Against Toronto, sure absolutely. Baynes makes a lot of sense against that lineup going against Jonas while Horford takes on Ibaka. Against Philadelphia, nope, Baynes has no real shot at guarding Embiid over the long haul and Tatum would do fine on Saric.
So, sure a few matchups (and it is a few) it makes sense to start Baynes, but against most teams, Tatum will be the better start and better fit.
Someone didn't watch round 2 of the playoffs.
23/14/3.6, man Embiid sure was shut down.
How about these +- numbers.
Game 1 - Baynes -1 in 29 minutes, Boston +17 in the other 19 minutes
Game 2 - Baynes -16 in 21 minutes, Boston +21 in the other 27 minutes
Game 3 - Baynes -8 in 23 minutes, Boston +11 in the other 25 minutes
Game 4 - Baynes -9 in 19 minutes, Boston -2 in the other 29 minutes
Game 5 - Baynes -6 in 25 minutes, Boston +8 in the other 23 minutes
Embiid btw had the best +- of the Sixers starters (Redick was near him, no one else was close).
No matter how you slice it, Boston won in spite of Baynes, not because of Baynes. He was awful in that series because he can't guard Embiid. Not at all.
Who cares about +/- team metrics when Embiid shot a measley 44% from the floor in the series and put up (gasp!) 1.12 points per shot and lost 4 of 5 games to half the Celtics team.
I mean, 1.12 points per shot from a center?? That's worse than Kyrie! Given how much you rely on points per shot to grade good players, it looks like this debate is a wrap, eh?
+- absolutely matters when discussing a players value to the team. There is absolutely no question at all that Boston was significantly better in that series when Baynes was on the bench. Embiid was also Philly's best player in that series.
Your plus/minus analysis is overly simplistic. I just went back and looked at the plus-minus logs for that series.
In that series, Baynes was on the floor only when Embiid was always also on the floor. But when Baynes was off the court, Embiid was sometimes on and sometimes off.
This means that the Celtics w/o Baynes were against a PHI w/o Embiid for a huge share of those minutes.
Your analysis probably says less about Baynes effectiveness than it does about Embiid's overall impact on Philly's effectiveness.
EDIT: I see smokeablount already made the same point.
Ah, but what was Embiid in that series and those games.
So again here is Baynes
Game 1 - Baynes -1 in 29 minutes, Boston +17 in the other 19 minutes
Game 2 - Baynes -16 in 21 minutes, Boston +21 in the other 27 minutes
Game 3 - Baynes -8 in 23 minutes, Boston +11 in the other 25 minutes
Game 4 - Baynes -9 in 19 minutes, Boston -2 in the other 29 minutes
Game 5 - Baynes -6 in 25 minutes, Boston +8 in the other 23 minutes
Here are Embiid's +- in the series
Game 1 -6, 35 minutes
Game 2 -8, 37 minutes
Game 3 +6, 41 minutes
Game 4 +22, 35 minutes
Game 5 +3, 39 minutes
So if you are correct that Baynes only played when Embiid was in the game, this is the breakdown of Embiid's +- with and without Baynes.
Game 1 - against Baynes +1, 29 minutes - against others -7, 6 minutes
Game 2 - against Baynes +16, 21 minutes - against others -24, 16 minutes
Game 3 - against Baynes +8, 23 minutes - against others -2, 18 minutes
Game 4 - against Baynes +9, 19 minutes - against others +13, 16 minutes
Game 5 - against Baynes +6, 25 minutes - against others -3, 14 minutes
Only in the game 4 Sixers win was Baynes more effective against Embiid then when others were in the game.
I watched the series. When Baynes was playing the Sixers as a team were far more effective then when Baynes was on the bench. The stats bear out what you could actually see watching the game. There is a specific type of player that Baynes is effective against, Embiid is not that type of player. Baynes doesn't have the speed or quickness to guard the more athletic and mobile players like Embiid. He can't effectively cover someone out at the 3 point line for any period of time. Playing a center like Drummond and Baynes should be out there, but not Embiid. Horford is much more effective against Embiid because he can stay with him a lot better.