While a new regular season is only a couple weeks away, the Boston Celtics in terms of its rotation depth will look similar to what we’ve seen in past years for Brad Stevens-coached teams.
Like most teams in the preseason, Stevens is emptying the bench with a much smaller player rotation in mind when the games start to count.
“Ten (players) is what we usually play at the start of the season,” Stevens said. “It could be eight to ten, nine to ten.”
And for those who may initially be out of the rotation, there’s still a need for them be prepare as though they will play.
“We have to have everybody ready to go,” said Stevens who added, “and some days it’ll be a solid eight plus 2 (players) but that plus 2 may change game to game depending on who we’re playing, how they played against them, how they played in practice, how they played the game before.”
One of the challenges Boston had last season was finding enough time for a roster whose depth could have allowed Stevens to easily play 12 or so players every night.
But doing so would prove challenging in terms of developing team continuity and chemistry.
Boston Celtics
And while it may become an issue at times this season, it’s the kind of problem that most teams would love to have.
“Anytime you can get to a solid eight or nine in a rotation, that’s beneficial,” Stevens said.