We wind down The SportsRush’s fortnightly look at the fortunes of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and their Boston Celtics in the 2021-22 season.
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There’s no easy way to put this – the Celtics have been putrid bad to start the 2021-22 NBA season off. So putrid, in fact, that they’re off to their worst home start in as long as one can remember. The shamrock greens weren’t 0-3 at home even during their lowly 90s run.
There have been calls to break up the franchise cornerstone duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the past as well. Those cries are now beginning to dominate airwaves among Boston sports radio talk and media.
These calls might seem blatant overkill for just a rough 2-week period, the likes of which every team faces every season. The trouble, however, is that the Cs have fared this way despite having relatively their full complement of players.
It is clear that there are a ton of issues for Ime Udoka and Brad Stevens to iron and sort out, and do so soon. The brickbats are out, and less than a year after leading the Cs to their 3rd Conference Finals appearance in 4 years, Stevens’ work (now in the front office) is again under the microscope.
As Celtics fans, it is important to remember the phase that this team currently is in. And of course the season has started off badly. And since there’s no use hiding behind the curtains, we get the ugly and the bad aspects of their start out to start off.
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The Ugly – Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown aren’t making optimal decisions on the ball
This isn’t an isolated problem or one to rear its ugly head just this year. The fact remains that when the Celtics’ two most talented players get the ball, they hunt for their shot often on the wrong possessions to do so.
As announcer Brian Scalabrine continues to remind viewers every once in a while, the difference between an All-Star player and a Hall of Fame caliber guy is roughly 2-to-3 possessions per game on each end of the floor. It’s clear which side of the divide Tatum and Brown are currently on.
Take a look, for example, at his shot selection and shot generation during the 4th quarter of their loss to Chicago.
You can see all through these clips that Tatum has generated looks open enough for him. He makes one bad pass to Horford that gets saved by their hustle.
The rest of his misses are sprinkled with some good defense as well as him forcing the issue. When your team has the lead and it’s the 4th quarter and you have a whole bag of iso moves, you shouldn’t be spotting up from mid-range. It’s not the efficient thing to do.
Jaylen Brown hasn’t really been all that different. His shot selection has yielded better results, but the trained eye can instantly tell that he’s forced the issue.
This is a theme that crops up whenever the Cs fall behind at pivotal points during games. It’s been recurring all through 2019-20, when Tatum and Brown got the keys to the franchise.
The Bad – The Celtics continue to bleed points against elite perimeter scorers
DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine got it going at the most opportune of times for Chicago last night. But if you’ve been a Celtics fan in the recent past, you know that elite wings carve the defense up.
It isn’t really a question of personnel or schemes any more – the NBA is currently way too talented. Having said that, the likes of Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart are way off their defensive peak during the 2017-18 season.
Dennis Schroder and Josh Richardson offer better options to guard the point of attack, but neither is an asset offensively. Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith are sophomores whose defense is yet to be reliable enough for them to play extended clutch minutes.
The acquisition of Al Horford from the Thunder in exchange for Kemba has proved to be a big shot in the arm. He brings back the switching ability the team had with Theis on the roster. But Big Al is already 36 and can’t be asked to do this for extended periods.
Robert Williams is now bound for his 2nd contract, and will have a stable role going forward. He needs to pick his act up, foul less and be able to stay on the floor against more dominant big men.
Ime Udoka needs to create more advantageous situations for his perimeter players and place a bigger emphasis on Jayson Tatum to set the defensive tone. Smart’s All-Defensive team days may be behind him, and JT is going to be the team’s key defender going forward.
The Good – It is only a 7-game sample
You don’t have to be a Celtics fan to realize that 7-game samples can be wildly misleading. The 2017-18 Orlando Magic started their season off with an 8-4 record. They were firmly lodged in the lottery places within the 2 next months.
There isn’t much reason for the Cs to panic. They have the talent on their roster to make the playoffs once again, if only as a low seed. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both prideful players who will definitely take a hard look at their own game.
The Celtics have games against the basement-bound Orlando and Cleveland in their next fortnight. In addition, they have their 2nd game of the season against Toronto and one each against Miami, Dallas and champions Milwaukee.
If they can go 4-3 or better through this relatively middling schedule, Celtics fans can breathe easy. Otherwise, there’s no other way to put this than the start of a true setback season. The Celtics legitimately look to be in play-in game contention at best at their current level of play.
