In search of shooting off the Celtics' bench

Brad Stevens, like most NBA head coaches, spend the first month of the season trying to figure out what they have up and down the roster. Who fits with who? Who adds to winning? Who can be trusted? With eight new players on the C’s roster this year including five rookies, that’s a lot to manage. Just how much uncertainty Stevens has had to deal with is best described with his preseason remark about playing time rotations.

“I can tell you right now five guys that are going to play a lot," Stevens said. "I’m sure you can write down who you know those five are…There’s a lot of minutes left, and we’re a team, and we’re going to have to operate like one. Sometimes it’s going to be your night, sometimes it’s not, but we believe in everybody’s ability to impact.”

The good news from Stevens is perspective is that he’s managed to navigate this team to a 4-1 start despite losing several pieces of his main rotation. Enes Kanter (four games), Jaylen Brown (two games), Daniel Theis (one game), Rob Williams (one game) over the first two weeks, complicating a dicey bench rotation for Stevens. Theis returned last week, Williams should be back tonight and Brown/Kanter are expected back in the lineup soon.

The problem now for Boston as the dust settles is figuring out how to get some production out of the new-look bench group even when they are back at full strength. While there have been flashes of strong play from Grant Williams and Theis (when coming off the bench) the numbers throughout Boston’s second unit are downright horrific so far on the offensive end of the floor.

Through five games, Boston ranks dead last in points per game off the bench (21.4), which is 34 points behind the league leader (the Los Angeles Clippers). Now the C’s bench is never going to be expected to match the scoring of Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell in LA, but the fact that Boston's reserves are still 15 points below the league mean for second unit scoring is troubling.

The root of the problem for the bench offense begins and ends with shooting at the 3-point line. The C’s have knocked down just 15.2 percent of those shots through five games (nine attempts per game), five percentage points lower than any other team in the league. While it’s easy to blame a slump or injuries for those woes, a closer look at Boston’s personnel begs the question of where this improvement will be coming from.

Kanter and Rob Williams are not shooters while Brown will likely be making his way into the starting five once he does return. Theis is a low volume 3-point shooter and may end up as the regular starting center as well on nights he doesn’t have to face a true big.

Marcus Smart and his league average 3-point shooting (36 percent last year) will likely head back to the bench once Brown is back but after him? It’s hard to find a reliable source of offense within this group. The team obviously has high hopes for Carsen Edwards in this regard but a 2-of-13 start from beyond the arc is a sign of the rookie’s streakiness that was also on display during his Purdue days. He will continue to get his chances but it’s evident already that the shots aren’t coming as easily as they were in the preseason.

Elsewhere on the roster, the numbers get worse. Grant Williams, Semi Ojeleye and Brad Wanamaker are a collective 0-of-13 from downtown to start the year, which has had a rough impact on Boston’s spacing and slow offensive starts. Wanamaker is the one guy within this group that has a strong track record from deep (41 percent last year on just 1.1 attempts per game) but he’s taken just one 3-pointer in 40 minutes so far this year, failing to get many open looks while handling the ball.

There really aren’t solutions further down the bench either. Vincent Poirier isn’t a 3-point shooter. Javonte Green has a questionable jumper. Romeo Langford is getting reps in Maine but his revamped jumper probably can’t be counted on this season. Put simply, the Celtics need the guys out there to start knocking a few down since there are no reinforcements coming from within. Nothing will change now in the midst of a four-game winning streak but Stevens may have to consider adding some balance to the bench with a scorer as a sixth man (Brown?) to help Boston’s bench offense pack more of a scoring punch on a regular basis.

The good news for now is that the second unit defense has been more than passable. Williams and Ojeleye have helped the C’s win games against the Raptors and Bucks with their solid defense and a scrappy bench defense formula has worked before under Brad Stevens (see: two years ago). That's what the team will have to fall back on a nightly basis.

Still, the shooting numbers need to start reverting back to the mean soon though or else Danny Ainge may have to go searching for some help in December to help take some of the onus off the starting five every night.