BOSTON — With the Celtics at full strength for the first time this preseason against the Cavaliers, they went with a small surprise. Chris Boucher was the starting center alongside Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Jaylen Brown. That lineup doesn’t boast size, but the Cavs weren’t super big sitting most of their main guys.

Now, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla cautions not to read too much into lineups during the preseason as the team tinkers with looks. Regardless, Boucher getting the start shows a valuable trait he’ll bring to the Celtics: flexibility. The 6-foot-9 forward, with his size and ability to space the floor, is set to be a key member this season.

“That’s Joe’s decision,” Boucher said of starting. “I’m really focused on helping this team whatever position I’m in, and just do what I can to be disruptive or be able to speed up the game whenever we need it during the game. Obviously we’ve got a lot of players that can do a lot of things at their position.”

Boucher, 32, comes to the Celtics after spending the past seven seasons with the Raptors. He also won the 2019 NBA championship in Toronto. He signed with the Celtics as a free agent as there are available minutes at both forward and center.

While Boucher likely won’t play full-time as the center, his skillset allows him to slide over to different spots and play alongside the other C’s bigs. That does give the team some notable size when Boucher’s at the four. The Celtics have featured some of that combination through the early potions of the preseason.

“Chris has been playing the four for the majority of his career, just kind of spacing and cutting and offensive rebounding and catch-and-shoot 3s,” Xavier Tillman said. “And he’s really good at not just settling for catch-and-shoots, but taking advantage of cuts behind his defender’s head, or something like that, and getting layups.”

Part of the Celtics’ strength last season with their roster was how they could mix-and-match guys based off the opponent. For example, Jrue Holiday guarded centers ocassionally like Joel Embiid or Karl-Anthony Towns, while Al Horford’s switchability as a big was an important tool. With the Celtics going through offseason changes, Boucher able to fill multiple roles gives the team another option.

The Celtics are still forming a new identity with new players while familiar faces are adjusting to new roles. So there will likely be an adjustment period, though the Celtics still firmly believe they should be right in the thick of things.

“I hope that we’re really good,” Boucher said. “I think we’re putting in the work to be really good. To me, we don’t care about anybody else but who is in this gym, in this locker room, watching film. So for us, we’re going to be good.”

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