The Celtics announced Thursday that coach Brad Stevens would not be with the team for their nationally televised game against the Bulls.
Stevens, who coached at Butler from 2001-13, instead was in Indiana to visit one of his former Butler players who had fallen ill. Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga served as the team's coach in Chicago, where the Celtics trailed 48-47 at halftime.
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While the Celtics did not name the player and asked "that the private nature of this visit be respected," The Boston Globe reported that it is believed Stevens is visiting 25-year-old former Butler center Andrew Smith, who is battling an aggressive form of leukemia. Smith has been at an Indianapolis hospital the past month after an initial lymphoma diagnosis took a dire turn.
Smith underwent a bone marrow transplant on Nov. 6 after he was initially diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in February 2014 while playing professionally in Lithuania. Doctors believed they had eradicated the disease but Smith suffered a relapse last spring, setting the stage for the bone marrow transplant.
Smith played for Stevens at Butler from 2010-13 and was a key piece in the team's back-to-back Final Four appearances in that span.