While many speculated whether the Celtics would make a deal on draft day, Boston president Brad Stevens and the front office elected to make their first-round selection at their disposal. With the No. 30 overall pick, the C’s landed Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman to conclude the first round of the draft.
It’s the first time ever in the Stevens era that the front office has made a first-round pick. Instead, they elected to ship that draft capital elsewhere for the sake of making some win-now moves. After winning their record 18th championship last week, the Celtics are officially onto the 2024-25 season as they eye a shot at back-to-back titles.
After picking Scheierman, the Celtics still have the 54th overall pick in the second round, which starts at 4 p.m. Thursday. It’s the first time the league has split up the first and second round over multiple days. So, barring any trades moving up, it should be another relatively quiet night for the C’s going forward.
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Here are four things to know about the newest Celtic in Scheierman as he embarks on his NBA career:
1. Bringing a shooting stroke
Scheierman should slide right into this Celtics roster that’s as 3-point friendly as it can get in the league. Scheierman shot a career 39.0% on 3-pointers throughout his lengthy college career, so that’s certainly a positive. He hit a blistering 46.9% on 3s during his junior season, when he was named Summit League Player of the Year at South Dakota State. In his final season at Creighton in 2023-24, Scheierman made 38.1% of his 8.3 3-point attempts per game. More than half his shot attempts came from behind the arc, which should fit in nicely immediately on this Celtics roster.
2. Not just a shooter
While the shooting numbers pop out, Scheierman’s overall game should also help him throughout what the C’s will hope is a lengthy pro career. He has good size at 6-foot-7. It’ll be difficult to crack the Celtics rotation, which Stevens also pointed out in his pre-draft news conference Tuesday. But the C’s are also looking beyond Scheierman’s rookie season as they hope he can develop into a rotation player down the line.
Scheierman averaged 9.0 rebounds per game last season for Creighton, which will certainly be looked upon favorably by the coaching staff for doing the dirty work. Scheierman also flashed playmaking abilities during his college days, averaging 3.9 assists per game. Considering the Celtics won’t need Scheierman to be a top option on this roster, his ability to do the little things will help him earn minutes in the league.
3. Older, experienced player
While the Celtics locker room will have some jokes for the Scheierman, he’s coming in with plenty of collegiate experience already. Scheierman, 23, spent five seasons in college as he took advantage of the extra year of eligibility given because of the pandemic. Scheierman spent the first three seasons of college at South Dakota State before transferring to Creighton for two seasons.
It’s unclear how that experience will translate to the league, but Scheierman should be closer to pro-ready compared to some development prospects. Another wrinkle is that the C’s get him for the next four seasons, which they hope will be some productive years in his career.
4. Dual-sport athlete
While Scheierman ended up playing basketball, he was also a successful football player during his high school days. He led his team to a Nebraska state championship in 2018. As a senior, he threw for nearly 4,000 yards and 59 passing touchdowns. He’s also a lefty. So there’s some cross training there after excelling at a different sport.
