Who is going to be the Celtics fifth starter?

I am pretty confident in saying that 4 of the 5 Celtics starting spots are going to be Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta. That leaves one more spot up for grabs and I think it will come down to three players.

Option 1: Sam Hauser

Hauser is the lone returning Celtic on this list. As one of the best shooters in the NBA, Hauser’s skillset still matters for the Celtics.

He is the median point in terms of offense and defense on this list. The shooting is elite and can give the Celtics m0re spacing and an extra boost on that end and while the defense isn’t great, he can still hold up well enough to not cost the Celtics.

This would give the Celtics a pretty small lineup. Jaylen Brown hasn’t played the 4 a ton throughout his career, spending just 5% of his minutes played a season ago at power forward, per Cleaning the Glass. He is going to need to play there more this season and might even start there.

Their defense would be lacking but the offense would be able to generate a lot of points. Even if they don’t start this lineup, I expect to see a lot of the 5-man combo of Pritchard, White, Hauser, Brown and Queta this season.

Option 2: Chris Boucher

Boucher is the most limited offensive player on this list and the floor spacing with him and Queta would worry me. However, his impact on the other end of the court might very well win him this job.

The Celtics are going to be a good offense. With Brown, Pritchard, White, Hauser and Anfernee Simons, they are going to find ways to score. They have lost a lot defensively with the departures of Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and Al Horford and the injury to Jayson Tatum.

Finishing defensive possessions is something that the Celtics may struggle with this year and starting Boucher can help that. He isn’t an elite defender by any means, but his length can help the Celtics on that end more than the smaller options we are talking about.

Option 3: Anfernee Simons

This one is a little out of left field and one that I don’t expect the Celtics to use, but it is an option. Going super small would put the Celtics at a disadvantage on defense which would likely make this lineup untenable. However, there is a method to this madness.

Let’s start with the fact that we are going to see the three-guard look at times for the Celtics this season. Simons, Pritchard and White are 3 of the 4 best players on the team, so Joe Mazzulla going to want to play those guys big minutes. In games where they don’t have Jaylen Brown, those three guys will be their best three at creating offense.

A 4-man lineup of Brown, White, Pritchard and Simons is going to score. They are all guys who can score the ball in a multitude of different ways and that offensive flexibility is going to be something that will be tough for teams to guard.

That said, the defense makes starting this lineup consistently untenable. They just won’t have enough size to get stops because even if they do force a miss, teams will eat them alive on the offensive glass. I would be surprised if Mazzulla started this lineup at the start of the season.

Josh Minott is another name that could be thrown around but I don’t see that one, maybe later in the season he establishes himself but he will need to earn it.

I would start Chris Boucher. I think his size and length are things the Celtics are lacking in other areas of this lineup and the team as a whole. He shot the ball well enough last season (36% from three) that Boston can justify starting him. Brown is going to be playing the 4 a lot this season, but they don’t need him to start the game in that spot; the Celtics will limit his minutes at that position as much as they can and starting Boucher allows for that.

I do think that Boucher will be Mazzulla’s choice as well. The Celtics are just lacking too much size in their starting 5, something that Joe has liked over his first three years as coach and Boucher can give them more of a lift to start games in that department.