On Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics lost to the San Antonio Spurs by a score of 110-106. Coach Brad Stevens played a remarkable 13 players, giving everyone reasonable playing time except for Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters.
It seems as though Stevens is searching for answers on his bench, as many players have spent years in the Boston system and have earned more playing time. However, with a team that is looking to ultimately contend for a championship, a rotation will have to be settled on later in the season.
The Boston Celtics have players on their bench that deserve more minutes
Some of these players deserve more minutes, but it’s going to be hard for them to see more action without unforeseen circumstances. Interestingly, in the 2020 NBA season, depth has become extra important due to COVID-19 absences, so everyone on their team will get their shot. It’s what they make of it that matters.
Here are three players that deserve more playing time on the Boston Celtics:
Boston Celtics that deserve more playing time: Robert Williams
Robert Williams has seen limited playing time this year, mainly due to the Celtics’ offseason acquisitions. With adding Tristan Thompson to the team, Boston attempted to add veteran leadership in the frontcourt. Throughout his career, he has started in most situations, and he most certainly signed with the Celtics with that in mind.
Although Thompson hasn’t been everything GM Danny Ainge has wanted so far this year, he hasn’t been terrible, and helps sure up the interior defense and rebounding for the Cs. After Tristan, Daniel Theis has earned his fair share of minutes after last year’s surprisingly encouraging campaign.
The German product stretches the floor for the offense while scoring efficiently from inside the arc as well. He has averaged over nine points in each of the last two seasons while playing under 25 minutes and is a good complementary big man on both sides of the floor for the Celtics’ star power. This year, he has had even better offensive production, shooting a ridiculous 75.3% from two-point range, a career-high.
Then comes Williams, who has shined in his career – when healthy. In only 12 games so far, he has averaged 5.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while shooting 72.1% from the field. 2.5 of those rebounds are offensive, keeping missed shots alive for second chance opportunities. Furthermore, he has the best offensive rebound% in the league at 17.6% and has one of the best block rates in the league at 5%. That block rate puts him in the 98th percentile of bigs in the NBA.
He also gets his hands in the passing lanes, placing in the 94th percentile for bigs in steal% at 2.2%. All of these hustle stats are encouraging for a player who looked lost on the court early in his career and has seemingly improved each year until being derailed by injuries. After already battling COVID-19 in January, hopefully, Timelord can have a healthy season the rest of the way.
He has become one of the best finishers at the rim, with his FG% and points per 100 shots placing in the 99th percentile of bigs, respectively. His offense has gotten to a state where if he is involved in the pick-and-roll, the ball-handler can throw a lob anywhere near the hoop and Williams will finish it.
Coach Stevens needs to find a way to play him more than 15 minutes a game.
He may even be the best big man on the team.
Boston Celtics that deserve more playing time: Aaron Nesmith
Aaron Nesmith, the Boston Celtics’ first-round draft pick this year, hasn’t seen much time on the floor yet in his young career, only appearing in eight of the team’s 17 games. Without training camp, Nesmith might not be ready for prime time yet, but he needs to get more minutes.
He has received more of a shot in the last week, playing 19 and 17 minutes against Chicago and Cleveland. He scored nine and 11 points in those games, beginning to find his shot from an NBA level. The intrigue with Nesmith was always his shot from distance, and that’s what will make him valuable in the league.
In the first few games of his career, his defensive rotations were a step too late, getting beat by his man again and again. This caused coach Stevens to limit his play, not seeing the court for extended periods of time. However, in the latter half of January, Nesmith has been able to get shots up both in garbage time and in meaningful minutes, and his shot has fallen.
Shooting 6-of-11 from deep in the last three games, the rookie’s shot looks smooth as butter. He has gotten plays run for him to get open looks, coming off of ball-screens to shoot from the top of the key. He has even showcased the ability to shoot the three off the dribble, something that’s usually a difficult skill for rookies to pull off.
On the defensive side of the ball, he has shown more aggression in rebounding the basketball and has been passable in team defense, especially for a first-year player. Standing at 6’5″ 215 pounds, Nesmith has the physical tools to become a successful 3&D wing for the Boston Celtics. He will gain muscle over time and will improve his 1-on-1 defense, but the prospect of him is promising for the championship contenders.
Sure, he may not be ready to contribute to a winning team just yet, but it’s good to play rookies early on in the season to see what they can add to a team in their first year. If coach Stevens waits too long to give him his opportunities, the Vanderbilt product may never find his confidence until it’s too late.
Boston Celtics that deserve more playing time: Carsen Edwards
Similar to Nesmith, Carsen Edwards has seen increased playing time in the last week of games. The second-year pro tied his career-high of 18 in the Boston Celtics’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, earning more minutes for future games. With Payton Pritchard out and Jeff Teague playing poorly, Edwards has taken the role of backup point guard for the present.
Carsen is a high-volume shooter, who can have really good nights, and some not so good nights. In his rookie season, he never got off the ground, shooting 32.8% from the field in 37 games. So far in the 2020-21 campaign, he has shot 48.4% from the field in only seven appearances. That kind of efficiency from a sparkplug guard off the bench is very good, especially considering he is not shooting the three-ball well (30.8%).
All of these numbers could be a product of a small sample size, but it’s fair to say that Edwards never got his fair shot in his first year with the Boston Celtics. His ideal role on an NBA roster is to create offense for himself when nobody else can. If he can’t hit a shot, he will always be a negative asset to his team. Not being able to make a shot all of last year certainly hurt his stock with Celtics fans, but his footage from college shows that he can in fact become a proficient scorer.
Nowadays, the Celtics are running the second unit through either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, often staggering the two stars. With someone like Edwards on the floor in that second unit, more offense can be created when either one of the Jays gets doubled. On defense, it’s difficult for him to guard effectively as he’s listed at under six feet. Nevertheless, he competes, and that’s all you can ask for with someone of his physical build.
Look, it’s possible the Carsen Edwards experiment doesn’t work out. An outcome like that would be okay. But he deserves a chance, especially in a strange season like this.
It’ll be interesting to see how Stevens adjusts the Boston Celtics’ rotations after the 13-man frenzy on Wednesday in San Antonio.