Boston Celtics: 2 players to step up in Marcus Smart’s absence

Boston Celtics to replace Marcus Smart: Jeff Teague

Boston Celtics fans might not want to see Jeff Teague get any more minutes due to his recent play, but he’s going to have to under the current circumstances.

In his age-32 season, the veteran point guard looks like he’s lost a step and has failed to find his offensive groove in his first 16 games.

On the year, he’s averaging 5.8 points and 2.3 assists in 18 minutes per game, while shooting 32% from the field and 41% from deep. The fact that he’s shooting nearly ten percentage points better from downtown compared to his total shooting percentage is mind-boggling, but that’s categorized Teague’s Boston Celtics career so far.

He has been handed the keys to the offense on the second-unit one too many times and leads possessions into isolation floater attempts that have no chance of going in.

His points per 100 shot attempts is sitting at a horrific 86.9, placing him in the third percentile for point guards in the league. Similarly, he places in the third percentile for two-point percentage for point guards at 29.2%.

So far, he has shot 21% on mid-range attempts and only 50% on shots at the rim, terrible numbers for an offense-first point guard.

The numbers support the fact that most of his offense is coming in isolation, with none of his baskets at the rim being assisted on.

With his current state, his role should probably relegate to a spot-up shooter, giving either Tatum or Brown the ball-handling duties on the second unit.

Either that or he has to become much more of a distributor than a shot-creator, as that has tanked the Celtics’ offense when he’s been on the court.

On defense, he’s been poor in a man-to-man scheme but has exceeded expectations as a help defender, recording a career-high in steal-percentage of 2.7%. He obviously cannot guard at a Smart level, but can sometimes hold up against opposing point guards, making it difficult on them to create dribble penetration.

Teague’s play certainly doesn’t suggest any type of valuable replacement to Smart’s production, but he will get the chance to turn his season around for the injury-riddled Celtics. He once was a player that could help winning teams in the starting lineup, and he will now look to do it again off the bench in the twilight years of his career under coach Brad Stevens.

It’ll be hard to replace Smart, and nobody can replace his heart and character in the team, but these two players will have the biggest opportunity at doing so.

(all stats per Cleaning the Glass)