Danny Ainge says he's in no rush to get Jordan Mickey on the floor for the Celtics

Free Mickey?
In our recent CelticsLife Live show, we discussed whether or not it may be time to start integrating some of the kids (and by kids I mean the three rookies and James Young) into the rotation.  At some point, we need to find out if any of them can play--preferably before the next draft comes around and Boston has the chance to make eight more picks.

As far as D-League All-Star Jordan Mickey goes, Danny Ainge recently made it clear that he's not in a hurry to get Mickey (or the rest of the kids) minutes with the Celtics.  Via Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, Ainge said:

...we're not in a rush. I'm sure Jordan would love to be in a rush, but we like his development. So whatever we can do to help him continue to get better and more prepared is good. But we're not in a rush on that. 
He gets continuous reps, and I think he's learning. I think the D-League experience is good for all our young players. They’re playing in real games instead of just practicing.

Also from Bulpett, Brad Stevens spoke on Mickey's recovery from a sprained ankle:

When we were home last, our last practice was Thursday, and he did the first 20 minutes, so it was all the shooting and movement and everything else. None of the contact work or even the offense-defense, five-on-zero work. But he was progressing in the right manner, and from everything I've been told continues to do so. I don't know if we'll have him do anything prior to the All-Star break, but I can't imagine him not being available after that point.

Mickey got some reps in before yesterday's game as well:


This may not be what some Celtics fans want to here, but it makes sense to table the issue of playing the young guys until after the February 18 trade deadline (two weeks from today).  Once the roster is set for the rest of the season it'll be a conversation worth having.




Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan
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