Baylor Scheierman’s rookie training camp ended meeting with Joe Mazzulla. The head coach pulled several players aside from the Celtics’ bench and explained how they would receive limited minutes to begin the season. Scheierman received a blunt declaration.
“‘Listen, I don’t really like rookies,” Scheierman remembered Mazzulla telling him. “So you’re gonna have to battle this year, and that’s how it is.”
“And I was like, ‘alright, that’s alright.’”
Strong finish
Despite making a few shots after checking into camp scrimmages, showing himself he belonged, more lessons about the leap Scheierman prepared to take followed into his first NBA season. Scheierman joined The Garden Report this week and shared memories of Jayson Tatum hitting him with his bump fadeaway move in those same practices. Defending NBA shot-making struck him as an even greater challenge than the league’s athleticism. It took time — even for a 24-year-old — to acclimate.
A 16.7% preseason showing forced Scheierman to only appeared in five Boston Celtics games through New Year’s Day. He joined the Maine Celtics from November through the start of February, when he reunited with Boston and played in 22 of the Celtics’ final 30 games, flashing improved shot-making, stellar passing and strong rebounding that Boston stayed in the first round to invest in with the No. 30 overall pick.
After a 7-for-8 shooting finish against the Nets in March that flipped a third quarter deficit into a seven-point lead late in the fourth, Scheierman finished the season 37.3% from three over his final 59 attempts. Still, tough love followed the win against Brooklyn from the head coach. Derrick White replaced Scheierman for the closing minutes.
“(Because) Baylor’s a rookie and Derrick’s our starting point guard,” Mazzulla explained that night.
The rookie treatment
Teammates went easier on Scheierman. He and White shared a relationship from a Nebraska-Colorado football game they met at in September. Payton Pritchard joked about hazing Scheierman, and while he needed to bring cards to the team plane and coffees to the arena, Scheierman avoided worse punishments like having his car filled with popcorn. He knew the championship Celtics wouldn’t provide him significant minutes. Not playing proved difficult anyway, and he grew to appreciate the consistent opportunities his stint with Maine provided. Scheierman eventually loved Portland.
His outburst to end the season in Boston didn’t translate to playoff opportunities in year one. Scheierman only played nine minutes late in games as he observed the postseason physicality from the sideline. His comments on the officiating during the Orlando series, which he compared to a football game as a former high school quarterback, followed Brad Stevens’ observation about officials allowing more grabbing and holding into this postseason. That adjustment continued for Boston into the New York series, the Celtics holding up well until collapses in the first two games likely cost them the series. Scheierman watched in disbelief as Tatum fell with an achilles tear in Game 4.
“The first things that were popping into my head was just thinking about Jayson and what the injury could possibly be,” Scheierman said. “And obviously, thinking about the worst and hoping it’s not the worst. I think that was my first thought when I saw him go down and then obviously, you get to the locker room and you get the news of what it is and you feel for him and then just flip the switch to, ‘how can we put our best foot forward to continue to try to put pressure on them and continue to lengthen out the series?'”
“And be in that gray area of when we’re fully healthy, obviously wasn’t expecting to play really much, but then when people start going down, you start to think, ‘now I really gotta be locked in and prepared, because there’s a chance my number could get called.’ So I think all those different emotions kind of played a factor.”
Offseason uncertainty
Scheierman, instead, took the floor in New York for the final minutes of the Celtics’ season in Game 6. From spending more time developing than starring for his team to losing a star teammate to a significant injury, one who instilled confidence in him and he shared a celebration with, Scheierman believed the rookie experience would help his NBA journey long-term. He’s using the limited playing time as offseason motivation.
This summer, the Celtics face uncertainty as a team. He understands how hard it could be to see teammates go after spending a year growing with them. Scheierman considered Jrue Holiday would be particularly difficult to lose. Instead of worrying about the changes that could happen this offseason, Scheierman returned to Aurora, Nebraska, attending his brother Booker’s graduation before he returns to Boston this weekend. He golfed, played tennis and reunited with old friends.
On Sunday, he’ll return to Boston ahead of next month, when he’ll begin playing again in Las Vegas with the Celtics Summer League squad. A new rookie, or perhaps two, could join him. Miles Norris plans to as well.
The playoffs inspired Scheierman to put on additional weight, and his focuses into season two involve changing speeds, finishing around the rim, shooting on the move and from further behind the three-point line. Scheierman wants to become more than a shooter, and while multiple major moves could happen this summer for the Celtics, he appears as safe as anyone playing on a cost-controlled rookie contract and showing promise to close the year.
“I tried to play as hard as possible and just leave a flare and leave an imprint on the game, and I felt like, the last two months of the season, I put myself in good position to be someone that Joe could call on and trust to go in and execute what we’re trying to do,” Scheierman said. “I understand the playoffs are even more shortened of a rotation and obviously disappointed that I didn’t necessarily play a lot, but I also understood the situation and that’s just more motivation going into the offseason to continue to get better and continue to put myself in position to be there in the future.”
