You might be familiar with Mike’s work from his Substack column Basketball Poetry or at Basketball Intelligence. Make sure to check out his first article on life without Kristaps Porzingis.
What got you into basketball and the Celtics?
Hello, everyone! I’m Mike Shearer, and I’m delighted to become your go-to bathroom reading here at CelticsBlog.
I’ve been a basketball fan since the mid-90s, but truth be told, I wasn’t born with shamrock blood. Instead, my appreciation for the Celtics has grown over the years as they constructed, brick by brick, one of the sturdiest and most delightful basketball teams I’ve ever seen. I like good basketball, and you can’t find any better than what’s played in Boston.
I love Jrue Holiday’s Doberman defense, clutch heroics, and occasionally bizarre shot selection. I love how Derrick White has grown from a gun-shy fourth-quarter benchee to a swashbuckling madman pulling off-the-dribble transition heat checks. I love how the Jays have bucked conventional wisdom, stayed the course, and consistently improved despite years of outside pressure. I love Luke Kornet inventing novel close-out strategies. But mostly, I love how Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens, and Joe Mazzulla created a whole that’s somehow greater than the already-league-best sum of its parts.
I’ve covered the league at large for the last few years, and Boston’s propensity for deep playoff runs has given me ample opportunity to expound about them at length. From ranking the Finals’ 11 most important Celtics to diving deep into White’s explosion this season, I’ve written plenty about Boston — but I’ve only scratched the surface. At CelticsBlog, I’ll have an opportunity to learn from some of the best writers and readers around and (hopefully) entertain and inform in return.
- What are your strengths and/or favorite topics as a writer?
I like to explore players’ evolutions both within a season and as their career develops. I also enjoy a good statistical rabbithole. Mostly, though, I try to stretch myself with new ideas or novel spins on old ones. They won’t always land (or, more accurately, some will land like an anvil on a reader’s head, giving them a splitting headache). But just like the players I write about, I’ll constantly strive to improve.
- What is your bold prediction for the coming season? (be specific for bonus points)
There is an unlikely (but plausible!) path to Payton Pritchard winning Sixth Man of the Year.
Kristaps Porzingis’ long absence will open up plenty of minutes, but I expect the major rotation change to be a decline in the number of two-big lineups the Celtics run out. Porzingis and Horford accumulated more than 1,200 possessions together last year (and there were other two-big lineups, too), but without Porzingis, the Celtics should play a little smaller more often. Theoretically, Pritchard could play 28 minutes per night this season.
Last year, the Celtics’ league-destroying lineups performed 2.3 points per 100 possessions better when Pritchard subbed in. If that holds (along with the proportional increase in box-score numbers), the national media has a juicy, uncomplicated narrative to chew on: Payton Pritchard, the Little Engine who could boost bench units and amplify the starters!
The Celtics are primed to have the best record in the league again, and if Pritchard is a big-minute driver of that success, he’ll be able to overcome scoring totals lower than his competition. As Michael Spooner just wrote, Pritchard is better than people realize. How much better? We’re about to find out.
