4 things to know about new Celtics forward Oshae Brissett
Brissett spent the last three seasons with the Pacers and had a couple of notable performances against the Celtics in the past.
Oshae Brissett is the first player to join the Celtics in free agency.
The 25-year-old forward reportedly came to terms on a deal with Boston late Friday, agreeing to a two-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum. The second year of the deal is a player option.
Here are four things to know about Brissett:
He’s set to play a role for the Canadian basketball team for the foreseeable future.
The Ontario native will join a few other notable Celtics in recent years to potentially represent their home country in international play.
Brissett was one of 14 NBA players to make a three-year commitment to the Canadian men’s basketball team last May, which runs through the 2024 Summer Olympics. Canada and the players came to an agreement on the commitment after it missed the Olympics in 2021. Canada fell just short of qualifying for the Summer Games that year, losing in a qualification game as Brissett wasn’t on the roster.
Brissett could compete for Canada this summer when it plays in the FIBA World Cup, but the roster for the tournament hasn’t been set yet.
He’s played well against the Celtics in the past.
In what might be the start of a new trend following the Kristaps Porzingis trade, the Celtics acquired another player who has had standout performances against them in the past.
Brissett had one of the best games of his four-year NBA career to this point against the Celtics. In Feb. 2022, when Boston was in the midst of its midseason turnaround that year behind a strong defense, Brissett helped Indiana be one of the few teams to break through. He scored a game-high 27 points in that game on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 shooting from behind the arc.
A little more than a month later, Brissett had another solid shooting night from 3-point territory against the Celtics. He made 4-of-7 3-pointers in that game, helping him score 17 points in what was a loss for the Pacers.
Brissett didn’t play as well against the Celtics this past season. The most points he scored in a game against them was eight. He’s scored 9.5 points per game on 48.1 percent shooting and 53.8 percent shooting from deep over eight games in his career against the Celtics.
He’s been an OK shooter in his career.
Brissett’s shooting performances against the Celtics late in the 2021-22 season aren’t indicative of how he shoots, but he isn’t bad, either.
Brissett shot 41.2 percent from the field on 6.4 shots per game and made 34.9 percent of his 3-pointers, taking 3.1 per game during his three seasons with Indiana.
One thing that appears to be evident though is that the more Brissett plays, the better he shoots. He shot 48.3 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from deep when he averaged a career-high 24.7 minutes per game in the 2021-22 season. He followed that up by shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep while averaging 23.3 minutes per game.
Brissett’s shooting took a dip along with minutes this past season. He shot just 38.6 percent from the field and 31 percent from deep as he averaged 16.7 minutes per game, playing at the backend of the Pacers’ rotation for the majority of last season.
One of the areas Brissett excelled at in his first two seasons with the Pacers was his corner 3-point shooting. He shot 41.1 percent from the corner over that stretch, but that number fell to 24.4 percent this past season.
He had a notable season in the hustle plays area.
Brissett had a bit of a standout season in a few less popular areas.
Even though he averaged just one offensive rebound per game, Brissett recorded a 5.4 offensive rebound percentage this season, which ranks in the 83rd percentile in the league, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Defensively, the Pacers were better with Brissett on the court than they were with him on the bench. Opponents scored 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Brissett on the court than with him on the bench. That number ranked in the 80th percentile in the league, per Cleaning The Glass. In addition, the teams Brissett’s played on have played better defensively per 100 possessions than they have without him in three of the four seasons in his career.
Brissett has also been slightly above the middle-of-the-pack in terms of steals the last two seasons. He had a 1.4 steal percentage in 2020-21 and a 1.1 steal percentage in 2021-22, ranking in the 63rd and 54th percentiles in that stat over those two seasons, respectively, per Cleaning The Glass. His foul rate has also ranked relatively low, posting a 2.9 percent foul rate in the 2021-22 season that was in the 85th percentile.
All in all, Brissett figures to be an end-of-the-rotation player for the Celtics this upcoming season. With his 6-foot-7 frame and 6-foot-11 wingspan, to go along with his knack for corner shooting and ability to make hustle plays, he could figure to be in the mix to replace Grant Williams if he leaves this offseason.
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