The Boston Celtics’ demolition tour didn’t skip a beat last season when Kristaps Porzingis was sidelined. The Celtics posted a 21-4 record (.840 winning percentage) without their 7-foot-2 big man during the regular season, and were 10-2 overall (.833) in the playoffs.
Still, the Celtics were undeniably more dynamic when Porzingis was available and he routinely made life easier on both ends of the court. With Porzingis sidelined to start the 2024-25 season, the Celtics will again be challenged to maintain the level of success they displayed without him a year ago.
When Porzingis underwent leg surgery in late June, the Celtics suggested he would be game-ready in five to six months. That would suggest a return some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There also seems to be little reason to jump on the accelerator, particularly when it’s most important for Porzingis to be healthy another five to six months after that, or when the playoffs are in full swing in May and June.
For the 10th installment of our Ramp to Camp series, we asked our NBC Sports Boston panel to pick the one player who must increase their overall output without Porzingis on the floor.
The natural inclination is to suggest that the onus falls on Boston’s backup bigs. Al Horford is likely to elevate to the starting lineup (at least when he’s not resting during back-to-back scenarios), while Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta can expect increased reps.
But filling Porzingis’ void goes deeper than just the center position. The Celtics need to rebound better as a team and they can’t quite replicate his size on the defensive end. Filling Porzingis’ void needs to be a group effort, as the numbers from last season suggest everyone in the core group saw their counting stats tick up a bit in his absence.
Here’s one number that leaped off the page in assessing Boston’s stats without Porzingis during the regular season last year: Sam Hauser was a team-best +229 during the 25 games without Porzingis. The next-closest was Jayson Tatum at +179. Both are plus/minus maestros regardless of personnel, but it was still jarring just to see how impactful Hauser was in that stretch.
Hauser’s overall stat line without Porzingis: 10.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 43.5 percent beyond the 3-point arc. Hauser had the fifth-most minutes played (629) without KP, trailing only the other four starters (Tatum, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Jaylen Brown).
It also should be noted that Horford was insanely efficient in the 19 games he played without Porzingis. Horford chipped in 11.6 points per game while shooting a team-best 45.6 percent beyond the arc over 30.3 minutes per game.
It’ll be a team effort to thrive without Boston’s unicorn, and the big men — from Horford to Kornet to Queta — most certainly will have to take on a bigger workload. But bench pieces like Hauser and Payton Pritchard embracing the uptick in time has gone a long way to keeping Boston afloat in those moments.
