Submit-All Star break questions for the Boston Celtics

All-Star Weekend has come and gone, and the video games are, mercifully, about to begin counting once more. Simply 22 common season video games stay within the 2022-23 NBA Season, and the Boston Celtics are sprinting to the end line with their lofty postseason hopes in thoughts. The Celtics are the NBA’s greatest group, however the 73-9 Warriors they don’t seem to be; there may be nonetheless lots to ponder concerning this group as we enter the canine days of the common season. As we look forward to the stretch run, lets check out a few of the key storylines the group might want to handle transferring ahead.

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Is the present wing depth adequate?

With arguably the deepest roster within the NBA, the Celtics don’t precisely have very many holes of their lineup. The commerce deadline introduced erstwhile Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder large man Mike Muscala into the fold, including wanted depth and harm insurance coverage to the frontcourt rotation, in addition to one other confirmed shooter. Now, the final level of concern lies on the wing: behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the depth chart consists of simply Sam Hauser.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a season for Hauser. He seemed like a breakthrough participant within the early weeks, when nearly no one on the group might miss pictures. Since that time, although, he’s spent a good portion of the season teetering on the sting of the rotation, although he’s bounced again to an extent in February. The e book on Hauser is pretty brief: if the threes are falling, he works; in the event that they aren’t, he doesn’t.

The Celtics’ open roster spot stays the wild card right here. They’ve a $3.2 million Disabled Participant Exception at their disposal, which means that they’ll supply a free agent more cash and a greater probability at a title than simply about every other playoff contending group. Buyout gamers are extremely unlikely to make an influence in a playoff scenario, however within the context of absorbing some common season minutes to lighten the load on the celebrities, there’s some worth to be present in gamers like Will Barton or Stanley Johnson.

Do the Celtics really feel they should add one other wing presence exterior of Hauser? Their reported curiosity in Danny Inexperienced (now with the Cleveland Cavaliers) means that they do. They’ll have till the top of the common season to find out what the correct match could also be.

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How will they handle harm issues?

It’s lucky that the Celtics have the depth they do, as a result of they haven’t been the beneficiaries of notably good harm luck. They’ve seen gamers shuttle out and in of the lineup all yr lengthy, beginning with Williams III’s 29-game absence to open the season and main right into a more moderen rash of accidents that noticed gamers like Sensible and Brown sidelined for prolonged stretches of time. It’s remarkably spectacular that the Celtics have maintained possession of the league’s greatest report regardless of their losses.

Indicators are pointing to a more healthy Celtics roster within the close to future. Sensible returned to the courtroom within the group’s ultimate recreation earlier than the break, and Brown debuted his new protecting masks within the All-Star Sport. Once they return to play in opposition to Indiana on Thursday, they’ll achieve this with a clear harm report (Gallinari however) for the primary time in weeks.

Sustaining their well being into the postseason turns into one of many group’s prime priorities down the stretch. They’ve been even handed with relaxation and harm administration so far; Horford and Williams III have traded relaxation days on back-to-backs, and so they’ve taken their time in returning gamers to the lineup after getting damage. These practices will seemingly proceed, however extra consideration must be given to purchasing relaxation for Tatum and Brown. Can they preserve the celebrities contemporary whereas sustaining successful momentum down the stretch?

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Ought to Derrick White begin?

Within the weeks main as much as the break, the story of the Celtics was the play of Derrick White. As extra of the roster hit the sidelines with accidents, White’s duty on each ends of the ground elevated immensely. He responded with a few of the greatest basketball of his NBA profession: 19 factors, six assists, 5 rebounds and a block per recreation throughout the final 12 video games earlier than the break, together with a 43% capturing mark from behind the three-point arc and the second-longest streak of at the very least two made threes within the NBA behind Steph Curry.

White’s scorching streak has naturally raised some questions on the place he ought to sit within the hierarchy of the Boston rotation. Ticketed because the seventh or eighth man on the roster coming into the season, he’s now began 51 video games for the Celtics, and he’s the one participant within the roster to have appeared in all 59. Expertise-wise, he will not be one of many 4 or 5 greatest gamers on the roster, however by way of significance, maybe solely Tatum and Brown have mattered extra.

Final season’s beginning lineup of Marcus Sensible, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford and Robert Williams III was one of many league’s greatest lineups, however it has barely been an element this season. A mixture of accidents and relaxation days has restricted the 5 to simply six video games and 29 minutes of shared courtroom time, with a less-than-impressive -1.3 internet score in that sparse period of time.

With all this taken into consideration, ought to the Celtics flip his fill-in function as a starter right into a extra everlasting one? With Tatum, Brown and Sensible locked into their beginning spots, a promotion for White must come on the expense of both Horford or Williams, sacrificing the double-big appears to be like which were on the coronary heart of the group’s latest success. White actually deserves an elevated minutes load on the wholesome roster, however till we are able to see extra of the present beginning 5 on the courtroom, it might be a untimely determination.

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Can they grasp onto the highest seed within the East?

All of those smaller questions feed into the only large one dealing with the Celtics because the common season nears its finish: can they fend off the Milwaukee Bucks and be sure that the Jap Convention Playoffs undergo Boston?

Final season’s Celtics present an inexpensive case in opposition to the significance of playoff seeding and trying to find excellent matchups. Falling wanting the highest seed, the Celtics opted to play for the second — and a first-round matchup in opposition to Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets — whereas the Bucks rested their rotation to fall to the third — and, consequently, the Chicago Bulls. They proceeded to win their method via what was most likely probably the most difficult sequence of playoff opponents doable: the Nets, Bucks and Warmth.

This yr, although, the panorama appears to be like a little bit bit completely different. There’s no Durant-shaped boogeyman lurking on the decrease finish of the convention, however the cream of the crop appears to be like extra formidable. The Bucks are hanging across the prime, using a 12-game successful streak into the break, whereas the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers are lurking with the second- and fourth-best internet scores in basketball, respectively. The Celtics presently boast the perfect street report within the NBA at 18-10, however in an particularly home-court-driven NBA season (all 4 of the East’s prime seeds have at the very least 23 wins at residence) securing residence courtroom for the postseason can be phenomenally helpful.