The sexy pick of this year’s preseason, the Boston Celtics have not lived up to
expectations. Sitting at 13-12 and tied for sixth in the Eastern
Conference, the Celtics are a mediocre team at best. They are winless (0-7) against
teams with an above .600 record and still lack a signature victory. Hovering around .500 (8-7) in “clutch” games, which the NBA
defines as contests with the score within five points in the last five minutes of
the fourth quarter, Boston does not look the part for a team many pundits predicted would contend
for the No. 2 seed in the East and potentially challenge the defending champion
Cleveland Cavaliers come playoff time.
Boston’s issues lie on the defensive end and in the
rebounding department. Wedged in the middle of the pack at 13th in team
defense—surrendering 103.2 points per game—the Celtics are not challenging
opponents at a level true contenders must do. Boston’s defense, a strength of
the team in the 2015-16 campaign in which it held opponents to 44.1 % shooting
with an opponent adjusted field goal mark of 48.7%, has struggled mightily this
season.
The absence of four-time All-Star and elite post
defender Al Horford for 10 games
this season has had a shattering impact on the defense. Horford missed nine
contests with a concussion injury sustained in practice and another game to
accompany his wife in the hospital as the couple welcomed their second child to
the world.
Horford was signed to a four-year, max contract deal
in the summer in part for his outstanding defense in the post. According to
ESPN Stats & Information, Horford defended a league-high 262 direct posts—a post-up attempt in which a
player shoots, is fouled, turns the ball over or passes to a shooter—last
season and allowed just 0.84 points per direct post. Of the top-12 players with
the most direct posts defended, only Golden
State Warriors forward Draymond
Green allowed fewer points (0.72) per direct post in 2015-16.
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| Al Horford is Boston's catalyst on defense. (Bob DeChiari/USA Today Sports) |
A closer look at the Celtics’ season results reveal major discrepancies in defensive effectiveness with Horford in the lineup compared to games without him. The Celtics allow 101.8 points per contest in games in which Horford has suited up—much less than the whopping 106.2 points surrendered without him in the lineup.
Horford provides the Celtics with a much-needed rim
protector. A year after blocking a career-best 121 blocks in 2015-16, Horford
ranks sixth in the NBA with 2.2 blocks per game.
While injuries are not an excuse—particularly for a
team with a head coach as touted as Brad Stevens—the Celtics clearly have
been a much team defensively with Horford manning the center duties. In
addition to Horford, starters Isaiah
Thomas (groin) and Jae Crowder
(ankle) missed games due to injuries. Boston has played with its regular
starting five of Horford, Thomas, Crowder, Avery
Bradley and Amir Johnson for
just 10 games this season, winning seven of them.
An area in which the Celtics will likely not improve anytime
soon is rebounding. The Celtics rank 28th in rebounding and Bradley,
the team’s starting shooting guard, is the only player on the roster who has elevated
his game in this facet for the season. He has registered a team-best 7.6 boards
per contest with an 11.8% rebounding rate.
But the 6’ 4’’ Bradley can only do so much and it’s alarmingly evident the team must add another big man to the roster. The Celtics were expected to be a worse rebounding team this year in the wake of the offseason departures of Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger, but certainly not to this degree. And now that the defense has taken a hit as a result of their anemic ability to grab boards, the onus lies on President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge to acquire an impact player down low for Boston to have any shot of making noise in the Eastern Conference.
*Statistics/Information accurate as of 12/15/16
But the 6’ 4’’ Bradley can only do so much and it’s alarmingly evident the team must add another big man to the roster. The Celtics were expected to be a worse rebounding team this year in the wake of the offseason departures of Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger, but certainly not to this degree. And now that the defense has taken a hit as a result of their anemic ability to grab boards, the onus lies on President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge to acquire an impact player down low for Boston to have any shot of making noise in the Eastern Conference.
*Statistics/Information accurate as of 12/15/16
