Tristan Thompson has 2nd practice; to have min restriction on return

Celtics coach Brad Stevens declined to say when the center would be able to return to Boston’s rotation, however.

Progress is being made little by little at getting the Boston Celtics back to full strength, with newly-signed big man Tristan Thompson getting in his second practice with the team without any setbacks according to head coach Brad Stevens.

Speaking with the media after the team’s practice on Monday, the Celtics coach revealed that while there was no timetable yet for the former Cleveland Cavalier to return to action just yet, Thompson was doing well given the especially long break he had due to the pandemic and the Cavs not making the playoffs nor participating in the Disney bubble restart.

Asked whether the champion center would be ready for opening night, Stevens demurred.

“We’ll see — he practiced again today,” shared the coach. “He looked good;  again I go back to the fact he hasn’t played nine months prior to these last two practices, so we’ll follow the lead of our medical team and get Tristan’s feedback and see how it goes.”

He’ll have a minutes restriction when he’s cleared,” added Stevens.

Asked whether there were ever considerations regarding shifting players’ roles to help adjust for players like Thompson and point guard Kemba Walker, the former Butler chief downplayed the suggestion.

“We don’t need anybody on our team to be somebody that’s out,” he explained.

“We need everybody on our team to be the best version of themselves, and that becomes even more important when guys are out. So I think that’s what we’re talking about with everybody, and everybody’s got specific goals, specific roles for us to be good we’re going to really have to hit on, especially for the first couple months of the season.”

Boston plans to test its bench’s capabilities, strengths and weaknesses in the early part of the season, pushing the bench to test the progress they can make in a very short time towards achieving those goals.

And once Thompson is available to add some veteran play and leadership to a very young rotation, the Celtics should begin to see some results.

With a very tough start to the 2020-21 league calendar for Boston, fans may clamor for trades early if the games go poorly, but given the task at hand and the elite teams the Celtics face early in the season, patience will be the word of the week.

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