The Boston Celtics come into the season projected to be one of the top teams in the NBA, but this is not to say they haven’t any sore spots within their rotation.
The Boston Celtics may be 0-1 to start off their preseason escapades, but luckily this won’t matter come opening night of the regular season on December 23rd, as the slate will be wiped clean once more and the Cs can then focus their attention on their 72-game schedule.
Coming in, Boston is viewed as a top-tier team with the second-best wing duo in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the way.
However, even with these feel-good facts, this isn’t to say the team is not without flaws and weak spots.
As fans would agree, perhaps the biggest concern for the Boston Celtics all of last year was their lackadaisical talent pool at the pivot.
While they did manage to sign veteran big Tristan Thompson to add some more firepower to the position, some still believe the center slot to be a grave concern for the team.
For Bleacher Report, they’re buying this unflattering buzz, as writer Grant Hughes cites the team’s talent losses heading into the year as a reason to believe the unit will be exposed even more so than they were last season:
"Theis and Thompson are known commodities, though neither is a high-end starter. The former is undersized and fouls too much, while the latter has no ability to space. Williams is the wild card. If he can hone his court awareness and channel his size and athleticism, he has a shot to do some young-DeAndre Jordan stuff as a vertical spacer and imposing interior force on D.Boston ranked in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency last year, and Theis was often a plus in his limited role. For those reasons, you wouldn’t normally worry much about how a reserve center looks in preseason play.But the Celtics are now without Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker’s knee may prevent him from being the player he was a year ago. With one important rotation weapon gone and another compromised, it will be harder for Boston to compensate for a relatively weak center spot.If Williams can’t strengthen it by developing in his third season, that’s going to be an issue for a team with semirealistic aspirations of winning the East."
Only time will tell how their center rotation will fair with the combination of both new and old faces logging minutes upfront. As of right now, however, fans are quite concerned.