Where to begin? After signing a 4-year, $141M max contract with Boston in the offseason of 2019, Kemba Walker looked to bring the end of Boston's chemistry struggles. A main part of Boston's demise before signing Walker was their team chemistry being completely putrid. Between Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris Sr., Boston was at an all-time low in team morale. Then, both Irving and Morris Sr. left in free agency, as well as Terry Rozier, and Boston signed Mr. Smiles, Kemba Walker. What happened next was amazing. Jayson Tatum took a superstar leap and earned all-star honors, while Jaylen Brown was quietly excellent all-around, Walker was an all-star starter, and Boston exceeded expectations and earned the #3 seed in the playoffs, after the hiatus. But, one thing was off. After the all-star break, Walker missed games continuously. He had an issue with his left knee, that sidelined him on and off. After receiving Synvisc treatment before the Bubble, Walker was supposedly healthy, but after a disappointing playoff performance (19.6 PPG, 5.1 APG on 44.1%/31.0%/85.2% shooting), in which Boston lost 4-2 to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, in the 2020 offseason, Walker received a stem cell injection in his left knee. He started a rehabilitation period and missed every game up until January 17th, when he debuted in a blowout loss to the Knicks. Since then, he hasn't looked like himself. This article will dive into my analysis of Walker's current (underwhelming) play, and what it means for the Celtics.

Part 1: Positives So Far

Not much of Walker's game has been great so far. He just hasn't looked like the Cardiac Kemba from Charlotte. This section will delve into the one thing I've seen Kemba do well (at least semi-well) so far this season.

3 point shooting - Catch and Shoot

As you can see there Walker isn't very hesitant to pull the trigger. In the 1st clip, you can see how the Clippers collapse the paint, with 3 players around the basket, leaving Walker all alone. He's able to punish them, and take advantage of an easy look. In the 2nd clip, the Suns are playing a loose man defense. Tatum takes a step up to the top of the key, but the key part of this play is how Tatum drew Deandre Ayton away from Walker. A big part of Boston's offense is pick-and-roll plays, usually involving Tatum, Walker, or Jaylen Brown getting a screen to essentially free them up to then create a look for themselves. Tatum has thrived off of that freedom after the screen, so Ayton is prepared for Tatum to use the pick from Grant Williams as a route to the cup. Ayton thinks he can cut Tatum off, forcing him into a bad shot, a turnover, or a kickout to reset the offense. But, Tatum recognizes that Walker will be open, so he hits Walker with a quick pass, Walker uses the jab step to create a little bit of extra separation, and drills the 3. If I were Tatum, I'd have taken a couple of extra steps towards a drive to pull Ayton a little further and get Walker more open, but Walker is able to jab step to get Ayton back a little, so he capitalizes anyway. On the 3rd play, Jaylen Brown is the ballhandler, controlling the tempo of the offense, which is a role he has shown success in this season. He gets a screen from Theis and gets Lowry in his hip, making VanVleet come over to help and cut off Brown's lane to the basket, which also leaves Walker wide open. Brown finds him, and Walker nails a quick 3. On all of these plays, Walker has a good look, he fires, and he connects, which is the right direction for him to be going in as he's making his way back. But, keep in mind he has been shooting 30.6% from 3 so far this year, so this part could also be a negative, but these clips show how he can progress in the right direction, and that's what I want to focus on in this section. His shooting, as is anyone's, is hit or miss. Right now, he's missing the majority of his 3's. But, these shots show glimpses of his stroke he showed in Charlotte. I'll dive more into this later, but if he can knock down most of these catch and shoot treys, the offense could run much better with Tatum and Brown at the helm of the ballhandling. More of an off-ball role might work for Walker after his injury, but I'll discuss that further towards the end.

Part 2: Negatives So Far (buckle up, you're in for quite a bit of miserable play)

Walker's return has been, well I'll be frank, pretty awful. Despite some bright spots in the first couple of clips, his stats paint a different picture: 15 PPG, 4.3 APG on 34.2%/30.6%/88.9% shooting. Basically, he isn't scoring very well, and when he is, it isn't efficient whatsoever. His shooting percentages from the field show you how many shots he has taken just to get to an average of 15 points per game. I know the clips show he is shooting well, but that's just to build to a conclusion later on. In reality, he is shooting poorly and just can't break the lid off of the basket. This section will take you through some clips showing a particularly dark spot of Walker's game. I would show clips of him bricking 3's, but not only then would I have 50+ clips of him shooting awfully on my hands, but it would also be the same explanation for every clip. "He missed an open look that he should have hit" isn't how I can keep this analysis interesting, so I'm diving into a glaring weak spot of Walker's game, that can't be fixed by just starting to hit the same looks Walker's been missing. Let's look at Walker's interior offense/decision-making.

Interior Offense/Decision-Making

In this play, Walker drives into the body of two bigger defenders (Siakam and Boucher), with 18 seconds still left on the shot clock. What he should have done was put up a quick pump fake to get Boucher and Siakam to fly past him and open up a lot more space for an easy layup. With the momentum they were at, Boucher and Siakam would have gone flying out of bounds if Walker stopped on a dime. Not only does this shot itself show poor decision making (driving into two larger and longer players with reputations for stout paint defense), but given the time on the shot clock, it shows poor offensive leadership and creation. Using that 18 seconds, Boston could have created a much better opportunity than that. On top of that, it shows a lack of his past instincts and technique. Even as recently as last season, Walker would have halted his momentum once he got to the restricted area, and allowed his two defenders to go by him, making for a free bucket seeing as no other defenders were anywhere close to contesting his shot.

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This play was one abysmal play of many in this game against the Lakers. Walker finished that game with 4 points, 2 of those 4 points coming as free throws, in 28 minutes played. For a player who was an all-star starter last season, that's an embarrassing showing against a team with no particularly lockdown guard defenders. Once again, Walker drives at a long and stout rim protector (this time it's Marc Gasol) with another player pressuring him from behind. Gasol was in a perfect position to block this layup from Walker, but instead, he hangs his arm over Walker after rotating over to help Dennis Schröder, obstructing Walker's angle, forcing Walker to put the ball up off the glass awkwardly and miss the shot. Walker got by Schröder, but once Gasol denied him the look he was going for, Walker should have kicked out to Theis behind him, or Tatum in the corner.

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This is another example of Walker's poor decision-making. He had a decent lane past Harrell, but once James rotated and came to help Harrell out, Walker should have stopped and kicked the ball back out to the perimeter to reset the possession. I understand that decisions like that on the fly are hard to make, but with Walker being the (normally) quick and savvy player he (normally) is, he should have been able to tell that Harrell was close behind him, and that his drive wasn't ending in a basket. And even if Harrell couldn't have blocked or contested the shot, James could have, letting Harrell catch up and the result would be basically the same as how it actually played out.

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In this clip we see Boston trying to close a 6 point gap against Utah. Utah has the best record in the NBA right now, and Boston was down big, but. climbed back within 6 points with 6 and a half minutes left. Boston could have cut that gap in half here, but due to Walker's poor shot choice, spurring a fast break for Utah, shifting the momentum drastically in Utah's favor. But, Walker takes a flailing and messy drive across the lane, with Mitchell draped all over him, and multiple-time DPOY and top rim protector Rudy Gobert in front of the basket. I don't think that drive could have ended in a basket for Boston. Instead of that drive, Boston could have tried to get an open look from deep to cut Utah's lead in half, but I (as a Celtics fan) would have just settled for any kind of open look, not a drive that ends in a messy and easily avoidable turnover. This clip shows so many different elements of what has been wrong with Walker this year. He isn't making good decisions, and every aspect of his game that used to be his strong suits have turned into his weaknesses.

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On this play, Walker decides to drive on 6'11" LaMarcus Aldridge with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. Probably not very smart. He got a solid screen from Theis that left Dejounte Murray behind him, but Aldridge was ready for a contest or a block. Walker fails to realize that Aldridge was in a great position to stuff his layup, and ends up getting heavily contested, is forced to switch shooting hands midair and readjust to his current angle, which makes him hit the ball off of the bottom of the rim. Once again, this boils down to poor game management. There is still so much time on the shot clock, and Walker simply makes the wrong choice. If he can't break out of this funk, I'm worried his facilitating and creation for him and his teammates, might sink Boston.

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Now I know that Walker has never been a good defensive player, but this play shouldn't end in a score. After a screen, Murray is completely freed up for an easy mid-range jumper. But, that wouldn't have been the case if Walker went over the screen. The paint was somewhat occupied by Jaylen Brown to cut off a potential drive from Murray and/or roll from Aldridge, and Tatum could also rotate over to the paint if needed. If Walker were to go over the screen and stay on Murray's hip, he could have heavily contested and changed the jumper, or he could have forced Murray into opting not to pull up. Either way, it's an improvement over an easy two points for San Antonio. Walker has never been an even remotely good defender, serviceable at best, but that isn't such a hard decision to make. His decision-making isn't just costing Boston on offense, but on defense too.

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This possession falls under awful decision-making again. Up by 1 after coming back from a double-digit deficit, Walker had a chance to put Boston up by as many as four as the facilitator of the offense, but he completely loses control of his drive and it results in a turnover. If Walker were to engineer a bucket on this possession, by finding a better look for himself or finding one for someone else, but he drives into two defenders, one being a 6'9" center, and falls down as the ball pops out, leading to a fast break for San Antonio. After another run from San Antonio, Boston ends up losing the game, continuing their streak of losses to teams that they should beat. Walker's job is to initiate the offense, and he fails miserably here, just as he has been all season since his return.

Conclusion: Where Do Walker and the Celtics Go From Here?

Boston has been hovering around .500 more recently this season, dropping a couple of games and then winning another couple, but they can't seem to pull ahead. One main weakness I've seen from Boston is a lack of scoring outside of Tatum and Brown. After combing through all of this film, I thought of something that could potentially alter Boston's trajectory, and provide more scoring from Walker. The one thing he's been able to do somewhat well this season has been shooting the 3. He hasn't done it consistently well, but he has been able to hit a decent amount from behind the arc. If Boston would use Walker as a Ray Allen type of player, positioning him around the 3 point line, he could become a catch and shoot machine, making upwards of four three's a night once he takes the lid off of the basket. That could help take the pressure off of Tatum and Brown, as well as provide another threat for opponents to worry about. Even with Walker playing poorly, Tatum and Brown have been able to make themselves 2 of the top 10 MVP candidates so far this year, around the likes of Damian Lillard, Paul George, and Luka Dončić. Imagine what Boston would be able to do if Walker was a positive factor on offense. Walker has always been a good shooter, so harnessing that while moving the facilitating and ballhandling duties to Tatum and Brown, who have both shown success in those roles this year, could open things up for Walker, and Boston.