Stevens submits bird’s-eye views
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
LAS VEGAS — Brad Stevens has been in his favorite summer league spot, high up in a corner of the stands, generally out of sight.
That was the case even last night, when Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier joined Danny Ainge in the front row for the Celtics’ 100-80 win over the Hornets. Marcus Smart, declining comment on his negotiations with the team, even showed up after the game and took a front-row seat for a game between the Nuggets and Bucks.
But the Celtics coach spoke long enough to share his thoughts on the Celtics summer leaguers, as well as some of his other players.
On why re-signing Aron Baynes was so important: “His grit, his toughness, his physicality. You need those things and those things are contagious. We talked about that with him since he got here. He does warmups that everybody does — dynamic stretching where everyone is running up and down the court, and there’s not a player in the world who likes it. And Baynes makes every day a race. Baynes makes every day fun, and people look forward to it because of him. That’s an important thing as you move through an eight-month season.”
On the team’s goals for Semi Ojeleye: “We talked to Semi about being even more versatile defensively. His ability defensively to keep the ball in front of him is excellent — at the highest level. Now it’s being able to get into people’s air space and do that. At the other end it’s just continuing to be comfortable playing off people, and when to attack. We talked (Sunday) about how sometimes it’s more difficult when you’re playing with guys who take all of the attention. He’s doing a good job.”
On Guerschon Yabusele’s progress: “Guerschon’s greatest strength is his ability to see the game and make plays for others, seeking opportunities off a roll, driving a big off a closeout. Working on his footwork so he can get by a big on a closeout. That’s what we’re focused on with him. He’s playing the 5 a lot because that’s where he’ll have to play some. But he’s playing the 4 and 5 a lot. He has to guard both of those to continue to progress the right way.”
On rookie Robert Williams’ rocky start: “Obviously the first practice wasn’t so hot, but everything since then has been great. We’re encouraged by him, even though he’s not playing he’s cleared to do stationary shooting and ballhandling, and he’s doing 30 minutes every day working on the form of his shot, building it up and giving depth to it, helping with his free throw accuracy, it’s going to be really important, and working on his handle, because he’s going to be handling the ball a lot regardless of where his shooting is. I’m encouraged by his work and attitude. Really encouraged.”
On Kyrie Irving’s summer: “I saw Uncle Drew, he was real good in that. I don’t have any idea (about readiness) other than what I said a couple of weeks ago. He’s looking for a return in early August to real live action. Both him and Gordon (Hayward) have the same timeline. But that’s encouraging.”
On the importance of re-signing Smart: “Marcus is pretty well aware of how I feel. I saw him a couple of days before free agency. Talked to him a bunch — not involved in the negotiation and numbers part of that and he knows that. He knows we really want him back. I know our front office has worked hard at being communicative, and we’ll go from there.”
Jaylen jokes
Brown, presumably as a joke, told The Undefeated that he was prepared to play in “two games” for the Celtics. Jay Larranaga, rolling his eyes, played along.
“I said yes. I signed him, he wrote back with a written agreement that is binding,” said the Celtics assistant/summer league coach. “Next game. Is Danny anywhere within 100 feet? JB is very funny. I enjoy him.”
Williams in limbo
Though Williams missed last night’s game — his second straight after going down with a knee contusion in the first quarter of the Celts’ first game — the team hasn’t made a decision on whether to shut the rookie down for the rest of this tournament.
“We don’t know yet,” Ainge said. “Right now we’re just treating it day by day, and we’ll see how it responds.”
Williams dealt with left knee tendinitis throughout his sophomore year at Texas A&M, and there were questions about his knee heading into the draft, when he slid all the way to No. 27.
The injury was exacerbated when Williams bumped knees with a Philadelphia player 6:45 into his first game as a Celtic Friday night.
But Ainge downplayed the condition of Williams’ knee.
“A lot of guys have tendinitis,” said the Celtics president. “Tendinitis is probably the most common injury there is in the NBA. I played my whole career with tendinitis.”
Williams is still doing limited practicing — mainly shooting and ballhandling.
“He’s doing well,” said Ainge. “He’s picking up everything pretty well. But right now we’re just trying to get him healthy.”