Jonas Jerebko had a horribly slow start to the season. He was a liability in every way for the Boston Celtics and he was showing very few signs of being the player he was last year. Jerebko was never a starter and never got top minutes on the team, but his contributions were some of the most important they got off the bench.
The Celtics struggle shooting the three ball and Jerebko was one of the very few players that shot above 40% last year. There was a case to be made that he was the most reliable three point shooter on the team and his unselfish play ensured that he only took high percentage shots.
Jerebko was one of the fringe players last season that appeared to carve out a legitimate role on the team and there is no doubting how valuable a knock down three point shooter is to the Celtics. Then this season started and all that progress appeared to be lost. Jerebko was, at one time, the worst three point shooter on the team. Jerebko was a liability and could not even be trusted to hit a layup, let alone a three point shot.
Jerebko was playing like someone that was on their way out of the rotation and with how cluttered the Celtics’ front court is, it started to appear like Jerebko’s days with the Celtics may be numbered.
Then, something clicked. Jerebko started hitting some shots, he resumed a significant role off the bench and got right back to where he was a season ago. The Celtics have a lot of players who are in the process of developing and establishing their role on the team. Jerebko is not one of those players. His role as a three point shooter off the bench is as well defined as any other player on the team and fans are now rejoicing as he is back to flourishing in that role.
Jerebko had percentages to start the year that could have landed him out of the league but he has propelled himself back to a truly great threat. Jerebko is now one of two players shooting above 40% from three for the Celtics and had it not been for Olynyk shooting above 50% from three in the new year, Jerebko would be leading the team.
Jerebko has finally put arguably the worst start of his career behind him and he is back on the pace that he established a season ago. The issue now becomes sustainability. Consistency was one of Jerebko’s most important traits last year. He has never been a volume shooter and has a career high of 2.2 three point attempts per game but that contributes to his reliability. Jerebko is far from a dynamic play maker on offense but on a team that generates all their offense through ball movement, Jerebko is a phenomenal piece to have coming off the bench.
Jerebko is starting to reestablish the trust that he instilled last season but things could turn quickly. Just one bad week could send Jerebko’s percentages back down and with how chaotic their rotation has been nothing can be taken for granted at this point. Jerebko appears to have cemented his role off the bench this year but he needs to sustain this recent success to keep it. Tyler Zeller has recently been getting some minutes and the first one to sacrifice for that will be Jerebko.
The Celtics have settled their rotation a bit and Jerebko is one of four players that consistently gets solid minutes off the bench. His minutes are still down from last season but a lot of that has to do with his slow start. Jerebko is gradually seeing his minutes and his role increase and that will continue to happen as long as he continues to shoot this well. Unfortunately, he has to deal with the fact that there are plenty of other options if he is struggling but that needs to be used as motivation.
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Jerebko has become one of the lone bright spots shooting the three ball for a team that has struggled in that area this year. His value is increased with how the rest of the team is struggling and his value as a 40% three point shooter cannot be understated. If Jerebko continues to stay above or around that mark, he will surely continue to be a main part of the rotation.