[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 Assuming everyone stays healthy, this has to be one of the deepest lineups I can remember in recent memory. While too much depth (particularly on the wing) is never a bad thing it will be interesting to see how Stevens manages mins and playing time with this roster and if some level of discontent arises. 

The 5 best players on the roster are kyrie, Hayward, Brown, Tatum and horford and that figures to be the starting lineup, even though Hayward, brown and Tatum all essentially play the same position. The Celtics could theoretically slide Marcus Morris (who has more traditional pf size) into the starting lineup and bring one of Tatum, Hayward or brown off the bench. Do you consider actually bringing Hayward off the bench?

Aaron Baynes will likely soak up most of the back up C mins and even play alongside horford for stretches. Rozier really broke out in last years playoffs but will undoubtedly see his mins cut back drastically with the return of kyrie. You have to wonder how willing he will be to accept that. And smart is a huge part of the identity of this team and a guy you have to find mins for. Semi ojelye seems poised for a much bigger role this season, but mins could be very hard to come by. And Daniel theis proved to be a valuable rotation guy last year, but could struggle to earn playing time this year.

Eventually something has to give with this roster, and some of these players will move on, but for the time being it will be interesting to see how Stevens manages pretty much historic depth this season. 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

I think that Brad will look to start his 5 best players who DD has listed above but some games may require a change of line up of with Morris or Baynes possibly starting but they could switch to this line up after a few minutes if needs be.

They would unlikely want to chop and change too much but a lot will depend how well Hayward is progressing, he may be eased back into the line up off the bench but I don’t see him being a super 6th man given the money that Boston are paying him.

The great depth means that guys can all watch their minutes to try and keep them fresh for the play offs so a nice problem to have.

[HazelParticipant]

 Today players understand that playing 25-30 mnutes a night is not the end of the world, and smart teams with starts don’t go over 35 mins.  

I would have Hayward and Irving around 25 minutes to start the season and probably say there until it is playoff tunup time.  Call it a recovery season/injury prevention.  Put all the Morris and the two guards about the same, just a little less and let Brown and Tatum get over 30.  Harford is the most indespensible because of lack of real quality overlap like the others.  I’d still keep him around 30, giving Baynes and Theis 18 plus PF mins which would be another 10.  

They are going to win a TON of games and peak at the right time.  Nobody on that team is going to complain.  If they make the finals, gonna be a lot of happy players.  Some might leave to get paid, but nobody will leave because they don’t like that situation.  

 

Personally I am really excited to have what I consider a legit challenger to GS.  Honestly, the only matcup I give adefininte edge to is Durant.  Every other matchup is a toss up.  Hunger, grit, coaching easier path all go to Boston.  

 

 

 

 

[Scrooge McDuckParticipant]

If Stevens brings brown or tatum off the bench that will be a bold move. Let’s hope Hayward recovers better than Paul George did with a similar injury. Pre injury George was an MVP candidate 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 George’s injury was not the same as Hayward’s so you are comparing apples to oranges, but if Hayward manages to recover as well as George did (back to borderline all-nba level within a year of initial injury) I think it will be considered a major success.

[timinator1Participant]

 this actually seems pretty easy the way the OP describes it.

Starters: Irving, Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Horford

Bench: Smart, Morris, Baynes, Rozier, maybe Semi or Theis

Garbage time: Everybody else.

They’ll go 11 deep in the regular season, and cut it to 9 during the plaoffs

 

 

 

 

[BeastMode716Participant]

As strong as I think Phila will be in a few years & even though they improved their bench & we have to expect their young core to be even better I just can’t see them at Boston’s level 

Toronto ould be Boston’s biggest challenge is Kawhi buys in 100% but that’s a big If 

I think Boston’s biggest challenge will be keeping everyone happy w/ their minuts b/c Boston’s Youth & some of their Reserves played Moster roles in last season’s Playoff success –

There is Only one Ball & so many minutes so keeping everyone happy might be Stevens toughest challenge & that will be a challenge but Boston is So deep & Relentless on Defense – I just can’t see Anyone in the East beating the C’s this season

Gotta figure Boston vs Golden State in a Very competitive NBA Finals

  

 

 

 

 

[cohenbc1Participant]

Obviously on a team like this players will earn their minutes, and we shall see.

But honestly, I’m not sure that Hayward is one of the five best players on the team — which is amazing because Hayward is really really good. But Tatum and Brown, if they aren’t better than Hayward already, will be soon. In the playoffs you could practically watch them improving game by game. 

Then Rozier, in my opinion, was the second best player in the whole Eastern Conference playoffs (after LeBron of course). That’s not a huge sample size, but it’s enough. (Insane stat of the playoffs: Rozier’s assist/turnover ratio, facing playoff pressure as lead ballhandler for the first time, was 5.0. That’s unheard of. CP3’s was 3.1. Steph’s was 1.9). Rozier will come off the bench this year, but Lou Williams and Eric Gordon come off the bench too. I think Rozier is better than them.

And Marcus Smart, while probably not as all-around good as the other Celtics’ stars, plays so ferociously on both ends that he puts the other team on its heels. I think his energy is a big part of the total package that is the Celtics. He’s like a poor man’s Westbrook. If he were even a league-average shooter he might be the best player on the team. I think they need to keep giving him his 30 minutes.

Anyway, there are plenty of minutes in a game to spread around. If Kyrie, Horford, Tatum, Brown, Rozier and Smart each get 30, that would leave, say, 24 for Hayward and 18 each for Morris and Baynes. If Hayward demands more minutes than that, give each of the top 7 guys 29 minutes per game. That’s basically what the Spurs did in their last championship year.

  

[HitsterParticipant]

PG13 has made it back to All Star Game and All NBA 3rd team so in my opinion is playing as well as he was pre-injury.

Gordon Hayward had just come off his best Season and made his best All Star game when he had his injury plus his injury was later in his career than PG13’s was. I hope and I think Gordon will get back to near his best but he doesn’t have to be the man for the Celtics and can still be an excellent running mate.

[OllstarParticipant]

The first half of the Celtics season has got to be about showcasing Rozier. He is going to command too much money next offseason so they need to trade him before he walks for nothing.

I’d expect Kyrie to miss a lot of games in the early season with questionable injuries and the games he does play will be low minutes. Rozier will likely play most of the 2nd and 4th quarters only subbing out in the 4th if Kyrie needs to come back in and secure the victory. To accomodate minutes for Rozier in the early season you will likely see Hayward starting off the bench in a 20-25 minute role. I’d expect Baynes to continue starting at C like he did for most of last season. This lets Brown slide up to the 3 in some Kyrie-Rozier or Rozier-Smart lines.

Stevens has talked about resting his key guys more next season so I think it’s possible everyone stays happy knowing that they get to play bigger roles every few games or so. 

Expectation for early part of Celtics season:

Hayward 13.5 ppg 4.5 rpg 2 apg 25 mpg

Kyrie 18 ppg 3rpb 5 apg 28 mpg

Rozier 12 ppg 4 rbg 4 apg 26 mpg (about same stats as last season)

Smart 7 ppg 2 apg 2 rbg 20 mpg (Will lose most minutes at start of season)

 

 

After Rozier gets traded I’d expect Hayward and Kyrie to play higher minutes with Smart likely moving to backup PG exclusively. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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