Celtics may have to roll with an unbalanced roster

It seems like there's always another shoe perpetually waiting to drop with this roster.  The collection of assets doesn't always make sense from a traditional roster-building standpoint.  But rebuilding teams need to gather talent over need and that's been the plan for Ainge the last few years.

Brad Stevens did masterful work with the disjointed squad that he had last year and unless things change, he'll have another challenge ahead of him this year.

For Ainge’s team, it’s a fluid situation | Boston Herald

"I have no idea," Ainge said when asked if he expects the roster to be significantly different at the start of the year than it is now. "We’re still trying to do things that will help our team get better, but I like the group of guys we have right now." The C’s president of basketball operations readily acknowledged the obvious — that his team has logjams at either end of the height spectrum among guards and bigs. He thinks it can be an issue when trying to create a proper rotation. "I do," Ainge said, "but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sacrifice talent for better balance on our roster. I have to move my shortstop to second base maybe."

More specifically, Stevens will have to get creative.  I think that means going with multiple point guard looks.  It means mixing and matching the bigs depending on their strengths and weaknesses and how they play off of each other.

It makes the re-signing of Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko that much more important as they seem to be the team's only true small forwards (or swings, or whatever they are called now).  It also might make Evan Turner more valuable as an interchangeable wing player (where I like him a little better than at guard anyway).

I still feel like a minor move or two might be forthcoming (the team has to decide on Pressey's contract by the 15th) but if it isn't then we'll just have to see how skilled Brad Stevens is in cooking up schemes on the fly.  He's got more talent than he had at the end of the year, but he's got to figure out how all of it fits on the court.

Who needs roster balance? Down to 16 after Thornton is stashed. But if Ainge insists on keeping Pressey who is gone? pic.twitter.com/9SkTTCBWaR

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 7, 2015