I wish we had a legitimate bench right about now.

[jade88]

I think we can all agree that we have a pretty [dang] good starting 5, flawed or not. Couple that with our coaching and we're an upper echelon team, true contender or not.

The problem is our bench, it isn't made up of scorers. Imagine if we had added Lou Williams, Kyle Korver, Ryan Anderson, any of the guys available this past year. Danny just isn't interested in offensive fire power off of the bench. I like Smart, Jaylen is a great prospect, but are we going to rely on either for points? Marcus might shoot 28%.

Rozier, Zeller, Young, Mickey, Jerebko, i'd really temper my expectations on these guys. Smart and Brown could have some really good games, we're getting nothing from these guys imo.

The two wild cards are Olly and Green. If we could get Phoenix Gerald Green for a stretch, that would be awesome. I think he has the game left in him, and he fits really well in our system, but because of Jaylen we never got Green back in form. We could have imo. 10-5-3 on good shooting is the best i can imagine for Kelly.

Thoughts on the bench? I think it's a collection of prospects and cheap expirings, with the exception of Marcus who is a legitimate rotation player and a good one. I really wish we would have grabbed some scoring power like Cleveland and Toronto did. Danny kind of stuck it to this group by pretty saying he wanted to keep his assets and contracts over getting playoff vets.

[TheTruthFot18]

This is where Turner is missed. Green could fill that role but his PT is inconsistent at best.

Maybe next year we can get a JCrawford, Bayless, Nick young types. Just a SCORER. We already have a roster full of guys that can do multiple things, this type of guy would help.

[fairweatherfan]

Generally you need 3.5 bench guys in the playoffs (meaning the 9th guy gets time but not much). For us that'd be Smart/Brown/Olynyk + Jerebko, with Rozier/Zeller/Green as spot or injury replacement guys. That's not ideal, especially for scoring punch, but it's not terrible either. 

And it's about as good as Cleveland's bench and better than Golden State's (though Iggy's better than any of our guys). Probably a bit behind the Spurs but not that far. Meaning what separates us from the real contenders isn't the quality of our bench as much as the quality of our starters.

[Ed Hollison]

Boston doesn't have a bad bench. It's just that you don't have a guy that can carry an offense. We used to have a guy like that; his name is Isaiah Thomas.

Your top bench guys on this team are Smart, Olynyk, Brown, Jerebko, and Green. That's not an elite 2nd unit, but I certainly don't see it as weak compared to the rest of the league.

[CelticsElite]

Isn't Nate robinson available? I know we don't need another short PG but he can score

[Roy H.]

Offensively the bench definitely struggles. Our bench is 27th in FG% and 25th in 3PT%.

Defensively, our bench is 12th in FG% allowed, but is #1 in 3PT% given up.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Bring back Mikael Pietrus :-P

[Chris22]

I hope we get Fultz to backup Thomas.

[PhoSita]

Your top bench guys on this team are Smart, Olynyk, Brown, Jerebko, and Green. That's not an elite 2nd unit, but I certainly don't see it as weak compared to the rest of the league.

The issue I see with that bench, apart from the lack of a potent scoring option you mentioned, is the lack of experience. 

Most teams that go deep into the playoffs have better veterans to rely on than Gerald Green and Jonas Jerebko.

The Celts are lacking that veteran bench guy who has been deep in the playoffs before and has a history of stepping up in a big moment.  Most really good teams have more than one such player.

[j804]

Your top bench guys on this team are Smart, Olynyk, Brown, Jerebko, and Green. That's not an elite 2nd unit, but I certainly don't see it as weak compared to the rest of the league.

The issue I see with that bench, apart from the lack of a potent scoring option you mentioned, is the lack of experience. 

Most teams that go deep into the playoffs have better veterans to rely on than Gerald Green and Jonas Jerebko.

The Celts are lacking that veteran bench guy who has been deep in the playoffs before and has a history of stepping up in a big moment.  Most really good teams have more than one such player.

Blame Danny he made no effort in getting anybody not even a small addition

[nickagneta]

Our bench isn't that good now yet across this board when trying to figure out getting the bedt team we can for next year a lot of bloggers have our bench as

Smart/Brown/Nets pick/Yabusele/ Zizic

And those same people think thats a good enough bench to be a legit contender!!! Our bench lacks scoring punch for sure but it could be considered real good as compared to next year's bench squad if some on the blog get their way and Danny does what they want.

[PhoSita]

Our bench isn't that good now yet across this board when trying to figure out getting the bedt team we can for next year a lot of bloggers have our bench as

Smart/Brown/Nets pick/Yabusele/ Zizic

And those same people think thats a good enough bench to be a legit contender!!! Our bench lacks scoring punch for sure but it could be considered real good as compared to next year's bench squad if some on the blog get their way and Danny does what they want.

The thing is, if the Celts want to have max cap space to sign a guy like Hayward or Griffin this summer, the bench is going to end up looking like that unless they can get some key contributors via the vet minimum or MLE.

I think it's safe to say that Smart, Brown, and 2017-Nets-Pick will be significant components of next year's bench in any case, unless they're included in a trade for a star player.

[loco_91]

Danny has always valued a spark plug off the bench, and yeah, it's missing from this team. I think he was hoping that Rozier or maybe Green could fill that role, but they have both been bad. Overall our bench is solid, though. I imagine that IT will play more minutes in the playoffs and it will look like a secondary issue.

[PhoSita]

Danny has always valued a spark plug off the bench, and yeah, it's missing from this team. I think he was hoping that Rozier or maybe Green could fill that role, but they have both been bad. Overall our bench is solid, though. I imagine that IT will play more minutes in the playoffs and it will look like a secondary issue.

I think the two bench pieces we're missing are a sparkplug / shot creator as you say, and also a tough guy / energy big.  Somebody 6'10+ who mixes it up inside on both ends.  Smart provides a bit of that, but there's only so much a guard can do to bring a physical tone to the game.

Will Barton is a nice example of the first.  Kyle O'Quinn is an example of the second.

[Fireworks_Boom!]

The team is what it is (young, holes at scoring and big position). I love the fact that we get to watch the young guys develop before our eyes. Rozier, for example, excelled when given playoff minutes previously. I'm looking forward to seeing Jaylen Brown in the spotlight (whatever min he gets). Just be good to see a high lottery pick show his progress. He is a confident kid and this should allow him to make an impact in some way.