Boston Celtics: Importance of Versatility

The Boston Celtics ned to embrace their versatile bigs in order to be at their best

Ever since the Boston Celtics began their rebuild and Brad Stevens took over, they have clearly put an emphasis on getting versatile bigs. The Celtics have embraced small ball, and have always been looking for that standout defender that can stretch the floor in the front court.

The unfortunate reality is that the Celtics have struggled to find that great versatile bigs. They have Al Horford, who fills that role as good as anyone else in the NBA, but there is all kinds of uncertainty after that.

The Celtics have always done a great job of giving themselves a lot of young versatile options, but very few actually work out. Against the Detroit Pistons, we got a glimpse of how good the Celtics can be when that versatility works out.

The Celtics have almost no traditional size, and they went up against one of the toughest duos of bigs in the NBA in Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond. The Celtics knew that they could not let those two determine how the game was going to be played, because they cannot keep up with that kind of size.

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Instead, the Celtics imposed their will, and brought every bit of their versatility. The Celtics went up against deadly size, and only had Aron Baynes, their lone traditional big, play three minutes. The Celtics went all out with their front court versatility, and it could not have work better.

Consistency is going to be the key for these versatile bigs, and we cannot expect them to be that good on a regular basis. What we do know, however, is that the Celtics need to be embracing that versatility if they want to be at their best. They often have to resort to more traditional size, but it is quite clear that they are at their best when they can play small ball and use their young versatile bigs as much as possible.

Daniel Theis led the way, with a team high 19 points and 7 rebounds, hitting both his three pointers and missing just two shots. Marcus Morris was right behind him with 15 points. The Celtics were able to play the two of them over 20 minutes, and even Semi Ojeleye was able to get 20 minutes on the court.

Thar front court rotation has been all over the place for the Celtics, and they often cannot sustain what they want to do on the court. The best part of this is that if the Celtics can trust their young versatile bigs to handle themselves against a front court like the Pistons, there should not be a front court in the NBA that they are scared of.

The key is making sure these guys can stay on the court. They need to be spacing the floor with their shooting, but the real problems come when they cannot hold things together on defense. Against the Pistons, that young front court limited Drummond and Griffin to just 17 and 15 points, and the Celtics finished behind by just three rebounds.

Next: Balance Once again Key in Boston Celtics Victory

The Celtics were able to get comfortable and the Pistons had to adjust, and the moment teams have to adjust to Boston’s versatility, they are going to be in trouble. The Celtics need balance and they need to get comfortable, and the key to that is their versatile bigs. Having them out there enables so much of what they want to do, and how consistently they can have that impact could be the difference in getting the Celtics that number one seed.

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