PLYMOUTH, Mass. – A seemingly non-stop flurry of transactions last season left Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens no choice but to constantly shuffle his lineup.
But the roster Stevens goes to training camp with this year could see very little change, and that still might not be enough to prevent players from being shuffled in and out of the rotation this season.
Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, acknowledges figuring out who to go with on a nightly basis will not be easy.
“That’s going to be a challenge for our coaching staff,” Ainge said. “You’re probably going to see a lot of different combinations through training camp scrimmages and in exhibition games and see who plays best together.
Fortunately for Stevens, he’s no stranger to putting together lineups that rapidly change from one night to the next.
“It’ll be interesting,” Stevens said. “The one thing I’m not going to do is predetermine. We’ll see how it all plays out and go from there.”
Stevens added, “The most important thing we can do and promote at the start of training camp is we’re going to compete to be our best. That’s going to mean that we’re going to have to play really well.”
And figuring which players can play well together, is what training camp and the preseason are all about.
The Celtics will begin training camp later this week with legitimate competition at every position – a departure from Boston teams in recent years.
“Last year there were a few guys that were locked into positions and maybe starting lineup,” Ainge said. “But this year, it’s wide open.”
Added Stevens, “it’s a long season. A lot of things happen. We’ll figure out who fits with each other and put our best group out there for the Celtics.”