BOSTON – For most of Friday’s Green & White scrimmage, the Boston Celtics’ second unit was getting the best of their first-string teammates.
Celtics President of basketball operations Danny Ainge said what fans saw on Friday night was essentially what had been happening in the previous days of training camp.
Consider the success thus far of Boston’s backups a prelude for what’s to come this season, because the Celtics have a second unit that can impact games at both ends of the floor in large part because of their talent and the chemistry they have with one another.
A lot was made of Isaiah Thomas’ emergence as an All-Star last season and the strides we saw in Avery Bradley’s game as well as Jae Crowder, but the Celtics’ bench was pretty damn good too.
According to hoopsstats.com, the Celtics’ bench averaged 37.7 points per game which ranked sixth in the NBA last season. They were also among the best when it came to rebounding (19.0 per game) and assists (9.7) which ranked second and third, respectively, among their backup brethren.
No one knows this team better than head coach Brad Stevens which is why he is keeping an even-keeled perspective about the battles between the first and second units.
“We’ve never played more than 16 or 20 minutes (in scrimmages). You still have 28 minutes left in a regular game,” said Stevens who quickly added, “That (success of the second unit) also speaks to what that team can do.”
There’s no question Stevens values the second unit and has a tremendous amount of confidence in their ability to play a meaningful role in the team’s success.
“Tyler (Zeller) is a guy that started and played a lot in this league already,” Stevens said. “Jonas (Jerebko) has played a lot in this league. Terry (Rozier) and Marcus (Smart) are playing at a really good level. Jaylen (Brown) has done a good job of being in the mix with those guys and learning from those guys.”
Gerald Green, now in his second stint with Boston, is currently sidelined with a hip flexor but is another player that will factor prominently into a second unit that has a tremendous amount of versatility at both ends of the floor.
Rozier and Smart provide a very strong defensive presence on the perimeter. In addition, both have shown improvement in terms of scoring the ball and in the case of Rozier, becoming a better facilitator and floor leader.
Jerebko started the final four games of last season in the playoffs and was among the keys to Boston actually making it a competitive series before the Atlanta Hawks closed out the first-round matchup in six games.
Zeller is seemingly on call for whatever the Celtics need from him, whether it’s starting or coming off the bench.
As for Brown, his athleticism is what jumps out about his game initially. But as Stevens pointed out on Saturday, it will be a process for him to figure out how best to utilize that particular strength.
“When it’s all said and done, he’s going to be … one of the better athletes around,” Stevens said. “He’s a hard guy that when he hits you, to not fall back a little. That’s kind of picking your spots who you’re playing against. But certainly his athleticism is a huge plus.”
The same can be said for the Celtics’ second unit which has the potential to be a first-rate success this season.
