Celtics players were told to become more disruptive on defense. Will it aid the increased pace?
Throughout Media Day and the first two training camp practices, the most notable takeaway has been the Celtics’ apparent shift toward a faster pace of play this season.
From Jaylen Brown declaring, “I want to play fast, play faster… I’ve been saying that for a few years now,” to Xavier Tillman describing the tempo as “warp speed,” and newcomer Josh Minott emphasizing, “we want to be the fastest team — we want to have no lag time in any decision-making we do,” it’s clear that head coach Joe Mazzulla is poised to adapt the Celtics’ playstyle to suit the strengths of the new roster.
While the emphasis on playing faster has dominated early conversations, a quieter but also important development is the team’s renewed focus on defensive playmaking, a factor that could prove crucial in sustaining their up-tempo style.
In both of his Media Day interviews, Boston’s 30th overall pick last year, Baylor Scheierman was asked what the number one thing he worked on in this offseason was. His answer, the same both times: defensive playmaking. “I think for me it was just defensively just continuing to emphasize being a defensive playmaker and being able to get a lot of steals and be in the right positions defensively,” Scheierman said on NBC Sports Boston.
Continued improvement in this area would be significant for Scheierman, especially considering he already showed promise in this area during his rookie campaign. He averaged 2.3 steals per 100 possessions and recorded nine steals across five Summer League games.
Anfernee Simons has faced frequent questions about his defense, and Day 2 of training camp was no exception. When asked whether he had been working with coaches on any specific defensive drills, he responded, “Yeah, for sure,” signaling a clear focus. He elaborated that in the four weeks leading up to training camp, playmaking on that end was a priority.
“That’s one of the first things when I got here, that’s the first thing we worked on: just being a playmaker in that way, whether it’s stabbing at the ball, jumping passing lanes, [or] being in the right spot each and every time,” Simons said. He also admitted that many of the drills were entirely new to him, noting they were things he had “never really worked on or been taught” before.
Lastly, while Payton Pritchard, the reigning Sixth Man of Year, was listing off his goals for the upcoming season he also mentioned stealing the ball. “Defensively now, I definitely need to be more active with my hands I feel like I do a good job of keeping people in front making them shoot tough shots, but how can I get more steals? How can I create transition opportunities to get easy baskets and get out and run?,” Those questions he asked himself are going to be key and could help the new pace come easier through defense leading to offense.
The Celtics were 28th in transition frequency per game last season and generating steals has never been a strength under Mazzulla.
Over the past three seasons, the Celtics have ranked in the bottom four league-wide in both steals per game and pace. Last season, they finished 26th in steals and dead last in pace. Despite those numbers, the team has consistently fielded a top five defense during that span per defensive rating. A testament to their disciplined schemes and personnel. Being able to block shots has helped this as the team has been top ten in blocks for the last seven seasons. While generating steals isn’t a prerequisite for elite defense, it could be a valuable tool in accelerating the kind of pace Xavier Tillman Sr. recently described as resembling a “NASCAR pit stop.”
While steals and pace aren’t directly correlated, the personnel and identity of a team generating those steals can often align with an up-tempo style of play. The table below will show the top ten teams in steals per game and where they rank in pace.
As the table shows, only four of the top ten teams in steals per game also ranked in the top ten in pace, those being Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Memphis, and Indiana. The defending champion Thunder fielded one of the most disruptive defenses in recent memory, and as the youngest team in the league, their decision to push the tempo made perfect sense. In Atlanta’s case, having one of the league’s premier passers and tempo pushers in Trae Young naturally lends itself to a fast-paced attack.
On the other hand, teams like the Warriors and Clippers, two of the five oldest rosters in the NBA, approached things differently. The Clippers leaned on more methodical half-court scorers like James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, while the Warriors relied on their intricate, read-heavy offensive system that runs through Steph Curry.
The Celtics have the cars to participate in a fast race. Brown has been clamoring for this for years and we know how dangerous he is in transition when healthy. Simons is a former dunk contest winner and still has that elite athleticism to wow on the run. Neemias Queta surprisingly ranked 2nd in the entire league in transition points per possession on albeit low volume and we know how fast Pritchard can get up the court. Mazzulla having certain players focus on playmaking defensively is a strategic move. He’s laying the groundwork for a faster tempo — one designed to capitalize on the unique strengths of this revamped roster.
Category: General Sports
