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The Boston Celtics continue to add to their training camp roster. On September 12, Bobby Manning of CLNS Media confirmed the latest Celtics addition to their training camp roster, Jake Layman. Layman is a Massachusetts native who was born and raised in Norwood while attending high school in Wrentham and has spent his six-year NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves.
While Layman is on a training camp deal, which means there’s no guarantee he’ll make the roster, plenty of Celtics fans were excited to have a Massachusetts native on the team.
Layman is one of the several NBA players who are Massachusetts natives, which include Nerlens Noel, Pat Connaughton, Bruce Brown, and Georges Niang. Layman is not the only Massachusetts native on the Celtics roster, as he was the second one added to the roster this summer following the signing of Noah Vonleh, who’s from Salem.
Of the 45 players in NBA history who are from Massachusetts, 10 of them, including Layman and Vonleh, have played for the Celtics, according to Basketball-Reference, which also includes:
-Dana Barros
-Bob Bigelow
-Jack Foley
-Chris Herren
-Toby Kimball
-Tony Lavelli
-Lou Tsiropoulos
-Wayne Turner
Keith Smith’s Take on Layman
Following Manning’s report on Layman joining the Celtics, Keith Smith of CelticsBlog also shouted out Layman for being a local Massachusetts native while also referencing an article he wrote on August 28 that listed signing Layman as an option when Danilo Gallinari first got hurt.
In Smith’s article, he listed the pros and cons of adding Layman.
“Jake Layman is a local kid (he attended King Phillip Regional High School in Wrentham) who has NBA experience. He’s more of a pure three, but he has enough size to occasionally play the four. Layman is athletic and has the reputation, but not the production, of a shooter. He doesn’t offer much creation ability for himself or others.
“Defensively, Layman has the tools to be a better defender than he’s shown in his career. To this point, Layman hasn’t stepped up as a defender with either the Portland Trail Blazers nor Minnesota Timberwolves.”
Layman played 34 games for the Timberwolves during the 2021-22 season, where he averaged 2.4 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 6.8 minutes a game while shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from three.
Celtics Training Camp Roster
On September 12, Manning confirmed in his report regarding the addition of Layman that the Celtics were also bringing in Justin Jackson, who signed a 10-day contract with the team last season and played for their 2022 NBA Summer League team, and Denzel Valentine, who spent time with their G-League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, last season.
Besides those three, the Celtics also have Vonleh, who last played for the Brooklyn Nets in 2021, and Bruno Caboclo, who last played for the Houston Rockets in 2022, competing for the team’s remaining three spots on the roster.
With those five, along with the two Celtics players on two-way contracts – JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele – their training camp roster is now up to 19 players, just one shy of the limit. Only time will tell if the Celtics add that 20th body, just like time will tell if any of these training camp invitees make the final roster.
That is if any of them at all make the final roster.
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