Which players will have the biggest breakout season?

[Jammer]

It's minutes, shots, what skills you have, how the coach uses you, and what your teammates allow.

Realistically Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons could get all the guard minutes at around 32 mpg each. White will get at least that, Pritch and Simons should not get less than 28. Pritch will probably go from 10.8 shots per game to 13. I would like to see Simons drop from 16.2 in 2025 to 13. I don't want to see Jaylen go up much more than the 17.7 he was averaging. There is a quality of shot element that decreases with shot frequency. But Brown averaged 34.3 mpg in 2025 and Pritch averaged 28.4 mpg so they may not be getting more minutes (2 more for Brown, up to 4 more minutes for Pritch possible). What Pritch needs are better shots and not so much more shots, Simons simply needs better shots which in his case means less shots.

The guy who could breakout is Hauser if he can get minutes at Power Forward alongside Brown and the sharpshooting guards. If Hauser can get 12 mpg backing up Brown and another 12 or so backing up Chris Boucher, then his shots should increase significantly over the 6.7 shots per game he took in 2025, possibly up to 10 shots per game.

Queta will get more than the 3.3 shots he got in 2025, so he is another candidate who can break out with more minutes and shots.

They don't have much rebounding at C and PF, so that is the team's biggest hole (along with Front court scoring), but thinking in terms of 80 to 85 shots per game, the Celtics shot distribution could be something like:

18 Jaylen Brown (was 17.7 in 2025)
13 Derrick White (was 12.6 in 2025)
13 Pritch (was 10.8 in 2025)
13 Anfernee Simons (was 16.2 in 2025)
10 Chris Boucher
10 Sam Hauser (was 6.7 in 2025)
4 Neemias Queta (was 3.3 in 2025)
4 Luke Garza

That's 85 shots per game. Hopefully we don't have any pigs feeding themselves at the expense of their teammates.

Hauser would seem to be the one to have the best chance for a breakout. Pritch too. And I don't want to see Jaylen cranking up his field goal attempts UNLESS he is on. So, if everyone is healthy, I lean towards Hauser, who could get the biggest increase in minutes and shots if he is used at Power Forward in addition to Small Forward.

On talent, I just don't know what kind of rotation minutes will go to guys like Baylor Scheierman, Hugu Gonzalez or Jordan Walsh. If any of those guys get significant minutes the tank is on since none of them are as good as the Celtics Top 8 Players.

As far as I'm concerned, Xavier Tillman should never see the floor.

[itrsteve]

For obvious reasons, I hope it is Simons.

Queta is going to take a massive jump out of sheer necessity and I believe he’s ready for it.

[Parliament10]

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[Half-Full]

My vote goes to Luka Garza. As one of two centers on our team, he will certainly see plenty of minutes. He is a scorer, and I expect to see him make the most of his opportunity. He averaged over 20 points/game both in college, and in the G-League. He hasn't played a lot of minutes in the NBA, but checking out his stats for his top 20 NBA games (link below), one can see that given minutes, he is a capable scorer at the NBA level as well. Decent rebounder too. Defense? Not his forte, for sure, but his offensive contributions will be needed.

https://stathead.com/basketball/player-game-finder.cgi?request=1&match=player_game&order_by_asc=0&order_by=pts&player_id=garzalu01&comp_type=reg&comp_id=NBA&season_start=1&season_end=-1&utm_source=bbr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_campaign=2022_12_tbl_player_insights&utm_content=lnk_career_high_points&utm_id=garzalu01&promo=98cc54fcb23bb0d47d4c5f7389ac8523&__hstc=180814520.56f3885f5f1dd00ad797c3ef70d478fd.1757374970197.1757374970197.1757374970197.1&__hssc=180814520.4.1757374970197&__hsfp=3866128941&_gl=1*uxsudu*_ga*MjA5NDM4Nzk1Mi4xNzU3Mzc0OTcw*_ga_80FRT7VJ60*czE3NTczNzQ5NzAkbzEkZzEkdDE3NTczNzU3NjAkajYwJGwwJGgw

If Anfernee Simons is not with the team, my dark horse candidate is Max Shulga. We will need another guard who can bring the ball up, and run the offense when White and Pritchard are not on the court. Shulga showed he can do that in Summer League. I think he is the type of player that coaches love. Well rounded, dedicated, team first player. If Simons is gone, the opportunity will be there, and I think he will step up.

[Shak_Celts]

If I’m being honest, beyond it benefiting the team, I want every drafted guy we have left to play very well. I want to trust that Brad can find gems later in the draft, because we want to remain in contention every season, he’ll be picking late a lot! I hope people start to see him as the draft whisperer! Have him looking like Presti and OKCs scout team!

Then, everyone else will be a bonus! Would like to see all the new guys, Sam, Pritch and Queta to go ham and get us some wins! If any of them breakout, that’s one less big check to dole out (for now).

[Jammer]

Josh Minott is probably the wild card, if he can get regular rotation minutes at SF or PF.

Scheierman has clearly not demonstrated consistency on the level of the Celtics "Top 8 Healthy Players". Neither has Walsh.