Boston Celtics: 3 Cs who could have roles diminished in 2021-22

The Boston Celtics come into the 2021-22 season looking quite different when in comparison to how they did during last year’s campaign.

Sure, there are some familiar faces returning such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart but newcomers such as Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, and Al Horford (though, one could state that he, too, is a familiar face) make this squad seem more well-rounded and a tad bit more menacing for an opposing team to go up against.

With their new-look roster at the ready, rookie head coach, Ime Udoka, will now start to piece together a rotation that he deems appropriate for the shamrocks to roll out on a nightly basis during this coming season.

Before any opening day lineups are set, decisions must be made in regard to who the Cs should play and what roles they should serve.

Because of these new key additions that Boston made this summer, in order to make things work, Udoka may be forced to cut down on playing time for some of the returning players in order to help integrate the offseason acquisitions.

Though we obviously don’t foresee any drastic changes being made when it comes to the team’s core returning pieces (like the ones we previously mentioned), we at the Houdini believe that 3 players, in specific, could see their roles being severely diminished:

Boston Celtics player No. 1) Romeo Langford

First up on our list, we have the soon-to-be third-year wing, Romeo Langford who, though he may not have had himself a substantial role within the rotation last season, could be bound for a sizeable decrease heading into this year, especially if he doesn’t have a strong training camp/ preseason.

Playing in 50 out of a potential total of 144 regular-season games throughout his tenure in the association, the 21-year-old has not only underwhelmed with his lacking ability to stay off the injury report but, during his time spent on the floor, has proven to be rather unproductive (boasts career averages of just 2.7 points on 35 percent shooting from the floor and 22 percent shooting from deep).

Though his performance in last month’s Summer League was rather encouraging (17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists on 38.5 percent shooting from deep), this was whilst serving as one of the veterans within the lineup while also finding himself unrivaled for minutes on the hardwood.

With the fact that the Cs now have a veteran presence like Josh Richardson in tow to go along with their desire to continue developing the more offensive-minded Aaron Nesmith, the wing depth behind the likes of Tatum and Brown is already being built up without the likes of Langford being viewed as a staple.

While it may seem odd, being that his role was already rather small coming into this season, we at HH are under the belief that the former Indiana standout will be somewhat of an afterthought within the rotation for the Boston Celtics.