Call it "hierarchy"or "pecking order", but Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla have achieved what Danny Ainge wished for the Celtics when he played the role of "Head Honcho" in Beantown.
It starts at the top, and Jayson Tatum has clearly worked his way into "king of the hill" as the Alpha-One, followed by Jaylen Brown as Alpha-Two. Marcus Smart takes spot #3, followed by a cluster of Al Horford, Grant Williams, Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon at 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Thus far, injuries and limited minutes have Rob Williams at #8, but that mediocre rating doesn't do justice to what he offers and his overall importance to the team's success. Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Blake Griffin, Mike Muscala and Luke Kornet all have averaged douible-digit minutes and bring the Celtics' usable depth to 13 players. The minutes for these 13 players tell most of the story.
Ainge once lamented the fact that his team-at-the-time had "equal depth" and "no clear hierarchy". There still is time to rearrange the rankings prior to the post-season, but the basic "pecking order" is in place - only needing a few tweaks. This team is built for to withstand misfortune and compoete strongly for Banner 18. Now, all they have to do is accomplish the goal
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