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With the Boston Celtics putting all of their focus on the playoff race, rookie wing James Young has been assigned to their D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. Young has recently racked up "DNP-CDs," since the superior Gigi Datome has moved ahead of him on the depth chart, so the rookie will now receive the opportunity to play minutes in the D-League.
The Boston Celtics have assigned rookie James Young to the Maine Red Claws: http://t.co/CiepPDjupX
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 17, 2015
Last week on About.com, reasons why the Celtics would be wise to send Young down were detailed, so this is clearly the right move by the team. Boston has three off-days this week and probably won't practice any of those days, and the Red Claws happen to have games on those same nights. Since Boston is on the road, it's an opportune time for him to get work in the D-League.
Celtics could assign James Young to D-League next week
Of 283 players with a minimum of 50 spot up possessions, per Synergy Sports, James Young scores only 0.66 points per possession, which ranks 272nd. Young has been a complete zero on the offensive end of the floor, and his defense has been even worse, as previously covered on CelticsBlog.com ... Young is only 19-years-old and every minute he plays will be valuable for him. Sitting on the bench of a competitive NBA team certainly helps, but the work he needs requires on-court reps.
Maine has the best team in the D-League's Eastern Conference, and even though Young will likely be back in Boston at some point, it would be an extremely valuable experience for him to play heavy minutes as a starter in competitive playoff games. Once Maine's postseason is over, he could return to Boston, hopefully to enjoy another playoff run.
Young played 9 games earlier this season, scoring 23.6 points per game with a massive 68.9 eFG percentage. But Young wasn't exactly dominating, since the large majority of his points were just spot up three-pointers. Maine is going to run their system, which preaches the three, so it's nice to see him flourish in it, but it would be very encouraging to see him expand on his game during his second stint with Maine. And if the Red Claws are able to go deep into the D-League playoffs, maybe he'll receive the extremely valuable experience of being a go-to scorer in highly competitive games.