With one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the NBA, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens will have a hard task dividing minutes between his players this season.

After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward last year, they have been made the favourites to win the east.

That's due to the All-Star duo returning to join a team that features Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart.

Keeping everybody happy

Outside of the Golden State Warriors, there aren't many teams who boast this level of depth in the league.

But keeping them all happy and finding enough time for them on the court will be Stevens' job and he knows it won't be easy.

"Obviously everybody's going to want to play," Stevens said, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.

"And all the guys are saying the right things because that's who they are. They're good people. They're going to go out and compete and play hard, and they want to win first and foremost.

"But that doesn't mean there's not going to be times during the year where guys wish they were playing more."

The likes of Rozier and Tatum have already stated that they'd be happy to come off the bench to help the team win but that's easier said than done.

Along with Brown, the young pair thrived in the absence of Irving and Hayward in the playoffs and proved their worth.

They may be happy to step aside for their more experienced teammates now but it's tough to predict how they'll feel during the campaign if they don't get the playing time they desire.

Either way, it's a good problem for the Celtics to have and Stevens is a good enough coach to figure out what's best for the team.

He has the benefit of rolling out different lineups for different games as he'll be spoilt for choice.

"At the end of the day, if you want to be a part of a special team, you've got to have a special team," Stevens said.

"And we think we've got a lot of good players that really complement each other well. We'll find out in time if we can be a special team."

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