The Boston Celtics have started looking ahead to the 2024–25 season and the beginning of their effort to repeat as NBA champions with the title parade in the rear view mirror. Starting on Wednesday night at the Barclays’ Center in Brooklyn, the Celtics chose Creighton forward Baylor Scheerman using the 30th and last pick in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Scheerman played five years in college basketball, beginning his amateur career with South Dakota State for three seasons before moving to Creighton for his last two. He is 6-foot-7, 205 pound forward. Scheerman connected on 38% of his three-point tries on over eight attempts a game in his last season with the Bluejays, averaging 18.5 points on 45% shooting from the field. Turning 24 in September, he is among the oldest prospects in the draft this year.
Right now, the Celtics do not particularly offer young players many possibilities. Stevens has been open about an expected lack of significant team improvement during the offseason. The Celtics will be running it back with their whole main rotation from the championship season, which presents challenges for a rookie trying to contribute.
AP”We have a lot of guys back,” Stevens remarked in a press conference this week. “Any draft pick will find it difficult to break our rotation in health.”Still, under the new collective labor agreement—as the Celtics will be—identifying and developing reasonably priced young talent in the NBA Draft may be more crucial than ever given the additional limitations placed on teams above the second tax apron. Representing a decent swing for the Celtics at the end of the first round, Scheierman is an experienced player with a real skill: three-point shooting.
The Celtics will return to the board tomorrow night for their second-round choice under the new two-day draft schedule of the NBA. On Thursday night, they line up to make choice #54 barring a trade.
