2020 Awards Series

Marc D'Amico

It’s awards season at Celtics.com! We’re handing out six awards throughout mid-October as we roll through this year’s Celtics.com Awards Series. We may not have trophies or acceptance speeches, but we do have some top-flight Celtics performances to outline. Here we go...

BOSTON – We’ve finally arrived at the final installment of our 2020 Awards Series, one which gives Marcus Smart his second award of the season. Smart has added Boston’s Sixth Man of the Year digital trophy to his collection that also features this year’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

The Twitter voting for the Sixth Man of the Year Award was the most convincing of any of the awards. Smart was nearly a unanimous winner, having garnered 91.9 percent of the 17,523 votes.

One might wonder why Smart was eligible to win this latest award that’s dedicated to a reserve, seeing as he started 40 of his 60 appearances during the regular season and 16 of his 17 games during the postseason. The answer to that question is simple: he started those games because he was the team’s most important and impactful reserve.

The Celtics were riddled with injuries throughout the season at multiple positions. Gordon Hayward missed 19 regular-season games plus the majority of the postseason, Kemba Walker missed 15 regular-season games, Jaylen Brown missed 13, and Jayson Tatum missed five. Smart was the reserve who was called upon to step into the starting lineup for nearly all of those absences when he was available to do so.

The sixth-year guard delivered in those spot-starts, just as he did as a reserve. His approach to the game never changed, and that’s what Brad Stevens loves about him. It’s a given that Smart will play each night with effort and energy while defending at a high level and creating offense both via the shot and the pass.

That’s a lot for a reserve to bring to the table.

Let’s start out at the defensive end of the court, where Smart earned his second consecutive All-Defensive First Team honor this past season.

Smart led the Celtics in both total steals (101) and steals per game (1.7) for the second consecutive season. He limited opponents to 42.8 percent shooting from the field, which led Boston’s top eight rotational players with regard to playing time.

The guard was also one of only six players in the NBA to average at least 1.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game on the season.

Rightfully so, the defensive end of the court is where Smart garners most of his attention. His impact at the offensive end for Boston oftentimes flies under the radar.

Smart ranked fifth on the team in scoring with a career-high average of 12.9 points per game. He ranked third on the team in made 3-pointers with a total of 137, all while ranking eighth in the NBA (minimum 50 attempts) in 3-point percentage on pull-up 3s (40.1 percent). Smart also had Boston’s fourth-best free throw percentage among players who attempted at least 40 freebies, at 83.6 percent.

Smart’s shooting boosted the Celtics on many occasions, but his ability to make plays while protecting the ball was showcased every night. He set a new career high in assists per game with a team-leading average of 4.9, and he also led the team in total assists (291). All the while, Smart rarely turned the ball over. He compiled the fifth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the league among guards who averaged at least 28 minutes of playing time per game.

These statistics and achievements are what one would expect from an NBA starter. Smart played great basketball for the Celtics all season long no matter what the role. He excelled as a spot-starter, and he excelled when coming off the bench.

He was Boston’s de facto sixth starter, a role commensurate with the most important and impactful reserve on the team – its Sixth Man of the Year.

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2020 Awards Series Sixth Man of the Year: Marcus Smart

BOSTON - The Celtics had two particularly strong candidates for this season’s Most Improved Player Award in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Either player could have won the award, but when it came down to our MIP Twitter poll earlier this week, it became clear that Boston's fan base very much appreciated Brown’s development throughout the yearlong campaign, as it gave him 52.6 percent of the 14,763 votes that were cast - nearly doubling the mark of 28.5 percent for Tatum, a first-time All-NBA player.

We here at Celtics.com are in total agreement with those results.

Let’s start with the obvious reasons why Brown was deserving of this award: his improvements on paper.

For one, he drastically increased his scoring load as he upped his points-per-game average from 13.0 to 20.3. Such an enhancement was largely due to the fact that he attempted nearly five more shots per game this season (15.6) than he did last season (10.7), but also because of his improved shooting percentages. His field-goal rate rose from 46.5 percent to 48.1 percent, his 3-point clip took off from 34.4 percent to 38.2 percent, and his free-throw mark climbed from 65.8 percent to 72.4 percent.

Brown also saw increases in rebounding (from 4.2 per game to 6.4 per game), assists (1.4 to 2.1), steals (0.9 to 1.1), and minutes (25.9 to 33.9).

Every single one of those stats was not only an improvement from one season to the next, but also a career-high.

Brown also revamped his game in countless ways that did not appear in the box score, such as with his offensive creativity. This season’s version of Brown was more aggressive in driving to the rim, more controlled in his dribbling, more precise and creative in his passing, and more patient in his overall approach.

One game that had all of that on display was Boston’s Christmas Day matchup in Toronto, where Brown tallied 30 points, six rebounds and four assists, while shooting 10-of-13 from the field, 5-of-7 from long range, and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Opposing All-Star guard Kyle Lowry noted following the 118-102 Celtics win how Brown was playing with “extreme confidence” and that his “overall game was just flowing.”

Of that rise in confidence, Brown later explained, “The more you see the game, the more you understand the game, the better you are. As you get that time and that experience, the timing, the game kind of slows down for you. I see the game differently than I did two years ago.”

As much as Brown has matured as a player, it is nothing compared to the way in which he has matured as a person. This season it became clear that he wants to improve the world during his time off of the court.

Throughout the last several months, Brown has devoted a tremendous amount of time and energy toward the pursuit of social and racial justice within the United States. In May, he drove all the way from Boston to Atlanta to help lead a peaceful protest in his home state of Georgia. During his time in the NBA bubble, he continuously spoke out on examples of ongoing injustice and also acted as an advisor to any of his NBA peers who wished to learn more about the cause.

Off-court activity isn’t typically factored into our Awards, but Brown’s seeking of a better world fits so perfectly into the Most Improved Player category that we couldn’t ignore it being a factor. Combine that with all of the tangible improvements that he made on the court, and it’s clear as day that the fourth-year wing deserved this recognition.

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2020 Awards Series Most Improved Player: Jaylen Brown

BOSTON – The voices of Celtics Nation were heard. They just might not be in agreement with those from this side of the screen.

Boston’s fan base overwhelmingly voted Jayson Tatum as this year’s Sharpshooter Award winner by giving him 58.7 percent of the 20,465 total votes. Jaylen Brown finished second with 25.7 percent of the votes.

While it can be argued that Tatum’s season deserved this award, we here at Celtics.com voted for the player who finished third in the fan poll: Kemba Walker. We’ll explain why later in this article.

For now, however, let’s concentrate on the story behind Tatum’s runaway victory, which marks his second award through the first four installments of our series.

Tatum was the MVP of Boston’s season thanks in large part to his stellar shooting. He was not only the team’s most efficient 3-point shooter, but he was also its most proficient 3-point shooter.

Tatum led the Celtics in both 3-point percentage (40.3 percent) and in 3-point makes (189). Those 189 makes accounted for the most by a Celtics player during the regular season since Isaiah Thomas canned a franchise-record 245 treys during the 2016-17 season.

Behind Tatum the two categories were Gordon Hayward, who finished two full percentage points behind Tatum at 38.3 percent from downtown, and Walker, who made 180 3-pointers on the season.

There is yet another level to dive into to showcase just how adept Tatum was at scoring from behind the arc. He was elite at shooting pull-up 3s – so elite, in fact, that he led the league in efficiency on such shots among the 19 players who attempted at least 200 of them on the season.

Tatum made 124 of his 307 such attempts, good for a 40.39 percent clip. That mark landed just ahead of Damian Lillard’s rate of 40.37 percent atop the leaderboard.

One area in which Tatum can improve his efficiency next season falls inside the 3-point arc, and that is at the free-throw line. He shot 81.2 percent from the line this season, a quality mark, but the sixth-best rank on the team. Still, he led Boston in both free throw makes (254) and attempts (313) on the season.

With his level of marksmanship, all three of those numbers could very well improve next season.

That is the long and very convincing case for why Tatum should be this year’s Sharpshooter Award winner. Now it’s time to look at the other side of the argument.

Before diving into Walker’s case, it must be noted that he was limited to 56 games this season due to left knee soreness that began to affect his play and availability in mid-January. Walker was on pace to obliterate the franchise record for made 3s in a season before missing time due to the injury.

As previously noted, Walker finished just behind Tatum in total 3s this season with 180. However, he actually led the team in made 3s per game with an average of 3.2. Had walker played in as many games as Tatum – 66 – and maintained his average of made 3-pointers per game, he would have made 211 on the season compared to Tatum’s 189.

Let’s take this “what if” a bit further. What if Walker’s knee soreness never happened and he continued to play at the level he did prior to missing his first game of the season due to knee soreness? The answer is that he would have blown past Thomas’ franchise record of 245 made 3s.

Prior to missing his first game due to knee soreness Jan. 18, Walker was averaging 3.5 made 3-pointers per game. Equating that out to 76 regular-season appearances, which is the number of games Thomas played in during his record season, would have resulted in 266 3-point makes on the season for Walker – 27 more than Thomas’ record.

Now clearly, this is all hypothetical, but it goes to show just how sharp Walker was shooting from long range for the first 40 games of Boston’s season. That cannot be ignored, and neither can his continued success thereafter.

To further Walker’s case, he was also stellar from the mid-range and from the free-throw line.

While most of the NBA has slowly veered away from the mid-range game, Walker has not, and for good reason. He shot far better than the league average from five of the six mid-range quadrants that border the free-throw line and elbows, as is evidenced in the image to the right. Shots from those locations are typically inefficient for the far majority of the league, but for Walker, they’re almost layups.

Walker also ranked second on the team in free throw percentage among players who attempted at least 35 free throws, at 86.4 percent. That rate that trailed only Brad Wanamaker’s league-leading average of 92.6. Walker converted on 209 of his 242 freebies on the season.

Clearly, there are convincing cases to be made both for Tatum and for Walker with regard to deserving the Sharpshooter Award. Hayward and Wanamaker should garner some attention as well.

While we at Celtics.com voted for Walker, the majority has spoken loud and clear. This year’s Sharpshooter is Jayson Tatum.

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2020 Awards Series Sharpshooter of the Year: Jayson Tatum

Taylor Snow

Of all the strong individual performers that the Celtics had this season, there was one that stuck out among all others in his ability to carry the team on his back night-in and night-out.

At only 22 years of age, Tatum was the driving force behind Boston’s success this season. He rapidly transformed into a superstar right in front of our eyes, while gaining league-wide respect in the process.

From a team perspective, Tatum was without a doubt the most impactful all-around player on the Celtics’ roster. He led the team in scoring (23.4 points per game), was second in both rebounds (7.0 RPG) and steals (1.4 SPG), third in blocks (0.9 BPG) and fourth in assists (3.0 APG), making him the only member of the team to finish among the top five in those main statistical categories.

Tatum also led the squad in 3-point efficiency, connecting on a team-high 189 3-pointers at a 40.3 percent success rate. Most of those triples were made in pull-up fashion, as he made 124-of-307 such shots for a 40.39 percent clip, which led the league among players who attempted at least 200 pull-up 3s.

It didn’t take long for Tatum to gain star status, as he earned his first All-Star nod Jan. 30. At 21 years and 333 days old, he became the second-youngest player in franchise history to make an All-Star team behind Antoine Walker (21 years, 180 days).

However, it wasn’t until after earning that recognition that Tatum evolved into a superstar.

During February, the third-year wing averaged 30.7 PPG (49.3% FG, 48.1% 3PT), 7.9 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.3 BPG, all while guiding Boston to a 9-3 record for the month. For the first time in his career, he earned the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award. In doing so, he became the only player in the East to win the award this season other than eventual back-to-back league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

When it came down to the MVP voting, Tatum was one of only 12 players in the league to receive a vote. But, if his play inside the NBA bubble had factored in, he likely would have ranked even higher in the voting.

In the Playoffs, Tatum was nothing short of magnificent. He averaged 25.7 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.0 SPG and 1.2 BPG, a combination which no other player in the league was able to accomplish. He led the team in scoring, rebounding, shot-blocking, and was just one-tenth of an assist behind Kemba Walker (5.1 APG) from leading the team in assists.

Tatum also delivered in areas that didn’t appear in the box score. He was one of the team’s most versatile defenders, he was its go-to scorer in crunch-time situations, and he also developed into one of the most instrumental locker-room leaders.

On top of all of that, Tatum had the tendency to step up in the biggest of games, like when he scored 39 points over the star-studded LA Clippers during a double-overtime win, or when he dropped a career-high 41 points against the Lakers at Staples Center, or when he tallied 29 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists during a Game 7 win over Toronto during the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Players from around the league, such as LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and many others have recognized how impactful Tatum has become and have publically praised his emergence into stardom. The media has also taken notice as they voted him onto the All-NBA Third Team, making him the youngest player in franchise history to achieve such an honor.

Putting all of that together made Tatum into the clear-cut MVP of this 2019-20 conference-finalist Celtics team, and it likely won't be the last time he earns it.

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2020 Awards Series MVP: Jayson Tatum

There are a couple of award winners in our series that are no-brainers. Marcus Smart as the Defensive Player of the Year is one of them, as evidenced by your overwhelming voting results.

Smart’s outstanding defensive season can be recognized both from a Celtics team perspective and from an overall league perspective. We’ll examine his standing within the team first.

The sixth-year combo guard became the first Celtics player in nearly a decade to receive back-to-back All-Defensive First Team selections. The last player to do so in Boston was Rajon Rondo, in the middle of Boston’s most recent Big Three era, back in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

The difference between Rondo back then and Smart now is that Smart serves as a Swiss Army knife for Boston’s defense. He not only defends the opposition’s top perimeter scorer nearly every night, but he also switches onto true big men and holds his own – at the very least – in the land of the trees.

You name a dominant scorer, and Smart served as a primary defender against him. From Damian Lillard to James Harden to Giannis Antetokounmpo to LeBron James to Luka Doncic, Smart answered the call with success night-in and night-out.

While defending players of superstar caliber on a nightly basis, Smart somehow still managed to lead the team in multiple defensive categories. He led Boston in both total steals (101) and steals per game (1.7), marking the second consecutive season during which he accomplished that feat. He also limited opponents to a paltry 42.8 percent shooting from the field this season, a percentage that led Boston’s top eight rotational players based on playing time.

Maybe the wildest statistic of all is that Smart did all of this while playing in only 60 of Boston’s 72 regular-season games during the 2019-20 season. That’s efficiency.

Smart racking up team-leading stats despite missing time also plays a role in the significance of the following outline of Smart’s defensive standing among the league as a whole. The defensive-minded guard still managed to rank eighth in the entire league in steals this season while missing more than 17 percent of Boston’s season and while coming off of the bench for a third of his appearances. Smart was also one of only six players in the entire league who averaged at least 1.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game this season.

The Celtics are very well aware of how fortunate they are to have a player like Smart who brings it at the defensive end every night and impacts winning at a high level. Brad Stevens, who has coached Smart during all six of his NBA campaigns, outlined that fact the day after Smart’s selection to the All-Defensive First Team in early September.

“He’s special in his ability to guard individually and guard as a team,” said Stevens. “You could see that from the moment he got here, and he makes us all better.”

Stevens went on to explain that Smart’s presence played a critical role in Boston’s ability to surprise many and rank fourth in the league in defensive rating this season.

“Going into the year I don’t think many people thought we were going to be a very good defense,” the coach said. “But we still had a ton of versatility and a ton of guys that really knew how to play, and we had one of the best defenders in the league to lean on. I think that that is contagious.

“I think that his instincts make our whole team better. They help when we make a mistake as a team. He’s in the right place. He sees the game. He can direct people where to go. He knows how to play.”

And those traits are reasons why Smart is, yet again, the undisputed Defensive Player of the Year for Boston for the 2019-20 campaign.

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2020 Awards Series Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Smart

The Boston Celtics delivered plenty of outstanding team performances throughout the 2019-20 Season, which means we had a magnitude of options to choose from for our Game of the Year Award.

There was the 19-point comeback victory against the reigning and eventual back-to-back regular-season champion Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 30, which produced the iconic torch-passing image of Paul Pierce high-fiving Jayson Tatum during a classic clutch performance. Then, there was the 139-107 blowout of the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 20, highlighted by Jaylen Brown’s monster dunk over LeBron James during the second half. There were also three exhilarating regular-season wins over the 2019 NBA champion Toronto Raptors, including the nail-biting home-opener, the Christmas Day domination and the seeding game blowout, all of which could have qualified for this recognition.

However, the game that truly stood high above all others was Boston’s 141-133 double-overtime win over the star-studded LA Clippers on Feb. 13, during which Jayson Tatum delivered what was perhaps the most impressive performance of his young career to date.

The two teams met on a nationally-televised stage at TD Garden for the final NBA game before the All-Star break and they delivered an All-Star-Game-level offensive performance, only with far more drama and tenacity.

Boston and LA traded punches for the entirety of the matchup, with only one occurrence of a double-digit lead when the Celtics went up 72-62 with 8:51 left in the third quarter. LA, however, would come back to tie or take the lead seven separate times after that point, leading to an exhilarating finish.

The game was tied up at 109 apiece with a little under three minutes remaining when Jayson Tatum began to take control of the contest. He scored 15 of his game-high 39 points during the game’s final 12-and-a-half minutes, starting with a tie-breaking 3-pointer at the 2:28 mark of the fourth quarter. He then knocked down a mid-range jumper 58 seconds later to give Boston a 114-111 lead. however, his former mentor, Marcus Morris, responded with a game-tying 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Morris again came up big midway through the first overtime period when he knocked down his second 3-pointer of the night to give the Clippers a 122-118 lead. But then the Marcus on the other side of the ball – Marcus Smart – responded by scoring five straight points for the Celtics.

With just under a minute to go in the first extra period and the Celtics trailing 124-123, Tatum made one of his biggest buckets of the night when he spun around both Landry Shamet and Montrezl Harrell on a driving layup to give the Celtics a one-point lead. The All-Star wing then tripled that lead with 24.8 seconds remaining when he drove past two-time Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard for a layup. But Shamet responded with a game-tying 3-pointer on the Clippers' final possession of the period to send the game into another overtime.

By this point, the Clippers, who had already lost All-Star Paul George in the first half to an injury, had barely any gas left in the tank, as Boston outscored them 14-6 during the second extra period. Tatum made only one basket during the final five-minute stretch, but it was the most impressive of his 14 makes on the night, as he hit Shamet with a double-crossover and a hesi, before driving past him for a layup that gave Boston a 134-130 lead.

That wound up being the winning bucket, as the Celtics went on to win 141-133, marking their highest point total in a game since scoring 150 points against Washington on Nov. 25, 1992. All but 19 of those 141 points were scored by Boston’s starters, with 39 from Tatum, 31 from Smart, who started in the place of injured Jaylen Brown, 21 from Gordon Hayward, 19 from Kemba Walker, and 12 from Daniel Theis, giving its starting five a massive, 122-68 advantage over LA’s starting five.

Tatum was unquestionably the hero of the night for the Celtics for reasons that went deeper than his numbers in the box score. What was most impressive about Tatum’s performance was that it came against one of the best all-around players in the world in Leonard.

Tatum, who was 21 at the time of this matchup, outscored the two-time Finals MVP 39-28, including a 17-5 advantage during the fourth quarter and overtime, while also outshooting him 60.7 percent to 37.0 percent. Leonard, the two-time DPOY, guarded Tatum on 33 partial possessions, during which Tatum remarkably didn't miss a single shot. And while Tatum defended the elite scorer on 24 partial possessions, he limited Leonard to just a 33.3 percent shooting clip.

This was just one of many outstanding efforts that Tatum produced during the month of February, during which he averaged 30.7 points per game while shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from 3-point range, leading to his winning of Eastern Conference Player of the Month.

It also happened to be Boston’s best all-around game of the season, as Brad Stevens got the edge over his predecessor, Doc Rivers, while guiding the Celtics to their greatest offensive outing in nearly 28 years.

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