Off season needs: we could use a Backup Wing

[Sophomore]

Always happy to upgrade, at any position. But when Hayward comes back next year we'll be adding an all-star wing who pushes Jay and Jay one step down the depth chart. I also expect Semi to take a step forward; he should be on his way to status as a solid 3 and D player. Put it this way. If one of Jay, Jay, or Gordon is injured, we still have two of those excellent players. If Al gets injured, the dropoff to Baynes or Theis is pretty steep.

Watch that potty mouth re Theis.

I like Theis! He's a great backup center/power forward. Huge find for the Cs.

But if you were going to choose one player whose loss would cost Boston the most - based on value over replacement - to me it is Horford, easily.

[kozlodoev]

What?

We have Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi at the wing. How many wings do you want to carry?

if you consider Morris a big, the only backup wing is semi who has almost no offensive game

Brown, Tatum, Morris, and Hayward are all wings. In any case, they're better wings than any backup we can get on the open market. Smart and Horford can also be wings in carefully curated situations. There's zero need to get a wing next season, pool your resources for a big so that we don't go into the season having 1.5 or so of them.

Tatum brown and Hayward aren't backups. They'll be starters as they were in the preseason

Not to be rude, but you realize there are 4(+2) players on this list and they're trying to cover 96 forward minutes, right?

[kozlodoev]

Who are you playing PF? Tatum? Yeah, that won't work out too well.

Tatum started G1 at PF so apparently the team thought it would. He probably would have stayed there if we didn't have a pretty urgent need for a starting SF.

Fully anticipate him to be the full-time PF next season with an extra year of age and a full pro strength and conditioning offseason program.

[nickagneta]

With Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Morris,  Smart and Ojeleye, I don't see a lot of need at the wing position. Stevens will go with a 3 wing starting lineup. He will eventually have a bunch of Horford at the PF, two wing sets as well as some 3 guard lineups, which he loves. With Kyrie, Rozier and possibly Larkin, there is no more need at PG since Smart can cross over and play PG too. The Cs need to retain either Monroe or Baynes and then the main addition has to be another big to add to Horford, Theis, and Baynes/Monroe. 

[CelticsElite]

What?

We have Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi at the wing. How many wings do you want to carry?

if you consider Morris a big, the only backup wing is semi who has almost no offensive game

Brown, Tatum, Morris, and Hayward are all wings. In any case, they're better wings than any backup we can get on the open market. Smart and Horford can also be wings in carefully curated situations. There's zero need to get a wing next season, pool your resources for a big so that we don't go into the season having 1.5 or so of them.

Tatum brown and Hayward aren't backups. They'll be starters as they were in the preseason

Not to be rude, but you realize there are 4(+2) players on this list and they're trying to cover 96 forward minutes, right?

so there’s no chance any of them get injured?

[Evantime34]

Thoughts on the thread

1. We have enough wings. We will start 3 wings and have 2 playable wings on the bench. The value of wings is their versatility, meaning you can sub a guard in for a wing off the bench and still maintain a good lineup. 5 wings in a rotation along with 3 guards and 2 bigs works pretty well with how Brad has shown he likes his rotations.

2. Long-term Tatum's length would lend itself towards playing the 4, but I think next year Hayward is a better fit at the 4 (and by at the 4 I mean defending 4's because I define positions by who a player is defending on the other team). Hayward is around 240 so he should have the heft to guard modern 4's and coming off his injury it might be a good idea to have him defend bigger slower players than quicker smaller players.

3. Through the course of the season, this team has shown tremendous depth. If everyone is healthy there really isn't a strong need for any specific position. I expect them to keep Baynes, and either re-sign Larkin or replace him with their first-round pick. Combine that with what is currently on the roster the C's look good to go.

[Green-18]

What?

We have Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi at the wing. How many wings do you want to carry?

if you consider Morris a big, the only backup wing is semi who has almost no offensive game

Brown, Tatum, Morris, and Hayward are all wings. In any case, they're better wings than any backup we can get on the open market. Smart and Horford can also be wings in carefully curated situations. There's zero need to get a wing next season, pool your resources for a big so that we don't go into the season having 1.5 or so of them.

Tatum brown and Hayward aren't backups. They'll be starters as they were in the preseason

Not to be rude, but you realize there are 4(+2) players on this list and they're trying to cover 96 forward minutes, right?

so there’s no chance any of them get injured?

What is the depth really accomplishing though?  There's already more than enough to get through the grind of a regular season.  Look at what we are doing in the playoffs right now.  An established rotation player will not find a role that is suitable for their talents.  Semi will be a fine reserve to eat minutes related to rest/injuries.  Jaylen, Hayward, and Tatum will all be playing 30+ minutes.  Morris, Smart and Rozier will probably be somewhere in the 23-25 range off the bench.  Danny might draft another wing if he sees great value in draft but we certainly don't NEED wing depth. 

Look at it this way.  We will probably need all of our existing wings to be healthy in order to beat a team like Golden State.  Any additional wing who can cover up for the loss of Jaylen, Tatum, or Hayward would not be receiving adequate minutes on our team. 

[Phantom255x]

FINE! Make your selection....

[kozlodoev]

What?

We have Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi at the wing. How many wings do you want to carry?

if you consider Morris a big, the only backup wing is semi who has almost no offensive game

Brown, Tatum, Morris, and Hayward are all wings. In any case, they're better wings than any backup we can get on the open market. Smart and Horford can also be wings in carefully curated situations. There's zero need to get a wing next season, pool your resources for a big so that we don't go into the season having 1.5 or so of them.

Tatum brown and Hayward aren't backups. They'll be starters as they were in the preseason

Not to be rude, but you realize there are 4(+2) players on this list and they're trying to cover 96 forward minutes, right?

so there’s no chance any of them get injured?

What is the depth really accomplishing though?  There's already more than enough to get through the grind of a regular season.  Look at what we are doing in the playoffs right now.  An established rotation player will not find a role that is suitable for their talents.  Semi will be a fine reserve to eat minutes related to rest/injuries.  Jaylen, Hayward, and Tatum will all be playing 30+ minutes.  Morris, Smart and Rozier will probably be somewhere in the 23-25 range off the bench.  Danny might draft another wing if he sees great value in draft but we certainly don't NEED wing depth. 

Look at it this way.  We will probably need all of our existing wings to be healthy in order to beat a team like Golden State.  Any additional wing who can cover up for the loss of Jaylen, Tatum, or Hayward would not be receiving adequate minutes on our team.

When Irving and Hayward are healthy, what this depth accomplishes is addressing all the available forward minutes. But yes, if you have two starters out for the season, it might look like you need extra players. Think of it as adding 1.5 wings for next season if you wish.

[Green-18]

What?

We have Hayward, Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi at the wing. How many wings do you want to carry?

if you consider Morris a big, the only backup wing is semi who has almost no offensive game

Brown, Tatum, Morris, and Hayward are all wings. In any case, they're better wings than any backup we can get on the open market. Smart and Horford can also be wings in carefully curated situations. There's zero need to get a wing next season, pool your resources for a big so that we don't go into the season having 1.5 or so of them.

Tatum brown and Hayward aren't backups. They'll be starters as they were in the preseason

Not to be rude, but you realize there are 4(+2) players on this list and they're trying to cover 96 forward minutes, right?

so there’s no chance any of them get injured?

What is the depth really accomplishing though?  There's already more than enough to get through the grind of a regular season.  Look at what we are doing in the playoffs right now.  An established rotation player will not find a role that is suitable for their talents.  Semi will be a fine reserve to eat minutes related to rest/injuries.  Jaylen, Hayward, and Tatum will all be playing 30+ minutes.  Morris, Smart and Rozier will probably be somewhere in the 23-25 range off the bench.  Danny might draft another wing if he sees great value in draft but we certainly don't NEED wing depth. 

Look at it this way.  We will probably need all of our existing wings to be healthy in order to beat a team like Golden State.  Any additional wing who can cover up for the loss of Jaylen, Tatum, or Hayward would not be receiving adequate minutes on our team.

When Irving and Hayward are healthy, what this depth accomplishes is addressing all the available forward minutes. But yes, if you have two starters out for the season, it might look like you need extra players. Think of it as adding 1.5 wings for next season if you wish.

lol We are in agreement.  I was responding to the "there's no chance of them getting injured?" question.  My next sentence and multiple posts in this thread have stated that we have more than enough depth at wing going forward.  Did you see the rest of my post?  The entire point is that Brad couldn't give adequate minutes to any legitimate wing addition under current roster conditions.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Who are you playing PF? Tatum? Yeah, that won't work out too well.

Tatum started G1 at PF so apparently the team thought it would. He probably would have stayed there if we didn't have a pretty urgent need for a starting SF.

Fully anticipate him to be the full-time PF next season with an extra year of age and a full pro strength and conditioning offseason program.

As I also mentioned, he also started there game 2, but we went away from that experiment right after. Maybe things would've remained that way if Hayward was still around, maybe not.

I mean, knowing Stevens, I'm quite positive that he'll attempt to fit all those guys in the starting unit. Not sure if it's in our best interest to do so. But we'll see.

[kozlodoev]

Who are you playing PF? Tatum? Yeah, that won't work out too well.

Tatum started G1 at PF so apparently the team thought it would. He probably would have stayed there if we didn't have a pretty urgent need for a starting SF.

Fully anticipate him to be the full-time PF next season with an extra year of age and a full pro strength and conditioning offseason program.

As I also mentioned, he also started there game 2, but we went away from that experiment right after. Maybe things would've remained that way if Hayward was still around, maybe not.

I mean, knowing Stevens, I'm quite positive that he'll attempt to fit all those guys in the starting unit. Not sure if it's in our best interest to do so. But we'll see.

I don't think this is a particular testament to Tatum at PF, since we played the Bucks that game and the Bucks had Giannis and Snell as their Fs. We'll see. I just expect Tatum to be bigger and stronger next year.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Who are you playing PF? Tatum? Yeah, that won't work out too well.

Tatum started G1 at PF so apparently the team thought it would. He probably would have stayed there if we didn't have a pretty urgent need for a starting SF.

Fully anticipate him to be the full-time PF next season with an extra year of age and a full pro strength and conditioning offseason program.

As I also mentioned, he also started there game 2, but we went away from that experiment right after. Maybe things would've remained that way if Hayward was still around, maybe not.

I mean, knowing Stevens, I'm quite positive that he'll attempt to fit all those guys in the starting unit. Not sure if it's in our best interest to do so. But we'll see.

I don't think this is a particular testament to Tatum at PF, since we played the Bucks that game and the Bucks had Giannis and Snell as their Fs. We'll see. I just expect Tatum to be bigger and stronger next year.

Just the same, the Cavs started an incredibly small unit as well. So... I guess we can't draw any conclusions from those 2 events =)

If Tatum comes in bigger and stronger, it could work. Just the same if it's on an interim basis depending on match-ups. Just the same, I'm not worried about what happens during the season as much as how we'll match with teams in the post-season, and if that's the way to go in the end. Though I guess that will also be dictated by match-ups.

Not a bad problem to have.

[umpacu]

With Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Morris,  Smart and Ojeleye, I don't see a lot of need at the wing position. Stevens will go with a 3 wing starting lineup. He will eventually have a bunch of Horford at the PF, two wing sets as well as some 3 guard lineups, which he loves. With Kyrie, Rozier and possibly Larkin, there is no more need at PG since Smart can cross over and play PG too. The Cs need to retain either Monroe or Baynes and then the main addition has to be another big to add to Horford, Theis, and Baynes/Monroe.

Pretty much this. TP.

[Beat LA]

With Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Morris,  Smart and Ojeleye, I don't see a lot of need at the wing position. Stevens will go with a 3 wing starting lineup. He will eventually have a bunch of Horford at the PF, two wing sets as well as some 3 guard lineups, which he loves. With Kyrie, Rozier and possibly Larkin, there is no more need at PG since Smart can cross over and play PG too. The Cs need to retain either Monroe or Baynes and then the main addition has to be another big to add to Horford, Theis, and Baynes/Monroe.

Given his size, Tyreke Evans can play, and guard, I think, point guards, shooting guards, and plenty of small forwards, so he could definitely help on that front, imo, especially in terms of consolidating minutes and not having to worry about, well, having to somehow find minutes for all 12 guys, injury concerns notwithstanding, of course, and as far as another big guy, what's Roy Hibbert up to these days, lol ? #JustAnIdea