A lower usage more off-ball shooter in Nesmith with both Smart and J-Rich in key bench roles
G: Schroder
G: Jaylen
F: Nesmith
F: Tatum
C: Horford
This would be my choice. I reckon we could have a use for an off-ball specialist alongside Tatum, Brown and Schroder. That said, I expect us to start JRich or Smart over Nesmith.
As things stand right now, we have 16 players under contract. Wouldn't be against declining Jabari's team option. I'd rather we dump one of Dunn/Edwards/Fernando/Grant, but we might have to sacrifice a second rounder in the process.
(assuming we decline Jabari's team option)
PG: Schroder - Pritchard - Dunn - Edwards
SG: Brown - Smart - Romeo
SF: Nesmith - JRich - (Hauser)
PF: Tatum - Grant - (Hauser)
C: Horford, Timelord, Kanter, Fernando
Not an ideal depth chart, but oh well. I bet we'll be going small a lot with Brown providing some cover at the 4. Per cleaningtheglass.com, he played 8% of his minutes at PF last season.
Don't like the fact that we'll be forced to play Smart off the ball once again. I mean, he's an average shooter and a reliable PnR ball hander. Imo, he's at his best when running the point. Having said that, I'd love us to use him at the 4 in small-ball lineups.
The Celtics are well-positioned to make a big move at the trade deadline. We are not hard capped, cause we signed Schroder via the taxpayer MLE. We got plenty of expirings, plus Horford whose contract is partially guaranteed for the 2022/23 season. We got all our future first-round picks intact. We even got a couple of decent prospects in Nesmith and Pritchard (I'm relatively low on Romeo). I'd love us to go after Beal/Siakam/Simmons.