Anfernee Simons impresses offensively as Celtics roll over short-handed Cavaliers: 8 takeaways
Simons was locked in on Sunday – 6-for-9 from behind the arc with a team-high 21 points in 25 minutes.
Anfernee Simons and the Celtics took the floor at TD Garden for the first time this year on Sunday, demolishing a short-handed Cavaliers team 138-107 in their third preseason game.
Here are the takeaways:
Anfernee Simons is an impressive offensive talent.
Simons, the Celtics’ most notable offseason pick-up, spent the entire summer very publicly on the trading block until it became clear that Brad Stevens would not receive the offer he wanted.
Now Simons is in Boston, and Sunday’s game showed that the Celtics have a bit of a conundrum.
The complicating factor in Simons’ situation is that he’s very good. Simons is a high-impact player on the offensive end, and when his shot is dialed in, he is the kind of shooter who hits just enough of the rim to barely disturb the net as the ball falls through. Simons was locked in on Sunday – 6-for-9 from behind the arc with a team-high 21 points in 25 minutes.
But Simons isn’t just a 3-point shooter. He’s also a smart distributor who can be a primary ball-handler, and he can score from the other two levels as well – pulling up from mid-range and getting all the way to the rim when necessary. Simons is an impressive athlete – in 2021, he won the dunk contest by leaping high enough to mime kissing the rim before throwing down a one-handed slam.
Defense has not been Simons’ strength historically, and we are yet to see the Celtics play against an opponent who could really target him (more on that in a minute), but against Cleveland’s second string on Sunday, he was acceptable – he helped and rotated when necessary, contested shots, and wasn’t notably beaten off the dribble. To be a major contributor on this Celtics team, Simons really only needs to be a passable defender, and against the likes of Tyrese Proctor and Craig Porter Jr., he looked passable.
The conundrum, however, is the Celtics’ depth at the guard position. Derrick White, of course, is not leaving the starting lineup. Small forward is probably as high as Jaylen Brown can slide on a consistent basis. That means the starting battle probably comes down to Simons vs. Payton Pritchard. Pritchard looks more than up for the challenge of being a starting guard and has the seniority (and a championship ring).
For his part, Simons seems fine with his role – he noted that he came off the bench early in his career in Portland.
“Early on in my career, me and my trainer used to do drills where we’d come in late at night and I would sit down for a second and he’d tell me to get up, come in and shoot a 3, and I’ve got to make it,” he said. “Certain drills like that helped me come in and be pretty productive early in the game.”
Still, while having too many talented guards is certainly far better than the alternative, the Celtics’ backcourt could get a little crowded this year.
Joe Mazzulla isn’t happy about the rebounding.
Once again, the Celtics gave up a ton of offensive rebounds on Sunday – 21 this time – and Joe Mazzulla was less than pleased.
An incredibly punchy Mazzulla was asked after the game about his team’s defensive rebounding, and he gave an answer he had clearly prepared beforehand (“find five guys that will rebound”), which he used as a refrain over and over during his availability.
“I don’t see five guys rebound,” he said when he was pressed on what he has been seeing. “So then I go get five, and they rebound. It’s that simple. Doesn’t matter about wings, bigs, it doesn’t matter. Find five guys that will rebound, rebound. Go. It’s that simple.”
Mazzulla has not been afraid to pull players when they don’t rebound in the preseason, and he becomes visibly agitated on the sideline when teams grab offensive boards.
“Obviously, he’s been pretty adamant about that,” Simons told reporters afterward in an early contender for Understatement of the Year.
Clearly, Mazzulla believes the Celtics have the ability to rebound if they execute and try hard enough – “will, technique, whatever you’ve got to do, you do,” Mazzulla said when asked if rebounding is mostly a question of effort – and rebounding could play a massive role in their success this season. After losing the likes of Al Horford and Jrue Holiday, the Celtics aren’t likely to be good enough defensively to hold up on 21 extra possessions. When they do get a stop, ending the possession will be of paramount importance.
It will be nice to see the Celtics play a real team.
We can’t really know how ready Simons – or really, the entire Celtics team – is for the regular season, because we are yet to see them play a serious NBA team.
In their preseason opener, the Celtics beat up on an iteration of the Grizzlies that was without Jaren Jackson Jr., Ja Morant, and Brandon Clarke. In their second game, a Brown-less Celtics team spent three quarters demolishing the Raptors sans Brandon Ingram, R.J. Barrett, Scottie Barnes, and Jakob Poeltl before Boston’s third unit coughed up a double-digit lead. On Wednesday, the Cavaliers sat Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Darius Garland.
On the one hand, the Celtics have done a nice job of dismantling overmatched low-usage starters and rotation players. You can only beat the team in front of you, and the Celtics have taken care of business comfortably.
On the other, it’s difficult to assess newcomers like Simons whose season will be judged on how well he holds up defensively when the Cavaliers can’t target him with Donovan Mitchell, who even All-Defense quality defenders like Derrick White can’t really handle.
The Celtics have reason to be encouraged by their performance so far, but fans should probably take even more the usual “It’s preseason” grain of salt.
The Celtics still have a ton of 3-point shooters.
Mazzulla’s teams have a well-earned reputation for taking a lot of 3-pointers, and while a strong argument can be made that Mazzulla is simply playing to his team’s strengths by emphasizing 3s, this season appears unlikely to deviate from the last two.
Much of the Celtics’ offense will be dictated by Jaylen Brown, who isn’t primarily a 3-point shooter, but when teams load up on Brown, even more of the Celtics’ defense is likely to be dictated by White, Pritchard and Simons – three unapologetic 3-point gunners. Sam Hauser will be a starter. Chris Boucher will get major minutes. Josh Minott is happy to post up in the corner in half-court sets. Luka Garza is comfortable taking a pick-and-pop three.
The Celtics, as Mazzulla noted repeatedly in a long-winded and very heated screed, have built their offense around creating 2-on-1s. Often, 2-on-1s birth open 3s. Expect the Celtics to take plenty of them once again.
Josh Minott introduced himself to TD Garden.
Mazzulla might not care about lineups – “I don’t give a s***” was his direct quote postgame – but for those of us who do, Minott appears to be earning a very solid slot in the rotation.
Minott impressed again on Sunday with 16 points, six rebounds, and a steal. His athleticism and rangy defense provide a real spark, and if the Celtics are looking for energy to create rebounds, Minott appears to have it in spades.
According to Mazzulla, Minott “has to play hard, has to be able to rebound, has to be able to sprint the floor, has to crash, has to shoot the ball if he’s open, has to defend at a high level.”
So far, Minott appears to check the majority – if not all – of the boxes.
Derrick White is a rim protector.
White packed his stat line on Sunday with 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, but the clearest indicator that basketball is nearly back was White’s three blocked shots. The league’s pre-eminent shot-blocking guard is as good as ever.
Wendell Moore threw down the dunk of the preseason.
Presumably, a relatively small number of people were watching the final minute of a 30+ point preseason blowout featuring two-way players and future G-League All-Stars, but – at the risk of sounding hyperbolic – anyone who tuned out before the close missed one of the better dunks you will see this season courtesy of the former Duke guard Moore.
What’s next?
The Celtics close their preseason slate on Wednesday against the Raptors at TD Garden, and fans should expect a heavy dose of players who have participated in training camp.
After the preseason ends, the team has exactly a week to prepare before the season begins in earnest at TD Garden with a visit from the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 22.
Real basketball is really almost back.
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