After handily winning a championship last season, the Celtics brought back nearly the same roster. Nearly. Days after the parade, Brad Stevens made his first first round pick as President of Basketball Operations with Baylor Scheierman.
Scheierman had been on the minds of the Celtics’ front office from even before the 2024 NBA Draft. He had worked out in Boston two years prior coming out of South Dakota State and the team kept him on their radar while he was at Creighton. After keeping tabs on him, they grabbed him at #30.
After a strong showing in Summer League averaging over 11 points per game, hitting nearly 30% from behind the arc, and dishing out 3.4 assists per game, Scheierman hit the weight room and added muscle to his 24-year-old frame. With help from the Celtics training staff, he changed his diet to bulk up for the rigors of the professional game.
Sam Hauser, one of Boston’s biggest developmental success stories of late, has already taken notice in his fellow Midwesterner.
“He’s a good shooter, but he’s a lot more than a shooter,” Hauser said at Media Day. “He’s got a really good feel for the game. He’s pretty crafty. The best thing I can do is just try to help him in this first year.”
Along with Director of Player Development Craig Luschenat, Hauser has worked with the rookie on a quicker release on his jump shot and daily routines in order to deal with an 82-game regular season. But on the floor, Scheierman is still the scrappy 6’6 guard out of Nebraska.
“I just like to compete, whether that’s diving on the ground for a loose ball, taking a charge, jumping over a chair like I did in Summer League and getting a loose ball,” Scheierman told NBC Sports Boston at Media Day. “Just doing whatever it takes to win, whether that’s rebounding, shooting, playmaking, at the end of the day, I just want to win.”
Scheierman patterns his game after fellow lefty Luke Kennard and Austin Reaves, but growing up, it was former Celtic Pistol Pete Maravich that grew his love of the game and made him eventual choose hoops over football.
He knows that he needs to work on his defense and through two days of training camp, he’s already impressing his head coach.
“He’s physical,” Joe Mazzulla said after the team’s second official practice. “It’s very difficult to adjust to NBA defense. From Day 1 to Day 2, he made the adjustment. He made some great physical defensive plays today. For a young player, the most important thing is ‘can you play defense, can you execute a defensive system, and can you rebound?’ He’s gotten better at that since Day 1.”
Scheierman may be the new kid on the block, but he’s already fitting in with the right mindset off the floor and contributing between the lines.
