We need to be deeper this year.

[liam]

You see this coming all last year and into the playoffs. The NBA season is always more of a marathon ( except for covid year...)than a sprint. I really like to see more guys play this year and would like to be 10 deep come playoff time.  Especially in the early playoff rounds!



"Smart's answer: a lack of depth that placed too much of a burden on the starters to carry the team down the stretch and into the postseason."


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/marcus-smart-identifies-celtics-biggest-131500435.html

[Goldstar88]

Need to be healthy this year. Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, Timelord with Brogdon, Grant, White, Pritchard off the bench is enough depth for the postseason. Ime needs to do a better job managing minutes. Can’t run Al into the ground again.

[Roy H.]

Yep, except the guys Brad has brought in are mostly unplayable.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Yep, except the guys Brad has brought in are mostly unplayable.

I get a chuckle out of all the talk about training camp "battles" between several guys who are, at best, fringe NBA players.

[sgrogan]

Need to be healthy this year. Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, Timelord with Brogdon, Grant, White, Pritchard off the bench is enough depth for the postseason. Ime needs to do a better job managing minutes. Can’t run Al into the ground again.

I don't think Ime is inclined to play a ten man rotation.
I think days off are more likely.
Would you rather have Al play short minutes 2 out of 4 days, or give him 3 days rest?

I think we need to limit games played, not mpg.

But to Roy's point this is even more important we have a deeper bench.
Vonleh (for example) isn't going to play 6 mpg. He is going to play 16 minutes one night, 2 minutes the next, and zero in the next.
Beyond GWIII and Brogdon, who have significant injury history, we have Brown and Smart (they get hurt playing hard) and AL (He's 36 years old)

[Vermont Green]

I don't understand this.  In the playoffs and down the stretch, we played the starters plus Grant, White, and Pritchard primarily.  Theis played in 16 of 24 games in the playoffs but much less when RWill played.  I agree that this rotation is a little thin especially in terms of wing and big depth.

We lost Theis but added Brogdon and Gallinari to this.  I contend that Theis was only at best on the fringe of the core rotation (barely playable).  I expected Brogdon and Gallinari to be solid rotation players and they would have made us much deeper.  Certainly very playable.  We traded several unplayable players.  Gallinari got hurt so things have changed but the Celtics absolutely addressed exactly the issue being discussed here.  Even with the injury to Gallinari, Brogdon will make us deeper.

I felt that Gallinari was a solid solution of big depth.  Now that is a problem again.  Brogdon may turn out to be versatile enough that he is our answer for wing depth as well as combo guard depth, we'll see.  The Gallinari loss to me is a tough one.  We would have been comfortably deeper at PF/C but now we aren't.

As to minutes management, I have concerns with Horford, RWill, and Brogdon.  That is a fair amount of concern.  Gallinari would have help a lot.  I think Vonleh will give us something, maybe in the range of what we got out of Theis.

[cons]

Deeper??

2 words : Jake. Layman.

[sgrogan]

I don't understand this.  In the playoffs and down the stretch, we played the starters plus Grant, White, and Pritchard primarily.  Theis played in 16 of 24 games in the playoffs but much less when RWill played.  I agree that this rotation is a little thin especially in terms of wing and big depth.

We lost Theis but added Brogdon and Gallinari to this.  I contend that Theis was only at best on the fringe of the core rotation (barely playable).  I expected Brogdon and Gallinari to be solid rotation players and they would have made us much deeper.  Certainly very playable.  We traded several unplayable players.  Gallinari got hurt so things have changed but the Celtics absolutely addressed exactly the issue being discussed here.  Even with the injury to Gallinari, Brogdon will make us deeper.

I felt that Gallinari was a solid solution of big depth.  Now that is a problem again.  Brogdon may turn out to be versatile enough that he is our answer for wing depth as well as combo guard depth, we'll see.  The Gallinari loss to me is a tough one.  We would have been comfortably deeper at PF/C but now we aren't.

As to minutes management, I have concerns with Horford, RWill, and Brogdon.  That is a fair amount of concern.  Gallinari would have help a lot.  I think Vonleh will give us something, maybe in the range of what we got out of Theis.

I think we need to win as many games as possible in the regular season. This effects seeding and playtime for the regulars.
Waiting to lose 2-5 games early in the year to identify the problem seems to be not the best choice.

The Celts were far better with Theis than Freedom, and the fact that Theis wasn't great, amplifies the importance. I'm not expecting Moses Molone, just someone better than Kornet.

There is no reason to panic, and if someone flashes in camp I will quietly fade away. The C's should be trying to improve the roster,deep or otherwise. I think we can do better, but I'm not the GM.

[Moranis]

I don't understand this.  In the playoffs and down the stretch, we played the starters plus Grant, White, and Pritchard primarily.  Theis played in 16 of 24 games in the playoffs but much less when RWill played.  I agree that this rotation is a little thin especially in terms of wing and big depth.

We lost Theis but added Brogdon and Gallinari to this.  I contend that Theis was only at best on the fringe of the core rotation (barely playable).  I expected Brogdon and Gallinari to be solid rotation players and they would have made us much deeper.  Certainly very playable.  We traded several unplayable players.  Gallinari got hurt so things have changed but the Celtics absolutely addressed exactly the issue being discussed here.  Even with the injury to Gallinari, Brogdon will make us deeper.

I felt that Gallinari was a solid solution of big depth.  Now that is a problem again.  Brogdon may turn out to be versatile enough that he is our answer for wing depth as well as combo guard depth, we'll see.  The Gallinari loss to me is a tough one.  We would have been comfortably deeper at PF/C but now we aren't.

As to minutes management, I have concerns with Horford, RWill, and Brogdon.  That is a fair amount of concern.  Gallinari would have help a lot.  I think Vonleh will give us something, maybe in the range of what we got out of Theis.

There is no reason to have 5 roster spots with unproven rookies or fringe NBA players when you are trying to win a championship.  It is poor roster management.

[liam]

I don't understand this.  In the playoffs and down the stretch, we played the starters plus Grant, White, and Pritchard primarily.  Theis played in 16 of 24 games in the playoffs but much less when RWill played.  I agree that this rotation is a little thin especially in terms of wing and big depth.

We lost Theis but added Brogdon and Gallinari to this.  I contend that Theis was only at best on the fringe of the core rotation (barely playable).  I expected Brogdon and Gallinari to be solid rotation players and they would have made us much deeper.  Certainly very playable.  We traded several unplayable players.  Gallinari got hurt so things have changed but the Celtics absolutely addressed exactly the issue being discussed here.  Even with the injury to Gallinari, Brogdon will make us deeper.

I felt that Gallinari was a solid solution of big depth.  Now that is a problem again.  Brogdon may turn out to be versatile enough that he is our answer for wing depth as well as combo guard depth, we'll see.  The Gallinari loss to me is a tough one.  We would have been comfortably deeper at PF/C but now we aren't.

As to minutes management, I have concerns with Horford, RWill, and Brogdon.  That is a fair amount of concern.  Gallinari would have help a lot.  I think Vonleh will give us something, maybe in the range of what we got out of Theis.

There is no reason to have 5 roster spots with unproven rookies or fringe NBA players when you are trying to win a championship.  It is poor roster management.

Agreed. The time is now!

[Neurotic Guy]

Rather than worried, I'm pretty dang excited.  Can't wait to see Brogdon playing with the team that went to the NBA Finals. JT and JB another year of growth as players/people - an off-season for tuning, both could be improved this year.  Grant, Rob, and Pritchard the same.  Easy to neglect how young the rotation was with the exception of Al.  Also psyched to see a more comfortable Derrick White. 

My biggest concern is how this team will respond to being up double digits.  Is it going to be the old cocky, lazy, 'we're too good' turnover machine, or will they mature into a team that puts teams away with no nonsense and with a bench that can sustain a lead. It's foolish to expect much from the camp bigs but that doesn't mean I'm not interested.  Stranger things have happened than someone emerging as a reliable contributor in their mid-20's.  And after all my patience in recent years with James Young, Carsen Edwards, Romeo and Nessie, I'm not giving up on Hauser.  Love the size and the shot.

[Vermont Green]

I don't understand this.  In the playoffs and down the stretch, we played the starters plus Grant, White, and Pritchard primarily.  Theis played in 16 of 24 games in the playoffs but much less when RWill played.  I agree that this rotation is a little thin especially in terms of wing and big depth.

We lost Theis but added Brogdon and Gallinari to this.  I contend that Theis was only at best on the fringe of the core rotation (barely playable).  I expected Brogdon and Gallinari to be solid rotation players and they would have made us much deeper.  Certainly very playable.  We traded several unplayable players.  Gallinari got hurt so things have changed but the Celtics absolutely addressed exactly the issue being discussed here.  Even with the injury to Gallinari, Brogdon will make us deeper.

I felt that Gallinari was a solid solution of big depth.  Now that is a problem again.  Brogdon may turn out to be versatile enough that he is our answer for wing depth as well as combo guard depth, we'll see.  The Gallinari loss to me is a tough one.  We would have been comfortably deeper at PF/C but now we aren't.

As to minutes management, I have concerns with Horford, RWill, and Brogdon.  That is a fair amount of concern.  Gallinari would have help a lot.  I think Vonleh will give us something, maybe in the range of what we got out of Theis.

There is no reason to have 5 roster spots with unproven rookies or fringe NBA players when you are trying to win a championship.  It is poor roster management.

I assume the 5 in your mind are Hauser, Kornet, and the 3 remaining slots.  I agree that if all 5 of these roster spots end up filled with fringe NBA players, it seems unnecessary.  But I think there will be 1 or 2 more proven vets added at some point.  Probably but not necessarily by the start of the season.  I think we will get there.  Most teams have 3 or 4 fringe players on the end of the bench.  Having vets that are nearly crippled is no better.

[Moranis]

I don't understand this.  In the playoffs and down the stretch, we played the starters plus Grant, White, and Pritchard primarily.  Theis played in 16 of 24 games in the playoffs but much less when RWill played.  I agree that this rotation is a little thin especially in terms of wing and big depth.

We lost Theis but added Brogdon and Gallinari to this.  I contend that Theis was only at best on the fringe of the core rotation (barely playable).  I expected Brogdon and Gallinari to be solid rotation players and they would have made us much deeper.  Certainly very playable.  We traded several unplayable players.  Gallinari got hurt so things have changed but the Celtics absolutely addressed exactly the issue being discussed here.  Even with the injury to Gallinari, Brogdon will make us deeper.

I felt that Gallinari was a solid solution of big depth.  Now that is a problem again.  Brogdon may turn out to be versatile enough that he is our answer for wing depth as well as combo guard depth, we'll see.  The Gallinari loss to me is a tough one.  We would have been comfortably deeper at PF/C but now we aren't.

As to minutes management, I have concerns with Horford, RWill, and Brogdon.  That is a fair amount of concern.  Gallinari would have help a lot.  I think Vonleh will give us something, maybe in the range of what we got out of Theis.

There is no reason to have 5 roster spots with unproven rookies or fringe NBA players when you are trying to win a championship.  It is poor roster management.

I assume the 5 in your mind are Hauser, Kornet, and the 3 remaining slots.  I agree that if all 5 of these roster spots end up filled with fringe NBA players, it seems unnecessary.  But I think there will be 1 or 2 more proven vets added at some point.  Probably but not necessarily by the start of the season.  I think we will get there.  Most teams have 3 or 4 fringe players on the end of the bench.  Having vets that are nearly crippled is no better.

Most teams do not have 4 fringe players on their bench and very few even have 3. 

[celticinorlando]

Bench legit has three guys that can play in brogdan, white and grant. Rest are just not very good.

If Hauser is a rotation guy along with Kornet then that spells trouble

[SparzWizard]

It's always hard to remain fully healthy unfortunately. We need NBA-ready depth players.

Will be most excited to see guys like Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, and Bruno Caboclo coming off the bench in close playoff games as part of a regular rotation.