The injury bug continues to make its rounds through the roster for the Boston Celtics, with perhaps it’s biggest chomp of the season coming Monday evening, as it was announced that All-Star wing, Jaylen Brown will miss the remainder of the season due to a torn scapholunate ligament in his left wrist.
Easily his best season at the professional level, the fifth-year baller out of UC Berkeley posted stellar per-game averages of 24.7 points, six rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and over half a block per game on 48 percent shooting from the floor and 40 percent shooting from deep.
The 1B option right alongside Jayson Tatum‘s 1A — which, frankly, the letters could often be argued to be reversed on any given night –, this news is absolutely crushing for a team that’s simply been dependent on both of their stars to show out every night just to have a chance at staying afloat.
Now, with the postseason right around the corner — for the Cs, it will most likely start with the play-in tournament –, it’s evident that many players will have to up their production to try and soften the blow of losing one of their best two options.
To us at the Houdini, we see 3 players, in specific, that need to step up if they wish to have any chance of making a splash this coming offseason:
Boston Celtics player No. 1) Aaron Nesmith
First up on the docket, we have Aaron Nesmith, the C’s rookie who, though he got off to a slow start to his NBA career, has recently managed to take things up a notch.
Over his last six outings, the former Vanderbilt star has dropped 15+ points four times and, as a whole, is posting averages of 12 points and 5.3 rebounds on 64 percent shooting from the floor and 58 percent shooting from deep.
Frankly, with him being tabbed as arguably the best shooter to come out of this past draft class coupled with the fact that he was the 14th overall pick, seeing numbers such as these should not typically be so surprising.
The problem is, however, during the 36 games he played prior to this recent surge, Nesmith only managed to post 3.4 points and 2.2 rebounds.
Obviously, on the plus side, it’s evident that his recently increased role has translated into an uptick in production on the hardwood. Hopefully, he can keep his level of play up in Brown’s absence.
Boston Celtics player No. 2) Evan Fournier
Since acquired at this year’s deadline, it feels as though we at HH have been constantly pounding the proverbial drum shouting that Evan Fournier is a player who arguably has the most to prove on this Boston Celtics team.
After averaging nearly 20 points per game on 46 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent shooting from deep in 26 games played with the Orlando Magic during the first half of this season, the veteran wing came to the shamrocks viewed as a much-needed quaternary option to run alongside their top scoring threats in the rotation.
Unfortunately, things got off to a slow start for the 28-year-old wing, as he started off with a debut donning green and white going 0-10 for zero points only to go on and drop six points on 0-2 shooting from deep in his follow up outing.
Though things became a bit messier directly after that, with Fournier contracting COVID 19 which forced him to miss nine games back in April, his last four games have shown glimpses of what Danny Ainge believed he was originally getting when he swapped two future picks to bring him aboard.
Over this aforementioned span, the shooting guard has averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game on 67 percent shooting from the field and a whopping 62 percent shooting from deep.
With the wing position now depleted without Brown in tow, how well Fournier performs becomes more vital to the team’s success.
Boston Celtics player No. 3) Kemba Walker
Already viewed as the ultimate X-factor for the Boston Celtics, the injury to Jaylen Brown makes it all the more important that Kemba Walker taps into his healthy self come playoff time.
This season has been quite an underwhelming year for the former All-Star, as he’s been marred by injuries and inconsistency since making his 2020-21 debut back in mid-January.
That said, even still, the point guard has managed to show glimpses of his pre-injury self that Cs fans grew to love and, at least on paper, is still showing signs of productivity.
Through 42 games played, Walker is posting averages of 18.9 points, five assists, and 3.9 rebounds on 36 percent shooting from deep.
Truth be told, if the 30-year-old can’t somehow manage to find his stride come playoff time, it likely could lead to the end of his tenure with the Boston Celtics, and there are a few teams that we believe could be interested in his services.
That said, should he tap into “Vintage Kemba”, the C’s big free agency signing circa 2019, he would yet again make an ideal sidekick to have running alongside Tatum during the postseason.
Frankly, no matter which way you look at it, now that Brown’s gone, Walker must step up if the Cs wish to have a real chance of even making it out of the play-in tournament.