Why the Boston Celtics Frontcourt is Perfect the Way it is

by
Former Writers
December 17, 2018

James Anderson via Flickr

On Saturday, the Boston Celtics got their win streak cut short in a road loss to the Detroit Pistons. In was the second half of a back to back on the road, and Boston was missing Al Horford. It seemed the Celtics’ main problem was against Andre Drummond. Drummond finished with 19 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 blocks. This brings back the constant complaint that the Celtics have a weak frontcourt presence. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Our win streak came to an end Saturday night after our late rally came up short in Detroit. pic.twitter.com/5cUgzJO9pY

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 16, 2018

The Celtics frontcourt is perfect the way it. The four big men they Celtics have (Horford, Baynes, Theis, and Williams) all work perfectly in Boston’s system. All of them, besides Williams, are good defensive players with the ability to stretch the floor.

The way the Celtics offensive system is set-up, Boston needs this kind of floor spacing to allow the others to operate. Furthermore, many speculate that the Celtics struggles have been from a lack of rebounding. This is just flat out wrong because Boston currently ranks 12th in the league in rebounding which is eight spots higher than the best team in the league, the Toronto Raptors.

Reminds Me of Someone Else’s Frontcourt

There’s a team that has big men who do not shoot a lot, but they space the floor and play great defense. The team that most resembles this is the 73 win Golden State Warriors. With Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut holding down the paint, they became the most dominant team in NBA history.

That team also was and still is about middle of the pack when it comes to rebounds. It also didn’t hurt them and it won’t hurt Boston. With this being said, it is easy to see that when creating the Celtics squad general manager Danny Ainge was modeling this team after Golden State.

Anthony Davis Would be Nice But…

The trade rumor of the Celtics going all out for Anthony Davis will not stop. Boston has too many assists stocked up not to be considered in the sweepstakes. Davis would be a nice edition to Boston. However, it could prove to hurt the system.

Although he is an offensive and defensive superstar, he will take away from the balanced spacing attack and ask for more post ups. This slows down the Celtics quick pace if Davis doesn’t commit to running the floor. In my opinion, Davis would still be a massive upgrade because of his ability to attack on a pick and roll.

The Real Problem Boston is having

The main problem is that the other players on the roster are just not scoring, or even shooting. Obviously, Kyrie Irving has no problem shooting the basketball, but his teammates do. For example, Jaylen Brown took four shots off the bench in 22 minutes Saturday night.

With how well he has been playing, he needs to shoot more. Gordon Hayward has been too passive with the shots he does take. Hayward doesn’t attack the rack as much as he should, and often times settles for fade-aways and last second heaves. Lastly, Tatum has to be more aggressive as well. He’s getting plenty of shots off, he just needs to stop settling for low efficiency jump shots.

Wrapping it Up

Overall if the Celtics wings and guards can fix the problem with their shot selection, then there should be no complaints about the frontcourt. The team works with each other and plays for each other. It’s for that reason they will go far in the playoffs, but only if everyone sacrifices.