The Quarter Report: How the Celtics match up so far

Despite the offseason adversity--the perpetual Jaylen Brown trade rumors, the poor handling of the Ime Udoka situation, the inability to sign a formidable backup big with any of their trade exceptions--the Boston Celtics have the best record in the NBA a quarter of the way through the season.

Unlike in 2021-22, where Boston dusted opponents during the last few months of the season thanks to a top two defense, the Celtics are annihilating teams to start the 2022-23 regular season to the tune of a 121 offensive rating, according to Basketball Reference, which is three points better than the Western Conference-leading Phoenix Suns.

In fact-while a small sample size-the Celtics currently have the highest offensive rating for one season in NBA history, according to StatMuse.

On the flip side, Boston's defense has declined without the rim-protecting presence of Robert Williams III (who is expected to be back in December at the earliest). After boasting a top three defense in 2021-22, the Celtics' defensive rating is at a 113, good for 17th in the league, according to Basketball Reference. With Williams on the court in the 2022 playoffs, opponents only carried a 103 offensive rating (which is statistically unbelievable), compared to a 109 when he was off. His athleticism and free safety mentality made him a quiet leader on the interior, and without him, the Celtics have used a cadre of mid-to-lower tier role players to bolster the rotation behind the aging Al Horford and Gotham's hero Grant Williams.

How is it then that the Celtics are still the best team in the league without one of their key pieces from their Finals run several months ago? Let's take a look.

A powerhouse offense

We talked on the surface level about the Celtics monstrous offensive rating, but it's important to understand how the team rose to this type of prominence on the offensive end.

Obviously, both Brown and Jayson Tatum have once again taken quantum leaps as the two best players, averaging almost 60 points between them at a 30 percent usage rate. Tatum in particular is making a solid case for league MVP with the highest effective field goal percentage of his career at 56 percent, and he's also getting to the line a lot more (87 percent at the line with 8.5 attempts per game, compared to 6.2 attempts in 2021-22 at 85 percent from the line).

Brown, meanwhile, is picking up right where he left off from the NBA Finals (at least through those first few games) shooting 50 percent from twos for the first time in his career while also averaging the most points per game of his career during the 2022-23 season.

Unlike last year, the Celtics are also finding infinite offense through their bench role players. From a broad standpoint, their bench offensive rating between the 2021-22 season and the 2022-23 season has risen exponentially (from a 110 to a 121) mainly thanks to the stellar trade for Malcolm Brogdon and a three-year team-friendly contract signed by Sam Hauser.

The latter is shooting a whopping 49 percent from three on 4.5 attempts per game and 18 minutes per game, which is third best in the league overall and second best with at least four attempts per game (only Kentavious Caldwell-Pope supersedes him).

Hauser stands out from a typical catch-and-shoot three-point specialist because he is someone who can set his own screen for a pick-and-pop and find open spots on the court through wily movements. His prowess is especially lethal when one or both of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are on the floor, as most teams focus on them as primary playmakers.

Even beyond that though, Hauser hasn't been a disaster on the defensive end, which is important to note considering the Celtics were overmatched in last year's Finals with someone like Payton Pritchard on the floor, who shot 6-20 (30 percent) off the bench in 67 minutes over six games and wasn't good enough on defense to warrant the minutes he earned (where the fuck was Aaron Nesmith?!).

A slight change in the starting lineup

Boston's torrid stretch late last season was a result of many logical, yet consequential, rotational adjustments. First and foremost, their suffocating defense (outside of Rob's Ed Reed-like instincts) can easily be attributed to a couple of crucial trade deadline moves.

The first sent defensive liabilities Dennis Schroeder and Enes Fuckboy to the Houston Rockets for Daniel Theis (bleh). The trade gave the Celtics a serviceable journeyman as well as space for much superior defenders like Grant and Robert Williams to eat more minutes. There's no such thing as a championship team without a center who can lock up on defense. The Celtics were ironically free without Freedom (who was statistically a bottom five defender at his position).

The more impressive deadline deal, however, was the trade that sent quintessential 10th man Romeo Langford, Josh Richardson and a 2022 first round pick for Derrick White. Despite his size, White is one of the best back court defenders in the league, and even more encouraging, his three-point percentage has skyrocketed from 31 percent in 2021-22 to 45 percent (!) this year on four attempts per game. He's also shooting 50 percent from twos, which is by far a career high.

By getting Brogdon during the offseason, coach Joe Mazulla now has the ability to play Smart and White at the same time, thus creating one of the most disruptive guard duos in the league on that end.

As for Brogdon, the sixth-man role continues to suit him perfectly. He's shooting 50 percent from three on four attempts and settling in as the tertiary ball-handler that the Celtics so desperately needed in the playoffs last year when they were turning the ball over constantly.

When it comes to threes, White and Brogdon are only a small piece of the pie. Miraculously, the Celtics are shooting the best from three in the NBA this year at 41 percent. What's even crazier is the Denver Nuggets are shooting a tenth of a percentage point worse than them but with 10 less three-point attempts per game!

Seeing as it's only been 20 or so games, these numbers will probably be unsustainable, especially since Marcus will inevitably shoot them out of a couple of games (as we saw in Game 5 of the Bucks series).

It's been great, but not perfect

Are the Celtics a title team on paper? No question. Are they one without Robert? Ehhh. Number 44 is expected to be back around Christmas, but if he's not consistently healthy (meniscus tears are historically detrimental), I think the C's will have a tough time with an Eastern Conference that features Giannis, Joel, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. I'd be worried if a 36-year-old Horford who still plays 30-plus minutes-a-game has to carry a heavier load than usual.

None of this would be an issue if the Celtics signed a center over the summer as insurance, but nope, Brad instead decided to use their taxpayer midlevel on Danilo Gallinari, a 34-year-old journeyman who hasn't played 70 games since 2012 (even though Isaiah Hartenstein and Thomas Bryant were both available at one point!). I'm going to bust a screw if they sign Fuckboy Freedom again!

Luke Kornet has been a surprisingly competent defender (C's have a 109 defensive rating with him on the court this year) but do we really trust a center who's essentially played five minutes of playoff basketball in his career? Embiid may love it, but I don't.

Beyond that, the status quo in Boston may be different by the deadline. For some peculiar reason, Brad wouldn't give Grant Williams the one to two million more he was asking for! Yet, Horford gets two more years no problem, even though he's a decade older?! Please, Brad, don't be a bitch; Grant "Batman" Williams is the heart and soul of the team. Did we forget he carried an iconic Game Seven, and oftentimes covered the other team's best player throughout the playoff run? My worst nightmare is Grant rips our hearts out on another team in a crucial Conference Finals game (like most heroes do).

I've heard reports earlier this year about a possible trade for Jakob Poeltl, which would solve the center problems and then some, but Grant would most likely be part of that trade. Don't get me wrong, Poeltl is a stud, but losing Grant's defense and stretch abilities would be a tough pill to swallow. Then again, the Celtics are playing so well that they may not want to fuck up the feng shui, so my worries may not come to fruition-even if Grant eventually walks when he's a free agent.

It's also worth noting that the mystery surrounding the Ime suspension is perplexing at best, infuriating at worst. If the Celtics truly cared about their women employees, they would offer more transparency regarding the situation. Instead, we have to hear Matt Barnes give vague proclamations about how things are 100 times worse in Boston. Shame on Wyc the dick for being so secretive (and honestly, I love the players, but Mazulla's history shows he's no saint either).

Best case is they release Ime and start again, because part of me thinks this bad coaching juju will hinder them in the long run.

The consensus

From a pure eye test, things are looking excellent on offense. The ball zips around the perimeter, Tatum continues to be a magical finisher, and the three-point shooting has been historic. My only wish is Tatum and Brown function as primary playmakers more often, especially at the end of games. As great as both of them have been, they still have a tough time closing games, and there's still a slight tendency to defer to Smart too often.

It's defense that really needs to improve, and that all starts with Rob at full health.

If this happens, and the Celtics can solve fixable problems on offense, they'll be destined for a chip. But April is a long way away, and a lot can change between now and then.