Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics opted to not trade out of the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday, using the 30th overall pick to select guard Baylor Scheierman out of Creighton.
The 23-year-old guard stuffed the stat sheet during his time with the Bluejays, averaging 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last season. The 6-foot-7 Scheierman earned First Team Big East honors in 2023-24.
Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman selected
30th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Draft!He is the first Nebraska native & Creighton grad to go in the first round since Justin Patton in 2017! @KETV pic.twitter.com/PLcr9bPFEa
— Lauren Michelson (@LaurenMichelson) June 27, 2024
Here are five things to know about the new Celtics’ draft pick:
Scheierman left quite the legacy at two different schools
Scheierman rewrote the record books during his collegiate career, becoming the first men’s player in Division I history to post at least 2,000 points (2,233), 1,000 rebounds (1,256), 500 assists (580), and 300 three-pointers (356).
The versatile guard’s 1,140 career defensive rebounds are the most of any player in the last 25 seasons, and he’s the only D-I men’s player since 1992-93 to record 300 rebounds and 110 three-pointers in a season.
Scheierman spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career at South Dakota State, earning Summit League Player of the Year honors in 2021-22 before transferring to Creighton and spending a final two seasons with the Bluejays.
He’s an elite shooter
Considering Joe Mazzulla’s emphasis on floor spacers and versatile players who can knock down shots beyond the arc, it should come as little surprise that Scheierman was viewed as an ideal target at the end of the first round.
Schierman sank 38.8 percent of his 3-point shots last season with the Bluejays, attempting 8.8 3-pointers per game. He closed out his collegiate career hitting 39.0 percent of his 3-pointers, including a 46.9 percent clip during his final season at South Dakota State in 2021-22.
Scheierman was a regular threat from 3-point range, starting his career with the Bluejays by hitting a 3-pointer in a Creighton-record 48 straight games. He connected on a 3-pointer in 81 of his final 82 games in college.
Scheierman, who has drawn comparisons to NBA sharpshooters like Joe Ingles and the Celtics’ own Sam Hauser, could develop into a useful cog on Boston’s bench if he continues to round out his overall game.
Age and athleticism are viewed as concerns
Even though Scheierman’s profile as a knockdown shooter should make him a useful contributor in today’s NBA, there are some questions about whether or not he has the athleticism and quickness to consistently get open and elude opposing defenders at the next level.
“He’s not a great athlete. He dunks only when he has space. And he’s limited defensively with heavy feet moving laterally,” The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor said in his draft analysis profile on Scheierman, noting that he only recorded 29 blocks over 162 collegiate games.
However, O’Connor added that Scheierman has the means to develop into a “serviceable” defender in the NBA so long as he continues to work on fine-tuning that athleticism.
Even if Scheierman may not be an explosive athlete, he could carve out a career in the NBA so long as he continues to connect on his shots from deep.
He hails from a small town
Scheierman didn’t exactly emerge from a basketball hotbed. He grew up in the town of Aurora, Nebraska — which boasts a population under 5,000.
Even in that small community, Scheierman quickly emerged as a dominant athlete across several sports.
As noted in a profile piece by Tim Casey of Forbes, Scheierman’s mother, Shannon, once went to a parent-teacher conference in middle school where Baylor’s gym teacher said he was “too competitive.”
After nearly opting to go pro in 2022 after three seasons at South Dakota State, Scheierman re-entered the transfer portal and fielded offers from several D-I powerhouse programs. He ultimately chose Omaha-based Creighton, which is about two hours from Aurora.
He was an record-setting quarterback in high school
Scheierman has carved out a career on the hardwood. But the 23-year-old guard also had an impressive run on the gridiron while playing for Aurora High School.
As Aurora’s starting quarterback as a senior, Scheierman threw for almost 4,000 yards and recorded a state-record 59 touchdowns — lifting his team to a Nebraska State Class C1 State Football title.
Baylor Scheierman won the Nebraska State Class C1 State Football title in 2018 🏈 pic.twitter.com/M2mt8pQhpY
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) June 26, 2024
“He just played point guard basically on grass and distributed the ball,” Kyle Peterson, Scheierman’s former football coach at Aurora, told Forbes. “He had a huge arm and just kind of understood situations, knew how to get first downs, knew how to move the chains and then ultimately create explosive plays. … The ball needed to be in his hands, kind of like it does on the basketball court. When the ball’s in his hands, good things happen – not only for him but for really everybody else.”
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