Celtics fans who stuck around until the end of Monday’s 40-point bludgeoning of the Golden State Warriors witnessed a small but meaningful milestone.
With less than two minutes remaining in Boston’s 125-85 victory at Chase Center, first-round draft pick Baylor Scheierman hit the first 3-pointer of his nascent NBA career. He added a contested jumper moments later to finish with five points, more than doubling his season total.
Scheierman also tallied three rebounds, one assist and one steal in his four minutes of floor time. His garbage-time numbers had no impact on the final result, but they were a positive step forward for a player who’s spent most of his rookie season playing in a 3,000-seat gym in Portland, Maine.
Entering Wednesday night’s matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers, Scheierman had logged 42 total NBA minutes, which ranked 43rd among 2024 draftees and 56th among all first-year players. The 24-year-old Creighton product has checked in before the fourth quarter just once — a rotation cameo in a Dec. 2 win over Miami — and before seeing mop-up duty in a rout of Orlando last Friday, he went more than six weeks without appearing in a game for Boston.
Such is life for an unproven rookie on a team like the Celtics, who brought back nearly every player of consequence from last season’s championship-winning roster. Head coach Joe Mazzulla warned Scheierman in training camp that his NBA opportunities likely would be limited (“There’s nothing harder than being a young player with the Celtics,” he said) and most of his chances thus far have come with Boston’s G League club.
Scheierman has shown promise in his outings with Maine, however, especially of late.
After he flirted with a triple-double in back-to-back games earlier last week (25 points, nine assists, eight rebounds against Capital City; 23-11-8 vs. College Park) while shooting better than 50% from 3-point range in both, the Celtics recalled Scheierman to their NBA roster. He remained with the big club for its four-game West Coast swing, which features an LA back-to-back against the Clippers and Lakers on Wednesday and Thursday and concludes in Dallas on Saturday.
The Celtics’ three two-way players (Drew Peterson, JD Davison and Anton Watson) all stayed with Maine during the road trip.
“Just continuing to trust his development plan as far as what it means to compete defensively, and continuing to grow on the offensive end,” Mazzulla said after Scheierman’s call-up. “I think you try to find small moments to have those guys spend time with us to validate the work (and) also to continue to see what we’re doing here. He’s had a great attitude and just has to continue to trust his development plan.”
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Few NBA players would choose a G League assignment, but Scheierman’s frequent trips to the minors have afforded him far more playing time than he’d receive with Boston. The 6-foot-6 wing has averaged 34.5 minutes per game over his 22 appearances for Maine and gained experience in multiple roles, including some recent reps at point guard.
Scheierman is averaging 19.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals per G League appearance, and he’s improved his 3-point shooting percentage from 33.3% in the league’s Tip-Off Tournament to 40.0% since the regular season began in late December.
“I think the nice thing about being in Maine is being able to just play free and do some things that I won’t necessarily do when I’m with Boston,” Scheierman told reporters last Friday. “But it allows me to just continue to grow my game and continue to be comfortable and confident when my name is called in Boston.”
When that moment will come remains to be seen. Mazzulla suggested Scheierman still needs to improve defensively before he can contend for regular NBA minutes. His shooting also has been erratic in his occasional Celtics stints (before the Warriors game, he was 1-for-11 from the field and 0-for-7 from three).
The Celtics don’t have any glaring roster holes, but they could benefit from having another viable wing option behind core reserve Sam Hauser, who’s battled a nagging lower back injury this season and seen his numbers decline. Hauser entered Wednesday shooting 36.8% from three, a steep drop from his 42.4% clip last season.