MELROSE -- Boston Celtics guard Brad Wanamaker knew how many games he played last season without prompting and without glancing at his phone.
Speaking with the media at an Arbella Home Court Makeover in Melrose on Wednesday, Wanamaker said one of his goals for this season is to remain clear-minded -- something he said he struggled with last season.
“You ask anybody in my shoes, I’m pretty sure it would be tough on them,” Wanamaker said. “A guy who played his whole life to come last year and only play 36 games and most games not really get a real shot at good minutes, I’m coming back this year hungry and ready for a real chance.”
Wanamaker knew the deal last season: He was behind Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier -- one of whom was an NBA superstar, while the other cemented his minutes in the rotation with a strong playoff run in 2018. Still, Wanamaker -- who averaged just 9.5 minutes in his 36 appearances -- said he struggled at times with his conditioning and focus.
“I had moments last year when I wasn’t in the best shape,” Wanamaker said. “Just staying in the gym, keeping a clear mind and staying focused, just redeeming everything. Just doing everything over again.”
Things will look a lot different this season on Boston’s roster, but Wanamaker still won’t have guaranteed playing time. He still has a star point guard ahead of him in Kemba Walker, and there is still a young challenger for lead-guard minutes in Carsen Edwards -- the Celtics’ star bucket-getter of the Las Vegas Summer League. Marcus Smart plays some lead guard as well, and even Gordon Hayward can be a primary ball-handler at times.
So even if Celtics’ officials made Wanamaker promises during negotiations, he’s ready to earn his spot this year.
“It’s easy for someone to see this will be there or that will be there, but you have to work for everything,” Wanamaker said. “Everything, you have to work for it, you’ve got to come in ready from the jump, show what you can do to earn that opportunity. Anybody can say there’s going to be opportunity, but if you don’t show what you can do, how can there be opportunity?”
Wanamaker said he considered other options this summer as an unrestricted free agent, and presumably he had plenty of opportunities on the table. He was the MVP of the Turkish BSL Finals, and in his limited minutes last season, he showed flashes of real role-player potential for the Celtics. After one game in the first round, Brad Stevens expressed confidence in the little-used guard.
“I thought Brad Wanamaker’s play at the end of the season gave me -- I just thought he’s been a pro all year, but to see him have to sit, then step up without much notice, it’s not like I went up to him and said, ‘Brad you’re going to play 20 minutes tonight,’” Stevens said at the time. “I just threw him in there.”
Wanamaker believes he can better with more regular minutes.
“I felt pretty good,” Wanamaker said, when asked about his play last year. “I had some games where I felt better than others, but it just was a rhythm thing when you’re not playing so much and then you get a chance, it’s not easy to just go out there and play. You need a little rhythm. But I felt pretty good in the times I did get a real opportunity.”
But despite last year’s disappointments -- both personally and as a team -- Wanamaker said returning to the NBA (and to the Celtics specifically) wasn’t a tough call to make.
“Yeah, to get to play basketball at the highest level again for one of the best organizations in the game, it was a pretty easy decision for me,” Wanamaker said. “Obviously I had thought of other ways to go about it, but I saw a bright upside for me here, and I wanted to come back and do it again.”