Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Late in the second quarter, the rookie received his first playing time since Dec. 5. His first-half minutes were largely uneventful, but he did make one nice pass and grab one offensive rebound (he missed the putback attempt). On the final possession of the half, he caught the ball while wide open in the quarter. The crowd wanted him to let it fly, but he wisely passed it to the top of the key so the Celtics could take the last shot.
The fans got what they wanted after halftime. Young scored 13 points. He knocked down three triples. He took a charge. One of his threes, with six minutes left, brought the Celtics to within six points and sent the TD Garden crowd crazy. For so long, the game looked like it would provide nothing fun. And then Young happened.
Later in the fourth quarter, he got a bit silly, taking a one-legged jumper from the left side. It dropped. Though Young had a few moments of rookie defense, his career-best 13-point performance (on 5-of-7 shooting) certainly will not dim calls for him to receive consistent playing time.
Life is more fun with James Young on the basketball court.
With all the stints in Maine, we assumed Young simply wasn’t ready to play with the big boys. Why else would the Celtics delay the development of a player with such potential?
But here’s what we know going forward – he’s good enough now to play with the big boys. He’s not going to guard his own player like a lost 7-year old in a youth league. He’s not going to give up layups because he’s distracted by the t-shirt toss. Sure, he’ll probably make some horrible decisions, but he’s steady enough to learn on the job.
So Coach Stevens, will James get more time?
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got to figure out how to coach this team better,” Stevens answered. “I’m not doing a very good job. We’re not playing well, and we’re playing almost — it’s not good basketball. We’ve got to do a better job playing good basketball. I’ll figure out the rotations later, once we start playing good basketball and once we all are very focused on very good basketball. And that’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job.”
Stevens wasn’t in the mood last night to celebrate Young as a silver lining in the loss.
But Young has to play. I don’t care who loses minutes for that to happen.
Related: CSNNE – Young has 13 in impressive performance | ESPN – Young shines, but Boston rally falls short
On Page 2, the desperate Cavs just traded for JR Smith.
As part of the deal, Dion Waiters will go to the Thunder, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert go to the Cavs and three players with nonguaranteed contracts — Alex Kirk and Lou Amundson from the Cavs and Lance Thomas from the Thunder — join to the Knicks. Also, the Thunder are sending a protected future first-round pick to the Cavs and the Cavs are sending their 2019 second-round pick to the Knicks.
The Thunder are sending a protected 2015 first-round pick to Cleveland in the trade. The Cavs will get the pick if it falls outside the top 18 this year or if it falls outside the top 15 in 2016 or ’17. If it doesn’t convey in any of those years, it becomes two second-round picks, according to sources.
The Cavs are attempting to bolster their bench with the trade by adding Smith, a mercurial shooter, and Shumpert, who specializes in wing defense that the Cavs badly need. The Knicks had been attempting to trade both for some time.
How big a pain in the ass is Dion Waiters? Big enough to make JR Smith seem like a viable option. The Cavs needed to absorb Smith in order to land the defensive minded Shumpert.
With 5 wins, the Knicks are tied with Philly and Minnesota for worst record in the league. A team with legit playoff aspirations in the off-season is now in full blown tank mode.
The rest of the links:
Globe – Hornets get past listless Celts | WEEI – Stevens takes blame for mess | Herald – Stevens scratching head over slow start
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