Will Anfernee Simons or Payton Pritchard start in the backcourt for the Boston Celtics this season? What about Sam Hauser? Will he move from the second unit to the first this year?
Those questions are among the most popular prompts from Celtics fans this summer about the 2025-26 campaign. That's for good reason. Who starts matters. It is often a signal of who a team believes are its five best players.
Setting a positive tone at the start of the game is also important. However, a coaching staff must manage rotations throughout a matchup. That can lead to pacing a position group and bringing an individual off the bench, in part, due to the options behind that player.
Furthermore, it's not who starts the game that matters most; it's who finishes it. Boston's opening and closing lineups might often be the same this season. However, it will be interesting to see if Simons is on the floor for tip-off but not in crunch time.
The reverse is true for Hauser. Maybe he comes off the bench in favor of having more size on the floor to start. But when it's the final stretch of a winnable game, will the six-foot-eight sharpshooter be on the floor?
While who starts for the Celtics this season is a significant question, who is out there in closing time carries more weight.
Jaylen Brown snubbed by NBA 2K26
NBA 2K26 is starting to unveil who it deems the top 10 players are at a particular skill.
For example, Hauser is an 87 overall from beyond the arc. That places him among the video games' top 10 three-point shooters.
Elite from long range 👌
Here are your Top 10 shooters from beyond the arc in #NBA2K26 pic.twitter.com/AECIhLjaFy
— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) August 11, 2025
While Hauser received proper recognition, a teammate of his got snubbed. NBA 2K26 left Jaylen Brown off its list of the top 10 mid-range shooters.
Money with the middies 🤑
These are the best mid-range bucket getters in #NBA2K26 pic.twitter.com/HOYcTAsGU7
— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) August 11, 2025
At first blush, one can understand that decision. The four-time All-Star is coming off a down campaign in that area.
Brown converted on 40 percent of the 2.5 mid-range attempts he averaged in the 2024-25 campaign, per NBA.com. That's a year after the mid-range maestro made 43.5 percent of the 2.6 shots he hoisted from that spot on the floor.
However, even while acknowledging Brown's dip in mid-range production, it's fair to question NBA 2K26 excluding him while deeming Miles McBride among the 10 best shooters from there.
The New York Knicks guard knocked down 49.4 percent of his mid-range jump shots last season. However, he only took 1.4 attempts from that area, per NBA.com.
It's not as if McBride has an undeniable track record to fall back on, either. He only launched 0.8 mid-range shots in the 2023-24 campaign. He had a 43.4 percent conversion rate that year.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope took as many mid-range attempts as McBride last season. He made 52.9 percent of those shots. That was the second most among players with at least 1.4 tries from that spot on the floor. However, he didn't make the list, either.
The same goes for Desmond Bane, who took and made slightly more mid-range shots than McBride. The former launched 1.7 shots from there and buried 49.6 percent of them.
While this matter isn't worth getting worked up over, it is fair to examine the evidence and question why McBride made it over more worthy individuals.