Brad Stevens on Jaden Springer: ‘He’s a Guy We’ve Been Tracking for Awhile'

The Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations described the front office's evaluation of the 21-year-old.

When the Boston Celtics visited the Philadelphia 76ers in mid-November, Jaden Springer swung some of the game's momentum. The prospect's defensive instincts were everywhere, reading passes and picking the pocket of Jayson Tatum, exploding to the basket while contested with strength, and finishing with his upmost energy.

Brad Stevens had stated that Boston had been watching the defensive guard for quite a while now.

"I would say that that wasn't a huge factor," Stevens said. "We've tracked his development pretty closely over the years; we liked him in the draft a few years ago. He was the youngest player in that draft, and again, he's still a puppy; he's still 21 years old."

Stevens and the Celtics' front office had been watching Springer closely in the G League when he played against Maine, while noticing the strides he made against Boston in their preseason matchups with Philadelphia.

"I would say that the preseason game here had more of an impact than that," Stevens said. "So we were already like, 'Woah, that looks like strides.' The other thing that you know, everybody that is nuts like us watches all of the G League stuff, and he was unbelievable in the G League playoffs last year; he's done a lot of good things against us when he's been up in Maine. We've seen him live several times up there, so he's a guy we've been tracking for awhile."

Springer provides the Celtics' wing depth with his defensive capabilities for the postseason while still being a development piece for the future. He has plenty of room to grow within Boston's system.