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Celtics rookie Baylor Scheierman knows his path 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 that has so much veteran talent.
There are ways to earn a consistent role, however, and one of them is by 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 floor can be his ticket to minutes.
“Offensively, I feel very confident in myself and being able to impact the game on the floor. But I know that for me to get minutes on the floor, it’s going to come down to defense,” Scheierman told reporters after Thursday’s practice.
“So that’s what I’m trying to hang my hat on and get better every single day in that category.”
Scheierman said the Celtics wanted him to add some muscle in the offseason, so he worked with the team staff and put in the work to get stronger over the summer.
“I spent a lot of time working on my body, put on a lot of lean mass and was able to gain about 10-15 pounds in that area,” Scheierman said.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla sounds pleased with the progress Scheierman has made defensively so far.
“Any young player, the most important thing coming in is: Can you play defense, can you execute a defensive system and can you rebound?” Mazzulla told reporters Thursday, including Zack Cox of the Boston Herald. “And he got better at that from Day 1.”
The Celtics are bringing back 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 off the bench for the 2023-24 title team.
Who will be Boston’s 10th man this season? Scheierman is among the top candidates 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 college basketball seasons.
But 3-point shooting alone likely won’t be enough for Scheierman to carve out a regular role. He needs to prove he’s not a liability defensively.