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“I haven’t talked to Danny about the final cuts at all,” Stevens said. “In fact, I haven’t done that really in my years here. They usually just tell me, ‘Hey, by the way, we have to make cuts soon.'”
Perry Jones III, acquired this offseason from Oklahoma City, faces an uphill battle to stick on the roster and logged a DNP on Friday in New York. Stevens said he’ll play more this week.
“I think the biggest thing for Perry is, Perry has a chance to be a very very good multipositional defender, and he’s got a chance to be a guy that can play off closeouts, make shots or play switches,” Stevens said. “So being able to do those things regularly is a huge key. But I’ve been impressed with what Perry can do, what he has done, especially in practice.”
ESPNBoston – No trims in sight — yet
When Danny Ainge picked up Perry Jones for peanuts from the Thunder this July, it was seen as a low-risk, potentially moderate reward move. Jones was a highly-touted high school prospect and an enigmatic college player who oozes athleticism, size and the P-word: potential.
Jones’ potential is still there, but his opportunities to flash it and do so with consistency have been few and far between. Jones missed a majority of the Celtics’ Euro-trip after returning to the states for the funeral of his cousin. He was bypassed on Friday night in New York in favor of a couple non-roster invitees. With three games this week, Stevens should give Jones some extended run, but its likely that he has made his mind up already.
Let’s say Jones does impress this week. Odds are, it’ll happen late in the game, halfway through the fourth quarter. The Cs would have to stash all three of their first-rounders in Maine, most likely, in order to find room for Jones on the 15-man roster.
Jones as a high-energy front-court player who can score in bunches and defend the 3 through 5 sounds great in theory. It’ll probably never get past theoretical here in Boston, though.
Related Links: CSNNE – Boston Celtics getting last look at Perry Jones III with preseason winding down | Boston Herald – Celtics Notebook: Time not on Jones’ side right now
On Page 2, the Cs will have a full compliment of guards this week
Whether you’re sidelined for an illness or injury, conditioning always takes a hit.
Terry Rozier (knee) and Marcus Smart (strep throat) know this all too well as they try to work their way back into game shape in Boston’s remaining preseason games.
Smart is looking forward to getting back on to the floor after missing the team’s last two preseason games.
And Celtics coach Brad Stevens has indicated that he plans to play Smart a decent amount of time in these final preseason games to help improve his conditioning.
Smart’s looking forward to it.
“This is going to be huge for me,” Smart told reporters. “My body feels weak from being in bed all day and my conditioning is down a little bit. With the season around the corner, it’s important I get my conditioning back up and these next two games will help.”
Boston opens the season with its first three games at home, hoping to make the most of that and get off to a fast start.
CSNNE – Smart, Rozier focus on conditioning after missing time
The Cs play three games at home this week, which should mean plenty of time for Smart at the helm of the Cs offense. In addition to watching Smart’s command of the offense -albeit against a weak slate of starting point guards- it’ll be interesting to see how Stevens juggles back-court minutes. How many minutes will RJ Hunter see after an eye-opening stretch of games last week? Does James Young log a DNP or two? How much play-making will Evan Turner be allowed with more ball-handlers back in the rotation?
With the season inching ever closer, answers are coming.
And finally, the Cs keep gushing about IT4
Before Saturday’s practice, Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck stopped mid-conversation to marvel at Thomas working on his one-footed shots. Grousbeck raved about what Thomas has brought to the team and said both Stevens and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge had told him the team would be “notably better” by adding him at February’s trade deadline. The Celtics went 24-12 to close out the regular season and surged to the No. 7 seed in the East.
What exactly did Stevens expect from Thomas?
“First of all, I thought he’d really impact our team,” Stevens said. “I thought his ability to get into the paint would be like a shot in the arm for our team. From an efficiency standpoint, on the offensive end of the floor, both at the end of last year and through the first four preseason games, he’s just playing at such a high level; he’s such a good fit. I think that I thought he’d have a huge impact, but I think he’s probably — and my expectations were high — but I think he’s probably been at the top of those at least.”
ESPN Boston – Celtics don’t mind Thomas getting creative
If you cut out and scrambled a bunch of quotes from when the Celtics added Kevin Garnett in 2007 and from when the Cs traded for Isaiah Thomas last winter they’d look pretty similar.
I don’t mean this facetiously, but that tells you all you need to know about the impact Thomas, a zero-time all-star is having on the rebuild-era Celtics. At the same time, Thomas is feeling 100% wanted by fans, teammates, coaches and front office personnel for the first time in his career.
He’s already off to a hot start this pre-season and as the de facto face of this starless franchise, he feels emboldened to come out strong to start the regular season.
On a related note, I don’t think Stevens has been this effusive in his praise of one player. It’s been consistent from the day training camp opened in late September.
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