One Area of Improvement for each Boston Celtics Player: Wings
One thing for each wing on the roster
Earlier this week, we started looking at one area of improvement for each Boston Celtics player. We began with guards. Today, we’re moving onto wings, and tomorrow, we’ll be rounding out the mini-series by looking at the big men.
Jayson Tatum | Can his shooting bounce back?
Ok, this one isn’t so much of an area of improvement as it is a question about his biggest area of concern this summer. Still, I stand by it.
Mid-way through August, we looked at 3 questions Tatum would need to answer once the season began. Of course, whether his shooting would bounce back was front and center. At the risk of repeating myself, nothing has changed.
Above is a breakdown of Tatum’s 3-point shooting for every month of the season. As you can see, things fell off a cliff in April and never picked back up. For some reason, Tatum struggled for consistency beyond the arc all season. Perhaps it was the additional duties as a ball-handler. Maybe his wrist is still giving him problems. Or maybe he’d tweaked his shooting stroke before the season and it never worked out.
Who knows?
What we do know is that his shooting must bounce back. Because when Tatum’s perimeter game is clicking, the rest of the floor opens up for him and everyone around him — that’s the point of shooting gravity.
As you can see by the above chart, Tatum’s overall scoring throughout the regular-season was solid. Things only began to falter once April started. Those struggles continued into and throughout the Olympics.
Can Tatum bounce back and start the season strong? Can he put his shooting struggles behind him and remind everyone that he’s still a top-5/top-10 talent in the league? Or is he going to start slow and have everyone in Boston Talk Radio freaking out?
Tatum can do so many things on the court. He’s elite across the board. However, his shooting struggles have become a genuine narrative, and until he proves they’re behind him, there will be a lot of people hyperfocusing on his splits.
Jaylen Brown | Increasing his scoring efficiency in transition
Brown ended the 2023-24 regular season joint second in transition possession per game. He and De’Aaron Fox ran the break six times per night on average. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the league with 6.3 transition possessions per game.
Brown's transition possession was worth 1.18 points, and he shot 56.4% from the field. Out of the top 10 transition players by volume, Brown ranked seventh in points per possession.
To simplify, Brown was second in transition possessions per game, but those possessions ranked seventh among high-usage players in terms of scoring value.
It makes sense, then, that a key area of improvement for Brown could be his finishing in transition.
We know he’s a whirlwind when getting downhill. We know he’s incredibly explosive off either foot or when jumping off two feet. We’ve seen him consistently stack on size and strength, allowing him to finish through contact or dislodge defenders.
Now, it’s about tweaking those skills, improving his body positioning, varying his shot profile, softening his release on high-speed layups, and getting comfortable attacking off the bounce in traffic.
Honestly, it’s hard to pick areas of improvement for Tatum and Brown. They’re two of the best forwards in the world. However, if I’m nitpicking, these would be my choices heading into the new season.
What would yours be?
Sam Hauser | Attacking closeouts off the dribble
Hauser started to add this wrinkle to his game last season, although it was still a work in progress.
As one of the best shooters in the NBA — top 2 among high-usage spot-up threats last season, sitting behind Steph Curry in conversion rate — defenses will rarely leave Hauser open. However, they might sag off him as they look to dig, show, hedge or whatever else it takes to pressure ball-handlers.
When that happens, defenders can find themselves frantically trying to close out on Hauser if the ball finds it’s way to him. Last season, he began to attack those close-outs and flybys by putting the rock on the floor — either taking one or two dribbles before attempting a mid-range pull-up or driving to the rim.
A big part of being capable of attacking closeouts with one/two dribble pull-ups is being a reliable mid-range threat. According to Cleaning The Glass, Hauser shot 49% on 41 mid-range shots during the regular season. That number jumps to 60% when the shot was taken above the free-throw line — although the sample size is minimal, having only take 15 of those shots.
Nevertheless, adding a consistent mid-range shot off the bounce is the logical next step for Hauser’s offensive evolution. If he can master single (or double) dribble pull-ups, his scoring gravity and overall threat will reach new heights. Defenders won’t be able to help off of him, because they will know he can cook them off the catch or the bounce.
Hauser’s gravity on movement shooting would also improve. He’s already exceptionally good at squaring his hips after turning the corner, if he can make defenses respect him off the dribble, his movement will continue to bend and manipulate opposing defenses and their overall structure.
Jordan Walsh | Perimeter shooting
I never saw much of Walsh with the Maine Celtics, and we certainly didn’t get a close look at him with the Celtics, either. However, judging by what we saw during Summer League and the few glimpses we got throughout the season, his spot-up shooting stands out as an area of improvement.
Walsh has the size, length and wingspan to be a high-level wing defender. However, he still needs to provide some sort of value on the offensive end. He’s not going to get many on-ball reps with this Celtics team. As such, his best path to minutes is by becoming a spot-up threat on the perimeter, thus positioning him as a three-and-d wing off the bench.
Last season, Walsh shot 34.1% from deep on 5.3 attempts in the G-League. Not bad, but also not good enough to fill you with confidence. Hitting those shots in the NBA is harder. Defenders are faster, longer, smarter, they think quicker and space is difficult to come by.
It’s unlikely that Walsh will earn a spot in Joe Mazzulla’s primary rotation next season. Sure, we might see him a little more than we did during his rookie season, but for the most part, I would expect him to continue his development in Maine. Nevertheless, if he can continue working on his catch-and-shoot threes while also improving his defensive positioning and learning to use his physical tools, he may break into the rotation this time next year,
Baylor Scheierman | Defense
I’ll keep this one short. It wasn’t that long ago that we took a deep dive into Baylor Scheierman and what he can potentially bring to the table. If you missed it, you can find it here.
Scheierman has a ton of upside on offense. He can score off the catch or via movement, attack off the dribble, is a three-level threat and has some playmaking chops to his name. However, on defense, he looks a step or two away from being NBA-ready.
If I was to hazard a guess at why Scheierman will struggle to nail down a rotation spot next season, it’s because Mazzulla will want him to spend a year rounding out his skillset so that he’s a two-way threat.
Of course, what we saw in Summer League may not be what we see in the NBA. Better defenders will surround Scheierman. He could be hidden. He will have elite help being sent over to him. Nevertheless, Mazzulla likes his defenders to hang in one-on-one situations whenever possible — that’s something Scheierman must work on.
That’s all for today; catch y’all tomorrow for a look at Boston’s centers….And there may be a podcast/YouTube episode email sent out between now and then (i keep struggling to get into a rhythm when doing it solo….gonna keep working on it) — so keep your eyes peeled :)