Celtics Notebook: Jaylen Brown, Al Horford status still uncertain

To give you a sense of the Celtics’ opening night lineup in New York Wednesday night, here’s what Ime Udoka knows about the status of his two COVID patients, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford.

“Just waiting to hear back on some testing results and all that, we’ll find out some obviously the next few days,” the Celtics coach said after Monday’s practice. “They are doing well as of now, hope to have them back. We’ll let you know when we know.”

At the time of Brown’s diagnosis on Oct. 7, when he was said to be positive but asymptomatic, Udoka had expressed confidence that his young star would return not only on time for the Knicks game, but for a couple of practices as well.

Now Brown faces the prospect of either needing practice to get back into game shape, or go in cold once he is cleared to play.

“That’s a discussion we’re going to have,” said Udoka. “We like to get somebody reps obviously instead of throwing them into a game after being out all that time so something we traditionally do not do, but something we’ll have a discussion about and see where we go.”

Horford’s situation is even cloudier, considering that he tested positive on Oct. 11.

“Regarding Al, it’s different for everybody,” said Udoka of a timetable. “But obviously, contracted it after Jaylen, but timelines work different for everybody, so we’re just waiting on results and testing, but they are both doing well.”

One roster spot remains open

The Celtics waived Jabari Parker on Sunday, and quickly took action on their one remaining two-way contract by signing Brodric Thomas, a 6-foot-5 wing who spent parts of 2020-21 with Houston and Cleveland.

The Celtics, their two-way allotment filled by Thomas and Sam Hauser, still have a remaining regular spot available, with the roster standing at 14 players.

The Celtics aren’t necessarily retaining roster flexibility, either. According to Udoka, the team may be looking for a player with a similar skill set to Parker — a big wing scorer.

“Taking a look around the league in general, like some of the things Jabari brought, and still looking at the last roster spot to see what opens up with other releases in the league,” said the Celtics coach.

“Looking at our roster overall and wanted to have some flexibility there, but as far as Brodric coming over, talented guy, had some time in Cleveland and Houston last few years,” Udoka said of the newest Celtic. “A guy that we feel has some upside and potential coming from a smaller school. We like his grind, we like his story. Just integrate him, and today had our first look. Had a good workout (Sunday), but someone we keep an eye on for the future.”

Nesmith is chasing Tatum

Aaron Nesmith, who didn’t hesitate to run over to Jayson Tatum once he hit the final shot, broke a Tatum practice record by hitting 244 3-pointers without missing two straight.

Though his promise as a shooter has been evident enough during training camp, Nesmith, like everyone else, is attempting to meet Udoka’s demand for a switching defense.

“It’s been interesting. It’s something that we didn’t do at all last year,” he said. “Throughout the preseason and training camp, I got a little work of it in summer league, so it’s been a pretty easy transition. But it’s definitely different to learn that kind of scheme.

“Just repetition. Switching is something that I feel all teams do, it’s just depending on how much that you do it,” said Nesmith. “Since we’re pretty predicated on doing that this year, just making sure that we all move together, that we all move with a string. As long as we do that, it’ll be pretty easy to transition into it.”

Thomas family allegiances

Thomas grew up in Chicago, and has a Celtics fan for a mother. It’s complicated.

“It’s kind of crazy because every single person in our family kind of has different favorite teams for each sport,” he said. “So it’s like my mom’s a Celtics fan. It’s kind of weird, I grew up a Houston fan, because of Tracy McGrady. And then my dad actually grew up as a Cleveland fan, and it’s kind of weird when you look back on it, those are the three teams I kind of bounced from. So I don’t know if it’s fate or whatever, but I’m just enjoying the journey. But yeah, it’s kind of weird. We’re from Chicago, but none of us likes any of the Chicago teams.”