The Boston Celtics have a new and improved team since they last took the court in a meaningful game last season. It’s important to know that things are going to look different this year for the Celtics.

GM Brad Stevens made the tough decision to part ways with Marcus Smart, who was the longest tenured player on the team, along with Robert Williams, Grant Williams, and Malcolm Brogdon to name a few of Boston’s important players from just a season ago who are no longer with the team.

Stevens cleaning up the roster allowed the Celtics to acquire Kristaps Porzingis and eventually landed Jrue Holiday into his lap, which was a long wait for Stevens and the Celtics. Boston also signed Oshae Brissett, Dalano Banton, Svi Mykhailiuk, Lamar Stevens, and drafted Jordan Walsh to fill their bench.

It’s important for the starting lineup to be consistent throughout the season. There’s a lot of new players and the chemistry might not be as crisp as we’re used to seeing from this group.

The important thing to keep in mind is Al Horford and his minutes. If the goal is to have him fresh for the playoffs while continuing his routine of not playing in back-to-backs, then it doesn’t make sense to have him in the starting lineup.

It makes sense to have a single-big starting lineup featuring two guards: Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis.

We saw a glimpse of what the Celtics look like with Horford coming off the bench during their preseason game against the New York Knicks where he scored eight points in 23 minutes and said he enjoyed doing it.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla isn’t worried about the starting lineup. He believes the first five minutes of a game aren’t as important as the last five minutes or any other point throughout a game. Mazzulla doesn’t want to make a big deal of the starting lineup and has used the word sacrifice all offseason.

It’s worth mentioning the starting lineup will change from time-to-time on a matchup based, situational decision. There will be times where starting double-big with Porzingis and Horford will be necessary but it shouldn’t be an every game occurrence.

The overall rotation will be Payton Pritchard as the backup guard. Sam Hauser will likely check in for Tatum and then Horford will do the same for Porzingis.

It’ll be an eight-man rotation on most nights depending on the overall lineup. If Boston run double-big, that automatically makes Luke Kornet the backup in that game. It also makes White or Holiday come off the bench, which impacts Pritchard getting on the court in that game.

There’s many variables within the roster this season but it’s a good problem to have. This is going to be a fun season and I’m looking forward to getting it started.

-Justin Trombino

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Photo Credit: Boston Celtics