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CLEVELAND – It may be time for Guerschon Yabusele to show the world what he’s capable of doing on the basketball court.
Yabusele, a rookie forward and former 16th overall pick by the Celtics, has played sparingly during the postseason, but Brad Stevens has opened the door for the big man to earn more playing time during the Eastern Finals. Stevens also commented after Game 3 that the Celtics need players outside of their top seven to step in and contribute.
Yabusele can be one of those guys, but thus far in the series, he has stumbled, and he’s the first to admit that.
Stevens called Yabusele’s number during Saturday night’s first quarter, but the rookie lasted only 94 seconds before being removed. Yabusele confessed Sunday afternoon that he was involved in some critical defensive breakdowns.
“On defense, we have the group that we switch on, and the group that we don’t,” he told Celtics.com. “And with me, it (the switching) is a little bit different. So there was a little bit of miscommunication.”
During the brief stint, there was also a miscommunication at the offensive end between Yabusele and Aron Baynes.
Shortly after Yabusele checked in, Baynes caught a pass underneath the basket and was quickly surrounded by his defender and Yabusele’s defender, who had sagged into the paint off of Yabusele, who was in the corner. Baynes attempted to kick the ball out to Yabusele for a jumper, but Yabusele instead crashed toward the basket and the pass went out of bounds.
Baynes passionately spoke to Yabusele as the two made their way back to the defensive end of the court, and the center elaborated on that conversation following Sunday’s practice.
“I was trying to communicate to him that he’s such a great shooter, why not space the floor?” said Baynes, who also admitted that he could have made a better decision on the play. “I’m going to try to find him as best I can, and put him in the best position to make the best play for him. We all have confidence in his shot.”
Baynes also commented that it appeared as if Yabusele was playing tight, rather than with the loose confidence he displayed throughout the regular season. On that note, Baynes relayed a lesson to Yabusele that he had learned from his old coach, Gregg Popovich.
“You don’t want to ever make mistakes, but when you focus on not making mistakes, those kind of mistakes are in your forefront,” Baynes said. “So you’ve got to just forget about that and just go out and play basketball.”
Yabusele agrees.
“I need to be free,” he said. “Do the things I usually do in practice, that I work on, and have confidence in my shot and when I’m dribbling the ball. They just want me to go out there and have some fun.”
If he’s having fun, that likely means that he’s helping the Celtics and capitalizing on the opportunity Stevens is giving him.
Yabusele is the player who is most fit to give Stevens what he’s looking for within an expanded rotation. The big man is a respectable 3-point shooter, having hit 32.4 percent of his inconsistent attempts during the regular season, and more importantly, he’s a versatile defender.
Stevens commented Sunday afternoon on the difficulty of playing undersized against Kevin Love. Yabusele, who is 6-foot-8 and weighs 260 pounds, has the strength and the agility to both guard Love and to switch in pick-and-rolls. As Stevens put it Sunday afternoon, “I thought Guerschon certainly has the ability to move his feet and to make things difficult on really good players.”
Obviously, such was not the case during Game 3. Yabusele struggled during his brief stint during the first quarter, and he did not reappear until Stevens had waived the white flag during the fourth quarter. Saturday’s performance, however, holds no bearing on what will happen Monday night.
Stevens needs someone outside of the top seven to provide quality minutes within Boston’s rotation. With his size, agility and ability to space the floor, Yabusele is a leading candidate.
Stevens has opened the door for Yabusele. It’s up to the rookie to walk on through.