Boston Celtics: Solving the backup point guard problem
By Nick Alvarez
Solving the Boston Celtics’ backup point guard problem
As great as the young Boston Celtics have been up until the season entered a hiatus, one thing has been painfully clear when watching them: Brad Wannamaker is just not cutting it as the team’s backup point guard.
Many were very disappointed to see that Danny Ainge did not make a trade to address one of Boston’s biggest needs at the deadline. A backup point guard is one of those needs. Danny Ainge is one of the best executives in the league though, and perhaps there’s a reason he didn’t use any of the team’s capital to acquire a backup point guard at the deadline.
In the modern NBA, it can take time for a point guard to develop because a lot of the offensive load relies on the point guard. Danny Ainge knows that. After all, he kept Rajon Rondo from being traded in the Kevin Garnett deal in part because he knew that Rondo could develop into a lead guard. Part of the reason he might not be eager to move on a backup point guard might be the two young prospects Ainge has under his team’s control: Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters.
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Boston Celtics have two promising guards
While these two young guards have played very sparingly this season for the Celtics, they seem to have a lot in common with a player who is now an important piece on the defending champion Raptors, Fred VanVleet. Edwards and Waters are two smaller guards with a knack for shooting 3’s and playing tenacious defense regardless of their smaller stature.
NBA teams do not succeed if they don’t have good player development and I think in Boston, under Brad Stevens, at least one of the two young guards has a chance to be that next Fred VanVleet type of player.
Danny Ainge definitely understands that Brad Stevens runs a complex offense. He uses a lot of elements of other offensive systems, the team also uses a lot of motion and double-screens rather than straight-up pick-and-roll. That means that a ball-handler in this system needs to be really smart and knowledgeable of the system. A rookie is not going to just come in and run it proficiently.
With time in the system, either player can vastly improve because they already have unique strengths to be great rotation guards for Boston.
For Carsen Edwards, although he has not shot the ball particularly well in his limited time in Boston, his shooting from Purdue (37% from 3) shows great potential. On the defensive end, however, Edwards has been particularly well so far. Edwards is stocky for his 6-foot frame and has a 6-foot-6 wingspan. He has shown so far that he is willing to play physical and use a lot of effort on that end of the floor.
Edwards just needs more time to develop as a passer, since he was more of a straight-up scorer in college, to be more of a point guard than just a 3-and-D player for Boston he needs to improve on running the offense which he can do in time.
Waters is more of a natural floor general. Not the most efficient scorer during his time in college, learning better shot selection is where he needs to improve. Waters has shown the ability to be a great guard by leading the Celtics G-League team, averaging 18 points, 7.3 assists, and just under two steals per game.
Waters has shown that he can handle the ball to set up and offense and that even though he has a small stature at only 5-foot-11, he is crafty and willing to put effort into defense and attack passing lanes.
The offense for both players might need more improvement but their defense in combination with the excellent defenders Boston already possess like Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Daniel Theis would make this team scary. With Brad Stevens already being one of the best head coaches in the league this team with the growth of its youngsters could be like the Spurs of the 2000s.
As great as the Celtics have been right now, they are a team that is geared more towards the future. Why trade away assets for a run now when Brown and Tatum are not even in there primes yet?
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Danny Ainge knows what he’s doing and with time one or both of these young guards could be the next Fred VanVleet. Underrated players coming out of the draft who is the type of smart high-effort guys to solidify a rotation around team stars.