Start Rozier next to Thomas?

[mahcus smaht]

This is an idea I've been toying with for the past couple days.

It requires a pretty big leap from rozier, but it's possible.

Terry is a terrific athlete with pretty good length. He has the length and quickness to be an elite defender. IF and it's a big if, Rozier comes into camp with an improved jumper and an improved understanding of how to defend, could you stick him in the starting lineup and tell him his complete focus must be on defense?

Terry is a terrific rebounding guard too, so he'd help there.

The primary purpose of this is to find a way to put IT next to someone who can cover ballhandlers without pulling Marcus from the second unit.

I think I'd probably start Jaylen and maybe even Hayward at the 2 before Terry but it's something I haven't seen considered and I wonder if anyone else thinks it makes any sense to pursue.

[GRADYCOLNON]

rozier will not start.  to start he will need to grow 5 inches.  Hayward and Crowder are starters.  Plus brown and smart are ahead of him in the 2 and 3 pecking order.  I think it would be fair to say he will lead the second unit (depending on how smart handles this season)  Ultimately, Rozier will need to be patient one more year

[BostonClamCrowdah]

You've been thinking about this for days now?

Well, no, that's a bad idea

Hayward is gonna play the 2
Crowder is gonna play the 3


Brown, Rozier, and Tatum are going to come off the bench

People need to start getting real around here.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

You've been thinking about this for days now?

Well, no, that's a bad idea

Hayward is gonna play the 2
Crowder is gonna play the 3


Brown, Rozier, and Tatum are going to come off the bench

People need to start getting real around here.

Who are you and what makes you so sure Crowders starting?

[mahcus smaht]

Responses are pretty much what I expected.

Like I said, I'd probably start brown and Hayward before him but though this might be an outside the box way to solve the problem.

[gouki88]

Like you said, Rozier would have to make some significant strides for this to be plausible. However, if he can continue to develop, him being a solid player in the future would enable us to be incredibly flexible, and perhaps he could start a few games here and there.

I think it would be a matchup based decision though. TP for not recycling the same ideas over and over 

[CelticsElite]

Rozier  would be lucky to come off the bench

[EJPLAYA]

So you want a defensive guard to move into the starting lineup next to IT and your first thought isn't Smart who is a better defender?! Isn't it a much smaller leap to have Rozier develop into the backup role Smart holds than to leapfrog that and go to starter quality?!

Smart is a way better defender than Rozier and more advanced in his game. Unless you play big with Hayward at the 2 and Crowder at the 3, Smart should be in that lineup.

[CoachBS#1]

Any guess who's the starting five???

[Somebody]

So we want 3 top 5 picks in the 18 draft?

[Darío SpanishFan]

Yeah, start Thomas, Rozier, Demetrius, Smart and Snow White as center.

[saltlover]

So you want a defensive guard to move into the starting lineup next to IT and your first thought isn't Smart who is a better defender?! Isn't it a much smaller leap to have Rozier develop into the backup role Smart holds than to leapfrog that and go to starter quality?!

Smart is a way better defender than Rozier and more advanced in his game. Unless you play big with Hayward at the 2 and Crowder at the 3, Smart should be in that lineup.

When the team is healthy (and not suspended in the case of Morris), I expect that will be what occurs.  It's very likely that 3 of Hayward, Crowder, Morris, Brown, and Tatum will be on the floor together at the same time.  It also wouldn't surprise me if Brad started Baynes with Horford at the 4, since although the league is trending small, many teams start the game with two traditional bigs.

I would be very surprised to see Rozier starting alongside Thomas unless there are multiple players unavailable, and I'd be only a little less surprised to see Smart in that role.

[KGBirdBias]

You've been thinking about this for days now?

Well, no, that's a bad idea

Hayward is gonna play the 2
Crowder is gonna play the 3


Brown, Rozier, and Tatum are going to come off the bench

People need to start getting real around here.

Yes, this is what I envision as well. The 2nd unit will be pretty fun to watch.
Rozier
Smart
Brown
Tatum
Baynes

[kmart12]

Rozier should be on the very end of our bench for the foreseeable future; he brings all of the same flaws to the table that Smart does (and Smart gets blasted for them), but has a worse offensive IQ and awareness on the court. He's shown that he can guard the ball and that he can rebound for his position, but he's done next to nothing outside of summer league performances to suggest he's a legitimate rotation player at this point.

[chilidawg]

Rozier should be on the very end of our bench for the foreseeable future; he brings all of the same flaws to the table that Smart does (and Smart gets blasted for them), but has a worse offensive IQ and awareness on the court. He's shown that he can guard the ball and that he can rebound for his position, but he's done next to nothing outside of summer league performances to suggest he's a legitimate rotation player at this point.

Aside from playing pretty well in the playoffs that is.