|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2007 10:34:41 GMT -5
West is a player period. We don't need a real pg to be able to be an successful basketball team. What we need are guys who are basketball players. People that you can plug at any position and you know they'll produce for you. Put West at 1-2-3-4-5, it doesnt' really matter. Quite frankly, I think west does a pretty good job at PG for someone whose more of a shooter than a distributor.
|
|
|
|
Post by CelticsLoyalist on Apr 27, 2007 17:34:17 GMT -5
I'm starting to really think giving u p on Telfair will be another in a long line of mistakes the C's front office has made in recent history.
This charge to me is really not that important, unless he was on his way to blow someone away.
Telfair is averaging pretty low numbers, but not as low as some PG's still in the league! He's made some nice plays on a very rare occasions last year. He may be the only real PG we have! Well, maybe Rondo.
Cavs are looking for a PG. If Bassy lands next to LeBron, I shudder to think of how perfect a situation that would be for Bassy and LeBron!
|
|
|
|
Post by Roadrunner on Apr 27, 2007 21:59:58 GMT -5
The issue I have w/ Telfair is: does Danny stand by what he meant as "code of conduct?"
|
|
|
|
Post by mev17 on Apr 27, 2007 22:22:41 GMT -5
My favorite back-court combination this year was Rondo at PG and Delonte at SG. Then, T. Allen can come off the bench and play next to Rondo or next to West with West switching to the PG. I just feels the ball moves better when West is in, plus he helps stretch the defense for Al down low or Pierce's mid-range game.
I don't see a big role for Telfair on this team, as IMO we have a solid 3-man rotation in Rondo, West and Allen. Plus Ray can fill in if injuries/foul trouble demands. Since Telfair has played himself into the bottom of the rotation, he makes a convenient sacraficial lamb for management to hammer down the "code of conduct" with.
|
|
|
|
Post by CelticsLoyalist on Apr 27, 2007 22:45:43 GMT -5
You guys should read this about Telfair:
Sebastian Telfair fooled me. Seven years later, maybe he still does fool me.
Because even after Telfair apparently lost his job with the Boston Celtics after another gun incident this week, I'm not ready to throw him onto the same pile of hopelessly loser athletes with J.R. Rider, Todd Marinovich and Pacman Jones.
If he fooled me, Telfair fooled me good.
Go back with me to 2000. Maybe he'll fool you, too.
In July 2000, Telfair has just turned 15, but he looks younger. Fresh out of eighth grade, he shows up at the Adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J., to play against the country's top high school juniors -- guards like T.J. Ford, Julius Hodge and Anthony Roberson. They look like young men. Telfair looks like a little boy. Until he gets the ball.
Telfair is thrilling to watch -- handles it like a yo-yo, darts to the rim whenever he wants, sees passes nobody else sees -- but that's not where he's going to fool you. The hype said Telfair was special. And so he is. No surprise there.
The surprise comes off the court.
Telfair is younger than everyone here, but off the court he seems older. Before each day's first game, while the other campers are goofing off with circus dunks and NBA 3-pointers, Telfair is off to the side. He brought a personal trainer with him, and the trainer is putting him through agility drills.
Again, picture this. Everyone else, including future NBA players like Eddy Curry and Kwame Brown, is on the court acting like a teenager. Telfair is off the court acting like a pro. He has a rubber band around his ankles and he's sliding back and forth. He's working with a medicine ball. He's doing cone drills.
This kid's going to make it.
Between their games, campers sit in the bleachers and people-watch -- checking out the competing campers who are now on the court, and checking out the Division-I basketball coaches watching from the other side of the gym. The players are trying so hard to look cool. Not Telfair. He's behind the bleachers, down a hallway, doing sit-ups and push-ups.
This kid's going to make it. And he's going to make it big.
After games, players meet the media. These kids are 17 or 18. This is their first exposure, and it shows. They say goofy stuff. They look not at the reporter but at the reporter's notepad, amazed that my words are being copied onto paper. Verbally they get led wherever reporters want them to go, announcing their list of interested schools and talking about the positives of this school or that school. They are sheep. Not Telfair. He's the shepherd. The media tries, but nobody is going to lead Telfair where he doesn't want to go.
He doesn't want to discuss potential schools, so he doesn't answer those questions. Not in a rude way, not in a way that makes you dislike the punk, but polished and smooth, as if you're interviewing a charming, agenda-shaping spokesman. Telfair looks every reporter in the eye. He's running this interview, and he's 15.
This kid is so going to make it. And big. Bigger than any guard to come out of New York.
That was the hype since Telfair was in elementary school. He was the cousin of NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury, and he was going to be better. Marbury said so, and so did the recruiting gurus (the recruiting gurus who pay attention to fifth-graders, anyway).
The only knock on Telfair was his size. He was tiny, physically immature. But mentally, emotionally, he was ahead of the game. Until he entered the NBA Draft in 2004, nobody his size had skipped college and gone straight to the NBA. Nobody that small was thought to be ready. Telfair was ready.
Maybe he wasn't. Apparently -- obviously? -- he wasn't. Since being taken No. 13 overall by Portland in 2004, Telfair has averaged 7.4 points and 2.8 assists in 214 NBA games, shooting poorly and failing to grab Boston's point guard job after being traded there before this season.
Off the court, shockingly -- shocking to me, anyway -- he has struggled even more.
Three times in the past 14 months, Telfair has been linked to incidents involving handguns. The first came in February 2006 when he tried to take a loaded gun onto Portland's team plane (he said the gun, which was found in a pillowcase, was his girlfriend's and wasn't supposed to have been brought on the trip). In October, Telfair had a $50,000 chain jerked from his neck outside a New York City club. Later that night rapper Fabolous was shot outside the same club; police investigated Telfair's possible involvement in the shooting but brought no charges.
This week Telfair was pulled over for speeding, and police found a suspended Florida driver's license ... and a loaded .45 handgun peeking out from under the passenger seat.
Two or three gun incidents in 14 months? That's bad. But you know something? I still can't give up on Telfair. If there's a rational explanation for two or three gun incidents in 14 months, here you go:
Something has scared Telfair so badly that he constantly feels the need to arm himself. To me, this is plausible. He has been famous since he was 10. In New York City. The greatest, grossest, happiest, scariest city in the world.
Maybe something in his background, something beyond his control, has made him fear for his life. Maybe someday he'll tell us. I hope so, because I believed in Sebastian Telfair. I still do.
But if the day comes when I have to abandon that belief, Telfair will become one more reason not to believe in any athlete ... ever again.
|
|
|
|
Post by DERRENMATTS on Apr 28, 2007 3:07:47 GMT -5
Thanks for putting that out, Bos. I just went back and watched a few games from early this season (when Telfair was starting) and I really see good things coming from Telfair. Sure he's got issues with his defense and his shooting, but he's a charasmatic PG who has potential to be a special PG.
I sure hope he gets another chance here in Boston.
|
|
|
|
Post by freshnthehouse on Apr 28, 2007 3:16:14 GMT -5
His off the court stuff doesnt bother me that much. Its the on the court stuff. I cant see this guy ever being good. he can't play D. He has no outside shot. He's undersized. This just doesnt spell good things. Cripes, who cared what he did in high school?
|
|
|
|
Post by CelticsLoyalist on Apr 28, 2007 3:21:04 GMT -5
He was pretty amazing. I dont see how he could play with all those names and do so well in serious competition to just bust on a pro level. He's so good but yet so bad!
|
|
|
|
Post by DERRENMATTS on Apr 28, 2007 3:23:59 GMT -5
So far, Telfair has not played for coaches who allow his PG skills to shine. In Portland, they slowed down the offense to accomodate Zach Randolph, and with us, Doc has us playing an offense that takes the ball out of Bassy's hands.
Shooting can be worked on and his defense showed some improvement at the end of the season.
|
|
|
|
Post by CelticsLoyalist on Apr 28, 2007 3:53:55 GMT -5
I also dont think he is that undersized. He's 6' and has a decent frame. I believe he could penetrate at will if he was on a running team. That's where is skill shine. I would hate to see him go to the Cavs who are shopping for a legit PG. In that organization, he wouldn't need to shoot from distance. But he still needs to get better at understanding a professional defensive system. One part of his game I know he's never worked on as hard as his ball handling and passing skills. That's what I saw from his game this year.
|
|
|
|
Post by freshnthehouse on Apr 28, 2007 3:57:07 GMT -5
I also dont think he is that undersized. He's 6' and has a decent frame. I believe he could penetrate at will if he was on a running team. That's where is skill shine. I would hate to see him go to the Cavs who are shopping for a legit PG. In that organization, he wouldn't need to shoot from distance. But he still needs to get better at understanding a professional defensive system. One part of his game I know he's never worked on as hard as his ball handling and passing skills. That's what I saw from his game this year. Dude is not 6 feet. |
|
|
|
Post by CelticsLoyalist on Apr 28, 2007 3:59:42 GMT -5
I'd say he is really 5'10 and 3quarters, but in shoes he listed as 6'. Officially as far as the NBA is concerned.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Eye of the Q is upon you! on Apr 28, 2007 7:43:37 GMT -5
Have a Koolaid on me CelticLoy.
Good article.
Unfortunately, every team picks busts or trades for them or signs them as free agents. Danny Ainge has consistently traded for them and Telfair is his biggest bust. But stop feeling sorry for Telfair - he is due for 2.4 million dollars (Wyc has probably already paid for it and will announce the waive as soon as they can in July).
|
|
|
|
Post by CelticsLoyalist on Apr 28, 2007 7:48:12 GMT -5
Thanks Q!
I think I want to believe he'll turn into a good point guard. And I don't want that feeling of disbelief if we trade away another player that goes on to better things, ala Billups. And feel bad for him. I don't know why, I just do.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roadrunner on Apr 28, 2007 9:57:05 GMT -5
Unfortunately, Telfair has been led the wrong way, like numerous past ex-NBA players. In today's society, for some reason, guns are "hip."
I like Telfair as a player. However, Telfair has off the court issues which make the Celtics look like the Thug-tics.
|
|
