There's a certain amount of cachet around being a starter versus coming off the bench. We, as fans, are definitely guilty of making it a bigger deal than it needs to be, but the players care too, and the designation carries real weight. It’s something that can even come up when money is on the table in contract negotiations, with terms like “starter money”, as opposed to the price tag for a bench player.
Even this offseason, we’ve heard plenty of chatter about the Celtics starting lineup. There’s the matter of whether or not Payton Pritchard will finally shed his sixth-man role and be elevated to the first five. There’s also a bit of debate over which big man will get the nod between Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson. Would Sam Hauser keep his starting job? Would any of the chaos-wings join the first unit?
We talked about it all summer. And after one preseason game with almost everyone available, the clear reality is that it simply doesn’t matter.
Don't read too much into Celtics' starters
Boston went with Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Jordan Walsh, and Robinson on Saturday night against the 76ers, but I wouldn’t read too much into it. Joe Mazzulla and his staff were mixing their lineups and rotations all night, and we saw Pritchard lead the team in points, Neemy lead the team in rebounds, Baylor Scheierman lead the team in assists, and Hauser lead the team in plus/minus; all coming off the bench.
Again, this was just one preseason game that turned into a blowout early and had the ‘starters’ sitting by the fourth quarter, but the point was clear.
Boston has a deep team, stacked with good, starter-caliber players. Mazzulla can play with his lineups based on matchups and situations, but for the most part, he can play the hot hand. Obviously, Tatum is your best player, your superstar, and will be in there no matter what.
Celtics have 10 players worthy of starting
Beyond that, they’ve got two starting point guards in White and Pritchard, two starting centers in Mitch and Queta, and a plethora of starting wings in PG, Walsh, Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, and Hauser. The team essentially has two lineups worth of starters, and that’s not even counting strong contributors like Luka Garza, Ron Harper Jr., Mike Conley, and whatever we get from Chris Cenac Jr., Dillon Mitchell, and Devin Carter.
I’m sure fans and media will continue to obsess over the actual starting lineup, but this is the definition of ‘first-world problems’. The Celtics have compiled an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their playable depth, and now it’s just up to Mazzulla and company to deploy the troops in a way that gets the most out of them.
We’ll probably see a lot of different lineups over the course of the long season, and that’s a good thing. The regular season should involve plenty of strategic rest and experimentation. If anything, it’s a great problem to have, and hopefully, by the time the playoffs roll around, the Cs will be humming with plenty of unstoppable lineup combinations to choose from.
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