Boston Celtics: 3 starting point guard replacements Cs must consider

Boston Celtics starting point guard option No. 2) Marcus Smart

The simplest course of action for the Boston Celtics to find a replacement at the starting point guard slot is simply by promoting from within.

While he was a consistent contributor in the starting lineup at the two last season, perhaps sliding Marcus Smart to the one could prove to be a great move for the team as a whole as well as, more specifically, for their two focal points in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

The most willing passer on the Cs over the last few seasons, the seventh-year pro is coming off of a 2020-21 campaign where he posted a career-high 5.7 assists (8.4 per 100 possessions) per game to go along with 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.

Him running the show rather than Kemba would give the team a more natural distributor, which would only stand to benefit the likes of the Jays offensively, while also giving an opposing team’s starting point guard quite a challenging time when going up against the 2x All-Defensive selection.

To this point, the 27-year-old has been positioned at the one on quite an inconsistent basis, but recent history suggests that the team has performed rather well in these sets — let’s not forget, during the first 11 games of this past season when Kemba was still out, Smart was the main point guard where he posted 12.4 points and six assists on 37 percent shooting from deep and, during this span, they went 8-3.

Thrusting him in at point full time whilst having him surrounded by quality shooters could wind up being a positive shakeup for Boston.