Author Topic: Can the Celtics dictate future style of play in the NBA?  (Read 365 times)

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Can the Celtics dictate future style of play in the NBA?
« on: May 17, 2017, 06:50:50 AM »

Offline Green-18

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I'm not sure how plausible this is but does anyone think there's a way for the Celtics to put together a long term contender with IT, Fultz, Bradley, and Smart together?  Part of me believes they have an opportunity to dictate how most of the league matches up with them.  In a perfect world Marcus and Avery would be able to play a decent amount of minutes at the SF spot against most teams.  By no means am I saying that this lineup could work consistently against Cleveland or Golden State for an entire series.  However, during the regular season I feel like we would be in the drivers seat with small lineups against 80% of the league.  This would keep everyone fresh and ensure that minutes would be available for the regular season.  Jaylen will ultimately develop into the starting SF but there's no reason he couldn't play a bulk of his minutes at the PF spot to spell whoever our starter would be.  A lot of this is dependent upon a number of factors below.

1. Is Marcus 100% ready to accept his career as the Swiss army knife off the bench?  His ability to play 3 positions off the bench and provide elite perimeter defense makes him a perfect fit for this style of team.

2. Avery Bradley - As long as he gets a fair contract from us is he willing to becoming a 6th man scorer/defender off the bench in 3 years?  Andre Iguodala is a perfect example of a player who transitioned to a lesser role at a relatively young age in order to be part of a winner.  Would Avery sacrifice to be part of a perennial contender?  This might also limit his injuries and extend his career

3. Who do we have as a future PF/C?  This is obviously the most difficult questions to answer.  It would be nice to have a player who could play both the 4 and 5.  This would allow Horford to limit his regular season minutes and Jaylen could take 10+ minutes at the 4. 

4. This entire idea operates under the assumption that Fultz reaches his full potential
 
I doubt that this ends up being our future direction but part of me loves the idea of having Avery and Smart as perimeter defenders against Golden State.