Guerschon Yabusele shows his potential in comeback win vs. Grizzlies

The Celtics' big man depth had suddenly turned into a bit of trouble spot this week. Aron Baynes (broken hand) is out for at least another month and Rob Williams (strained groin) joined him on the inactive list starting Thursday night, putting Boston’s best two rim protectors in street clothes for the foreseeable future. Baynes won’t be back until late January at the earliest, while Williams’ status beyond this road trip remains unclear.

With Al Horford still on a minutes limit (25 per game) and looking a little bit sluggish from a mobility standpoint, a lot of pressure suddenly fell on reserve center Daniel Theis in recent games. The German big man has been a surprise contributor over the past few seasons but he’s had his problems on the defensive end this year. The 28-year-old is fouling more than anyone on the team and he isn’t rebounding as well as he did last year. These problems were prevalent on Thursday night in Houston and he did not look much better in the first half against Memphis as he was bullied by Marc Gasol (who has a huge size edge) in the post and just wasn’t moving great. Joel Embiid had his way with Theis as well on Christmas Day.

Those struggles left Brad Stevens with limited options while trying to figure out how best to fill the 12 minutes at center that Horford would need to rest in the second half with the Celtics facing a 19-point deficit and a combination of Gasol and Joakim Noah at center.

Despite an ordinary first half appearance, Stevens made Guerschon Yabusele the first man off the bench in the third quarter in hopes of finding a spark for the C’s defense. The second-year Frenchman probably deserved to play more over Theis in Thursday’s loss to the Rockets after a solid first half stint but Stevens went back to Theis in the fourth quarter in a move that burned him. On Saturday night, he decided to make a change that could lead to an important development for this team over the next month.

On the surface, Yabusele’s evening was not anything to write home about. Three points, four rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes isn’t anything to get worked up about, right? However, after playing 12 straight minutes in the midst of a 19-point second half rally, Stevens made a point to single out the big man for his effort.

“I thought Guerschon’s play was a big reason why we won the game," Stevens said, before detailing Yabusele’s contributions. “Energy, physicality, he blocked a couple of shots, he got rebounds in traffic, the big three that he hit was great. But it’s all the other little things that we needed, so I thought he was a big reason why we went in the right direction.”

So what led to Yabusele clocking in with a plus-11 (second-best on the team behind Kyrie Irving) in a nine-point win? Let’s look at a few of the intangibles that may be a promising sign that the Celtics made the right move to pick up his $3.1 million option for next season.

SCREEN SETTING

With Baynes out, the Celtics lost one of their best screen setters off the bench. Yabusele can’t do a lot on the offensive end right now, but he knows how to use his big body as leverage. He opened up good looks for Gordon Hayward and Marcus Morris in the halfcourt, even though he was cheaply called for an offensive foul on the Morris clearout (Stevens complained to the ref after the call, "That's just good basketball!")





These are the type of plays Baynes makes all the time that don’t show up in the box score. However, they are essential to producing easy offense.

DEFENSIVE AWARENESS

The 23-year-old has always looked like an intriguing prospect due to his mix of size and mobility. Nicknamed the Dancing Bear by Celtics assistant Micah Shrewsberry two summers ago, Yabusele showed off why he earned that label in the second half. Mike Conley has wreaked havoc against defenses throughout his lengthy career in Memphis while teaming up with Gasol and others in the pick-and-roll. The Celtics have struggled to contain these speedy guards all year long, but Yabusele was front and center in limiting Conley in the second half. Watch him navigate the defense here to cut off Conley’s driving angle from the top of the key.



He manages to stay in front on this drive while also not fouling, separating himself from Theis on this front.



His ability to recover also stands out here as he manages to block Conley after a blow by. For a team that shot 80 percent from inside the arc in the first half, Yabusele made life a lot harder for Conley and company inside the paint in the second half and that was pivotal to Boston’s rally.



REBOUNDING AND POST PRESENCE

Ever since Baynes went out, the C’s have looked particularly vulnerable on the defensive glass. Horford and Theis are below-average rebounders at center and the Rockets and Suns have both won games against Boston thanks to second-chance points over the past two weeks with true bigs (Ayton, Capela) wreaking havoc.

Gasol and Noah both had the size to do the same to Boston, but Yabusele did very well not letting them get easy putbacks on the glass. Notice how much ground he covers here to prevent a streaking Noah from getting to the loose ball



The Celtics wisely changed their defensive strategy against Gasol in the second half in the post as well, sending a second defender at him before he went into his moves. Still, Yabusele did well to hold his ground on initial moves, which opened the door for guards to sneak in like Smart does here.



Over the final 18 minutes of the game, Gasol managed to post just two points, two rebounds, two assists while coughing up three turnovers. Yabusele was a pretty big reason why those numbers were so low.

WHAT’S THE BIG PICTURE FOR YABU?

Is Yabusele the backup center until Baynes gets back? Not necessarily. Just because this was the best defensive performance of his career doesn’t mean he’s going to do it every night. Still, there was a lot of promising things we saw in this game the Celtics' defense has lacked lately, particularly from a mobility standpoint. Yabusele has been prone to mental lapses when he’s on the floor but he played a clean game tonight and helped the C’s keep Horford’s minutes down to 23.

It’s not going to be easy to win games and keep Horford’s minutes down with Baynes out but Yabusele looks like someone who can help the Celtics survive on that front for the next month. In a season when a number of Boston’s young assets have lost value, this could be an opportunity for Yabusele to build some of his own. Whether he’s part of Boston’s future remains to be seen, but he has a chance to show he belongs in the NBA these next few weeks if he keeps doing more of what we saw on Saturday night.