Robb: It's time to give Brad Wanamaker a consistent opportunity

One of the first statements from Brad Stevens in the wake of a disappointing 110-96 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night was a damning one. The Celtics weren’t expected to win the second half of a back-to-back without their two best players in uniform but revenge was still on the mind of the head coach as the C’s had their doors blown off in Brooklyn two months earlier by D’Angelo Russell. The point guard erupted for 19 points in the third quarter and turned a close game into a blowout while Boston’s offense stalled against a 2-3 zone.

The gameplan seemed simple in this one to combat this for the Celtics: Contain Russell, find better shots and give yourself a chance at the end. Boston came up empty on all of those fronts as Russell scored 20 third-quarter points, building a double-digit lead for the Nets in the second half which they never relinquished.

The story for Game No. 76 has been a familiar tale for this team on the road all year long and the same personnel (Terry Rozier, Marcus Morris) were at the forefront of the players struggling on both ends of the floor as Stevens called out his team after the defeat.

“I don’t think we value possessions at the level that we need to to be a good team,” Stevens told reporters. "And I get it, we played really hard (Friday) night, last night was a tough game but every possession all year matters. And we haven’t been great at that. That’s one of the things that if we’re going to make it anywhere significant, they all have to matter equally. Offensively, defensively, moving it, all of those things.”

Stevens’ complaint is a valid one, yet it is a bit maddening for him to expect something to change for this group all of a sudden after watching 77 games of certain players struggling with bad shot selection and poor defensive awareness.

Every year in the NBA is a different entity when it comes to talent and team chemistry and Stevens appears to be holding a bit too much faith in some guys to figure it out (Rozier, Morris) when the evidence continues to pile up that it is not going to happen (both are bottom two on the team in net rating).

Amid the disappointing defeat, there were glimpses of positives scattered in over the course of the night. One was the performance of Brad Wanamaker, who somehow fouled out in just 13 minutes thanks to a tough whistle from officials. Despite his over-fouling, the 29-year-old point guard managed to bring a spark to the Celtics in the first half, triggering good offense against the 2-3 zone and attacking the basket well on his way to eight points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. He teamed up with an unlikely lineup combo (Wanamaker/Brown/Hayward/Ojeleye/Baynes) thanks to the absence of Horford and Irving, yet that group found plenty of success on both ends in the first half. Everyone did their job on defense (when not fouling), and did not settle for bad shots against a Nets zone that tempted Boston to take plenty of bad ones. Rozier, Morris and Marcus Smart couldn’t help but take the bait on that front. The bench crew did not.

Yet, the success that group saw Saturday night only came in the first half. The starters fell behind by double digits in the third quarter before the second unit even had a chance to get into the game in the second half, thanks to woeful shot selection and defense on Russell. Wanamaker proceeded to foul out a few minutes later, while Ojeleye never even got off the bench until garbage time as Stevens avoided him while searching for points in the midst of a double-digit deficit. After the loss, Stevens again harped on the need for his team to play smarter despite running out the same talent that was usually responsible for those mistakes for big minutes.

“I didn’t think our shot selection was very good all night," Stevens explained. "So, that’s something that again, we have to value the ball, we have to value possessions, it’s a big part of playing the right way. And credit them because one thing that they do that make you do that is they stick Allen at the rim, so again layups are really hard to come by. They don’t foul and they do a really good job of late switching onto shooters, so you have to make some of those but you have to probe for good ones first.”

Wanamaker is by no means going to be a savior for this team, but it’s hard to ignore the success the team has had when he’s been handed meaningful minutes in games. He's been a net positive in several wins with Irving out (DET, CLE x 2, BKN) More importantly, he’s been more reliable than Rozier in getting the ball to his teammates in good spots and making the right play. He can’t match Rozier’s speed and athleticism, but sometimes playing smart is more important than one's skillset. At this point, we know what Rozier is, but seeing Wanamaker play with better talent around him has been largely untapped by Stevens. It’s worth getting an extended look at over the rest of the regular season as Stevens attempts to figure out the best path to winning on a nightly basis.

The same can be said for a guy like Ojeleye. He’s not capable of nearly as much on the offensive end but with the Celtics defense springing leaks far too often, he’s one of the few players Stevens should be able to trust to get stops. Ojeleye won't turn the game into a blowout with his offense but his defense is going to help the Celtics stay in games on most nights. That’s not something that can be said for Morris in recent weeks.

“I know what it needs to be for us to be good," Stevens said after the loss when asked about the C’s identity. "So it’s just a matter being really committed to it.”

As others continuously fail in showing that commitment, Stevens has one last chance to give his underutilized talent a chance before the postseason begins over the next week and a half. Moving Baynes into the starting lineup was a step in the right direction but there is still plenty of more tweaking that is warranted at this stage of the regular season. Stevens needs to find groupings that can buy a few minutes of rest for Irving and Horford here and there without surrendering huge runs. Wanamaker and Ojeleye won’t be the answer every night, but they deserve more of a shot than they’ve been getting after watching the talent above them on the depth chart struggle for months.