Celtics rookie Baylor Scheierman knows his way to playing time originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It’s not easy for rookies drafted late in the first round to earn regular playing time in the NBA, especially on a contending team like the Boston Celtics, which has so much veteran talent.
There are ways to get a consistent role, though, and one of them is playing excellent defense.
Celtics rookie Scheierman, the team’s No. 30 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, knows that strong play on that end of the court can land him minutes.
“Offensively, I’m very confident in myself and capable of impacting the game on the court. But I know that getting minutes on the court will depend on the defense,” Scheierman said. told reporters after Thursday’s practice.
“So that’s what I’m trying to hold on to and get better every day in this category.”
Scheierman said the Celtics wanted him to add some muscle in the offseason, so he worked with the team’s staff and worked to get stronger over the summer.
“I spent a lot of time working on my body, gained a lot of lean mass and was able to gain about 10 to 15 pounds in that area,” Scheierman said.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla seems pleased with the defensive progress Scheierman has made thus far.
“For any young player, the most important thing is: can you play defense, can you run a defensive scheme and can you rebound?,” Mazzulla told reporters Thursday, including Zack Cox from Boston Herald. “And he got better from day one.”
The Celtics return their top nine rotation players from last season. Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Al Horford (when Kristaps Porzingis was injured) all played key roles coming off the bench for the 2023-24 title team.
Who will be Boston’s 10th man this season? Scheierman is a top candidate because of his outside shooting. Mazzulla’s teams shoot a lot of 3-pointers, and Scheierman shot an impressive 39 percent from beyond the arc over five seasons of college basketball.
But 3-point shooting alone probably won’t be enough for Scheierman to carve out a regular role. He must prove that he is not a liability defensively.
