The Celtics frontcourt, including one big X-factor, will drive whether Boston surprises or disappoints this season

We’re a few weeks away from seeing any semblance of the 2025-26 Celtics on the floor. It won’t be long before all of our social media feeds are full of 30 second clips of various Celtics at the Auerbach Center, going through their post-practice drills and routines. One month from today, I’ll get to pick through the first 48 minutes of preseason action, looking for any semblance of a sign of what’s to come.

We don’t know what the Celtics will truly be, although I think we can expect them to be, as the kids say, pretty mid. (Honestly, I’m not even sure if the kids say that anymore, but it’s the closest I’m getting to contemporary slang). 

One thing I know for sure is that the epicenter of Boston’s ability to surprise or disappoint this season is their frontcourt. They will be fine on the perimeter. Actually, they’ll probably be pretty good. Derrick White and Jaylen Brown are two of the best perimeter players in the league, Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons can score in bunches, and the Celtics will get reliable shooting from Sam Hauser and, maybe, Baylor Scheierman. 

Boston’s ability to score will be diminished by the loss of Jayson Tatum to injury and Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday to the second apron beast. But they won’t be neutered by it. The Celtics will still be able to put up plenty of points on most nights. 

At the heart of my argument that they won’t be that good is the hodgepodge of centers and power forwards on whom Boston will rest its hopes for rebounding and rim protection. The Celtics will have more holes on their perimeter defense this season, and they will have to rely on a lot of jump shots because of how this team is constructed. How their frontcourt performs in the face of these deficiencies will determine if we’re talking the lottery or the sixth seed when March rolls around. 

The current frontcourt roster is Neemias Queta, Chris Boucher, Luka Garza, and Xavier Tillman. It’s not exactly the most intimidating group of guys. Queta is coming off an encouraging EuroBasket performance and is only 26, so there's some reason for optimism. At the same time, Queta has played 26 total playoff minutes over the past two seasons and has only played in 90 of the 164 regular season games. 

He hasn’t exactly earned Joe Mazzulla’s trust, even though Mazzulla has been very public in his cheerleading for Queta. Whatever optimism anyone has might be well-reasoned, but it’s still almost purely optimism based on sporadic NBA success at best. 

Boucher has the best track record of the bunch, but he’s an undersized big who turns 33 this season. Even if he’s okay, he’s not a long-term solution. 

Garza is 27 and hasn’t seen much opportunity in Minnesota. He’s a pretty good offensive player, but he was never able to stick because of his defensive limitations. 

And then there's Tillman, who had one big moment in the NBA Finals, but the rest of his Celtics career hasn’t been very productive. 

There's no reason to look at Tillman’s time here and think he could be an X-factor. However, there is a way to squint and see the potential for something positive there. People in Memphis told me we were going to love Tillman in Boston, but we haven't seen any of that materialize. His knee has been a constant issue, and it’s part of what has held him back. If he can get past that, then we might see what people have been talking about. 

No one is going to look at this frontcourt and shake in their boots. Even Brad Stevens knows that. 

“That group will not be the group that people will single out based on paper, on what they've done with their careers thus far, as our strongest position,” he said a couple of months ago. “But it's up to them to prove it otherwise.”

White and Brown are the only starters we can surely expect this upcoming season. There is some debate over whether Pritchard or Simons should join them, and then there's no real answer to who the two frontcourt guys will be. We can argue for a few different combinations, but at this point, everything is on the table. 

The first sign of a best-case scenario unfolding will be Tillman making a push for the starting power forward role. If he can play well enough this preseason to push his way into the mix, then the rest of the rotation will make a little more sense. At that point, Mazzulla will have a little extra flexibility to start small or big without hurting the rotations behind it. Pushing Boucher to the bench will give the Celtics some of the depth they’ll need. 

It’s an important year for Tillman. A lot of this summer’s talk has included the dismissive discussion of waiving him to save money. I’ve hardly heard him being discussed in any of the summer speculation, but him playing well and being a factor on this team can change the calculus a little bit. 

If he can make an impact, and if Queta can grow into a reliable starter, and if Garza can pick up a little defense, and if Boucher can be what he’s been in Toronto, then the frontcourt could be good enough to make the Celtics a tough team to beat. 

It’s probably too much to ask for all of that to go Boston’s way this season, but even if some of it does, then the discussion around this season becomes much different. 

Bulls would be taking an unnecessary risk starting Kevin Huerter

Four of the five Chicago Bulls starters should already be penciled in. Josh Giddey, fresh off signing a new contract, Coby White, Matas Buzelis, and Nikola Vucevic are all locks.

Therefore, the fifth and final spot is up for grabs. With Giddey and White in the backcourt, Buzelis on the wing, and Vucevic at center, the final spot will inevitably go to a forward. Though 6-foot-5 Ayo Dosunmu has started plenty of games in Chicago, his ideal role remains that of a combo guard.

The Bulls' starting small forward spot is up for grabs

That leaves 12th overall pick Noa Essengue, midseason acquisition Kevin Huerter, offseason addition Isaac Okoro, 21-year-old Julian Phillips, and the enigmatic Patrick Williams.

At merely 18 years old, Essengue has almost no shot at a starting role, at least to begin the season. The Frenchman won't turn 19 until late December, and considering Billy Donovan's reluctance to thrust Buzelis into a primary role as a rookie season ago, it's a given Essengue will begin the season buried on the bench as he continues to develop.

The same applies to Phillips, though to a lesser degree. Phillips has two seasons under his belt, but is best utilized as a reserve forward. He's appeared in 119 games throughout his career and has only made five starts. Therefore, the remaining roster spot will ultimately be a battle between Huerter, Okoro, and Williams.

Among the three, only Huerter ended last season as a starter. The 6-foot-7 wing started 17 of the Bulls' final 19 games, including the Play-In loss to Miami, playing 32 minutes in that contest. The only two games he didn't start, he was inactive.

Kevin Huerter proved to be a valuabe starting wing

As a starter, Huerter averaged 15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.0 three-pointers per contest. The former Sacramento King converted 50.3 percent of his field goals and 41.7 percent of his triples. His statistics as a starter were much better than off the bench. In a reserve role, Huerter averaged 12.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 3.0 threes, but he struggled to score efficiently—knocking down merely 36.1 percent of his field goal attempts and 35.6 percent of his three-pointers. Moreover, he was plus-8.8 as a starter, compared to plus-6.4 off the pine.

Huerter proved to be a snug fit in Donovan's uptempo, pace-and-space offense. Yet, his sample size as a starter came at an almost meaningless portion of the season, which saw the Bulls win 13 of 19 games when Huerter started.

Of course, calling any stretch of NBA basketball meaningless would be wrong, but many of the Bulls’ late-season victories came against non-playoff teams and squads resting starters ahead of the postseason. Essentially, take Huerter's whimsical 99th percentile plus/minus in Chicago with a grain of salt.

Not to say Huerter isn't an obvious candidate for a bench role, there's just one player (and, no, it's not Williams) who should get the starting nod. That's Okoro, who's started plenty of games throughout five seasons, but came off the bench more often than not last season for the first time in his career.

Isaac Okoro is the best starting option moving forward

Okoro started a career-low 22 games this past season for the Eastern Conference-best Cleveland Cavaliers. The 6-foot-5 wing primarily started whenever Max Strus was out of the lineup. As a starter, Okoro averaged 6.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists compared to 5.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.0 assists as a reserve.

Okoro’s counting stats don’t inspire much confidence, especially compared to Huerter’s strong numbers as a starter. Nevertheless, the Bulls' starting lineup isn't particularly in need of shooting; it needs defense, and a versatile defender at that.

Neither Giddey nor White is a strong defender. Being 6-foot-8, Giddey offers unique versatility, but his athletic limitations will force him to guard a wing, leaving White as the lone perimeter defender. Knowing this, Dosunmu could be thrown back into the mix. However, he's not the same caliber of defender as Okoro is.

Among 268 players to record at least 1,000 minutes, Okoro placed 79th in CraftedNBA's defensive versatility metric. Dosunmu ranked 193rd, and Huerter came in at 134th. Moreover, Okoro wasn't just versatile, guarding multiple different positions. He routinely took on the opposition’s best guard or wing. Damian Lillard, Zach LaVine, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant, and Trae Young were five of his 10 most common matchups. Not only are they stars—they also bring a variety of playstyles.

Lining up Okoro between White and Buzelis is Donovan's best option. He might not be the shooter that Huerter is, but he offers rugged and versatile point-of-attack defense—a non-negotiable considering the Bulls' remaining starters. While Huerter exceeded expectations as a starter, it'd be a risk to begin the season with the 26-year-old starting at small forward.