Ranking the Celtics roster – CelticsBlog

As we come off the high of a championship and enter the start of a new season, I have been tasked with ranking the Celtics roster. So here is my rankings of the best players on the Celtics roster, from Anton Watson to Jayson Tatum.

17. Anton Watson

I am not going to call Anton Watson mini Al Horford just yet, but the 54th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft did show some flashes in Summer League. He is a do-it-all player on defense who is a really good rebounder for his size at 6-foot-8. His three-point percentage increased over all five seasons of his collegiate career.

16. JD Davison

Davison has been in the NBA for two seasons now and has not carved a role out for himself. In just 105 career minutes, Davison has a career 35 points, 21 assists, and 19 rebounds. After a very disappointing Summer League, I am not sure how Davison carves out a career with the Celtics.

15. Drew Peterson

In three NBA games last season, Drew Peterson shot 60% from beyond the arc. In 56 G-League games, he shot 37% from three-point range. At 6-foot-9, Peterson has the size to become a solid NBA role player and the Celtics should absolutely continue to try and develop him.

14. Baylor Scheierman

The 30th pick in the 2024 draft is a knockdown shooter. A career 39% three-point shooter in college, Scheierman needs to be an elite shooter to succeed in the NBA. He did not make those threes in Summer League, shooting just 29% from beyond the arc in five games. If he is ever going to carve out a role in Boston, he’ll need to make shots.

Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

13. Jordan Walsh

The 37th pick in the 2023 draft did not have a role last season and I don’t expect Jordan Walsh to have much of a role this season. An elite defender at Arkansas, Walsh had a rough Summer League after playing well in the Maine Celtics run to the G-League Finals last season, averaging 14.5 points in 48 games. Walsh should continue to be a key part of Maine’s roster this season.

12. Jaden Springer

The Jaden Springer trade was interesting. The 41st pick does not seem like a big investment, but with how deep the Celtics are into the second apron, Springer’s $4.02 million salary this season balloons with the luxury and repeater taxes tacked on. However, Brad Stevens clearly likes the player and he should. Springer is an elite defensive player who, if he can develop an offensive game, couldl be a real player who can contribute to a really good team.

11. Neemias Queta

After signing a three-year contract with the Celtics this summer, I expect Neemias Queta to have a chance to carve out a role for himself on the 2024-25 Celtics early in the season when Kristaps Porzingis is out. For a guy who cannot shoot, Queta’s game is pretty modernized. While his touch around the rim is bad — he missed a jarring amount of layups last season — he is a good pick-and-roll player who plays above the rim. On the defensive end, Queta is a good rim protector who still has room to grow. While his game is rough around the edges, if Queta can continue to improve, he will be a big part of the Celtics going forward.

10. Luke Kornet

Luke Kornet is an interesting case study when it comes to bigs and stretching the floor. He holds the record for the most made three pointers in college basketball history by a seven footer at 150. Yet, he only took one three pointer last season.

He is one of Boston’s steadiest players when he is in the game. With his great touch around the rim and how he has improved as a rim protector, Luke Kornet is a better player ever since he stopped taking threes. Many people want Kornet to take three pointers again, I just don’t think it is necessary.

9. Xavier Tillman Sr.

Before we get started, let’s re-live Tillman’s huge three in Game 3 of the Finals.

Tillman is a good NBA player. While he is not the screen and roll player Kornet or Queta are, he takes some threes and is a really smart player, always finding the right places to be. There are two places that put Tillman above Kornet and Queta for me. First is his versatility, while 100% of Kornets minutes and 95% of Queta’s minutes came at center last season, according to Cleaning the Glass, just 79% of Tillman’s minutes came at the five after his trade to Boston. As a result, Joe Mazzulla is able to use Tillman in more ways than he can Kornet or Queta. The other, and more prominent, reason is that Tillman is a way more versatile defender. If Kornet or Queta get switched onto a guard, they are toast but Tillman is able to move his feet and keep guys in front of him. In the playoffs, that’s such a huge factor because while it could get rough for Kornet at times (Queta never got real playoff minutes), it never felt like Tillman was hurting the team with him on the court.

8. Payton Pritchard

It is kind of crazy we are entering Year 5 of Payton Pritchard’s Celtics career. His buzzer beater against the Heat as a rookie in 2021 feels like it was yesterday. The 26th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Pritchard was in the same high school recruiting class as Jayson Tatum.

Last season was Pritchard’s best, averaging 9.6 points and shooting 38.5% from three on a career high 4.7 attempts per game. His three-point shooting is such a valuable part to this Celtics team, as his range goes so far beyond the three-point line. I expect another big year from Pritchard, after his two buzzer beaters in the Finals.

7. Sam Hauser

Undrafted in 2022, Hauser has become a key part of the Celtics rotation due to his size and shooting. We all know the type of shooter Hauser is, career 42% from three-point range, but his defense is what has stuck out to me over this past season. Using his size and length, Hauser has figured out a way to be able to keep players in front of him. At 6-foot-8, he has the size to guard guards and wings and his athleticism is underrated.

6. Al Horford

We all love Al Horford. The 38-year-old still has a lot of ball left and he made a huge impact on the Celtics championship run last season. We all remember his three that lead to his fired-up reaction in Game 5 against the Cavs.

What about his seven three-pointers in Game 3 against Indiana?

Horford was awesome throughout the entire playoffs and proved that, even at 37-years-old, he could still play at a high level in the biggest moments. Making 15 playoff starts in 19 games, Horford averaged 9.2 points and 7.0 rebounds making big plays throughout the playoffs. He showed he could still move his feet well and guard players on the perimeter at an elite level for a 37-year-old center. There will be a big role on Horford to start the season with Porzingis out but the ageless wonder has shown he is up for the challenge.

5. Derrick White

It hurts me a little to rank White at 5 and if this was a “most important to the team” rankings, he would be higher but it is not that. This does not change the fact that White is an exceptional player and has been, to me, the best move of Brad Stevens’ tenure. For starters, he is the best shot blocking guard in the NBA.

He is also likely the Celtics best point of attack defender on the team, making the All-Defensive Second Team in back-to-back seasons. His offense has also gotten a lot better as well. When he first came to the Celtics, White was shooting 31% from three-point range. Since the start of last season, he has shot 39% from three and has become a more complete offensive player. Of course, no shot was bigger than his dagger in Game 4 against the Pacers.

Or his shot to put the Celtics up 14 in Game 2 of the Finals.

Derrick White has become one of the ultimate glue guys in the NBA and is one of the key figures of the Celtics future.

4. Kristaps Porzingis

The Unicorn gives the Celtics a weapon unlike any other they have. Just watch his performance from Game 1 of the Finals.

His first game as a Celtic in the regular season showed us those flashes, too.

A top-5 rim protector to go along with how he stretches the court as a shooter is as nightmare to deal with. He has since added a post-up game to his bag and that is special as well. You cannot have a mismatch on KP because it is just too easy for him.

It is just unfair how good Porzingis is when he is right and how he fits with Tatum and Brown. With his rim protection and layered offensive game, when Porzingis is out there and playing at a high level for the Celtics, they are nearly unbeatable.

3. Jrue Holiday

What does Jrue Holiday not do on a basketball court? He shot 60% on corner threes this past season, he became a roamer off the ball in Joe Mazzulla’s defense, and he still did all the other Jrue Holiday things, like being a great point of attack defender and being smart with the ball in his hands. One thing that is an extremely underrated part of Holiday’s game is his ability to post up little guards making it impossible for teams to hide their point guard on him.

There was also his strip of Andrew Nembhard in Game 3 of the Pacers series which all but sealed the game.

Jrue Holiday is a big time player who just affects winning in so many ways.

2. Jaylen Brown

Mr. Conference Finals and Finals MVP comes in at number two on this list which should be a surprise to no one. Jaylen Brown is one of the great success stories in player development. Brown put the work in: after shooting 29% from three in his lone season at Cal, Brown has become a knockdown shooter at a career 36% mark. He is also way more controlled in his game and he is willing to take on the assignment of guarding the opposing team’s best player, as we saw in the Finals when he was tasked with defending Luka Doncic.

He became the team leader once the team traded Marcus Smart this summer.

Jaylen Brown entered the NBA as a project and he and the team have turned him into one of the elite two-way players in the NBA, with a jump shot that earned a double bang from Mike Breen.

1. Jayson Tatum

To me, this is not a debate. Jayson Tatum is the best player on the team, no matter who won the Finals or Eastern Conference Finals MVPs. Tatum has become one of the best and underrated defensive players in the NBA, being able to guard 1 through 5 and taking on the task of guarding the Mavericks center in the Finals so the Celtics could switch Luka’s pick and rolls, not to mention how much of an improved passer and finisher around the rim Tatum has become.

On the biggest night of his career, Tatum showed off those new skills he has added to his game.

Also, when Tatum gets going he is nearly impossible to stop. We all remember Game 7 against Philly.

And Game 6 in Milwaukee.

Jayson Tatum did not take over games like that last season because he did not need to. Instead, he did whatever it took to win and he was still awesome while doing it.