Coty Clarke > James Young?


With the 6'6" Jae Crowder sidelined, there was reason to believe James Young (also 6'6" and an inch taller and 30 pounds heavier than RJ Hunter) might see some action at small forward last night.  However, at the 8:18 mark of the second quarter, Brad Stevens threw us a curveball when recent D-League call-up Coty Clarke checked into the game.

Clarke went 1-for-3 from the field in three minutes, grabbed one rebound and drilled the only three-pointer he took (pictured above):


Forsberg's "on ice" comment is in reference to an Evan Turner quote from a few days ago, "JY has been on ice for like two years."  Turner meant it in the context that Young would be ready to go in Crowder's absense, but it's also easy to interpret that negatively.

From WEEI's Mike Petraglia:

There was some thought that James Young would be called upon off the bench to fill minutes but Stevens went with Clarke because the Celtics felt his outside shot was more NBA-ready.

'With Jonas and Coty, we just need shooting,' Stevens said. 'We have to space the floor with somebody. With Kelly not being available, Jae not available, the two stretch fours we play the most. We have to stretch the floor with someone. I thought Coty passed up the first shot but then shot the second one.'


A couple things worth noting: The 6'7" Clarke's minutes were at power forward (if you notice in the above clip he was on the court with Jared Sullinger, Turner, Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas) not small forward, and Stevens stressed the need to space the floor with stretch fours rather than twos or threes.

However, the Trags quote about Clarke's three-point shot being "more NBA-ready" than Young's is clearly not a good sign for JY.  Sure Clarke is 23 and Young is still only 20, but Young was drafted for his shooting prowess and, as Turner mentioned, has been on the Celtics for nearly two full years.


Young may be running out of time to prove himself.




Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan



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