Boston Celtics: Where does Jeff Teague fit in the Rotation?

With Kemba Walker back, the Boston Celtics’ point guard rotation becomes more cluttered.

Where does Jeff Teague fit in the mix?

With the return of Kemba Walker, Boston Celtics’ free-agent signing Jeff Teague needs to find his place in the rotation. Behind Walker, rookie Payton Pritchard, and perhaps Marcus Smart, how will the veteran get his minutes every night?

The Boston Celtics originally signed Teague over the offseason along with Tristan Thompson for veteran leadership and stable backup point guard play. However, with the sudden emergence of Pritchard, Teague’s role has become less valuable. Sure, the former Hawk is probably more consistent on a nightly basis, but the rookie has proved to Celtics fans that he produces winning basketball in his short time in the league.

In their game on Sunday, Kemba obviously took the starting point guard role back from Teague, playing only 20 minutes due to his minutes restriction. Smart played 29 as primarily a secondary ball-handler, often sharing the backcourt with one of the traditional point guards.

Off the bench, Pritchard played 17 minutes, while Teague clocked 14. Early on in the season, coach Brad Stevens has gone to second units consisting of both point guards in the backcourt, sharing ball-handling duties. The most common backup unit for the Celtics so far this year is with both guards, along with Jaylen Brown, Semi Ojeleye, and Robert Williams. That unit has played 42 minutes on the year and has shown great success together, recording a +29.9 point differential (per Cleaning the Glass).

Most of that success comes from the offensive side of the ball, where they have a ridiculous offensive rating of 157.1 compared to their 127.3 defensive rating. That can be expected–with both of those small guards in the backcourt, opposing teams with bigger wings will have mismatches all day long.

On the other hand, with two above-average ball handlers and shooters from distance to space the floor for Tatum, he can go to work with the second unit.

This group of players can be passable in the regular season but come playoff time, mismatches will be taken advantage of more often, making certain players become unplayable in many situations.

Therefore, the Boston Celtics will probably want either Brown or Smart playing the traditional shooting guard position most of the time, having bigger and quicker defenders on the floor.

So, this basically comes down to choosing either Teague or Payton to handle the second unit. Early on in the season, Stevens has purposely started the veteran to have Pritchard run the second unit, but who knows if that keeps up throughout the season. P-Rabbit has shown more effort on the defensive end, getting in passing lanes, and just showing overall more effort.

When Kemba begins to ramp up and hit his threshold of 30 to 35 minutes a game, much fewer point guard minutes will be available for the rest of the roster. With only 15 or so backup minutes to dish out, expect Pritchard to take the vast majority of them eventually, but don’t be surprised if Stevens relies on the veteran earlier on. He is more of a known quantity, and he has expressed his appreciation for Teague’s game in the past, as early as his days in Indiana.

Teague’s play with Kemba now back is a bit redundant, as they have similar styles of play, so Payton should be able to run the second unit.

He’s earned it.

Stevens has often preferred known entities rather than younger players, especially on championship-contending rosters.

If it were my choice, Teague would slowly move out of the rotation, allowing for the younger second unit to take shape.