Before Joe Mazzulla met with reporters after Monday’s practice, he stopped for a chat with Boston rookies Baylor Scheierman and Anton Watson.
Scheierman and Watson are the only two newcomers on this Celtics team, and given the wealth of talent above them, they’re unlikely to see much, if any playing time for the foreseeable future.
The head coach’s message to the 2024 draft picks: work hard and be patient.
“I was just telling them I know what it’s like being them because before I was fortunate to be in this position, I worked with a lot of the young guys,” said Mazzulla, who was an assistant with the Celtics’ G League team in 2016-17. “And there’s nothing harder than being a young player with the Celtics because we’re trying to win championships and develop at the same time, and not many organizations are in both of those spaces.
“So the young guys have to be very, very patient because the roster is top-heavy, and although you may think you’re getting better … when you’re in a situation like the Celtics organization, it can be hard to see the growth in that. So you just kind of have to be patient.”
Mazzulla pointed to JD Davison and Drew Peterson — who, like Watson, are on two-way contracts — as players who have improved since joining the Celtics without seeing much NBA payoff. Second-year pro Jordan Walsh, he added, now is “seeing the fruits of his patience and his work ethic” after spending most of his rookie year in the G League.
Walsh, a 2023 second-round pick, seemed to lock down a small end-of-the-rotation role after impressing this preseason.
“I was just telling (Scheierman and Watson), ‘Hey, this is the situation that you’re in. It’s going to get difficult because of that — that impatience. But you’ve just got to work through it,’” Mazzulla said.
Scheierman is on the Celtics’ 15-man roster, but the team likely will look to get him minutes in the G League. The 24-year-old Creighton product struggled to find his shot this preseason, making just 16.7% of his field goals and 17.6% of his 3-pointers.
