Coach Brad Stevens praises Aaron Nesmith’s growth as a player

https://sports.yahoo.com/coach-brad-stevens-praises-aaron-195823422.html



Coach Brad Stevens praises Aaron Nesmith’s growth as a player






Justin Quinn

Wed, February 17, 2021, 11:58 AM·2 min read



Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens has not been one to play rookies just for the sake of developing in the midst of seasons the Celtics are trying to compete.

And given this season in particular is supposed to be the first season since his arrival in Boston that the Celtics were fully expected to contend for a title with the twin star wings of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum at the helm, it makes sense that rookie wing Aaron Nesmith hadn’t seen much floor time while the Vanderbilt product got up to speed on how fast the NBA game moves.


But Nesmith has been hard at work, and finally worked his way up to an opportunity in recent games. While he hasn't had a huge impact on the stat sheet, the South Carolina native has been putting out consistent effort on both ends of the ball, and managed to record a team-high +20 plus/minus in the win against the Denver Nuggets. Speaking with the press after the 112 - 99 win on Tuesday night, head coach Brad Stevens shared his thoughts about Nesmith's growth as player paying off in recent games. https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1362086700906733568?s=20

"He's becoming more comfortable with the speed of the game on the offensive end," observed Stevens. "I think that was probably the biggest transition for him and he's handled that well -- credit to him."

"He's just kept working, right? So, when a guy gets that opportunity you really want to see him succeed, and it's two good games in a row. I thought he was one of our bright spots in Washington [against the Wizards], one of the very few."

"There's a lot to build off there with what he did, so I would say that he's on a good two game streak, and we'll see," added the Celtics coach. https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1362110732590977031?s=20

Nesmith's 9 points and 4 rebounds might not be the sort of stats some of his cohort members are putting up in the league, but for a player who didn't play a game of high-level basketball for a year before making the leap to the pros it's exactly the sort of growth you want to see. On a team with little room for mistakes, playing well enough to merit more time is in itself a monumental challenge even for veterans. That Nesmith is earning a role in limited minutes after a long stretch of nightly DNPs is one of several positive developments to come out of Tuesday night's win.


Bob


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I like Aaron. He has way more upside than Aaron Gordon.