Predicting the Boston Celtics’ top 5 scorers for the 2021-22 NBA season

#3 Dennis Schroder

Boston Celtics Media Day featuring Dennis Schroder

Dennis Schroder is penciled in to come off the bench for the Boston Celtics this season unless Ime Udoka has a dramatic change of plans.

The German has proven his entire career that he is magnificent as the first man off the bench. In the year he placed second to Montrezl Harrell for the Sixth Man of the Year award, Schroder was impressive with 18.9 points a game.

Kemba Walker normed 19 PPG as a starter with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Schroder will have more freedom to make buckets as he runs the offense of the second unit. Even if one of the Js stays on the floor, which is likely to be the case, Schroder will have ample scoring opportunities to hit 19 points a game.

Dennis Schroder has always been a natural scorer, so it's safe to say he can put up points when needed. He also directed the plays in the minutes he played with Marcus Smart.

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#2 Jaylen Brown

Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics muscles his way over LeBron James for a dunk

Jaylen Brown made the All-Star last season partly because his scoring jumped from 20.3 to 24.7 PPG. Although he took more field-goal attempts, his efficiency also went up. His 38.2 3PG% rose to a hair below 40%, while his FG% inched to 48.4% from 48.1%. Despite the increase in FG attempts and usage, he remains an effective scorer. His 58.6 TS% is major evidence of this.

As good as Jaylen Brown has been, there are still elements to his game that can be better. For someone who is consistently a major part of the Boston Celtics' offense, the 4.3 free throw attempts last season were a little bit low.

Brown is listed as 6'6 and 223 lb, but he plays bigger and stronger than that. There are not many shooting guards in the NBA who can stand his physicality.

If he gets to the line more, those freebies are going to raise his scoring output by at least 2 points. Speaking of free throws, he's only a 69.9% shooter from the line and had a career-best of 76.4% last season. Bringing that percentage to 80% will at least allow him to average more than 26 points a game for the Boston Celtics.

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#1 Jayson Tatum

Jayson Tatum leaves Nic Batum behind for a dunk in this bit of basketball action at the Tokyo Olympics

Jayson Tatum is the MVP of this Boston Celtics team. His performance at such a young age borders on the MVP level. Like Marcus Smart and Brown, he has seen his average rise every season he has donned the Celtics jersey.

His 26.4 PPG last year was spectacular, but he has proven that those numbers can get better. His playoff scoring output over the last three years has stood head and shoulders above his regular-season numbers.

Last season, he tied Larry Bird's 60-point Boston Celtics record and dropped a few 50-point bombs at different times last campaign.

Jayson Tatum has bulked up coming into this season. In the Boston Celtics' preseason opener against the Orlando Magic, he dunked over Wendell Carter Jr. with two hands. That would have been close to impossible with Tatum's originally skinny frame. Now that he has more muscle and strength, going to the basket for high-percentage shots will result in more free throws.

JT went to the stripes on average of 5.3 a game last season. The number looks great. However, considering that Harden averages 11.8, KD with 10.2 and the Greek Freak with 10, Tatum's usual attempts pale in comparison. If he pushes it to around 9 FT attempts a game, a little over 30 PPG is a guarantee for the Boston Celtics.