Earlier this summer, the Boston Celtics signed Mitchell Robinson to a three-year $47.3 million contract.
Robinson joins the Celtics fresh off helping the New York Knicks secure a championship. During a recent episode of ‘Beneath The Banners,’ Brad Stevens shared his thoughts on Robinson’s addition.
“I feel like that spot is just really solid for us,” Stevens said. “I think Mitch is obviously proven. He’s been there, done that. He’s an NBA champion and played a very meaningful role in that series. That’s just kind of what he’s always done. He just makes teams better.”
Robinson is an elite offensive rebounder. With Neemias Queta and Luka Garza now in the rotation, the Celtics will have no issues controlling the offensive glass. Furthermore, Boston now has considerable size in the middle of the floor, with each big either being a solid rim protector or shot deterrent when roaming the paint.
With Jayson Tatum back in the rotation, all three bigs will likely see an uptick in shot attempts out of pick-and-rolls, too. Tatum has become a high-level on-ball creator in recent years and has a solid track record for rewarding his big men.
Celtics To Focus On Possession Maxing
Last season, the Celtics began building a system that would allow them to maximize every possession. Constructing an elite offensive rebounding unit is the logical next step in that development.
Under Mazzulla, Boston primarily runs a five-out offense, meaning all five players are usually situated around the perimeter. Furthermore, the Celtics take a significant amount of threes per game. By adding multiple offensive rebounders, the Celtics can now feel confident in generating extra offensive possessions off missed threes, ultimately maximizing the number of chances they get to end each trip with a bucket.
So, when next season begins, we should expect to see the bigs crashing the glass, corner shooters cutting toward the free-throw line, and a couple of players getting ready to hustle back.
In doing so, the Celtics will have every opportunity to turn a missed shot into another chance at offense. That means they could add multiple possessions to a game, thus giving them more chances to create a sizeable lead.
Neemias Queta Please By Celtics Robinson Addition
When speaking with Portugese outlet A Bola, Queta shared his thoughts on Boston’s latest big man addition.
“What I appreciate is not having to box out against him because it was very difficult,” Queta said. “He’s a very strong, very agile player, capable of going in and winning almost every offensive rebound. Having a player of this level, who defends so well and can cause so much trouble on the offensive boards, will be very good because we are quite similar basketball players and we can bring many similar things to the team, which is essential.”
Mazzulla will face a tough task in finding minutes for all three of his big men. However, if he can strike the right balance, Boston will have a clear advantage on the offenisve boards next season. At that point, it’s up to them to make the most of those extra bites of the apple.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Brad Stevens Makes Bold Claim About Celtics’ New Big Man appeared first on HEAVY.