The NBA Prospects Of Boston Celtics Draftee, Juhann Begarin

In the 2021 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics drafted an extremely young Frenchman in the middle of the second round. Still then only 18 years old, 6’5 Paris Basket shooting guard Juhann Begarin had been playing in France’s second division at the time – without a big body of work behind him, he was drafted on account of his excellent physical profile, and the perceived upside that this gave him.

In the two years hence, Begarin has stayed with Paris, following them into France’s top division, the Pro A. As they have improved, so has he. And it can be seen how Begarin has begun to realise some of that upside.

Paris played in the EuroCup this season, and Begarin appeared in 17 of their 20 games, starting 15. In them, he averaged 12.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.7 blocks per game, shooting 45.6% from the field and 27.0% from three, all in 24.6 minutes per contest. Those numbers are entirely commensurate with what he averaged the year before he was drafted; now, though, the level at which he has produced them has gone up. And athletically, he can compete at any level.

Armed with a nigh-on perfect wing physical profile, Begarin has length, an NBA frame and top-tier run-and-jump athleticism. His long arms allow for defence all over the halfcourt and in all match-ups, and he runs the court in barely any strides. Similarly, while his offensive game is mostly based on that athleticism, so it should be – when he gets going, Begarin cannot be stopped downhill.

Having added some upper-body strength, Begarin tries to dunk everything attacking the rim, as we likely all would if he could. He attacks every transition and semi-transition attempt, going hard at the rim, and it is where he is at his best. The high-tempo of Weaverball (Paris are coached by former NBA assistant Will Weaver) suits Begarin well, and he grab and goes whenever he can, even off makes.

Outside of the transition game, there is work to be done in his offensive repertoire. Begarin. Certainly, Begarin always wants to score and wants to play like a lead guard, but he is too unreliable with his shooting, shot selection passing decisions and handle in traffic at this stage. Up and down decision-making and feel – highlighted by a love for a straight-on jumper despite not making many of them – Begarin settles for too many pull-ups, and the jumper (and free throw shooting) remain distinct weaknesses.

Things are improving, though. Begarin can shoot from the corners though prefers to be up top, and although he intersperses them with leaving his feet too often only to throw the ball into the car park, he demonstrates some drive-and-kick game and some nice dump-offs. When off the ball, while he is not much of a off-screens threat or catch-and-shoot player, Begarin further shows a feel for cutting to the rim for easy buckets – he is a limited non-dunk finisher though, and biased to his right hand, but the explosion and aggression come into play here. Whatever he does, he is no background character.

Defensively, when Begarin is good, he is very good. With disruptive length and a good motor, he has the athletic advantage over nearly every other wing in Europe, and plays accordingly, with active hands in the passing lane. There are still some shortcomings on this end; Begarin gambles on defence a lot – as in, a lot a lot – and because he jumps passing lanes so much, even with recovery speed, it can be a problem. He also gets lost in transition – his area of greatest strength on one end is perversely the weakness on the other – and he tends to bail on face-guarding assignments to try and get deflections. But these are just the impulsivity of youth coming through. More broadly, as a defender, Begarin certainly a possession-winner.

For the Celtics, the allure to signing Begarin is two-fold. Firstly, while he may not be an impact player from day one in the world’s top league, he will also still be only turning 21 this August and has plenty of time left to develop his body, decision-making and skills. And secondly, they may have a financial incentive to signing him.

In NBA luxury tax calculations, rookies or sophomores who sign minimum salary contracts are normally counted as the minimum salary of a two-year veteran. The player gets paid the actual salary they sign for, yet for the purposes of the bookkeeping, this higher amount is used in place of their actual salary in tax and apron calculations.

This prevents teams from saving on tax bills by signing cheap youngsters, thereby protecting the employability of veterans, forever a leading motivation of the Players Association. Therefore, while signing a rookie to a one-year minimum deal would cost the team $1,102,929 in salary*, the contract would count as $1,989,698 in the calculations for how far over the team was, and the assessed penalties would also be levied against that latter amount.

^{(* – Official projected amount at this time, based on previous salary cap year numbers and previous Collective Bargaining Agreement terms; the exact amount will not be known until the summer, when both are calculated and in effect. The projections are close enough to be illustrative, though.)}

However, the exception to this rule comes when that young player is signing as a draft pick. Under that circumstance, their contracts are counted as normal – if signing a draft pick to the minimum salary, the $1,102,929 figure is used for both salary and tax. Begarin, then, represents the cheapest possible option. And notwithstanding Boston’s title aspirations, this is never something they will disregard.

The Celtics, who have paid the luxury tax only once in the last decade, will be inclined to stay under it again. And the near-$1 million saving can help them with that. Juhann Begarin the Hypothetical Contract would have its use off the court. And Juhann Begarin the Very Real Player will have some on it.