What to Watch for at Boston Celtics' 2014 Training Camp
Between the excitement of media day and disappointment in Rajon Rondo's shower mishap, the very early stages of the Boston Celtics' 2014-15 NBA season have been roughly akin to that of a ride on the Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake Park.
A fair amount of the intrigue about this coming campaign was rooted in watching a fully healthy Rondo try to regain his former standing in the league while also perhaps leading a frisky and exciting team of youngsters. With that put on the back burner, we'll have to dig a little deeper in our preparations for training camp.
Boston still has a deep well of intriguing storylines to play out and maybe added a few more with the now vacant starting point guard position. Rondo taking a backseat may just allow Celtics fans a chance to sink their teeth into these B storylines and get to know the players who will be making up their 2014-15 basketball viewing season.
Media day was fun, but it is time to shoot basketballs, not photographs. Let's hit the parquet running.
Point Guard by Committee?
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Boston Celtics fans may have been less than enthused to hear Brad Stevens discuss the point guard position in Rajon Rondo's absence.
Boston's second-year head coach wouldn't commit to a starter while his star PG rehabs a broken left hand, according to Brian Robb of Boston.com. That may seem a bit odd after he and the Celtics brass made the move to draft Marcus Smart, a point guard in college, with the No. 6 overall pick this summer.
With Rondo and Avery Bradley seemingly firmly implanted in the starting backcourt spots, Smart was being looked at as more of a combo guard off the bench, with the ability to play alongside either of those starters. With an open starting gig at the point, though, he is the most talented option on the roster.
However, Stevens still seems to think there will be open competition for the spot. He commented about how the injury was an opportunity for Phil Pressey, Smart and Evan Turner, reports MassLive's Jay King.
Initially, this shouldn't be surprising. Pressey played in 75 games, and started 11, for Stevens last season, so there is some trust developed there. Smart is still an entirely new entity to Stevens. The coach was also quick to note that Turner played some point guard in college, back when he won the National Player of the Year, according to King.
The Rondo injury created this storyline. It is a big one to keep an eye on. Pressey is a fringe NBA player but certainly very talented and a hard worker. Smart's first test as a professional basketball player will be competing against him for a starting role during training camp.
Jared Sullinger's Conditioning
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This will be the third NBA season of Jared Sullinger's career and an important one regarding his future.
He'll likely have his team option picked up for the 2015-16 season, but after that nothing is for certain when it comes time to really try and make some money playing basketball. To do that, he needs to put together solid and healthy seasons these next two years.
With some injuries in his past, there have also been questions about his conditioning. The back surgery he needed that cut his rookie season short also affected his sophomore campaign. He wasn't able to get into top physical form for the start of the year and was forced to play himself into game shape, according to what Sullinger stated in a CBS Boston story by Brian Robb.
"[Last year] shut me down. I couldn’t play until September. [Couldn’t do] full-blown basketball with contact, playing one-on-one, things like that, so I was kind of behind the 8-ball and stayed behind the 8-ball. This year, I’m in front of the 8-ball right now, hopefully going to hit the corner pocket, so we’ll see.
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This season, the expectation is Sullinger will play more minutes. If he is to become a higher-profile NBA player overall, he has to be on the court for 30-plus minutes per night and go hard the entire time.
From media day, the MetroWest Daily News' Scott Souza reported that Sullinger thought he needed a "couple of weeks to get where he wants to be." While that isn't totally what fans would like to hear, it is good to know he is cognizant of it and will hopefully use training camp wisely.
Brad Stevens' Overall Body of Work
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Last year, Brad Stevens was a fairly big story, as he was hired late in the summer out of nowhere, with the story breaking on the Fourth of July.
Now, the former Butler University darling is entering his sophomore year as head coach of the Boston Celtics. Media day was likely a little different for him this year. Stevens probably didn't have to spend much time introducing himself and going over his background. Instead, he'll likely use training camp to really get into the nitty gritty basketball ideas he wants to implement.
That definitely speaks to the forward progress of the organization, but let's not be too quick to move full on from Stevens as a head coach. His first-year performance had flaws that will hopefully be mended with experience and some new faces on his staff and in the lineup.
With the hoopla of media day and the Rajon Rondo injury behind him and his team, this is a very important training camp for Stevens. A few starting jobs could be up for grabs, and fans are putting a lot of faith into him as an evaluator.
Stevens will no longer be looked at through the lens of what a good job he was doing with a down-and-out roster. After getting them to 12-14 at one point last year, he could do no wrong, even as the team went 13-43 through the remaining games.
He wants to have a more aggressive, fast-paced team this year, according to Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News. These are things that should be noticeable as training camp and the preseason get underway.
The proverbial honeymoon period of his NBA tenure should be over. It is difficult to implement everything you want to and get all your ideas out while adjusting to new bosses, employees and a new home life as well. Year 2 should be more about real basketball and what Stevens can do as a head coach. That starts at training camp.
What Does Rajon Rondo Do?
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News of Rajon Rondo's hand injury broke Friday night. A few days later, he was sitting at a podium with Danny Ainge, general manager of the Boston Celtics, answering questions at media day, according to a tweet from MetroWest Daily News' Scott Souza.
He seemed content with the injury and his story as to how it occurred. As did Ainge, for that matter. In fact, for two guys who have been through the wringer of trade speculation all summer, the duo seemed to have a nice time at media day, joking around about shower incidents and no-trade clauses.
Unfortunately, this injury means we won't get to judge Rondo at training camp in the capacity that all basketball fans want to judge him. However, there are still going to be things to scrutinize and evaluate during this period when it comes to No. 9.
All of what he does over these next few weeks will be important to how he is viewed as a leader and captain, which, by title, he is. Is he working with Marcus Smart on court vision and passing tactics? Is he shooting free throws with his right, and dominant, hand? Is he on the sidelines with Stevens and the staff and helping to coach, or is he elsewhere doing his own thing?
These are the parts of Rondo's training camp that will need to be witnessed and assessed in the coming weeks. Until his hand heals up and he is ready to run point on the floor, he needs to make himself valuable as an extra coach and mentor to this young group.
How Are the Newbies Fitting In?
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Training camp for the Boston Celtics will hardly be the same old thing it was for many years during the Big Three era and for a couple of years beyond.
There are a host of new faces and games to be witnessed, assessed and fit into a rotation. All of those faces made appearances at media day and seemed to say the right things.
The freshly signed Evan Turner handled his media responsibilities professionally, according to Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News. Turner agreed to sign with the Celtics some time ago, but it was made official on Sept. 29, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
The former No. 2 overall pick is still just 25 years old and is looking for an opportunity to revitalize a career that seemed to peter out last season after a trade to the Indiana Pacers. Boston has a lot of similar players to him on the roster, so he'll have his work cut out for him in training camp to stand out and earn playing time.
According to WEEI's Ben Rohrbach, rookie James Young is expecting to do a fair amount of scoring but doesn't see himself playing in the D-League.
This will definitely be something interesting to watch during training camp. In order to get more playing time and seasoning, the Celtics may opt to have Young play some games with their affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, especially when Rondo returns. He'll have to prove a lot during training camp to ensure that doesn't happen.
Elsewhere, Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton, two players who came over during an offseason trade, were in attendance for media availability. Thornton certainly appears excited to get back on the floor, also commenting on what it will be like to play with a distributor the caliber of Rajon Rondo, per Rohrbach.
Zeller was excited to be traded to Boston and is also psyched to be working with Brad Stevens, reports Matt Langone of The Lowell Sun.
Where Is Jeff Green's Head?
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The one player who can elevate this Boston Celtics team from a bottom feeder into possible playoff contender probably isn't Rajon Rondo.
Everyone in the league and around it knows what they are getting from Rondo. He is an excellent player, but one you can often contain, especially if he isn't surrounded by stars and knockdown shooters.
Jeff Green, despite being a six-year NBA veteran, is still a partial wild card. He has the talent to make this team a lot more interesting than it would be otherwise. The problem is, he has yet to take advantage of that talent fully.
According to BasketballInsiders.com, Green has a player option for $9.2 million that he will have to decide upon next summer. Should he reject it, he would become an unrestricted free agent. That puts a lot of pressure on the year he is about to have, something that due to his heart surgery and the generosity of Danny Ainge, he hasn't really had to experience in his career.
Largely, fans have thought of Green as an underachiever during his time in Boston. That has created some tension, as Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News tweeted from media day.
On top of growing what has the potential to be an excellent beard, Green has put in time "work[ing] on his ball handling, physique, among other things this summer," per Jessica Camerato of BasketballInsiders.com.
How much he has improved in those areas will be on display during training camp and the preseason, especially with Rondo on the sidelines. This could wind up being the most important season of Green's career, so he needs to get an early start.
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