Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla, and the rest of the Celtics organization seem to be very confident in the roster, as they should be. The smoke has cleared after the Jaylen Brown trade, and the pieces fit together extremely well, with 14 solid-to-great NBA rotation players. Joe should have great options and versatility with a number of players who can do a lot of things well on the court.
They go two or three deep at every position and can stagger players and balance out lineups to create some very exciting combinations. There’s no clear weakness on the team, and they should be able to match up with anyone and handle anything that’s thrown their way.
I’ve seen concerns about replacing Brown’s production, but I think the self-creation and tough shot-making issues are overblown, and with better ball movement and a more diverse offense, they won’t need to rely on so many tough looks at the end of the shot clock.
Celtics likely to be near bottom of the NBA in free throw attempts
But if there is one thing that will be difficult to replace and could become an area of weakness, it’s generating free throws, something JB excelled at. Last season, the Celtics were last in the NBA in free throw attempts, and that was with Brown finishing fifth among all players.
Paul George isn’t a guy who’s getting to the line frequently at this point in his career, and Jayson Tatum may not be either in his first full year back from injury. I could definitely see a jump from Payton Pritchard and some of the young guys, but overall, it’s hard to imagine this team drawing a lot of fouls.
ESPN’s Ben Golliver wrote an article exploring the biggest hole on all 30 NBA rosters, and he had “free throw generator” for the Celtics. He’s right that it’s a hole, and as much as I like the current roster, there’s no obvious way to fill this hole and magically find ways to get to the line for easy points.
But at the end of the day, while I acknowledge it’s a hole, I don’t think it’s a huge problem. Sure, it would be great to get to the line for easy points, but Boston does that in other ways. Relying on whistles and drawing contact is no way to live, and it’s even less reliable in the playoffs.
Celtics have many paths to easy offense without free throws
Instead, this team is going to generate easy baskets with spacing, ball movement, offensive rebounding, and creating turnovers on defense. I’m sure they’ll still find ways to get to the line; it just may not be as much as some other times. On the other hand, I’m sure they’ll generate a lot more threes, a lot more possessions, and ultimately, a lot more points.
And that’s all that matters. At the end of the day, points are points, and the focus for the Celtics is getting as many as possible. Forcing guys out of their comfort zone to drive into traffic and try to draw contact wouldn’t make sense, so there’s no reason to do it. Again, if guys like Pritchard and Tatum are able to get more free throws than in the past, that would be great, but it’s far from essential.
Scoring isn’t going to be an issue for Boston, and a lack of free throws isn’t going to slow them down or sink them. As long as they’re getting good shots and taking care of the ball, the rest will take care of itself, and with or without free throws, they’ll find a way to win a lot of games.
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