Player with most to prove at NBA Disney No. 2: Daniel Theis, C
All season long, we’ve been voicing our fears that the Boston Celtics’ center rotation is simply not strong enough to help guide the franchise to banner number 18. With the fact that they’ll likely need to go through dominating bigs such a Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Vucevic, and, if they’re lucky to make it to the NBA Finals, guys like Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic.
And, while we here at the Houdini have concocted numerous routes to potentially upgrading the position come next season, now is a perfect time for current starter Daniel Theis to prove us wrong and show us that he’s worthy of consideration as a longterm fixture at the pivot.
Despite our belief that Boston could improve at the five, we too have to acknowledge how impressive Theis has been in his lone season as the starting center.
Through 58 games — 57 as the team’s starter — the German-born baller has managed to put up solid averages of 9.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game on 57 percent shooting from the floor and 32 percent shooting from deep.
This season has not just seen impressive numbers from Theis but, also, stupendous play, specifically on the defensive side of the ball according to the Athletic’s Jared Weiss.
I went on the Dunc’d On Pod with @NateDuncanNBA to discuss the Celtics season that was and maybe still will be.
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) April 30, 2020
We went deep on Tatum’s transformation, how the defense became elite after losing Horford, and even Romeo Langford’s defensive acumen. https://t.co/30AzlTATJg
In his podcast, “Dunc’d On”, Weiss went on to share his astonishment over the 28-year-old’s defensive chops, stating:
"“They’ve limited it so that his his main function in the defense is as a drop defender and pick and roll, and he’s doing it just about as well as Horford did — and Horford was maybe the best in the league at that. And Theis has been pretty close to that. He’s just he he reads the screens really well, he positions himself just right, [and] he’s able to take in pretty much anybody driving on him and go vertical without fouling and contests at the rim.”"
It’s no secret that Theis has played admirably well throughout the 2019-20. However, even with this we believe they could still upgrade at the position come next season.
If Theis were to produce at an even higher rate come the playoffs… well then perhaps we’d change our minds about the team’s center position moving forward.