Abdel Nader

[...] Into that came some further salary dumping. Although he was set only to earn the second year minimum salary, third string centre Dakari Johnson (whose role last year had been that of very limited minutes spot starter as Grant and Patrick Patterson took the main reserve minutes, and who had surely lost any role at all with the acquisition of Nerlens Noel via free agency) was traded to Orlando for the unguaranteed salary of Rodney Purvis, who in turn yielded the partially guaranteed contract of Abdel Nader from Boston via another deal. Nader's contract is only $450,000 guaranteed this season until 1st September with an additional unguaranteed season, which, as explored in our look at Luol Deng's options, can be stretched if waived today (stretched over five years at $90,000 each, or, if his fourth year team option is exercised, $64,286 over seven) [...]

Abdel Nader
SG/SF - 6’6, 230lbs - 24 years old - 1 year of experience

Nader did not get many minutes this season, and when he did, they were often as a sort of lead guard. This speaks to quite how short of ball-handlers Boston ran at one point that they would ask a wing scorer entirely ill-fitting of the role to come in and play that role. Or at least, to come in and defend a bit while Al Horford and Jayson Tatum do it.

When playing to his strengths, Nader is a long, athletic and active wing who runs and spots up. He is not especially good at spotting up, but he works on it, and he needs to continue to work on it considering how turnover prone he is when driving the ball. His physical profile lends itself well to the three-and-D NBA wing reserve prototype.

His defence, however, doesn’t. In man to man situations, Nader can be overpowered, and in help defence situations, he is often in the wrong place. If he showed more urgency and desire to recover, that would be one thing. But as of now, two years into his professional career, Nader’s defence remains a work in progress.

The question now is how much time does he have to work at it. Turning 25 before the start of next season, still not there as an off-ball shooter, and still remarkably turnover prone, Nader’s roster spot might be in jeopardy. This is not to preclude him from joining another NBA team, for of all the wing players who rank somewhere between Not Quite Good Enough For An NBA Rotation and Too Good For The G-League, he is near the top of the list. But Boston can afford to be pickier than that.

Player Plan: Three minimum salary years remaining, the last of which is a team option. With the pick incoming, roster spots will be needed. Would waive.

Abdel Nader - 58th pick, 2016
D-League Rookie Of The Year who was given an awful lot of the ball and scored a lot of points with it, albeit not especially efficiently. Projectable defensively with his long wing span, but needs a lot of work; until such time as he improves that, and cuts down on errors, he is a deep bench player at the NBA level.