September belongs to football. We all know that, and most of us are OK with it.
But some of us – even those who love football, too – are counting down the days to basketball season. It’s never too early to look ahead and predict how this Celtics season could unfold.
The goal here is to have a little fun and make some educated guesses that might be a bit outside the box or slightly unexpected. With that in mind, here is one statistical prediction for each player on the roster:
Jayson Tatum will have
multiple regular-season triple-doubles.
It was the year of Jaylen Brown last year. Now, it’s the year of Jayson Tatum. He has five regular-season triple-doubles in his eight-plus-year career, but no regular season has featured more than one.
This year, he gets at least two (maybe even three or four). Tatum remains a criminally underrated rebounder and passer, and he’ll take those skills to another level this year with Brown gone.
Paul George plays in 57 or more games.
I know, I know. Don’t jinx it. I’m sorry in advance. Paul George has had one of the more bizarre careers of this generation. Somewhere along the way, a lot of people forgot just how good he is at basketball.
Is he the same George who tore it up in Indiana? Nope, but he’s still an excellent all-around player – as long as he’s on the floor. He’s only played 57-plus games once in the last seven seasons, but I’m going to predict that he does so this year. But no, you still shouldn’t draft him in your fantasy league.
Derrick White finishes with shooting splits of 43/38/86 or better.
Derrick White shot 46.1 percent from the field, 39.6 percent from 3-point range and 90.1 percent from the line in 2023-24. Obviously, that was a special team and he benefited from the talent around him, but I think last year was an outlier rather than a regression to the mean. He’s poised for a big bounce-back year as a shooter after seeing his percentages dip to 39.4 from the field and 32.7 percent from distance.
You just know he’s been in the lab a little extra this summer, and I’m confident it will pay off in a major way this season. He flirts with 45/40/90 and doesn’t quite get it, but it’s still a major step in the right direction that has a ripple effect throughout the roster. White is probably the biggest X-factor for this team, and seeing him hit his shots provides a jolt and helps others do the same.
Payton Pritchard averages career highs in points, rebounds and assists per game.
Payton Pritchard’s scoring, rebounding and assist numbers have all increased every year since 2022-23, and there’s no reason to think that won’t be the case this year. Last year, he ended up at 17 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds. I think 18.5 points, 5.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds is a reasonable guess. Those aren’t quite all-star numbers, but they’re not far off.
Neemias Queta makes his first career 3-pointer.
Neemias Queta is a fun player, so this one could go in a lot of different directions, but I think he’s going to surprise people this year with his mid-range shooting. All I want from him is the wherewithal and confidence to be able to turn to the basket and hit a free-throw-line jumper when defenses dare him to do so in the pick and roll. That slight shift in mindset will briefly translate to one 3 (maybe even two or three) in a magical moment for the Celtics and their fans.
Sam Hauser shoots between 35 and 45 percent from 3-point range every month.
Sam Hauser ended up having a decent shooting season last year (not great by his very high standards, but still solid), but it was a bit of a wild ride to get there. He hit just 27.5 percent of his attempts in November, reached 45.1 for January, dipped to 33 percent in March, then hit 52.6 in six April games. This year is less erratic and more consistent, with nothing quite as high or quite as low.
Mitchell Robinson shoots 50 percent or better from the free-throw line.
The Celtics are truly excellent when it comes to player development, and I believe they’ll find some slight tweak to Mitchell Robinson’s motion that allows him to improve on his 40.8-percent mark from last year. He won’t suddenly become Steph Curry, but he’ll get to a point where he’s not as much of a liability and teams won’t be able to hack him without hesitation.
Baylor Scheierman averages at least 2.5 assists per game.
Baylor Scheierman is starting to get comfortable as a shooter, defender and glue guy. The next step for him is to return to the playmaking style he displayed in college. Scheierman averaged 3.6 assists in college, and I say he gets to 2.5 this year (compared to 1.5 last year) – even with the ball in his hands a lot less than it was at South Dakota State and Creighton.
Hugo González averages at least 1.3 steals per game.
He averaged 0.6 last year in just 14.6 minutes. It’s fair to assume his minutes will increase this year and the steals will increase naturally as well. Last year, 1.3 would have put him in the top 60 in the NBA, and I say he gets there this year.
Jordan Walsh has a game with at least 3 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals.
I think Jordan Walsh is poised for a breakout season. He doesn’t get enough credit for his role last year, and I think he’ll start to get more this year as he continues to trend in the right direction. That will result in at least one game where he stuffs the stat sheet in every area. He came close to the feat last year, and this year he gets it done.
Ron Harper Jr. drops 30 at least once.
Ron Harper Jr. is capable of erupting on any given night. I think he’ll play regularly, but there will be a lopsided game this year where he goes nutty and hits 30. He came close with 27 in the regular-season finale last year, and this year I think he hits the mark.
Mike Conley Jr. shoots 40 percent or better from 3-point range.
This is an ideal setup for Mike Conley Jr., where he’ll get high-percentage looks as a result of the Celtics’ ball movement. All he has to do is knock them down, and I think he will at a very high clip with not much volume.
Luka Garza averages fewer than 2 fouls per game.
Luka Garza fared admirably whenever his number was called, but it’s also clear his defense needs to improve to remain in the rotation with Robinson in the picture. This year, he cuts down on the fouls and averages fewer per game than he did last year (2.3).
Amari Williams hits double digits multiple times.
He came close last year. This year, he finds a way to get 10-plus points – not just once, but two or three times. It will be tough for Williams to get regular playing time with Queta, Robinson and Garza all ahead of him, but he proves he belongs and carves out more of a role than last season.
Chris Cenac Jr. has a game with three-plus blocks.
Chris Cenac Jr. is better defensively than people think. He moves well for his size, has long arms and alters shots at the rim. I say he has a game this season where he swats a few shots and fires up the crowd.
Dillon Mitchell has at least three dunks that bring the house down.
Dillon Mitchell can really get up and is a candidate for the Slam Dunk Contest down the road. He displays that skill in stretches this year and leaves fans in awe on multiple occasions.
