Though the Boston Celtics are projected to be one of the more successful teams in the Eastern Conference in 2019-20, many may look at their faulty front court as an area of weakness. There is one team, in particular, that managed to reach dynastic heights in a similar situation.
The most glaring hole on the Boston Celtics roster is their lack of an obvious front-court answer on both ends of the floor. With the losses of Al Horford and Aron Baynes this offseason, it’s apparent the team is coming into 2019-20 with diminished big man depth in comparison to the year’s prior.
Though Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier are talented players in their own right, overall, they do not provide the same firepower the two departed big men brought to Boston. Quite frankly, it is a little worrisome to think that Boston’s big man rotation could actually be one of the weaker ones in the Eastern Conference.
Could that spell doom for Brad Stevens’ Boston Celtics? It depends.
Against supersized front courts like the Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons in a hypothetical playoff matchup the team may find themselves being outclassed in the post. That being said, is there a way the Boston Celtics could play more to their strengths — i.e. their wing’s and backcourt?
With Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward in tow, Boston clearly rosters some significant talent. It isn’t a stretch to think that all of them have legitimate All-Star aspirations this season.
With all four having the ability to run out in transition and finish at the rim, the easiest way the Boston Celtics can navigate around their big man deficiencies could be to take a page out of the LeBron James-era Miami Heat playbook.
Erik Spoelstra was able to win back-to-back titles in 2011-12 & 2012-13 thanks in large to running a small ball lineup that allowed James and Dwyane Wade to attack the rim at will. Boston, in essence, is already going small playing either Gordon Hayward or Jayson Tatum at the power forward spot. This should, in turn, equate to the similar floor spacing sets that Miami found themselves in.
It is imperative that Stevens is able to have his Celtics resemble Spoelstra’s four-time Eastern Conference Championship system rather than, say, Mike D’Antoni‘s offensively stacked, but defensively lacking, seven-seconds or less Phoenix Suns.
With the two-way talents the team possesses, like the James-led Heat, the Celtics could also prove to be troublesome for a majority of opponents on the defensive end in both half-court and transition sets. While Walker isn’t an elite defender (or anywhere close to it), the trio of Brown-Tatum-Hayward are plus-defenders who can trap ball-handlers in half-court sets and create easy fast-break opportunities. Tatum and Brown even did their best “Heatles” impression when they connected on an awe-inspiring alley-oop in Australia during FIBA World Cup exhibition play.
Following the Heat’s model to a tee is difficult because there is no one on the Boston Celtics roster who offers what Chris Bosh did defensively. What Stevens could do to offset that is double down on all-small lineups that lack a traditional center. Perhaps wings like Marcus Smart or Semi Ojeleye could be inserted into fast-paced lineups to compliment the star-power of the Celtics’ starting guards and forwards. Daniel Theis‘ 3-point stroke could make him a viable small-ball center as well.
Making the most of the athleticism this team possesses will be Stevens’ biggest goal if the Boston Celtics hope to overcome their big man troubles. As the Miami Heat showed, a lacking in front court talent is not a death-knell for a team’s championship aspirations, so long as they play to their front court and wing strengths.
This, too, holds true for the Boston Celtics.