Baylor Scheierman - 30th pick, RD1

HomeRunBaker

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I understand what you’re saying but don’t the Celtics have a very big luxury in being able to actually wait out Baylor?
The thought we were throwing around here last summer was that if Baylor was able to play right away he’d be the positional replacement for Hauser who could be the guy moved due to the salary crunch. What would we be waiting for though? He’s already physically developed so there isn’t any upside waiting there After 5 collegiate seasons he was pretty much the same player at 24 as he was when he was 20 and his Conferences Player of the Year.
 

Eddie Jurak

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The thought we were throwing around here last summer was that if Baylor was able to play right away he’d be the positional replacement for Hauser who could be the guy moved due to the salary crunch. What would we be waiting for though? He’s already physically developed so there isn’t any upside waiting there After 5 collegiate seasons he was pretty much the same player at 24 as he was when he was 20 and his Conferences Player of the Year.
I disagree, partly, with the physical development point. It's true that a 24 year old doesn't have physical projection the way a younger player would. But I think a 4-year (in Baylor's case 5-year) college player can benefit physically from the kind of full time strength and conditioning regimen that is available to NBA players. I think Hauser is an example a 24-year old who benefited from that. Scheierman looked to be in worse condition than Hauser when we first got them so he may be in position to benefit more.

I do think the Celtics probably drafted him as a Hauser replacement, but never for this season. Sam Hauser was under contract already - his 4-year extension kicks in next year. I don't think a team coming off an NBA finals win who is deep into luxury tax territory trades its 8th man who is signed for ~$2 million to create a spot for a rookie drafted low in the first round who profiles somewhat comparably. I also think the Celtics are in a salary cap place where there was not much to be gained by trading Hauser. An already good team looking to add a cheap shooter off the bench might have offered a low first round pick, but that is the most anyone was ever going to give, and it doesn't really justify the risk. To the extent Scheierman was viewed as a potentional replacement for Hauser, it would have been as a 2025-26 replacement after Hauser signed elsewhere as a free agent. He still may be viewed as a potential Hauser replacement as, starting next year when Hauser's new contract kicks in, there will be more trade possibilities.
 

LA_33

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In the final game of the G-League showcase, ME beat Motor City 121-104. Scheierman had 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Highlights below. He kinda plays basketball like a QB - some nice passes and ball-handling while on the move.

Old friemd Lamar Stevens on Motor City. Still surprised he and Brisset can't find NBA jobs somewhere.
Stevens and especially Brissett are probably both in the top tier of prime-ages guys who aren't on a roster right now. But there just aren't any roster spots available. Neither are as good as Lonnie Walker, IMO, and he couldn't get an NBA job, either.

It seems like as older vets tend to play longer and longer, and CBA changes have made the 15th roster spot all but imaginary for cost/apron/trade flexibility reasons, at least until after the March 1 buy out deadline, borderline mid-to-late 20s guys are mostly who are getting squeezed out.

Every team still carries at least a couple recent-draft-pick developmental guys, and often 4-5, and more teams now have a late-30s veteran in their rotation than in the past, so there just isn't room on effectively-14-man rosters for guys like Stevens and Brissett.

I could see one or both catching on somewhere late in the year, but there are still cap/tax advantages to converting 2-way guys instead (rookie-minimum is significantly less than normal vet-min), and the new CBA rules now allow you to sign players to new 2-way deals up until March 4th, so teams can convert a 2-way player to a standard contract after the March 1 waiver deadline for buy-out guys, and still sign another young player to a 2-way for the rest of the season (and beyond). That further limits the roster opportunities for guys who have more than 3 years of NBA service and aren't eligible for a 2-way, like Stevens, Brissett, and LW4.
 

benhogan

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It seems like as older vets tend to play longer and longer, and CBA changes have made the 15th roster spot all but imaginary for cost/apron/trade flexibility reasons, at least until after the March 1 buy out deadline, borderline mid-to-late 20s guys are mostly who are getting squeezed out.
The 3 two-way contracts have also made #15 a place to save tax $$$.

Turning two-way players into NBA players is like striking gold (see Hauser/Q) & can lead to multi-year cheap contracts.
The smarter teams are paying more attention to developing 2-way/G-League players. Then there are teams like the Pistons that hand out two-way contracts to Buddy Boeheim because the GM & Dave Bing are friends of Jimmy.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Stevens and especially Brissett are probably both in the top tier of prime-ages guys who aren't on a roster right now. But there just aren't any roster spots available. Neither are as good as Lonnie Walker, IMO, and he couldn't get an NBA job, either.

It seems like as older vets tend to play longer and longer, and CBA changes have made the 15th roster spot all but imaginary for cost/apron/trade flexibility reasons, at least until after the March 1 buy out deadline, borderline mid-to-late 20s guys are mostly who are getting squeezed out.

Every team still carries at least a couple recent-draft-pick developmental guys, and often 4-5, and more teams now have a late-30s veteran in their rotation than in the past, so there just isn't room on effectively-14-man rosters for guys like Stevens and Brissett.

I could see one or both catching on somewhere late in the year, but there are still cap/tax advantages to converting 2-way guys instead (rookie-minimum is significantly less than normal vet-min), and the new CBA rules now allow you to sign players to new 2-way deals up until March 4th, so teams can convert a 2-way player to a standard contract after the March 1 waiver deadline for buy-out guys, and still sign another young player to a 2-way for the rest of the season (and beyond). That further limits the roster opportunities for guys who have more than 3 years of NBA service and aren't eligible for a 2-way, like Stevens, Brissett, and LW4.
Everything you say is accurate; it just seems weird to me that there seem to be enough teams whose depth is shaky or their bench spotty that they couldn't use guys like LW4 or Brissett or, to a lesser extent, Stevens. But I understand that most teams are leaving at least one spot open and then several of the other spots are for "development players" (who likely will never be as good as LW4 or Brissett but are young enough to have the "P" word) so that doesn't leave many spots around the league for league-average (or worse) guys, particularly guys who don't have a reputation for shooting.
 

bakahump

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Sacrilege..... but there is a little Larry Bird there. (Beyond the not super athletic white guy). The elbow jumpers and mid range "stop and pops".
 

HomeRunBaker

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Sacrilege..... but there is a little Larry Bird there. (Beyond the not super athletic white guy). The elbow jumpers and mid range "stop and pops".
The last time we compared a white draft pick to Larry Bird we couldn’t wait to try and ship him back to BYU.
 

Eddie Jurak

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The last time we compared a white draft pick to Larry Bird we couldn’t wait to try and ship him back to BYU.
Was that really the last time? I remember him not playing, then out of nowhere getting a start and scoring a bunch of points, and before we could finish saying the question "What do we have here?" teams figured out how to defend him and he wound up back on the bench for good very quickly.
 

Montana Fan

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I liked the catch and immediate release on his last three in the video. From the corner no less. Seemed Haueresque how he caught it in motion and fired. That’s a good sign that he’s developable.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Was that really the last time? I remember him not playing, then out of nowhere getting a start and scoring a bunch of points, and before we could finish saying the question "What do we have here?" teams figured out how to defend him and he wound up back on the bench for good very quickly.
Last time to my memory unless one counts Darius Songaila. :cool:

As for your question, good memory! I think you are thinking of these stretch of games. I think the biggest problem with Michael Smith is that he never learned to shoot from the NBA 3P line, as he went 2-28 in his first year and 6-24 in his second year.

94411



(Side note, I had forgotten - or never knew - that Michael Smith played 29 games for the Clippers in 1994-95. He went 1-8 from 3P land in that game. I also didn't know that he was a highly recruited high school QB (and VB player) and playing for Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, he set records for yardage, attempts, completions, and the single-game record for TDs (8) as a quarterback on the way to the championship. And then after his LAC stint, he became a color commentator for LAC. But if you're interested, here's a "What happened to" story on Smith that makes him out to be a not-so-great person: What the Hell Happened to...Michael Smith?)
 

Eddie Jurak

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I had remembered his problem as continually getting his shot blocked (3 point shooting was way less prominent back then), but it has been a long time.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I had remembered his problem as continually getting his shot blocked (3 point shooting was way less prominent back then), but it has been a long time.
Michael Smith’s NBA problems included….

* Slow release, inability to get his shot off.
* No ability to create separation w dribble to get shot off.
* Whoever he was guarding being allowed to both get their shot off and create separation w dribble.
* Not to mention he was as soft as the new pillows we bought last week.

Aside from this he was a darn good NBA player.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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For the first few posts on the BYU "send him back!" topic, I could only think of Trader Danny. I know I was younger then, but I didn't think he was that bad. Michael Smith makes a lot more sense.
 

Auger34

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The last time we compared a white draft pick to Larry Bird we couldn’t wait to try and ship him back to BYU.
This is really funny because i thought you meant Jimmer and it looks like you meant someone completely different
 

HomeRunBaker

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For the first few posts on the BYU "send him back!" topic, I could only think of Trader Danny. I know I was younger then, but I didn't think he was that bad. Michael Smith makes a lot more sense.
Yeah sometimes I forget I'm one of the old guys around here now. Wtf lol. When Smith was drafted there was no social media but there were plenty of talking heads giving the ole, "If you squint you can see some Larry Bird there"......when actually it was, "If you drink two bottles of tequila and smoke synthetic marijuana" you may be able to see this.
 

tbrown_01923

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He was tall?? I mean no brad lohaus, but still you didn't need to squint that much to see him. Ugh he was terrible.

Yeah sometimes I forget I'm one of the old guys around here now. Wtf lol. When Smith was drafted there was no social media but there were plenty of talking heads giving the ole, "If you squint you can see some Larry Bird there"......when actually it was, "If you drink two bottles of tequila and smoke synthetic marijuana" you may be able to see this.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Yeah sometimes I forget I'm one of the old guys around here now. Wtf lol. When Smith was drafted there was no social media but there were plenty of talking heads giving the ole, "If you squint you can see some Larry Bird there"......when actually it was, "If you drink two bottles of tequila and smoke synthetic marijuana" you may be able to see this.
That's completely unfair and untrue!





They didn't have synthetic MJ back then . . . .
 

HomeRunBaker

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He was tall?? I mean no brad lohaus, but still you didn't need to squint that much to see him. Ugh he was terrible.
I'm talking about when he was drafted when he was still a highly decorated prospect. He was Parade HS All-American, Conference Player of Year, 2nd Team All-American, etc etc.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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I'm talking about when he was drafted when he was still a highly decorated prospect. He was Parade HS All-American, Conference Player of Year, 2nd Team All-American, etc etc.
I am old enough to remember Parade HS All Americans. Does Parade still even exist?

edit -- If I remember correctly, I danced a bit with a WBB Parade HS All-American during my Junior Year of HS prom. So "prom night?" to me brings back memories of us getting sweaty....doing the 'running-man' and the 'lawnmower'
 
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HomeRunBaker

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I am old enough to remember Parade HS All Americans. Does Parade still even exist?
Yeah I think I read something about it in the Street & Smith yearbook last year. I purposely ignored your Jr Prom escapades after reading those dances you did.

fake edit: God I used to LOVE the Street & Smith. It was kinda underground in the late 70’s/early 80’s so convincing my Dad to drive me to “the drug store” every night in anticipation of it being on the shelves was a challenge. For me though it was Christmas one day a year in the fall.
 

Montana Fan

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God I used to LOVE the Street & Smith. It was kinda underground in the late 70’s/early 80’s so convincing my Dad to drive me to “the drug store” every night in anticipation of it being on the shelves was a challenge. For me though it was Christmas one day a year in the fall.
Man, you’re right on the money with S&S, was a great pre-season magazine. Heck, I’m old enough to remember and likely still have a few of the BoSox pre-season magazines that SoSH used to support and provide writers for.
 

lovegtm

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Fluff interview with BS below. But according to this article - Maine Celtics notebook: JD Davison and Baylor Scheierman look NBA-ready, Drew Peterson overcoming concussion, Sam Hauser in the house - CelticsBlog - BS leads the G-League in 3Ps made with 46, shooting 39.3% from 3P.

Nice full court pass.

(P.S. Putting JD stuff in JD thread.)

View: https://youtu.be/aM1j4OmaIUA?si=m16dOsUJF7O3RZyq
I know he looked bad in the NBA, but making a high % of 3s on high volume in the G-League is usually a good sign, because guys are still athletic and able to close out down there.
 

benhogan

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I wouldn't mind seeing Baylor thrown into the mix over the next 5 games (8-10mpg).

We've seen enough of Walsh, he just isn't NBA rotation-ready. Frankly, Petersen was more impressive.

Let's see if Baylor brings some energy on the offensive boards, hits some 3s, and can stay in front of and box out NBA Wings.