Three things to watch for as Hornets travel to face the Celtics, tip off NBA preseason

After five days of occasionally pinballing off each other and engaging in plenty of friendly-fire trash talk, the Charlotte Hornets have reached that point in the training camp calendar.

The players are beyond eager to play against anyone other than their own teammates.

The Hornets tip off their five-game preseason schedule on Sunday in Boston when they take on the Celtics at 1 p.m. at TD Garden.

They will follow up their date in Massachusetts with three straight home games — including one in Greensboro against the Celtics on Friday — in six days before they conclude things in Philadelphia on Oct. 12, which will give them a full seven days to prepare for their season opener in San Antonio a week later.

“I like our schedule,” coach Steve Clifford said. “There will be five tough games and teams whose rosters bring different types of challenges. So obviously last year with Boston, they were terrific defensively and they were also very, very good offensively. So a lot of switching, a very versatile lineup. They do some things out of their five out there a little differently than some other teams do, so there will be a lot of things that we can look at that will help us.”

So what should fans watch out for? Here are three things to keep an eye on:

1. Experimenting with combinations

Clifford had to educate himself on the Hornets’ roster quickly after being hired just after the draft in June, and he’s watched plenty of footage of the team from a season ago. But until the scrimmaging began for real this week, he couldn’t completely determine the specific on-court combinations he believes work best as a unit.

During hefty portions of their final three practices prior to leaving for Boston, they experimented with certain lineups, and that should continue in earnest against the Celtics.

Their preseason opener will provide Clifford and his staff with a better barometer and understanding of which players coexist well together. They can get an idea of what those collective groups are comfortable with offensively and defensively, because things that wouldn’t otherwise stick out while scrimmaging against themselves could pop up.

“I think the depth of the roster is such that there’s obviously different ways that you could go, different times playing small,” Clifford said. “And there’s a lot of guys that play more than one position. So this has been a good stretch to try to look at all those things.”.

2. Some rotation spots really are up for grabs

It appears that a handful of rotation spots have yet to be determined, and may not be for the next two weeks.

Clifford said early in the week that incumbent starting center Mason Plumlee would return to the same role and previously seldom-used third-year University of Kentucky product Nick Richards was on track to begin the season as his backup.

But the Hornets’ complete big man picture is far from settled and further complicated by the absence of Miles Bridges, who had his court hearing to face felony domestic-violence charges pushed back for a fourth time last week.

The Hornets must divide up the minutes vacated with the loss of Bridges, and also sort out the reserve guard rotation behind the starting backcourt of Ball and Rozier.

“With this roster, I think that’s really going to be all the way through the fifth preseason game,” Clifford said. “Sometimes you watch a group play and they fit together well. So we have, to me, more than 10 legitimate rotation players. So again, (it’s) watching all of it and just trying to get the best feel for how we can put lineups on the floor that will give us the best chance to play 48 minutes of good basketball.”

3. Sporadic playing time

Although ironing out the kinks is of the utmost importance for the Hornets, ensuring players are healthy entering the season is the main priority during the preseason.

Clifford said they’ve had some pretty good contact in their training camp practices, leading to the usual bumps and bruises that crop up when things get going again after the offseason. He’s hopeful those in the expected main rotation will play against Boston, including the starters, but sounded uncertain who would be available for the matinee start.

“I haven’t even decided yet,” Clifford said. “I’m going to do that on the plane after practice to see how everybody feels.”