Boston Celtics player report card 2016-17: Jonas Jerebko

At times during the regular season Jonas Jerebko has been a valuable role player for the Boston Celtics, but is his time in green coming to an end?

Jonas Jerebko has emerged as a reliable role player over the last few seasons for Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics.

In 2016-17, the 6-foot-10 versatile forward averaged just 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds, but gave the Celtics valuable minutes at times.

When asked what the Swedish forward brings to the table, Stevens praised his aggressiveness.

Brad Stevens on what Jonas Jerebko brings to the table: "He's an aggressive guy. He's an aggressive rebounder. He's quick to loose balls."
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 20, 2017

Along with that aggressiveness, Jerebko’s outside shooting and ability to drive to the hoop earned him minutes in Stevens’ system, but his inconsistency in both areas could have earned him a ticket out of Boston.

The good

During the season, Jonas Jerebko played good enough to take some minutes away from Jaylen Brown. While many would consider that a bad thing, Jerebko’s veteran presence and versatility earned trust from Brad Stevens.

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In fact, it was that versatility that earned him starting minutes in place of Amir Johnson during stretches of the season. With Jerebko in the lineup, the Celtics were able to defend better against teams that could stretch the floor.

Following a 96-88 win against the Charlotte Hornets back in December, Stevens explained why there were games Jerebko would be in the starting lineup.

"“We’ll pick and choose some of the starting opportunities for that group (Jerebko as a starter),” Stevens said following that game, via Masslive.com. “Generally, our starting lineup’s been pretty good; we just haven’t gotten the chance to play with it very often. So there will be games where Jonas starts – probably not quite as many as Amir – but certainly there will be games like tonight when we just felt like we needed the skill on the floor and we wanted to match the (centers) up with Al (Horford).”"

That skill Stevens referred to was utilized in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the Game 3 victory, Jerebko did start and provided the team with a spark, as well as some toughness.

While he did give the team a jolt in that series, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the onslaught LeBron James and the Cavaliers carried out through five games.

Overall Grade

With what Jonas Jerebko was able to give the Celtics off the bench, I would give him a C+ for the season. While he lacked consistency, his aggressiveness made him a valuable contributor in stretches, particularly in the playoff series against the Cavaliers.

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In all, Jerebko is a nice role player for a contending team. Unfortunately, the Boston Celtics will probably move on from him to make room for the recent signing of Gordon Hayward.

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