3 Boston Celtics players that must step up after recent string of injuries
By Mark Nilon
The Boston Celtics have managed to continue their hot-stretch through the early stages of March, winning their first two outings of the month which, as a result, makes them 21-9 since the New Year and places them in the fifth-seed in the Eastern Conference with an overall record of 38-27.
Now, while the shamrocks are certainly one of the true success stories of this year’s campaign, this is not to say that they haven’t endured their fair share of hardships along the way.
All season long, from injuries to COVID-19 related ailments, health issues have played a major part in this team’s season and, as of this writing we find them plagued once more by such hardships as star wing, Jaylen Brown, and last year’s lottery pick, Aaron Nesmith, both recently endured ankle sprains in two consecutive games.
Though there is no official word on how long these two talents will be sidelined for, should one or both of them wind up missing extended action, we at HH believe there are 3 players, in specific, that would need to step up for the Boston Celtics:
Boston Celtics player No. 1) Nik Stauskas
Literally within minutes after Thursday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, news broke that the Boston Celtics came to an agreement with free-agent veteran wing, Nik Stauskas, on a two-year deal.
Though he may not have been a player we at the site were expecting to see brought onto the team with their available roster spots, the signing is rather fitting considering the recent injuries to both Jaylen Brown and Aaron Nesmith.
With these two potentially being sidelined for a brief period, this leaves the depth out on the wing rather shallow outside of the likes of Jayson Tatum.
Because of this, bringing on the 28-year-old two-guard ultimately seems to make quite a bit of sense.
Selected eighth overall back in the 2014 NBA Draft, Stauskas has not managed to live up to the hype that he came into the league with.
That said, throughout his tenure in the association, he has managed to prove himself to be a decent role player, particularly when serving as an offensive floor-spacer (has shot at a nearly 38 percent clip from deep since 2017).
Most recently, Stauskas saw himself logging minutes in the NBA G League with the Grand Rapids Gold where he was averaging 23.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists on 48 percent shooting from the floor and nearly 42 percent shooting from deep, however, earlier in the year he was brought on to the Miami Heat roster on a 10-day hardship exemption where he played in two games, averaging 5.5 points on 50 percent shooting from deep while finishing with a positive plus-minus rating in both contests.
The 6-6 wing’s addition will more so be connected with Nesmith’s vacated role within the rotation rather than Brown’s for, obviously, he won’t be taking over anywhere close to the All-Star’s 33.6 minutes per game averages.
That said, should the second-year pro find himself out for a while, the 10.5 minutes that he has been claiming on a nightly basis this year could easily be taken over by Nik Stauskas and, frankly, could actually wind up proving to be better utilized in this role as well, especially if he can carry some of his recent play and efficiency from his time with the Grand Rapids Gold up to the varsity league.