Meet The Newest Boston Celtic: PJ Dozier

Now you may be asking yourself, who the hell is PJ Dozier. I won’t sit here and tell you I knew who he was or what the Celtics were in fact getting with this two way deal, so I did what any respectable blogger would do and spent 20 minutes googling the shit out of him as a way to definitively form an opinion on the move. Here’s what I learned:

– He’s a 6’6 wing from South Carolina that averaged 13.9/4.8/2.8/1.6 on 40/29% splits in his sophomore season.

– Dozier went undrafted in 2017 and has played a total of 2 games in the NBA

– On October 16th 2017 he signed a two way contract with the Thunder and played 43 games in the G-League where he averaged 12.9/5.6/2.7/1.3 on 46/34% splits

Now look, there’s one thing that really gets Ainge’s blood flowing, and that’s versatile athletic win players. If you’re 6’6 or taller and can guard multiple positions, Ainge wants you. Just think of both of the guys who have gotten two ways from Ainge this summer. Walter Lemon Jr is a big guard at 6’3 who you can play at multiple spots, and now Dozier who fits that same mold. Dozier showed last year that he could be an efficient offensive player, and I like that he made 1.3 3PM a night, but there are also concerns. For example, for a guy who played around 29 minutes a night in the G-League and had a usage rate of around 20%, he seemed to be a little too turnover prone with a TOV% of 15.2%. It also should be stated he had a negative net rating (104 Ortg / 107 Drtg) which could be a problem since we all know Brad demands any player that hits the floor is able to somewhat play defense.

But there are also encouraging signs to consider as well. Dozier’s TS% was a respectable 54% despite having a 3PA rate of nearly 34%. Some may say who cares we’re talking about a two way guy that won’t ever play, and that seems silly to me considering what we just saw from Jabari Bird. You never know where assets are going to come from, and Dozier will have every opportunity in Maine to showcase himself, and who knows there could be a bunch of blowouts in the Celtics future where maybe he gets some actual NBA run as well.

I’ll have you know that this summer in Vegas he was 3rd on the team in scoring at 11 points a night on 52% shooting, so I’m ready to declare you can add him to the list as another great Ainge find. Now if you’re like me and are more of a visual learner, well here ya go

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I will say it’s interesting that Ainge didn’t go with any bigs for either of these two way spots, but by now we should all have learned to just trust Danny Ainge because next thing you know he’ll flip Dozier for like a 1st round pick like a goddamn boss.

P.S.

Saw this tweet and I’ll admit, A+ take