Boston Celtics: Report card grades for C’s guards in 2021-22

The Boston Celtics castaways

Dennis Schroder

Dennis Schroder had a tumultuous campaign with the Boston Celtics from looking like a bargain on a $5.9 million contract to a headache to watch on the court.

On the surface, he delivered as the third scoring option behind the Jays and relished leading the second unit with his scoring ability and crafty passes. In 49 games, the German-born baller averaged 14.4 points and 4.2 assists largely in a sixth man role despite starting 25 games.

The problem with him was finding a degree of consistency, as some nights it would feel like he would disappear despite having a great game the night before.

There was no in-between for the veteran combo guard.

A couple of drawbacks to his game were that he was probably the weakest individual defender in the rotation except for Enes Freedom, he could not play effectively with Marcus Smart, and ball movement seemed to stall out with him on the floor.

The ball would stick in his hands and it was not good for an offense that was towards the bottom of the league to start the season. The icing on the bitter cake for me was how he treated Boston Celtics media in post-game interviews.

His departure saw plenty of positives for the Celtics, including the emergence of Marcus Smart as the point guard, Payton Pritchard taking his minutes, and the return of Daniel Theis who wound up having a better impact on the locker room.

Grade: C- 

Josh Richardson

Josh Richardson was an integral part of the Boston Celtics rotation during the first half of the season.

Some of our lone bright spots at the time were his defensive versatility to guard one through three, his smooth jumper off the catch or dribble, and reliable igniter offensively for a hapless second unit.

Many Boston Celtics fans were not high on the Richardson trade to start because of the previous struggles he had in Dallas and Philadelphia with being wildly inconsistent.

He would quickly win the hearts of numerous C’s fans with his hustle, veteran leadership with the second unit, and being a nightly double-digit scoring threat.

In 44 games with Boston, the shooting guard averaged 9.7 points on solid efficiency of 44 percent shooting from the field, 39 percent shooting from deep, and 86 percent shooting from the foul line.

To start the season, he was one of our very few bench players who could confidently create his shot off the dribble with his silky in-between game. A true three-level scorer who can break down defenses with ease.

The reason his grade is not higher has to do with how we upgraded from trading him alongside Romeo Langford to the Spurs for Derrick White.

Outside of being a reliable 3-point shooter, the guy we replaced Richardson with is better in every other facet of the game.

Still, the 6-5 wing left an undeniable mark on the fan base and he may see himself in green sometime again before his career is over.

Grade: B