Welcome Back to the Celtics Season Tipoff Countdown!
Each day, we’ll give a review of news surrounding the Celtics. We’ll also look back in history to see what happened on today’s date in team history (September 2nd). To round out the day’s post, we’ll give you stats and fun facts related to the number of days remaining before the first game (44 today). Let’s get to it!
Recent Team News
Terry Rozier made headlines yesterday when his name was mentioned in Phoenix Suns trade rumors. According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports’ 98.7 Radio Show, Rozier was targeted by the Suns to fill their starting point guard role. The Suns struck out and, at least for the time being, Scary Terry remains in Celtic green.
2K Sports released their NBA 2k19 player ratings, and boy were they fans of the Celtics this year! Here is a quick rundown of the ratings for the starting 5:
• Kyrie Irving- 93
• Gordon Hayward- 88
• Jayson Tatum- 87
• Al Horford- 86
• Jaylen Brown- 84
The most notable rating on this list has got to be Tatum’s. The 20-year-old just polished off a phenomenal rookie campaign, but many feel that an 87 overall rating is still a tad high for such a young prospect. Then again, Tatum could blow the doors off of these expectations and elevate his game to a whole new level.
On This Date
September 1st, 2017: Kyrie Irving gives his first Celtics jersey to his father after being officially announced a Boston Celtic. Check out the video below!
"Thank you Dad" – @KyrieIrving as he hands his Dad his first Celtics jersey pic.twitter.com/H43fQiXoQS
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 1, 2017
Stats (2017-18)
Image Courtesy of The Athletic
Marcus Smart finished the 2017-18 regular season with a 44% AFG. Affective Field Goal Percentage basketball accounts for the added point the three-point basket provides. Though teams generally shoot a lower percentage in a traditional sense, this provides a more accurate description of the number of points a team will score by upwardly adjusting the FG% on those baskets to account for the added point, and downwardly adjusting the 3-point basket to two points… more or less. It provides 1 number that describes all baskets.
Fun Facts
Jersey number 44 is a particularly famous one in Celtics history. It has been worn by 11 different players in the history of the franchise. Danny Ainge, Pete Maravich, Rick Fox, and Brian Scalabrine are some of the more notable players on the list. The most recent player to don 44 for the C’s was Tyler Zeller in the 2016-17 season.
That concludes today’s Countdown to Celtics Tipoff. Make sure to be back here tomorrow as the clock continues to tick towards the 2018-19 season!