Celtics Depth Chart 2021-2022 season

[C3LTSF4N]

Am I missing something?  I see a lot of talk about Dunn and Fernando still as if they’re part of the rotation. Last I saw the deal isn’t official and is being expanded/changed with a potential fourth team.  It’s been days, so in my eyes it could be a completely different deal soon and Dunn or Fernando could easily be no part of it. Is there more info out on it?

Since it didn't get done by the end of the league year, it now has to wait until the 6th.  I suspect it will be announced pretty quickly after the league year starts, unless they really are expanding it.

Oh ok, gotcha, thanks!

[Surferdad]

Do you guys think this is our final 15-man roster? I mean, if we pick up Jabari's team option, we have 15 players under contract (plus Hauser on a 2-way).

PG: Smart - Pritchard - Dunn
SG: JRich - Romeo - Edwards
SF: Brown - Nesmith - (Hauser)
PF: Tatum - Jabari - Grant
C: Horford - Timelord - Kanter - Fernando

With how flexible the TT deal looks, I'm very curious as to whether Dunn actually ends up here. No idea what will actually happen there, but not expecting fireworks.

I don't see the point in keeping Fernando with the return of Kanter to be frank.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow with the TT deal (will Dunn be on the team), but one thing to note is that the roster is still pretty young.  There may not be any rookies this season (esp if Hauser spends a lot of time in Portland) but there’s much to be sorted out among the young players. Nesmith and Langford will largely be in competition with each other for minutes, plus Romeo is also behind JRich.  Nesmith however will get a real shot.  I hope Fernando makes the squad because I like his size and athleticism.  Grant HAS to show he has a role on this team. 

[Vermont Green]

This is the depth chart as I see it, with players that officially on the roster as of today.  If you want to start Richardson or Nesmith over Parker (as I am sure many will), that is fine, it really doesn't change things all that much.  The sad truth is that right now, Parker is our best PF, if we want to play a PF.

Smart          Pritchard          Dunn
Brown          Richardson      Edwards
Tatum          Nesmith          Langford
Parker         GWilliams         Fernando
Horford       RWilliams         Kanter

The clear weakness of this roster is PF.  Many don't think we need a PF which to me is debatable but at an absolute minimum, I think everyone should agree that it is better to have a good PF on the roster over not having a good PF on the roster.  As it stands now, I think Parker will get 16 min, Grant Williams will get 16 min, and we will play one big for 16 min (roughly, if you look back, this is how it works out).  What playing one big really means is minutes need to go to Richardson or Nesmith or Langford over Parker or GWill.  That is how you have to think of this.  Our PF minutes are going to someone (Tatum gets his minutes in any case) so if it is not Parker or GWilliams, it is probably Richardson or Nesmith on the court.

Things could still change.  We may sign Schroder, we may trade Smart, we may flip Dunn, but this is how things stand right now.  This is a good young team.  I am not discouraged.  But we have some holes.

[slamtheking]

This is the depth chart as I see it, with players that officially on the roster as of today.  If you want to start Richardson or Nesmith over Parker (as I am sure many will), that is fine, it really doesn't change things all that much.  The sad truth is that right now, Parker is our best PF, if we want to play a PF.

Smart          Pritchard          Dunn
Brown          Richardson      Edwards
Tatum          Nesmith          Langford
Parker         GWilliams         Fernando
Horford       RWilliams         Kanter

The clear weakness of this roster is PF.  Many don't think we need a PF which to me is debatable but at an absolute minimum, I think everyone should agree that it is better to have a good PF on the roster over not having a good PF on the roster.  As it stands now, I think Parker will get 16 min, Grant Williams will get 16 min, and we will play one big for 16 min (roughly, if you look back, this is how it works out).  What playing one big really means is minutes need to go to Richardson or Nesmith or Langford over Parker or GWill.  That is how you have to think of this.  Our PF minutes are going to someone (Tatum gets his minutes in any case) so if it is not Parker or GWilliams, it is probably Richardson or Nesmith on the court.

Things could still change.  We may sign Schroder, we may trade Smart, we may flip Dunn, but this is how things stand right now.  This is a good young team.  I am not discouraged.  But we have some holes.

Barring a miracle comeback by Parker, I see him as a deep bench guy.  5th starter will be one of Richardson, Nesmith or Romeo.  If one or both of Nesmith/Romeo (hopefully both) show great improvement during the summer and camp, they'll be starting so that Richardson can bring scoring off the bench.  if not, Richardson will start. 

[Goldstar88]

This is the depth chart as I see it, with players that officially on the roster as of today.  If you want to start Richardson or Nesmith over Parker (as I am sure many will), that is fine, it really doesn't change things all that much.  The sad truth is that right now, Parker is our best PF, if we want to play a PF.

Smart          Pritchard          Dunn
Brown          Richardson      Edwards
Tatum          Nesmith          Langford
Parker         GWilliams         Fernando
Horford       RWilliams         Kanter

The clear weakness of this roster is PF.  Many don't think we need a PF which to me is debatable but at an absolute minimum, I think everyone should agree that it is better to have a good PF on the roster over not having a good PF on the roster.  As it stands now, I think Parker will get 16 min, Grant Williams will get 16 min, and we will play one big for 16 min (roughly, if you look back, this is how it works out).  What playing one big really means is minutes need to go to Richardson or Nesmith or Langford over Parker or GWill.  That is how you have to think of this.  Our PF minutes are going to someone (Tatum gets his minutes in any case) so if it is not Parker or GWilliams, it is probably Richardson or Nesmith on the court.

Things could still change.  We may sign Schroder, we may trade Smart, we may flip Dunn, but this is how things stand right now.  This is a good young team.  I am not discouraged.  But we have some holes.

O% chance that Parker is the starting PF. He’s borderline for making the team and had numerous DNP’s last season. If Brad and Ime wanted a traditional PF instead of a modern one, they would have addressed that in the off-season. I know you’re not a fan of it, But Tatum is the starting PF on this team. This is the position that he played the majority of games last year as well.

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/depth/_/name/bos

[Surferdad]

This is the depth chart as I see it, with players that officially on the roster as of today.  If you want to start Richardson or Nesmith over Parker (as I am sure many will), that is fine, it really doesn't change things all that much.  The sad truth is that right now, Parker is our best PF, if we want to play a PF.

Smart          Pritchard          Dunn
Brown          Richardson      Edwards
Tatum          Nesmith          Langford
Parker         GWilliams         Fernando
Horford       RWilliams         Kanter

The clear weakness of this roster is PF.  Many don't think we need a PF which to me is debatable but at an absolute minimum, I think everyone should agree that it is better to have a good PF on the roster over not having a good PF on the roster.  As it stands now, I think Parker will get 16 min, Grant Williams will get 16 min, and we will play one big for 16 min (roughly, if you look back, this is how it works out).  What playing one big really means is minutes need to go to Richardson or Nesmith or Langford over Parker or GWill.  That is how you have to think of this.  Our PF minutes are going to someone (Tatum gets his minutes in any case) so if it is not Parker or GWilliams, it is probably Richardson or Nesmith on the court.

Things could still change.  We may sign Schroder, we may trade Smart, we may flip Dunn, but this is how things stand right now.  This is a good young team.  I am not discouraged.  But we have some holes.

Barring a miracle comeback by Parker, I see him as a deep bench guy.  5th starter will be one of Richardson, Nesmith or Romeo.  If one or both of Nesmith/Romeo (hopefully both) show great improvement during the summer and camp, they'll be starting so that Richardson can bring scoring off the bench.  if not, Richardson will start.

O% chance that Parker is the starting PF. He’s borderline making the team and had numerous DNP’s last season. If Brad and Ime wanted a traditional PF instead of a modern one, they would have addressed that in the off-season. I know you’re not a fan of it, But Tatum is the starting PF on this team. This is the position that he played the majority of games last year as well.

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/depth/_/name/bos

Agree with both, it has to be Richardson instead of Parker.  He is a recent starter in this league and Tatum still plays a lot of minutes at PF.  That said, I like Parker as the 1st big off the bench and sliding Tatum over to SF in the rotation.

[footey]

This is the depth chart as I see it, with players that officially on the roster as of today.  If you want to start Richardson or Nesmith over Parker (as I am sure many will), that is fine, it really doesn't change things all that much.  The sad truth is that right now, Parker is our best PF, if we want to play a PF.

Smart          Pritchard          Dunn
Brown          Richardson      Edwards
Tatum          Nesmith          Langford
Parker         GWilliams         Fernando
Horford       RWilliams         Kanter

The clear weakness of this roster is PF.  Many don't think we need a PF which to me is debatable but at an absolute minimum, I think everyone should agree that it is better to have a good PF on the roster over not having a good PF on the roster.  As it stands now, I think Parker will get 16 min, Grant Williams will get 16 min, and we will play one big for 16 min (roughly, if you look back, this is how it works out).  What playing one big really means is minutes need to go to Richardson or Nesmith or Langford over Parker or GWill.  That is how you have to think of this.  Our PF minutes are going to someone (Tatum gets his minutes in any case) so if it is not Parker or GWilliams, it is probably Richardson or Nesmith on the court.

Things could still change.  We may sign Schroder, we may trade Smart, we may flip Dunn, but this is how things stand right now.  This is a good young team.  I am not discouraged.  But we have some holes.

I disagree with your relegation to Langford to a third string player. I think he will be one of the first 2 or 3 guys coming off the bench. It's like you have written him off here. Dude was starting for us in playoffs.

[nebist]

I would view current rotation as follows:

Starters: Consistent 24-35 minutes
1 - Smart
2 - Richardson
3 - Brown
4 - Tatum
5 - Horford/Timelord

Rotation Bench: Consistent 15-24 minutes
1 - Pritchard
2 - Nesmith
3 - Langford
4 -
5 - Timelord/Horford

Fringe Rotation: Inconsistent minutes but will average 10-15 on year (injuries, rest)
1 - Dunn
2 -
3 -
4 - Grant
5 - Kanter

Deep Bench: Garbage time
1 -
2 - Carsen
3 -
4 - Jabari
5 - Fernando

[keevsnick]

This is the depth chart as I see it, with players that officially on the roster as of today.  If you want to start Richardson or Nesmith over Parker (as I am sure many will), that is fine, it really doesn't change things all that much.  The sad truth is that right now, Parker is our best PF, if we want to play a PF.

Smart          Pritchard          Dunn
Brown          Richardson      Edwards
Tatum          Nesmith          Langford
Parker         GWilliams         Fernando
Horford       RWilliams         Kanter

The clear weakness of this roster is PF.  Many don't think we need a PF which to me is debatable but at an absolute minimum, I think everyone should agree that it is better to have a good PF on the roster over not having a good PF on the roster.  As it stands now, I think Parker will get 16 min, Grant Williams will get 16 min, and we will play one big for 16 min (roughly, if you look back, this is how it works out).  What playing one big really means is minutes need to go to Richardson or Nesmith or Langford over Parker or GWill.  That is how you have to think of this.  Our PF minutes are going to someone (Tatum gets his minutes in any case) so if it is not Parker or GWilliams, it is probably Richardson or Nesmith on the court.

Things could still change.  We may sign Schroder, we may trade Smart, we may flip Dunn, but this is how things stand right now.  This is a good young team.  I am not discouraged.  But we have some holes.

Ya the only problem with Parker is he's bad defensively and doesn't space the floor. So besides those two "minor" issues he a perfect stretch 4.

I think its pretty clear this team has three main weaknesses:

1) Backup 3/4 type who can at least take tough defensive matchups during the regular season to alleviate pressure on Brown and Tatum. Ideally one who can shoot.

2) Shooting in general, especially in the back court. Smart, Richardson, Dunn, Langford all project to get minutes and not cracked 34% from 3 last year.

3) A third shot creator. Does everyone remember how last year we were all sitting here wondering who would score when either Tatum or Brown had an off night? Same issue this year. Smart and Richardson are your third and fourth options right now, neither are efficient self creating scorers.

[Jvalin]

I'd probably start Nesmith. I reckon we could have a use for an off-ball specialist alongside the Jays. I mean, the Nets have Joe Harris, the Bucks had PJ Tucker, the Suns have two 3+D (s)wings in Bridges and Crowder, the Jazz have Bojan Bogdanovic, Ingles and Royce O'Neale (all of them are perfectly suited to play off the ball), the Heat already had Duncan Robinson and they added PJ Tucker, the Hawks have Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic. I could go on and on...

Start Nesmith. Bring JRich off the bench as a shot creator/swiss army knife/do-it-all type of player for our second unit.

PG: Smart - Pritchard - Dunn
SG: Brown - Romeo - Edwards
SF: Nesmith - JRich - (Hauser)
PF: Tatum - Jabari - Grant
C: Horford - Timelord - Kanter - Bruno

[Vermont Green]

I am going to try and present this another way.  First eliminate the obvious or easy:

Smart and Pritchard will share 48 PG minutes (Probably Smart 32, Pritchard 16)
Horford and RWilliams will share 48 Center minutes (Probably 24/24)

That leaves 144 minutes for the wings, swings, power forwards, whatever you want to call them.  From this 144 minutes, the following is pretty obvious:

Tatum 36, Brown 36, and Richardson 24 minutes.  That is 96 minutes leaving just 48 minutes.  These are the 48 minutes that are in question.  These 48 minutes will be shared by the following (in no particular order)

Parker
GWilliams
Nesmith
Langford

That is on average 12 each.  I suspect it will vary from game to game.  Whether Richardson starts, Parker, Nesmith, doesn't matter, the minutes are going to work out the same.  Richardson will play starter minutes (24 or more), Parker likely won't.  I actually think match ups will force Parker and GWilliams to play more like 16 min per game, leaving less for Nesmith and Langford.  There will be injuries also that will vary the distribution.

But as far as positional depth, it is how I presented it in my earlier post.  Jabari Parker is a PF.  Jason Tatum is a SF.  Nesmith is a SF, Langford a SG.  As sad as this is, Jabari Parker is the best player on the Celtics that plays the position of PF.  Richardson by position is the second best SG behind Brown.  So on a depth chart that is sorted by position, he goes in as the second SG.  The coach can decide to play both Brown and Richardson at the same time but that does not change what their natural position is.  You are just choosing to play with two SGs.

The bottom line is that Parker and GWilliams, two PFs, will play likely 24-32 minutes combined and they are not very good.  If we had a better PF to play those minutes, the team would be better off for it.

[MaxAMillion]

The team had one of the worst benches in the NBA last year. They will struggle to score this year just like last season.  All to avoid paying taxes. Funny how fans have no problem going after Tatum for running iso, but they sit quiet when ownership won’t spend money. He and Brown should leave in a couple of years and go where they don’t make excuses for not signing free agents.

[nebist]

I'd probably start Nesmith. I reckon we could have a use for an off-ball specialist alongside the Jays. I mean, the Nets have Joe Harris, the Bucks had PJ Tucker, the Suns have two 3+D (s)wings in Bridges and Crowder, the Jazz have Bojan Bogdanovic, Ingles and Royce O'Neale (all of them are perfectly suited to play off the ball), the Heat already had Duncan Robinson and they added PJ Tucker, the Hawks have Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic. I could go on and on...

Start Nesmith. Bring JRich off the bench as a shot creator/swiss army knife/do-it-all type of player for our second unit.

PG: Smart - Pritchard - Dunn
SG: Brown - Romeo - Edwards
SF: Nesmith - JRich - (Hauser)
PF: Tatum - Jabari - Grant
C: Horford - Timelord - Kanter - Bruno

Starting Nesmith and using Richardson as a 6th man makes a lot of sense. It would help provide more shooting around the Jays and give a stronger vet presence on the bench. However, that decision will be an interesting flex point for Udoka. Richardson is obviously the more established player and is in a contract year. Starting usually matters to NBA guys as a status thing. I'll be interested to see how Udoka approaches that starting 5 decision as it will be a first indicator of how willing he is to define roles with vets.

Another way to get some veteran presence on the bench unit would be starting Timelord and bringing Horford off the bench.

However, if you start Timelord, Smart, and Richardson around the Jays, the shooting/spacing is probably unacceptable. So that begs the question: would Udoka consider a younger starting lineup of Smart-Nesmith-Brown-Tatum-Timelord with Pritchard-Richardson-Langford-Horford as primary bench unit (with one of Tatum/Brown often anchoring the second unit)?

Honestly, those lineups might be my favorite skill-set combos. Nesmith's role as a spot up shooter is simplified with the starters. Timelord would provide pressure on the rim with rolling and verticality.

Meanwhile, Richardson and Horford would add vet stability to 2nd unit. Horford would play against backup Cs a bit more to save his legs. Horford and Pritchard provide two shooters that can play off ball more, allowing Richardson and Langford to play on ball more.

[Goldstar88]

I am going to try and present this another way.  First eliminate the obvious or easy:

Smart and Pritchard will share 48 PG minutes (Probably Smart 32, Pritchard 16)
Horford and RWilliams will share 48 Center minutes (Probably 24/24)

That leaves 144 minutes for the wings, swings, power forwards, whatever you want to call them.  From this 144 minutes, the following is pretty obvious:

Tatum 36, Brown 36, and Richardson 24 minutes.  That is 96 minutes leaving just 48 minutes.  These are the 48 minutes that are in question.  These 48 minutes will be shared by the following (in no particular order)

Parker
GWilliams
Nesmith
Langford

That is on average 12 each.  I suspect it will vary from game to game.  Whether Richardson starts, Parker, Nesmith, doesn't matter, the minutes are going to work out the same.  Richardson will play starter minutes (24 or more), Parker likely won't.  I actually think match ups will force Parker and GWilliams to play more like 16 min per game, leaving less for Nesmith and Langford.  There will be injuries also that will vary the distribution.

But as far as positional depth, it is how I presented it in my earlier post.  Jabari Parker is a PF.  Jason Tatum is a SF.  Nesmith is a SF, Langford a SG.  As sad as this is, Jabari Parker is the best player on the Celtics that plays the position of PF.  Richardson by position is the second best SG behind Brown.  So on a depth chart that is sorted by position, he goes in as the second SG.  The coach can decide to play both Brown and Richardson at the same time but that does not change what their natural position is.  You are just choosing to play with two SGs.

The bottom line is that Parker and GWilliams, two PFs, will play likely 24-32 minutes combined and they are not very good.  If we had a better PF to play those minutes, the team would be better off for it.

Horford should eat into some of those minutes as well. Matching up with the few traditional PF’s left.

[celticsclay]

Wouldn’t be surprised if kanter and Williams had some minutes together also.