Boston Celtics: 2 players that should cede minutes to Aaron Nesmith

Boston Celtics minute cuts candidate No. 2) Grant Williams

To the revelation of many, Grant Williams has emerged as one of the most efficient and trusty scoring options for the Boston Celtics not named Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown.

Having improved his jumper considerably, the third-year forward finds himself logging a solid 17.4 minutes a night and, in this time, is posting averages of 5.9 points on nearly 47 percent shooting from the floor and 37 percent shooting from deep.

Now yes, while Williams has been a pleasant surprise through this early stretch of the season, especially considering the fact that many penciled him in as the “odd man out” of the C’s rotation heading into the year, it really must not be forgotten that he’s essentially just out there for his floor spacing abilities — frankly, take away his 3-point stroke and he’s essentially a liability.

Without a doubt, Aaron Nesmith could be used in this same, or a very similar role, all while possessing far more upside in his game.

Again, Williams is really just being used as a 3-point threat at this point to help spread out the offense. Measuring in at 6-5, the 23-year-old is a tremendously undersized power forward (even for today’s NBA) with minimal mobility and lowly-capped athleticism.

Nesmith, on the other hand, came into the association viewed as the best shooter and one of the best scorers in his respective draft (averaged 23 points on 52 percent shooting from deep during his final year at Vanderbilt), has tremendous potential both in isolation sets and when off-ball, and has only excelled with his shot and efficiency when getting an increase in playing time during his tenure in the NBA.

There’s a reason why so much buzz revolved around Aaron Nesmith heading into this season, for he only proved capable of shinning in virtually every aspect of scoring throughout the offseason, averaging 17.4 points on 50 percent shooting during the Summer League and 10.8 points on 50 percent shooting from deep in the preseason.

Sooner or later, we believe it will be within Boston’s best interest, both for the short term as well as the long term, to start pulling back on the minutes given to Grant Williams and, in turn, start feeding them to the man with far more upside in Aaron Nesmith.