Celtics player grades: Assessing Boston at the end of the 2021-22 regular season

Now that the end of the 2021-22 NBA season is nearly upon the Boston Celtics, attention to how the team’s remaining players did during it in terms of their level of play and contribution.16 players are currently on Boston’s roster with varying degrees of responsibility and playing time having been available to them.

How much did they aid (or harm) the success of the Celtics as a whole this season, and how much more could they have realistically done with the opportunities they had in front of them? Such assessments will rise from a trickle to a flood, and dial in on specific players increasingly while we wait for the playoffs to begin in earnest. We’ll do in-depth player grades once the Celtics have truly finished their 2021-22 regular season.

But for now, let’s take a quick and dirty look at what each player did with Boston this season, assigning a letter grade to each.

Malik Fitts - incomplete

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Fitts may have a great sideline game, but has not played enough to give a grade to compared to most of his teammates.

Matt Ryan - incomplete

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

As with Fitts, there isn’t much to grade here at the NBA level — so we won’t.

Nik Stauskas - C-

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

There’s hardly enough to grade ole Sauce Castillo here, but he’s not exactly lit the world on fire from 3 in the very limited run he’s had at 33.3% on a whopping 6 attempts.

Brodric Thomas - D+

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

If you squint, you can see why the Celtics signed Thomas to a two way deal, but one has to wonder if they could have done better using the spot given he’s been pretty awful from deep (12.5%) and has found most of his success with the shot profile of a 1990s big man.

Luke Kornet - C

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Kornet has been about what you’d want as a third center in his second stint with the team, though he has yet to connect from 3 since returning to Boston.

Aaron Nesmith - C-

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

While injury luck and a lack of opportunity are certainly partly to blame for the Vanderbilt product’s lack of progress as a shooter at the NBA level, his ability to impact the game in other ways still makes him useful — if less so than could be hoped.

Sam Hauser - A-

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Hauser may be the one player on the team who should get more playing time than he has, demonstrating he can help put points on the board in a hurry with his shooting (43.9% from deep!) and plays solid enough defense on the other end to warrant time with the second unit.

Payton Pritchard - B

Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

While his height-related defensive limitations are in part overcome by his IQ and tenacity, it is his scalable shooting and handles that makes him valuable at 41.3% from 3.

Daniel Theis - B

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Doing his best to fill in for teammate Robert Williams III while he heals on defense, Thies has been very solid. And he seems to have regained trust in his shot on the other end while nabbing an occasional oop for good measure.

Derrick White - B

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

White’s grade would be higher if he’d found his shot sooner into his tenure with the team, and his passing and defense has him one of the more important players bridging the play between the starters and the reserves.

Grant Williams - B+

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Like White, Williams has been a crucial link between Boston’s starters and reserves, playing either role as injury and matchups have dictated well. And though he did have a cold spell, his shooting took a major step forward this season.

Al Horford - A-

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The only thing keeping Horford from an A outright has been a tendency to shrink a bit early on to the midpoint of the season in terms of what he was providing to the team most nights, with his defense and leadership key to Boston’s success.

Marcus Smart - A

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

After a period of time that had some wondering if the Flower Mound native might be going into an early decline, Smart has shown his best play as at the point guard position with career-best defensive play and elite ball movement.

Robert Williams III - A-

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

This season, Boston needed the Timelord to pass more, foul less, and be healthier than in the past. Williams did all that even with the meniscal tear and managed to up his defensive capabilities to become one of the most feared defenders in the NBA while adding to his offensive skills as well.

Jaylen Brown - B+

(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

He’d easily be an “A” here if he’d played the way he has lately all season, but even with a slow offensive start, Brown has played borderline All-NBA basketball for much of the season in whatever role the team has asked him to fill.

Jayson Tatum - A+

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

We generally don’t hand out A+ grades unless we see near MVP-level play, but that is exactly what we are seeing from the St. Louis native this season. His growth has raised Boston’s contention ceiling by itself, and deserves nothing less than the best assessment, slow start to the season included.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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