The Boston Celtics' acquisition of Nikola Vucevic came with the sad caveat of putting Luka Garza in the "Stay Ready" group on the bench. Because Garza played well enough to become an undeniable fan favorite, combined with Vucevic's struggles to fit in, there's been an ongoing debate over whether rolling with Vucevic as the backup center is the best decision.
Vucevic has not been killing it since his re-insertion into Boston's rotation, but Celtics fans have to understand a few things. One, he's coming back from injury. That typically takes time. Two, Vucevic is adjusting to being a backup when he has spent over a decade as a starting center.
And unfortunately, because Garza has only continued to thrive as Boston has depended on him more, it annoys fans to see Vucevic get the nod.
But it's not like Vucevic's play is really hurting Boston, plus he's starting to show some strides since his return to action. Besides, no matter who is better of the two, one notion that has fallen through the cracks is that, because Boston has both of them, their frontcourt depth is now a strength, even though many believed the opposite this season.
Everyone thought the Celtics' frontcourt was going to be a weakness
Wanna know how life comes at you fast? Coming into this season, Boston's most proven big man was Chris Boucher. A few weeks later, it was clear how much better their bigs pre-Vucevic were than him. One entire regular season later, the fact that we're debating who's better between Vucevic and Garza shows how impressive Boston's frontcourt is.
Teams that aren't loaded don't have this debate because they don't have enough talented personnel to legitimately argue about tiny problems like this. Vucevic vs. Garza just further demonstrates the embarassment of riches Boston has at their disposal.
Better yet, this season has proven they have the right guy to decide who should get the nod. If Celtics fans believe Joe Mazzulla should win Coach of the Year, they should also trust his decision-making. If he thinks Vucevic works better, they should trust his instincts, just like they should trust him if he decides Garza is the better option.
If anything, this is a super exciting development. Garza has inarguably been excellent in his role as a backup center (after a pretty rocky start, no less), Boston believes they have someone better in Vucevic? What if they're right? That just begs the question of how good the Celtics could be if Vucevic proves he is the better player/fit in their rotation.
Celtics fans already have to be feeling pretty good about their title chances even after every obstacle they had to get over this season. A fortified frontcourt should only increase their confidence.
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