Progress comes in small increments for JaJuan Johnson. The Celtics rookie likely won’t get major minutes this season. He likely won’t play a major role in the success of the team, so he has to take nights like last night and cherish them. He has to build off them.

He played the final 9:43 against the Raptors, with his team already ahead 24 points and coach Doc Rivers using the fourth quarter for much-needed and well-deserved rest for his starters. Over that stretch, Johnson scored a career-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting in Boston’s 100-64 win.

Johnson wants to be more than a sideshow or garbage time player this season, but Rivers makes it a point not to fast track rookies, especially those who have to make a position adjustment in the NBA. While college teammate E’Twaun Moore is a combo guard as he was at Purdue, Johnson is trying to adjust from being a center to a small power forward.