Celtics news & rumors: Schröder earns praise; Bradley Beal not ideal

When it comes to an effort, the Boston Celtics as a team has been underachieving through the first five games of the season, but don’t blame veteran point guard Dennis Schröder.

After signing a rather friendly one-year deal with the team, Schröder has been everything and more for his new team in 2021 in averaging over 15 points a game, including back-to-back 20-plus performances in the team’s overtime victory over the Charlotte Hornets and the disappointing loss at TD Garden to the Washington Wizards.

Boston Celtics point guard Dennis Schröder has the right attitude and energy

While the team is 2-0 with  Schröder as a starter, that effort and energy he provides off the bench has earned praise from new Celtics head coach Ime Udoka who has already questioned his team’s intensity, mainly the core players of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.

Schröder is certainly not included in that category as he has proved to be a source of energy off the bench.

"“He upped the pace, increased the pace as soon as he got in tonight, but he’s done that in the last three games, all season, actually,” Udoka said, as transcribed by MassLive.com. “More so making shots in these last three games when he started the last two on the road. But his pace changes our tempo, changes our team, and we get out and get much more easy baskets. So he’s finding his groove overall. We gotta get more off the bench, but we can’t just say that because some of our starters struggled as well.”"

In Wednesday night’s loss to the Wizards,  Schröder was the bright spot off the bench going 4-of-6 from 3-point range while dishing out six assists.

As another veteran presence on the team,  Schröder is so far proving to be a steal as far as his contract goes.  He keeps this up, he’ll earn a big contract following the season.  Who knows, perhaps that contract will come with the Boston Celtics.

NBA rumors: Bradley Beal is not the answer for Celtics

With the Washington Wizards off to a good start this season, any Celtics fans dreaming of Bradley Beal in green come next season should probably wake up a little.

While the rumblings of Jayson Tatum and Beal teaming up once the Wizards superstar hits free agency following the season will continue to have buzz, Beal really doesn’t make sense for the Celtics as they are currently constructed.

Furthermore, according to NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller, Beal’s ideal location might be exactly where he is, especially if the Wizards continue to win.

"“I don’t think he’s going anywhere,” Miller during an appearance on Celtics Talk Podcast. “The things that we talked about before are still in play. He has all year to sign this five-year extension over $200 million to stay in D.C. I think what we’ve seen through the first four games is a major load has kind of been taken off his shoulders. If Montrezl Harrell can come in and play the way he did last night with 25 and 11 playing 38 minutes off the bench, I don’t remember in my 15 years covering this team a guy off the bench that has that kind of energy and production.”"

Things can obviously change when it comes to Beal and his situation with the Wizards, but if Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens is looking to add a third star to form a big 3 with Tatum and Brown, Beal isn’t the ideal.

Sure, the scoring he would make the Celtics a prolific scoring team, but would he make them a championship team simply because of that scoring is the question.  One could argue that adding Beal could subtract vs progress the maturation of the young Boston Celtics duo.  The right star is out there, it just isn’t Bradley Beal.

But, don’t expect those constant rumors to fade, especially if and when the Wizards come back down to earth.