Former Timberwolves forward is suddenly out of the rotation with his new team

When Josh Minott signed with the Boston Celtics over the summer, it was a clear opportunity for the young forward to get real minutes for the first time in his career. Minott barely played during his three seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Early in the season, it looked like Minott had found a role with the Celtics. However, now he is once again outside of his team's rotation.

Notably, Minott earned a starting spot with the Celtics in late October. While this only lasted for nine games, he still had a role in the rotation mid-December. During this stretch, Minott averaged 7.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 stocks on 50.4/46.2/71.4 shooting splits. Nevertheless, Minott has played 2:51 garbage time minutes in the past five games and appears to be out of the Celtics' rotation.

Minott's last time playing meaningful minutes actually came in a start against the Indiana Pacers on December 22. He started with Jordan Walsh sidelined before rookie Hugo González closed in place of Minott. Despite earning the start, Minott played just 8:35 minutes in this game.

Despite falling out of the rotation there are plenty of positives about Minott's season

I honestly don't view Minott falling out of the Celtics' rotation as a major concern for his NBA future. Of course, it stinks for him since it finally looked like he had found his niche.

Regardless, the Celtics' wing room (even without Jayson Tatum) is super talented. Jaylen Brown is having a First-Team All-NBA level season, Sam Hauser is still an elite spot-up shooter, and Jordan Walsh has been a revelation for the team on both ends of the floor. Plus, they want to give their past two first-round picks González and Baylor Scheierman, some opportunities.

Joe Mazzulla has opted to give González and Scheierman more minutes lately, which significantly limits the available minutes for Minott. Tatum seems determined to return at some point, so that doesn't bode well for Minott to crack the rotation again.

Nevertheless, Mazzulla is notorious for mixing up the rotations. Just ask another former Timberwolves player, Luka Garza, who has been in and out of the rotation all year. As a result, I would be surprised if Minott doesn't get another opportunity, at some point this year.

More importantly, though, Minott has shown enough in his inconsistent minutes to prove he can contribute to winning, and he isn't out of the rotation because of poor play.

Minott is a versatile defender capable of shutting down opponents on the ball and disrupting offenses off the ball. Here's an example of him locking up Evan Mobley.

Per DataBallr, Minott ranks in the 90th percentile or above in both steals and deflections per 100 possessions. Furthermore, opposing players are shooting just 43 percent when defended by Minott. The Memphis product also relentlessly crashes the glass.

Offense has always been the question for Minott, but he is shooting an impressive 43.8 percent from beyond the arc, which should ease some of these concerns. While the Celtics have exceeded all reasonable preseason expectations as the No. 3 seed in the East, they could still look to upgrade their center depth at the deadline. As a result, I wouldn't rule out Minott being traded and ultimately finding a team that could give him some consistent minutes.

At face value, Minott's current situation looks similar to his past three years in Minnesota. However, it's different for several reasons, and eventually I think Minott will carve out a real role in Boston or, more likely, elsewhere.