Brad Stevens sees benched Tyler Zeller playing a 'huge role' for the Boston Celtics

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Brad Stevens sees benched Tyler Zeller playing a 'huge role' for the Boston Celtics






Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr., right, reaches for the ball against Boston Celtics center Tyler Zeller (44) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)


Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on November 14, 2015 at 11:38 AM




BOSTON -- While discussing Tyler Zeller's place on the depth chart, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens sounded almost apologetic.

A starter last year, Zeller now plays sparingly, if at all. After two straight DNP-CDs, he was called on for six first-half minutes Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Despite an early turnover he was solid as usual, grabbing two rebounds, deterring a couple of opposing layups, executing a drive-and-dish to David Lee, and making both of his shots, including an and-1 over a low-post mismatch.

In the second half, Zeller did not get off the bench. Again.

"Tyler's a really good player," Stevens said. "We just have a lot of bigs. I don't know how else to say it. We haven't shot it great so you want to play some guys that can stretch the floor and be guarded when the floor is stretched. And that leaves at least one person out."

The Celtics frontcourt depth always promised that at least one established big man would spend plenty of time watching his teammates play basketball. For now, that's Zeller.

"And I don't know that it will always be Tyler," Stevens said. "In fact, I see him playing a huge role for our team and he knows that. But nonetheless it's really hard to deal with. But we've won three of the last four games and he hasn't played as much. But he'll help us win three of four in some other stretch, and he'll play a lot."

Jared Sullinger has been Boston's best big so far. Amir Johnson's so important to the defense. Kelly Olynyk's so important to the offense. Lee is a pick-and-roll threat who has gotten the other minutes so far. Injuries will hit at some point, or maybe Stevens will just shake things up.

Zeller can play, and his time will arrive. Whenever it does, he'll be the same solid center who bothers a few shots at the rim, drains floaters like a friggin' point guard, and hardly ever screws up noticeably. But for now, he's the odd man out.

"And that's just part of what we've talked about at the beginning of the year," Stevens said. "It's not real until somebody has to do it. And then it's how they handle it. And he's handled it really like a first-class team guy."



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