BOSTON — The Celtics are through their first official step of the offseason in the 2024 NBA Draft. Boston president Brad Stevens didn’t make any draft-day deals, standing pat with the No. 30 and No. 54 overall picks.
The C’s have their two newest rookies in the organization: No. 30 pick Baylor Scheierman and No. 54 pick Anton Watson. Scheierman comes from Creighton as a talented wing after a five-year college career. Watson spent all five seasons in college at Gonzaga, developing his way into an NBA draft pick. And Stevens had some praise for the newcomers after successful college careers.
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“Those guys both are winning players,” Stevens said. “They’ve played in a lot of big moments and a lot of big games and big environments. They know they know how to play on both ends of the floor. They’ve been really well coached. … You’re looking for best fit, best player, who can come in and accentuate your team and who can grow within your group. And they’re both young enough, they can do that too.”
Interestingly, both players were on the older side after five full seasons of college. They were born roughly 10 days apart and will turn 24 later this year. But as Stevens mentioned, they’ve played in some big-time college games throughout this careers. Watson’s Bulldogs often made deep runs in March, including the 2021 national championship game. Scheierman spent three seasons at South Dakota State before transferring to Creighton for two seasons, where he made the 2023 Elite Eight.
So the Celtics will hope both their rookies pan out and can develop their games even further from college. Both of them have good size on the wing, and their rebounding sticks out. Scheierman’s shooting should be an asset at the next level, but that’s not all there is to his game. The Celtics will need their rookies to pan out into rotation players to keep their roster sustainable, and the front office clearly feels like they were worthy picks.
“These two guys are winners,” Stevens said. “We believe that and they like basketball, they work hard and they’re smart and they’re tough. When they come here, they gotta continue to raise their level because our guys are, too.”
