In an ideal world, Torrey Craig will bring three positive traits to the Celtics’ roster: physicality and versatility on defense, reliable 3-point shooting and veteran experience.
He checked all three of those boxes Wednesday night in his Boston debut.
While not a flawless introduction for the 34-year-old journeyman, Craig made plays on both ends in his limited floor time, hitting both of his 3-point attempts and blocking one shot in Boston’s 116-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs at TD Garden. He also notched an assist — on a Jayson Tatum 3-pointer — and finished as a plus-2 in his nine minutes.
“He integrated pretty well,” Tatum said. “We didn’t have practice or anything like that, so we kind of threw him in the on the fly. But it’s part of being a professional, staying ready. Obviously he’ll get better, more comfortable with us and likewise as the season progresses. But he gave us a spark off the bench, hit some threes, backed up on the defensive end, and that’s what we expect from him.”
The Celtics signed Craig — the first non-draft pick addition to their roster since last season’s championship run — last week after trading reserve guard Jaden Springer to Houston in a cost-cutting move.
Springer is a talented defensive player, but his offensive game is underdeveloped, and his experience in high-leverage situations is limited. The same is true for second-year pro Jordan Walsh. Before adding Craig, who’s made 39.7% of his three over the last three seasons, head coach Joe Mazzulla’s non-big bench options behind core reserves Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser were limited to Springer, Walsh, rookie Baylor Scheierman and two-way player Drew Peterson.
Unlike those four players, all of whom are relatively early in their respective pro careers, Craig came to the Celtics with 441 games of regular-season NBA experience with five teams, plus another 75 games in the postseason. He started playoff games as recently as 2023 and was part of the 2020-21 Phoenix Suns squad that reached the NBA Finals.
Craig could be seen talking with Boston’s younger players on the bench during Wednesday’s win — “explaining something that I saw in the game that would help us,” he said.
“I think he was excellent, honestly,” center Kristaps Porzingis said. “He’s going to bring energy. He hit a couple shots. He looked comfortable out there. We want him to be engaged like he is. He’s talking. He’s communicated from Day 1. Good vet presence. He’s older than I thought. I thought he was younger than me; he’s a little bit older. So he’s a good voice to have in the locker room, for sure, and just a good personality to have around.”
The next step for Craig is learning the Celtics’ verbiage and the nuances of head coach Joe Mazzulla’s scheme.
“He’s got an important role just because of his versatility, right?” Mazzulla said. “So it’s going to take time for him to understand the language and the things that we do on both ends of the floor, and you can watch as much film and walk through it, but until he’s in the game, it’s going to just continue to be a conversation of how we could utilize his versatility on both ends of the floor. So he did some of that (Wednesday) with his defensive versatility and making those two shots. So I’m just going to get him up to speed.”
Mazzulla said Craig has taken the right approach thus far, asking questions and leaning on the knowledge base he built across stints in Denver, Milwaukee, Indiana, Phoenix and Chicago.
“Every team that you’re a part of, you play a different role,” the coach said. “So his role is important, and some of the stuff that we’re able to do, and he’s been great as far as understanding that, even during the games, asking questions, and during film sessions. Everyone’s going to make mistakes. Even the guys that have been here in our system have made mistakes. To me, it goes back to the mistakes with effort versus the mistakes and not effort. He’s been a player for a long time who has played through mistakes and is a high-energy, high-physical guy.”
Craig also will need to prove he can stay healthy — not a given for a player his age with his injury history. The Spurs game was his first since Dec. 30, as he missed the final month-plus of his Bulls tenure with an ankle sprain. He also dealt with knee and foot issues last season that caused him to miss 29 games.
If his body holds up and he earns Mazzulla’s trust, the eighth-year pro should be an asset, especially on nights when the Celtics do not have their full rotation available (like Wednesday, when they played without starters Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday).
“I was actually in better shape than I thought I was going to be (in my first game back),” said Craig, the Celtics’ third-oldest player behind Al Horford (38) and Holiday (34). “Just getting into rhythm, the flow of the game back. That’ll come with more games being played. So just take this time off to keep prepping my body and be ready to come back.”
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