Of the six Celtics rookies, none look like they will ever be regular starters in Boston.
With the pause 64 games into the NBA season, the Celtics are third in the Eastern Conference, and looking like they will be a very tough team to knock out of the playoffs. In addition to a exciting and bright future this season, the future of the franchise is in very good hands. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are emerging stars, and they have slightly older players in Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward helping Boston as well. The question is though, how much will their current rookie class be a part of the future of this team.
Although there really wasn't really much room for a rookie to play a significant role this season for the team, none of the rookies have. Grant Williams gets the most time, at 15.6 minutes per game. He is followed by Romeo Langford, Carson Edwards, Tremont Waters, Vincent Poirier, and Tacko Fall. Of the bottom four to five players on that list, most of their minutes are coming in garbage time.
The consensus among most NBA scouts is that none of those rookies really have the potential to become legit starters, and it is hard to argue with them. Williams gets the most minutes, but he just doesn't have the skillset to be much better than he is now. He gets time because he gets rebounds, and works his tail off. Besides that though, there really isn't much to his game. He has averaged just 3.5 points per game this year.
Romeo Langford was the highest pick of them at fourteenth overall, but he can't shoot. He has earned a bit of Brad Stevens trust through his defense, but I don't get how a shooting guard can't shoot. His field goal percentage of 37.5% this year is flat out dismal. He has talent, but I just don't see him ever becoming more than a backup.
Carson Edwards has shown flashes of strong shooting, but the majority has been pretty poor. I like his mentality, and he was a great college player, but honestly, I think he'll be lucky to stay in the NBA. He should be a great G-Leaguer though!
Tremont Waters, their last pick of the 2019 draft, might actually be their top prospect. Yes, he has spent most of his time in the G-League, but he won the league's player of the month in November, and has been one of the Maine Red Claws best players.
Vincent Poirier and the incredibly popular Tacko Fall were not draft picks, but rather signings to fill out the center position. They have gotten next to no time though. Simply put, neither of those two are future NBA players.
This group of rookies is definitely weak, especially considering the classes that have come before them in Boston. Danny Ainge has done an incredible job at GM though, so I can give him a pass on this one. The Celtics do need a stronger supporting cast, so hopefully this group of rookies will be able to fill those roles on this team. I don't see any of them become regular starters, but they could be good backups.
The Celtics still have a very bright future, but this rookie class will not be a huge part of that.