Xavier Tillman’s potential Boston Celtics impact: Offense, defense, and the important stuff

As rumors of the Boston Celtics’ potential trade activity continued to swirl on Wednesday night, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN confirmed their actions, reporting their trade for Xavier Tillman. Boston shipped out Lamar Stevens and two second-round picks, adding some big-man depth in the process.

The now-former Memphis Grizzlies center is listed at 6-foot-8 but plays well above his height, utilizing a strong frame and elite versatility to concoct a highly-praised defensive game.

“Tillman is one of the few bigs in the NBA that can legitimately claim they can, as a defender, slow Nikola Jokic and LeBron James,” Joe Mullinax of Locked On Grizzlies told CelticsBlog.

Boston had their eye on Tillman, in large part due to this exact idea.

“Obviously, we paid a lot of attention to him just because of the team that he plays for and the coach that he has,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said of Tillman. “And I think his defensive versatility. He has really good numbers against some of the top centers in the league. And his pick-n-roll defense and rim protection is pretty good.”

For a Celtics team with plenty of offensive firepower, adding a defensive-minded backup provides a new look for their secondary units. Luke Kornet’s familiarity with Boston’s system may give him the edge early on, but the speed at which Tillman takes to their schemes could determine his rotational role.

That said, Tillman’s defensive prowess should be a useful tool for Boston come playoff time. The Celtics have defensive weapons to deploy in Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum, but all of those guys have large offensive roles to worry about, too.

During the Grizzlies’ first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers last season, Tillman held Anthony Davis to 15-of-35 shooting (42.9%) and forced six turnovers in 35:48 of matchup time – the most of any individual matchup in the series.

But that wasn’t his only point of impact.

“His defense rocks,” Grizzlies writer Parker Fleming of SubTsakalidis told CelticsBlog. “People will point to the AD matchup in the playoffs, but he can stretch across many archetypes. He toggled between AD and LeBron [James] in the playoffs last year [and] was a better option on Bron than Dillon Brooks.

“He also guarded [Joel] Embiid and [Nikola] Jokic, as well as Zion…