With Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams and Marcus Smart seemingly locked into starting spots for the Celtics, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston explores the possibilities for the fifth starter. The most likely candidates are Aaron Nesmith, Josh Richardson, Al Horford and Dennis Schröder — Forsberg takes a closer look at what each player could bring to the starting unit.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Free agent Gary Clark worked out for the Celtics, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets. Clark, a 6’6” forward, played 39 games in the league last season, including 35 with the Magic. He also played two games apiece for Denver and Philadelphia.
- Knicks center Nerlens Noel has filed an amended complaint against super-agent Rich Paul, which includes an October 2017 letter from the legal counsel for Noel’s prior agent, Happy Walters, stating that the decision to reject the Mavericks’ $70MM offer “placed Noel at serious professional and financial risk,” Darren Heitner of SportsAgentBlog tweets. Noel sued Paul and Klutch Sports last month, claiming that he fired Walters in favor of Paul because Paul told him he could get a max contract. Paul also allegedly told Noel to turn down Dallas’ extension offer.
- The Sixers have signed a deal with Crypto.com to be their new jersey patch partner, according to a team press release. According to Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the multiyear deal is worth eight figures annually and is among the top five most lucrative jersey ad deals in the league.
Firstly Schroder should be a starter
Thus the starting 5 of Schroder Smart Brown Tatum and Williams/Horford.
With the bench looking like Pritchard JRich Nesmith Hernagomez Williams/Horford.
Schroder as a starter brings elite defence, another go to scorer, secondary playmaking and some extra spacing. Pair that with Smart and Brown you’ve got elite perimeter defence and that’s going to win you a lot of games.
In the second unit Pritchard is a young bucket and JRich can be a leader for this unit. Horford will also offer some experience and be a leader off the bench.
I can see teams struggling to score threes and iso players also having bad nights. Then as they try force the ball inside you’ll come up with steals from double teams and tipped passes. Off the bench Pritchard, JRich and Horford don’t make it much easier for the opposition either.
I hope they don’t play double bigs to much with Horford at the 4. He’s to old and slow for that now, not to mention Tatum has spent the offseason bulking up aswell. Your second unit would also suffer having Kanter get more minutes with his weak defence and guards like Pritchard having less minutes.
Schroeder has shown he’s better utilized coming off the bench.
When he was starter with hawks and lakers he’s wasn’t as effective, compared to when he was with thunder (and earlier career with hawks).
He’s plays more free when he’s that guy off the bench and not relied too much offensively.
Schroder did well off the bench cause he was playing against bench dudes and could tear them to pieces on both ends of the court. However I think he is better than just an impact guy. Not to mention playing him off the bench dramatically reduces the amount of minutes for Payton Pritchard who I believe could play a huge role this season.
Pritchard as a rookie, averaged 8-2.5-2 in 19 minutes with some very efficient shooting on a playoff team.
His numbers are similar to Haliburton who played on a weaker team and averaged 13-5-3 in 30 minutes.
Both are very efficient however Haliburton got alot more minutes and played on a worse team which lead to him obviously having better numbers.
Pritchard also had an amazing summer league averaging 17-8.5-6 on 48% shooting and 47% from three. He also dropped 92 in a pro am game this offseason.
My thinking was you start, Schroder and Smart together who along with Brown will lock up the perimeter, while Tatum and Brown lead the offence with Smart and Schroder being complementary players.
While off the bench you have Pritchard with a license to go out and play his natural game and lean on JRich for support.
If you don’t start Schroder who else do you start?
JRich doesn’t defend, score, shoot or create for others better than Schroder.
Nesmith obviously isn’t even close, he played less than 15 minutes per game last year.
Horford would mean playing double bigs which I don’t believe is a good idea. Horford isn’t quick enough to play the 4 defensively and offensively you don’t have enough spacing.
I think they should probably start Schroeder to keep him happy, but then pull him quickly and play him with the second unit for large portions of the game.
Reason being, if you’re starting Williams and Smart you already have two non-shooters. Adding Schroeder, a third, for long stretches will probably tax the offense even if the D is elite.
Additionally, they’re short playmaking on the bench as is. With Brown and Tatum in the S5 they have plenty. Might as well spread the wealth.
I see what your saying but id say Smart and Schroder aren’t non shooters, both of them can hit from time to time. Plus if they wanted extra shooting they could use Horford at centre.
Off the bench the playmaking, I’d put faith into Pritchard and JRich to get it done. I think Pritchard will have a little jump this year and put up something like 13-4-4. Plus Horford can also pass well for a big man
If Schroder can get back to his 38% from 2 years ago, sure. Smart is 32% career – I agree that he WILL shoot lol. But hard to argue he’s particularly good at it.
If J Rich can get back to his Miami form I agree on the play making off the bench. I kind of like Pritchard in the SL for his spacing tbh.
Either way, a much better problem for the C’s (having too many guys) than last year when they were 4-deep.
Interesting choices for our new coach who has said Marcus Smart is our point guard. If true who do you want next to Smart? Pritchard can shoot threes, can get very hot from three. Naismith is also a three point shooter and taller and more athletic, maybe better at D.
Maybe 6’1″ Schroeder should point guard the 2nd team & be a scoring point guard. Can’t believe he’s great at defense at that size.
Or if Coach goes with defense first to start games start taller Josh Richardson who is known for his defense.
It’s up to Coach to soon find the answers and build up an early winning record.
Horford and Nesmith or Pritchard should start, but Nesmith probably makes more sense as someone that will play without the ball
I hope someone gives Gary Clark a chance, he deserves it.
He’s had 132 chances with 18 starts and 14+ mpg. And he’s shot under 40%. He doesn’t “deserve” anything
Competitor, has size, adequately defends a couple of different positions, mostly at the 4, and can contribute in certain matchups, depending on what else is around him, but there are some other guys at his position that are still out there that will get looks before him
Williams and Horford are more big 4s than Centers to me. Both can play center also. You start them they can both play the 4 n 5. Like interchangeable parts. At least for a good portion of game. Horford is that experienced vet that holds it together on D n O. I think he wants to prove he can play. But they really need him most for playoffs. Celtics have good depth This yr especially at bigs. I like Smart at PG. With Schroeder backing that’s a strong combo. Celtics have good depth this yr.
Big 4? We’re not in 2002. Williams cant shoot, or dribble he’s a new age center. Horford was a 4 back in his prime but has been playing the center position for the last 5-6 years now.
This Noel thing is getting serious. It really exposes the tactics of this agent. He’s already come out and publicly said Ben is not coming back. He’s already publicly exposed Maxey wanting a big payday. I wouldn’t want to deal with him if I was an owner. Superstar clients can get away with this kind of bargaining. If you want to call it that. But regular players need good salaries and stability. Seems he’s more interested in his needs than his clients.
@Knicker
Im an entertainment agent and your logic is so flawed. An agent/ client relationship is as pure as it gets, especially in the NBA where the salary maxes are already known quantities. Plain and simple, the more money the client makes then the more money the agent makes. In most cases we’re simply carrying out the client’s wishes. Doesn’t mean the agent can’t be wrong and it doesn’t mean smaller clients may not get the same attention as the bigger ones but there’s little room for an agent making self serving decisions.
Except in the case where an agent thinks about his whole portfolio at the expense of individual clients.
Having said that, I’m a used car salesman and I can tell you our industry is about as pure as it gets
It is true that the more money the client makes, the more the agent makes. However, when an agent overshoots his claim based on his own disinformation (or his own ego) and causes his client to lose money, he should have a penalty. And not just the penalty of losing money. Because let’s be honest, Noel lost a LOT more than Paul on this deal. Plus, Paul had a lot more clients that he could afford to make this gamble. And agent with fewer clients would not have gambled Noel’s future on a long shot.
This is so cute!
What video game has agents this innocent?
Oh, nonsense. Some agents play pure game theory, in which establishing themselves as willing to go over the brink with some clients is intended to strike fear into owners, that pays back with better deals for future clients. Scott Boras was famous for that.
Happy Walters was representing NN when he turned down the 70m. He gambled on himself by accepting the QO gets hurt then plays poorly the next season at OKC. NN claims sixers tried to reach out, but that same summer(sixers) they offered horford 110m. This generation is always playing the victim & blaming other ppl for their poor decisions.
Do you think players hire agents to lick envelopes?
Get real.
Unfortunate for Noel. Said Rich Paul told him to turn down $70mil extension.
Note to Noel: In the future, remember… the agent works for you – you don’t work for the agent.
Yes, but if you are not going to listen to the agent’s advice, then why would you even hire him in the first place?
Fine with me. Pinson, now Clark. Try them all! As long as they are 6’5″ or taller! I don’t want to weaken our defense!