Celtics Biggest Takeaways from Opening Games of 2021-22 NBA Season
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Lynne Sladky/Associated Press
The Boston Celtics have a bit of mystery about them.
With All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown atop the roster, this feels like a group that could muscle itself into the Eastern Conference’s top tier. But there are just enough questions about depth and support scoring that it might never rise above the NBA’s midsection.
It could take all season to learn about new coach Ime Udoka’s Celtics, but there are already at least three takeaways from the early slate.
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Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images
Jayson Tatum has the tools and talent to lead the entire Association in scoring.
However, he won’t hit that level without finding himself more freebies.
Last season, he was one of only three players to average 25-plus points and fewer than five throws per game. This season, he’s one of five with 26-plus points and fewer than five free throws a night.
Tatum’s jumper, finishing and shot creation can take him a long way, but he will be leaving points on the board as long as he lets referees keep their whistles pocketed.
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Brock Williams-Smith/Getty Images
When the Celtics were busy booking three Conference Finals trips in four years, their offense attacked in waves.
It wasn’t just Tatum and Brown—it was those two, Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward. Or the Jays with Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Terry Rozier.
This version needs more scoring stability around Tatum and Brown. No one else is clearing even 15 points per night.
Dennis Schroder is the most logical choice to step into that role, but he needs to bump up his shooting rates in order to hold it long term. The issue is if it’s not Schroder, it’s hard to say who it would be. Horford, Robert Williams III and Marcus Smart are all arguably more effective playmakers than scorers, and not one of the young players has earned the minutes needed to serve as third scorer.
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Brock Williams-Smith/Getty Images
Something is happening with Grant Williams.
It would be a stretch to call it a leap, because leap—to this writer, at least—implies stardom, and that’s something likely to elude Williams throughout his career. But his across-the-board improvements have helped him jump up the organizational pecking order.
He’s up to seventh in average minutes, which ranks best among Boston’s developmental youth. He holds the same spot in average field-goal attempts and is sixth in three-point looks.
It probably doesn’t hurt that he entered Wednesday shooting an absurd (and, admittedly, unsustainable) 65.4 percent from the field and 58.8 percent from range, but that early success has opened the door for him to grab these opportunities. The fact that he’s more than a shooting specialist—great screener, clever passer, quick thinker, versatile stopper—means he could maintain a sizable role when his shooting percentages come back to earth.
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