On the second day of free company, the Celtics agreed to a two-year, $5 million take care of former Timberwolves ahead Josh Minott. The younger participant who was drafted with the forty fifth decide in 2022 after one 12 months of faculty at Memphis, solely performed 46 video games for Minnesota final season, averaging 2.6 factors and one rebound. And but, there are good causes to be enthusiastic about him.
Essentially the most spectacular upside of his profile is his defensive skills. Again at Memphis within the NCAA, he posted a 3.1 STL% and a 5.4 BLK% — numbers which might be clear indicators of elite defensive potential. His measurements had been spectacular for a wing. On the Draft Mix, he was measured standing 6-foot-8.75 in footwear with a 6-foot-11.75 wingspan, which explains why he regarded so imposing on protection in his school days. However what about his influence within the NBA?
Per CleaningTheGlass.com, he has performed fewer than 250 minutes of non-garbage time to this point in his three-year profession. The younger Jamaican wasn’t capable of break into the rotation, caught behind Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Julius Randle, and Donte DiVincenzo. Due to this fact, we can’t use his NBA stats to research him and discover insightful info… however we are able to watch the tape!
He didn’t play a number of significant minutes, however a few of them got here in January in opposition to the Boston Celtics. We’ll look again at his efficiency in opposition to the group we all know probably the most to know what Josh Minott can deliver to the desk.
When he entered the sport within the first quarter, he was guarding Jayson Tatum. Tatum was the inbounder on the baseline motion and bought the ball once more after a again display. Minott was capable of navigate the display and block Tatum’s lay-up try along with his lengthy arms. Spectacular.
On the following play, in transition, Minott bought the ball past the road, faked the move, drove, and euro-stepped round Luke Kornet. However he couldn’t create sufficient house to attain, so he tried to move the ball to Julius Randle with one hand. The concept was good, however Tatum was there to steal the ball. But, the faux and the drive earlier than the turnover look encouraging to me.
As a result of he’s not thought of a capturing risk, the Celtics put Luke Kornet on him so the massive man may keep within the paint to guard the rim. But, Minott confirmed some good basketball IQ with a sensible backdoor reduce on the protection when Kornet was serving to, providing an answer to the ball-handler and forcing two free throws.
After Tatum, he additionally defended Derrick White, as he’s fairly fast for his measurement. The Celtics ran their basic empty-side pick-and-roll with a move on the prime after which a second move to the roll man. Minott bought caught behind Al Horford after the swap and tried to intercept the ball when Jrue Vacation handed it, however that’s what the Celtics needed, and so they now had an open shot on the rim.
He was subbed out just a few moments later and solely got here again late within the third quarter. After punishing Kornet for ignoring him with a reduce, he then punished him with a nook three as the massive man was serving to on the drive. He’s not a shooter, however he made greater than 75% of his free throws within the NCAA, main me to assume there may be some capturing contact.
Offensively, he has some burst to take off, too. On this transition, he will get the ball with just a little little bit of house as a result of Vacation is a bit late in his rotation. He goes left and pushes the ball far to make use of the empty paint and achieve momentum for a gorgeous dunk in opposition to White.
Then, a couple of minutes later, he gained one more duel in opposition to D-White. He defended him on the pick-and-roll and, at first, struggled to go across the display. He went beneath to compensate for the delay in his protection, however White initiated a drive. Minott was capable of keep related along with his hips, and when White took off for the lay-up, Josh blocked him in opposition to the glass with out fouling, due to his positioning and attain.
On his final defensive play, he stayed related on each swap and ended up on Vacation, who wasn’t capable of take care of Minott’s stage of aggression and size. The younger participant was capable of strip the ball from the arms of the champion and confirmed why wingspan and hand-eye coordination matter within the NBA.
In opposition to the Celtics, we didn’t see a lot off-ball protection, however he may very well be attention-grabbing as a low man or on the weak facet to generate turnovers from skip passes — like right here in opposition to the Houston Rockets.
If the Celtics’ teaching employees is ready to optimize his passing, reducing, and basketball IQ on offense—regardless of the non-shooting risk—then his defensive upside may unfold, and this might flip into a really attention-grabbing contract for the Celtics. He’s younger and can make errors, however the {hardware} and the software program are apparent on the defensive finish.
