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Which 3 Players Start next to Brown and White, Opening Night, 2025?
(There's an extra choice in the Poll, due to there being so many options.)

Who Fills in the Rotation, off the Bench?

I'm thinking that the Starters will be.:
Pritchard - White - Brown - Tillman - Queta


With a 5-Member Bench of.:
Simons - González - Hauser - Boucher - Garza

Deep Bench.:
Scheierman - Walsh - Minott

Two-Ways.:
Shulga - Luis - Williams

(Not so sure that Shulga and Luis will stay as Two-Ways.)

Interesting question. If we're talking opening night of the preseason, I'll predict: Queta, Boucher, White, Brown Simons

For opening night of reg season, I don't know, but that uncertainty is actually pretty exciting. If Josh Minott or Sam Hauser or Luka Garza is just awesome over the preseason, could a surprise player force their way onto opening night's starting lineup? Possibly.

I think Joe is going to experiment for a while early on so there may not be anything set. But if I had my way, Simons, Boucher, and Queta start with them. If we wanna start out fast and dynamic I think the double-big with Boucher helps with the glass. Boucher plays that "free safety role" on D. I think there's spacing with that group. I think they fill lanes and have finishers with that group. Both JB and Simons can iso on mismatches and create defensive rotation. Just think that's a good starting point.

Will not be opposed to Pritchard getting that spot either if Joe deems it so. Pritchard is gonna be feisty, handsy, and I think willing to gamble a little more for steals and having the 2 bigs behind him to protect him when he gambles is gonna be important. Either way, I see PP being a blur in transition and getting the ball to finishers on the break and setting guys up for lobs. They're gonna take his game and make it better.

I am guessing PP, Queta, Boucher
Would not be surprised to see Simons over PP though.
If Tillman is 2023 level or better he could start instead of Boucher.
Dark horses….Minott, Garza.
Off the bench first 5: Simons, Hauser, Walsh, Minott, Tillman or Garza
If Gonzales steps it up or Scheierman makes a jump then maybe they mover up from the deep bench.
I expect Gonzales at age 19 to spend a lot of time in Maine.
The 2 ways….we will see if there is a Queta or a Hauser type that can earn PT.

I think Joe will go with:
PP, White, Brown, Hauser and Queta.

Our best starting 5 might be:
Simons or PP, White, Brown, Boucher and Queta

Our top 7 should be: Brown, White, PP, Simons, Queta, Boucher and Hauser.

8-10 should be a battle between: Garza, Tillman, Baylor, Minnot and Walsh.

I expect nothing from Hugo in the 1st part of the season, except for good showings in Maine. If he gives us something in his first few months, then it's a bonus. There is no reason to rush him. He needs a lot of reps and Maine will be the best option for that.

Preseason should give us a little better idea of the battle for spots 8-10.

I'm still:
Starters (positional order) - Pritchard, White, Brown, Boucher, Queta
Backups (MPG order) - Simons, Hauser, Garza, Minott, Scheierman

Queta
Simons
Hauser

Pritch stays in the 6th man, energy guy off the bench role.

Beyond those 6, idk..I'm very curious to see how things look in preseason.

Queta, Boucher, Hauser. Queta really needs to take a big leap. Less high on him than I was last season but has the physical tools but maybe not what it takes between the ears. Hauser needs to show he isn't just one dimensional player who only shows up against scrub teams. Needs to rebound better, make quicker decisions when he's not shooting, and play more physical. Boucher is just a band aid until Tatum comes back or they address this disaster of a front court. Below average starter for sure.

I'm lame and can't decide on what Joe does with Simons/Pritchard.

I'd go Simons, I guess. Give him the best opportunity to shine surrounded by the other starters. Will help him on both ends. O due to attention elsewhere, D due to playing with the guys who've been here the longest. Gives you the best chance to evaluate him and/or increase his value.

Queta, Boucher seems like the odds on favorites for the other 2 spots, though.

Pritchard, Walsh, Hauser, Minott, Garza could be pretty interesting. Rough on PP being the only true ball handler, but enough wing D (potentially) and shooting. And you probably have a starter in there as needed. X, Baylor, Hugo used situationally unless they beat one of the other guys out.

I really want Walsh to emerge. He feels possibly a little too wild yet, but now's the time to bring it all together for him.

I'm over here pondering on how Brad/Joe think about basketball, how the cornerstone principle of their entire philosophy of ball ... is that a 3 point shooting big man creates spacing for the guards/wings to attack ...

I'm starting to think maybe Luka Garza is gonna be the starter and Neemi, plays a lot of minutes as the backup

So I'm hedging now on my prediction. Maybe Queta WON'T be the starter ... hmmm

redslastlaugh wrote:Interesting question. If we're talking opening night of the preseason, I'll predict: Queta, Boucher, White, Brown Simons

For opening night of reg season, I don't know, but that uncertainty is actually pretty exciting. If Josh Minott or Sam Hauser or Luka Garza is just awesome over the preseason, could a surprise player force their way onto opening night's starting lineup? Possibly.

Okay, Celtics practice has the green playing against the grey.
The five wearing green are JB, D White, PP, Sam, Queta

could that be the starting group?

I don't like Hauser in there. Prefer someone bigger.
I'm still hoping that Tillman can come back and be productive enough to Start.

Though, it's Queta, Pritchard and Boucher, leading the Poll.
Looks like Simons and Hauser first off the Bench, Poll-wise.



Training Camp, Short.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nxTEhFnuU84

Parliament10 wrote:[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nxTEhFnuU84

Love this video..so cool to see the guys all having fun!

Looks like this game helps with agility, balance and hand-eye coordination.

Also a fun way for the guys to bond while also being active.

Good stuff.

redslastlaugh wrote:Okay, Celtics practice has the green playing against the grey.
The five wearing green are JB, D White, PP, Sam, Queta

could that be the starting group?

Read on Twitter

That's the starters I expect. I said that a few posts above. I would be surprised if that wasn't the starting 5. I could see Joe going with Boucher instead Hauser against bigger lineups. Or maybe even Garza or Tillman as a double big to pair with Queta.

White Brown Hauser Boucher Queta lineup seems pretty interesting.
Bench is a bit unbalanced with PP, Simons, Minot, Tillman, Garza…

Start the Simons for 6MOY campaign now

I can't imagine starting Pritchard over Simons.

Hal14 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Start the Simons for 6MOY campaign now

If crust and continuity ( especially on the defensive end) are the most important things to Joe, this group makes the most sense. What I dislike about starting games with this group is the size they give up in the frontcourt. I thought Sam was good defensively last year, but he was good while guarding backup 3's for 20 min a night. Throwing him into the starting lineup against starter (and sometimes All-Star level) 3s and 4s seems like a recipe for disaster. Then you negate the size and agility advantages that Jaylen brings as a defender by making him guard up agsinst some potentially 3-4 inches bigger than he is. I hate that. All to get Sam's spacing on the floor where he might hit maybe 2 more 3's a game? I don't see us running a lot of the Killer whale iso stuff and asking JB to just be Tatum. Maybe in stretches but I don't see that as a good way to start games. Maybe in clutch times at the end of games that might be a good lineup for 3-4 minutes. I wanna be more dynamic to start games. More athletic. Be a team that punches early.

bucknersrevenge wrote:

Hal14 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Start the Simons for 6MOY campaign now

If crust and continuity ( especially on the defensive end) are the most important things to Joe, this group makes the most sense. What I dislike about starting games with this group is the size they give up in the frontcourt. I thought Sam was good defensively last year, but he was good while guarding backup 3's for 20 min a night. Throwing him into the starting lineup against starter (and sometimes All-Star level) 3s and 4s seems like a recipe for disaster. Then you negate the size and agility advantages that Jaylen brings as a defender by making him guard up agsinst some potentially 3-4 inches bigger than he is. I hate that. All to get Sam's spacing on the floor where he might hit maybe 2 more 3's a game? I don't see us running a lot of the Killer whale iso stuff and asking JB to just be Tatum. Maybe in stretches but I don't see that as a good way to start games. Maybe in clutch times at the end of games that might be a good lineup for 3-4 minutes. I wanna be more dynamic to start games. More athletic. Be a team that punches early.

Hauser and JB have both shown the ability during their careers to defend 1-4. Hauser struggles sometimes with really quick, shifty 1's but that's the case for most defenders.

During his career so far with the C's, Hauser has actually played quite a bit at the 4. He's toggled between the 3 and the 4. When he's been out there in the past with Tatum, they have basically been interchangeable at the 3 and the 4. Offensively, Tatum is the 3 since he handles the ball way more than Hauser and Hauser offensively has really just operated as a stretch 4 - unless he's been out there with a double big lineup but I feel like in the past when we have gone double bigs it's mostly been with Tatum at the 3 and not Hauser..so Hauser has been essentially a 4 most of the time.

And defensively, when we've had Tatum and Hauser on the floor together I feel like generally, we put Tatum on the quicker offensive player since he's quicker so that's usually the 3, meaning Hauser is usually guarding 4's..or we just put Hauser on whichever player is less of an offensive threat to put our better defender (Tatum) on the opposing team's better offensive 3/4..which we can pretty much do the same thing this season with Hauser and Brown.

And Brown has played plenty of 3 throughout his career. He's toggled between the 2 and the 3..both of those positions are pretty much interchangeable anyways.

For the past couple of years, our go to lineup was KP/JT/JB/white/Jrue so JB was at the 3..he's played mostly the 3 (with Tatum at the 4) in recent years so that we can keep 2 of white/pritchard/jrue on the floor at all times. JB may have a little bit less of a size advantage playing the 3 but he usually has a quickness advantage if he's matched up with a bigger player.

Everything is a trade off. If you have a smaller lineup out there, sure you might think it's too small, maybe less rebounding. But on the plus side we're faster and probably have more ball handling and shooting on the floor with a smaller lineup.

And all the press coming from training camp has been that this team is gonna play faster this season - which means smaller lineups.

I've mentioned this before but the traditional PF position doesn't really exist anymore. it's mainly just like 2 or 3 teams (MIL, CLE..sometimes OKC) who play double big lineups and then the rest pretty much have a wing (like Tatum, KD, Josh Hart, Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin, PJ Washington, Kawhi, Paul George, Jerami Grant, Jalen Williams, etc.) at the 4. The trend in recent years has been more teams playing a smaller guy at the 4. In the modern era, someone like Hauser, JB or Tatum at the 4 is generally fine imo.

Lastly, not sure who you would rather see at the 4? If it's Boucher, he's an older guy on a minimum contract, has only averaged 14 and 17 MPG last couple years, he's likely not a long term piece here. May get flipped before the deadline so I don't really see him starting. Minott and Walsh can play the 4 but they're kind of undersized at the 4..we wouldn't really have much more size on the floor with 1 of them instead of Hauser so mine as well play the better player. Especially since Queta is a non-shooter so putting Walsh or Minott on the floor (both very suspect shooters) is not ideal.