Бостон Сэлтикс багийн шинэ улирлын бүрэн бүрэлдэхүүн дэх гарааны тавт болон сэлгээний тоглогчдын цаг хуваарилалт, байрлалын өөрчлөлтийн талаарх шинжилгээг хүргэж байна.
Дэрик Уайт тоглолт бүрт 34 минут талбайд гарч гарааны холбогчоор тоглох ба Пэйтон Притчард сэлгээнээс 33 минут тоглох юм. Харин туршлагатай холбогч Майк Конли энэхүү таамагласан ротацид багтаагүй бөгөөд залуу тоглогчдод боломж олгох нөхцөл бүрдэж байна. Жэйсон Тэйтум 36 минут, Пол Жорж 30 минут, Уго Гонзалес 20 минут талбайд гарч жигүүрийн байрлалын гарааны тавтыг бүрдүүлж байна.
Төвийн байрлалд Митчелл Робинсон 20 минут тоглож гараанд гарах магадлалтай бол Нэемиаш Күета сэлгээнээс 22 минут талбайд гарна. Энэхүү бүрэлдэхүүн нь Бостон Сэлтикс багийн самбараас бөмбөг авалт болон гурван онооны шидэлт гэсэн үндсэн давуу талуудыг улам өргөжүүлэх боломжтой юм. Улирлын туршид Жоо Маззулла багийн ротацийг олон янзаар өөрчлөх төлөвтэй байна.
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Every once in a while, I pretend to be Joe Mazzulla.
Though I could never provide as much press conference entertainment as he does and wouldn’t look quite as powerful during a shirtless MMA workout, I aim to predict the typical Boston Celtics rotation.
Of course, Mazzulla will change his rotation plenty. The Celtics used 23 different starting lineups last season and will likely shake things up a number of times again next season. In this exercise, I am simply choosing a starting lineup and bench that I believe will make the most sense when the team is fully healthy.
Though others might use the five classic positions, I think that with this roster, it makes more sense for the Celtics to use just three: point guards, wings and centers. I have set my rotation accordingly.
Here is the breakdown of my rotation at each position.
Point guards
Starter: Derrick White (34 minutes)
Bench: Payton Pritchard (33 minutes)
DNP: Mike Conley
The Celtics could start Pritchard next to White, but I believe bringing Pritchard off the bench would make the most sense. Last season, his stats across the board barely changed after Boston pushed him back into the sixth man role. Coming off the bench, he still plays plenty of minutes and receives plenty of ballhandling opportunities. Even if he is in the second unit, the Celtics should lean on him more than ever.
So why not just start Pritchard? Roster construction. If the Celtics start Pritchard, they would likely need to use Conley as their primary ballhandler off the bench. Though Conley, who will be 39 years old when the season starts, can still make an impact on the court, I suspect they will be better off giving regular minutes to one of their many deserving young wings.
In this scenario, the Celtics leave Conley on the bench. If they use him more as an emergency guard for when they are shorthanded or just want to shake things up, it would leave more opportunities for Baylor Scheierman, Sam Hauser, Hugo González, Ron Harper Jr. and Jordan Walsh.
How the Celtics landed Mitchell Robinson
Jay King and Jeshua Kidd
Wings
Starters: Jayson Tatum (36 minutes), Paul George (30 minutes), Hugo González (20 minutes)
Bench: Baylor Scheierman (20 minutes), Sam Hauser (19 minutes)
DNP: Jordan Walsh, Ron Harper Jr., Dillon Mitchell
Will this be the season the Celtics finally limit Tatum’s playing time for his own good? Based on history, probably not. He averaged nearly 33 minutes per game during the regular season, despite coming off Achilles surgery. He played 40 minutes in a game one month and three days after returning from the Achilles injury, then surpassed that mark twice during the first round of the playoffs before tweaking his leg and missing a Game 7 loss. If the Celtics think it’s wise to load up Tatum with that many minutes shortly after his return, they aren’t likely to reverse course now that he is further removed from the injury.
Behind him, the Celtics are rich with wing depth. When healthy, George will play a lot for them, but he only averaged 30 minutes per game last season. We will keep him there for the purpose of this exercise. He is likely a no-brainer starter when healthy.
If Pritchard does come off the bench, the Celtics will have competition for the other perimeter starting spot. Hauser handled that role during six of the seven playoff games and could certainly win the job again. However, González earned the nod in this scenario because he best fills the needs of the Celtics’ starting lineup.
Over the last couple of seasons, Mazzulla has placed a major emphasis on wings crashing the offensive glass, but Tatum and George historically haven’t done much of that. González, who nearly doubled Hauser’s offensive rebound rate (6.4 percent to 3.3) last season, would make sure that the Celtics still get some offensive rebounding from their starting wings. Also a more disruptive defender than Hauser, González would make life less comfortable for opposing top options. With George and Mitchell Robinson on board, the Celtics, who have rarely forced turnovers throughout the Mazzulla era, should be able to turn up the heat defensively more than they have in recent seasons. González would be a big piece to that approach.
In addition to Hauser, Scheierman and Walsh also spent significant stints in the starting lineup last season. They could factor into the competition again, and the organization has plenty of faith in Harper. Still, González winning the job might make the most sense for both the present and the future. Brad Stevens has already made it clear how important he expects González to be for the franchise long-term. It would be a great sign for the organization if he seizes a starting job at age 20.
It would help the Celtics if one or two of their young wings create separation in the competition for minutes, but, based on last season, it will be a tight race. Mazzulla will have plenty of wing options either way. This is a deep roster with hardly anybody who has no chance to earn minutes. Scheierman and Hauser landed a spot in my rotation because their shooting helps, but Mazzulla gave everyone chances last season and will likely do so again. And when George inevitably misses time, his absence will free up more minutes for the deserving players on the Boston bench.
Neemias Queta could give it a go in the starting lineup if new Celtics big Mitchell Robinson can’t. (Benny Sieu / Imagn Images)
Centers
Starter: Mitchell Robinson (20 minutes)
Bench: Neemias Queta (22 minutes), Luka Garza (six minutes)
Queta capitalized on his first consistent chance to start last season, but it might make more sense to open with Robinson. If the Celtics play Robinson early in quarters, it will stop opponents from using the Hack-a-Mitch strategy that Mazzulla often employed against the Knicks. Teams won’t be able to intentionally send Robinson to the line if the Celtics aren’t in the bonus already.
One big question going into the season is how much playing time Robinson can handle. Even when Karl-Anthony Towns missed time last season, the Knicks typically shied away from giving Robinson a big boost in minutes, possibly because of his lengthy injury history. He averaged 20.1 minutes per game in his starts, only a tick more than he played when backing up Towns. If Robinson can shoulder a bigger burden, the Celtics could simply split the 48 minutes per game at the center position evenly between him and Queta.
In this scenario, though, Garza receives six minutes, leaving Robinson with about the same playing time as he averaged last season and Queta with 22 minutes off the bench. Because Robinson’s free-throw shooting is a significant problem, I expect Queta to finish most halves even if he doesn’t start. Though Queta played 25 minutes per game last season, I believe the Celtics want to do a little better job limiting the load on him moving forward. Their much-improved center depth should allow them to do that. Behind Garza, the Celtics have a couple of prospects in Chris Cenac Jr. and Amari Williams. Barring injuries, don’t expect them to receive much playing time in Boston, but their development could be key long-term.
Three takeaways
One: Compared to this time last year, it’s night and day how the Celtics should feel about their frontcourt. One year ago, they had no evidence that either Queta or Garza could handle a steady role. Now, they know with certainty that Queta and Garza can hold their own, at least during the regular season. They have also added Robinson, whose defense should help as much as his game-altering offensive rebounding. Those three big men are all 28 or younger. The Celtics also have a couple of younger prospects in Cenac and Williams who could factor into the rotation one day.
Two: Some good wings will be left out of the Celtics’ rotation whenever the team is fully healthy. In this scenario, I didn’t even play Walsh, who started 25 games last season and appeared in all seven playoff games. If he improves his offense as much as he hopes to improve it this summer, he could be a breakout candidate. He and Harper should get chances next season, though they didn’t make my personal rotation.
Three: Obviously, the Jaylen Brown trade has dominated Celtics discussion this summer. Still, the team quietly improved its roster in some key spots. Robinson is a proven playoff performer and a major frontcourt upgrade. Though I didn’t include Conley in my rotation, the Celtics needed a third point guard behind White and Pritchard. Conley’s effectiveness has diminished over the years, but he’s an extremely steady ballhandler who should run the Boston offense competently whenever he plays. Despite trading Brown, the Celtics were able to amplify some of their biggest strengths this offseason, including offensive rebounding and 3-point shooting.
