Humor me for a second here. Go over to your bookshelf, dust off that Merriam-Webster dictionary, and leaf through the pages until you hit the “S” section. Find the term “Stretch Four,” and tell me what you see. This is what I see:

That’s the chiselled face of the NBA’s new Clark Kent, a modern-day Kurt Rambis. That’s the face of Jonas Jerebko. For two years, he played alongside Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe in Detroit. They are centers. He is not. But Jerebko, chronically buried on the bench behind bigger names with bigger contracts, is a coach’s dream, and he’ll do anything to prove his mettle on the floor.

It’s a bone-chilling February night in Boston, and the Charlotte Hornets are in town for a game against the Celtics. Coach Brad Stevens, ever the alchemist, decides to trot out a super-small lineup with the recently-acquired Jonas Jerebko as the lone big to begin the second quarter.

6-foot-9 Hornets power forward Marvin Williams is posting up Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas on the left block in an attempt to take advantage of a switched screen-and-roll. Like clockwork, Jerebko dashes over from his assignment, Jason Maxiell, to double Williams, who kicks the ball out to Gerald Henderson for a contested three-pointer. The big Swede hustles back over to the middle of the paint and chases down a loose rebound in the corner instead of letting it trickle out of bounds so that the Celtics can get out and run –– after all that’s why they’re playing small, right?

As the Celtics ping the ball up the floor for a transition three from Jae Crowder, Jerebko runs in a full-on sprint down the parquet and fights for the offensive rebound, smartly securing it as a Hornets player tries to save the ball from bouncing across the baseline.

Forget the 40 percent three-point shooting mark, the defensive versatility, and his tranquil locker room presence; this 15-second episode I’ve just described is a microcosm of Jerebko’s influence on the subtleties of team success. He plays hard, waits patiently on the sideline when his number isn’t called, and generally delivers when it is. Jonas Jerebko is as good an 18-minutes-per-game player as there is in the NBA.

But there’s a catch. Coach Stevens has a six-edged sword and isn’t quite sure how to wield it. Boston has five other frontcourt guys that are all deserving of considerable minutes: Amir Johnson, Tyler Zeller, David Lee, Jared Sullinger, and Kelly Olynyk.

Johnson and Lee will likely get starting nods come October 28th against the Sixers in the Celtics’ season opener. Johnson because, well, he’s good. And Lee, in part, because the Celtics are looking to refurbish his trade value (he’s also the most qualified candidate).

But what about the remaining quartet (quintet, if you entertain the idea of Jae Crowder getting some run as an undersized four this season)? It’s just not practical to split 96 minutes between six players, so something has to give.

Jerebko shared more than half of his minutes in green last year with Kelly Olynyk, another big-bodied, trifecta-chucking white dude. It proved a better pairing than wine and cheese, PB and J, even Rob Gronkowski and alcohol. They tallied a blah offensive rating of 103.5 but hunkered down on the other end and ceded a paltry 84.7 points per 100 possessions, good for a net rating of 18.8, per NBA.com. That’s absurdly good and a testament to what a smart, shifty, amorphous defense can do without a staunch rim protector.

Sure, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, and Marcus Smart had a lot to do with the duo’s success, but there is compelling evidence that playing Jerebko and Olynyk together is tenable.

In fact, putting Jerebko next to anyone works. The 28-year-old vet is is a frontcourt chameleon, blending seamlessly into whatever lineup his coaches want. His ability to check quicker fours like Draymond Green, Tobias Harris, and Paul George (apparently how he’ll be utilized this season) and use his 6-foot-10 frame to bang with the tankards down low could prove pivotal as the league’s lineups continue to shrimpify.

As everyone continues to talk about the guys on expiring contracts — Lee, Zeller, and Sullinger — the quiet, unassuming Jerebko will be right there, ready to step in at a moment’s notice. And hey, he played nearly a quarter of his 527 minutes last season as Stevens’ lone big. That picture next to “Stretch Four” is beginning to fade on my page.