Boston Celtics: 5 centers the Cs must pursue in 2021

Joel Embiid once again showed the other night–with his 42 points and 10 rebound double-double–that the Boston Celtics do not have the necessary firepower in the frontcourt to combat the elite bigs in the NBA.

If you’re feeling like you have heard this before, it’s because the 2019-20 season was defined by my co-editor Mark Nilon and I constantly coming up with ways to improve what could fairly be called shaky center depth.

Daniel Theis wasn’t good enough then, and even with 23 points and 10 rebounds himself the other night, he is grossly overmatched by Bam Adebayo and is unlikely to be able to be much of a deterrent for the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and James Harden come playoff time.

Tristan Thompson has proven to be a bit of a letdown of a signing. HH recently covered Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes’ musings about the Cs potentially regretting their 2020 offseason, and it hurts because of how true it is:

"Opponents are feasting at the rim with Thompson in the game, getting to close range more often and converting at alarming rates. Inside six feet, players are hitting 74.4 percent of their shots with Thompson as the primary defender. That’s the fifth-highest hit rate allowed in the league among players who’ve defended at least 40 total attempts. Among bigs, only Enes Kanter, Paul Millsap and Marvin Bagley III have been worse deterrents. Boston’s defense craters with Thompson and Daniel Theis on the floor, which isn’t what you’d expect from an old-school two-big lineup. Those are supposed to struggle on offense but lock down the lane and suppress opponents’ scoring. That hasn’t happened. Thompson isn’t a floor-spacer, and he has long struggled to score efficiently in general. If he isn’t helping the interior defense, it’s hard for him to make a positive impact."

Something needs to change in the Boston Celtics frontcourt.

With change comes new faces. Here are 5 the Cs should consider in a deal in 2021: