Yam Madar: 'I’m planning to come and play for the Celtics,' and Celtics notes

The Boston Celtics summer squad is practicing at the Auerbach Center, preparing for an abbreviated summer league in Las Vegas next week. 

On the roster is Israeli point guard Yam Madar, author of some flashy highlights and the subject of frequent questions this summer. He's been in Boston working out with the Celtics and now practicing with his summer league teammates. 

"It’s a new level, it’s a new challenge," Madar said in his first interview with the Boston press corps. "I worked really hard, I prepared myself for this moment to come. I know it’s going to be this year that I come, and I’m excited to get started."

Madar has never been accused of lacking confidence, and that was clear in his declaration that he is, indeed, ready for NBA basketball.

"I’m planning to come and play for the Celtics this coming up year," Madar said when asked directly about his intentions for the upcoming season.

But while that might be his plan, there are still some questions as to whether his season will go according to that expectation. 

The first order of business is determining if he's actually ready for NBA basketball. Again, Madar is a very confident player and person so his own opinion of his skills might be a little different than the coaches evaluating him. The videos we've seen of him are impressive, but NBA history is littered with the broken careers of people with impressive mixtapes.

Even if Madar is ready, there is also the issue of his release from Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Israeli team that owns his rights and who would demand a buyout for his services. League rules cap how much a team can spend on buyouts like this at approximately $700,000. Anything above the limit has to be paid by the player and is counted against the salary cap. 

In case you haven't heard, Boston isn't exactly foaming at the mouth to spend money. It still feels more likely that Madar goes back to Israel to play and continue to hone his skills before coming over next season. However, a stellar summer league can change that in a hurry. Boston has other options for saving money, but they'd probably like to keep all their tricks in the bag for now.

I have a feeling Brad Stevens was less than enthused about Madar's candid reply because he's now on record as saying he wants to play in Boston this year. This means that if he doesn't, the perception is that something has gone wrong. It might end up just being a simple case of him not being quite ready. 

We'll get more answers over the next couple of weeks. 

GRANT WILLIAMS NOT PLAYING IN SUMMER LEAGUE

It might feel like a bit of a surprise that Boston isn't sending Grant Williams back to summer league to work on some of his shortcomings. 

"I’m not sure why he’s not playing," C's summer league coach Joe Mazzulla said. "He is here working out and he was here this morning. He’s another one, he understands where he’s at, he understands his development, and we’ve been working with him as well."

We'll see what role he plays under Ime Udoka, but it's been clear that he's best as a small-ball 5. I personally thought summer league could be a chance for him to work on some more perimeter defensive principles, but the team thought otherwise.

SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE

With a new coach comes new terminology. A lot of teams do similar things but the terminology can be different. That's part of this process from Stevens to Udoka.

"The most important thing is the environment of your building, the culture that you implement, and I think your language," Mazzulla said. "We’re obviously focused on playing fast on both ends of the floor, making sure we’re organized, and just making sure we’re implementing our language on both ends of the floor so we’re on the same page when the season starts."

Players will catch on quick, but any chance the young guys get to get ahead of the game will help. It's tough enough competing for a spot or learning the NBA on the fly, guys don't want to be caught leaning over and asking "what does that mean?" when coach calls something out.

ROMEO LANGFORD, AARON NESMITH MAKING PROGRESS

Langford and Nesmith could be the key for Boston outperforming expectations this season. If one, or both, take noticeable steps forward, they could be important to Boston's success. 

Langford has had an especially tough road. 

"I think he's improved a ton. He's also had some things in his career that have uncontrollable, whether that's other injuries or COVID," Mazzulla said. "But with any player, not just Romeo, what you have to teach them first is how to take ownership of their career. Can they make an investment in the weight room, can they make an investment in their nutrition and, you know, the mental side of the game. Can they make an investment in their habits? One thing we try to work on with our young guys is to teach them how to take ownership ... Romeo has done a good job of that as well."

This is his chance to start fresh. His rookie season was derailed by a lot of small injuries and, after a pandemic stoppage, a big one that required wrist surgery. Now, Langford gets a chance to go to Vegas and come into camp healthy (hopefully) and prepared to make an impact. 

As little time as Langford has had to prepare for a season, its more than Nesmith had. 

"He came in off an injury, off a unique year with COVID," Mazzulla said. "So can he get some consistency in a training camp."

Summer league is their first step towards their next step, which could be as important bench contributors.

PORTLAND CONNECTION

Udoka has been filling the coaching ranks with people with connections to his native Portland, which is something that makes fellow Portlander Payton Pritchard comfortable.

"Obviously, that's where I grew up. So I've known of coach for a long time now, just because of Portland, the community there's a lot smaller," Pritchard said "And he was a heck of a player growing up and then obviously, when he was with the Spurs, he did camps at Adidas Nations and stuff, I would see him there and stuff like that. So, definitely known each other for a while and then him as a coach, I think it's gonna be it's gonna be an awesome fit for our team."