Celtics’ Jayson Tatum drops bombshell revelation on how he formed starting 5
The Celtics have six starting caliber players on their roster, and Jayson Tatum revealed how the team figured out who’d come off the bench
The Boston Celtics have one of the best starting groups in the entire NBA.
With the arrival of stars Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday this offseason, the C’s gained the luxury of having six potential starters.
However, with only five starting spots available, somebody from last season’s starting group was now going to be coming off the bench.
In order to prevent any tension or awkwardness, Celtics leader Jayson Tatum declared a six-person meeting ahead of the regular season to figure out who would be the odd man out, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“I wanted us to get in the room and talk about it,” Tatum said. “We all are human and have feelings, and I opened the floor and basically said, ‘There’s six of us. Only five can play at one time. One of us is not going to finish the game all the time.’”
Ultimately, the Celtics went with a starting lineup of Tatum, Porzingis, Holiday, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown.
Center Al Horford, who’s been a starter for the majority of his basketball career, shifted to the bench.
“Whether it’s fair or not, me and JB are probably going to always start, and always finish the game.
But we have to be held to a different standard and be able to be coached differently,” Tatum admitted.
“Whether it’s KP and Al, one of you guys may not finish a game, and you have to be OK with that.”
Horford started every game he played in last year, yet this season he’s been in the first five just three times.
So far though, his sacrifice seems to be working, as the C’s are 11-3 with the best record in the NBA.
Furthermore, the lineup starring Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, White, and Holiday has excelled.
That group has played the second-most minutes together of any lineup in the league and has one of the best net ratings overall.
While occasional absences might shake the starting five up from time to time, the aforementioned lineup seems like Boston’s go-to group for the foreseeable future.
