Towards the end of last season, I tried to make “Baylor Schowmanship” a thing on Twitter. In every game, the rookie had a highlight play, whether it was a Rondoesque pass or a buzzer-beating 3, Baylor Scheierman
had a flair for the dramatic. The nickname fit.
In his sophomore year, he is a different man. He’ll find hit a teammate with a behind-the-back dime and he’s hit 10-of-18 from behind the arc, but he seems more contained and deliberate in Year 2. The showman has become the company man.
A 17-point performance in a blowout loss to the Rockets is the only game that jumps off his NBA.com game log. Otherwise, his counting stats rarely surpass his playing time. Scheierman is effectively the 10th man in the Celtics rotation, a role he sublets with Hugo Gonzalez. If a game needs a little energy, the rookie often gets the nod. However, on most nights, it’s been Scheierman’s steady hand in those 10-12 available minutes on the wing.
For Mazzulla, Scheierman has become a reliable middle reliever and an innings eater of sorts. His minutes usually coincide with Jaylen Brown’s time on the bench as an additional ballhandler/shooter next to Anfernee Simons and Derrick White. But I think if you ask most Celtics fans, those minutes should be going to Gonzalez or even added to Jordan Walsh’s and/or Josh Minott’s columns.
Walsh and Minott have spent time with the starting lineup and grabbed all the headlines with their defense, but Scheierman has also shown his own chops, too. Early in November, Mazzulla said, “you just got to string together possessions of what we need and accomplish those and execute on those. That just builds trust, it builds discipline, it builds a habit. So, [Baylor] has bought into the things that we need you to do. And the points are obviously, you know, that’s a bonus, but the other stuff is way more important. And he’s continued to work at doing that.”
On offense, he’s been a cog — not necessarily as a ball handler but a ball mover. After a rookie year with some eye-popping plays, I thought he was more Pistol Pete than Peter Parker. Coming out of Creighton, CelticsBlog’s Trevor Haas wrote:
Scheierman also has excellent vision, a terrific feel for the game and thrives in traffic. He’s capable of playing 1 through 3 and could be used periodically as a backup point guard long term. I believe he slots as a natural NBA 2, but don’t sleep on his playmaking ability. He’s used to drawing so much attention that he’s developed an ability to pass out of the double. Yes, he was a high school quarterback, which doesn’t hurt.
During the draft process, many compared him to Joe Ingles. That seems to be a good comp for Baylor. In his prime, Ingles was a good connector on some very good Jazz teams playing next to Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, and Rudy Gobert.
Maybe he’s primed for a star turn down the road. An injury to any of Boston’s backcourt players moves him up a slot. But more importantly, Scheierman has earned the trust of the coaching staff and is playing consistent albeit limited minutes night in and night out. This truly is the life of a showman.
