Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge love using the D-League

When the roster gets cut down this weekend, some of the guys that will get cut are Coty Clarke, Malcolm Miller, Levi Randolph and Corey Walden.  All of which was planned from the start since they got unguaranteed contracts.  While they'll be under no obligation to stay with the Celtics organization (they'll be free agents), there's a good chance that each of them winds up on the Maine Red Claws for the coming season.

The Celtics have gone this route in the past and have developed useful end-of-the-bench guys in the past - notably Chris Babb.

Still, one of the ways the Celtics have really been able to take advantage of the D-League is getting younger guys with NBA contracts a little experience beyond just practice.

Celtics Notebook: Jones might be odd man out | Boston Herald

"I love it," he said. "It’s great. We feel like we have a great owner there (William Ryan) and a terrific coach (Scott Morrison), and we have a great relationship with them. Last year we had the best record in the D-League, and it was beneficial to James (Young) to go down there and play. Hopefully we’re staying healthy up here, and some of our young guys can get some experience down there again this year."

Said Stevens, "There’s familiarity between teammates, systems. You can send a guy down at 11 o’clock in the morning to play a 7 o’clock game, and they don’t have a huge learning curve. I really like our D-League setup and our coaches and everybody else. It’s a really good situation."

The Celtics were one of the early adopters of the D-League and by all accounts the project has been a success.  As our own Sean Penny pointed out, a number of the younger guys on this year's team could spend some quality time in Portland.