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Have the Boston Celtics adequately addressed the backup big man situation?

Have the Boston Celtics adequately addressed the backup big man situation?

Ever since the Malcolm Brogdon trade that sent out Daniel Theis, the question of backup center has been on fans minds. It became even more important in the wake of Robert Williams’ surgery. Have the Celtics done enough to adequately address that concern? The CelticsBlog staff weighs in.

Trevor Hass

If Robert Williams is healthy and looking like himself in a few months, a core of Williams, Al Horford, Grant Williams and Luke Kornet – with minutes at the five for Noah Vonleh, Jayson Tatum, Blake Griffin and Mfiondu Kabengele sprinkled in – should theoretically be enough. Having said that, if the Celtics get pummeled on the boards to start the year, making a move at the trade deadline may be necessary. This feels like a wait-and-see situation, but Kornet is certainly the biggest X-factor.

Robbie Hodin

Let’s not sleep on Kornet. He’s mobile and versatile defensively and can stretch the floor offensively; I could see him getting 12 minutes a game at the 5. I also think Kebengele and Griffin are both interesting backups, each adding their own twist to the center position.

We may have to make a trade deadline move, but from the looks of it, I think we’ll be fine with a healthy Timelord.

Jack Simone

Yes and no. There was and is no easy way to replace Robert Williams. He’s irreplaceable at this point. However, they can find creative ways to fix it with a by-committee approach. Luke Kornet, Blake Griffin, and Noah Vonleh (assumedly) are set to be the team’s backup bigs, and none of them come close to replacing Williams. However, with their collective skillsets, they should be able to hold things down. Add in the fact that Boston can go small with one big, play Grant Williams at the five, and still have Al Horford around, and they should be fine while Williams is out.

Daniel Poarch

The jury’s still out for me. I think Blake Griffin makes a lot of sense as a low-risk depth piece (and a quality locker room presence), and Noah Vonleh and Mfiondu Kabengele have had their flashes in training camp and preseason play. The team clearly thinks at least one of the latter duo or Luke Kornet can take a step forward as a contributor this season. That said, we already know we’re not seeing a full season from Robert Williams III, and Al Horford is now 36 years old. There’s a significant amount of risk baked into this frontcourt rotation, and I worry that anything other than perfect luck could lead to some challenging stretches for this roster as…

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