NBA Finals 2022: Ranking all 30 players in Celtics-Warriors; Stephen Curry,

Pat Riley has a principle for the NBA‘s highest-leverage games. “Use eight, rotate seven, play six, trust five.” The difference between “use,” “rotate,” and “play” remains ambiguous to this day, but the message is clear: This ain’t January. When you get to the Finals, you’re supposed to banish most of your roster and live or die by your best players. Our two finalists operate on the opposite ends of that spectrum.

When injuries permitted, Celtics coach Ime Udoka trimmed his rotation to eight as far back as the regular season. Save a two-minute Payton Pritchard cameo, he only really used seven players in Sunday’s Game 7 victory over Riley’s Miami Heat. Warriors coach Steve Kerr once used 10 players in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Kumbaya Kerr cares not for Riley’s pearls of wisdom. He’s going to give Patrick McCaw developmental Finals minutes whether you like it or not.

That contrast sets the stage for a fascinating Finals matchup. One of these teams has an incredibly predictable rotation. The other could conceivably use 14 different players depending on circumstances. With that contrast in mind, let’s rank all 30 rostered players in this series and attempt to figure out which of them are worthy of being used, rotated, played and trusted. 

Out of the picture

30. Sam Hauser, Boston Celtics

29. James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors

28. Juwan Morgan, Boston Celtics

27. Malik Fitts, Boston Celtics

26. Nik Stauskas, Boston Celtics

25. Luke Kornet, Boston Celtics

24. Aaron Nesmith, Boston Celtics

23. Juan Toscano-Anderson, Golden State Warriors

Sam Hauser and James Wiseman automatically start at the bottom of the list here based on injuries. Wiseman, as a No. 2 overall pick, beats out Hauser, who has never been a steady rotation player. Morgan and Fitts haven’t been either, but if, for whatever reason, they were called upon to play in this series, they’d be available. Stauskas and Kornet have both been in NBA rotations in the past, and both are at least capable of hitting shots. Neither can defend anywhere near the level necessary to play in the Finals. Boston essentially confirmed to us that it considers Nesmith its best non-rotation player when it gave him minutes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals due to other absences. When the Celtics were healthy, though, Nesmith was out of the mix. Toscano-Anderson has sadly been pushed to the fringes by Jonathan Kuminga. Both are athletic forwards who can score easy points on cuts and in transition, but Kuminga is just more explosive and more comfortable with the ball in his hands.

The real takeaway here? We’ve already burned through 40 percent of Boston’s roster. Only two Warriors are listed here, and it wouldn’t be the craziest thing in the world for Kerr to use Toscano-Anderson at some point. He played 32 minutes in a do-or-die play-in game against Memphis only a year ago, after all. He’s capable of contributing. The Warriors are just too deep to let him.

Rotate

22. Daniel Theis, Boston Celtics

21. Moses Moody, Golden State Warriors

20. Damion Lee, Golden State Warriors

19. Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics

18. Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors

17. Nemanja Bjelica, Golden State Warriors

16. Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors

Theis is a “break glass in case of emergency” player. If Robert Williams III can’t stay on the floor, he’s at least a playable fourth big. The word “playable” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, though, because the Celtics lost his 46 minutes against Miami by 47 points. He was far better against Brooklyn. Golden State’s motion would give him the same problems the Heat did.

That brings us to the three youngsters. Moody ranks last among them on track record. He’s acquitted himself quite well since joining the rotation for the Dallas series, but hitting shots against the Mavericks is one thing. Doing it against Boston is quite another, and with Gary Payton II back in the fold, Moody probably isn’t playing major minutes. Pritchard had trouble surviving defensively against the Heat. Golden State doesn’t like to switch hunt, but it’ll make exceptions for the right matchups. Pritchard is probably relegated to the minutes Stephen Curry sits in this matchup. Kuminga is…