The Boston Celtics had perhaps the most talented roster in the NBA during the 2021-22 season.
That didn’t stop them from aggressively attacking the offseason and adding two potentially prominent members of next season’s rotation.
Their trade for Malcolm Brogdon scratched an itch for additional playmaking. Their signing of Danilo Gallinari addressed a need for support shooting.
The Shamrocks should be in great shape coming out of the summer, particularly if the following three bold predictions come to fruition.
In each of the past three seasons, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have respectively ranked first and second in minutes per game for the Celtics. There is zero reason to believe that changes in 2022-23.
What could be different, though, is the emergence of a new face in the No. 3 spot: Malcolm Brogdon.
His healthy version is such a seamless fit in this supporting cast. Boston needs more ball-movers, and he’s been a nightly source of 6.3 assists since 2019-20. The Celtics needed additional shooters, and he has hit better than 38 percent of his threes in four of his six NBA seasons. This defensive system leans on switchable perimeter defenders, and he can hold his own against virtually any perimeter player.
The one major issue is health, as he played just 36 games last season and hasn’t made 60-plus appearances in a single campaign since 2018-19. Nothing other than optimism suggests he can bury those medical maladies, but the offseason is a time of maximum optimism, so let’s expect the best here.
Even in a league littered with flame-throwing shooters, Danilo Gallinari stands out as being particularly accurate.
He has posted a three-point percentage north of 40 in four different seasons. His career 38.2 percent splash rate ranks 41st among the 137 players with at least 1,000 career triples, per Stathead.com.
He’s a brilliant foul shooter, too, plus a matchup problem for opponents. His 6’10” frame allows him to launch over smaller defenders, and he’s too slippery for many stoppers his size. Given his touch and his skills, he should probably have better than his 42.8 career field-goal percentage.
Maybe it will all click in Boston. This could be the lowest he has ever landed on the offensive hierarchy, which means opposing teams can’t pay him too much attention. That should yield him more open looks than ever, and a marksman like him can feast on those chances. If everything breaks right and he avoids any age-related decline, he could make a run at his first ever 50/40/90 shooting slash.
Sam Hauser has had a Celtics deal since last August, and yet it feels like he’s led a blink-and-you-missed-it existence in Boston.
That’s probably because the then-undrafted rookie barely broke a sweat this past season. Even after the Celtics converted his two-way contract to a standard pact in February, his number wasn’t called much. His busiest month was March, and he logged all of 55 minutes in it.
In total, he spread 158 minutes across 26 contests. Look for both numbers to burst this season.
The Celtics signed him to a three-year deal this summer, and the first two seasons are fully guaranteed. Clearly, they trust in his talent. They also recognize that his combination of size (6’8″) and shooting (career 43.2 percent from three) can address a void on this roster. If he finds a helpful defensive niche, he could play his way into a substantial role in this rotation.
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