Brad Stevens prefers to keep Tayshaun Prince

Chris Paul, clearly amazed Tayshaun Prince is actually wearing green.

When Prince arrived in Boston, many believed that he may be gone before he even donned the green. according to the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett, however, coach Brad Stevens has taken quite a liking to Prince:

Coach Brad Stevens has taken a strong liking to Prince, who had four points in 17 minutes in last night’s 100-99 win against the Nuggets. It’s fair to assume he may lobby to keep him on the squad the rest of the season if he is not traded.

Stevens believes that Prince's veteran leadership will benefit the otherwise very young Celtics. The second year coach praised Prince's reliability and basketball IQ:

“I think there’s no question about that, but also there’s the fact that he’s a veteran who knows how to,” the coach said. “The other thing is he just has such great poise and presence.

“I didn’t even think twice about him taking the ball out for us at the end of the Portland game. I didn’t think twice about having him in for the last play. It didn’t cross my mind that that may not be a good idea just a few days into his tenure on our team, because you trust him knowing how to play.”

GM Danny Ainge will still probably look to move Prince before the deadline if he can get a draft pick in return. Still, after all this talk of an immediate flip (a la Austin Rivers) or prompt buy-out, it seems Prince will remain a Celtic--at least for now.

Photo Courtesy: CSNNE