The Celtics wrapped up their preseason on Tuesday night with a tight loss to the Raptors, which provided a bit of a dress rehearsal for Joe Mazzulla’s roster. Despite resting a couple of key players (Jrue Holiday, Sam Hauser), Mazzulla gave us a glimpse of where his reserves stand in the battle for wing minutes at the end of the rotation.
Taking Tuesday’s game along with the rest of the exhibition season into account, let’s take a closer look at the names involved and where they find themselves heading into the opening week of the season.
Jordan Walsh: If there was one surprise this preseason, the 20-year-old wing has to top the list. He ranked sixth in the team in preseason minutes at 20.8 and a lot of those came in spots alongside usual rotation players. Walsh acquitted himself well in all of his opportunities. He brought effort, played with a good IQ and did the little things (offensive rebounding, help defense) that is catapulting him up the depth chart.
On Tuesday night when Joe Mazzulla trimmed his rotation to regular minutes for the first three quarters, Walsh was the only wing that played off the bench. He won’t see time when this group is fully healthy in all likelihood but he’s the first wildcard off the bench otherwise after a strong exhibition slate.
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Jaden Springer: His stock has fallen in a hurry after an encouraging start to the preseason in Abu Dhabi playing with the regulars. That opportunity did not last long though as Lonnie Walker took those minutes off the bench back in Boston over the weekend. Springer was a surprising DNP-CD on Saturday night and even got yanked early after a mistake on Sunday night against the Raptors before returning late in the second half.
The Celtics tried experimenting a bit with Springer as a ball handler in his stints but the returns there haven’t been great. The same goes for his offensive decision making. Springer didn’t help his cause over the past week during what will be a contract year for him. Given his salary and the tax penalties, Springer could be a name to keep an eye on when it comes to trade rumors all year long.
Baylor Schieierman: The first-round pick struggled with his shot in Summer League and those woes continued in the preseason. Scheierman shot just 16.7 percent from the field overall. Nearly 70 percent of those attempts came from beyond the arc (17.6 percent) but Scheierman struggled in the paint as well. It’s tough to gauge too much from a five-game preseason sample size but Scheierman does not look like he will be a factor in Joe Mazzulla’s rotations anytime soon with these types of numbers. The 24-year-old could be sending more time in Maine than with the big club this year after a tough camp.
Lonnie Walker: The veteran guard was a DNP-CD in the Celtics’ preseason finale on Tuesday night after a great bounceback weekend in Boston. If finances weren’t a concern, Walker would have a great shot at making the 15-man roster. However, seeing that carrying him on opening night would cost the team close to $10 million in salary and tax penalties, it’s hard to think he’s worth that price tag at this point, particularly if the Celtics think they can stash him in the G-League for a bit. Whether Walker will draw NBA interest from other teams in the meantime is the intriguing question but Boston’s decision will have to come on him first, by Saturday.
