Boston Celtics: Importance of Front Court Depth

The Boston Celtics need their front court depth to be playing their best basketball

The Boston Celtics went into this season with one of the most uncertain front courts in the NBA. Al Horford was the one established piece, and he remains the key to everything they want to do on both ends. Beyond him, however, there was nothing the Celtics could trust going into this season, but they gave themselves plenty of options.

Aron Baynes was brought in as the lone player with traditional size, Marcus Morris was acquired because of his ability to have a dynamic offensive impact next to Horford. Then you have rookies Daniel Theis, Semi Ojeleye and Guerschon Yabusele, who were all brought in with hopes that they could be standout undersized defenders, while being threats from three point range.

One of the issues is that the Celtics ask quite a bit from these versatile bigs. Not only do you need to be a big who can shoot, which is hard enough to find, but they also need to be able to defend players that could be multiple inches taller than them, and they need to be able to guard multiple different positions.

So far this season, it is hard to imagine the front court working better. Unfortunately, that loss to the Pelicans was a stark reality check of the restrictions that are put on the team because of how that frsont court is made up.

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The Celtics put a lot of strain on their front court, and they do that knowing the rest of the players will have to make up for it. That being said, these players still need to hold their own. Theis and Ojeleye would not be getting these kinds of minutes if it was not for their ability to stay on the court in many situations, without being a weakness on defense.

Even if some of the rebounding and defensive responsibility is taken by their versatile wings, there is only so much they can do if the front court is struggling too much. If the Celtics are not able to give these players consistent minutes, then the strain on the other positions is too great, and the Celtics fall into far too difficult situations, like they did against the Pelicans.

Against two bigs like Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, the front court depth is not able to keep up, and we get a clear idea of what happens when the Celtics are not able to play their backup bigs. They are far from the most important individuals on the team, but they hold so much together, and are essential to getting the rest of the team as comfortable as possible.

In the upcoming game against the Philadelphia 76ers, that depth should be on display yet again. The 76ers do have Joel Embiid, but they do not have that second big to really throw them off. Horford has proven that he is capable of handling Embiid, and there is nothing else too threatening to keep that second unit front court suppressed.

Against the Pelicans, we saw how dangerous it can be playing with so many undersized bigs off the bench, against the 76ers we should get an idea of how beneficial it can be. When the Celtics are able to keep Theis and Ojeleye on the court, they can play smaller and faster, and very few teams are able to stay with the Celtics when they get into that comfort zone.

The second unit front court is not where the Celtics have their game changing players, and they are rarely going to be the ones you look to as being responsible for a lot of wins. The difference they make is how they enable the top talent to really take over, and how they enable the rest of the team to function at their highest level, with the best spacing and shooting possible.

The Celtics second unit front court is what will force the 76ers to adjust, and keep the Celtics as comfortable as possible. Those backup forwards are the ones that make things as difficult as possible on their opponent, not necessarily because of what they are doing, but because of how they open up things for the rest of the team, and the freedom they give Brad Stevens.

Next: Irving's Status Against 76ers Uncertain

Brad Stevens always uses deep rotations and depth is always going to be a major part of his success. Against a team like the 76ers, Boston’s depth should be one of the biggest advantages, and will be the key to winning the game comfortably.

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