Jonas Jerebko could finally have an opportunity to take over a significant role on the the Boston Celtics
Jonas Jerebko has been a consistent and serviceable player during his time with the Boston Celtics. He brings position versatility that could allow him to play any position in the front court, and he brings a reliable combination of shooting and defense. Jerebko has found ways to contribute and was rarely seen as a negative player or liability on the court. A bad cold streak to start last season really hurt him, but he more than made up for it after that. Taking all that into consideration, it becomes little difficult to reconcile how he has never earned a legitimate role on the team based on how those ahead of him performed.
Perhaps it is because the Celtics have never seen great high end potential with Jerebko. They know what they will get out of him and they understand his limitations. Or, perhaps it has been a result of an incredibly cluttered front court that has featured all kinds of young players. Stevens needed to give opportunities to the younger players that they hoped would develop into something more than they know Jerebko is.
Now, things can go two different ways for Jerebko. Either his limitations will prevent him from cracking the rotation on a team that has a more solid front court. Or, now that the uncertain young players ahead of him are no longer as abundant, Stevens can finally go to him on a consistent basis.
Jerebko has easily been one of the only good three point shooters during his two years on the Celtics, shooting just around 40% from three point range. He has been a helpful rebounder, approaching double digit rebounds per 36 minutes in his time with the Celtics. He has managed to post a positive defensive box plus minus both years with them, and yet he has yet to crack even 20 minutes per game, with usage rates of 17.6 and 13.5.
So far, the story has been relatively simple for Jerebko. He has made sure to be a contributor every opportunity he has been given, the problem is that he has not been given the kind of opportunities his play has warranted compared to some other players on the Celtics.
Jerebko has provided the floor spacing that they had hoped to get from Jared Sullinger and desperately failed to try and get from Johnson, and he did that without giving up too much on the defensive end. The lone time Jerebko was given a significant role in the rotation was last year in the playoffs, and he brought one of the most important sparks to the team.
Jerebko understands how to play in Stevens’ offense, and he has found a great balance of unselfish play and reliable finishing. Jerebko may not have the aggressiveness that is needed to be an offensive instigator, but when it comes to shooting, reliability and floor spacing is vitally important right now.
The way expectations have changed for the Celtics could work in Jerebko’s favor, but he may be trapped in this limited role for a while. With little potential to become a better player and have the kind of impact that will help propel them as a contending team, Jerebko may remain filler on the bench.
That being said, the Celtics are expected to spend less time evaluating their younger players, and will work more towards establishing the kind of consistent rotation that they never achieved last year in their front court. There are fewer players to evaluate ahead of him and other than Al Horford and Kelly Olynyk, there may not be any player that has a significant edge over Jerebko in the front court.
He may not get much more than 20 minutes per game, but he brings reliability in areas that the Celtics desperately need it, and the bottom line is that he will be more of a positive option that some of the uncertain players on the team. If that is the case, a chance to fight for that top spot in the eastern conference could keep those younger and undetermined players on the bench, while Jerebko is given his first opportunity to leave a real mark on this team.
Jerebko has been valuable to the Celtics, and the limitations on his value are largely because of the limitation in his role. Until Jerebko is used more and given the added responsibility, there is no telling how important he can be to the team.
Shooting 40% from three point range is something the Celtics can only realistically expect from Olynyk this season and with what Horford will do to their interior defense, reliable shooting gains even more importance when it comes to who plays alongside Horford. Amir Johnson will not bring that kind of shooting and his defensive importance could be dwarfed by Horford’s presence. Tyler Zeller can only help in the mid range game and is yet to prove he is a capable defender. If Jerebko can hold his own on defense then there is no sense in keeping him glued to the bench.
Jerebko may not be the key role player that any team needs to win a championship, but he should finally be given the opportunity he needs to prove he can become that player. Per 36 minutes, Jerebko has been in double digit points per game every season of his career, and a career average of 1.1 steals per game is always valuable to the Celtics.
The front court went through drastic changes this offseason and their make up and function could become drastically different than Jerebko’s first two seasons with the team. For a player that appears to have been given the bare minimum role he warranted, it feels as though those changes should only serve to help him finally being rewarded for the solid play he has consistently given the Celtics.
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The Celtics decided to bring Jerebko back because, at the very least, he brings the exact kind of depth they need in terms of defense, versatility and shooting. Jerebko would have to regress in a terrible way to see his minutes go down from last year, and if some of the players head of him struggle then Jerebko could become one of the main contributors on one of the most important second units in the NBA.