Following another playoff-like matchup against the Eastern Conference–leading Detroit Pistons, head coach Joe Mazzulla praised the defensive strides second-year wing Baylor Scheierman has made, even in defeat.
When asked about Scheierman’s growth as a decision-maker on both ends of the floor, Mazzulla pointed to a different area of development. “To me, his growth is more about his defensive versatility,” he said.
That versatility has not gone unnoticed by those who regularly watch the Celtics. Scheierman exceeded expectations defensively as a rookie, particularly as a playmaker on that end, but seeing him take on such varied assignments — “sometimes he’ll guard the best player, sometimes he’ll guard the big,” as Mazzulla noted — stood out enough to warrant a deeper look into his defensive impact.
Last year, albeit in low minutes, we didn’t see much of Scheierman guarding many different positions or quite frankly, the ability to, and the numbers show it per Bball Index.
A portion of this is definitely attributed to the fact that more of his playing time last season came in garbage minutes, but even as he began to crack the rotation toward the end of the year, he was typically matched up against low-usage players on opposing teams.
This year, things look much different.
Scheierman has dramatically flipped several metrics that have proven important to the Celtics this season, including matchup difficulty, defensive positional versatility, and the percentage of time spent guarding stars and starters. Among those, the spike in matchup difficulty stands out most.
His defensive impact is impressive on its own, but it becomes even more striking when considering that he’s gone from guarding the least threatening players to consistently taking on the league’s top scorers.
Last season, he ranked at the very bottom of the league, just the 3rd percentile, in matchup difficulty. This year, he has catapulted to the 70th percentile, a shift that has been a major factor in boosting his overall defensive positional versatility grade from the 58th percentile to an elite 98th percentile, placing him among the league’s best.
Mazzulla highlighted Scheierman’s versatility in Monday’s game, saying, “There’s a couple possessions where he’s on [Isaiah] Stewart, a couple possessions where he’s on [Cade] Cunningham.” The Stewart matchup, in particular, may have flown under the radar.
The Celtics’ bigs ran into serious foul trouble in the first half. Neemias Queta picked up two fouls, while Luka Garza accumulated four in just three minutes and 15 seconds of play. Xavier Tillman saw some time, but for the final three minutes of the second quarter, Scheierman, who hadn’t played in the opening frame, was tasked with playing center on defense.
Here, he hits an important three stopping a Pistons run then goes down and matches up with Stewart. As Cade drives, he’s right there to stop the drive forcing a shot over the top which allows Derrick White to swat it.
In the third quarter, Sam Hauser picked up his fourth foul just three minutes in, which led to Scheierman logging the remaining nine minutes of the period. During that stretch, he matched up with Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, and Tobias Harris on multiple possessions.
He also shined in the team’s only win over the Pistons this season, logging a season-high 30 minutes, scoring 13 points, and delivering strong defensive play.
But when we talk about versatility, there’s one clip that sums it all up.
Mazzulla closed his remarks on Scheierman by saying, “I think just his continued growth in defensive physicality and understanding of the system is kind of where he’s made the most growth to where you build a level of trust.”
When your coach is willing to ask you to guard superstars as different as Cade Cunningham and Victor Wembanyama, it’s safe to say that trust has been earned.
