The Weekend Greenie Bag - Everything From Jaylen To The Playoffs To Tough Contract Decisions
No this isn’t an April Fools joke, it sure as shit is the second edition of Double Cs Blog Saturday! Welcome back everybody to another weekly edition of the Weekend Greenie Bag. At the begging of the week I asked you all to bring the heat, and boy did you. Emails on emails on emails. Love it. That’s the kind of effort a first place team deserves. As a reminder being part of the fun is easy, just tweet me whatever is on your mind with #GreenieBag, or you can email greenieceltsbag@gmail.com.
Too much to get to for more small talk, so here we go!
Important: This is not my burner account and I did not write this tweet to myself. My lord Dave, I think you may have had a fewwwwwwwww too many Kool Aids. I love the optimism but man, I don’t know if even I can go that far. Frankly I’m impressed. Now you want to say an 8 peat and I may buy it, but 10? Don’t get greedy.
Email:
Hey Greenie,
Love the blogs and keep up the great Celtics coverage. Jaylen is by far my favorite player on the team. I know he still has some flaws to weed out, but is there any chance his minutes increase during the playoffs? And if they don’t how much will they increase next season. Love watching him play but it’s never enough.
Thanks, Cory
Cory it’s hard to say because who the hell knows what Brad is going to do with his rotations. A lot of factors go into it, who they play, is anyone hurt, will he be able to make mistakes and not get pulled immediately? I think Jaylen for sure gets an opportunity to get legit minutes, and we’ve seen a large enough sample size to know that if he can get 20+ a night, good things tend to happen.
For next season, depending on what the roster looks like, it could be anything from 25-28 I bet.
Email:
Hey Greenie,
Just recently started reading your blogs and I can’t get enough. Keep up the great work man.
First, I love this team. You don’t see the heart or passion from any other team in the NBA. When the crowd gets into it and Marcus makes that play in the fourth, there is no better feeling. But my only fear is how we will perform on offense if Isaiah is shut down or cold. I know it is a rare sight but we’ve seen Atlanta and other teams keep IT quiet. Who do you really trust to take over the ball / make the big shot instead of Isaiah. Is it AB, is it Marcus in the post, or is it just Brad drawing up a great play for someone to hit the 3? I would love to know what you think.
Also, With confidence I can say Boston is a hot spot for Free Agent’s. That’s how we got Al, he loved the city and the fans. What position do we need the most and what is the perfect way the Celtics use their abundance of assets.
Thanks and VIVA – Andrew
First off, welcome Andrew. Your question on what the hell the Celts do offensively without Isaiah is both a hot topic and a legit question. For me it won’t come down to one guy, but instead will have to be a combination of players. Much like any team when you take away their best player, it comes down to having enough talent to make up for it The Celtics have that in my opinion.
I would approach it like this. Run the offense through Horford. The beauty of his style is that this doesn’t mean he has to score. Run Avery/Jae off multiple down screens, move without the ball and Al will find you. What I absolutely don’t want is to see them settle for long jumpers. Avery has shown he can be a consistent scorer when needed, but they can’t use the same iso style Isaiah has with any of the other players on the roster. That’s why Brad is going to be so important. Making sure Marcus goes to the post like you suggest will be key, but also making sure the ball moves to get the defense out of position is where we’ll see Jae be able to make that first step drive that is so effective.
In terms of FA, we obviously need a big, but that player isn’t out there IMO. I don’t think Blake is an option, so to me I’m not really picky. Get the best player you can, and figure the rest out later. For their assets, if they can use them in a trade or something for a blue chip talent, I have no problem doing just that.
Email:
Hey Greenie,
My buddies and I were talking about Jaylen’s 3pt % and what accurately represents him shooting from deep. By month:
October: 17.3 MPG, 0/1, .000 (lol)
November: 13.3 MPG, .5/1.6 , .333
December: 12.9 MPG, .3/.8 , .308
January: 16.4 MPG, .4/1.5, .263
February: 25.6 MPG, 1.1/2.4 , .455
March (thus far): 20.4, .7/2.4 , .294
My argument was that the only months you can really take into account are January on, where Jaylen is playing semi real minutes in real games. Add up those 3 months, Jaylen is at .337 shooting. I argued that Jaylen is headed towards being AT MINIMUM a 33% shooter from range and that February isn’t a true outlier. While 45% on face value is an outlier, I think that February shows us a trend, where Jaylen is playing real minutes, and is getting in more of a groove, resulting in solid shooting. Yes, he will never be a 45% 3 pt. shooter, I know that. However, I do think that he’s more in the range of high 30’s than low 30’s. Would you call February an outlier?
Thanks Greenie. Love all that you do. – Harley
Harley just to update your stats, Jaylen finished the month of March shooting 32% from three. While I agree that 45% is a little high, I mean he’s not Steph Curry, I do agree that the more consistent minutes he gets, the better his numbers will be. When you look at him shoot the ball, his form looks fantastic, and that’s what gives me the most hope. It wouldn’t shock me if he ended up being a 36-38% shooter. If Jae can do it, so can Jaylen.
Email:
Greenie,
Thanks for single-handedly giving me the confidence and ability to know what I’m talking about when it comes to my hometown team.
I know this was covered around trade deadline time but with no trades made I’d like to revisit. Assuming we don’t trade away the Brooklyn pick, all signs are pointing towards drafting a guard or swingman. Add in the assumption Yabu will be making an impact on the roster and it’s making me feel like we will definitely be saying good bye to either Crowder, Smart, or Avery. What do you think is the most likely scenario for this? as much as i like Smart’s game winning hustle plays I feel like we have seen his max potential on offense. On the other hand we have my favorite C’s player Avery looking like the sky is still the limit all around and if he stays healthy could become an all star.. Can you please at least tell me Avery will be wearing Green for a few years to come? That’s all i really need.
#Bradley&theBear
Timbo
Well Timbo, there really isn’t any way to spin it. The Celts have really tough decisions to make, and that is going to come at the expense of a couple guys on this roster. Here’s the thing though, unless Jae is traded, he’s not going anywhere. He’s under contract for like three more years on good money. Let’s say they end up with like Tatum or something. Well in that case, they can just not extend a qualifying offer to Olynyk. The big debate is Smart vs Avery. Assuming the Celts are using Bird Rights on Isaiah, both are going to require big time money and each have a case. For Smart, you get a younger player who perhaps could be the All NBA defender Avery is, he’s a better passer and does do the small things that help you win, but like you said, we know what his offense is and will always be. For Avery, he is everything you would want to pay, he’s a great two way player, and is just 26. The problem with him is health. Add in the possibility of drafting another PG, and I think I would lean towards paying Avery.
Honestly there is so many variables it’s hard to know what Ainge will do, I just know I’ll probably be a little sad no matter the outcome.
Email:
Hey Greenie,
First off, I just want to say that you are the main reason I got into Barstool and that your blogs are amazing.
Second, I live in New Jersey so I am surrounded by a bunch of Celtic hating Knick fans who try to tell me the Celtics are a fake 1 seed. No matter what I tell them they will never accept how good the Celtics are. Just wondering if you could give me some tips on what to say that would stump them?
Prove them wrong!
-Viva, David
Don’t worry David, I deal with this every single day of my life. Over the course of this fight I have learned that the people you are talking about are stuck in their ways, despite things like you know, facts. Deep down they know they’re wrong, but they already made their bed. It’s OK, don’t worry too much about them.
The one thing I will say is, don’t fight with them over Twitter and spam your TL. I am guilty of this and need to be better. You can’t fix stupid.
Email:
So IT has been playing lights out all season, Marcus has taken gigantic steps this year towards becoming a real offensive threat on top of his strong defensive game, Jae crowder looks like he’s starting to find his shot, Al has been a huge improvement for their roster this year….but is all that enough to win a playoff series FINALLY? I’ve done it the last few years where the Celts will look unstoppable going into the playoffs and my confidence is sky high then playoffs hit and Isaiah gets completely shut down and we suddenly look like the worst offensive in the NBA. What are your realistic chances we even get to the ECF regardless if we finish 1 or 2. I need some confidence going into these playoffs especially if we start cooling off in the next 8 games and I think you’re just the man to give me some. Also Shoutout to Walter the magical puppy for being a first place puppy too. Go Celts..Viva – Connor
Connor, thank you for acknowledging Walter’s incredible run. You wan confidence heading into the playoffs? Well, the Pats went undefeated and won the SB since I got Walter, and he is currently 45-23 and in first place. Basically he has not experienced a postseason in which he did not win a title. Those are the facts.
For the Celts you’re right though, it all comes down to the playoffs. They NEED to show progress here. The good news THIS Celtics team is unlike each of the previous two. First, they have better talent, and second they are healthy (knock on wood). I think their chances are pretty good to get to the ECF, but it all depends on matchups. For example I think the chances are higher if they play WSH than TOR based on how the teams match up.
None of us know how things will go, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t have confidence heading in. Their point differential is 3rd in the East after TOR/CLE, and that is usually the best indicator of playoff success. Also don’t forget if the seeding stays how it is now, we only face one of those guys in the ECF.
OK, time for the Weekly Greenie Awards!
This week’s MVP: Isaiah Thomas
32.3/3.3/4.6 on 51/43% splits. If you want to extend things to last Friday, Isaiah’s currently topped 30 points in four straight (three wins). Guy continues to be an absolute monster.
Play of The Week: Isaiah Thomas
Wut.
This week’s LVP: Marcus Smart’s Shooting
6-26 good or nah?
This week’s Most Improved Player: Jaylen Brown
Now and forever. He got minutes in two of the three games, and continues to improve. Both his shooting and his defense continue to get better, and we are seeing an offensive arsenal that I look forward to watching for the next decade.
That’ll do it for this week. As always a huge thank you to everyone who wrote in, this whole blog is nothing without you guys. Keep it coming.
Have a fantastic weekend!