The Celtics probably didn’t imagine they’d end up with a player who’d make 25 of his first 29 shots from the field when they traded for Tyler Zeller this summer, but the No. 17 pick from 2012 is excelling in his first weeks in green, observes Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com. Zeller surely won’t keep up an 86.2% field goal percentage, but the 24-year-old is emerging as a viable option for minutes. There’s more on another 17th overall pick amid the latest from Boston:
- Isaiah Thomas received his first call in free agency from Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, and Thomas acknowledged that he reciprocated that interest to some degree before opting to join the Suns instead, notes Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com. “I was interested in whoever was interested in me,” Thomas said, “so he was definitely a little interested if he was the first one to call me, but they went their ways and I went mine.”
- Swingman James Young spent a couple of days on D-League assignment this past weekend, and he suspects that won’t be the last time he’s sent down, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. If so, this year’s 17th overall pick is on board with it, Blakely adds.
- The Celtics are just 3-6 and appear headed for another season as an also-ran, but soon-to-be free agent Rajon Rondo isn’t losing faith in the team, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines. “We have a lot of young talented guys that listen very well and play hard,” Rondo said. “What more could you ask for?”