Your Official Milestone Preview of the 2015-16 Boston Celtics

Isaiah Thomas only played a quarter-season for Boston last year, but he could put himself in the franchise record books with a full year of work in 2015-16.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Last year, I wrote about how Jeff Green 16.9 points per game in 2013-14 represented the Celtics’ lowest single-season leading scorer since Dee Brown’s 15.5 two decades prior. Well, among Celtics players who played at least 25 games last season, he again led the team in scoring.

However, Isaiah Thomas averaged more than 19 points in just 26 minutes per contest in his 21 games with the Green during the 2014-15 season. To put his one-fourth of a season in a bit of perspective, do you know how many players accomplished that feat, averaged 26.4 points per 36 minutes, in at least 20 games last season?

The answer is three – James Harden (81 games; 26.8 points per 36 minutes), Russell Westbrook (67; 29.5) and Kevin Durant (27; 27.0).

I understand I'm stretching it a bit, but Thomas’ scoring per minute over his 67 games in 2014-15 was still in the top 10 in the league. With his ability to create his own shot and his propensity to get to the free throw line, he could make his mark in Boston’s single-season record books in terms of points, 3-pointers and free throws.

The Expendable All-Stars

Expendable All-Star Luol Deng launches a jump shot. Sylvester Stallone not pictured. (flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin  @jeremy_conlin

Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams around the league seem to be tightening their belts. Even the best, most profitable teams in the league – Miami amnestied Mike Miller, the Lakers amnestied Metta World Peace, Oklahoma City let Kevin Martin walk in free agency, etc. It’s basically everyone but Brooklyn.

Teams are generally more afraid of the luxury tax than they ever have been before. For one, the tax is more punitive starting this upcoming season – what used to be a dollar-for-dollar tax is now a $1.50-per-dollar tax at a minimum, and can escalate to as high as $3.75-per-dollar, depending on how far above the tax a team is. More importantly, perhaps, is the “repeater” tax rate that will go into effect for the 2014-2015 season. If a team has paid the tax in each of the last three seasons, the minimum tax rate jumps from $1.50-per-dollar to $2.50-per-dollar and the maximum tax rate jumps from $3.75-per-dollar to $4.75 per-dollar.

In layman’s terms – a team $20 million over the tax line in 2013 would have paid a $20 million tax. A team $20 million over the tax line in 2014 would pay a tax of $45 million. In 2015, if they had paid the tax in each of the previous three seasons (and thus qualified for the “repeater” tax rate), they would pay a tax of (gulp) $65 million.