James Young was at the San Antonio airport last Friday, at the gate ready to board a flight back to the Development League when Celtics director of basketball administration Frank Burke called with a reprieve.
The Celts had announced that Young was being sent to Maine about an hour earlier, but with Marcus Smart injured and not on the trip and Avery Bradley having taken a knee to the quad in the previous night’s win against Sacramento in Mexico City, coach Brad Stevens had second thoughts. He needed Young back.
“I guess that’s the only good coaching move I made all week,” Stevens said after the second-year guard was pressed into service and had four points in 20 minutes and made two major plays in Monday’s win in New Orleans.