The Celtics have 16 players with guaranteed contracts on their preseason roster, and Dwight Powell is determined to be one of the 15 players on the regular season roster, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes. Powell, a second round pick in the 2014 draft, said that he is willing to do whatever is needed to make the team. Powell told Blakely, “For every young guy, your first niche is defense and find a way to stop guys and not be a liability on the court. That’s my focus now; be active and try to prevent them from scoring.” Powell is in camp on a two year deal, with the first year fully-guaranteed. Blakely also notes that Boston coach Brad Stevens has been impressed with Powell’s performance in camp.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Also in Boston, James Young scoffs at the suggestion that he might be sent to the D-League. The 17th pick in this year’s draft told Ben Rohrbach of WEEI 93.7 that he plans to make an immediate impact on the Celtics, and Young said of his goals, “Coming in and being the best team player I can be. If that means scoring, I can definitely do anything to score. And then just getting on the defensive end and bringing a lot of energy and just getting the crowd involved and everything.” Coach Stevens praised Young’s play in practice, saying the rookie “picks things up really quickly” and has made hardly any defensive mistakes.
- Kris Humphries underwent successful surgery yesterday to repair nerve damage in his right small finger, the Wizards announced. The forward is expected to miss three to four weeks before being cleared to resume basketball activities.
- At age 33, the Sixers‘ Jason Richardson is contemplating life after his playing days are officially over, Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com writes. With his on-court role diminished, the 14-year veteran may look to stay in the league in another capacity after this season, notes Kaskey-Blomain. Richardson said, “[Not being able to play] has been challenging, but it has opened my eyes up to a lot of things. To study the film, to actually break down the film and look at it, help the guys out when they were doing something wrong. It just gave me a different perspective of basketball that I hadn’t seen before. It has given me a look at what the future beholds. Maybe some coaching, maybe a front office job, you never know, but I definitely want to continue to be involved with the basketball aspect, definitely in the NBA.”
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.