Time to talk about the bench guys!

[perks-a-beast]

Horford - 37
Porzingiz - never healthy
Backup bigs - Kornet, Queta

Need to address this issue and get a big. Gonna be slim pickings, though

Some names...

Blake Griffin (FA)
Nerlens Noel (FA)
Nick Richards (CHA)
Isaiah Jackson (IND)
Onyeka Okongwu (ATL)
Xavier Tillman (MEM)

Not a pretty list.

[ozgod]

We're kind of in a poopy situation because we're already right up against the 2nd apron. We shipped out 2 players to accommodate Holiday's $36.9m salary, he's now our highest paid player (not for long).Maybe he takes a haircut next season so we can keep him for longer, because otherwise I'm not sure how we can keep everyone we have now with Brown's supermax kicking in.

I decided to graph out our salary cap to see how little flexibility we have. This is with one roster spot open.



My feeling is that they will send out an SOS to Blake with the promise of more PT with Timelord gone. We really can't afford anyone else unless it's bottom of the barrel or chasing a championship type vet min guys. We're like $1.3m below the 2nd apron, and that's only when Blake and Kabengele's cap holds come off our books. Right now we're actually over.

It's just the reality of maintaining a superteam...when your top 4 players take up the entire salary cap, you just can't build the type of depth that makes people feel less anxious about injuries. On the flip side, Brad is spending salaries on people he is expecting to play, and not on insurance players sitting on the bench in case someone gets injured.

[celticinorlando]

Wonder if Boston makes a run at Reggie Bullock to stabilize the bench. Then add another big.

[theswitch]

The bench to me comes down to whether it’s a good idea to play one big with Tatum at power forward for most of the game. If the answer is yes, then we are fine:

PF: Tatum (36), Brissett (12), Stevens insurance
C: Porzingis (28), Al (20)

We could use another line of insurance, but that’s okay. If we were committed to two bigs as I thought we were, then it’s ugly:

PF: Horford (25), Brissett (23)
C: Porzingis (30),

My expectation is somewhere in the middle.

PF: Tatum (18), Al (10), Brissett (20)
C: Porzingis (30), Al (10), (

So you’re probably 8 minutes short somewhere. So you’re basically locked into playing Tatum more at the 4. That’s okay except against Milwaukee really. But it’s okay. Elsewhere, there are 144 minutes to distribute. Jrue, White, Brown are 100-105 of them. Pritchard and Hauser get 15-20. That leaves scraps for Walsh and Svi.

I don’t have an issue with that. You’re never going to play Pritchard Svi Hauser Brissett Al on the court together. You will or should always have two of your four scorers on the court. Always always at least one. So you can survive a few minutes with that lineup.

Anyways, I come back to whether you’re more comfortable with Tatum at the 4 because that dictates if you have enough of a bench to survive. And then if yes you can debate if Hauser, Pritchard, Brissett are good enough to give you 15 a game.

[Who]

Wonder if Boston makes a run at Reggie Bullock to stabilize the bench. Then add another big.

More proven than any of our bench wings.

[theswitch]

I would sprint to sign Bullock. I also don’t know why JaMychal Green is available but I’d run even faster to sign him. There’s still a few rotation playable guys out there. If you’re all in, get guys who have the experience. The minutes are there to entice them.

[Who]

I wonder if Pritchard plays or not.

This team feels like it could be better off going big in the backcourt with D White or Jrue on the floor at PG all the time. Then pairing them with bigger wing players in order to maintain defensive integrity. Particularly with our lack of big man size. Only two legit bigs so getting more size on the wing defensively and to help rebound the ball.

[theswitch]

I wonder if Pritchard plays or not.

This team feels like it could be better off going big in the backcourt with D White or Jrue on the floor at PG all the time. Then pairing them with bigger wing players in order to maintain defensive integrity. Particularly with our lack of big man size. Only two legit bigs so getting more size on the wing defensively and to help rebound the ball.

That’s my preference but you’re a big short to pull it off. Green is probably one of the only guys out there that can let you do that.

Or you can trade Pritchard but I’m not sure there’s a market for that.

[DarrenTillis]

Horford - 37
Porzingiz - never healthy
Backup bigs - Kornet, Queta

Need to address this issue and get a big. Gonna be slim pickings, though

Some names...

Blake Griffin (FA)
Nerlens Noel (FA)
Nick Richards (CHA)
Isaiah Jackson (IND)
Onyeka Okongwu (ATL)
Xavier Tillman (MEM)

Not a pretty list.

This name is VERY pretty. What makes you think he is even available?

[theswitch]

Wenyen Gabriel in. Not my first choice but an NBA rotation player who has given 15 minutes a game to a contender before. Immediately helps.

[celticinorlando]

Didn't realize Gabriel played 15 minutes a game for the lakers.

[Goldstar88]

We are a 6 man team.

Denver was a 6 man team last year. They made it work. They had borderline rotation players like Jeff Green and C Braun to fill out final rotation spots. We have Hauser & Pritchard.

Teams like this usually do not win. Denver bucked the trend last year. Hopefully this group can do the team.

Murray, KCP, MPJ, Gordon, Jokic, Brown, Braun, Green.

They had 8 guys averaging 13 minutes or more per game. They did not go through the postseason 6 players deep.

[green_bballers13]

I am surprised so many are happy or comfortable with our wings.

We got a lot of them but not much quality there.

They only guy I am remotely comfortable with is Sam Hauser and he was benched for almost the entire playoffs last year.

I like Walsh and Brissett more than Hauser. DWhite and Holiday are long. Combined with Jaylen, that gives them about 6 guys that can guard someone 6'7 or shorter. Could we use a 7th? Sure.

The bigs are the weakness. I think we can get one more serviceable big behind Porzingis (like Noel, Biyombo, etc) and ahead of Kornet. I like Horford coming off the bench with managed minutes.

This is the best team they've had since KG was on the team.

[Who]

We are a 6 man team.

Denver was a 6 man team last year. They made it work. They had borderline rotation players like Jeff Green and C Braun to fill out final rotation spots. We have Hauser & Pritchard.

Teams like this usually do not win. Denver bucked the trend last year. Hopefully this group can do the team.

Murray, KCP, MPJ, Gordon, Jokic, Brown, Braun, Green.

They had 8 guys averaging 13 minutes or more per game. They did not go through the postseason 6 players deep.

6 good players
2 liabilities

[celticinorlando]

Even after adding Jrue Holiday, the Celtics can still trade two future firsts and three swaps. They also have eight second round picks.

So if Boston needs to improve its depth before the trade deadline, Brad Stevens has the assets to make more moves.