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Kevin Garnett concerned about Celtics’ depth, thinks they could be emulating Nuggets with Kristaps Porzingis move

Celtics

“Your bench is everything.”

Kristaps Porzingis was one of the Celtics’ two major acquisitions this offseason. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

When the Celtics made their big splashes to acquire Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday over the offseason, arguably the biggest thing they gave up was their depth.

Boston parted ways with starting point guard Marcus Smart, center Robert Williams, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, and Danilo Gallinari, who was slated to be in the Celtics’ rotation prior to tearing his ACL last offseason, in those moves. They also let Grant Williams walk in free agency, furthering the number of players from the Celtics’ rotation last season that have left over the last few months.

As many have said that the Celtics have the league’s best top six players following the Holiday trade, franchise icon Kevin Garnett has some qualms following the moves.

Garnett shared why he thinks that the Celtics should be a bit concerned about their lack of perceived depth following the trade in a recent episode of “KG Certified.”

“No, no, no, you got to worry about it,” Garnett said when asked if the Celtics need to be concerned about their lack of depth. “Your bench is everything. I don’t think that you can exhaust [Jaylen] Brown, [Jayson Tatum] – I don’t think you can exhaust them early on. When you get into the second half of the season, you pick their minutes up a little bit.”

The Celtics’ offseason moves have led to fringe rotation players from last season to move up the depth chart. Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Luke Kornet have gotten a notable amount of minutes in their first three preseason games, with each likely to serve as the third guard, wing, and big in the rotation, respectively.

Beyond those three players, the Celtics have filled out the back of their roster with journeymen (Svi Mykhailiuk, Wenyen Gabriel, Oshae Brissett) or younger players who are rookies or are only a few seasons into their NBA careers (Jordan Walsh, Dalano Banton, Lamar Stevens).

Garnett isn’t sure how the Celtics will necessarily fix their depth, but he thinks Brad Stevens is going to address it. However, he noted that whoever they bring in is unlikely to be as good as who they parted ways with.

“You want to have solid pieces,” Garnett said. “I’m sure Brad and them have thought about this. They’re very strategy-driven. I can see them bringing in some help, actually. But, I mean, it ain’t going to be Marcus Smart. It ain’t going to be Rob Williams. Those were special players on a special team that they were feeling like they were trying to build a certain type of team.”

The type of team that Garnett thinks the Celtics might be building emulates what the Nuggets are doing with Nikola Jokic. The two-time MVP averaged 30 points, 9.5 assists, and 13.5 rebounds per game in the playoffs last season to lead Denver to a title.

Garnett thinks that the trade for Porzingis gives Boston a similar threat – a big man who can play in the paint, post, and along the perimeter.

“You go get Porzingis, who’s more of a perimeter big that can hit big shots but can then still have peaks at defending the rim or being a post presence,” Garnett said. “I think everyone that they can put in the high post and give to and then have the guards come off. If you watching what the Joker and what Denver are doing, they’re being successful with just movement. You got back action that you’ve got to help with. Now, you can’t help with this. Everybody’s looking for a Joker-ish [player].

“It’s almost like a mirror league. If you start seeing something that works, everybody goes and pinches off of it. I think that the Celtics are pinching off a little bit. Even though I’m not saying that’s going to be their style, but Porzingis can actually fit in that style and play off that. He’s an iso guy. He can pass. He’s very, very gifted offensively.”

Porzingis has been one of the league’s top-scoring bigs since he entered the NBA in 2015. He scored a career-high 23.2 points per game last season, shooting 49.8 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point territory. He also averaged a career-best 2.7 assists per game as the Wizards played more through him with Bradley Beal missing time due to injury.

While Garnett seemed enthused about how well the Celtics can play with Porzingis as a focal point of their offense, he does think that there are two things that will ultimately determine their fate this season.

“It’ll be about the defense of the Celtics and how well they’re able to have a bench and how deep that bench is,” Garnett said.