Boston Celtics: The Art of the Post Up

The Boston Celtics are starting to find a lot more offense in the post

The Boston Celtics have seen their offense take the next step this season largely because of their three point shooting. Brad Stevens has always instilled a system that has been dependant on ball movement, and that has done a great job of creating the kind of looks that have allowed players like Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder to grow into deadly shooters, especially from three point range.

When things started out, one of their biggest problems was that Isaiah Thomas was the only player they could trust to generate offense. Whether it is his remarkable ability to create spsace for himself to finish on the outside or the inside, or if its his vastly improved distribution opening things up for his teammates, the bottom line was that they only had Thomas to look to in order to establish that great offense.

It took the Celtics some time, and a lot of that had to do with injuries preventing the starting unit from figuring out how else they could attack, but they are now able to establish other ways of instigating offense that allows Thomas to play off the ball, and flourish more as a pure scorer.

In a league where everything has become about the three point shot, and that is certainly something that the Celtics have fully bought into, dominant post play is a dying art in the NBA. Fewer players are developing their post game, and fewer teams are looking to that as a major option.

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With both Marcus Smart and Al Horford, the Celtics are starting to realize how effective their offense can be if it is instigated in the post. Double teams create all kinds of openings for a team that is phenomenal at cutting to the basket, and it also allows them to more effective exploit one on one mismatches.

Smart is an absolute bull on the court, but his shooting has struggled. There are very few guards who can hold their own physically with Smart, making it often a waste for him to just stay outside taking jump shots. Smart has become one of the most effective finishers in the paint, and that is because he constantly has physical mismatches, and defenses do not respect his offense enough to send bigger players to account for him.

Smart is currently scoring 1.044 points per possession in the post, which is the sixth best in the NBA, and a surprise for a player that has been seen as an offensive liability the majority of his career. Especially with him running on the second unit, the Celtics need ways to generate offense when Thomas is off the court, and posting Smart up has been one of their most effective ways to just go out and get a bucket when the rhythm is slowing down.

Smart is starting to become impossible for guards to cover in the post, but his passing ability will prevent them from sending too much help. Players are always moving off the ball in Boston’s offense, and Smart is becoming a great passer, which is something that he is learning to take advantage of in the paint. Smart has the luxury of a lot of mismatches, and if he is not scoring himself in the post, he has also been the second most effective passer out of the post, with 1.5 points per possession in those situations, behind two of the premier offensive players in the league, Jokic and Leonard (Via NBA.com)

Smart is growing into a solid offensive instigator for the Celtics this season, and a great deal of his success is from playing in the post. He alone has a solid impact from there, but the Celtics relize they have another player who can be an offensive instigator in the post, Horford.

Horford does not get as many physical mis matches in the post, but his versatility is something defenses have not fighured out how to account for. Horford is about as effective as you would expect scoring in the post, but that is not how he instigates offense. Horford is cemeting himself as one of the premier passing bigs in the NBA, and with him and Smart, the dominance out of the post is all about the passing. In addition to Smart having the second best PPP passing in post up situations, Horford also ranks in the top 10 in those situations.

It took some time, but the Celtics are at a point where they can confidently generate offense without Thomas handling the ball, and that is because of this ability to pass out of the post. The passing is also more important than the scoring for both of these guys because the offense needs to keep moving. These are scorers that need to be respected when they post up, and the Celtics contiually catch teams off guard and get easy and open looks because of the passing out of the post.

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Three point shooting made the Celtics a great offense this season, but everything is still about the ball movement. Thomas’ penetration will still be the most effeective way for them to open things up on the outside, but developing offense out of the post is a much more effective way in creating easy looks at the rim. The Celtics are expanding what they are capable of doing, and with the playoffs right around the corner, teams may not have enough time to properly figure out how to stop this increasingly dangerous post game for the Celtics.

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