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The Boston Celtics roster makes no sense as it stands after the trade

Then again, perhaps that's the plan.

USA TODAY Sports

When I first looked at the post trade roster, I was looking at it from a total talent perspective. From that vantage point, there's at least an argument that this team (with a healthy Rondo and Sullinger) could be good enough to squeak into the playoffs (or fall out of the lottery as the case may be).

Avery Bradley and Courtney Lee could still be the bulldogs, Jeff Green is just starting to shine, and Bass is still here to pick and pop from the free throw line. As for the new guys, Gerald Wallace isn't completely useless (just vastly overpaid at this point). Humphries is over his TMZ year, so hopefully he can get back to averaging double doubles and MarShon Brooks can score in bunches.

There's some talent there and Rondo has the ability to put different pieces together. In particular if they start running consistently and using the athleticism of Green, Bradley, and others.

Here's the thing though. When you stop and start writing down a depth chart of who plays where, this is a very weird roster. This is all assuming that there won't be further trades, which is a pretty bad assumption at this point. But for the sake of the current situation, hear me out.

We've got one legit rotation point guard in Rondo. He'll be backed up by two undrafted rookies and Terrence Williams.

There are 5 shooting guards. We know that Bradley and Lee are not capable of sliding over to the 1 with much success. Crawford is still under contract for another year, but it is hard to see him in the team's long term plans. Brooks might have the highest upside but he's the anti-Bradley (all offense, no defense). Bogans presumably will be there for moral support.

We're paying about $19M to our small forwards and neither is named Paul Pierce. That's still so weird to think about. Anyway, Jeff Green is the starter and Gerald Wallace might make for a decent backup. Beyond that is Kris Joseph, ...I guess.

Want power forwards? We've got 4 of them. Sullinger and Humphries play down low. Bass and Olynyk (Ainge said he's projected to be a stretch 4) are shooters. Assuming Olynyk can play passable defense, all of them could play rotation minutes on most NBA teams. Where do we play them all?

How about at center - perhaps in some small ball lineups? Because at center there's... Shavlik Randolph and Fab Melo. Yup, that's it. We did draft a seven footer named Iverson, but he's supposedly going to play overseas next year (where we'd retain his rights but not have to pay him as he develops).

That's just an odd depth chart as it stands now. Here's my best crack at a rotation.

Starters: Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sullinger, Bass

Bass has played center in the past and has even had some success on the court with Sullinger.

Rotation guys: Williams, Lee, Brooks, Wallace, Humphries, Olynyk

It is the second chance team. Williams needs to prove he can play point guard. Lee needs to prove he remembers how to shoot. Brooks needs to prove he can play defense. Wallace needs to prove that he's not washed up. Humphries needs to prove he's worth more than a tabloid cover. Olynyk is the only new newbie, but even he needs to prove he can play defense too.

Deep bench until proven otherwise: Pressey, MoMo Jones, Fab Melo, Bogans

Cut candidates until proven otherwise: Crawford, Joseph, DJ White

I mean, you can make that work and you never know which young guys might surprise you and make the rotation more interesting. Still, we're very shallow at point guard and there's just not a lot there at center. Traditionally those happen to be pretty important positions but I you could argue that the game is changing. So we'll see.

On the other hand, if the idea is to tank, then they had better get rid of some more of the veterans on this team and really go young.

Forgive my rambling. This is most likely for naught as I can't see the Celtics front office checking out on summer vacation and rolling with this roster at training camp. They might make a splash looking to add someone good this year, or maybe they'll complete the teardown with a big Rondo trade. Or maybe they'll just sort of drift sideways for a while, adding young players and picks at the deadline.

Basically there has to be other shoes to drop. I'm just not sure what kinds of shoes they'll be.

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