Boston Celtics: Grading every player from the 2019-20 season

Brad Wanamaker’s grade: C+

Brad Wanamaker has had a very unusual path to the NBA, playing in Europe out of college, completely changing his game, until he gained enough popularity to be recruited and eventually sign with the Boston Celtics. Wanamaker, the oldest player on the Celtics, came on to the team after quickly emerging as a star in Europe.

The Celtics at the time already had two vociferous point guards, who were at least the ones blamed for the dysfunction of the 2018-19 Celtics. Wanamaker spent the season, much to his disappointment, mostly riding the bench.

That season, he provided the Celtics with the occasion 3-pointer, and not much else, in his 9.5 minutes in 36 games. But last year, his role augmented. He played 19.3 minutes per game, scoring 6.9 points a game and playing solid defense. He also occasionally was the team’s best playmaker.

The most astonishing part of Wanamaker’s development is his free throw shooting. As a freshman in college, Wanamaker shot under 50 percent from the line, improving to 76 percent by his senior year, but this year he led the entire NBA – shooting 93 percent on free throws. Although the sample size is not enormous (shooting 136 free throws this season and impressively only missing 10), it was still impressive. The improvement shows that Wanamaker, with his hard work and patience, can continue to grow, even though he is the oldest player on the team.

Wanamaker may not ever be a reliable backup guard the Celtics need, with questions about Walker’s knee, but Wanamaker is ample enough to provide Boston some depth at that position. And he has both the experience and patience to be a leader for the Celtics. However, with luxury cap issues, Wanamaker, set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, may not be returning to Boston, never able to get significant minutes with the Celtics.