Heading into the 2019-20 season, the Celtics are primed to be a better team on offense than defense, at least on paper. The front office brought aboard an All-Star creator in Kemba Walker to replace a departing Kyrie Irving and added an efficient Enes Kanter to help replace Al Horford’s offensive output (although not from the perimeter). With defensive anchors like Horford and Aron Baynes out the door and unproven/subpar replacements at the center spot, the general thinking is that this group is going to have to win games based on the strength of their offense most nights.
However, a recent graphic from John Schuhmann of NBA.com pointed out a surprising statistic on that front. When accounting for turnover across the league in 3-point shooting, the Celtics actually only have three players currently on the roster that shot above-average from 3-point range last year (35.5 percent) and took 100 attempts. That puts them in a tie for 19th in the league in that department.
Brad Stevens
Marcus Morris, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart,
Terry Rozier
DEPARTING 3-POINT SHOOTERS
Kyrie Irving: 40.1 percent
Marcus Morris: 37.5 percent
Al Horford: 36 percent
Terry Rozier: 35.3 percent
Aron Baynes: 34.4 percent
Analysis:
RETURNING ABOVE-AVERAGE 3-POINT SHOOTERS
Brad Wanamaker 41 percent on 1.1 attempts per game
Daniel Theis 38.8 percent on 1.0 attempt per game (35.2 percent career)
Jayson Tatum** 37.3 percent on 3.9 attempts per game (40 percent career)
Marcus Smart**: 36.4 percent on 4.3 attempts per game (31 percent career)
**: Qualified for league average (over 125 attempts on season)
Analysis:
Brad Stevens
BELOW AVERAGE 3-POINT RETURNERS
Jaylen Brown**: 34.4 percent on 3.7 attempts per game. (36.5 percent career)
Gordon Hayward**: 33 percent on 3.2 attempts per game (36.4 percent career)
Semi Ojeleye: 31.5 percent on 1.6 attempts per game (31.8 percent career)
Robert Williams: Zero attempts
**: Qualified for league average (over 125 attempts on season)
Analysis:
NEW ADDITIONS
Kemba Walker: 35.6 percent on 8.9 attempts per game (35.7 percent career)
Enes Kanter: 25 percent on 0.5 attempts per game (29.4 percent career)
Vincent Poirier: 1/5 in his Euroleague career from 3
Grant Williams: 32.6 percent on 1.3 attempts (Tennessee)
Carsen Edwards: 35.5 percent on 10.5 attempts (Purdue)
Romeo Langford: 27.2 percent on 3.9 attempts (Indiana with thumb injury)
Analysis:
Final thoughts
Celtics 3-point shooting:
2018-19: 36.5% (7) 34.5 attempts/G (7) (10th in offense/7th in defense)
2017-18: 37.7% (2) 30.4 attempts/G (10) (18th in offense/1st in defense)
2016-17: 35.9% (14) 33.4 attempts/G (2) (8th in offense/13th in defense)
2015-16: 33.5% (28) 26.1 attempts/G (11) (10th in offense/4th in defense)
