Boston Celtics: Ranking the 5 most important training camp positional battles

2. Starting forward spot in Kemba Walker’s absence

There is a scenario where the Boston Celtics start Jeff Teague alongside Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and whoever ends up landing the starting center job. In an alternate scenario, Brad Stevens is rocking with a Smart-Brown backcourt, starting Tatum at the small forward, and figuring out the rest of his front-court.

Could that result in a Thompson-Theis starting duo? That would be best for the team’s rebounding cause, and having two effective screeners in the starting lineup could result in easy drives and cuts to the rim for the Cs athletes…aka Team Shamrock and newcomer Aaron Nesmith.

Speaking of which, perhaps Nesmith could force himself into the starting conversation, pushing Tatum back up to the 4 spot. The possibilities are endless, making this preseason a truly fascinating one.

1. Starting center position

Former Hardwood Houdini workhorse Justin Trombino recently penned a piece about the starting center battle that is looming between Theis and Thompson. As much as the pair could potentially do good things in the starting lineup together, their collective offensive games would kill the spacing for the Jays and Smart.

The starting lineup isn’t big enough for the two of them…and that isn’t a bad thing:

"The Boston Celtics finally have a pair of centers who are both worthy of being starters this season in Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson. This is a good problem for the Boston Celtics to have. On one hand, you have a player in Theis who proved to be a strong and capable big man that elevated the core group of players on the team last season. And on the other hand, you have an aggressive player in Thompson who can work the glass well and is a double-double machine."

What we have seen in the past won’t determine who starts. How Thompson looks when he returns from injury will be, since we know the C’s ceiling with Daniel Theis as the starter.