Celtics Development power rankings: after the first quarter season

We’re over a quarter of the way through the season so I thought I’d check back in with the Development Power Rankings. For a recap of what we’ve looked at thus far, here’s a quick timeline.

It has been about a month since we last updated these rankings. That was totally planned and based on giving myself a larger sample size — not at all because I got lazy and forgot to do this recently. Nope, not that at all.

Anyway, here’s where we left it last time.

1. Romeo Langford
2. Aaron Nesmith
3. Grant Williams
4. Payton Pritchard
5. Bruno Fernando – garbage time All-Star
6. (TBD Maine) Sam Hauser & Broderic Thomas
7. (TBD overseas) Yam Madar & Juhann Begarin

Stock Up: Grant Williams

An early candidate for Tweet of the Year goes to StatMuse for this gem:

A slimmed down Grant Williams has emerged as the best of the bunch early this season. He’s shooting the lights out, playing solid defense, and minimizing mistakes. Whatever sophomore slump he had been suffering through last season has worn off and he’s a solid, contributing member of the rotation now. So much so that some have suggested that he move into the starting lineup.

Stock Even: Romeo Langford

Romeo isn’t going to stuff many box scores this season. He doesn’t have enough usage but when he gets the ball, he’s generally making quick decisions. In particular, he’s launching without hesitation from the corners and making 40% of his 3’s. He’s also earning minutes with solid defense and playing within his role.

Stock Down (Sophomore Slumpers): Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith

Pritchard and Nesmith came into the season as the best shooters not named Tatum or Brown. They are currently shooting 23.3% and 21.1% from three this year. They are also both hovering around just 9 minutes a game (largely in garbage time). Are they playing less because they are shooting poorly? Or are they shooting poorly because they aren’t getting enough playing time (can’t develop a rhythm or shoot through slumps)? Maybe it is both but the bottom line is that they are struggling to do the one thing that makes them more valuable than the other options off the bench.

Maine Red Claws Celtics Corner

Sam Hauser and Broderic Thomas have only played a few garbage time minutes for the Celtics so we’ll focus on their Maine stats.

Hauser: 16.8 pts on 42.3% shooting from 3 (on 9.3 attempts). He also gets 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 16.8 minutes per game.

Thomas: 16 pts on 47.4% shooting from 3 (on 4.8 attempts). He also gets 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 26.8 minutes per game.

Basically, very similar stat lines with Hauser shooting more 3’s and Thomas playing more minutes.

New Rankings:

1. Grant Williams
2. Romeo Langford
3. Payton Pritchard
4. Aaron Nesmith
5. Bruno Fernando – garbage time All-Star
6. (2-way, too soon) Sam Hauser & Broderic Thomas
7. (overseas) Yam Madar & Juhann Begarin

Thanks, everyone. Feel free to offer up your own rankings and insights in the comments below.