Your Morning Dump… Stats that mean absolutely nothing have me excited

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Of the 11 play types tracked by Synergy Sports, transition accounted for a team-high 16.8 percent of Boston’s preseason plays. Boston averaged 1.216 points per play (169 points on 139 plays), which ranked second in the NBA (other squads are wrapping up their exhibition slates), and the Celtics shot 58.2 percent overall in transition while turning the ball over just 12.9 percent of the time.

To put those numbers in perspective, only 13.4 percent of Boston’s plays last season came out of transition (still second highest on the team, but well behind spot-up attempts at 20.6 percent). Boston averaged 1.128 points per play in transition a year ago (20th in the NBA), while shooting the exact same 58.2 percent, but turning the ball over 14.5 percent of the time.

Here’s maybe the most encouraging number: Last season, Boston only got to the charity stripe 12.4 percent of transition opportunities. During the preseason, that number jumped up to 18 percent.

ESPN Boston

These numbers aren’t too surprising because of the young legs Danny Ainge signed to run with Rajon Rondo. If you read all of Chris Forsberg’s column, you’ll find that Jeff Green is primarily responsible for the surge in transition buckets. A re-energized Paul Pierce is also enjoying the fast break.

Will this surge in transition points carry over into the regular season? Despite my headline to this post, I actually think it’s highly likely. Jeff Green, Courtney Lee and Avery Bradley remain integral parts of the team. And while they won’t be playing against scrubs, the Celtics second unit will be one of the strongest in the league.

In other news…

We’re also happy to announce that Walter McCarty will be doing a 5-part series for us about life in the NBA, life with the Celtics, and life after basketball. It’s coming soon on Red’s Army.

The rest of the links:

Herald – For this year’s Celtics, Green means go | CSNNE – Sullinger: The kid can play | Sizing up C’s at end of preseason | ESPN Boston – Sullinger hops on dinosaur train | Grantland – The Doc’s still in | Enterprise – Green takes positive steps in comeback trail |