Celtics Player Power Rankings, Inaugural 2024-2025 Edition
Let's dig in!
One. Jayson Tatum: If Tatum shoots this well all season, it'll be the best shooting season of his career by a mile. Over the past two seasons, Tatum has posted a +.600 true shooting percentage, making him elite in this respect – .607 in 2022-23 and .604 in 2023-24. This season, his TS% is .632. In each of the past three seasons, Tatum has played at least 2,500 minutes. For each of the past six seasons, he's averaged at least 15 field goal attempts per game. Durable and with a large workload, the mark of a star. In NBA history, there have only been 19 player-seasons where a player has posted a .630+ TS% while playing at least 2,500 minutes and averaging at least 15 shots per game. Tatum would be the 20th. Let's take a look at the other 19, shall we?
As you can see, this has only been achieved by 13 players. Six of these 19 player seasons have ended with an MVP award, and it's even more rare if you think about the context, because these 19 player seasons did not happen in 19 separate seasons. They happened in 12 separate seasons:
The MVP has come from one of the players shooting this well in six of these 12 seasons, including the last five times.
The amazing thing is, Tatum still has room for improvement. After his three-point barrage in the first couple of games, he has regressed back to a .342 three-point percentage. But he's now shooting .667 from two-point range. Overall, his .482 FG% is a career-best, but if he can trade a couple of three-point attempts for two-point attempts, he could be even better. His quantity of field goal attempts from last season (19.3) to this season (19.9) is basically the same, which means he's been even more efficient, and he's getting to the line at a career-best rate (9.3 attempts per game). It's all lined up for him. This can be Tatum's MVP season if he continues like this.
Two. Jaylen Brown: Jaylen's shooting had been off for a few games, and now we know why – he's hurt. Hopefully it's not too bad, and he'll be back soon. Last night in Charlotte, the units that are typically JB-led had a harder time without him.
Three. Derrick White: Come the playoffs, this may flip, and Jrue Holiday may be right up in this top three again. But it's very clear that while Holiday is capable of defending any player in a vacuum, he is not always up for it night after night in the regular season. White is, and his more varied offensive game makes him a more capable quarterback of the offense.
Four. Kristaps Porzingis: Just because this team is deep enough to win games without him doesn't mean he is less valuable. It's still a historically great team with him.
Five. Jrue Holiday: Him being left on the bench in the Indiana game was revelatory, as it shows coach Joe Mazzulla is willing to move off of him in certain situations. The most obvious situation is against young teams which like to run. He's at his best against the more methodical teams like New York and Milwaukee, and he was excellent in those games, scoring 18 and 21 points respectively, on very efficient shooting. But he's scored just 46 points in the other five games, and was a season-worst -19 in the Indiana game.
Six. Payton Pritchard: Pritchard's contributions have gone from "added bonus" to "necessary." Two seasons ago, he averaged 5.6 points per game. Last season, he averaged 9.6 points per game. In this young season, he's up to 15.7 points per game, essentially triple what he averaged two seasons ago. It's been so fun to watch. Maybe it'll change when Porzingis comes back, but right now he is our main threat off the bench, and a legit contender for Sixth Man of the Year.
Seven. Al Horford: Shooting isn't everything, but Horford is currently averaging a career-low 5.7 field goal attempts per game. He's not shooting any worse, he's just not shooting as much. That part is fine. What's a little more troubling is that he's averaging just 6.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, after averaging 7.3 and 8.5 the past two seasons. He also was benched at the end of that Indiana game, and was not on the floor when the C's made their big comeback. He's averaging a career low 25.3 minutes per game right now, and that may dip further when Porzingis gets back.
Eight. Luke Kornet: Kornet has been very good, but only one thing is keeping him in this ranking above Neemias Queta – his ability to play defense without fouling.
Nine. Neemias Queta: I've been advocating for Queta to play for awhile now, but even with my belief in him, it's still been a touch surprising to see him earn trust this quickly into the season. A lot of credit needs to go to Mazzulla. Coaches usually only make adjustments like this to their rotation – especially a championship rotation – when forced to after a losing streak or personnel change. None of that has happened in these first seven games. Yes, the team is missing Porzingis, but that has been expected. Mazzulla could just be playing Horford, Kornet, and Xavier Tillman, and no one would bat an eyelash. But he's trusting Queta, and Queta is rewarding that trust.
The reason Queta is a better option than Kornet is subtle but simple. In situations where Kornet tries to tip the ball back to his teammates, Queta is athletic enough to get a little higher and actually secure the rebound. The difference was clear in the Indiana game. Multiple times in the first half, Kornet tipped the ball back to the wrong guy, and jumpstarted a Pacers fast break. At the end of the game, multiple times Queta grabbed the rebound, and either got an easy bucket or another possession for the C's, helping fuel the comeback.
Queta needs to figure out how to stay out of the Daniel Theis "automatic whistle" zone, and if he can, he's going to have a very, very long career. He may even if he doesn't. Theis is still getting NBA contracts, after all.
Ten. Sam Hauser: I thought there was a chance Hauser could lose minutes this season to Baylor Scheierman. That hasn't happened, but Hauser is still losing minutes – he's down more than three minutes per game so far. Maybe that's a rounding error, a function of just needing more big men on the floor without Porzingis, him losing minutes to Pritchard while he's on his heater, a sign that they're being a little ginger with him following him missing a couple games to injury, or all of the above. Either way, he's not playing as much right now. Not everyone can play, unfortunately.
Eleven. Jordan Walsh: With his shot having improved from "that's definitely not going in" to "ehhhh, maybe that's going in!", Walsh is now basically everything that Oshae Brissett was last year, except younger and cheaper. Walsh knows his role, and is filling it. It's been great to see him get minutes, and again, a credit to Mazzulla for working him in in a manner that gives him the best possible chance to succeed.
Twelve. Xavier Tillman: Tillman made a couple of big plays last season, and can be effective against the more methodical teams, but in most situations he is neither tall enough nor quick enough to be effective. Teams are immediately targeting him when he comes into the game because while he is a solid defender, he is immediately the weak link on this team. LaMelo Ball's eyes lit up when he got switched onto him last night.
Thirteen. Baylor Scheierman: Basically everyone from here on out is very unlikely to see minutes in competitive games, but Scheierman is the most likely of the group to get them.
Fourteen. JD Davison: I still believe in Davison very much, but Pritchard's leap early in the season all but erases any potential for Davison to make a meaningful contribution to this team, barring injury. If it doesn't happen for him here, I hope that Brad Stevens can find him a home where he can play.
Fifteen. Jalen Springer: He's not bad, necessarily. I think Springer is an NBA player. But he's a tweener, and the C's are deep enough that they don't need a tweener. His largest contribution will likely be as salary filler in any trade the C's need to make at the trade deadline.
Sixteen. Drew Peterson: He can shoot well, except when he can't. He's nice to have around for that one skill though.
Seventeen. Anton Watson: I am not sure he's even with the team right now. Certainly, I don't expect him to get into any competitive games. But he's the other two-way contract, so he gets listed.
Seventy-Sixed
Ok, I know I wrote a lot of words already, but let's talk about the very, very bad night for the Philadelphia 76ers for a minute. First, they got smoked – at home – by a Memphis Grizzlies team missing both Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart. Memphis shot 55% from the floor, including 11-for-16 from Jaren Jackson Jr., four-for-seven from rookie starting center Zach Edey, and a cool 7-for-10 from reserve center Jay Huff. That's 22-for-33 from the three Memphis big men. Andre Drummond, never anyone's idea of a defensive stalwart, was useless and sullen, as he picked a technical foul just before halftime for whining to the refs. The game was still relatively close then, but Memphis was in the midst of pulling away. They outscored Philly by 11 in the second and 10 in the third to turn it into a laugher by the end.
That's bad enough, as it was a game Philly needed, and they fell to 1-4. After the game though were the real fireworks, as Joel Embiid pushed a columnist for the Philly Inquirer in the locker room, as Embiid hasn't liked the way he's written about him. Specifically, that he referenced his son and dead brother. While the columnist, who I was not familiar with before today, seems like he's going out of his way to antagonize Embiid, Embiid has left himself open to criticism by failing to be in shape enough to play in games. Now, Embiid is likely facing a suspension of some sort. Players can't be pushing media members, no matter how much they don't like them. The NBA will have to act on this. Odds are, Embiid is still too hurt to suit up, but it may be academic for the next few games.
As for the team, you're seeing why a lot of the free agents they signed were around to be signed. Caleb Martin's shooting comes and goes like the wind, and he really is only consistently effective when nobody is guarding him. Eric Gordon is almost completely washed, and Reggie Jackson is all the way washed. Drummond will do the one thing he's good at – rebounding – and nothing else. But even his rebounding is the kind of empty calories that doesn't impact winning. Last night, he led the 76ers with nine rebounds in 29:17 of action, but the Sixers were outrebounded 52-33. Drummond couldn't outrebound his counterpart Edey, who again, is a rookie. Drummond should have enough tricks to outmaneuver him. Drummond also couldn't outrebound Spaniard Santi Aldama, who Drummond outweighs by 55 lbs. At full health, these role players may be able to excel in their roles, but without a star around them, they're not difference makers. And Tyrese Maxey is rapidly proving that he is not a star, because if he was he could have matched Ja Morant and helped his team win a home game they desperately needed.
We'll see how the Sixers look if Joel Embiid and Paul George get fully healthy, but that has never looked less certain, and Philly's standing as of now – fourth-worst record in the NBA (third-worst in the East) and second-worst point differential in the NBA (worst in the East) feels very well earned. And "genius" coach Nick Nurse seemingly has few answers.