Derrick White (left) had the worst shooting season of his career, while simply returning from his Achilles injury made Jayson Tatum's season a success.
Derrick White (left) had the worst shooting season of his career, while simply returning from his Achilles injury made Jayson Tatum's season a success.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Second in a two-part series assessing the Celtics’ roster, focused on the main rotation players.Part 1: reserves.
Jaylen Brown:Brown relished his chance to become the clear No. 1 option this season, and he capitalized on it. When voting is announced later this month, he will appear on countless MVP and All-NBA ballots, and he is the primary reason the Celtics outperformed expectations and won 56 games.
Brown was empowered to take midrange jumpers, and he embraced them like never before. He took 366 shots from that distance, more than double his total of 160 a season ago. Overall, Brown attempted 16 2-point field goals per game, the most in the NBA. And he welcomed physicality. When a defender was within 2 feet of him, he shot 49.6 percent from the field.
Although Brown set career highs in points, rebounds, and assists, there were imperfections. His ballhandling and playmaking, while improved in spurts, remained shaky. And the Celtics were 4.1 points per 100 possessions better when Brown was not on the court.
Jayson Tatum: Tatum would view this season as a success regardless of his performance. The former All-Star returned March 6 after missing 62 games because of the Achilles injury he suffered last May. No one, not even Tatum, knew how he would look. But after a few anxious moments in his season debut against the Mavericks, Tatum quickly settled in and had superstar flashes down the stretch.
No, he did not display his usual burst, and he seemed aware of potentially rocky landings when he turned down some opportunities to challenge opponents at the rim. But he looked sharp as a passer and gobbled up 14.1 percent of available rebounds, a career high.
Tatum stressed throughout the last two months that he was still in the midst of his rehab process. His Game 7 absence because of left leg stiffness might have cost the Celtics in their first-round playoff loss to the 76ers, but now Tatum has shaken off every cobweb and can enter next season confident and, ideally, fully healthy.
Neemias Queta: Last summer, the Celtics traded Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford and Luke Kornet departed in free agency. That left Queta, a former two-way contract player, as the starting center. The Celtics’ lack of experience at the position was the main reason many observers counted them out.
But Queta stepped in and excelled as a screener, shot-blocker, and rebounder. Even when he did not come up with a carom, he showed an uncanny ability to keep the ball alive and give his teammates a chance.
The Celtics outscored opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions with Queta on the floor, and just 3.9 when he sat. This summer, Queta needs to work on figuring out how to stay on the floor, though. His foul trouble was costly against the 76ers, including several careless hacks far from the basket that put the Celtics in a bind.
Derrick White: Here’s what you need to know about White: He had the worst shooting season of his career, connecting on a career-low 39.4 percent of his attempts. And that figure does not even account for his grisly playoff series, when he made 32.1 percent of his shots and 27.3 percent of his 3-pointers. And despite all that, this season the Celtics were 9.6 points per 100 possessions better with White on the floor, the best net rating differential on the team.
His defensive impact was most notable. He averaged career highs in blocks (1.3) and steals (1.1), and he will most likely be selected for an All-Defensive team when those honors are announced in the coming days.
But aside from his shooting struggles, White’s clear loss of confidence in the 76ers series was concerning. He started playing tentatively and passing up clean looks, which does more harm than good.
Payton Pritchard: Pritchard might have the NBA’s best contract. Next season he will enter the third year of a four-year, $30 million deal. To put that figure in perspective, Tatum and Brown earned a combined $107 million this season.
Pritchard added to his growing portfolio of buzzer-beaters. His speed, elite ballhandling, and shooting make him a nuisance in end-of-quarter situations.
But he probably does not get enough credit for his work closer to the basket. He is just 6 feet 1 inch, but he is strong and has a low center of gravity. This season he had success finding space in the lane against trees. The offensive rebounds he secures also seem to come in big moments.
Sam Hauser: For the first time in his career, Hauser finished a season shooting less than 40 percent from the 3-point line. He missed the mark by just a tick, hitting a very respectable 39.3 percent of his attempts. But there were several lengthy slumps mixed in with hot stretches.
Hauser will never be confused with Magic Johnson, but he became more comfortable putting the ball on the floor when needed. Like every other season of his career, opponents continued to hunt perceived mismatches against him on the defensive end.
Nikola Vucevic: The Celtics acquired the veteran big man from the Bulls in February in exchange for Anfernee Simons. But Vucevic appeared in just 12 games before missing a month because of a broken finger, and he never became truly comfortable in coach Joe Mazzulla’s system.
He was Boston’s best passing big man and a post-up threat, but the team did not fully utilize those skills. And after shooting 37.8 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from the 3-point line over the first six games of the 76ers series, Vucevic, the team’s lone unrestricted free agent, did not appear in Game 7.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.