Boston Celtics: 3 rotation side effects of Juan Hernangomez signing

The Boston Celtics will play Jayson Tatum more at small forward

Jayson Tatum has made a name for himself the past few seasons as the starting 4 for the Cs. He morphed into a superstar once he was paired with Daniel Theis at the pivot in the frontcourt, and he furthered that in 2020-21 in plenty of lineups that had him opposite bruisers.

In 2021-22, he may be shifting back to the small forward role on a more regular basis. Tatum was the starting 3 in 2018-19, when he started alongside Marcus Morris, who handled more of the block bruising.

Juan Hernangomez is a power forward, and there’s no bones about it. When he was given a shade under 30 minutes per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves after being dealt there in 2020, he averaged seven rebounds per game over a 14-game span.

Tatum will likely be the team’s starting power forward, with Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and any one of Josh Richardson/Romeo Langford/Aaron Nesmith alongside him on the wing.

If he isn’t, it’s because Hernangomez will have played his way into a starting role with the team. Al Horford is probably not going to spend much time, if any, at the power forward, so Hernangomez is the primary reason why Tatum could reprise the SF role he was shoehorned into last season at times because of the mismatched Daniel Theis/Tristan Thompson PF/C duo.