Boston Celtics: 3 ways to improve before the playoffs

3. Ball Movement

Ball movement is a very vague term. Sure, the Celtics move the ball during games, but the key here is meaningful ball movement.

When it comes to the Cs, a clear sense of bad team chemistry is apparent once the bench comes in. When Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, or any of the starters share the court with the bench, the ball typically finds its way right back to the hands of the starter that is on the court.

Especially as of late, with Marcus Smart starting, that has depleted the team’s guard depth, and has either forced Smart to play extended minutes (which he is more than capable of doing) or give the keys to the offense to Brad Wanamaker.

Nothing against Wanamaker, but he is extremely passive on the offensive side of the ball. If the lane is not wide open, or he doesn’t have a smaller defender on him, he will almost always defer to another teammate.

For ball movement’s sake, that may not sound like the worst thing. However, some of the passes he makes are not necessary and only complicate the offense further. There is a difference between a pass that leads to a good shot and a pass that leads to a contested shot or nothing at all.

At the time of writing, the Boston Celtics rank 25th in assists per game. For a team that has so many scoring threats, that is not a good ranking.

It’s clear that not having a facilitating wing-like Gordon Hayward has truly hurt them, as well as missing a high IQ player in Jaylen Brown; the former of which should be returning sooner than later.

If the Cs can get another three assists per game (currently at 22.9 per game) with the reintroduction of their two wings, that would move them from, 25th in the league to top 10.

Their current average really isn’t the biggest worry, but it wouldn’t hurt to see some more movement, not only from the ball but from the players too.

Their offense has been stagnant of late, and that needs to change before the playoffs kick-off.