Boston Celtics: B/R believes Cs are likely regretting 2020 free agent signings

Despite their impressive start to the 2020-21 season, Bleacher Report still believes the Boston Celtics may be regretting their free-agency signings from this offseason.

The Boston Celtics are off to a fiery start to the 2020-21 campaign, as they currently find themselves slotted in the Eastern Conference’s second seed with a record of 8-4.

With this, however, it is not to say they are a team without flaws.

As things stand, they are 15th in the league in points per game, 14th in 3-point percentage, and 13th in overall field goal percentage. In a game predicated on offense, these statistics are a bit troubling.

On the plus side, the Cs do have two likely All-Star selections for this season in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, both of whom average 25+ points, 5+ boards, and 3+ assists a game on a 3-point shooting clip north of 40 percent, and recently got their All-NBA point guard Kemba Walker back from injury.

Still, the surrounding roster is currently a work in progress that possesses a couple of recently-signed free agents that, according to Bleacher Report, Boston may be regretting.

Writer Grant Hughes did not hold back when discussing the additions of Tristan Thompson and Jeff Teague, citing poor defensive efforts and lackadaisical overall production as the two major reasons as to why Danny Ainge and co. may be regretting their offseason additions:

"Opponents are feasting at the rim with Thompson in the game, getting to close range more often and converting at alarming rates. Inside six feet, players are hitting 74.4 percent of their shots with Thompson as the primary defender. That’s the fifth-highest hit rate allowed in the league among players who’ve defended at least 40 total attempts. Among bigs, only Enes Kanter, Paul Millsap and Marvin Bagley III have been worse deterrents.Boston’s defense craters with Thompson and Daniel Theis on the floor, which isn’t what you’d expect from an old-school two-big lineup. Those are supposed to struggle on offense but lock down the lane and suppress opponents’ scoring. That hasn’t happened.Thompson isn’t a floor-spacer, and he has long struggled to score efficiently in general. If he isn’t helping the interior defense, it’s hard for him to make a positive impact.Jeff Teague looked fantastic in the early going, but he’s been unproductive outside of some hot, low-volume three-point shooting. Kemba Walker’s return can’t come soon enough."

Frankly, we here at the Houdini were never too big on the idea of Thompson signings with the Boston Celtics, but we were all in on the idea of pursuing Teague and have been so quite some time.

Fret not though, Cs fans, as these two players are new additions to the system and are just 10 games into their shamrocks tenure.

Yes, perhaps they may not be producing in the way many were hoping when coming into the year, but we still have 62 outings left on the docket. The season is still young, and there is still real hope that Boston’s 2020 free agent signings can wind up proving to be quality adds for the franchise.