Welcome to Boston, Aaron Nesmith!!!

[Walker Wiggle]

Honestly, I thought he looked shaky on D and easily blown by. I'm not going to overreact -- you're talking about a young player in the first preseason game, with no training camp or summer league and barely any practices. But this needs to be the focus for this kid, just like it was for Langford last year. If you can turn him into an NBA-caliber defender (he's a good athlete and has the size/length, so it should be possible), everything else will be fine.

[cons]

he looked more athletic than the usual player with the "shooter" label.

that was a nice surprise fo me, first time i saw him play
he made his first shot
a tough one
hit his free throws

im seeing green here!!

[PAOBoston]

I thought he looked smaller (in size) than I anticipated. Glad he kept shooting those threes. Needs work on defensive side but dude hasn’t played basketball in like 9 months so willing to give him pass. I don’t think he’ll get much playing time early in the season but maybe he can start earning them later on in year. Definitely not as polished as Pritchard but I think he has higher ceiling.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I thought he looked smaller (in size) than I anticipated. Glad he kept shooting those threes. Needs work on defensive side but dude hasn’t played basketball in like 9 months so willing to give him pass. I don’t think he’ll get much playing time early in the season but maybe he can start earning them later on in year. Definitely not as polished as Pritchard but I think he has higher ceiling.

I agree that he looked smaller than I thought he would. I don't think he looked small; he looked like he had the size of a legit wing. His athleticism also made him look like he belonged on the court.

He was conscientious and attentive to details on defense, but he was largely ineffective. He needs more reps so that his defense becomes second nature.

I liked what he showed on offense. I really hope the next pre-season game he can hit a few more threes and get some more confidence going.

[johnnygreen]

I thought he looked smaller (in size) than I anticipated. Glad he kept shooting those threes. Needs work on defensive side but dude hasn’t played basketball in like 9 months so willing to give him pass. I don’t think he’ll get much playing time early in the season but maybe he can start earning them later on in year. Definitely not as polished as Pritchard but I think he has higher ceiling.

Lol, I thought the exact same thing when I saw him lined up on the side of the free throw lane, when someone was shooting their free throws. Then I started to laugh when I realized he was standing next to Dwight Howard, who is a 6'11" physical specimen. Any non big man, will look small next to Howard.

I did like that he is not just an outside shooter. He didn't shy away from going inside.

[GreenEnvy]

I didn’t see him moving all that much without the ball, but I expect they will eventually start running plays to set screens and get him open looks. He looks pretty athletic (the offensive rebound/putback off the Tacko miss), and had some decent drives/layups.

I’m excited to see how much he can improve.

[Tr1boy]

I didn’t see him moving all that much without the ball, but I expect they will eventually start running plays to set screens and get him open looks. He looks pretty athletic (the offensive rebound/putback off the Tacko miss), and had some decent drives/layups.

I’m excited to see how much he can improve.

Should be better with Brown and Tatum on the court.  More room to work with. Set role

Its like Covington. Game elevates with better players on the court. Not when is asked to be the primary producer

[Tr1boy]

One nice 3 made yesterday.  Like the hand off action with Theis. His athleticism was on display

But still guessed wrong on D end.  And got beat on drives

Not shooting the 3 all that great so far. For a guy that is suppose to be a sharpshooter.... starting to worry just a smidge.  NBA 3 line probably feels like 5 ft further away from college

Highlights from yesterday
https://youtu.be/weCsx-LF8BA

[gift]

He has so much to learn but he hustles and finds ways to be productive even while not being comfortable yet. He’s going to be good. Stylistically different, but impactfully like a JR Smith eventually, I think.

[footey]

One nice 3 made yesterday.  Like the hand off action with Theis. His athleticism was on display

But still guessed wrong on D end.  And got beat on drives

Not shooting the 3 all that great so far. For a guy that is suppose to be a sharpshooter.... starting to worry just a smidge.  NBA 3 line probably feels like 5 ft further away from college

Highlights from yesterday
https://youtu.be/weCsx-LF8BA

I feel confident his 3 point shooting will start to click once he adjusts to speed of the game.  He actually should be able to get a lot of open looks. He doesn't need much space.  I'm most surprised by how hard he plays, especially on defensive end.  I'm quite happy with this pick.  Let's see how it goes at the end of the season.

[liam]

I didn’t see him moving all that much without the ball, but I expect they will eventually start running plays to set screens and get him open looks. He looks pretty athletic (the offensive rebound/putback off the Tacko miss), and had some decent drives/layups.

I’m excited to see how much he can improve.

Should be better with Brown and Tatum on the court.  More room to work with. Set role

Its like Covington. Game elevates with better players on the court. Not when is asked to be the primary producer

He should be starting. His presence on the court would help open this up for Brown and Tatum to drive. Right now brown and Tatum are starting with three shooters on the court that no one is worried about. That makes it harder to drive, let’s other teams just pack it in on defense like the nets we’re doing. Tons of open shots but very few makes.

[moiso]

I didn’t see him moving all that much without the ball, but I expect they will eventually start running plays to set screens and get him open looks. He looks pretty athletic (the offensive rebound/putback off the Tacko miss), and had some decent drives/layups.

I’m excited to see how much he can improve.

Should be better with Brown and Tatum on the court.  More room to work with. Set role

Its like Covington. Game elevates with better players on the court. Not when is asked to be the primary producer

He should be starting. His presence on the court would help open this up for Brown and Tatum to drive. Right now brown and Tatum are starting with three shooters on the court that no one is worried about. That makes it harder to drive, let’s other teams just pack it in on defense like the nets we’re doing. Tons of open shots but very few makes.

Agree with both of you guys.  Tatum and Brown will make things easier for Nesmith and vice versa.  Putting Nesmith in with the end of the bench guys isn't going to help the team.  Nesmith isn't being groomed as a creator right now; he isn't at that stage yet.  Just let him play defense and hit open shots to start with.

[ozgod]

Missed the season opener  Sounds like it was an epic win  I'm going to watch it on DVR later today, but can anyone tell me why Nesmith didn't play? Is he injured?

I'm seeing a pattern, he doesn't start either of the preseason games and plays less than Pritchard overall, and then doesn't play at all in this game. I wonder if they are seeing something in him that suggests he's not ready, either defensively or maybe he's not quite picking up the Celtics sets yet?

Pritchard seems more composed and ready to contribute right away. That said, if Kemba was fit I wonder how many minutes Pritchard gets.

[knuckleballer]

Missed the season opener  Sounds like it was an epic win  I'm going to watch it on DVR later today, but can anyone tell me why Nesmith didn't play? Is he injured?

I'm seeing a pattern, he doesn't start either of the preseason games and plays less than Pritchard overall, and then doesn't play at all in this game. I wonder if they are seeing something in him that suggests he's not ready, either defensively or maybe he's not quite picking up the Celtics sets yet?

Pritchard seems more composed and ready to contribute right away. That said, if Kemba was fit I wonder how many minutes Pritchard gets.

Let’s remember Nesmith only played 14 games last year after an unremarkable freshman season.  Only one of those games was against a team from a power conference.  Going from playing against second rate college players to the NBA is a huge leap.  He has a great and important skill with his shooting, but he needs to get used to having his shot challenged by NBA talent.  Plus his handle, passing, and defensive skills are raw.  It’s going to take time for him to earn meaningful minutes.

[jambr380]

As a lottery pick, it would be nice to see him get a few minutes. From what we saw of him in pre-season, he is not a total dud. Other picks are already starting or seeing regular rotation minutes. I understand that he may not be as seasoned as Pritchard, but he is not straight out of high school either. Seems to me the Cs are a lot lower on him than we fans had hoped. And I don't think it gets better for him when Langford returns and we [possibly] use our TPE on a wing. Will he be the one who goes out in such a trade?