Our Opening Day 15-Man Roster Boston Celtics Roster

Assuming no trades which, with Danny, is not a safe thing to do.  Nevertheless...


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In signing recent second-round picks Abdel Nader + Semi Ojeleye, Celtics’ 15-man roster will look like this:






bob
MY NOTE:  We went from being overloaded with Ball-Handlers to being light on Ball-Handlers and heavy on Wings.  Expect the ball to be in Gordon Hayward's hands a lot and Jaylen Brown to play a lot of 2 when the guards are bigger on the other team.  Zizic is our only 7'er.  Not crazy about that.  Yabby is unsigned as yet, but there is talk as if it is a done deal.  The average age of this team is 24.5 years old.  That is REALLY young.  Furthermore, only 6 of these 15 players were on the team last year. That's a 60% turnover of a team that made the EC Finals. Someone needs to take the clicker out of Danny's hands...




.

where are the swings?

Morris
Tatum
Yabusle

belong there.

kdp59 wrote:where are the swings?

Morris
Tatum
Yabusle

belong there.

kdp,

Brad has now said he might even be able to shrink it down to 3 positions: ball-handlers, wings and bigs and eliminate the 'swings' category altogether. I guess that's what Forsberg did.


bob


.

Height no longer really matters. This is really going to take some getting used to. It doesn't mean that really tall people won't be playing, just that more and more they are going to have a skill set like Dirk.

Like has been said, this is a wholesale turnover of the roster of the top seed in the East last season. This is unprecedented. They have all bought in on the new NBA and this roster proves it.

I really like this roster. This is going to be a fun season with a very entertaining lineup. Every one on this roster can play. They all have skills that complement team basketball and many can take it to another level. Every one of these 15 people are going to see playing time thus reducing fatigue in the all important second season. Out with the old and in with the new!

Like last year put me down for 60 wins. Making the ECF isn't good enuf.

17goingon18

We all will miss Avery and some of us will miss KO, but I think Morris for Olynyk is a push and Hayward for Bradley is what it is. Tatum should get minutes right away . Is anybody really lamenting the loss of Mickey, Jackson , Zeller, Young, Amir(maybe a little), Gerald Green (likewise).Unfamiliarity will cost some games early on , but I, for one, think the current roster has the potential to be far better than last years, turnover be damned. The Celtics were clearly not the beast of the east last year, so standing pat, in my opinion, was not an option. Whether Ainge is a genius, a fool, or somewhere in between will ultimately depend on Tatum plus next year's pick obtained from Philly versus Fultz and Bradley vs. Hayward.

I'm really curious to who starts at 2 and 3?

cowens/oldschool wrote:I'm really curious to who starts at 2 and 3?

I don't think there are NBA positions anymore. As hard as it has been for me to grasp this new reality, it seems to be the way things are now.

I keep seeing Horford, Morris, Crowder, Hayward and Thomas as the players who get the most minutes and as probable starters most of the year. going back to Brads' original "position less" basketball, we have one big, one swing, two wings and ball handler with that five.

trying to pry them into the old 1 thru 5 positions doesn't work well.

kdp,
try looking at it the opposite way. instead of trying to pry them into the old positions, try viewing it as this is where they are coming from. We have quite a few 6'8"-6'9" players who used to be PF and C. Guys that height are usually playing smaller but players like DT and GY are not candidates to be wings they are bigs even tho they are shorter. It's about skills now, not size. IMO of course.

yes...the size matters less on the current NBA. Thus we see Milwaukee and Philly going with guys 6-10 or taller as their primary ball handlers.

I think Danny has done a good job of building a team that can play in today's NBA right now.

the fact that he has done it without mortgaging most of the future assets is kind amazing to me.

we should be one of the top 4 teams in the NBA this coming year AND could potentially have TWO top 5 picks in next years draft to boot.

Toronto stood pat , Cleveland is shuffling the deck chairs now, Washington has depth problems still, Philly is two years away IF they can stay healthy. NO reason to think we won't be competing in the East final again this coming year, barring injuries of course.

Well, 6 of the 15 players were on last year's roster, that is true. But, the guys we added, Hayward, Morris and Baynes are arguably better than the guys we let go. And the 6 holdovers should all play significant minutes, unlike the Young's, Mickey's and Zeller's of the world.
Brown is a year older, and should see his role expand. Anyone doubt Tatum's talents?
Thies and Zizic have not played NBA ball, but held significant roles on their pro teams last year, and may have been playing against better competition than the NCAA kids.
I see question marks as Nader, Semi, Tatum, Zizic, Yabba and Theis. Tatum, as I said before, I think is for real and Zizic is what he is. If Nader and Semi are our "worst" players, that is quite a team!

According to the projected 15 man roster 9 of the 15 are new players.  Nadar and to a lesser degree Yabusele played in the same system in Maine.

The sheer number of new faces is very likely to create chemistry issues.  It could take an extended period of time before the new players learn to play in the system on both offense and defense and learn how to play together.

Try as I may to wrap my head around the 3 positional designations, they ignore what certain players actually do.

You have players that are wings but they are also ball handlers such as Hayward and Tatum for example.

You have guys listed as wings like Morris and Crowder.  Morris is not a wing.  He is a big.

In the end they will have 5 guys on the court at the same time and they will have to match up with certain players on the other team.  

After all of the off season moves the team added a very versatile player in Hayward which should be good on offense but they still have not added a quality big to provide rim protection.

I also think the team may struggle on offense shooting their beloved 3 ball. Hayward and Bradley cancel each other out when it comes to 3 point shooting.  The Celtics have not improved their 3 point shooting overall.  They drafted Tatum and his 3 point shooting coming out of college was very average.  Morris is a below average shooter.  Zizic has no range and neither does Baynes.  Nadar and Semi will not get a lot of game time.  Yabu could develop into a decent shooter from range.  Jaylen Brown , Rozier and Smart were all below average 3 point shooters.

How will this impact a team that puts up 34 three point shots per game?  Time will tell.

I think that there are 2 areas where Boston will realize improvement.  They should be a better rebounding team and Hayward will take a lot of pressure off of IT which will give them more diversity.  

Adding 9 new players generally is not the ideal thing to do.  

While the focus is on beating the Cavs, the Raptors are equally problematic for Boston.   And Washington will be a tough out anytime they play them.

The big advantage that those teams have over the Celtics is continuity.  

dboss

So who would you start at wing, Hayward-Crowder, Hayward-Brown, Tatum-Hayward? We will no longer have a short SG, I like Hayward and Brown getting the minutes there. I like Crowder, but if he's avg more minutes than Brown or Tatum in the second half of season that's a 
bad sign. Crowder doesn't have enough offensive firepower to be a starting wing/SF on a championship team. I hope by second half of season Brown and Tatum are earning a lot of minutes with their play/production.

Hayward and JC likely to start and after Brad realizes that will not work look for Brown to become a starter. Look for Jae to be traded.

Dboss

Agreed dboss

I really think by February Jae will not be here no matter what Danny and Brad say. They have been quoted as saying he is an integral part of what they are doing. I think they are saying this to smooth the ruffled feathers with Jae.

dboss wrote:According to the projected 15 man roster 9 of the 15 are new players.  Nadar and to a lesser degree Yabusele played in the same system in Maine.

The sheer number of new faces is very likely to create chemistry issues.  It could take an extended period of time before the new players learn to play in the system on both offense and defense and learn how to play together.

Try as I may to wrap my head around the 3 positional designations, they ignore what certain players actually do.

You have players that are wings but they are also ball handlers such as Hayward and Tatum for example.

You have guys listed as wings like Morris and Crowder.  Morris is not a wing.  He is a big.


In the end they will have 5 guys on the court at the same time and they will have to match up with certain players on the other team.  

After all of the off season moves the team added a very versatile player in Hayward which should be good on offense but they still have not added a quality big to provide rim protection.

I also think the team may struggle on offense shooting their beloved 3 ball. Hayward and Bradley cancel each other out when it comes to 3 point shooting.  The Celtics have not improved their 3 point shooting overall.  They drafted Tatum and his 3 point shooting coming out of college was very average.  Morris is a below average shooter.  Zizic has no range and neither does Baynes.  Nadar and Semi will not get a lot of game time.  Yabu could develop into a decent shooter from range.  Jaylen Brown , Rozier and Smart were all below average 3 point shooters.

How will this impact a team that puts up 34 three point shots per game?  Time will tell.

I think that there are 2 areas where Boston will realize improvement.  They should be a better rebounding team and Hayward will take a lot of pressure off of IT which will give them more diversity.  

Adding 9 new players generally is not the ideal thing to do.  

While the focus is on beating the Cavs, the Raptors are equally problematic for Boston.   And Washington will be a tough out anytime they play them.

The big advantage that those teams have over the Celtics is continuity.  

dboss

Perhaps we will be the team forcing matchup issues

beat

From 2006-7 to 2007-8 the Celts changed 9 players from the roster. How did that work out?

2006-7
42 Tony Allen

4 Ryan Gomes

5 Gerald Green

7 Al Jefferson

41 Michael Olowokandi

43 Kendrick Perkins

34 Paul Pierce

51 Kevinn Pinkney

0 Leon Powe

50 Theo Ratliff

12 Allan Ray

9 Rajon Rondo

44 Brian Scalabrine

55 Wally Szczerbiak

30 Sebastian Telfair

13 Delonte West


2007-8
20 Ray Allen

42 Tony Allen

93 P.J. Brown

28 Sam Cassell

11 Glen Davis

5 Kevin Garnett

50 Eddie House

43 Kendrick Perkins

34 Paul Pierce

66 Scot Pollard

41 James Posey

0 Leon Powe

13 Gabe Pruitt

9 Rajon Rondo

44 Brian Scalabrine

bobheckler wrote:Assuming no trades which, with Danny, is not a safe thing to do.  Nevertheless...


Chris Forsberg‏Verified account
@ESPNForsberg
Follow
More
In signing recent second-round picks Abdel Nader + Semi Ojeleye, Celtics’ 15-man roster will look like this:






bob
MY NOTE:  We went from being overloaded with Ball-Handlers to being light on Ball-Handlers and heavy on Wings.  Expect the ball to be in Gordon Hayward's hands a lot and Jaylen Brown to play a lot of 2 when the guards are bigger on the other team.  Zizic is our only 7'er.  Not crazy about that.  Yabby is unsigned as yet, but there is talk as if it is a done deal.  The average age of this team is 24.5 years old.  That is REALLY young.  Furthermore, only 6 of these 15 players were on the team last year.  That's a 60% turnover of a team that made the EC Finals.  Someone needs to take the clicker out of Danny's hands...




.

Three PGs should be plenty.

Was away but surprised to hear of Nader's deal.  Thought someone was putting me on.

Morris is really a big.

Would be surprised to see Yabusele and Theis open with the team this fall.

Expecting to see some further changes if a better big or two can be found.  If.  Hopefully.

Morris will be used as more of a big than a wing player considering the lack of NBA experience of all the bigs on our roster other than Horford.

Break out year coming for Terry Rozier.

worcester wrote:From 2006-7 to 2007-8 the Celts changed 9 players from the roster. How did that work out?

2006-7
42 Tony Allen

4 Ryan Gomes

5 Gerald Green

7 Al Jefferson

41 Michael Olowokandi

43 Kendrick Perkins

34 Paul Pierce

51 Kevinn Pinkney

0 Leon Powe

50 Theo Ratliff

12 Allan Ray

9 Rajon Rondo

44 Brian Scalabrine

55 Wally Szczerbiak

30 Sebastian Telfair

13 Delonte West


2007-8
20 Ray Allen

42 Tony Allen

93 P.J. Brown

28 Sam Cassell

11 Glen Davis

5 Kevin Garnett

50 Eddie House

43 Kendrick Perkins

34 Paul Pierce

66 Scot Pollard

41 James Posey

0 Leon Powe

13 Gabe Pruitt

9 Rajon Rondo

44 Brian Scalabrine

It worked out badly the first year and great the second.

The 06-07 team lost 18 straight games. The 07-08 team caught lightning in a bottle. Adding 2 future Hall of Famers made that a reality. We are not adding 2 future HF's this year.

The chemistry issue is a legit concern. It does not mean that they will lack chemistry but it does recognize that multiple roster changes may impact chemistry.

dboss

my biggest worry is that this could be a very YOUNG team? Relying on Brown and Tatum for minutes that were held by KO and Avery, But, I feel that there may be one more move to make to stabilize the veteran leadership on this team. If not, we may stumble out of the blocks. They have to learn who to trust when, we saw that with Al for a while last year, yet, by the second half of the season they knew how integral a part of this team he was.

Am I wrong in my thinking???

RosalieTCeltics wrote:my biggest worry is that this could be a very YOUNG team? Relying on Brown and Tatum for minutes that were held by KO and Avery, But, I feel that there may be one more move to make to stabilize the veteran leadership on this team. If not, we may stumble out of the blocks. They have to learn who to trust when, we saw that with Al for a while last year, yet, by the second half of the season they knew how integral a part of this team he was.  

Am I wrong in my thinking???

Avery was replaced by Hayward. That is an improvement.
Kelly was replaced by Morris. That is also an improvement.

Thomas, Hayward, Crowder, Morris, Horford. That's our starting five. They are all veterans. No worries there.

Smart, Rozier, Brown, Tatum, Baynes. That is our immediate bench. Getting younger, but not too bad.

The rest of the team is where we get younger and less experienced.

gyso

Rosalie, replacing Kelly with Brown does not worry me a bit.

Maybe not, have you seen the video's that Brown has on you tube about what he is doing to build his body up to where they feel it should be. It is not the old days of riding a bike, running on the treadmill, jogging, lifting weights.

I guess this is what they are referring to as "Sports Science". The trainers of today are so highly schooled in this new stuff. This could be why Bryan Doo and Ed Lacerte are no longer with the team. New blood is needed from time to time with educated, up to date physical training.