Celtics Player Power Rankings, Inaugural 2025-2026 Edition (Plus a Minutes Chart)

It has been a pretty wild first four games of the season, with the fourth having just finished about an hour ago as of the beginning of this writing. I want to get to Player Power Rankings – it's one of my favorite gimmicks, all the way back to my Boston.com days – but first I want to set the stage by breaking out the minutes played through these first four games:

There are a few things we can take away from this chart:

• The C's have four definitive starters in Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Neemias Queta, and Joe Mazzulla may rotate the fifth spot all season.
• Anfernee Simons is definitively the sixth man, and is very likely to play more minutes than whomever the fifth starter is on a given night.
• Josh Minott, Hugo González, and Luka Garza are already trusted members of the rotation on the nights they play, but González and Minott may continue to sit out whole games in order to give everyone who does play 10+ minutes.
• Chris Boucher is already falling out of the rotation, and Jordan Walsh's opportunity to prove himself a capable NBA player may have already passed.

OK, let's go to the rankings!

One. Jaylen Brown: The growth in JB's game was supposed to be as a playmaker. I think the C's need to let that go. Ten years in, and JB still has a hard time freelancing with the ball. If he's got a plan, he's incredibly hard to stop. Once a play breaks down though, he's still liable to dribble the ball off his foot. This team has three very capable creators in Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Anfernee Simons. The C's need to let them set up the offense, and put JB in position to succeed. Because through four games he's got 15 assists and 16 turnovers. But he's been super efficient once he gets his shot off! So please, just let JB do the things that he does well, because the team needs every single ounce of them.

Two. Derrick White: Through four games, the biggest story is the horrific three-point shooting of White and Pritchard. Through four games, the duo has shot 19-for-73, which nets out to a .260 three-point percentage. If you had to boil down Boston's 1-3 record to one statistic, it's that one. Two of the three losses were closely contested throughout, and the C's had the opportunity to put a run on the Knicks in the other game. They lost those games because they couldn't get hit shots. It's particularly important for White to understand when he's not hitting his three's. Pritchard does a much better job of getting into the paint and getting shots there. D White still hasn't learned this lesson. Last season, his 3PA rate was an absurd 72.1%, and it's a still-absurd 63% through four games this season. That might be tolerable if he was hitting his shots, but he's hit 4-for-13, 3-for-11, 3-for-11, and 1-for-9 in the four games. Tonight only didn't matter because New Orleans is awful.

Three. Neemias Queta: The team's fortunes are going to swing with Neemy, because they need him in there rebounding the ball. Tonight he picked the glass clean for 11 rebounds, and chipped in four blocks as well. And it was in just 22 minutes. I think that is slightly misleading – he probably would have come back into the game if needed, but the Pelicans fell apart. The team is having trouble getting him lobs and entry passes to boost his offensive production, but that should come as the rotations settle. It'd help his rep on fouls if they could make that a priority, because some double doubles would go a long way to him getting more respect from the refs' whistle.

Four. Payton Pritchard: It feels wrong putting him this low. He really helped key the fourth quarter run in the win tonight, but his three-point shooting has still been a big problem. The best thing I can say about that is at least he's not launching as many as D White. Other than that, he's had no problem transitioning to a starting role, and I think it was the right decision.

Five. Anfernee Simons: His shot making is electric and needed. His defensive effort has been exemplary – this is a man who doesn't want to take a haircut on his next contract. Overall, the ballhandling and vision are there, but a couple of times he's been shaky with the handle under pressure. A couple of times, he's turned the ball over trying to do too much. Again, I think that will settle down as he grows more comfortable in his role on this team.

Six. Luka Garza: Garza got popped in the mouth in the first game. Later in that game, and during the Knicks game, I found myself thinking to myself, "they miss Garza right now." That is a potentially terrifying thought, but I think Garza has been pretty solid. He can hit three's, he sets good screens, and his effort on the boards is high. The trouble has been when Mazzulla tries to play Tillman or Boucher at center, but I'm hopeful that the Boucher at the five experiment ended tonight. Garza, to be clear, is not a better player than Sam Hauser, but on this team – at this moment – he's a little more valuable just based on his position.

Seven. Sam Hauser: Life as an NBA player has been one challenge after another for Sam Hauser. His current challenge is fending off Josh Minott and Hugo González for minutes. It's not a real contest yet, but it could be soon, as the team has really benefited from their energy. But for now, Hauser knows exactly where he's supposed to be at all times, and those two guys are still learning.

Eight. Josh Minott: Minott was a +42 tonight in New Orleans in just over 28 minutes of action. Entering play tonight, there have only been 296 instances of a +40 games since tracking for it began in the 1996-1997 season. Of them, only 191 were for a player logging 30 minutes or fewer. Essentially, a player posting a +40 in 30 or fewer minutes only happens roughly seven times per NBA season. Such is the potential uniqueness of Minott. I'm really high on Minott. He just makes plays, and plays the right way even with all the energy, and his corner three-point shooting has been perfectly acceptable.

Nine. Hugh González: González is right in the same vein with Minott, and Mazzulla is sort of giving them the same subset of minutes. The two have only played in the same game only once in the four games. I think the team's fortunes will change once they're both part of the regular nine-man rotation. González is for sure going to have growing pains, but thus far he's earned the leeway to experience them. Also, fun fact: Hugo is currently the only Hugo to ever play NBA minutes and the only González to ever play NBA minutes. Hugo!!!! González!!!!

Ten. Xavier Tillman Sr.: The good news is that he seems healthy. I think I didn't take his knee injury seriously enough last season. However, playing him at the five is still not something that can happen for more than a few minutes at a time. Still, he's been solid, because he knows what he does well and what he doesn't, and he is good at sticking to the things he does well. If the team can keep him in that seven to 10 minutes per game range, that's perfect.

Eleven. Baylor Scheierman: I don't want to give up on him yet. He had a great first half tonight, and it earned him second-half minutes, and he played well in them too. If my choice is giving Scheierman 10 minutes a night to see if there's still potential, or giving those minutes to Boucher, I think Scheierman is the clear choice.

Twelve. Chris Boucher: He's a good vet to have around to sop up minutes for if/when injuries strike, but he really doesn't have a place in the regular rotation if he can't hang at the five, and he really just is too slight of build to do so. And he's not necessarily a lock to do well at the four either. Tonight was a stark example. With nine minutes left in the second quarter, Boucher was subbed out for Minott. Minott immediately got an easy hoop, then a rebound and a block, and Boucher didn't get up off the bench again the rest of the night. He is the only player to play all four games who has a clear downward trend in his minutes played. It's too early to write him off, but right now he looks to me like the odd man out when the team is at this level of health.

Thirteen. Jordan Walsh: It may already be over. He hasn't really had a legit chance to play minutes, and given how well Minott and González have played, I don't think one is coming. Perhaps if Scheierman really falls off, but I don't think that's happening either.

Fourteen. Amari Williams: I don't think any of the two-way guys are going to play, but he edges the others out just thanks to his ability to be a big body in the paint.

Fifteen. Ron Harper Jr.: He does seem capable of running point in a pinch, but again, I doubt he really sees the floor.

Sixteen. Max Shulga: The only player to not get any game action yet.

N/A Jayson Tatum: JT's fit game has been on point. I think it's been notable that he's been on the bench for the entirety of all four games. The last couple of seasons, if he wasn't playing, he would often head back to the locker room in the second half. He clearly misses playing. And I thought it was fascinating when he got up off the bench during the Knicks game to talk to/argue with the refs. Maybe that's just because it was in New York, and he just needed to feel seen for a minute, but it was good to see. Happy to have more Coach JT moments!

A few other random league notes:

• Feeling pretty, pretty, pretty good about that Spurs in fourth place pick!
• I may have been too excited about the Hawks. I blame Zach Lowe!
• In his first four games, Desmond Bane shot 6-for-22 from three. That .273 is much worse than Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's .342 mark in Orlando last year. It's only four games, and 22 shots, but for now I still am of the belief that the problem is Orlando itself – whether you want to pin it on the holdover players, coaches, and/or strategy is an open question – and that the trade for Bane didn't fix anything.