Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
While the Celtics came out of the gate hot and shot out to a 17-7 start to the season, we really haven’t seen all they have to offer quite often. Due to injuries, we’ve been stripped of the opportunity to watch the Celtics core 5 truly at full strength thus far.
That group consists of Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Jayson Tatum. All five are averaging more than 30 minutes per game, with Daniel Theis the next closest on the team at 21.9…
The Celtics’ primary five have played in the same game just five times all season. Boston went 4-1 in those games — the lone loss coming on opening night against the 76ers — and outscored opponents by a total of 66 points over that span.
It’s hard to believe that we’re almost a third of the way through the season and we’ve seen the core five just 5 times. It’s an ode to their strength, but at the same time gives us a peek into the real potential of this team.
All five are difference makers on both ends and not having even one of them dampens Boston’s ceiling substantially. While they’ve played a mere 5 minutes together as a unit, they’ve sported a +10 net rating (via NBA.com/Stats).
They remind me a bit (don’t overreact!) of the Warriors’ original Death Lineup (Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Iguodala, Green) as it was dominated by ball handlers/wings without a true big. Stevens loves small ball and I imagine he’s chomping at the bit to deploy this lineup on a nightly basis.
However, Stevens is thrilled with the prospect of playing three of those guys at the same time and mixing/matching around them.
“I’d like to have three of them on the court at once,” Stevens said. “There’s no reason we can’t do that at all times. Obviously some games are going to be different, where you want to look at different things. Say we want to play some new guys a little bit more with certain guys, or try different rotations. We can do some of that. I would like to get to the point where we can feel good about being able to keep three of those guys on the court at once.”
The key here is versatility. While Smart/Walker are both ball handlers, they each have unique qualities that differentiate them. The same thing goes for Tatum/Hayward/Brown. Their bench is a hodgepodge of players with unique skillsets and that allows for Stevens to get creative with lineups.
It’s been a weird season from a health perspective as nobody has been out for too long (besides Hayward), but they’ve all been out at different times. It seems like when one guy comes back another ends up taking his spot on the pine. A double eye infection will keep Marcus Smart out of tonight’s game in Dallas, but everyone is hopeful he’s back within a few days.
“It’s definitely exciting thinking about when we have our full squad, what we can do,” Hayward said. “We’re kind of just waiting for that day to come where we can all be healthy for extended periods of time. Initially when people come back there’s just an adjustment period. Then the more you play with each other the better usually you get and the chemistry is building and things like that. So we’ve got to have everybody back before we can start that.”
Barring any other injuries in the meantime (knock on wood), we finally will be able to watch this team with their core intact. Get yourself some popcorn, fasten your seat-belts, sit back, and just wait for this team to get to full strength. It’ll be quite the show.
(Also, welcome back to our Celtics as they play their first game tonight since prohibition.)
On Page 2, KG reminds us the Celtics didn’t give a f-ck about Lebron.
“We broke LeBron. So get your a** out of here with that.”
Watch to find out what exactly @KevinGarnett5KG is referencing. #BSPodcast pic.twitter.com/VwEfLwLyfj
— The Ringer (@ringer) December 18, 2019
Spectacular commentary from Kevin Garnett on the 2012 Celtics. He’s 100% correct about two things:
- The Celtics broke LeBron and drove him from Cleveland
- The league wanted Miami over Boston
THE REST OF THE LINKS
Boston Sports Journal: Why constructing a trade will be tricky for Ainge
Boston Herald: Kanter’s Toronto travel still unsolved
Mass Live – Why do players spin the ball at the free throw line
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
