Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens intends to mix things up with his starting lineup.
Per Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, Stevens shared his coaching philosophy, noting that he doesn't have a set starting five:
Brad Stevens: "We won't be settled on a starting lineup … until forever."
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) November 27, 2018
The Celtics' starting lineup began the year as Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford. It's one hell of a lineup on paper. But the Celtics are 11-10 right now. A mediocre record from a team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year despite being shorthanded. So Stevens' idea of shuffling the lineup is an effort to come up with the best five-player combination.
Monday night against the New Orleans Pelicans, with Brown out, Stevens went with Irving, Marcus Smart, Tatum, Marcus Morris, and Aron Baynes. In fact, Hayward has been coming off the bench for a few games now to help him try to find his rhythm.
Per Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer, Stevens acknowledges that their problem involves every single one of them. It is this team-first approach that has made Stevens one of the best coaches in the league. And from his words, he intends to address the starting lineup first before moving on to the next problem:
“It’s not one guy. It’s not two guys. It’s all of us,” Stevens said last week. “We’re not playing with the same personality we played with last year. That’s the easiest way to describe it. And then the 50,000 issues that are below that. We have to tackle one at a time.”
Monday's starting lineup came through in a big way in a 124-107 win against the Pelicans, and it will be interesting to see what Stevens does next.
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