Baylor Scheierman came into the NBA carrying the same label he had in college: shooter. That was the selling point when Boston picked him in 2024. He hit 39% from deep across five collegiate seasons, including 38.1% on 8.3 attempts per game in his final year at Creighton, and plenty of people pegged him as Sam Hauser’s eventual replacement.
That part of his game has held up. Scheierman shot 39.9% from three last season after opening his rookie year at 31.7%. But the bigger takeaway from Boston’s latest preseason look was this: he can help the Celtics even when the jumper isn’t carrying him.
Against a Philadelphia 76ers team without Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, and LeBron James, Scheierman still stood out while facing real NBA competition. He finished with just three points on 1-for-3 shooting, with all of his attempts coming from beyond the arc, but the rest of his line told the story: eight assists, five steals, and three rebounds.
That rebounding number hardly captures how active he was. He kept flying in for 50/50 balls and sprinting from nowhere to get himself in position near the basket. The effort never dipped.
What Boston has now is a player who has grown well beyond the “just a shooter” tag. Scheierman has become a strong passer and playmaker for a wing, his defense has taken a step forward, and he gives the Celtics real juice on the glass. He plays with constant energy, and he keeps making things happen even when he’s not scoring.
There’s even an argument that Scheierman should open the season as a starter, though the nod would still go to Payton Pritchard in this view. Either way, Scheierman fits next to Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, and he likely would with Paul George too, though Boston hasn’t had much time to see that pairing. He can work without the ball, but he’s also dangerous enough to keep defenses honest.
That’s a long way from the reaction when Boston used the last pick of the first round on him. He was 23 already.
His defensive value was questioned. The Celtics already had a crowded wing group with Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Hauser, and Jordan Walsh.
And plenty of fans wanted a different name, with Kyle Filipowski mentioned often.
Now, though, Scheierman has settled in as a strong role player for Boston, and he looks capable of putting together the best season of his NBA career so far.
In Other News...
Derrick Whites Place In Bostons Title Core Looks Bigger Than Ever
Derrick Whites rise in Boston has become one of the clearest signs of how the Celtics built their championship core around more than just star power. Since arriving in a trade from the Spurs in 2022, White has grown into a fixture on both ends of the floor, and his role only expanded during Bostons 2023-24 NBA Finals run, when he averaged 16.7 points per game and kept showing the kind of two-way impact coaches love to trust.
The bigger picture now is just how firmly White is planted in the middle of the teams future. Boston already committed to him with a four-year extension in 2024, and his standing around the league keeps climbing as his reputation for defense, composure and leadership strengthens inside the organization. For a Celtics team that has leaned on chemistry as much as talent, White looks less like a complementary piece and more like part of the foundation. [Read more 🡒]
Sam Hauser Is Forcing A Real Celtics Starting Lineup Debate
Sam Hauser has spent enough time around the Celtics to know how his value is supposed to show up: hit open threes, make the right read, stay solid on the other end, and let the stars do the rest. Entering his sixth season in Boston, he has again looked like the kind of low-maintenance wing every contender needs, and a recent preseason game against the 76ers only reinforced that he can tilt minutes in the Celtics favor without needing the ball in his hands.
What makes this more than a routine depth conversation is how often Hauser keeps pushing his way into bigger lineup questions. Boston already knows what it has in Jayson Tatum, and the presence of Paul George only adds another layer to the wing rotation, but Hausers steady shooting and smart defense are making it harder to treat him like a simple bench piece. If he keeps stacking games like that, the debate around Bostons best starting group is only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]
NBA Legend Points To What Helped Split Tatum And Brown
The Celtics championship run in 2024 ended with a title, but the conversations around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown never really stopped. DeMarcus Cousins recently pointed to one of those moments as a turning point in how the outside world framed Bostons star duo, saying Jason Kidds comments during the Finals helped deepen the perception that the two were being measured against each other.
Kidd, then coaching Dallas, praised Brown after Game 1 in a way that fed the debate about who Bostons true alpha was, even as the Celtics moved on to win the series. Brown had already claimed East finals MVP honors, and the chatter lingered long after the parade, with the two All-Stars no longer teammates two years later. [Read more 🡒]