Post-ups could be utilized more in Boston next season

Basketball games tend to shy away from the post-up. Such statements are not exactly breaking news.look Inside the NBA At any given time, you’ll hear countless tropes about games not being played as physically low as they used to be. NBA Finals, boston celtics It was the epitome of change.Against golden state warriors41.6% of the shots were from downtown.

Over the last few years, I’ve always wondered what it takes for the pendulum to start swinging in the opposite direction – away from such catch-and-shoot heavy attacks, towards post-ups. There are some obvious things that are going on: player dominating lowdown, size advantage to make it work, enough 3 points to position the floor properly to avoid the threat of a kickout 3-pointer. shoot. As alive as the post-up itself.

Doesn’t that team look a lot like the upcoming version of the Boston Celtics in 2022-23? I am not. Instead, there could be an opportunity here for Ime Udoka and the staff to incorporate more playtypes into their playbooks as spots of relative dominance.

Last season, the Celtics had 286 post-up shots (roughly 3.5 in a game), the 12th-most in the NBA. However, C is a shot type and he is the 4th most efficient team, Denver Nuggets (backed by MVP Nikola Jokic) and brooklyn nets (Kevin Durant directs most of their attempts).

These days, post-ups are reserved for the league’s elite players.Big players like Jokic and Joel Embiid are so dominant on the down low that they need those looks, but Durant in the world, Jason Tatums, Luke Donchicks get there due to the strength of the mismatch inside.

Below are screenshots of the Celtics’ individual post-up numbers from last season, all to show what was a positive type of play for the group.

Efficiency and quantity are intrinsically related. There is a danger in increasing the amount of post-up attempts, because the more something becomes part of the game plan, the more opponents will spend time locking it and taking it away.

So the Celtics added two players with size and shooting power this summer in Danilo Gallinari and Malcolm Brogdon. Gallo is an effective post-scorer, as explained beforeand is actually effective at forcing a switch with a smaller defender.

Brogdon, on the other hand, has always been reluctant to score in the post, even with his strong, stocky build. In 2020-21 he has three and in 2019-20 he has two. Brogdon isn’t recommending suddenly changing stripes. It simply shows that he is the perfect shooter to surround other post-ups. Brogdon’s catch-and-shoot numbers are strong enough to spread the floor around other players in the post, but the likes of Derrick White (C&S 31.8%) and Aaron Nesmith (31.1%) struggled last year. did.

Spacing is important for post-up attacks to have an impact. This is especially true for mismatched posts. When a smaller player is lowered, the court must be reversed. Al Horford, Grant Williams, and Gallinari all offer that type of reversal, making defenses a little harder to achieve. Robert Williams dunks on the other side he can stand in the spot and have Gravity. All the other Celtics on guard and wing spots are also capable shooters and leave no weak link to help.

From there, two questions remain for Imeudoka and the staff as they consider whether to throw in a few more post-ups.

The former is an easy question to answer — who has a distinct size advantage.

Back in the days of Brad Stevens, there were playbook segments and wrinkles all set for Marcus Smart to move to the post. Now that Stevens has moved into his office at the front, the smaller guards Smart played with (Kemba his Walker, Kylie his Irving, Isaiah his Thomas) have left, and Smart has left him in his first at-bat. accounted for the majority of his playing time. His strength advantage is even more pronounced. And I always felt that giving Marcus some of these opportunities in the playbook would help him stay involved as a ball mover and extra pass thrower.

The playbook has changed a lot since Stevens’ time, but you can see how effortless it was for the coaching staff to throw in the painstaking Smart ways from time to time.

Last year, Smart took 25 shots from postups and scored on 48% of them. These numbers are higher than either of his previous two seasons, but in large part due to his dribbling back-ins and perceived mismatches as opposed to his calls on engineered plays. is. The Eastern Conference has quite a few small (or thin) guards for smarts to feast on. Trae Young, Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton and Kyrie Irving will all concede big advantages on the block.

The real key to making this work is Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s effective, quick moves. Grant and Gallo’s post-ups weren’t intentional, they were meant to punish the defense for their mistakes during possession. The real traction comes from Tatum and Brown learning to thrive in his area the way other dominant All-Stars his wing has had in the past.

Jaylen has been extraordinary for the last few years with each season showing up with an extra trick in the bag. Nothing can replace the need to clean your steering wheel this summer, but it doesn’t hurt to add some confidence to your post-up game.He turnaround his fade away low down his jumper He’s gotten better at doing it, but he never pulls a ton of it out of his bag. Play Synergy Sports According to his tracking data, he had a 50% (10-20) chance of Jalen turning right and scoring a fadeaway in either block last year.

Tatum has a deep bag of midrange turnarounds that fade to his credit. He also has long strides and cunning footwork, but doesn’t seem to use them in the post. 39 of his 59 attempts in left or right block (not face up) were fadeaways.

Tatum can benefit greatly by adding up-and-under or step-through moves to the bag to punish defenders who anticipate turnaround jumpers. He should take inspiration from his idol, Kobe Bryant, for the impact of a step-through move when a fadeaway is so deadly.

As the stars go, so do the Celtics. That’s not exactly news. But if Udoka and the organization as a whole find a way to prioritize this type of play from the stars, it can have a huge impact on the team in the regular season and postseason.Kawhi Leonard to LeBron James to Kobe Bryant From Dwyane Wade to Dwyane Wade, the best wings to win the title in the last 20 years all have midpost isolation bags. It could be a small step that takes Star to a whole new dimension.