Trying to Make Sense of the Boston Celtics Back Court

Kyrie Irving will be leading the way but everything else is chaos in the Boston Celtics back court

The Boston Celtics already had one of the most remarkable roster turnovers for a conference finals team ever, and then they went and traded away two more of their starters, including an all time point guard swap with Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas.

The Celtics already had too many things to figure out with their lineup and now there is more chaos than anyone could have imagined.

The Celtics already had to figure out who would be taking Avery Bradley‘s spot in the starting lineup, and now they have to do that with a new starting guard with Irving.

With Thomas, at least Brad Stevens has some sort of base to work with. Stevens has seen Thomas work with Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown, and that would certainly be a factor in determining who would start, especially at the beginning of the season.

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Now, Stevens has no basis for what his back court might look like together, and there are a lot of different ways that it could end up working.

The one thing we can take for granted is that Irving is going to be starting and he is going to be the primary offensive option. Being the primary option in Boston is going to be very different from what that means in Cleveland.

It may be a different kind of number one, but you can be quite confident that Irving is going to be the number one offensive option.

You know that will include a lot of ball handing. Irving has shown off the best handles in the NBA for years now, and Stevens is never going to let that go to waste. The difference, however, is that ball handling will be used for a lot more than just isolation scoring (even though there will be a lot of that).

Taking that into account, there are a couple approaches Stevens can take in deciding who will be starting next to him.

If Stevens’ intention is to have the ball in Irving’s hands as much as possible, then Brown will make the most sense. Brown is a long ways away from being able to run an offense, but he brings the size and athleticism that will compliment Irving wonderfully.

This will give Irving the utmost control, but it also means he will be doing most of the work in generating looks and space for others. If, however, Stevens wants to see what kind of damage Irving can do as the number one option off the ball, then Smart makes the most sense.

Smart knows how to run the offense, and can be trusted. He is also a terrible shooter, and even if he is handling the ball some, will not be taking away from Irving’s offensive opportunities.

Another advantage of Smart is that you can use both. Smart has played on and off the ball in Stevens’ offense, and he and Irving could both play a hybrid guard position. The appeal to this is that Irving will not be limited to any particular role, even if the role he would play next to Brown is one he is more comfortable in.

The Celtics have been so good at generating open looks through ball movement, and now that Irving does not have to be a ball stopper and strictly isolation scorer, Stevens can move him around to truly unlock his offensive potential.

The problem is that we really do not know what any of this would look like. To start the season, there are two approaches. One is that Smart is comfortable in the offense, and having him in there next to Irving could help ease him into the position.

The other side is that Stevens will want Irving to be in his most comfortable position to start. In which case, putting Brown next to him will ensure that he has the ball all the time and the majority of the control.

Plainly put, we really have no idea who will be starting next to Irving, and it is far too difficult to predict how these combinations will work, especially considering Stevens will want to do more with Irving than how he was used in Cleveland.

The Celtics have one returning starter from a season ago, and are going to be the most fascinating team to see work together, especially at the beginning of the season.

The good news is that there are multiple options for Stevens to use next to Irving, and it can accommodate a lot of different ways to use Irving. There is a good chance that the lineup will be moving around at the start of the season, and it wont be until Stevens understands how good Irving can be on the ball as well as off the ball in this new offense that things will settle.

Next: Celtics Trade Away Identity for Kyrie Irving

The bottom line is the Celtics have one of the supreme talents in the NBA playing in their back court, and it will be a joy to see what he can become in this new offense with a new coach.