What's our starting five for next season?

[smicker16]

White, Hauser, Tatum, George and Queta is who I think Joe will start with.  I think Pritchard is great off the bench and think the team wants him there although I do think he will finish a lot of games. 

I am torn on the Queta/Robinson decision.  I think Queta deserves it, but the hack-a-Mitch would be easier to avoid if he starts quarters so from that perspective I would like Mitch out there to start, but am fine either way really.

I do think the hope is that one of Walsh, Baylor or Hugo quickly take the starting role form Hauser, but I think Joe will go with who he trusts to start the year.  I think those guys (especially Hugo and Walsh) would bring more defense to the starting lineup that I would like. 

[wiley]

D-White, Hugo, PG13, JT, and Neemias...  If Hugo doesn't work after a dozen games switch to Baylor.  I want to see how our young guns react to starting with the big boys.

This is what I figure - at least what Brad would like to see.   Enough offense that Hugo doesn't have to carry much of a load initially.

bring PP, Baylor, Hauser off the bench for offense, Mitchell for D.   Not sure who else could eat up minutes at PF behind Tatum while we're waiting for Cenac to develop.

I'd like this too..   It''s a very big backcourt, esp Hugo at SG, but nothing wrong with that unless he has speed issues defending faster, slashing SG's.     Also, Hugo seems like someone who could do a good job keeping the second unit organized...   Those are the only caveats to wanting him in the starting lineup, and I'm not sure if they are valid caveats..

[LilRip]

White Hugo George Tatum Robinson

I think thats a really respectable lineup. It also lets Pritchard cook off the bench. If healthy, I have high hopes for MR4. I think he can be a game changer for our team.

[Jiri Welsch]

To start the year:

White
Hauser
Tatum
George
Queta

I don't think that lineup will play the most minutes together, though. I think Pritchard will end up getting 30+ MPG.

By the end of the year, I can see Hauser going back to the bench and replaced by Hugo.

[Vermont Green]

Below are the 4 most used line ups last regular season.  The most used line up is a little different than what's our starting 5.  I think it could go that way in 2026-27 also.  The most often starting line up might not be the same as the most used line up.  Pritchard may be in the most used line up (most minutes) but not start.  To me, the most used line up is more important than who starts (if they are different).

J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - P. Pritchard - S. Hauser          200 min
J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - P. Pritchard - J. Walsh            192 min
J. Brown - J. Tatum - D. White - N. Queta - S. Hauser              153 min
J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - S. Hauser - B. Scheierman     115 min

[Celtics2021]

Below are the 4 most used line ups last regular season.  The most used line up is a little different than what's our starting 5. I think it could go that way in 2026-27 also.  The most often starting line up might not be the same as the most used line up.  Pritchard may be in the most used line up (most minutes) but not start.  To me, the most used line up is more important than who starts (if they are different).

J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - P. Pritchard - S. Hauser          200 min
J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - P. Pritchard - J. Walsh            192 min
J. Brown - J. Tatum - D. White - N. Queta - S. Hauser              153 min
J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - S. Hauser - B. Scheierman     115 min

Actually, the first three lineups were our three most common starting lineups, and the fourth lineup was our fifth-most common starting lineup (9 games, behind a lineup with Minott that started 10 games early in the season before he was benched).  So the lienups with the most minutes and starting lineups matched very well.

I think the most instructive datapoint from last season is that our most common starting lineup only started 16 games, and we had five lineups between 9 and 16 games, and we had 23 different starting lineups in total.  Will we again have a season with no lineup starting even 20% of games?  If so, this is a pretty moot discussion.

Compare this to the prior season, we had one starting lineup of 24 games, another of 13, and nothing else with more than 3.  In the title season it was a 37 and 13 game split for the top 2, and in the first year of Joe it was a 30-5 split for the first two.  So Joe typically has gone for one primary lineup, and has seemed to stick with a different primary lineup in the case of injury, as opposed to bouncing people in and out like last year.  My guess is he goes into pre-season this year with a lineup he intends to use for the season, with a default extra starter to spell George and/or Tatum on B2Bs.

[SparzWizard]

White
Hauser
George
Tatum
Queta

Once Hugo improves to NBA starter level he will start over Hauser (good riddance). Mitch can come off the bench. PP 6th man role.

[Vermont Green]

Below are the 4 most used line ups last regular season.  The most used line up is a little different than what's our starting 5. I think it could go that way in 2026-27 also.  The most often starting line up might not be the same as the most used line up.  Pritchard may be in the most used line up (most minutes) but not start.  To me, the most used line up is more important than who starts (if they are different).

J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - P. Pritchard - S. Hauser          200 min
J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - P. Pritchard - J. Walsh            192 min
J. Brown - J. Tatum - D. White - N. Queta - S. Hauser              153 min
J. Brown - D. White - N. Queta - S. Hauser - B. Scheierman     115 min

Actually, the first three lineups were our three most common starting lineups, and the fourth lineup was our fifth-most common starting lineup (9 games, behind a lineup with Minott that started 10 games early in the season before he was benched).  So the lienups with the most minutes and starting lineups matched very well.

I think the most instructive datapoint from last season is that our most common starting lineup only started 16 games, and we had five lineups between 9 and 16 games, and we had 23 different starting lineups in total.  Will we again have a season with no lineup starting even 20% of games?  If so, this is a pretty moot discussion.

Compare this to the prior season, we had one starting lineup of 24 games, another of 13, and nothing else with more than 3.  In the title season it was a 37 and 13 game split for the top 2, and in the first year of Joe it was a 30-5 split for the first two.  So Joe typically has gone for one primary lineup, and has seemed to stick with a different primary lineup in the case of injury, as opposed to bouncing people in and out like last year.  My guess is he goes into pre-season this year with a lineup he intends to use for the season, with a default extra starter to spell George and/or Tatum on B2Bs.

I agree with this.  Another thing I look at is what units had the most minutes overall.  Teams that have a single unit with a lot of total minutes is an indication of continuity of the starters.  This generally (but not always) correlates to teams that win more.

For example, MIN's top 5-man unit had 710 minutes (I don't know how many games started).  NYK's top unit had 541 minutes.  BOS's top unit had only 200 minutes.  It will be a good sign for BOS if this season they have more continuity in the top unit.  I am not sure they will.