which limits his effectiveness. Relies too much on his hands as he is losing his ability to contain his man off the dribble. Savvy enough to get by at this point in his career, and does have a few tricks up his sleeve he can go to. A solid rebounder for his position.
Tony Allen:
Offense: A superb athlete with outstanding explosiveness getting off his feet. Extremely quick and strong. Not a great ball-handler, cannot be expected to create his own shot on a consistent basis—although he certainly wants to. Fairly turnover prone. Can get to the basket, though, thanks to his excellent first step and very aggressive mentality—which leads to a good amount of free throw attempts. Often out of control once there, making him just an average finisher. A poor outside shooter due to his extremely awkward shooting mechanics. Cocks the ball and releases it from his right shoulder. Can hit a shot from time to time, particularly when in rhythm, but is not the type of threat you want taking shots from behind the 3-point line. Not much of a passer—basketball IQ is limited. Causes his fair share of unforced errors and does not always play within himself. Tough as nails. Excellent offensive rebounder for size. Has huge hands and sticks his nose in all kinds of places. Has a decent pull-up jumper from 16-17 feet.
Defense: The best man to man defender on Boston’s roster. Combination of length, strength and tenacity makes him outstanding in this area. Has excellent lateral quickness. Can defend either guard position, and even some small forwards. Fantastic instincts getting in passing lanes. Will come up with his fair share of steals and go coast to coast. A little bit foul prone due to the aggressiveness he plays with.
Sam Cassell:
Offense: In his prime, was arguably the best midrange jump shooter in the League. Gets about a quarter of his offensive opportunities running the pick and roll with another fifth coming from fast breaks and one-on-one opportunities. Great jump shot. Displays tremendous footwork and shoots the same shot each time. Won’t do a whole lot of damage at the rim. Not quick enough to get there anymore. Doesn’t have to since he can nail shots off the dribble. Actually better as a jump shooter than a finisher. Likes to dribble left before he shoots. Great at using fakes to get his man off the ground. Will draw fouls shooting jumpers at an impressive rate. One of the best foul shooters around. Very savvy ball handler. Doesn’t turn the ball over very often for a point guard. Knows how to run an offense. Experience, talent, and offensive mentality make him one of the games most effective cerebral players. Incredible complimentary scorer.
Defense: A very average defensive player physically, but manages to be effective due to his personality and experience. Can really get into his man’s head with his constant chatter. Will use all kinds of little tricks to get his man out of rhythm. Isn’t quick enough to keep up with most point guards, but knows exactly how much space he needs to recover. Maximizes the quickness he still has in that way. Used to create quite a few turnovers, still gets his hand on the ball from time to time. Will give a smart foul when he can. Not afraid to try and muscle his man when he drives to save a basket. Not a great defender, but one of the most intelligent the game has to offer.
Kevin Garnett:
Offense: A prototypical modern day power forward. Able to create his own shot with ease from the high post with great jab-steps and nifty ball-handling skills, and even handle the ball and ignite the offense in the open floor. Has an outstanding pull-up jumper, but tends to settle for it at times, particularly when driving left. Terrific touch on his mid-range jumper, complete with a high release point that makes it impossible to block. Has streaky range all the way out the NBA 3-point line. Also a terrific presence in the post. Has an outstanding right-handed jump-hook shot. Slithers his shot off thanks to quickness and terrific feel. Too quick, tall and fluid for most power forwards to handle. Very explosive off feet. One of the best finishers in the NBA. A fantastic passer as well—makes lightning quick decisions with ball in hands and has terrific court vision while seeing the entire floor. Particularly notable for his post-entry passing. Basketball IQ is generally extremely high.
Defense: Arguably the best defensive big man in the NBA. Possesses amazing physical tools to get the job done, and combines that with unrivaled intensity. Size and length gives him an incredible advantage contesting shots inside the post and on the perimeter, and agility and quickness allow him to maneuver around the floor with ease. Hedges screens and recovers effectively thanks to his excellent footwork. Takes an incredible amount of pride in shutting his matchup down, and is a huge presence as a team defender as well. Infectious energy makes it impossible for teammates not to compete just as hard alongside him. Sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him.
Eddie House:
Offense: Almost strictly a jump-shooter, getting 91% of his shots in this manner. He’s one of the best overall 3-point shooters in the entire league, though, both in quantity of makes per-minute and accuracy. He moves off the ball well, has an incredibly quick release, and absolutely no conscious hoisting up his beautiful rainbow arcing shot—which helps him compensate to a certain extent for his lack of size. In the rare case that House puts the ball on the floor for a dribble drive, he’s very likely going left, and will then pull-up off the dribble 90% of the time. House was mostly a shooting guard in New Jersey alongside Jason Kidd (who is big enough to defend shooting guards), but in Boston he sees a lot of time at the point, and does not do a bad job in this backup role. He keeps his turnovers to a minimum and is smart enough to execute his team’s set-offense fairly effectively, even if his shoot-first mentality is always pretty evident. He wants the ball in his hands all the time and will visibly call for it every moment he’s on the floor. House is a catch and shoot player, and if the defense takes that away from him, then there isn’t a whole lot he can do otherwise to make his presence felt in the half-court. He almost never gets to the rim, and is barely at the free throw line (just 317 times in 523 career games). He is very effective at what he does well, though, and can single-handedly bring a team back from a large deficit with his streaky shot.
Defense: House is severely undersized for his position, having measured out at 6-0 ½ with a 6-3 ½ wingspan at the Chicago pre-draft camp in 2000. He gives up a good six inches at the shooting guard position, and therefore sees most of his time guarding point guards, even if his offensive skill-set doesn’t always quite match that. Possessing just average lateral quickness, he will get beat from time to time off the dribble, and he lacks the size or length to contest shots on the perimeter. He puts a very solid effort on this end of the floor, though, which is why he consistently sees minutes under defensive-minded coaches like Doc Rivers and Lawrence Frank.
Kendrick Perkins:
Offense: Perkins will always be a complimentary player on this end of the floor due to his lackluster combination of skills, fluidity and quickness. He’s a fairly mechanical big man with a limited array of moves in the post he can utilize, and is therefore mostly a threat to crash the offensive glass thanks to his strength and toughness and come up with strong finishes around the paint on shots created for him by others. Perkins sets solid screens and has pretty good hands inside, and is a very good finisher when given the ball in a position to score. He gets to the line at a decent rate considering the limited amount of touches he sees, but only converts only around 60% of his free throws. He has almost no range to speak of on his very unattractive looking jumper, and is a liability when attempting to put the ball on the floor and make a complex move. He does understand his role with Boston’s offense and does not have a problem playing with a team concept. With that said, Perkins needs to work on cutting down on unforced errors, such as turnovers from bad passes, traveling violations, offensive fouls and such. He turns the ball over on about 1/3rd of his offensive possessions, which is one of the worst rates in the NBA.
Defense: Perkins has average height for an NBA center at 6-10, but more than makes up for that with a monster 7-4 wingspan and a chiseled 280 pound frame. All things considered, Perkins might be considered one of the best interior defenders in the NBA. He denies space in the post extremely well, has excellent footwork, and is very hard to back down because of his strength and tenacity. He also uses his length extremely well, often forcing his matchup to alter their shot awkwardly because of his reach. He’s an excellent shot-blocker as well, either coming from the weak-side or showing really nice timing with on-ball blocks, compensating for his average explosiveness. When forced out to the perimeter, though, Perkins’ lack of lateral quickness can get exposed if asked to guard an athletic big man who put the ball on the floor. Perkins is a decent, but not amazing rebounder for his position. He can also be a bit foul prone at times.
Paul Pierce:
Offense: If there is one thing you can say about Paul Pierce, it’s that he’s anything but a predictable player on the offensive end. He has as complete a game as you’ll find from an NBA swingman, being highly effective shooting the ball, slashing to the basket, posting up inside, getting to the free throw, and utilizing his outstanding mid-range game to do everything else in between. Paul has great strength to compliment his outstanding ball-handling skills and footwork. He creates his own shot beautifully from the perimeter, and loves to exploit a crafty step-back pull-up jumper that has become his signature move. He does not have a great first step, nor is he all that explosive around the rim, but he more than makes up for that with his excellent combination of smarts, instincts, touch, and skill—allowing him to often just throw the ball into the hoop in tough situations when all else fails. He’s a terrific shooter who has consistently improved his 3-point range to the point that he simply needs to be guarded closely at all times— a testament to the hard work he’s put in in the gym. He also is a very dangerous post-up threat, using his lower body extremely well to establish deep position in the paint and dig his way towards the basket, showing great footwork pivoting around the paint and the veteran savvy to draw fouls at an extremely high rate. Pierce is extremely aggressive slashing to the rim as well, usually being amongst the league leaders in free throw attempts per game year in and year out. He slashes into the paint with reckless abandon and excellent body control and finishes extremely well at the basket. He seems to have a knack for initiating contact and getting to the line. Pierce’s main downfall lies in the fact that his athleticism isn’t always quite enough to get him a good shot any time he wanted on a bad team that relied too heavily on him, causing him to display questionable shot-selection and settle for awkward fade-aways with a very high degree of difficulty.
Defense: Pierce is tough, smart, strong and experienced—qualities which come in handy when attempting to guard the perimeter in the NBA. But he’s also a bit-heavy footed, causing him to look very slow on the perimeter at times in terms of his lateral quickness. Pierce is generally hit or miss in regards to his defense—it all depends how much effort he puts in on any given night. Prior to the championship season, he would often give players excessive space to work with and not fight through screens the way you’d hope, causing him to get exploited by the younger guards he was matched up with. After the Garnett trade, he racketed up the intensity a couple of notches and became much more effective.
Leon Powe:
Offense: Gets most of his offense cutting to the basket, grabbing offensive rebounds and rolling off screens. Presents himself around the rim intelligently, and has great hands to make tough catches easy. A terrific finisher around the basket thanks to his length, strength and toughness. Gets to the free throw line at a terrific rate, and converts at an average percentage (71% in 07-08). Decent back to the basket threat, but relies too heavily on lowering his shoulder and bullying his way into the post, rather than utilizing finesse moves, which makes him a bit turnover prone. Possesses a streaky jumper with range out to about 17-feet. Still needs to improve the consistency of his mid-range shot to reach his full potential. Struggles putting the ball on the floor. Exceptionally poor passer who sees nothing but the rim once he touches the ball. Terrific offensive rebounder who will not hesitate for a second to put his nose into a scrum and help his team come up with a big possession. Needs to become a bit more versatile and develop his perimeter skills.
Defense: Intense, versatile defender who brings a great deal of energy off the bench. Possesses great length and does an excellent job contesting shots. Flies around the floor with great footwork and lateral quickness. Does a terrific job hedging screens and quickly recovering back onto his matchup. Strength, toughness and wingspan help compensate for his lack of size inside the post. Gets down in a fundamental stance and puts a lot of pride into locking down his man. Takes charges, hustles for loose balls, and does a lot of little things. Very foul prone, which limits his minutes to a certain extent. Has good timing as a weak-side shot-blocker.
Rajon Rondo:
Offense: A fairly limited scorer who looks most comfortable distributing the ball to his teammates. Extremely quick off the dribble and an excellent ball-handler with either hand. Unselfish, no frills type point guard with good court vision. Does a good job getting his teammates the ball with crisp passes, and does not make many mistakes. Heady playmaker who plays with great maturity and calmness and rarely forces the issue. Can create his own shot, but is not a great finisher around the rim, and does not get to the free throw line at a great rate. Lacks size and strength and does not have the best touch. Does not look to shoot that often, and for good reason. Possesses a slow, deliberate jump-shot that is extremely inconsistent outside of 17-feet. Struggles with his pull-up jumper and is often not even guarded out on the perimeter by the opposition. Has a tendency to defer even when put in an excellent position to score, which hurts his team at times. Slowly improving the consistency of his mid-range jumper, and is gradually seeing better results. Needs to improve his perimeter stroke and become more aggressive taking advantage of scoring opportunities to take the next step as a point guard.
Defense: Small, skinny player with great length and lateral quickness. Closes out extremely fast on shooters and does a terrific job contesting shots. Tough-minded, aggressive defender who is very effective on this end of the ball. Does an outstanding job getting in the passing lanes, freakish wingspan allows him to wrap his arm around and poke balls loose even after getting beat. Excellent defensive rebounder for his position as well. Size and lack of bulk makes him susceptible to being posted up, but does a nice job fighting back. A big part of why Boston is such a strong defensive team.
Brian Scalabrine:
Offense: Scalabrine plays both the 3 and the 4, almost exclusively facing the basket in an extremely complimentary role. He utilizes his basketball IQ to move off the ball, set effective screens, and knock down open shots when the opportunity arises. In the rare occasion that he puts the ball on the floor, it’s usually to pull up after one dribble, as he’s simply not quick enough to get to the basket before multiple defenders rotate over, and if he does, he doesn’t have anywhere near the explosiveness needed to finish in traffic. Therefore, he almost never gets to the free throw line. Scalabrine’s biggest strength and the only thing remotely keeping him in the NBA is ability to shoot the basketball. He has 3-point range on his shot and is fairly effective when left open. Another strong point is his ability to pass. He is highly unselfish, sees the floor extremely well, and does a really good job at executing his team’s offensive sets and finding the open man.
Defense: Scalabrine possesses below average tools to play either forward spot, as he’s slow, not particularly long, and looks perpetually out of shape. He doesn’t have the lateral quickness to defend perimeter players trying to take him off the dribble, and just isn’t big enough to match up with power players in the paint. To his credit, he does put great effort into this part of his game, and will often get the job done based off sheer smarts and hustle, rather than any outstanding natural talent. He’s not the kind of player you want on the floor against starting caliber players, though, as he just doesn’t have the tools to compete with the elite athletes we find at the 3 and the 4 in the NBA. As a rebounder, Scalabrine does not make up for his shortcomings in the least bit. In fact, he puts up some of the worst numbers of any player in the NBA at his position, largely again due to his lack of size, length, quickness and leaping ability.
Thoughts?
Topic: Draft Express Celtics Scouting Report (Read 6182 times)