Tacko Fall has learned to enjoy his status as the latest cult hero in Boston, writes Jared Weiss of The Atheltic. Even though he has gotten into just six game for the Celtics and has played 24 total minutes, fans go crazy whenever the 7’5″ rookie approaches the scorer’s table. He also draws plenty of attention when he goes out in public with his teammates.
“They’ve been really good about it and sometimes I feel bad, ’cause I don’t want to take too much attention from the team,” Fall says. “And especially with coach Brad (Stevens), I don’t want them to see me like Tacko the rock star or Tacko the superstar. If you know me and the person I am, I don’t like to take too much attention away from them. But they actually give me attention, which is crazy.”
Fall’s size and potential make him an easy choice as a fan favorite, even though he went undrafted out of Central Florida last summer. He signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics in July and earned a two-way deal in training camp. He has spent most of his first season with the organization’s G League affiliate in Maine, but still drew nearly a million All-Star votes from fans. Fall appreciates the attention, but said his immediate goal is to obtain a standard contract and eventually a spot in the rotation.
“I didn’t want that to happen, but it kinda gave me more motivation to someday earn that right,” he said of the voting. “You know, earn it on the court and then also have the fan votes where it’s like, ‘OK, I’ve really worked hard for this and all these people (are) cheering me on, wanting me to be there, so I’ve really earned it. It’s like, God put me in that position and I earned it.’”
There’s more Celtics news to pass along:
- Marcus Smart has been fined $35K for “confronting and verbally abusing” officials after Tuesday’s loss to the Nets, the NBA announced (Twitter link). The amount of the fine “reflects his multiple prior violations of acceptable on-court decorum,” the release from the league states.
- Enes Kanter may see a diminished role for the rest of the season now that the other Celtics centers are finally healthy, observes Alexandra Francisco of MassLive. Kanter has seen a combined 30 minutes over the past three games and didn’t play at all in Saturday’s loss to the Rockets.
- The short-handed Celtics were able to pull out a win in Cleveland last night because of a career-high 22 points from Semi Ojeleye, writes Mariva Lewter of Heavy. The third-year forward continues to build a reputation by taking advantage of opportunities. “He’s a great worker, he’s a great teammate,” Stevens said. “When everything is not going your way, he’s a guy that you know is in everybody’s corner, and I think that that’s huge when you start talking about team. And you also know he can not play one night and be effective in his role the next.”
Hey Marcus, GET SMART !!
Taco Fall n potential don’t belong in the same sentence. The guy is a circus sideshow n should be embarrassed
Yeah, how embarrassing to make a living as a professional basketball player. He should hide his head in shame.
I don’t think he can hide his head
What a silly comment
Damn, okay debby downer..
Smart calling Goble a p***y probably isn’t the right thing to do. To be fair that call at the end of regulation was trash because the ball was slapped out of the shooters hands. All ball.
Also a little bit of misleading as he wasn’t restrained. Two old guys walked him away from Goble who was the only one Smart seemed to have an issue with. I don’t believe in random fines. This was because he was a multiple time offender. Okay so the next time a multiple offender gets fined it’s 35K, right? If you’re going to have a fine system in place, it should probably work as a concrete number that’s appealable and not some random, arbitrary number. I believe this for all sports, not just basketball.
I mean, unless Fall learns to move his feet quicker and how to shoot a 3, I don’t know that he has much of a future in the NBA. Mo Bamba is probably a better player right now and sees 15 minutes a game. I just don’t see Fall being ready to play soon.
Tacko has nothing to be ashamed about I’d anything Brad Stevens should be ashamed for not playing Tacko with the big club other than garbage time . Any player that can score 18 and snag 20 rbs in one game needs a shot to prove his worth in meaningful game situations .
Against Cleveland, because of injuries it was Tatum solo or nothing, until Semi refused to miss. The guy plays smart too and does the little things reflexively. Smart himself was just trying to survive… tired guys had no chance against Sexton but they kept their composure. Giving more than 14′ pg to Odejele should pay off. 3&D guy reminds me of Smart a few years ago.