Things To Keep An Eye Out For As Celtics Basketball Officially Returns This Weekend

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One more day. That's it. That's all we have left until Boston Celtics basketball is officially back in our lives again. 

It'll be 83 days since we last saw this franchise play basketball in Summer League, and even though these are also fake games that mean virtually nothing, at least they consist of actual NBA talent. Plus, it's our first chance to completely overreact based on what we see (both good and bad), and I personally cannot wait.

While we have no idea how much of the regular will even play, I do think we should see the main guys for a stretch or two. With so many new faces and guys that have never played together before, I am someone who thinks these preseason reps are extremely important. The Celts need to hit the ground running this season and getting any sort of minutes together in these fake games can only help.

So with that in mind, below is a list of things I'm excited/interested in seeing once this team finally takes the court for the first time

The New Stars

First and foremost it starts with Porzingis and Holiday. I'm not only excited to finally see them in a Celtics uniform, but I'm very intrigued to see the early stages of how things look with them now in the mix. I don't expect Joe to unleash all his secrets, but here's what I want to see

1. A diversified offense with KP on the floor. Let's see what type of post up offense is now going to become a norm. I see no reason why we shouldn't be getting this version right away

2. How Holiday looks next to the franchise guys. On paper, the fit makes sense. He's shown an ability to be a lethal off ball shooter in the regular season, and that's a clear upgrade at the position. I'm curious to see Holiday both on and off ball and how that now shifts the gravity for the Jays. You can't exactly leave Jrue with a ton of space off ball, so that should open things up even more for the two franchise guys. I'm also hoping we see him run P&R with both Tatum as the screener, and then also sets where Jrue is the screener. That's something we use to see with Smart, and I imagine we'll see the same now with Jrue to try and create that mismatch.

Jaylen's handles

Yes, we all saw the video

Frankly, I'm not certain there isn't a dead spot on the floor where Jaylen was dribbling. I'm going to need that investigated.

Jokes aside, this is obviously an area of Jaylen's game that I think we are all hoping to see improvement. I'm not suggesting he needs to be Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving in terms of his handles. Let's not get silly. But I do think we need to see some sort of progress when it comes to his left hand. While I do think this is mostly a tired joke and gets blown a little out of proportion, it's not nothing. It was a real issue in the ECF. Fact. 

Every year we've seen Jaylen come back better than he was the year before, so for me this is at the top of my list for him.

Lineup versatility

This is something I cannot wait to see. Joe is going to have so many options at his disposal, I want to see him get nuts in these fake games. I want to see all types of combinations, just off the top of my head..

Jrue/White/Brown/Tatum/KP

This is what I could see being the closing lineup, so let's see how it looks. It has pretty much everything you need in terms of perimeter defense, rim protection, shooting, etc.

Point guard/Brown/Tatum/Horford/KP

This is the double bigs idea. I don't care what PG you slot in, I just want to see how the 2023 version of double bigs looks knowing how effective the previous version was with Horford/Rob. While I don't think we'll see this at the same volume given the age/health of the new version, the numbers did show in previous season that this was the Celts most effective lineup.

Jrue/White/Brown/Hauser/Tatum

When I say let's get nuts, I mean it. Let me see Tatum at the 5 surrounded by nothing but shooters. Even if it's only for a few possessions, I want to see what it looks like.

The defense overall

Every soundbite we've heard this training camp ranging from the players to Joe has been about this new focus on defense. OK cool, so let's see it. While the Celts may have swapped Smart for Jrue to revamp the perimeter defense, the loss of Rob shouldn't be overlooked. He's too much of a gamechanger on that end. 

Now, it's also important to remember that the Celts had the 8th ranked defense in the NBA last year in the 29 games Rob missed to start last season, but it'll be an adjustment. 

When it comes to Sunday and the ensuing preseason games, I'm going to be looking at Tatum and Brown specificially on that end. Both have talked all summer about defense and making an All NBA Defensive team, and everything this team does starts with them. If they are bought in and locked in defensively, the rest will follow. Is Jaylen getting better in terms of his off ball defense? Is Tatum giving that 100% effort at all times? That's what I care about most.

Jordan Walsh against real NBA players

One of the more exciting parts of Vegas was how good Jordan Walsh looked against that level of competition

I think we were all were expecting the energy and defense, but what was certainly a surprise was his over 40% shooting from deep. 

In Summer League though, 90% of those guys aren't making an NBA roster. While many have high hopes for Walsh and think he might crack the rotation this year, I say pump the brakes. Be patient. Year 1 for him is about learning and adjusting to the NBA. If he ends up showing he's ready, awesome! If he looks raw and not ready, that's OK! 

I just want to see how he handles a much higher level of talent. The shooting may not translate like we saw this summer, and I imagine he's going to foul A LOT trying to guard quicker/bigger NBA players, but the energy and effort are absolutely going to translate. You could make the case there's an opportunity for bench wing minutes, so this preseason is a great opportunity for Walsh to show he's ready.

Joe's in game management

How is he with timeouts? How do the in game adjustments look if something isn't working? If it's a close game late, what does the crunch time offense look like from him?

It really stood out to me in his sitdown interview with JJ Redick how he realizes it's important that he has his guys ready for those late crunch time moments. He talked about everything from speeding up the offense and not just standing around, making sure everyone understands where to go and what to do with the ball, it really seemed like he was ready for a big coaching leap in Year 2, which is crucial

Tatum's Pull Up 3PM

There aren't a ton of holes in Tatum's game offensively, but one thing that has fallen off the map is his pullup 3PM. It wasn't too long ago he shot 40% on legit volume with that type of shot. 

Last year? He shot 29.1% on pullup 3PA. That is objectively terrible. I'm not saying he has to get back to 40%, but how about the 36% we saw in 2020-21? That type of jump will do wonders for him and it's something the Celts offense is going to need, especially now with Brogdon's shooting gone.

It goes without saying, the Celts enter 2023-24 with another title or bust season. They either win the title or the season is a failure. Suggesting otherwise would be silly. To me, that is now how they should be looked at for the foreseeable future. The building seasons are over, the time has come to actually finish it off. They have the talent, they have the coaching, and they have the commitment from ownership to spend.

The pursuit starts Sunday with their first chance to show us they're ready.