The Celtics have three lineups to explore

The preseason games are over, Boston fans. We're almost there!

The Celtics enter the season with fewer roster questions than anyone else in the league, but Joe Mazzulla isn't one to sit idle. He and his staff will spend all year tinkering with strategies, tactics, playing times and lineups to gain even the slightest edge heading into the playoffs.

Below I've listed some lineups worth throwing at the wall. I'm confident at least one will stay. Some will definitely log heavy minutes while others may be a pipe dream. But even if the Celtics have money to roll through the East again this season (Knack on Wood), it's always worth looking for change on the sofa cushions.

Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

1) Bombs gone / a look into the future?

Kristaps Porzingis' return will happen at some point, and when it does, I'd like to see more from arguably the league's strongest offensive five: Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, the Jays and Porzingis.

The group only played 51 possessions last year but had a – Good basketball gods, is that right? – 152.9 offensive rating. Such small sample sizes are fundamentally meaningless, but with numbers like that it would be criminal not to look into them further.

This is in no way intended to diminish respect for Jrue Holiday, who is an excellent offensive force in his own right and a better overall player than Pritchard. But there's a very real chance Holiday will be traded after this season, a victim of the Celtics' increasing spending. Pritchard is cost-controlled and made half as many threes as Holiday (7.5 per 36 minutes compared to Holiday's 5.1 per 36).

The starters are not better with Pritchard, but they could be stronger offensively. Most importantly, I want Boston to know before the offseason whether Pritchard is ready to take on a larger role alongside the starters.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

2) All Tillman at the Four lineups

Going into the season, I assumed the Celtics would ditch their two big lineups. Without Porzingis' moonballs on the floor, Horford was the only proven shooter at the center position. I even begged Joe Mazzulla to bring back the UniKornet!

Turns out I was thinking about it all wrong. We've seen a lot of two-big lineups this preseason, even without Al Horford, and it's all thanks to the stunning performance of Xavier Tillman.

Tillman shot 6 of 11 on three-pointers last season and looked much more aggressive and comfortable than his 27 percent career three-point shooting percentage would suggest. Take a look at the preseason shooting data compiled by Jack Anderson. Interestingly, only one of Tillman's attempts came from the right side, and he made several attempts from the wing and the top of the arc. I particularly liked this one where he lifted out of the corner just enough to give Payton Pritchard an easier passing path:

Tillman will never be Kristaps Porzingis. But if he can settle in somewhere in the mid-to-high 30s in percentage terms and lure defenders out a half-step, can he fill Al Horford's role? Given the natural concerns Horford has heading into his 38-year-old season, it's worth finding out. Tillman is already the most versatile defender in the big man rotation; If the shot proves trustworthy, the Celtics may not be as reliant on their elder statesman.

3) The backups the Raptors blitzed (plus Jaylen Brown)

This comes from the heart. I just need to see more of the reserve players the Toronto Raptors destroyed in that magical preseason game a week ago: Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh and Neemias Queta. Let's let Jaylen Brown fill in for the late Lonnie Walker.

Pritchard, Brown, Hauser and Walsh (if the 37% three-point shooting in the preseason is real) can deliver a masterclass in ballistics, and Queta can do what he does best: devour rebounds like a hungry, hungry hippopotamus . There's more than enough shooting and depth here to make a splash on offense, and Brown and Walsh could cause havoc in the passing lanes.

Will this device ever play? Doubtful; They didn't have the ball together last season (mainly because Walsh barely played). Aside from Walsh, the other four recorded a paltry 74 possessions (in which they annihilated their opponents).

But this group ran and shot against the Raptors and was a sight to behold, and guess what? My peepers are starving again.