Three games in: is this roster fixable?

[Kuberski33]

One more stat: The Celtics as a team are 30th in the league in Defensive Rebound % at 58.4%. In the previous 11 full seasons no team has finished with a % lower than 67.8%.

That tells you two things: 1) The Celtics have been extremely bad at rebounding. 2) They should get at least somewhat better.

If Hauser or Jaylen is your 4, or your playing PP, White and Simons at the same time - you're getting destroyed on the offensive boards by most teams. The only way to address is play bigger guys, but then the offense suffers. Play Minott, play Boucher - heck play Garza and Tilman. It's kind of pick your poison.

I don't fault Joe for playing his best scoring lineup. But when you got guys like Scal, Eddie House, media folks etc say 'you have to do a better job rebounding'. How exactly is that going to happen? If you play those other guys none are going to give you even 10 points per game scoring.

[slamtheking]

If the question is fixable for 2025-26, I say no it isn't and it doesn't matter anyway.  There is no reason to try and fix this season.  There is no way you can replace Tatum.  None.  This season is what it is without Tatum.

For 2026-27, we get Tatum back and in my mind, that will "fix" most of the problems but not all of them.  I feel like we would still be one good starting big away from being able to be a top team again (not an all star, just a legitimate 4th or 5th starter level player).  I don't think that starting big is currently on the team, it is going to require an acquisition to fix that.  Could be a FA, could be a trade.

I think it's going to require 2 new bigs, not just 1.  The goal would be to remove Tillman completely from the roster and wait out Garza's contract to expire after teh 26-27 season (if he can't be traded) and get 2 legit bigs, one having to be a starting-quality center, to take their minutes.  having Tatum at PF next year will help but even if we keep Boucher who's been serviceable, it's still a big talent dropoff with Tatum would hit the bench.  Q should be fine as the primary back up center.

thing is, it's not just fixing the big rotation for next year but getting another PG.  White and PP aren't enough.  Simons isn't a PG or much of a distributor/facilitator.  trading Jrue left us with a real hole at that position as well that PP isn't filling as a starter.

overall, looking at what we have now and seeing what could carry over to next season, the bench wouldn't be horrible but the problem this year is the bench players are needed for big minutes.  a bench of PP, Hauser, Minott, Boucher, Q and eventually Hugo is pretty solid.  we just really need a starting PG (or combo guard), starting C and another good big man (a 4/5 ideally) added to the roster.  maybe that lottery pick we seem destined for this year will fill one of those holes but Brad's got to make the most of Simons as a trade asset to fill another hole at the deadline to prep for next year.

[Who]

thing is, it's not just fixing the big rotation for next year but getting another PG.  White and PP aren't enough.  Simons isn't a PG or much of a distributor/facilitator.  trading Jrue left us with a real hole at that position as well that PP isn't filling as a starter.

I wonder if the solution is to go away from the two PG backcourt and play one guard three wings / forwards one big.

G: D White, Pritchard
G: Hauser, (free agent)
F: Jaylen, Hugo
F: Tatum, Boucher
C: (free agent), Queta

[keevsnick]

thing is, it's not just fixing the big rotation for next year but getting another PG.  White and PP aren't enough.  Simons isn't a PG or much of a distributor/facilitator.  trading Jrue left us with a real hole at that position as well that PP isn't filling as a starter.

I wonder if the solution is to go away from the two PG backcourt and play one guard three wings / forwards one big.

G: D White, Pritchard
G: Hauser, (free agent)
F: Jaylen, Hugo
F: Tatum, Boucher
C: (free agent), Queta

The ideal starting lineup for next year for me would be:

White/Brown/Hugo/Tatum/Stretch big

That would maximize spacing while giving the Celtics a young win to take on lead-perimeter-defender responsibilities thus putting less stress on Brown/White/Tatum. Pritchard/Hauser/Minott/Quetta off the bench would be solid with maybe one of Walsh/Baylor also contributing and Boucher if you re-sign him.

Of course this depends on future development from Hugo, especially shooting wise. But I think if you have 4 guys who can shoot round him you're still in good position.

[Kuberski33]

Just saw a stat, we're 30th in assist percentage. Granted we could make a few more shots to improve that, but the only guy we have who can thread the needle through a decent defense is Scheirman and he's pretty much unplayable right now.  So we can talk about rebounding but the problems run far deeper.

[smicker16]

thing is, it's not just fixing the big rotation for next year but getting another PG.  White and PP aren't enough.  Simons isn't a PG or much of a distributor/facilitator.  trading Jrue left us with a real hole at that position as well that PP isn't filling as a starter.

I wonder if the solution is to go away from the two PG backcourt and play one guard three wings / forwards one big.

G: D White, Pritchard
G: Hauser, (free agent)
F: Jaylen, Hugo
F: Tatum, Boucher
C: (free agent), Queta

The ideal starting lineup for next year for me would be:

White/Brown/Hugo/Tatum/Stretch big

That would maximize spacing while giving the Celtics a young win to take on lead-perimeter-defender responsibilities thus putting less stress on Brown/White/Tatum. Pritchard/Hauser/Minott/Quetta off the bench would be solid with maybe one of Walsh/Baylor also contributing and Boucher if you re-sign him.

Of course this depends on future development from Hugo, especially shooting wise. But I think if you have 4 guys who can shoot round him you're still in good position.

Very much agree with this as the hope for next year!
I would say ideally one other veteran that can be 7th/8th man off the bench to ideally move Hauser, Queta, Minott down a slot too would be ideal.  Maybe that guy comes from having a high draft pick this year.  The big we are going to have to trade for and give up some future 1sts as well as salary so that is where things get tough as then you likely lose someone like Hauser and now you have to fill that hole.  I just think they will need to get someone better than a FA journeyman to be that big man if they want to actually compete so that is where I think a trade will have to do.

[smicker16]

To answer the original question, I do not think we would want to do what it would take to fix this roster for this year.  It likely would require us to trade picks, Brown and/or White to get more balance across the team.  I do not think that is worth it though and I would prefer to tank this year to be able to help set us up for next year.  That is going to make this team tough to watch at times, but if they play fast it may be fun basketball at least although frustrating of course. 

[Moranis]

This roster is achieving the goal that the front office clearly wants this year i.e. getting a high draft pick.  No changes needed other than to drop more salary and get put of the tax.

[Kuberski33]

This roster is achieving the goal that the front office clearly wants this year i.e. getting a high draft pick.  No changes needed other than to drop more salary and get put of the tax.

But it kind of sucks if you've reupped your season tickets at full price and have to endure this crappy basketball for the next 6 months - as my group has.
Love it when people say - have to tank - it's on to next year. What about the people who actually buy tickets to see the product? 

[Goldstar88]

I hope not. 2026 draft lottery, here we come! Top 5 pick sounds pretty [dang] good to me!

[BudweiserCeltic]

This roster is achieving the goal that the front office clearly wants this year i.e. getting a high draft pick.  No changes needed other than to drop more salary and get put of the tax.

But it kind of sucks if you've reupped your season tickets at full price and have to endure this crappy basketball for the next 6 months - as my group has.
Love it when people say - have to tank - it's on to next year. What about the people who actually buy tickets to see the product?

Thank you for helping finance next year's roster?

[Kuberski33]

This roster is achieving the goal that the front office clearly wants this year i.e. getting a high draft pick.  No changes needed other than to drop more salary and get put of the tax.

But it kind of sucks if you've reupped your season tickets at full price and have to endure this crappy basketball for the next 6 months - as my group has.
Love it when people say - have to tank - it's on to next year. What about the people who actually buy tickets to see the product?

Thank you for helping finance next year's roster?

And pay Jaylen's too high salary - don't forget that!

[Vermont Green]

thing is, it's not just fixing the big rotation for next year but getting another PG.  White and PP aren't enough.  Simons isn't a PG or much of a distributor/facilitator.  trading Jrue left us with a real hole at that position as well that PP isn't filling as a starter.

I wonder if the solution is to go away from the two PG backcourt and play one guard three wings / forwards one big.

G: D White, Pritchard
G: Hauser, (free agent)
F: Jaylen, Hugo
F: Tatum, Boucher
C: (free agent), Queta

I lean more this way.  It would be nice to add two upgrades for the big rotation, but if we can get one solid starter level player, I think Boucher, Queta, Garza are enough of the bench that we can still be a top team.  I don't mind those guys as bench guys as much, just don't think they are starter material.

[SparzWizard]

No, not this season.

But in the summer I hope something is done to get out of this bottom feeder hole.

[Vermont Green]

I did some stat diving relative to what I call possession points; net points off turnovers (Pts off TO) and net 2nd Chc Pts.  Net meaning what you get minus what you give up.  So a positive number is good and a negative number is bad:

Net 2nd Chc Pts:   -10.4   (30th)
Net Pts off TO:        -3.4   (23rd)
Net Combined:      -13.8   (30th)

I suspect this does not surprise anyone.  These are horrible numbers.  There is no way that this team is going to overcome loosing these stats by this much.  If this keeps up they will literally lose every game.  It likely won't be this bad every game of course.  The second chance points thing has to be the main focus.