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Boston Celtics: Kelly Olynyk Is Having A Stellar December

By Eric Laboissonniere

Nov 29, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk (41) runs down court during the second half of a basketball game against the Orlando Magic at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 29, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk (41) runs down court during the second half of a basketball game against the Orlando Magic at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kelly Olynyk has had a great month of December for the Boston Celtics, and he is starting to find his groove on the offensive end.

The Boston Celtics certainly have a lot of depth on their team; they have nine players on their squad that average more than 15 minutes per game.

Kelly Olynyk is one of the those players (19.5 MPG). Olynyk is in third year as a pro coming out of the University of Gonzaga as a first-round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. In his first season in Boston, he averaged 8.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game; last season he averaged 10.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Coming into this season, it was hard to tell whether Olynyk would be a big part of the rotation or not, seeing that the team had a loaded frontcourt. Olynyk did not play very well in November, and he played at least 11 minutes or more in every game. He averaged 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and shot 37.3 percent from the field.

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Things were not looking good for Olynyk after the month of November, but boy, has he been impressive during December.

In December, Olynyk is averaging 13.7 points and 3.9 rebounds and is shooting 53.6 percent from the field and 45.7 percent from deep. He scored 20 points or more in four games, and he has only started in two games during this month. In the two games he started, he played really well by shooting 70 percent from the field in both games.

Olynyk has really stepped up his game as of late and he starting to play with a little more confidence on the offensive end (he even had a crazy put back dunk out of nowhere against the Charlotte Hornets that turned some heads around the NBA).

Olynyk has been great for the Celtics lately, and he is starting to play with the confidence on both ends of the floor.

Olynyk Needs More Minutes

Olynyk has proven as of late that he can be a great scoring threat for the Celtics. Olynyk averages 21.3 points per game when he plays more than 25 minutes in a game this year. He has only played 25 minutes or more in six games this year, which should be a little alarming seeing that he plays well when given more time to shine.

Olynyk is a tough player to guard because he is a 7-footer that can post you up and score with his soft touch or shoot the ball from deep.

Another reason he deserves to play more minutes is because he has actually been really good on defense this season. Olynyk has posted a defensive rating of 98 this year, which is third-best on the team. He has never been known for his defense, but this year he has really stepped up his game on that end of the floor.

He still is a little undersized to guard some of the bulkier players in the frontcourt, but now he moves a lot better on that end to disrupt passing lanes and force steals.

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It is hard to give Olynyk more minutes because of the number of the players that need time in the frontcourt, but if anyone should get a boost in frontcourt minutes it should be Olynyk.

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