Ranking the 5 worst Celtics starters of the Jayson Tatum era

The Boston Celtics made one of their best decisions in franchise history when they drafted Jayson Tatum in 2017. At 25 years old, Tatum has already made three All-NBA teams and four All-Star games. The St. Louis native won the inaugural Eastern Conference Finals MVP trophy in 2022, along with an All-Star MVP this past season. In 2020, he became the first Olympic gold medalist from St. Louis since 1968.

During Tatum’s time in the league, Boston has reached the conference finals on four separate occasions with an NBA Finals appearance in 2022. Over six regular seasons, the Celtics own a record of 282-157 when their superstar forward plays. Only Nikola Jokic has won more regular season games in that span with 283.

While Boston has experienced many highs during the Tatum era, the team is no stranger to lows. In fact, peaks and valleys have often defined the growth of Tatum and his counterparts. Despite the overall success JT has brought to the Celtics, Beantown’s franchise cornerstone has played with some shaky starters over the years. Today, the Houdini looks at all eligible players that suited up in the starting lineup for at least 10 appearances.

Here are the 5 worst Boston Celtics starters during the Jayson Tatum era so far

5. Aron Baynes

During a preseason game in 2017, the great Tommy Heinsohn provided Celtics fans with some of the funniest sports commentaries ever when he famously referred to Aron Baynes as “All of Australia.”

https://twitter.com/BaynesFanClub/status/1179369628402929664?s=20

Unfortunately for Baynes, many basketball fans will remember him for that moment and that moment alone. While Boston diehards knew what the Aussie brought with his physical presence, they also knew his limitations. For a starting center, Baynes largely underperformed on offense.

In the 2017-18 season (Tatum’s rookie year), Baynes drew 67 starts. Standing at 6-foot-10, he averaged a quiet 6.0 points and 5.4 rebounds on 47.1% shooting. He also recorded just 0.6 blocks per game.

Baynes actually provided solid per-minute production as he posted his averages in just 18.3 minutes per game. Even so, his lack of scoring versatility and mobility consistently limited his playing time. Boston mainly utilized him in a double-big lineup with defensive juggernaut Al Horford, who hid some of Baynes’ biggest deficiencies.

Despite his weaknesses as an individual player, Baynes saw the floor during many successful stretches for Boston. He contributed to one of the best defenses in the league, and he held a positive on/off differential during each of his two seasons as a Celtic, per Cleaning the Glass.

During the 2019-20 season, Baynes followed his departure from Boston with a career year in Phoenix. The bearded baller developed a legitimate 3-point shot, which helped him average a career-high 11.5 points per game with the Suns. Baynes canned 1.4 threes per game across 42 contests with Phoenix.

All in all, Baynes did make the best impact on the Celtics of anyone from this list. However, the Australian big man may have displayed less raw talent than any other Boston starter in the last ten years.