Noah Vonleh has been around.
The ninth overall pick in 2014, is now on his eighth NBA team, and ninth professional team overall after a stint last season with China’s Shanghai Sharks.
“I think it was a great experience,” he said after the team’s Sunday practice. “Had a great showing out there, shot the ball really well, just kind of got comfortable playing more free, and I’m happy to be back here with this opportunity, to be able to come back to my hometown and have a chance to make the roster here, so just taking it day by day and embracing it.”
Vonleh, who was born in Salem and went to high school in Haverhill and the New Hampton School in New Hampshire, seems to have an inside track for a roster spot with the Celtics. The 6’10” Vonleh is hoping he can provide some frontcourt depth on a team facing a months-long absence of Robert Williams, and a conservative ramp-up plan for Al Horford.
“I’m just going to try to go in every day and be consistent, do whatever I’m asked,” Vonleh said. “Working on screening angles, trying to get these guys open, and continue to work on different parts of my game, expanding my range, getting those threes here and there.”
Vonleh started out slow this preseason, but had a big second half against the Charlotte Hornets in Greensboro to show why the Celtics have been giving him a big opportunity. Unfamiliarity, and a hamstring injury that limited him when he first arrived, may have contributed to that.
“(It’s) just like any other time you're learning something for the first time, the first couple of times you do it, it's gonna seem a little unorthodox, it's gonna seem a little weird,” Marcus Smart said of working with his new big men on their screening. “But we're all professionals, we all been playing the game. So the more times you do it, you start to figure it out.”
There is still some sorting out of the big man situation left to do for Joe Mazzulla. Luke Kornett seemed to be first in line for Williams’ minutes, but he’s missed the whole preseason so far due to an ankle injury. Blake Griffin was recently signed to provide depth as well, but he only just got on the floor in the last game, so he needs time to get acclimated.
That's giving Vonleh an opening. If his second half against Charlotte is a true step forward, then he’ll get a chance to stick around with his hometown team.
“Yeah, the journey continues,” he said. “I don’t know if this will be the last stop, but I’m happy to be here now. I’m just staying in the moment, staying in the now.”
LUKE KORNET RETURNS TO THE FLOOR
“It was good to see Luke back on the court today,” Mazzulla said, noting that Kornet should be ready to play in the final preseason game against Toronto on Friday. “He did everything that was non-contact but we didn't go heavy today.”
With most starters sitting out the last game, Friday serves as the final preseason tuneup before the home opener the following Tuesday against Philadelphia. If Kornet is going to run with the starters, this will be his one chance to get those reps before they truly matter.
STUMBLING INTO SMALL LINEUPS
One way the Celtics may try to handle their big man situation is to not use one at all.
The Celtics went with a super-small lineup in their opening preseason game for a spell, with Smart, Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum on the floor.
“Yeah, we didn't practice it, didn't plan for it. It just happened,” Mazzulla recently admitted. “But I liked the idea of it. I liked the skill. I liked the speed. And I liked the basketball IQ that was out there with that lineup, so if the opportunity presents itself to get to something like that again, I think we will try it.”
White was surprised when he saw who was sharing the floor with him.
“That small lineup was kind of crazy,” he said. “We never really worked on nothing like that before. But that’s just a credit to this team and the depth we’ve had. We can do a lot of different things. Then once everyone gets back we can go big as well, so it’s a lot of exciting things and fun rotations for coaches to play with.”
There are certainly concerns with that lineup. White was targeted by 6’11” Mason Plumlee on defense, which led to some fouls. On the other end, it put Tatum in position to have to guard a true center. It’s a weird spot for Tatum.
“I mean, it’s not traditional. I was the tallest guy out there, but we’re just all interchangeable,” he said. “It’s not like I’m just sitting in the post setting screens. We all rebound. I might be guarding the tallest player, but I don’t look at that as playing the 5. I’m just the tallest guy out there at the moment.”
They didn’t use the lineup in their second preseason game and most of the guys sat out the last one. It’s unclear if we’ll see it again Friday, but Mazzulla says it’s probably not going to be a regular staple of the offense.
‘I think it's situational,” he told BostonSportsJournal.com. “We are in a unique situation, and we have some good depth and I think the East is really, really strong and we have to find different ways to win. And so I think looking at stuff like that and how it can help us down the line is important.”
WOUNDED WARRIORS
Draymond Green became the NBA’s main character this past week when video of him punching teammate Jordan Poole leaked. Green has since apologized and has said he’s taking some time away from the team, but the backlash has been strong regardless.
Smart was asked about it after practice:
“It happens. Just like if it's your brother or your sister. You love them, you like them, you don’t wish nothing bad on them, but a couple times here and there you’re gonna put your hands on them and sometimes y’all do. So, it happens, but obviously, you wish it didn’t, and you wish it didn’t come out like it did. I think that's something the Warriors should have kept in house, it should have been with them, and they should have handled it between them. I don’t know much about the situation, but from what I’m hearing and seeing, and I know Draymond, as good as he is as a player and as a person, he made a mistake. I think we can all say that from what we know. As a leader, you can’t do that, especially when guys are looking up to you and looking to you for advice and encouragement. Sometimes, not to go that route, but definitely keeping that fire and staying on them, but he’s gotta know when to cool off and when to back it down. And like I said, we don’t know, and me, personally, I don’t know much about it, but like I said, I think the Warriors should have fixed that between them, and it’s unfortunate that it got out the way it did.”
Asked how teams get past something like this, he said “we’re all professionals. At the end of the day we all got a job to do, and that's in between these lines. So whatever you got personal-wise, you handle it outside of your job, outside of work. When you come in here, in this gym and you step in between these lines, you’re family and everything else goes out the window until you step off this court. That's how it should be, and I think that's how you handle it.”
MFIONDU NOAH
Something that didn’t make it into my feature on Mfiondu Kabengele was Horford comparing Kabengele’s energy to Joakim Noah.
Full disclosure, it didn’t make it in because (a) Horford said it as he walked off after I stopped recording his interview and (b) something went wrong with my recording of Kabengele and I didn’t get his reaction down. Bad luck on both ends there.
But when Horford said it, I was shocked. I responded with some form of “that’s saying a lot,” but Horford insisted that it was accurate.
I can also tell you Kabengele lit up when he heard that comparison. He really took that to heart and appreciated the magnitude of that because Horford and Noah go all the way back to winning national championships at Florida. The impact of that statement was not lost on Kabengele.
