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Judging by some of the back-and-forth between teammates at practice yesterday, the Celtics can’t wait to face someone else for a change.
The Celts spent the day before their opening preseason game running up and down the floor of the Mediolanum Forum, and tempers flared a bit near the end of practice. In one exchange, Isaiah Thomas drove to the basket and was fouled hard by Marcus Smart. Thomas turned around and barked at the second-year guard: “You can’t stop me.”
The two traded words for a while, and the message was clear: It’s time for a real game.
“Isaiah raises everybody’s level of competitiveness, as does Marcus,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “Those guys are really competitive — obviously Terry (Rozier) and Avery (Bradley), too — but they are definitely louder, which isn’t all bad. They can get each other wrapped up, and that’s a good thing. It’s contagious, but it has to be appropriate.
“You compete, and when it’s time to circle up as a team and stretch, you’re a team. But hey, if it’s not a competitive one, it’s going to become obvious pretty quickly in 82 games in this league.”
Stevens would rather see his players clash than not care.
“That’s what happens when you practice for 10 or 11 straight days against each other,” he said. “We have to play a little bit better than we did today.”
Minus the headlocks, throw downs, and nut shots, these dust-ups are no different from the scrums my brother and I would get into when imprisoned by rain on Saturday afternoons.
I’m sure they’re all fed up with Marcus Smart’s physicality, Isaiah Thomas’ yapping, or Jared Sullinger’s farting.
You can watch the Celtics first exhibition game against Olimpia Milano on CSNNE at 2:3pm EST. The game will be rebroadcast at 8pm.
I realize it’s early in the process and Milano isn’t exactly providing NBA caliber competition, but I’ll be looking for a few things:
- Evolution of Marcus Smart’s point guard IQ
- James Young’s defense
- Amir Johnson’s ability to defend in the paint
- David Lee’s defensive mobility
- Perry Jones doing anything
Jones is expected to play after missing a few days of practice with a sore knee. That’s good because PJIII really can’t afford to miss any time. He’s on the bubble and as the saying goes, you can’t make the club from the tub. Evan Turner is questionable with a knee injury.
Related links – Mass Live – Smart, Thomas unleash intensity | ESPN Boston: Ciao, basket! Celtics start action oversees | Insider – Player profiles | CSNNE – Knee injury could keep Turner out | Globe – Globe-trotting with Celtics has its perks |
Image – Herald/AP
On Page 2, blatant trade speculation about Evan Turner and Charlotte.
With Kidd-Gilchrist out for the foreseeable future, the Hornets will have some options at their disposal. They could move Nicolas Batum, who they acquired this summer via trade, to small forward to compensate for the loss of MKG, which will probably happen.
However, that leaves Charlotte extremely thin at shooting guard position with only Jeremy Lamb, P.J. Hairston and Troy Daniels as the only two-guards on the roster. Either way, losing MKG for the majority of the season is not good for Charlotte. Not at all.
After dumping $52 million into Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the Hornets’ small forward suffered a torn labrum and will miss six months.
Charlotte lacks depth at the position and might seek help via trade.
If only I could think of a team with an extra veteran small forward on a cheap deal. Hmmm…
If Evan Turner were shipped to Charlotte, I wouldn’t expect anything more than a 2nd round pick in return.
The rest of the links:
Herald – Celtics take science tests | Globe – Italy trip a homecoming for Larranaga
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