Forsberg: Plenty to look forward to over the stretch run for the Celtics

The Celtics open the second half of the season Thursday night against the Brooklyn Nets. Which is to say we’re not going to have to wait long to find out where Boston stands heading into the final two months of the regular season.

We already hit you with a handful of things we learned in the first half. Now it’s time to spin it forward. Here are five things we’re focused on in the second half:

To TPE or not TPE, that is the question

Danny Ainge has a little more than two weeks to decide if the team will utilize the team's $28.5 million traded player exception to infuse some additional talent on this roster.

We’ve already told you why we think it’s less than ideal for the Celtics to wait for the summer. Sure, there could be a more enticing prize at the end of that TPE rainbow, but there are some serious potential pitfalls. There’s an opportunity cost, too, if you wait to add when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are (relatively) healthy and playing at an All-Star level.

Certainly there’s a balance to be struck and this could be Ainge’s final big swing at adding impactful talent to the core, at least until Kemba Walker’s deal is closer to coming off the books. We’ve repeatedly stressed that the Celtics shouldn’t make a move to make a move.

But since getting throttled by the Nets on Christmas Day, Brooklyn has added James Harden and Blake Griffin. The Philadelphia 76ers have the potential to beef up their roster before the trade deadline. Boston needs to be aggressive in pursuit of talent upgrades.

Just how valuable is Marcus Smart?

The Celtics are 9-9 since Smart was sidelined in early February. The Celtics are tied for 19th in defensive rating in that span while allowing 114.7 points per 100 possessions. With every opponent that topped 30 points during the forgettable Rock Bottom Stretch (when each loss was a new low), it was fair to wonder how much Smart could have helped the Celtics in those situations.

What’s somewhat overlooked is how much Boston missed Smart’s offense as well. Sure, he wasn’t shooting the 3-ball well before his injury but his playmaking was fantastic. We’d make the case that Brown’s offensive dip late in the first half was as much related to not having Smart -- the two had previously led the league in assist-to-field goal connections -- as his sore knee.

Smart’s presence should have a significant trickle-down effect for Boston. A healthy Smart means more single-big lineups in which the team will deploy a core four of Smart, Brown, Tatum, and Kemba Walker that played a mere 28 minutes together in the first half.

Smart’s presence tightens up key areas at both ends of the floor. A defense that has seen a sharp downturn in deflections and hustle plays gets its tone-setter back. The offense adds a chief ball-mover who can accentuate the talents of the core pieces when he’s diligent with his shot selection. (Boston is 9-3 when Smart takes 13 shots or fewer and 0-5 when he goes north of that number.)

Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Every time we hear a GM say, "Getting Player X back from injury is bigger than any trade deadline acquisition we could have made," we throw up in our mouths a little bit. So we’ll spare you that suggestion with either Smart or Romeo Langford. The Celtics need more than just better health to truly be competitive in a beefed-up East.

But Langford is vital to Boston’s ceiling, because one of the two following scenarios is most likely to occur in the second half:

1) Langford returns to provide needed wing depth and shows the same signs of promise we saw last season as a competitive defender whose offensive game (particularly his pick-and-roll talents) gets more of a chance to blossom with increased opportunity.

2) Langford is a key piece in a big-splash move to acquire proven talent with the TPE, and that player is crucial to whatever Boston accomplishes this season.

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There’s a third, far unsexier option in which Langford returns but isn’t particularly effective after a long layoff. But there’s an opportunity for him to grasp whenever he’s able to get back on the floor.

It’s easy to forget but Langford is still the youngest player on Boston’s roster. He’s nine days younger than rookie Aaron Nesmith. As maddening as his injury history has been through one and a half NBA seasons, he can help this team -- one way or another.

Fans in the stands

The Celtics will welcome back fans later this month at 12 percent capacity (or roughly 2,300 fans). Ideally, that number climbs even higher on the ramp to when the playoffs start in mid-May.

The addition of fans could be huge for Boston, which opens a season-long, seven-game homestand on March 29. In fact, the Celtics play 14 of 19 games at home from March 29 through May 2.

That could be a key stretch if Boston is going to maintain a grasp on a spot in the top half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Home court, even for just one round, could be important considering the talent level in the East this season.

What happens at the center spot?

The tail end of the first half confirmed the Celtics need to make Robert Williams a consistent presence. The question is, if the Celtics elect to go single-big more often with a healthy roster, how does that impact the center spot?

The Celtics certainly could stick with the three-man rotation of Williams, Daniel Theis, and Tristan Thompson, but that also would likely mean one of those players would see his time throttled down in a given game.

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The other part at play here: If the Celtics use their TPE to add talent and the team yearns to stay below the luxury tax, it might limit the amount of salary they can add -- at least without sending out salary. Boston is roughly $15 million below the tax line now but adding someone like, say, Harrison Barnes at $22.2 million means the Celtics have to send out at least $7 million in salary to stay below the tax line.

All of which leaves us wondering if the team might consider moving Theis (a free agent after the season) or Tristan Thompson as part of any big-splash deal. Theis might be too valuable with the chemistry he’s forged with the core, and the Celtics have been hoping that Thompson’s championship experience can aid them on a potential playoff run. If the team is concerned with Williams’ hip health, it helps to have Theis and Thompson in the big-man stable.

But it will be interesting to see how Stevens balances the minutes at that spot and whether the team continues to deploy two-big groupings in order to try to spread the wealth.