It’s officially time for the Celtics entire roster to get some rest with the Olympics coming to an end earlier this week. With the start of training camp just over a month away, let’s get to a busy mailbag featuring questions on Kristaps Porzingis and the bigs heading into next year. If you have questions about the Celtics or NBA, email brobb@masslive.com or tweet @briantrobb
Do Celtics starters log any playing time in preseason? Seems rest should be the priority? — Matt
Absolutely. With the preseason trimmed down to five games and a couple of those being international showcases you can bet the starters will log some time in both of those contests abroad. Not heavy minutes but enough to showcase some talent and start building up some endurance. Once the Celtics come back to the states, they will have three preseason games in four games so the odds are that one of those games will be somewhat of a dress rehearsal while the rest will go to the bench. I’d put the starters playing in three of the games total in the preseason while the veterans within that group (Al Horford, Jrue Holiday) playing no more than two.
Any chance Blake Griffin ends up on the coaching staff? Seems like he’s still tight with the troops. — Corin B
The bond is real for Blake with Boston as evidenced by his officiating Payton Pritchard’s wedding last weekend. However, it’s hard to foresee Griffin coaching in his future despite his ties to this group. He made boatloads of money throughout his career and has been involved in several off the court ventures already on the TV and comedy front. Based on that and his desire to spend time with his children (something that kept him retired last season as the Celtics tried to push him to make a return), the life of a coach with traveling, etc. probably doesn’t hold much appeal to him right now. Maybe things change when his kids grow up but wouldn’t bet on it at this point.
Did single game tickets already go on sale or just the schedule released? — Kevin P
It was just the schedule release on Thursday. Single game tickets go on sale next week according to the Celtics.
Hello Brian. Since the Celtics have the least amount of back to backs in the league, can they afford to give both Al and KP the days off since they have Queta Kornet Tillman and even Watson if they use him? — Truthfaustino
I think they will be able to get away with that against some opponents like we saw last season. Luke Kornet in particular put up impressive numbers when he played starter-level minutes in a few spot starts so I expect Joe Mazzulla to be willing to do that again. The expectation here would be that the team tries to stagger the rest nights for Horford/Porzingis once Porzingis returns to the lineup since that helps with spreading the minutes around while staying competitive in the win column. Ultimately, Brad Stevens liked what he got from his backup bench rotation last year though and doubled down on that group even with some intriguing alternatives available.
Those guys have certainly earned the right to keep those minutes after how they played last year so the key will be whether there is any drop-off within that group. Al Horford will be starting much more this year with the Porzingis injury but his minutes need to keep trending down (25 minutes per game would be ideal) so whoever emerges out of the Kornet/Tillman/Queta group will get plenty of run. Two guys within that group should play regularly in the first two months and it could be all three depending on matchups. I wouldn’t expect Watson to get any real run unless he shows something in the preseason and Mazzulla wants to experiment with some smaller looks. Traditionally, he’s been a proponent of keeping more size on the floor though and the roster reflects that.
How big an issue is Tillman’s left knee? My thought is he’s much better than a vet min backup, but his knees and limited playing time hold him back. Thoughts? —CFbhoopsA
His durability is certainly the biggest question mark in his career right now. He got a couple of guaranteed years to stay in Boston but likely turned down more money elsewhere to do so for an opportunity at bigger minutes and a chance to repeat. The Celtics won’t need to play him big minutes on any night but his versatility as a defender makes him pivotal on nights Al Horford isn’t available. The team will likely be cautious with him on back-to-backs for this reason if those knee issues keep flaring up but he’s certainly someone that could emerge ahead of Luke Kornet on the depth chart in training camp at center if he stays healthy.
How many points will Jayson Tatum score against the Warriors this year? Over/under 100.5 — Dan L
I’ll take the under but I have Nov 6th circled as the game of the year at TD Garden when Steve Kerr comes to town.
