Boston Celtics: Predicting the C’s 2021-22 rotation

Boston Celtics predicted depth pieces:

Eighth man: Payton Pritchard
Ninth man: Aaron Nesmith
Tenth man: Enes Kanter

These three players all will provide solid production for the Boston Celtics, but have some limitations that will hold them back from playing big minutes, especially down the stretch of the season.

Payton Pritchard was great as a rookie last season and looked too good to be playing in the Summer League.

Off the bench, he should provide great shooting as an off-ball, catch-and-shoot guy who possesses solid playmaking and some shot creation as well.

However, Pritchard is held back by his size and lacking athleticism which limits him somewhat, especially at the defensive end.

Despite his lack of size, Pritchard’s offensive skillset is too good to sit on the bench for too long, so he should still get decent minutes as the eighth man in the rotation.

Aaron Nesmith, like Pritchard, looked too good to be playing in the Summer League and should be ready to play decent minutes this season.

He will provide great shooting as mainly a catch-and-shoot option, and should also provide solid defense and hustle.

However, something that held back Nesmith last season was a lack of consistency.

He often showed flashes towards the beginning of the season of being a good player, but just couldn’t seem to put it all together.

Things started to change towards the end of the year though, which seems to have helped his confidence heading into this season based on his performance during the Summer League.

While Nesmith should start out as the ninth man in the rotation in my opinion, he could get increased minutes at some point this season, and maybe even have a chance at cracking the starting lineup to play a 3-and-D role at shooting guard if he can put together a long stretch of consistent play.

Finally, Enes Kanter should be the 10th man this season in my eyes.

He should provide an important veteran presence at the end of the bench and necessary center depth for Al Horford and Rob Williams.

Given Horford’s age and Williams’ past injury issues, it makes a lot of sense to use a third center to help limit each of their minutes somewhat.

While Kanter has always been a defensive liability, his rebounding at both ends of the floor and his impressive post-game help make up for that.

Given he has a very specific skillset, having Kanter play some minutes, but not too much, should be beneficial at least in the regular season.

If Ime Udoka decides to use this 10 man rotation I’ve presented, I feel that the Boston Celtics can be legitimate contenders for a top-four seed in the East next season.

Once the playoffs roll around, I definitely feel the rotation will be trimmed down a bit in order to give more minutes to the starters, but for now, I feel that this set of 10 players will be best to start off the regular season.