By this point it is pretty well documented that the Boston Celtics have an extremely deep team especially in the frontcourt. With the regular season right around the corner there are many questions about who will start and how much playing time each person will get and Brad Stevens did offer some sort of clarity on that topic. As of right now it seems like Stevens plans to start Tyler Zeller alongside David Lee in the frontcourt, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England.
Stevens did not come straight out and say that Zeller will be the starter but there were some big hints that that will be the case. Stevens said that he is pretty set on which combinations of big men he will use during the game and so far this preseason he has played Zeller with Lee and Amir Johnson with Kelly Olynyk. Lee is a virtual lock to start as Stevens said the Celtics plan to run their offense through him so if you logically look at it, it would seem Zeller is likely going to start too.
Coming into this offseason it seemed as though Lee might start alongside Johnson just because of their big contracts but they are both true power forwards so it makes sense to play each of them alongside a true center.
Another interesting part of Stevens' comments about his big men was the fact that he does plan to go more than four deep in any given game.
"My thought right now is we won't play more than four on most nights. Whoever those four may be, may depend on the night, may depend on how they're playing, may depend on who is healthy," said Stevens.
This could mean that Jared Sullinger and Jonas Jerebko are the odd men out for the most part. Sullinger is entering a contract year and is reportedly in great shape so it will be tough to leave that kind of production on the bench but Stevens seems like he will do that. This kind of depth works out great for Stevens and the team as a whole as they should be able to cope with an injury well but it will leave at least one or two players unhappy with their playing time.
Zeller, like all of the other options at the Celtics disposal, is definitely deserving of a starting spot as he was very good for the Celtics a year ago. The 25 year old averaged 10.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game in his third NBA season and should be able to increase that production even more with more playing time.
