Boston Celtics: 3 tweaks the Cs can make to improve their offense
By Chris Conte
Offensive Improvement for Boston Celtics No. 2) Creating reliable bench units
This one is more up to Brad Stevens than it is Ime Udoka.
The Boston Celtics will likely start Marcus Smart, Evan Fournier, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Robert Williams.
Horford will be the first off the bench, and then after him comes one of Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, or Jabari Parker. This rotation is passable but not exactly a bench that a team contending for a title wants.
It’s too reliant on young players with rough skill sets.
Brad Stevens needs to find the Boston Celtics a worthy seventh man, preferably one that can play on the wing.
If they roll with Payton Pritchard and Marcus Smart, that’s fine.
If they move with Al Horford and Robert Williams, that’s fine too, but they absolutely cannot back Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown up with two players still on their rookie contracts.
There are a few names I have brought up before, but Garrison Matthews and Danny Green are by far the best options for the C’s bench wing rotation.
Both are elite shooters and good team defenders that can move in and out of the starting lineup depending on injuries and Udoka’s preferences. Neither would be particularly expensive, and neither would tie Boston’s hands next offseason should they wish to pursue Bradley Beal, Stephen Curry, or Zach LaVine.
Other guys like Patty Mills, Reggie Jackson, or Gorgui Dieng would all be great, and the Boston Celtics can get them along with these two wing options, but they don’t take precedence over them.
If the Celtics want to avoid a third season in a row where lineups without Jayson Tatum are unbearable to watch, they need to find two-way floor spacing wings to back him up.