The Celtics have had one of the best offenses in the NBA all season, currently sitting in 2nd, just a hair behind the Nikola Jokic-led Denver Nuggets. And with Jayson Tatum making his comeback to the lineup from major achilles surgery, things should only get better in that regard moving forward.
But when most people imagine what that looks like, they see Tatum with the ball, running the show. If not, they see Jaylen Brown, who has filled in as the clear alpha on this offense all season, and done an unbelievable job.
What people aren’t fully grasping is another possibility that’s now on the table: one where neither of the Jays has the ball. The beauty of this Joe Mazzulla system is that it’s founded on ball movement, spacing, and creating mismatches, which has allowed the offense to be effective regardless of who’s on the floor.
Now, as Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon point out, on the most recent episode of the Game Theory podcast, the Celtics have two very capable ball-handlers who can smoke teams in pick and roll in Derrick White and Payton Pritchard.
Boston can run those actions with White, Pritchard, and Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, or, eventually, Nikola Vucevic if he’s able to return from his finger injury. Those actions have been successful all season long, but with the roster finally at full strength, the Celtics can surround these pick and rolls with Tatum, Brown, and whichever one of their ace shooters they choose; maybe Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman, or whichever of PP and Derrick isn’t initiating.
Celtics have nobody for teams to help off of
With the Jays and another sniper spacing the floor, opposing teams are likely to have their two worst defenders on the floor as the ones involved in the action, with their better ones assigned to the Jays.
Neemy is going to create an advantage with his screen, and White or Pritchard is going to make the defense pay. Teams are going to be forced to send help. Except that’s the problem. Help from where?
Are you leaving Tatum open? Certainly not. Brown? Good luck with that. A deadeye shooter like Hauser? Fat chance.
It’s an impossible decision, but it’s one that the Celtics’ opponents are now going to have to make with regularity. Either they will get pick-and-rolled to death by Pritchard or White, they will give up a parade of threes to Hauser, or they will have the Jays attacking closeouts and compromised, rotating defense.
Those are all dream outcomes for the Celtics. And nightmares for the rest of the league. Tatum’s return goes so far beyond what he can do individually, and the results are only going to get better as he gets more and more comfortable with his own game and playing with his teammates.