Star or Chemistry -- Which Wins Out?

[Eja117]

Stars, but sometimes I'm not sure stars are who people think they are. Peyton Manning? Brett Favre? At some point Blake Griffin and CP3 may have to be downgraded.

[ThePaintedArea]

  The Celts are playing elite, perhaps championship level defense, but their offense remains below average.  An upgrade will be necessary.

 Not sure what statistic you are using for offense… As of now, league average is 104.1 points per hundred possessions, while the Celtics are at 104.9 per hundred, so by that measure they are slightly above average. My source for that is Basketball Reference, and I know that numbers seem to vary depending on the source. Incidentally, according to the same site, the Celtics are now second in defense.  It's early in the season, so three games makes a big difference.

 As for the question in the thread, I would suggest that the Celtics have an additional advantage to their chemistry, namely their depth.

 I for one would love to see if a team with no stars but a lot of above average players with great chemistry could win a championship – but we are unlikely to find that out with these Boston Celtics in the next few years.

[max215]

Cousins is a risk. You have to take risks to win.

[PhoSita]

 Not sure what statistic you are using for offense…

16th in Offensive Efficiency

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats


Aside:

Looking at offensive efficiency, the Warriors are better than the 2nd best team by 7 points.  That's insane.

The Spurs are 4 points better than the 2nd best team in defensive efficiency, though.

[NHHillbilly]

Tonight, chemistry beat stars.
Rose is a bigger star than Isaiah
Gasol is a bigger (and taller) star than Sullinger
Butler is a bigger star than Bradley
Gibson is a bigger star than Amir
Snell and Crowder are a wash (both teams need a star SF)
Noah is a bigger star than Olynyk
Hinrich is a bigger star than Turner
Mirotic and Lee are probably equal, maybe Lee is a bigger star.

But Celtics won the game.  Celtics have a better record than Chicago.  You are your record, not your star power.

[Vox_Populi]

Why not both?

Durant seems to have a great relationship with all his teammates and his shooting talent could really be unlocked in Brad's offense. As long as he's okay competing for minutes with Simmons.

[ThePaintedArea]

 Not sure what statistic you are using for offense…

16th in Offensive Efficiency

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats


Aside:

Looking at offensive efficiency, the Warriors are better than the 2nd best team by 7 points.  That's insane.

The Spurs are 4 points better than the 2nd best team in defensive efficiency, though.

Okay. The difference, presumably, is in how possessions are estimated. Now that we're in the Sport Vu era, we can look forward to a time very soon when we know the exact number.

Bottom line: Hollinger just below average, Basketball Ref just above - the Celtics are best called an "average" offensive team. I think we can agree on that.

The Celtics need to get to the line more and stop turning it over.