Al Horford will be the one primarily responsible for filling Kristaps Porzingis’ shoes while the latter recovers from offseason leg surgery.
But Porzingis’ absence — which is expected to stretch at least into December — also will require more prominent contributions from a handful of other Boston bigs.
As reserve forward Xavier Tillman explained Wednesday, the plan to replace the Celtics’ unicorn center will involve four players: the 38-year-old Horford, Luke Kornet, Tillman and Neemias Queta.
“It’ll be probably me, Al, Luke and Neem just kind of cycling in,” Tillman said after Boston’s first training camp practice. “And you know Al, he’s probably not playing in back-to-backs. So for us, it’s figuring out where we can best assess — like, Neem is going to be a great shot blocker for us when he gets into the game. And me, myself, screen setting, on-ball defense, spacing out and shooting threes and stuff like that. And Luke being just savvy, play-making and stuff like that off the short roll, as well as lob dunks at the rim. …
“But I think everybody’s going to have a specific role as far as the bigs, and we should be ready to go.”
Horford started the Celtics’ final 15 playoff games last season following Porzingis’ first-round injury. But, as Tillman noted, that likely won’t continue into the regular season. At this advanced stage of his career, Horford rarely plays back-to-back nights and needs his workload managed, which will create starting opportunities for his trio of backups, all of whom re-signed this offseason.
Tillman, a trade-deadline pickup last season, expects to be fresher physically after undergoing surgery in late July to repair a lingering knee issue. He averaged 13.7 minutes per game across 20 regular-season appearances for Boston and saw action in eight of 19 playoff games.
“It was the main reason I was out different periods last year,” the 25-year-old said. “My knee would just swell up really bad after a game. But it’s been recovering really well.”
Tillman said he was a full participant on Day 1 of camp. Kornet, who had surgery on his wrist this offseason, also said Tuesday that he’d fully recovered.
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