3 Boston Celtics role players who will pleasantly surprise this season

Oshae Brissett

There are going to be nights when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will need rest — not for mere maintenance purposes any longer, but to nurse an injury from overuse due to the league’s new rules intended to weed out “DNP-Rest” designations on injury reports — and the signing of Oshae Brissett will have fans far less worried on those nights.

Brissett has scored 31 points in a game before but has never played in an offense able to take away as much defensive attention as the Boston Celtics before. His tenure in Boston could be short-term if/when the forward becomes yet another positive box score presence on a winning team.

When he was signed, Brissett was referred to as a potential Grant Williams replacement in the rotation following the former No. 12’s sign-and-trade to the Dallas Mavericks.

“Brissett is still just 25 years old and has shown enough promise in Indiana to be a useful depth piece for certain matchups,” MassLive’s Brian Robb prefaced on June 30 before saying, “He is also conceivably a very low-cost Grant Williams replacement (and a far worse shooter) if the team loses him via free agency or a sign-and-trade.”

If that’s his floor, Brissett will outplay his salary by miles. Fans should expect a few nights where he’s got the hottest hand, though.