Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Summer League Game 2: James Young struggles, Sixers knock off C's, 76-62

Associated Press
In the second game of their summer league schedule at Utah, the C's gave their starting point guard Marcus Smart the night off to take a closer look at the rest of their young roster.

Three of the Celtics' four draft picks were in the starting lineup alongside undrafted power forward from Texas Jonathan Holmes, and last season's first round pick James Young. The Celtics' 2015 first round draft pick Terry Rozier, who made the majority of his points from the charity stripe, continued to show his explosiveness and ability to get to the hoop. Rozier scored 14 points but was just 4-for-11 from the field.

In a game where Young was the focal point of the offense, he struggled to make shots. Young went 2-for-11 and 1-for-7 from the three-point arc. He made lazy passes, chucked up threes and was out-of-sync with the rest of his teammates.

Philadelphia's first round pick Jahlil Okafor had a solid outing, scoring 13 points and pulling down 9 rebounds. He was one of five Sixers to finish in double figures.

Rozier's 14 points was a team-high. The C's could barely score over 60 points, and clearly missed their point guard, Marcus Smart. Besides Smart and second-round pick Jordan Mickey, who is averaging 10 points and 3 blocks in the two games played, no one else has been impressive throughout the first two games of summer league play.

Young, who is entering his second season, is still the youngest player on the team and is going to have to prove his worth this summer if he wants to make it onto the Celtics roster next season. The 19-year-old is hoping to add depth to the team at the small forward position but could be left off of the roster and sent down to the D-League, where he spent most of last year, at the start of the season if he doesn't start playing better.

One small forward who is having a good start in Summer League for the Celtics is C.J. Fair. The undrafted forward from Syracuse spent last year in the D-League playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Fair is averaging 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in his first two games with the Celtics.

Up next for the Celtics will be the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. Celtics third-year guard Phil Pressey, who has been working out with the team and is on the active roster, could be in action to take on the Spurs.



Josue Pavon 
Twitter: @Joe_Sway10
@CausewayStreet

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