Boston Celtics: Bench struggles holding the team back

For the team that a good majority of media pundits and fans alike picked to come out the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics have not lived up to expectations in 2018-19. However, with the talent on that roster, all they need to do is figure how all those players fit together in what rotations.

The Boston Celtics entered the new season believing that they:

1. Had a young, talented starting five with the versatility to hang with teams that range from the Houston Rockets to the Golden State Warriors
2. Had a bench that possessed the tough, two-way players that would outclass and out-fight the league’s second units.

The season has been filled with peaks and valleys. While their original starting five was clearly highly skilled, they did not click and rotational tweaks had to be made, shaking up both starting and bench units.

Marcus Morris dubbed the bench mob “BWA” – Bench with an Attitude. For the most part, that is largely true. Himself, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Aron Baynes (the original and intended bench core) all have earned reputations playing with energy, toughness and swagger.

It was energy, toughness and swagger that the starters were missing, so head coachBrad Stevens swapped out max money Gordon Hayward, along with up-and-coming wing Jaylen Brown for the proven grit and winning edge that Smart and Morris provide.

This has seemed to largely do the trick for the Celtics’ starters. Since the rotational change, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris lead the team in plus-minus, in that order. The fifth starter, Al Horford is seventh on the team in plus-minus, though many of his minutes come while trying to stabilize the second unit.

In theory, it made plenty of sense. Smart and Morris bring the grit the starters were missing, Hayward and Brown bring the talent, playmaking and scoring to the second unit. Starters get tougher, bench gets more skill. There may be a sense of vindication for the rotational switch due to the starter’s success, but the starters were never the issue in the first place.

Kyrie, Tatum, Horford, Hayward and Jaylen Brown are all at least above-average talent for their position, three of those five are excellent playmakers, all can stretch the floor, and all have bought in on defense. That talent, with that versatility and that playmaking and that shooting, was going to figure it out. They have all begun to hit their stride, and they are all objectively good players at this point in the season.

However, swapping out Hayward and Brown for Smart and Morris merely matched what the starters would have done, and exacerbated the issues with the second unit.

Jaylen Brown may have a great future as an offensive player in this league; the potential is certainly there. He has a 3-point shot, and he has an attack mindset, charging the rim. But his value will probably always be tied in with his defense and his ability to completely nullify an opposing team’s best wing.

Gordon Hayward, still in recovery, provides playmaking ability from the wing along with size and athleticism that makes him an effective offensive player against a multitude of defenders.

Marcus Smart is a great and willing passer, second on the team with 4.0 assists per game, and Marcus Morris uses all three levels of the game – inside, mid-range and 3-pointers, to get buckets against either bigs or wing defenders.

All four range from good to excellent defenders, and the Celtics are getting roughly the same production from Smart and Morris they would from Hayward and Brown, except the rough and tumble style of play is better served on the second unit.

Jan. 21’s game against the Miami Heat is an excellent example at how this bench fumbles away momentum that the starters earned. The Celtics were up by more than 20 after the starters had their way with the Heat in the third quarter, and then the bench allowed for Miami to get back in the game and force the starters to come back in and hold off the surging Heat. All starters had a double-digit positive plus-minus, with the lowest being Marcus Smart’s +16. The best plus-minus from the bench? Gordon Hayward’s -12.

While the Celtics escaped the Heat with a win, a common thread in Celtics losses has been atrocious bench play matched by just ho-hum starter play.

Hayward is still missing a step from his injury, and he, paired with Terry Rozier, is not enough playmaking for the bench unit to consistently get enough open looks. He is a great passer, but at this stage in the recovery process, he cannot just go into the paint, force defenses to collapse on him and find the open man like he did with so much effectiveness for the Utah Jazz.

The bench has been a problem, and there needs to be a minor shakeup just to try and activate all the potential, and to do so in the right places. Smart and Morris are fantastic team players who make the Celtics better, but they are both career bench players for a reason. They’re talented, but they do not have that top-level, high ceiling potential that gives Boston the arsenal to outgun the crème de la crème of the league in a seven-game series.

One of them should go back to the bench. I think it should be Marcus Smart, though the tenacity of either one might be what the Celtics’ second unit needs to wake up. The bench is missing what made them BWA in the first place; they have no swagger, no grit and teams just push them around and impose their will on them when the starters come out.

A Smart or Morris could change that with their energy. There is a ton of value in energy off the bench, as Brad Stevens said himself.  They may look into roster moves. Maybe another big who controls the glass is what they need (though the return of Aron Baynes will help). Maybe it’s more shooting, or maybe it’s more minutes for Robert Williams III or Semi Ojeleye.

There has to be a tweak to this bench somehow though, because when these games start to really matter in the playoffs, Kyrie, Tatum and Horford will need their breaks, and the other guys need to step up in order to win games.

What we have seen so far this season has not instilled a ton of confidence. The talent is there. This bench just has to put it together, or the Boston Celtics will fail.