Boston Celtics: 3 Cs who could vie for a starting gig in 2021-22

Boston Celtics player No. 3) Aaron Nesmith

Heading into the season, many are anticipating a rather sizeable leap in the play of second-year wing, Aaron Nesmith. In fact, some have gone as far as to suggest he could wind up being one of the more effective and reliable shooters, not just for the Boston Celtics, but in the entire association.

We at HH are also under the impression that the 21-year-old will see a much bigger role within the rotation this year when in comparison to his last, and some of us even believe he could be in consideration for a starting gig.

In fact, our very own Dallas Malloy has suggested that he should be a member of the first five: 

"Throughout the first 58 games of the season he had 26 DNPs, and in the 32 games he did play, only logged an average of 12.7 minutes per game. In this span he averaged just 3.2 points on 36.5 percent shooting from the field, 31.9 percent shooting from three, and 68.8 percent shooting from the line. Based off those numbers, it shows how he was almost completely ineffective. What the numbers don’t show was his intensity in said minutes, as he was always giving it 110%. His defensive IQ wasn’t off the charts, but his on-ball defense was that of a pest, making life hard for opponents. However, near the end of the season, he really started to come into his own. In those remaining 14 games, he exponentially improved his production, averaging 8.2 points per game on well over 50/40/90 shooting splits. This includes 46 percent shooting from deep on nearly three attempts per game."

Since these games, he has only gone about to have an even more effective and impressive offseason, as he put up 17.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on 50 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent shooting from deep in the Summer League and, more recently, played a massive role in Boston’s preseason game one victory over the Magic, dropping 10 points and three boards on a whopping 80 percent shooting from the field and nearly 67 percent shooting from deep.

If he can continue this type of production, and even get a shot in an experimental lineup during these next two exhibitions to show his worth in the starting unit, it could be rather feasible that he could wind up becoming a full-time starter at some point this season.