Grat Telfair Story

by ssa400 on Apr 24, 2007 11:24 AM PDT

Telfair's all been cut from the Celtics. Think about that, in this league, teams rarely give up on "talent". I think I can now sleep happy that the karma Gods have done their job and handsomely rewarded us for the O'neal/Dale Davis trade. Obviously this isn't healthy, but I'm very happy right now.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2847755

Tweet Comment 29 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

You know

It was really pretty close there for a while, but I think this is starting to make the trade for Roy's draft pick look OK after all.

by cyberk on Apr 24, 2007 11:27 AM PDT reply actions

haha

i know we fleeced them. there's no doubt about that. But just the thought that instead of Roy we could have had a gangbanger who left us nothing but a roster spot, it almost brings tears to my eyes. Although, having telfair probably would have increased our chances at Durant or Oden. Haha, Bill Simmons wrote that if/when the Celtics retire either Durant or Oden's jersey in 20 years, they have to bring back Telfair for the ceremonies, since it would have been extremely difficult to suck that bad without him.

by ssa400 on Apr 24, 2007 11:35 AM PDT up reply actions

The money quote:

"I wanted to let you know that we have removed Sebastian's nameplate
from his locker in Waltham . . . he does not have a Celtics locker
and we do not anticipate that he will," Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck wrote
in an e-mail to the Boston Globe on Tuesday.

[boldcase emphasis mine]

Blazers have a five-on-three...and they pull it back and wait for help.

by QualityPie on Apr 24, 2007 11:38 AM PDT reply actions

In a way...

I feel bad for Telfair. I'm going to toot my own horn, though, and remind those who knew me back then that I called this after watching Telfair in the summer league.

Telfair did two things that really made me wonder about him. One: All of his team-mates were wearing black shoes. It was obvious that it was a team unity thing. Telfair wore bright red shoes. Obviously the unity thing didn't matter all that much.

The second thing was when Bayno called him over during a stoppage in play and loudly (I was across the gym) reminded him that he had four teammates.

Telfair took the inbound pass and turned around and fired a loooonnnngggg three, which he made. Obviously he thought he was above the coach.

These two things may not seem like much, but they were indicators to me and they seem to have foreshadowed the road Telfair has followed since.

by ken @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 24, 2007 11:39 AM PDT reply actions

are you serious

let's see now the folling 5 drafts for potland

02)q.woods-out of the league
03)outlaw-will the real t.outlaw please come out ?
04)monia-out of the league
04)telfair-soon to be out of the league
04)kryhapa-soon to be out of the league
04)ha-the biggest piece of human feces gone
05)jack-solid could be out of portland by august
05)webster-just a plain joke that you guys seem to love may be gone by july.

bottom line people thank-god for pricthard because
if the "abbott*costello"team of nash*patterson
was still here are #1 would of been bargnani just
think about that one folks enough said !!!!
just think about the last draft not the one's above.

by fatty on Apr 24, 2007 11:42 AM PDT reply actions

Just a minor correction

Nasherson wasn't around for the 2002 draft; Qyntel Woods was a Whitsitt pick.

Nasherson was barely around for the 2003 draft (and I think of of the two was still not yet hired); Travis Outlaw was also a Whitsitt-influenced pick.

by EngineerScotty on Apr 24, 2007 11:47 AM PDT up reply actions

Nevertheless...

the fat one has a point. Has any team (not named the Clippers) ever had such a bad stretch of draft picks?

by ken @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 24, 2007 12:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Most of those picks

were late first round or second round picks. We missed out on a few talented guys, but you never really expect lights out talent in those spots. The only really bad pick I'd say is the Webster pick.

by howlingfantods on Apr 24, 2007 4:38 PM PDT up reply actions

That's basically true, of course...

but they were no later (on average, let's say) than Drexler, Kersey and Porter, were they?

Now you're going to say that the talent pool is more diluted now and I'm not going to argue with you.

by ken @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 24, 2007 4:52 PM PDT up reply actions

Naw

I'm going to say that Drexler, Kersey and Porter were phenomenal picks, those are definitely exceptions rather than the rule. The picks that fatty listed are just kind of bad, but not like Olowokandi and Kwame bad, since no one really expects that much out of nonlottery and second round picks. There's what, maybe 3 to 5 good starters in the nonlottery first round and 1 quality starter/bench player in the second round each year? Not a lot of teams' batting average is super high in those picks.

by howlingfantods on Apr 24, 2007 5:22 PM PDT up reply actions

Wait a minute now ...

It's hard to classify Jack as a bad draft pick, Outlaw very soon could shine, and the jury still has to be out on Martell.

by TwoDeep on Apr 24, 2007 7:37 PM PDT up reply actions

When you grade picks

you assess what you could have gotten instead. In this case, we traded our #3 pick to Utah for the picks that resulted in Martell and JJ, when we could've just stood pat and drafted Deron Williams or Chris Paul. So yeah, bad pick.

by howlingfantods on Apr 24, 2007 8:08 PM PDT up reply actions

what the heck were nasherson and trader b smokin?

With late 1sts and 2nds we missed and Jermaine we could start:

1-Parker
2-Redd
3-Prince
4-David Lee
5-Jermaine

My goodness. Of course fatty I know youd want KG and Marion in there but I think a couple of larry o'briens would ease your pain...

by JMblazerfan on Apr 25, 2007 12:28 AM PDT up reply actions

Dude - how am I going to

break this to my daughter?

She STILL wears that free Telfair jersey the Blazers gave out 2 years ago - just a few days AFTER he was busted with the gun on a plane.

Ball Don't Lie

by bothteamsplayedhard on Apr 24, 2007 12:44 PM PDT reply actions

You might suggest...

she doesn't wear it in public.

Just remember, these guys are "not role models." It gets easier to believe this all the time.

by ken @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 24, 2007 2:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Telfair to give us some leverage?

How about aquiring Paul Pierce from Boston now? We could potentially trade Z-bo & Dickau for SF Paul Pierce, PF Leon Powe, and PG Sebastian Telfair (just to get him "off thier hands") from Boston. Then we use Telfair as trade bait in the draft to again help increase a draft position or acquire future picks.

If Boston has the #2 pick and they are looking at Durant, they'd be tempted to move Pierce. Then Portland can draft best player available and not be tempted by positional need.

Well Blazer fans, now we all know why Telfair skipped out on college; he doesn't like rules. But you do have to wonder, how would he have compared as a college sophomore this year versus the great young group of college point guards: Darren Collison (ucla), Mike Conely Jr.(oh.st), Ty Lawson(unc) and DJ Augustin(tex)? If he were in this draft how would he rank? We may never know as his NBA career looks like it could be very short.

by Scotty the Mastermind on Apr 24, 2007 2:09 PM PDT reply actions

Boston will just cut Telfair

He ain't like a Ratliff or a LaFrentz, with a horrible contract. He's got a rookie scale deal with only one year left on it; it's no problem for them to just cut him.

by EngineerScotty on Apr 24, 2007 2:26 PM PDT up reply actions

And that's only IF the 4th-year team option . . .

. . . was already picked up.

(I seem to recall that it was, by Portland during last season, but I'm not sure.)

Blazers have a five-on-three...and they pull it back and wait for help.

by QualityPie on Apr 24, 2007 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm just trying to figure out ...

why he had an expired license from Florida. He was in Boston this year, and Portland the two years before that. What did he do, go down there on an off-day and pick up a license? Weird ...

by bfan on Apr 24, 2007 7:20 PM PDT reply actions

Off-season workouts

A lot of players go and play with other NBArs in Houston and Miami I believe... SOMEWHERE in Florida. I think he went there to workout, and I guess he got a license.

Bringing these type of offseason workouts to Portland was one of the genius things KP did before he was even GM...

Mortimer

by Mortimer on Apr 24, 2007 8:57 PM PDT up reply actions

How terrible the offenses???

If he had bothered to apply for a concealed gun permit, the pistol would not have been an issue at all in N.Y. (it may still have been un-cool on the team plane because of Blazer or NBA policy ... I don't know). Yeah, the night-club thing was a little iffy, but absolutely nothing was proven there that he was involved in anything illegal at all.

Let's just not assume because he happened to have a loaded pistol that he is a terrible criminal. Regarding someone of his stature, a protection strategy is not necessarily stupid, and in fact, under the right cirumcstance, it could be extremely smart ... even life saving.

Even John Canzano realized the Blazer plane incident was insignificant enough to not even report on it.

by TwoDeep on Apr 24, 2007 7:50 PM PDT reply actions

Don't know, doods...

The last 30 or so games of Telfair's rookie year, when he became the starting point guard, he averaged nearly 12 points and 7 assists. As an 18/19 year old. If Sergio did that, we'd be going insane with joy. And Sergio is a year or two older than Telfair was...

I like Sergio a lot, and I'd rather have Sergio over Telfair. But Telfair can play, and he showed some good signs early on with great court vision and ball handling. Somewhere along the way, he became a 'scoring point guard' like his cousin, and he didn't come into the league that way.

Sounds like he has a ego problem, and thinks more of himself than he should. I like some swagger in a player, but too much becomes... too much. Especially in a point guard, who HAS to get others involved. He was supposed to "get it" in the ways his cousin doesn't, but perhaps he don't.

I still think Telfair will become a good NBA point guard. Boston turned out so poorly... It seemed like a good place for Telfair, but it sure didn't turn out that way. If he played for the Hawks, the Nets (he's better than Marcus Williams and could back up Kidd), hell, even the Cavs... a team that NEEDS a point guard, he'd get good minutes.

I was sad to see him go cause I always like the young guys, but the trade for Roy was obviously the correct one for us. He's only just turned 21; extremely young for a NBA player and an infant in terms of point guards. Now he can't use that excuse forever, but he's shown signs of being successful in the League.

The rookie year with alley oops to Pryz, surprise passes no one saw coming... I don't know what happened to him. He had such good court vision, and had a supposedly impeccable record off the court. The gun thing... well, he's not the only NBA guy with a gun. Bad luck. The Celtics are dumb to toss him away when another team would surely trade for him (not much of a gamble with the rookie contract), but it's good for Telfair if they do.

This year has gotta be the worst year of his life; now he's become a punch line. He is not that bad of a player at all... bad advice, bad friends, bad timing.

I still say he'll stick somewhere. He's got the speed and passing ability and an underrated shot, hopefully he'll learn from this year and really grow from it.

If not, he is an idiot. He's got the tools to be at least a backup NBA point guard and if his ego throws that away, it'll be a shame. Telfair isn't Ruben, Qyntell, Bonzi, name your favorite ex-Blazer idiot. He was a decent kid.

Doesn't anyone here own a gun?

Mortimer

by Mortimer on Apr 24, 2007 8:25 PM PDT reply actions

Hell, if I were KP

and if it's not against the rules (not sure if this would violate tampering rules with FAs, if he's not officially a FA yet?), I'd be calling him now to see where his head's at.

I can just imagine seeing The Sports Guy's head explode if we get Roy for Bassy, they cut Bassy, we reacquire him, and he ends up being a productive starter for us. Snicker.

by howlingfantods on Apr 24, 2007 8:40 PM PDT up reply actions

Totally agreed

Right move, but I too was sad to see him go. I think he's a good kid, some bad decisions. He has incredible court vision and is young, young, young... he needs some court time somewhere and will probably land on his feet... I hope, for his sake.

by drawingjeremy on Apr 24, 2007 9:11 PM PDT up reply actions

he needs to do 2 things.

Get his act together (really how difficult can that be, someone needs to mentor this kid)
Lock the doors on the gym, and shoot till his arms fall off.

ROY for R.O.Y.

by junit3123 @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 24, 2007 10:34 PM PDT up reply actions

FWIW

From the Boston Herald story:

Though Grousbeck declined comment beyond the e-mail, it appears the Celtics [team stats] are prepared to either buy out the remainder of Telfair's contract, which includes $2.6 million for next season, or cut him.

Though the team also holds an option on Telfair for 2008-09, that measure obviously will not be explored.

There is also a chance that Telfair could be traded, though his value has taken a hit not only from this most recent trouble, but also his poor performance last season. Telfair averaged 6.1 points and 2.8 assists in just over 20 minutes per game for the C's.

Also interestingly there are two pictures of Brandon on the Celtics blog opening page.... It has to do with some voting ... :-)

by jorga on Apr 24, 2007 10:36 PM PDT reply actions

F*** Simmons

Remember his crap about "It's better to be infamous than irrelevant Blazers fans"? Who's irrelevant now? Well I guess the Celts are infamous as well now. I hope the Celtics lose out on both Durant and Oden although I'm convinced Durant will be a one dimensional scorer who is not a franchise caliber player.

Lastly I never ever felt bad about the O'Neal-Davis trade because at that time we needed someone like Davis more than O'Neal (remember we needed a Veteran big guy to check Shaq) plus O'Neal is so ridiculously overpaid and oft injured. Plus I couldn't stand him when he was here, he thought he DESERVED playing time. For all of Zach's flaws he EARNED playing time. I feel worse about passing Josh Howard for Outlaw.

by jayseyfield on Apr 25, 2007 11:16 AM PDT reply actions

Durant , 1 dimensional? Nonsense.

What on earth would convince you of such rubbish?

The kid got a ton of blocks and boards as a frosh. The rest of his defensive game will continue to get better.

by JMblazerfan on Apr 25, 2007 2:19 PM PDT reply actions

heh

nicely put. There's no more multidimensional player in the draft. Guy was first team defense Big 12 and got 11 boards 2 blocks 2 steals a game. He scores from the outside, he drives, he posts. Even with his first team defense, his first thoughts every postgame is on how to improve defensively.

He's the reason I dream about getting the #2 pick instead of the #1 pick.

by howlingfantods on Apr 25, 2007 3:38 PM PDT up reply actions