Celtics To Participate In A Two-City Summer League?

http://bostonstitletowntalk.com/2015/01/29/celtics-to-participate-in-a-two-city-summer-league/


Celtics To Participate In A Two-City Summer League?
BY JOE CHANCLER on JANUARY 29, 2015 • ( 5 )
Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com
Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com
Allow me to be maybe one of very few to think this, but I do feel the Celtics have a legit shot at making the playoffs this season as the Eastern Conference continues to be the worse of the two conferences in the league. A lot of the doubters are already looking ahead into the summer where Danny Ainge will have two first round and two second round picks in this years draft. There are also three players with expiring contracts (Brandon Bass, Marcus Thornton and Tayshaun Prince) that I would hope to retain next season, but business is business.



With all of those draft picks and the expiring contracts put together, that can only mean one thing. The Celtics are in discussions on playing in two different cities this summer in their annual Summer Leagues. The Celtics have already confirmed that they will be heading out to Salt Lake City this summer to participate in one of the Summer Leagues. The Celtics appear to be in line to play in another Summer League just 6 hours from Salt Lake City in Las Vegas. With that being noted, the Celtics will not be playing in Orlando for the first time in 4 years.



It’s a bummer that we will not be heading back to Orlando this summer, but it makes more sense to have multiple Summer Leagues in two cities that aren’t across the country from each other. The summer is ways off, but we should definitely expect more moving parts and more trial-and-errors with the multiple Summer Leagues. It’s never a bad thing to have more than one Summer League to get all of our younger players as much exposure as possible.



bob
MY NOTE: Pure common sense to me. I've wondered why we never compete in Vegas, it's the bigger one. When we had the 3 Amigos, sure not much need to work out rookies but the last few years?


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Yes, a good decision for many reasons.

Going to two summer league weeks will be great for the many draft choices that the Cs are likely to make this summer. Nothing better than full court action to see how they will handle different situations. I especially will want to see these guys in their second week to see how they make individual and team adjustments from one week to the next.

Not sure if they will send Smart to play, but it would be another great chance for him to display his leadership skills.

Young is very likely to play in at least one of the weeks and his time in the summer leagues will hopefully propel
him into pre season camp with tons of confidence which could give him the chance for a starting position in 2015-16.

Yeah, Young has slipped into the background, save for occasional appearances just long enough for him to miss a three or two and never get into a rhythm. I don't know why they don't just make his next trip to Maine a one-way deal until the roster changes and/or Danny gives up any playoff hopes—whichever comes first. He's obviously got a comfort level with the DL, and I'd like to see him translate that comfort level into repeated success.

Sam