Analyzing the Celtics Starting Lineup

The Starting Lineup Woes

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    The Celtics shocked a lot of their fans with the lineup that they went with on opening night, the lineup of Smart, Brown, Tatum, Thompson, and Theis. With the the NBA going smaller over the past several years, it was odd to see the Celtics start two centers. Although it is early in the season, and it is clear that these two bigs won't start when Kemba is back, it is interesting to look at how this lineup has faired so far. 

    Over three games this starting lineup has played a total of 30 minutes together, averaging 10 minutes per game. So far over these 30 minutes, this lineup is -18, meaning teams have outscore this lineup by 18 while on the court together. The starting lineup being -18 certainly is not good. Right now Boston currently sits at 14th in offensive rating and 26th in defensive rating. You expect the offensive to improve when Kemba is back and healthy, but in the meantime how will they improve as a team?

    Out of the top 5 most played lineups that the Stevens has ran so far this year, one really sticks out to me. The reason it sticks out to me is because it is what I expected the Celtics starting lineup to be without Kemba. It is the lineup of Smart, Brown, Tatum, Grant, and Thompson. This lineup has only played 7 minutes together, but has faired better than the starting lineup. This unit has a plus/minus of 0. Because of the small sample size it may not be fair to compare these two, but the latter of the two lineups has a both a better offensive and defensive rating than our current starting lineup. 

    I do think it may be time for Stevens to switch up the starting lineup, or at least switch up the rotations so the Smart/Brown/Tatum/G.Williams/Thompson lineup gets some more time on the court together. Their next game is against the Pacers on the 29th, hopefully we see a bit of a mix up with their rotations.