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Jeremy Lamb will be seen for the first time Friday night as a Charlotte Hornets starter at the shooting range.
New coach James Borrego was named at the preparatory session for tonight's Boston Celtics pre-season show at the Smith Center. Lamb and Malik Monk are in contention for the starting point when the regular season begins Oct. 17 at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The other four starters: leader Kemba Walker, small forward Nic Batum, forward Marvin Williams and center Cody Zeller.
Monk had a pelvic contusion that led him to miss part of two of the five practices at Chapel Hill. It seems likely that he will be available to play Friday, but he will be reassessed medically before the match.
"He went through stages of filming. We will know it a little later today. I think it's good to go, "said Borrego about Monk.
Batum shifting from guard to shooter to a small striker, the most important decision of the preseason Hornets is probably to start with this one. Lamb, who enters his seventh season in the NBA, has only started 31 of his previous 356 games in the NBA. While he hopes to start, Lamb said he was fine if Borrego chose to continue using it off the bench this season.
"He had a very good side on both sides of the ball," said Borrego of Lamb. "I am satisfied with his effort and his urgency, on the ball and out of the ball, in defense. And he plays well: move the ball, find open men, shoot the ball very well. He's off to a good start.
Borrego managed to balance this pre-season between preparing for regular season rotations and experimenting with different combinations of the 19 players in the camp (14 with guaranteed contracts). Borrego said the first half of Friday would be like the regular season and the second half would be more of a laboratory.
"The minutes will not be complete," Borrego said. "Kemba, he will not play full minutes. I could see him playing maybe in the third quarter.
"Tony (Parker, starting his 18th season in the NBA) could get a course in the first period, but a few minutes down tonight. All the others, I must understand. I do not want Cody's minutes to be too high at the moment. "
Zeller missed the end of last season due to pain in his left knee surgically repaired, but said on Wednesday that he felt no discomfort for this pre-season.
"Our young guys are going to run a lot," Borrego said. "We're just going to play in the quarter right now."
The Celtics will be without Marcus Smart guard. A Celtics spokesman said that Smart had not made the trip to Chapel Hill with the team due to an undisclosed personal absence.
The Hornets play the Celtics again Sunday in Boston. They have an exhibition at home against the Miami Heat Tuesday night at the Spectrum Center.
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