Four ways the Celtics will change until Kristaps Porzingis returns

Sadly, Kristaps Porzingis will be riding the maple for the first few months of the season. The good news is that we just saw the Celtics earn a championship parade without him for most of their entire playoff run. President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens has built a team so deep and so talented that they can withstand a long-term loss at any position, but filling a 7’3” hole does require some changes.

There will be new challenges and fresh opportunities, so Boston’s path to victory must take some different loops without Porzingis around.

1) Five-out, two-big lineups are a thing of the past — aren’t they?

The luxury of having both Porzingis and Al Horford is that the Celtics could play big without sacrificing shooting — the two logged more than 1,200 possessions together and obliterated the league with a +14.3 net rating. The combination of shot-blocking, size, and spacing proved too much for the league to handle.

But without Porzingis, Horford is the only center on the roster with a viable three-pointer. None of Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet, or Neemias Queta can do what Porzingis did on offense. We’ll likely still see some two-big lineups, but the Celtics will run with one center far more often than they would normally.

One thing to watch: they used to call Luke the UniKornet for his ability to shoot threes and smack shots, just like Porzingis. In fact, Kornet used to have one of the highest three-point attempt rates in the league for a big man. His first two years in the league in New York saw him launch more than four triples in just 17 minutes per game, a huge number, and convert 36%. He wasn’t afraid to station himself a few feet behind the arc, either. Look familiar?

The three-pointer has not been part of Kornet’s arsenal in Boston, even when KP missed time last year, but I’d love to see him turn back the clock and approximate Porzingis’ role in small doses.

2) The Jays will pick up the scoring burden, but Derrick White may suffer

Both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum saw their scoring average leap nearly three points per game in the roughly 20 games they played without Porzingis (despite playing the same number of minutes).

Porzingis took the third-most shots on the team, and most of his usage gravitated toward the team’s stars when he sat. This may be of particular interest to Brown in his quest for another All-NBA nod, as his 25.0 points, 6.4 rebounds (also a big leap), and 3.7 assists without Porzingis will…