4 potential tweaks to watch as Celtics return from All-Star break

WALTHAM -- Changes are coming to the Celtics’ rotation when the team returns to action Friday night in Detroit. The return of Marcus Smart to the court combined with nine losses over Boston’s last 15 games has guaranteed that much.

“Definitely (will) rotate a little bit differently,” Brad Stevens said of his plans. “I don’t know if that means changes in the starting lineup. We’ll definitely have some rotations that will. Certainly, it’ll be night to night, with tweaks from when guys enter the game, etc.”

While the Celtics will be closer to full strength (Shane Larkin is questionable with a knee injury) for the first time in a long time on Friday, the fact remains this group is a challenging puzzle to piece together for Stevens. The absence of Gordon Hayward, the inexperience of the many wings at the bottom of the roster and a crowded frontcourt with the addition of Greg Monroe creates a balancing act for the head coach. Can he keep veterans happy with their playing time and still put out the right mix of lineups? What youngsters can he trust amid a tumultuous last few weeks of results?

"Roles are pretty simple, I think,” Stevens explained Thursday after practice, “From the standpoint of everybody has something that they do best that they bring to the table. I think sometimes we talk about roles in terms of minutes played and when they’re coming in and those type of things. But when they get in, everybody is expected to do our system to their best of their ability and accentuate with their strengths. Then, from a minutes and rotation standpoint, that is obviously somewhat dependent on who is available. And inevitably that’s just part of it as you go through the NBA year. That definitely changes groups that are playing together and those types of things.”

We’ve already covered some ideas on changes that could be on the horizon, but here are some other things to watch for as the Celtics return to action following an eight-day respite.

1. More time for Daniel Theis and other true centers where they belong: Stevens likes to play small but the defensive numbers for this team have been ugly most of the year when Al Horford and Marcus Morris make up the team’s frontcourt. With some imposing true centers lined up as opponents out of the All-Star break (Andre Drummond, Enes Kanter, Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol), you can bet that Stevens will try to take some onus off of a recently struggling Horford and play his trio of traditional bigs a bit more in the center spot. Baynes can bang bodies with the best of them, Monroe’s rebounding will be needed against the likes of Kanter and Howard, while Theis adds a more mobile option for Stevens. These guys won’t play all 48 minutes at center, but look for Stevens to ride the hot hand on specific nights. Monroe will get a shot but he might get squeezed out of rotation on some nights if his defense doesn’t improve. Baynes has struggled offensively as well so seeing more of Theis at the five could be a good thing for this team if those issues continue.

2. Taking some defensive pressure off of Kyrie Irving: The lack of depth in the Celtics backcourt was troublesome as injuries piled up in the past few weeks. Stevens had to rely on Irving and Terry Rozier as his only NBA-caliber guards on the roster and that is a big reason why the Celtics’ defense ran into trouble during their latest losing streak. By having to facilitate, score and defend at a high rate, it proved to be too much given the high minutes they were logging. Bigger players like Tatum and Ojeleye also had to play some shooting guard, which didn't go great from a defensive standpoint.

“I do think that, if you look at one of the areas where we were not as good over the last couple of weeks, and that is just simply ball pressure,” Stevens explained. “And that’s two-fold. No. 1 is he and Shane are very good at it. No. 2 is you have even less depth to do it. So it’s hard to ask ... if Kyrie is going to play 38 minutes per game, you can’t expect him to pressure the ball the way that we would ultimately like to with more depth. And so Kyrie and Terry have had to do other things for us to float and that’s one of the reasons why more depth is helpful because it gives us more opportunity to change up who is guarding different guys, more opportunities for everybody to pressure the ball, because they’re all a little bit fresher.”

This type of philosophy is a reason why you should expect the Celtics to try to hide Irving a little bit away from the point of attack down the stretch. It isn’t his strength as a player anyway, and they need his energy and production more on the offensive end. Putting Smart or Rozier (if either is inserted into the starting five for Tatum) onto the opposing point guard (if they are a slasher) is one solution to the issue. Otherwise, resting Irving over the course of the game by placing him on non-threatening wings should be utilized more as an option. That should help the Celtics’ defense return closer to their early-season form without running Irving into the ground to do so.

3. Semi Ojeleye returns to being a stretch forward/big defensive specialist: Offensive woes (30 percent shooting) have kept the rookie’s minutes down as a whole, to the point that the swingman got a DNP-CD against the Clippers last Wednesday night. It was not a coincidence that loss was one of the worst defensive performances by the C’s all year. With Smart and Larkin returning, Ojeleye can get back to his natural NBA expertise: hanging tough defensively against hybrid forwards. Stevens tried to use him to guard shooting guards in stretches over the past two weeks thanks to a lack of depth but Ojeleye’s lack of speed was troublesome on that front, as faster guards worked him over repeatedly. He also had a tough afternoon against LeBron James last Sunday, but that adds him to a list of hundreds of others. His true value is sticking with stretch forwards and bigs who aren't LeBron. He contests well on the perimeter and has the strength to switch and handle bigger players as well. If others continue to flounder in this area (Marcus Morris, Jayson Tatum) on any given night, Ojeleye will get a shot. Otherwise, he won’t be needed.

4. Marcus Morris takes a seat more often if his defense doesn’t pick up: The Celtics brought him into the fold thanks to his defensive versatility, but he’s showed very little of that through the start of the 2017-18 campaign. Whether it’s been injuries or effort, the Celtics have been a lesser team when he’s been on the floor more often than not, particularly with their defense. It’s an issue he acknowledged after practice on Thursday.

“I’m just trying to do more than just score,” he said. “Defensively, I’ve lacked a little bit, personally. The second half I’ve got to try to pick it up on the defensive side and be better for the team.”

While he and Tatum have useful length, their struggles with switching and rotations will continually lead to big issues with this group if they aren’t addressed. Tatum’s limitations are understandable for a rookie, but Morris is a 27-year-old veteran. He’s healthy now and he has to step up the intensity and pressure, particularly on the defensive end. Without it, the Celtics might as well go with youth (Ojeleye) that isn’t a black hole on the offensive end.