Early Thoughts on Shot Selection

[Big333223]

Through 6 games the Celtics are 4-2, the defense has been quite good and the offense has been very bad.

Kyrie is shooting poorly but not taking up too much space, attempting only 14.5 shots a game, which would be the lowest mark of his career if it persisted for a full season (I doubt it will). Last night against the Pistons, he took only 5 shots. For the Celtics to go the distance, he's going to have to get back on track but hopefully his willingness to take a back seat quiets some of the "selfish" talk that seems to follow him.

Marcus Smart, freshly signed 4 year contract in hand, is attempting only 5 shots a game. He's still playing terrific defense and he's averaging 4.3 assists in just 23 minutes (9 assists in that amount of time last night). As long as he stays confident and tries to keep defenses honest, this is probably closer to the ratio people want from Smart. I mean, we'd all rather he become a knockdown shooter but in lieu of that, taking fewer crazy shots is good.

Tatum has taken the same number of shots as Kyrie on the season, 87. He's been up and down but the ups have been great and he's showing an aggressiveness we all wanted more of last year. His growth continues.

Horford, Brown, Morris, and Hayward and all taking between 9.8 and 10.5 shots per game. Hayward is at the bottom of the list but will undoubtedly make his way to the top by the end of the season as he gets closer to 100% and the minutes restriction inevitably goes away. Morris is right where he should be given his role and his minutes. Horford is right where he likes to be. Brown is where he might end up because of his role even though he shot a little more last season and finally showed signs of life last night.

[nickagneta]

Tatum's proclivity to hesitate at the three point line and work the ball forward for a long mid range shot bothers me. That is the worst shot in basketball but somehow Kobe got it into his head that that was the shot he needed to develop. Don't like that shot selection at all.

[Who]

Kyrie is shooting poorly but not taking up too much space, attempting only 14.5 shots a game, which would be the lowest mark of his career if it persisted for a full season (I doubt it will). Last night against the Pistons, he took only 5 shots. For the Celtics to go the distance, he's going to have to get back on track but hopefully his willingness to take a back seat quiets some of the "selfish" talk that seems to follow him.

Kyrie trying to be unselfish reminds me a lot of Amare Stoudemire.

Amare's version of being a unselfish / good team player was not taking as many shots but he became too passive and just became a worse version of himself. The key for Amare was to take that energy that he used to put into scoring and channel that into something else. For Amare, that should have been rebounding, interior defense and/or high post passing / facilitating the offense to make easier for others to score. That did not happen though. Amare just took less shots and did the same elsewhere as he had always done. It was dumb basketball. He was the exact same player only less effective because he stopped doing (did less I mean) the thing he was best at (scoring) and did not do anything else instead. 

Kyrie is doing a similar thing right now. If he is going to continue to take fewer shots, he needs to find other ways to contribute to the team. Work harder on defense. Use his ball-handling to create better scoring opportunities for his teammates. Grab a few rebounds. Do something. Find another way to help. Otherwise, the less shot attempts isn't helping the team at all.

Kyrie has to play smarter basketball.

[Big333223]

Kyrie is shooting poorly but not taking up too much space, attempting only 14.5 shots a game, which would be the lowest mark of his career if it persisted for a full season (I doubt it will). Last night against the Pistons, he took only 5 shots. For the Celtics to go the distance, he's going to have to get back on track but hopefully his willingness to take a back seat quiets some of the "selfish" talk that seems to follow him.

Kyrie trying to be unselfish reminds me a lot of Amare Stoudemire.

Amare's version of being a unselfish / good team player was not taking as many shots but he became too passive and just became a worse version of himself. The key for Amare was to take that energy that he used to put into scoring and channel that into something else. For Amare, that should have been rebounding, interior defense and/or high post passing / facilitating the offense to make easier for others to score. That did not happen though. Amare just took less shots and did the same elsewhere as he had always done. It was dumb basketball. He was the exact same player only less effective because he stopped doing (did less I mean) the thing he was best at (scoring) and did not do anything else instead. 

Kyrie is doing a similar thing right now. If he is going to continue to take fewer shots, he needs to find other ways to contribute to the team. Work harder on defense. Use his ball-handling to create better scoring opportunities for his teammates. Grab a few rebounds. Do something. Find another way to help. Otherwise, the less shot attempts isn't helping the team at all.

Kyrie has to play smarter basketball.

I would argue he is playing better defense so far this season and he's averaging a career high in rebounds.

I would also just like to see him more aggressive, though, especially early in the games. The best thing he can do is set a tone of attack for the team.

[moiso]

I kind of liked how Irving played in the last game.  He still was seen as a threat by the Pistons and he allowed other players to flourish.  But I agree that in general, scoring is his only real benefit to an NBA team so he’s going to have to take more than 5 shots.

I agree on Tatum’s shot selection.  It’s horrible but he’s so good he still makes shots and gets that positive reinforcement.  He was known as a midrange shooter in college and that’s mainly how he played in the summer league and preseason last year.  He eventually started taking better shots during the year but he seems to have regressed quite a bit this season in terms of shot selection.  Can we let him play for D’antoni for a couple weeks to get him in line?

[footey]

Last game vs Pistons we started clicking. I’m not worried about our shooting. We’ve yet to have a game when everyone is shooting well. When that happens we will blow the doors off the competition

[footey]

Kyrie still getting his legs back in shape. Also his handle is sloppy. He’ll be fine soon.

[Sophomore]

Kyrie is shooting poorly but not taking up too much space, attempting only 14.5 shots a game, which would be the lowest mark of his career if it persisted for a full season (I doubt it will). Last night against the Pistons, he took only 5 shots. For the Celtics to go the distance, he's going to have to get back on track but hopefully his willingness to take a back seat quiets some of the "selfish" talk that seems to follow him.

Kyrie trying to be unselfish reminds me a lot of Amare Stoudemire.

Amare's version of being a unselfish / good team player was not taking as many shots but he became too passive and just became a worse version of himself. The key for Amare was to take that energy that he used to put into scoring and channel that into something else. For Amare, that should have been rebounding, interior defense and/or high post passing / facilitating the offense to make easier for others to score. That did not happen though. Amare just took less shots and did the same elsewhere as he had always done. It was dumb basketball. He was the exact same player only less effective because he stopped doing (did less I mean) the thing he was best at (scoring) and did not do anything else instead. 

Kyrie is doing a similar thing right now. If he is going to continue to take fewer shots, he needs to find other ways to contribute to the team. Work harder on defense. Use his ball-handling to create better scoring opportunities for his teammates. Grab a few rebounds. Do something. Find another way to help. Otherwise, the less shot attempts isn't helping the team at all.

Kyrie has to play smarter basketball.

I would argue he is playing better defense so far this season and he's averaging a career high in rebounds.

I would also just like to see him more aggressive, though, especially early in the games. The best thing he can do is set a tone of attack for the team.

I agree - I think Kyrie is putting out more energy on D. He’ll never be Smart, but he’s better.

[Pvictor11]

Kyrie is shooting poorly but not taking up too much space, attempting only 14.5 shots a game, which would be the lowest mark of his career if it persisted for a full season (I doubt it will). Last night against the Pistons, he took only 5 shots. For the Celtics to go the distance, he's going to have to get back on track but hopefully his willingness to take a back seat quiets some of the "selfish" talk that seems to follow him.

Kyrie trying to be unselfish reminds me a lot of Amare Stoudemire.

Amare's version of being a unselfish / good team player was not taking as many shots but he became too passive and just became a worse version of himself. The key for Amare was to take that energy that he used to put into scoring and channel that into something else. For Amare, that should have been rebounding, interior defense and/or high post passing / facilitating the offense to make easier for others to score. That did not happen though. Amare just took less shots and did the same elsewhere as he had always done. It was dumb basketball. He was the exact same player only less effective because he stopped doing (did less I mean) the thing he was best at (scoring) and did not do anything else instead. 

Kyrie is doing a similar thing right now. If he is going to continue to take fewer shots, he needs to find other ways to contribute to the team. Work harder on defense. Use his ball-handling to create better scoring opportunities for his teammates. Grab a few rebounds. Do something. Find another way to help. Otherwise, the less shot attempts isn't helping the team at all.

Kyrie has to play smarter basketball.

I understand what you are saying, but Amare never had the supporting cast that Kyrie has. Kyrie can do a little less  and Boston still win, like yesterday.

[Greyman]

Having not seen as much of the Celtics  as I would like to make a qualified comment, I could be wrong here, but I will add it anyway. Against the Pistons there seemed to be better shot selection. The threes tended to be open and if the open three wasn't available then the team took a different route. Tatum got the mid range shots I saw when he had a chance at a three but thought better of it and moved to mid range.

Kyrie played as more of a facilitator, giving the last pass to someone in a great scoring position a number of times. So maybe not just your average assist but one that others would struggle to see and make. You know his scoring will come. Games often just play out the way they do, not as expected.

It was great to see Brown get on the score sheet. One of the teams strengths is that if one player is off there are other hot hands out there.

[GreenEnvy]

Honestly, I’ve been pleased with the shot selection every game (for the most part).

We just haven’t been hitting open shots in some of them.

Kyrie has been showing flashes of coming around, the consistency isn’t there yet.

Gordon is starting to regain his confidence. Shot is falling and he’s starting to penetrate more with greater intensity. Still a half click delayed on a lot of plays but it’s coming and won’t be long before he’s firing on all cylinders.

Brown has been a little concerning, but I believe he’s getting used to the major change since the playoffs when he shined and he’s also just in a little funk.

Smart really can’t shoot, I get he knocks them down sometimes but I have such little confidence in his jumper that he should just drive and go for floaters or kick it out. His defense is still worth it though.

Rozier, Horford, and Tatum have been as expected, even if they haven’t been too consistent themselves.

Theis is starting to look like he did last year before the injury, hope Baynes comes back strong and helps anchor the D (and spread the floor!).

Morris has probably elevated his game the most thus far and I think he’s finally embraced the bench role and brings some much needed attitude to the locker room.

I throw out the dud against Orlando, that can happen to any team. And we were overall pretty flat in New York (second half of b2b, no Hayward). But other than that, it’s really just the last two minutes against Toronto and the first half against OKC. Impressive against the Sixers, very impressive third quarter and finish in OKC, and a thorough beatdown of the then-unbeaten Pistons.

Offense is going to be there. We are too talented for it to not be.

[gouki88]

Shot selection has been, for the most part, good.

Shot making however, hasn't been. The Detroit game was a promising bit of improvement though