Post by FLCeltsFan on Feb 11, 2008 8:21:17 GMT -5
www.lowellsun.com/nba/ci_8223844
Note to fans: Lay off Telfair
By Lynn Worthy, lworthy@lowellsun.com
Article Last Updated: 02/10/2008 06:35:25 AM EST
I must have missed the news that Sebastian Telfair desecrated Red Auerbach's statue and ran over Lucky the Celtics mascot. Did I not realize that last year's 18-game losing streak was entirely his fault?
Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes received ovations during introductions at the TD Banknorth Garden when they returned with the Minnesota Timberwolves last week. It was almost as though they were still Boston's own.
However, the boos rang out when Telfair was announced, and an encore serenade came from the stands the first time he touched the ball.
Some people will likely claim that's because Telfair was a bad seed or a menace. Well, that's crap. It's a particularly bold piece of garbage from a fandom that recently clamored for the Celtics to add point guard Damon Stoudamire.
Folks conveniently forgot Stoudamire's past drug incidents and a suspension for trying to bring marijuana through an airport. He helped establish the "Jailblazers" moniker in Portland.
Okay, Telfair didn't live up to the early billing.
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And that's the first time that has ever happened with a kid drafted out of high school, right?
Telfair was propped up as a game changer by others, but he can't be blamed for teams or the so-called experts over-hyping him.
Unfortunately, he wasn't a ready-made NBA superstar. Very few guys are equipped to step right into the pros and run the show like they did against 15-year-olds struggling through algebra.
He ended up without a place in Portland's picture, and his performance with the Celtics ranged from lukewarm to frigid cold. He began last season as the starter, and he finished it on the bench.
A traffic stop last April in Yonkers, N.Y., and a subsequent gun charge gave critics ammunition to paint him as a baby-faced thug cashing an NBA paycheck.
Boston shipped him off this summer as part of the Kevin Garnett deal. Prior to the trade, Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck put the word out that Telfair would not be welcomed back.
Telfair hasn't ran from the incident, saying last week during his first trip back to Boston, that he has become a "better person" as he accepted responsibility for the way things ended with the Celtics.
"I put myself in that situation, so I can't be mad at anybody for making those decisions," Telfair said.
Telfair stepped into the Minnesota tarting lineup with Randy Foye injured, and he has been steady.
"I started committing myself to basketball 100 percent," said Telfair. "I just think as a person it was time to grow up, change my lifestyle a little bit, and do what's best for my family and myself."
He apparently turned a corner on and off the court. It's about time Celtics fans turned a corner of their own.
If you can't? Well, boo to you too.
