CelticsBlog mailbag answer: 2 starting lineups for the Celtics?

Here’s a fun one.

“Do the Celtics have enough good players to field 2 ‘starting’ lineups, and how would that look?” by DrBoothy

Daniel Poarch

Honestly, in the current landscape of the Eastern Conference, I think there’s a case to be made that the Celtics could win at least 30 games with a starting lineup of Smart, Rozier, Morris, Theis, and Baynes. Maybe more, if you’re particularly bullish on Scary Terry’s star potential. The offense might run pretty hot and cold -- perhaps a little too much freedom for Smart and Morris to freelance -- but that’s a lineup with the kind of defensive edge that can mitigate a disadvantage in talent from time to time. If we’re allowed to cheat and steal Jayson Tatum for this lineup to plug in as the #1 scoring option, I might even go so far as to say we’ve got a borderline Eastern Conference Playoff team on our hands.

Here’s a take of indeterminate heat: I bet they could beat the Wizards.

Alex Kungu

Yes, but it takes a bit of mix and matching. You could have lineup one be: Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Morris, Al Horford and the other Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Daniel Theis, Aron Baynes. You could go “all-wing and a big” with Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes or the Stevens special 3-guard lineup of Kyrie Irving, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, Al Horford. There is no shortage of depth on this roster which will make for some spirited camp scrimmages.

Bobby Manning

They’re close. Aron Baynes and Daniel Theis feature fairly interchangeable skills that wouldn’t mesh particularly well on the court. To complement Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris, who can hang a ECF Runner-Up banner in their homes to prove their starting worth, with one of those bigs, they’d need Semi Ojeleye or Guerschon Yabusele to play the four well. That’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but would require a more consistent shot from Ojeleye and smoother floor movement from Yabusele. The fact that they have two options to possibly round out a complete “starting” second unit speaks volumes of this team’s depth though. (edited)

Sam Sheehan

I think you could get there. The Celtics have some weird parts like Marcus Smart who don’t function optimally in a set position. However, I think if you had a Rozier, Brown, Hayward-Ojeleye-Horford lineup that would pair well opposite a Kyrie-Smart-Tatum-Morris-Baynes lineup. I think either lineup could score and defend at around a league average level. You also still have Daniel Theis available in the place of Ojeleye or Morris if you want to go a bit bigger. All 11 of those players deserve rotation minutes, to say nothing of the young players like Yabusele and Williams

Your Turn: What do you think?