1 Celtics player is being both praised and completely discounted

The Boston Celtics are aiming to win a second straight championship this year. In order to push for that goal, the organization brought back nearly an identical roster to the one that accomplished the goal last season. They have put themselves in a perfect position to strive for greatness.

However, just because most of the roster looks the same doesn’t mean there aren’t a couple of new faces in town. Notably, Boston drafted two rookies—Baylor Scheierman and Anton Watson. The latter will be on a two-way contract this season, but Scheierman is on a standard contract. And he could play a larger role than people realize.

Even though he’s a rookie.

Baylor Scheierman could play real minutes if needed

For the past few years, the Celtics haven’t given much playing time to rookies. Guys like JD Davison and Jordan Walsh haven’t touched the rotation, and it took Sam Hauser a year before he saw real minutes.

It’s possible that Scheierman falls under that category, too. Boston could keep him up in Maine for most of the year, developing him to play minutes for them down the line. But he shouldn’t be completely discounted this year.

Scheierman is unique from the other rookies who have come through Boston in recent years. Davison and Walsh both came into the NBA at 19 years old. By the time Opening Night comes around, Scheierman will be 24.

That doesn’t guarantee that he’ll see the floor, but it should certainly give him a better shot than some of the rookies who have come before him. And Scheierman has proven to have some NBA-ready skills already.

Through his five years in college, he proved to be a very effective three-point shooter, which will be a useful skill coming off Boston’s bench. But perhaps more intriguingly, Scheierman has shown that he can be an adept playmaker. At his size, that’s a very interesting skill for the Celtics to deploy.

If Hauser, Payton Pritchard, or any of Boston’s primary ball-handlers needs to miss some time, Scheierman could step in and play real minutes if he has to.

Rookies of the past haven’t been NBA-ready. They needed time in the G League to help get them prepared, and even with that, guys like Davison and Walsh are still a bit rough around the edges.

Scheierman is far from perfect, but lumping him in with other rookies the Celtics have had in recent years is unfair. Fans have been praising his recent weight gain, yet it feels as though he’s not being considered for real minutes.

He won’t play much, but he should be able to if needed.