Celtics Summer League Primer
Posted by Brian Robb on Jul 9, 2012
In the midst of all the free agency hysteria over the past week, the Celtics rookies, second-year players and a variety of journeymen have been down in Orlando preparing for the start of the NBA Summer League. The Celtics will actually play in both summer leagues this year, first in Orlando this week and Las Vegas next week.
Yours truly will be on the scene live from Vegas to give you the latest happenings, analysis and interviews with the summer league roster, while the entire CelticsHub gang will provide fresh analysis and recaps from all the contests this week, beginning with today’s game against the Thunder at 1 p.m.
Without further ado, let’s get up to speed on the full roster, schedule and things to watch for with this Boston team over the next couple weeks, as there is plenty at stake with this roster.
Full Summer League Celtics Roster
7 – Jared Sullinger – F – 6-9 – 260 – Ohio State (Rookie)
12 – JaJuan Johnson – F – 6-10 – 221 – Purdue (2nd Year)
13 – Fab Melo – C – 7-0 – 255 – Syracuse (Rookie)
40 – Jonathan Gibson – G – 6-1 – 171 – New Mexico State (Rookie)
41 – Jamar Smith – G – 6-3 – 185 – Southern Indiana (Rookie)
43 – Kris Joseph – F – 6-7 – 215 – Syracuse (Rookie)
50 – Dionte Christmas – G – 6-5 – 205 – Temple (2nd Year, only playing for Celtics in Orlando)
52 – Stephane Lasme – F – 6-8 – 215 – Massachusetts (2nd Year)
55 – E’Twaun Moore – G – 6-4 – 191 – Purdue (2nd Year)
56 – Sean Williams – F – 6-10 – 235 – Boston College (4th Year)
63 – Craig Brackins – F – 6-10 – 230 – Iowa State (3rd Year)
Summer League Schedule for Orlando
Monday, July 9 1:00 p.m. vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Tuesday, July 10 5:00 p.m. vs. Brooklyn Nets
Wednesday, July 11 11:00 a.m. vs. Indiana Pacers
Thursday, July 12 11:00 a.m. vs. Detroit Pistons
Friday, July 13 10:00 a.m. vs. Orlando Magic
What To Watch For
— E’Twaun Moore: The second-year guard has a big opportunity awaiting him during these next couple weeks, as the C’s hold a team option on his services they have to exercise or decline by the end of the month. With Ray Allen out of the picture, Moore has the chance to make a case for not only a roster spot in the backcourt, but a chance to join the rotation if he can impress Doc Rivers and company. Moore showed plenty of flashes after struggling with his shot early on last year, but look for him to handle a lot of the point guard duties and see plenty of minutes over the next couple weeks.
— Sean Williams: Like Moore, the C’s have a team option on Williams before his contract becomes guaranteed later this year. He’s the most experienced member of the Boston summer league roster, and has come a long way from his immature days in New Jersey to start his NBA career. He’s earned positive reviews so far from Doc and the C’s are always in need of athletic, active bigs off the bench so he could earn himself a spot on the 15-man roster with a strong effort, especially with Greg Stiemsma on his way out the door in all likelihood.
—First Round Bigs: Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo join a talented C’s roster down in Orlando to make their claim that they can help this team right now. I expect Sullinger to be a star down there, while we should begin to get an idea just how raw Melo’s game is offensively and hopefully how talented he is on the defensive end.
—JaJuan Johnson: The forgotten man if you will with the drafting of Sullinger, and re-signing of Bass and Green. He was buried on the bench like Moore for the majority of the season, but should have a leg-up on his former Big Ten rival in Sullinger early on in summer league. Johnson will have to fight to hold off Sullinger in the depth chart and he also could be showcasing himself for a trade by the C’s, if they do in fact deal for a shooting guard, as Johnson is one of their few pieces of value that can be dealt on the roster.
—Kris Joseph: The fight for a roster spot starts today. C’s need a wing defender depth at the three spot. He could be the guy. Stephane Lasme is also a guy to watch as he was one of the last cuts from the C’s a couple years back and a very talented defender.
All in all, this should be a very entertaining two weeks. Rarely do we see so many guys on a summer league roster with a chance of making the team outright, with very real roster battles ongoing the entire time. We’ll have that over these two weeks. Ty Lue will coach, Doc will likely be in the crowd as a spectator so saddle up and enjoy some summer league basketball we haven’t seen for nearly the past two years.
The Ticker