The Celtics’ most interesting lineup options for next season

Entering the 2018-19 season, the Boston Celtics have one of the more intriguing rosters in the NBA. Not only do they have a number of established stars in Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Al Horford, they also have three of the league’s most promising young players in Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier, all of whom have seemingly unlimited potential. Add a few very good role players and they project to be one of the best teams in the league next year, ready to fill the spot in the NBA Finals that a LeBron James-led team has occupied for the last eight years.

Yet there is uncertainty about how this team will fit together, how all these good players will get the minutes they are worthy of, especially considering that Hayward only played five minutes last season and Irving missed 22 games and the entirety of the playoffs due to injury. Here a few lineups that Celtics fans should expect to see, and a few others that they may not see at all, but would just be interesting.

The starting lineup

Kyrie Irving – Jaylen Brown – Jayson Tatum – Gordon Hayward – Al Horford

This is the Celtics’ presumptive starting lineup for the coming season and it certainly looks imposing. Three of the five players here are proven All-Star level talents while the other two are not far away from being at that level themselves. There is a bit of awkwardness positionally here as Brown, Tatum, and Hayward are all natural small forwards but the fluidity of the Celtics offense will likely erase any potential for confusion. Nevertheless, this is a lineup that projects to be stellar both offensively and defensively as all five players are proven scorers who are adept at putting the ball in the hoop from seemingly anywhere on the floor and Horford is a tremendous defensive anchor who can make up for the deficiencies of Irving on that side of the floor. It may not be the best starting lineup in the league this upcoming season, but it’s not terribly far behind.

The all defense lineup

Terry Rozier – Marcus Smart – Jaylen Brown – Jayson Tatum – Aron Baynes

Last season, the Celtics led the league in defensive efficiency, allowing just 101.5 points per 100 possessions. These five players had the five lowest individual defensive ratings of the Celtics’ returning players last season so it makes intuitive sense that, collectively, they’d be pretty much impossible to score on. This lineup would also double as a fun look at their younger players as it prominently features Rozier, Tatum, Brown, and Smart who are all 24 or younger. If the Celtics have a decent lead and are trying to hang on to it, it would make sense for them to turn to these five players in the hopes of avoiding sacrificing enough points for their opponent to close the gap.

The all new dad lineup

Gordon Hayward – Jayson Tatum – Marcus Morris – Al Horford – Aron Baynes

Near the start of last season, the Celtics went on a 17-game winning streak, and now, nine months later, three Celtics have had children this summer — Aron Baynes, Marcus Morris, and Al Horford. As Terry Rozier so eloquently and memorably put it, the Celtics were doing more than winning basketball games nine months ago: “we was winning on and off the court.” Dads seem to have a distinct way of seeing the world, a unique sense of style and humor that often seems inane to outsiders, but makes perfect sense to those in the know.

Perhaps this lineup of dads would have a natural chemistry that would show itself on both sides of the floor, making them impossible to stop. More likely though, this lineup would suffer from an awkward lack of spacing and playmaking as pretty much everyone would be out of position — any lineup that features Marcus Morris at the 3 and Gordon Hayward as point guard probably shouldn’t actually be utilized by any NBA team.

The all shooters lineup

Kyrie Irving – Terry Rozier – Jaylen – Jaylen Brown – Jayson Tatum – Al Horford

These five players can all shoot 3’s very well, with none of them shooting worse than 38 percent from 3 last season. You could also slide in Gordon Hayward at one of the forward positions as well as he shot nearly 40 percent from 3 on over five attempts per game in his last season as a member of the Utah Jazz. The spacing of this lineup would be nearly impossible for any team to defend, especially when factoring in the playmaking abilities that all five members possess. It’s unlikely that Rozier and Irving will play together a ton this upcoming season, but it would be worth the Celtics exploring that possibility in small bursts considering how uniquely gifted both are at creating shots both for themselves and for others.

The Death Lineup

Kyrie Irving – Marcus Smart – Jaylen Brown – Gordon Hayward – Jayson Tatum

Ever since the Warriors won the 2015 championship, largely propelled by their now infamous Death Lineup featuring Draymond Green at center, many teams have been hoping to build their own replica of it. The Celtics did not go small a ton last season. Really, the closest they came was playing Al Horford at the 5 which is to say not that close at all. Also, they played at a slower pace than most, finishing as the 22nd-fastest team in the league. Injecting this lineup for spot situations would be a blast, a way to inject immediate speed and offensive firepower. They could switch everything on defense, with Smart playing the Draymond role of disrupting the other offense, preventing them from capitalizing on the inevitable size advantage. Also, they would be very difficult to guard both in transition and in the half court. Okay, so last year none of these players played a single minute as center, but why should they let that stop them?

The Cocaine Lineup

Marcus Smart – Terry Rozier – Jaylen Brown – Semi Ojeleye – Robert Williams

I consulted with renowned Celtics and coolness expert, the Riffs Man (@HebertofRiffs) about which lineups would be the coolest possible. He referred to this as the “most cocaine lineup,” and while I can’t really say why, it makes complete sense — although I’m highly doubtful any of these five players have ever had cocaine in their lives. On a purely basketball level, though, this lineup would be pretty good too. The Rozier/Williams pick-and-roll would be hard to stop and Brown would be waiting in the corner for kickout passes as the help sneaks in to defend the rolling Williams. But not only would it be effective, it’d be a real cool time.