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Just for fun, who do you Vote to make the Playoff Rotation?
Assume Smart - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams, will all be in the Rotation.

There's 10 Options in Total (POLL Limit), but pick up to 5.
The "Positional Matchup" Option is for the Flexibility to Swap-In a Player, based upon Matchup.

Two-Way Players, cannot play in the Playoffs. = Davison - Kabengele
Gallinari remains Injured, but is a Voting Option.

Celtics Roster, Ending Regular Season, 2022-23:
Starters: Smart - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams
Rotation: Brogdon - White - Hauser - Grant - Muscala
Reserves: Pritchard - - - - - - - - - - - - Griffin - Kornet
Two-Ways: Davison - Kabengele

Injured
Gallinari

The obvious 7, And I am actually preferring Sam Hauser over Grant Williams unless a match up with the Milwaukee bucks.. Grant Williams over Hauser against the Greek freak..everyone else is Hauser.

But by no means Do I have Sam Hauser as a big difference over Grant Williams just the edge because I trust him to space the court better for our Jays..

I think we've rounded out to a pretty obvious 9 guys:

Starters: Smart/ Brown/ Tatum/ Horford/ Rob

Bench: Brogdon/ White/ Hauser/ Grant

That top 7 guys (starters plus Brogdon/White) are no brainers and then between Grant/Hauser I would expect them to either split the remaining minutes or get the nod based on match-up (Grant for size/Giannis and Hauser for everyone else).

In an ideal world I don't want anyone else touching the court. If Griffin/Kornet are playing, I'm assuming Horford or Timelord are resting/injured (not ideal). If Pritchard is playing I would assume we've lost one of Smart/Brogdon/White. Gallinari would be fun sight to see, ideally in an absolute blowout win for fun, but would never want to see him in a competitive game.

The only guy I can see squeezing in as the 10th player would be Muscala because we are looking to really stretch the floor or bring a guy like Embiid out of the paint. It'd have to be a scheme dependent move and I wouldn't expect it to be a staple of any series but more of a wrinkle used to try and force the other team's hand. We've got enough shooting amongst the guards where I don't think Pritchard would be a needed to do that, but Mike could be useful in a Horford/Muscala pairing.

With a healthy Timelord (knock on wood), I think that's a championship depth chart.

I think I would prefer White in the starting five.

Starters - Smart/White/Brown/Tatum/Horford

Bench - G Williams/R Williams/Brogdon


Only if needed - everyone else.

Blake Griffin, with his BBIQ, experience and toughness.....He has to be in there.

Smart
Brown
Tatum
Horford
Timelord

Brogs, White, GrantW

Positional from there - Griffin and Muscala will see minutes.,

Think White stays in the starting lineup because:

a) he's been REALLY good
b) limit rob's mins so he stays healthy. We can revisit Rob as a starter - possibly next season after a full offseason of rest + treatment
c) better balance to have white start and brogdon off the bench, rather than bring both of them off the bench. Better balance to have 1 of them be THE guy anchoring the bench unit

Then off the bench you have Rob, Brogdon and Grant.

If a 9th guy is needed (because we want to go a little deeper into the rotation that game, or because 1 of the top 8 guys is out) then it's Griffin, Muscala, Kornet, Pritchard or Hauser - depending on matchups and who's hot/not. Having so many options is a good problem to have

I'm rolling 8 deep in a tight series, Brogdan, White, G Will off the bench. Maybe Hauser here and there if we need scoring. The rest will have to sit it out IMO. If we are struggling with energy in a series, I'm unleashing Griff!

Hopefully Grant Williams can repeat his masterful 8 ppg on 35.4% FG performance against the Bucks this playoffs.

Smart/Brown/Tatum/Horford/RWilliams/Brogdon/White should all be the primary 7. They play every game and you extend their minutes to the most that you reasonably think they can handle without diminishing returns.

Grant is an every-game contributor but in a somewhat limited minutes load. He plays what's needed after you push the primary guys above.

Hauser/Muscala/Griffin/Kornet play sparingly. Most of the time it will be 0, but there might be an occasional matchup/situation you want them for or a game where foul troubles forces you to go them for a couple of minutes.

Honestly, first 3 off the bench should be obvious in Brogdon/White/Grant (yes even him ). I can see Hauser getting minutes, but I think it's clear he's our 9th guy. Then i think Muscala, Kornet or Griffin have a chance at play depending on the matchups if we go 10 deep.

The key, as always, will be the closing lineup.

My greatest hope is that BubbleGum Joe learns from Erik Spoelstra's success closing with the 5 hottest player's EACH GAME. However, I don't believe that BubbleGum Joe's got that balls to do it.

I still don't understand why so many of you picked Grant Williams over Sam Hauser.. If this was last year's Grant then I get it but based on the last few months it should be Hauser over Grant easy..

playa-hater wrote:I still don't understand why so many of you picked Grant Williams over Sam Hauser.. If this was last year's Grant then I get it but based on the last few months it should be Hauser over Grant easy..

I like Grant, as a Big Alternative.
But, here's the real problem:

No Doubt that Smart has salvaged the game on many occassions. And, his Defense is Superb.
Yet as it stands, both White and Brogdon are better overall PG Options.

Ideally, I'd like to see Smart come off the Bench.

Celtics Proposed Playoff Roster, 2022-23:
Starters: White - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams
Rotation: Brogdon - Smart - Hauser - Grant
_____________________________________________
Reserves: Pritchard - (Champagnie) - Griffin/Muscala - (Kornet)

Parliament10 wrote:

playa-hater wrote:I still don't understand why so many of you picked Grant Williams over Sam Hauser.. If this was last year's Grant then I get it but based on the last few months it should be Hauser over Grant easy..

I like Grant, as a Big Alternative.
But, here's the real problem:

No Doubt that Smart has salvaged the game on many occassions. And, his Defense is Superb.
Yet as it stands, both White and Brogdon are better overall PG Options.

Ideally, I'd like to see Smart come off the Bench.

Celtics Proposed Playoff Roster, 2022-23:
Starters: White - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams
Rotation: Brogdon - Smart - Hauser - Grant
_____________________________________________
Reserves: Pritchard - (Champagnie) - Griffin/Muscala - (Kornet)

Unless it's a defense for offense substitution play, Brogdon and White should both be closing games over Smart.

White, brown, JT, Horf and Rob should start.
but White, Brog, JB, JT and Horf should finish.
Bench should have Smart, hauser, grant, and one of Kornet or muscala. I’m fine if smart starts over white, so as not to hurt smart’s ego lol. but if this team wants to be serious this playoffs, and not mess around, then white and brog should play with the jays and horf. That lineup has no weakness offensively. and the defense would be at par, or close to it as when smart or rob is in. I hate it when smart keeps bricking wide open shots, and also hate it, when your starting pg wouldn’t take the open shot. So just why not put somebody in that can score and shoot a wide open shot. It makes the team harder to defend, and give the Jays the space to operate. Plus the heat have fast hands. A lineup with smart inside, would give the heats defense a chance to double the Jays everytime, and good chance of stripping the ball.

I think White will continue to start with Rob, Brogdon, and Hauser being part of the regular rotation. Match-ups will find minutes for Grant and Griffin. I also think somewhere along this playoff run if its a long one, Pritchard and Muscala will help win a game.

C'mon now. Smart has started literally every game he's played in for each of the past 2 seasons (we've had the #1 net rating in the league each of the past 2 seasons). We're not going to just tell him out of nowhere that he's gonna come off the bench, right when the playoffs are about to start.

Let's be realistic here.

Hal14 wrote:C'mon now. Smart has started literally every game he's played in for each of the past 2 seasons (we've had the #1 net rating in the league each of the past 2 seasons). We're not going to just tell him out of nowhere that he's gonna come off the bench, right when the playoffs are about to start.

Let's be realistic here.

Smart is simply Not the Best choice.
Why not go with what works better?

We're trying to Win a Championship. Not appease a particular player.
And mind you, Smart is my Favorite Active NBA player. Has been since his Rookie Season.