Preseason Celtics musings (Part 3)

Yes, even more things and stuff about the team I love.

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.

The further down this list, the less confidence I have in any and all predictions. Pretty much everyone in this part has a wide range of performance outcomes this season. Some will be bad, some may be hurt, and hopefully some surprise us with better than expected play.

Jeff Teague

There are legitimate concerns about how much Teague has left in the tank at this point in his career. But the role he’s going to be playing is either “fill in starter getting the ball to the wings” or “backup point guard creating better shots for the 2nd unit.” Feels like he’s a good fit for that role.

Payton Pritchard

Draft experts weren’t high on Pritchard but Danny was. It sounds like he’s got a little bit of Danny’s competitive fire and he can launch from deep. I’m looking forward to watching him play and with Kemba out early in the season we may be seeing him quite a lot.

Photo by Ashley Landis-Pool/Getty Images

Tremont Waters

Tre has to prove this year that he’s more than a quadruple-A player (meaning better than G-League but not quite good enough for the NBA). His size is always going to be a hurdle but it feels like he’s got a lot of other attributes you want in a point guard. Again, with Kemba out, there’s minutes out there to win.

Carsen Edwards

This one’s real simple, he has to make shots. He’s always been streaky, and maybe it is just as simple as that. He had a chance in college to play through the cold streaks, but in the pros he has to be ready to come in cold and knock down open 3’s. If not, he might be the first guy out the door when the team needs a roster spot.

Aaron Nesmith

Speaking of making shots, that’s the whole idea for Aaron. The Celtics have very little depth on the wing, so there’s a chance we could be seeing a lot of Aaron early on. But you can tell from Brad’s early comments that it isn’t fair to expect too much from him right away. He’s a young rookie and all we can hope is that he learns enough defense to stay on the floor long enough to make his shooting impactful.

Photo by Ashley Landis-Pool/Getty Images

Romeo Langford

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy injuries and refuse thy injury prone reputation.
Or if thou wilt not, come back quickly
And I’ll no longer be a skeptic.
‘Tis but thy injuries that are my enemy:
Thou art a Celtic, and not a bust.

Javonte Green

At the risk of repeating myself, I’m going to repeat myself. There are minutes available on the wing and in particular if anyone gets sick or hurt, there will be games when we’ll need to lean on the deep end of the bench. Green has the hops and scrappiness to contribute at times. This is a great opportunity for him to carve out a place in this league.

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Tacko Fall

I love Tacko. Everyone loves Tacko. He’s a fun guy and he handles the sideshow aspect of his fame with amazing grace and humility.

At some point, though, he has to contribute on the court in non-Gino-time minutes. The problem is that all of a sudden center might be the team’s deepest position. It seems like Tacko might be a good situational play for Stevens. We just have to decide what those situations are and see how effective he can be.

Amile Jefferson

I don’t know anything about Amile except that he’s a buddy of Jayson Tatum and he’s probably not making the team. If it makes Jayson happy to have a buddy with the team for a couple of weeks, that’s fine with me.

Trade Exception

I think Trade Exception has a bright future in this league. He could be a great pickup for the Celtics at the deadline. In fact, he replaces Future Draft Picks as the most popular subject for Celtics fans. Should be fun to see him develop over time and maybe contribute as early as this season.

Thanks for reading. Not just this series of musings, but for reading this blog in general. We appreciate you and thank you for your support over the years. Let’s have a great year! Go Celtics!