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Jerome Allen 'thankful' to be on Celtics staff

The former Penn head coach is assisting Brad Stevens in Boston

BOSTON - Jerome Allen knows how odd it is for a Philly kid to root for the Boston Celtics. He finds himself in that position, though, as the Episcopal Academy and Penn grad is now on the bench for the green and white as an assistant to Brad Stevens for the up-and-coming Celtics.

Allen cut his teeth at Penn as a coach, going 65-104 in his five-plus seasons. He formed a friendship with Stevens, then the coach at Butler, when the two faced each other in back-to-back seasons (2011-12)

"I really didn't have any expectations, whether it was mopping the floor or picking up cups," Allen said before his Celtics took on the 76ers at the TD Garden Wednesday night. "I just wanted to be a part of it. I'm just so thankful that he identified me as someone he wouldn't mind having to look at every day. It's great, and when I reflect back on things, I just feel humbled by the fact that I have this opportunity.

"I try to walk into the situation assuming that I know nothing. I'm just tying to learn the details of how to approach teaching or how to approach accomplishing whatever he asks me to do. It's a different game from the collegiate level where players are bigger and faster and the margin for error is reduced significantly. These guys are the best in the world so I'm just trying to be a student of the game and learn and see all the small nuances of how to be successful."

Stauskas a no-go

After much speculation, it appeared Nik Stauskas would make his Sixers debut Wednesday in Boston, as he seemed fully recovered from the stress reaction in his right tibia. He was upbeat and ready to go after the team's morning shootaround and coach Brett Brown even said he expected Stauskas to play, but warned that it wasn't a 100 percent guarantee.

Near the end of the first quarter, however, the Sixers sent word that Stauskas would be sidelined for the game with back spasms. His debut is much anticipated by the club, as it is thought that his outside-shooting ability will help space the floor for Jahlil Okafor. In fact, Stauskas made 30 straight three-pointers from different positions on the floor at practice Tuesday.

"Thirty is not normal, but it depends," Stauskas said. "If I'm just shooting from spots, I feel like at this point if I'm doing spot-shooting I'm not going to miss that much. It gets more difficult if I'm on the move or if I'm going off the dribble. If I'm just sitting there and I get into a rhythm in a spot, I can hit 20, 30, 40 in a row."

Young faces

Before Wednesday's game, guard T.J. McConnell roamed the locker room with pounding steps that let you know he was full of adrenaline. Fellow rookies Christian Wood and Richaun Holmes seemed way more relaxed, checking their cellphones and seemingly clueless to the big moment at hand.

Brett Brown compares McConnell to Matthew Dellavedova, the Cleveland guard whom Brown has ties with from Australia. As for his two big-men rookies, Brown has no choice but play them behind Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor.

"Uncomfortable, that is the word, it's uncomfortable," Brown said. "But that's what we got. So I have to make that work. I got to coach around it, I've got to sub it. You have to knock on wood that you're not hit with other injuries. I have to be smart with what we do on the court now. How do you coach the team without pounding them physically? It becomes NFL stuff to me, with iPads and classrooms and quizzes and getting their minds engaged where I don't beat down nine guys. Looking at two rookie (big men) on the bench is just part of my deal."

Blog: ph.ly/Sixerville