Celtics Roll Out Familiar Starters vs. Hornets, but the Bench Minutes Tell the Real Story
Boston's 2-0 preseason run masks a murky rotation — Pritchard dropped 25-7 off a group that could still shift before Opening Night on Oct. 20.
Down 12.7 FPTS in his last 5, but his role and floor are rock-solid.
- Boston beat Philadelphia 144-106 on Saturday
- Pritchard: 25 pts, 7 ast; Tatum: 25 pts, 4 ast
- Celtics forced 15 steals, 5 each from George & Scheierman
- Boston is 2-0 in preseason, opens vs. Detroit Oct. 20
- Hornets start 3 offseason adds: Reid, O'Neale, Schroder
Boston trotted out the same starting five that buried Philadelphia 144-106 on Saturday, this time against a reshaped Charlotte group. The headline from that blowout: Payton Pritchard went for 25 points and 7 assists, Jayson Tatum matched the 25 with 4 dimes, and Hugo Gonzalez chipped in 17 off a deep, productive rotation. Boston is now 2-0 this preseason with Opening Night against Detroit looming on Oct. 20.
Here's the wrinkle fantasy managers should actually care about: the bench didn't look like a bench. Pritchard led everyone with 24 minutes, and Sam Hauser (21), Gonzalez (21), Baylor Scheierman (19) and Neemias Queta (19) all out-played the supposed reserves. Jordan Walsh (11) and Mitchell Robinson (14) saw far less. That's not how a locked-in rotation usually looks.
Why the Lineup Isn't Settled
Boston is clearly still auditioning. The fact that the announced starters aren't guaranteed to open the regular season tells you the staff is treating these games as a lab, not a dress rehearsal. For anyone drafting around Celtics role players, that uncertainty matters — minutes behind Tatum and Derrick White are very much up for grabs.
Scheierman is the name to track at the margins. He tied for the team lead with 5 steals Saturday, and our model has him at a modest #328 overall after averaging 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 13.2 fantasy points per game across 77 games last season (2025-26, actual). More encouraging: he's up 9 fantasy points over his season average across his last five, exactly the kind of camp momentum that can turn into real minutes.
The Charlotte Side
The Hornets counter with Naz Reid, Royce O'Neale, Moussa Diabate, Brandon Miller and Dennis Schroder — three of those five being offseason additions, and this being Boston's first look at a Charlotte roster that shipped out LaMelo Ball. Miller is the one worth monitoring: our rank #64 overall (#24 at position) on the back of 20.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 33.6 fantasy points per game in 65 games last season (2025-26, actual). He's running a touch cold, down 3.7 fantasy points over his last five, but that's preseason noise more than a trend.
The fantasy read: don't panic on Derrick White. He's down 12.7 fantasy points over his last five preseason games, but our model still has him at #50 overall off a 35.4 fantasy points per game line last season (2025-26, actual). That dip is a buy-low window, not a red flag. Keep Scheierman on your watch list — if Boston's experimentation sticks, his steal-heavy profile could sneak into deep-league relevance.
