The Boston Celtics are the deepest team in the NBA according to a recent analysis by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes. Unlike many such analyses, however, Hughes focuses more on the quality of the depth over the sheer number of playable options on the roster.
The Celtics clock in just ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies with both teams having seven qualified players per the B/R analysts’ box plus/minus-oriented rubric. “In the end, the tiebreaker went to Boston because its excluded contributors were just better than Memphis’, suggests Hughes. “The Celtics got seven entries without Robert Williams III, Marcus Smart, and Grant Williams making their list.”
Who did make the cut in that regard? Jayson Tatum, Malcolm Brogdon, Al Horford, Derrick White, Luke Kornet, Jaylen Brown, and Sam Hauser.
You’ll have to read the article in full for the finer-grained details, but Hughes makes a solid case.
Ultimately, it rests on the fact, as he puts it, that Boston “is a no-questions-asked contender because it can throw up to 10 players onto the floor knowing each of them will add more than they subtract.”
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire