Baylor Scheierman’s name has been floating around Boston for a while now, and for good reason. He surged in the middle of the season, became one of the two players the Celtics wouldn’t include in a deal for Giannis Antetokounmpo, and even drew praise from Mike Conley Jr. for the way he approaches the game. With Jaylen Brown gone, Boston’s wing depth suddenly matters even more, and Scheierman looks like the kind of player the Celtics may lean on hardest.
That belief isn’t just based on the buzz. There’s a specific part of Scheierman’s sophomore season that deserves more attention: he showed he could rise to the moment against strong competition.
The first thing to remember about his year is that his path to minutes was mostly tied to defense. Outside of Jayson Tatum’s absence, that was the main reason he got on the floor.
He wasn’t a liability offensively, but he also wasn’t turning heads early on. Even so, there were already signs of something more.
On November 26, Scheierman scored 13 points on five-for-seven shooting against Detroit in an NBA Cup game. Detroit ended up with the No. 1 seed. Then on January 10, he added 10 points in a tight loss to San Antonio, a team that later made a surprising run to the NBA Finals.
From February on, his scoring and efficiency kept climbing, and the performances started coming against real tests:
- February 4 vs. Houston (win): 15 points, 10 rebounds, five-for-10 shooting
- March 8 vs. Cleveland (win): 16 points, 10 rebounds, six-for-eight shooting (four threes)
- March 25 vs. Oklahoma City (win): 11 points, five rebounds, four-for-eight shooting
- April 9 vs. New York (loss): 20 points, seven-for-eight shooting (six threes)
- April 12 vs. Orlando (win): 30 points, seven rebounds, six assists, six three-pointers
And yes, the Orlando game comes with a catch. Boston was resting its A-team against a Magic squad that needed the win. Still, Scheierman’s impact in that game was obvious, and it said plenty about where he was at by the end of the regular season.
That’s why the idea of a bigger role feels so intriguing. When Boston needed him, he answered, even if part of the reason was simply that the Celtics didn’t have many better options.
The postseason, though, is where the next step gets real.
Scheierman didn’t leave much of a mark against the Philadelphia 76ers. He wasn’t a problem, but he wasn’t much of a factor either.
The surprise start in Game 7 didn’t change that. If anything, that series showed the gap between being useful in the regular season and proving you can hold that line when everything tightens up.
No one is going to pin Boston’s loss on Baylor Scheierman. That’s not the point. The point is that he already proved he can swing games against good teams, and the next version of his breakout depends on whether he can do it when the pressure spikes.
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