The Celtics will get a few rare days off this week in Boston after an impressive blowout win against the Nets on Wednesday night. Let’s dive into some questions about the frontcourt and a pair of familiar centers who suited up in Boston recently. If you have questions about the Celtics or NBA, email brobb@masslive.com or tweet @briantrobb
What’s up with Tillman? He’s completely fallen out of the rotation. Queta overachieving, Tillman hurt, Tillman underachieving, or….? — Sean
I think it’s a little bit of both when it comes to Tillman. It’s a very limited sample size of ten games but his offensive numbers have been awful for him. He’s not only shooting poorly from 3-point range but his finishing (33 percent on 2-point field goals) has been rough as well. That makes it very tough to play him next to any other big on this roster and maintain solid spacing. Joe Mazzulla gave Tillman/Horford a look with the starting five but pulled the plug on it quickly with Jaylen Brown out.
Tillman will get another chance at some point, particularly when his defensive versatility on the perimeter is needed. For now, Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta are simply outplaying him. The team has needed Queta on the boards and as a lob threat while Kornet’s offensive rebounding and passing remans a help on certain nights. Tillman will need to find some sort of offensive rhythm to get back into the mix particularly after Joe Mazzulla acknowledged the team needs him to take open shots from the perimeter when he gets the chance. His understandable hesitation on that front has helped him sink down the depth chart. It’s a long season though and odds are the Celtics are going to need him at some point.
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In the fourth quarter of the Bucks game, the Bucks are called for delay of game resulting in a technical foul in a tight game. On the court (with their free throw percentages) are:
Pritchard 95%
White 89%
Brown 80%
Tatum 78%
Queta 70%
Tatum takes the free throw and clanks it.
Since when did technical fouls become a way to inflate scoring for the team’s alpha? Back in the day, the best free throw shooter on the court always took the shot. Tatum was the 4th best shooter. Note, the Celtics corrected this on the second technical, but it’s pretty standard that Tatum shoots technicals.
This has come up in conversations with friends as well. Honestly, when Tatum is the star player of a franchise, he gets to call the shots on stuff like this if Joe Mazzulla allows it. None of his teammates is going to demand the ball for him in these moments and Tatum has been an elite enough free throw shooter in his career (84 percent) where it’s probably not worth Mazzulla making an issue out of it.
With that said, for a team that focuses so much on numbers and analytics, there’s little doubt that Pritchard and White are better free throw shooters. If Tatum’s averages remain well below his career average (he’s up to 81 percent as I write this), it’s probably a conversation that deserves to be had the those guys are on the floor. My guess though is that Tatum keeps piling up those easy points and taking the majority of those since telling your star player that goes to the free throw line nine times a game that you don’t trust him to make a free throw probably isn’t a conversation that is worth having with a guy hitting 84 percent in his career. It is worth noting Pritchard did take one of the Celtics technicals on Wednesday night against the Nets after Tatum missed one earlier in the game.
Hi Brian question , have you followed or do you know what Tacko’s health status is? Where is he playing and could he come back to the Celtics ? With Joe M at the helm I can only imagine Tacko getting coached by this group . He was Neemi’s equal in the G league and with our guards he’d be a lot monster and a defensive stopper and a rebounding demon — Guy
The last I’ve heard about Fall is that he signed with the New Zealand Breakers for their preseason tour last month but did not get a chance to play for them much due to a quad injury. He said in a recent interview that he’s still hoping to get back into the NBA but that ship may have sailed at this point for the 28-year-old. He’s been out of the league for two years now and it’s a very tough road back in right now. When you see guys like Lonnie Walker without NBA deals, it’s hard to envision Fall getting another shot as he approaches 30.
My guess now is he continues to make good money overseas. He has played a couple of years in the CBA (China) and spent some time in Puerto Rico as well. His rim protection would be terrific obviously but Queta’s athleticism is far better than him at this point.
Do you think the Celtics will entertain bringing back Rob Williams this year? Would be great big man depth! — AT
It would make for a great story but don’t see anyway it happens due to the financial component. Williams is earning just under $12 million, which would require the Celtics to match that money in any sort of a trade offer. After Boston’s top six players, no one on the roster makes more than $6.6 million this year, making the salary matching for a deal essentially impossible without including one of your top guys. The Celtics won’t be doing that for Williams.
While a return to Boston is not going to happen, he will be worth keeping an eye on around the league on the trade market. The Blazers continue to have a logjam at center and Williams is playing well enough in his first week back healthy to catch team’s eyes again. A playoff team looking for a boost in the middle could roll the dice on him although his health always makes it a bit of a risk. The Lakers have already been linked to him as a potential suitor but there are a host of East teams that could use him in the middle.
