According to the Boston Sports Journal’s Brian Robb, the Celtics have listed Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Gordon Hayward, and Al Horford as four of their five projected starters for their opening preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets.
However, the Celtics are still not certain who the fifth starter to play alongside those four will be.
Marcus Morris would’ve been the likely pick to be that fifth starter. But Morris is unavailable for the preseason opener as he and twin brother Markieff are still preoccupied with their ongoing felony assault trial in Phoenix.




Head coach Brad Stevens has the option to go big with Aron Baynes starting at center with Horford sliding down to power forward. Baynes will be especially useful against the size of new Hornets center Dwight Howard.
Stevens could also choose to go small and play rookie Jayson Tatum at the four. Tatum is no stranger to playing power forward after he filled that role during his time at Duke last season. Hornets power forward Marvin Williams is primarily a spot-up shooter anyway, so it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for Tatum to check him defensively.
Playing Tatum would be a good experiment to see if he truly is ready to play power forward in the NBA and if he can remain effective playing alongside both Hayward and Irving. It's just the sort of experiment worth trying in a preseason setting.