The Boston Celtics have an extremely deep roster heading into the 2015-16 season, so deep that there have been talks that the Celtics might trade Jared Sullinger or Evan Turner to make room for some of their other guys. With so many players capable of doing good things for the Celtics head coach Brad Stevens will have some tough decisions to make as far as playing time goes. Stevens says that he doesn't want his usual rotation to be more than ten players but ten is okay with him, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe.
A ten man rotation would be a starter and a backup at every position and that is where training camp competitions will come into play. The Celtics will go into training camp with 20 players but four of the players are on non-guaranteed deals and are virtual locks to get cut which leaves 16 players for ten spots in the rotation and 15 spots on the roster. As for how Stevens will pick the rotation it will be both performance based and fit based.
"It's going to be not only who plays best, it's going to be who fits best, who makes other people better. If you can be a guy that when you play with Isaiah Thomas spreads the floor and lifts his game, that's a big, impactful thing. If you can be a guy when you play with some of our post guys that has to be guarded on the perimeter or is a great cutter, that's a big, impactful thing," said Stevens.
The starting lineup for the Celtics is projected to be Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Amir Johnson and David Lee. Even if one of those guys doesn't start they will be in the rotation as will Isaiah Thomas. After those six rotation locks things get more questionable as there are a lot of players who contributed a year ago that may be out of luck.
Tyler Zeller and Kelly Olynyk will likely be competing for backup center minutes while Sullinger, Jonas Jerebko and Perry Jones will likely be competing for backup power forward minutes. If Turner isn't traded he will likely have a role off the bench as will second year man James Young but then there are the rookies, Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter and Jordan Mickey who could possibly figure into the rotation as well.
All in all this is a very good problem to have if you are Brad Stevens. He has so many guys on his team that either have the talent to, or have contributed at the NBA level before that he is going to have to sit some solid NBA players on the bench for games at a time. The Celtics' training camp should be one of the most competitive in the league this year as Stevens only wants ten rotation players and those spots are going to have to be earned.
