Boston Celtics: Evaluating their young players at the mid-way point

Aaron Nesmith

Although it hasn’t transpired on the court during games, Aaron Nesmith has impressed his coaches and teammates thus far during his rookie season. The Boston Celtics are confident that everything will come together for Nesmith as this season progresses forward.

Upon being drafted, Nesmith boasted about how he feels he was the best shooter coming out of the NBA Draft this year. But unfortunately for him (and the Celtics), it appears Nesmith may have spoken too soon about his shooting and scoring abilities.

Nesmith has played in 18 games so far this season and is only averaging 4.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. For a player who believes he is an elite shooter, he has made 17 out of his 48 3-point shot attempts.

It’s fair to say that the Celtics had much greater expectations at the start of the season from their 14th overall draft selection. Furthermore, it’s also fair to say that Nesmith is a young player who would have benefited from working in the G-League from time to time this season.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens likes the progression he has seen from his rookie.

"“I really like what I’ve seen so far from his ability to learn from things day-to-day and apply them the next day. But that stuff will sort itself out.” – Brad Stevens, per John Karalis of MassLive"

The great element to Nesmith’s game has been his surprising defensive intensity. We’ve seen him dive on the ground to get a loose ball, play solid one-on-one defense, and even make an exciting chase down block against the Denver Nuggets.

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Without a G-League season this year, the Boston Celtics will continue to be patient with the development of Nesmith. But considering the uncertainty of the world today, it seems like there could be a time where the Celtics are depending on Nesmith to show up and shoot.

Payton Pritchard

Other than Payton Pritchard himself and Danny Ainge, I don’t believe there is anybody out there who would have thought that Pritchard would start off his rookie season as well as he has.

Through 30 games, Pritchard is averaging 7.7 points per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from behind the arc. Some people might say that Pritchard has been the Boston Celtics’ saving grace at times this season.

In fact, Pritchard has played a large role for the Celtics early on this season. He led the game with eight assists against the Toronto Raptors while also scoring 23 points and made the game-winning shot against the Miami Heat in the following game.

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Pritchard’s skills are far beyond those of a rookie and that’s a huge credit to him completing four years of college basketball at Oregon. Pritchard seems to thoroughly understand coach Stevens’ system to the point where he could be running the floor for the second unit or even become the sixth man off the bench for the Celtics.

As the second half of the season progresses forward, Pritchard is going to be a valuable weapon for the Boston Celtics.