Mailbag: Celtics trade reunion possible with former center?

The Celts gets a few rare days off this week in Boston after an impressive win against the Nets on Wednesday night. Let’s dive into some frontcourt questions and a few big-name centers that have emerged recently in Boston. If you have any questions about the Celtics or NBAe-mail [email protected] or tweet @briantrobb

How is Tilman doing? He has completely fallen out of the rotation. Queta is overachieving, Tillman is hurt, Tillman is underperforming, or…? –Sean

I think it’s a bit of both when it comes to Tillman. It’s a very limited sample size of ten games, but his offensive numbers have been terrible for him. Not only does he shoot poorly from three-point range, but his finishing (33 percent on two-point field goals) is also rough. That makes it very difficult to play him next to another big player in this squad and maintain a solid distance. Joe Mazzulla briefly looked at Tillman/Horford on the starting five, but quickly pulled the plug once Jaylen Brown was out.

Tillman will get another chance at some point, especially when his defensive versatility is needed on the perimeter. For now, Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta are just beating him. The team needed Queta on the boards and as a lob threat, while Kornet’s attacking and passing attack can be a help on certain nights. Tillman will need to find some sort of offensive rhythm to get back into the mix, especially after Joe Mazzulla acknowledged that the team needs him to create open shots from the perimeter when he gets the chance. His understandable hesitation on that front has helped him go into depth. However, it’s a long season and there’s a good chance the Celtics will need him at some point.

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In the fourth quarter of the Bucks game, the Bucks are called for delay of game, resulting in a technical foul in a tight game. On the court (with their free throw percentages) are:

Pritchard 95%

White 89%

Brown 80%

Tatum 78%

Queta 70%

Tatum takes the free throw and hits it.

Since when did technical fouls become a way to inflate the team’s alpha score? It used to be that the best free throw shooter on the court always took the shot. Tatum was the 4th best shooter. Note, the Celtics corrected this on the second technical, but it’s pretty standard for Tatum to take technical shots.

This also came up in conversations with friends. Honestly, if Tatum is the star player of a franchise, he can take charge of this stuff if Joe Mazzulla allows it. None of his teammates are going to claim the ball from him in these moments, and Tatum has been an elite enough free-throw shooter in his career (84 percent) that it’s probably not worth Mazzulla making a big deal out of.

That said, for a team that focuses so much on numbers and analytics, there is little doubt that Pritchard and White are better free throw shooters. If Tatum’s averages remain well below his career average (he’s at 81 percent as I write this), it’s probably a conversation worth having now that those guys are on the floor. My guess, though, is that Tatum will continue to pile up those easy points and get the majority of them since he told your star player who goes to the free throw line nine times a game that you don’t trust him to make a free throw, probably not that’s how it is. a conversation worth having with a man who has achieved 84 percent in his career. It’s worth noting that Pritchard picked up one of the Celtics’ techniques against the Nets on Wednesday night after Tatum missed one earlier in the game.

Hello Brian question, have you been monitoring Tacko’s health status or do you know what the health status is? Where does he play and can he return to the Celtics? With Joe M at the helm, I can only imagine Tacko being coached by this group. He was Neemi’s equal in the G league and with our guards he would be a monster, a defensive stopper and a rebounding demon – Guy

The last I heard about Fall is that he signed with the New Zealand Breakers for their preseason tour last month but couldn’t play much for them due to a quad injury. He said in a recent interview that he still hopes to return to the NBA, but that ship may have sailed for the 28-year-old at this point. He has been out of the league for two years now and it is a very difficult road to get back in. When you see guys like Lonnie Walker without NBA deals, it’s hard to imagine Fall getting another chance as he approaches his 30s.

I now suspect that he continues to make good money abroad. He played in the CBA (China) for a few years and also spent some time in Puerto Rico. His rim protection would obviously be great, but Queta’s athleticism is way better than him right now.

Do you think the Celtics will enjoy bringing back Rob Williams this year? Would be great big man depth! – BEE

It would make a great story, but I don’t see it happening because of the financial component. Williams makes just under $12 million, which would mean the Celtics would have to match that money in a trade offer. After Boston’s top six players, no one on the roster is making more than $6.6 million this year, making matching salary on a deal nearly impossible without including one of your top players. The Celtics won’t do that for Williams.

While a return to Boston isn’t going to happen, he will be worth keeping an eye on on the trade market across the league. The Blazers still have a logjam under center and Williams is playing well enough in his first week back healthy to get the team’s attention again. A playoff team looking for a boost up the middle could roll the dice on him, although his health always makes this a bit of a risk. The Lakers have already been linked to him as a prospect, but there are a host of East teams that could use him under center.