WALTHAMFor those who didn't get to see much of Micah Downs during his time in Boston Celtics' training camp this fall, never fear.
The 6-foot-8 wing's basketball career lives on not that far away from the C's.
Boston's D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, announced on Thursday that Downs will be among the players to participate in their training camp which begins later this month.
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He falls under the D-League's Affiliate player rule, which gave the C's first crack at assigning him to their D-League affiliate after they waived him and not have him count against the league's 15-man limit.
Downs spent three seasons at Gonzaga after transferring from Kansas. This past fall was his first training camp with an NBA team.
"This has been great for me," Downs told CSNNE.com recently. "All the guys have been nice, real helpful. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can, and keep getting better."
He has spent the past three seasons playing overseas in Croatia, Belgium and Spain.
Downs passed on a number of opportunities overseas to participate in Boston's training camp.
Although his minutes were limited most of camp, he had a strong showing against New York in Hartford, Conn. on Oct. 13 in which he grabbed a game-high tying seven rebounds in just under 14 minutes.
"He's a good player," Ainge told CSNNE.com earlier. "He might seem like a mystery to some people, but not to us. He was one of the top players in the country when he came out of high school, so we've known about Micah Downs for quite some time."
And so Downs keeps the dream of playing in the NBA alive, a dream he hopes to someday fulfill as a member of the Boston Celtics.
"I'm out here grinding, doing what I can to make the team and just prove I can play at this level," Downs said.
In addition to Downs, Brian Cusworth - another player in the C's training camp this fall - also joins the Maine Red Claws courtesy of being an affiliate player. The former standout at Harvard (he was a three-year starter), Cusworth averaged 17.8 points per game during his senior season. He has played overseas the past five seasons, primarily in Estonia and Spain. In 2008, he was named All-Estonia Player of the Year and Import Player of the Year in addition to being named to the All-Estonia First Team.