Boston Celtics Draft: Why Aaron Nesmith makes sense for Cs

Areas in need of improvements

Initiation 

While his hints of athleticism leave fans wanting more, Aaron Nesmith struggled to create offense for himself as a ball handler.

While he ranked in the 97th percentile in isolation scoring, he didn’t find himself in that position too often.

Over 50 percent of his looks came either off screens or as a spot-up shooter, as he only saw 16 total plays last season as a pick & roll initiator, and while this is too small of a sample size to draw any conclusions, he will need to improve his vision.

This is of concern, especially for a Boston Celtics team that lacked a real bench initiator during the playoffs.

Still, they have a history of grooming non-playmaking wings into more heliocentric ball handlers.

Not to say that Nesmith could blossom into Marcus Smart or Jayson Tatum with the ball in his hands, but he has come to the right place if the Cs believe he can operate as more than just an off-ball threat.

Needless to say, if the Celtics choose the wing, they will likely only use him as a floor spacer initially, which is, again, okay for a team desperately in need of shooting off the bench.

Coming into the league, Nesmith isn’t your primary ball handler.

He likely also won’t be able to act as a secondary creator. Instead, he has the potential to become a tertiary initiator as his maturity level and his willingness to play within a system suggests that he could be a perfect understudy to Smart, Tatum, Kemba Walker, and even Jaylen Brown.

On Ball Defense (a work in progress)

Is Aaron Nesmith a bad defender at the moment to the point where you would label him a complete liability? No.

Is he a good defender at the NBA level? Not yet.

The first thing scouts mainly look for on the defensive side of the floor is effort. Marcus Smart, while an intelligent defender, is also a max effort player. A lot of what it comes down to is whether a guy tries on defense.

Nesmith most certainly tries.

While he puts effort in, quicker players still beat him off the dribble. His nimble footwork on offense has yet to translate over to the other side of the floor.

Throwing Synergy defensive numbers out the door and just watching him, he struggles to guard the catch. He had issues with shifty hesitation moves, fouled with his hips, and needed to improve his verticality with his shot contests.

While he isn’t a rim-protecting wing — such as Robert Covington, for example — Nesmith did manage to showcase several impressive weak side help blocks during his tenure at the collegiate level.

His 6-10 wingspan gives him more defensive versatility as the Boston Celtics could try to mold him into an effective on-ball defender.

Nesmith is already an effective team defender, as he understands when to make the right reads.

Again, he will be in an environment where he can learn from the greats.

Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown are culture setters and arguably two of the top seven on-ball defenders at any position. Look at how even Jayson Tatum turned into one of the best off-ball defenders in a matter of a single year.