Boston Celtics: Projecting the depth chart before and after Kemba’s return

The Boston Celtics will go into the 2020-21 season without their All-NBA point guard. What will the rotation look like when he returns and in the meantime?

We have a very interesting time period coming up for the Boston Celtics. As this strange season gets set to tip-off next week, important decisions need to be made by both Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens.

Ainge has the hardest job in sports: telling professional athletes that their time with the organization is done with. He will more than likely have to drop the said hammer on the likes of Amile Jefferson and Yam Madar, the team’s second-round draft pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Then again, Ainge could shock us with cuts to the likes of Semi Ojeleye or Javonte Green, who both don’t own any extra years of financial security beyond this one. Carsen Edwards could also be traded if Ainge decides that he is too redundant to have on the same roster as Tremont Waters–not so much given their styles of play but rather their diminutive statures.

Either way, there are going to be grown men losing their jobs, and that isn’t the fun part of the preseason. What are you may ask? Well the parts where we can finally get an idea of how the season will play out.

There’s not a single better way to figure out how games will play out than to figure out what combinations Stevens may deploy in the 2020-21 season.

This season presents a tricky challenge with Kemba Walker set to miss the first portion of the season’s first half. The lineup could have a dramtically different feel with him in the lineup compared to without.

Without further ado, here are the Houdini’s projected depth charts for when Walker is out and for when he returns: