Among the more popular players from the recently completed NBA Summer League, Tacko Fall made a big impression with the Celtics – big enough to entice them to sign the 7-foot, 6-inch center to a contract for the 2019-20 NBA season.
The Celtics announced Thursday they’ve signed Fall and guard Javonte Green, and also reached agreements with guards Tremont Waters and Max Strus on two-way contracts.
A native of Dakar, Senegal, Fall played four years at the University of Central Florida where he averaged 10.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.4 blocked shots over 115 games. The 23-year-old competed on Boston’s summer league squad, where he averaged 7.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocked shots in five games.
“He’s a great kid, he’s working really hard,” Danny Ainge recently said. “We want to take his development very very seriously. He’s a high priority for us to try to really develop into a player.”
That development will also, partly, be an evaluation. His summer league success was fine, but what can he do against real NBA players. What will he do when he’s faced with guarding good basketball players or defenses that aren’t a hodgepodge of fringe NBA players? Will he still be amusingly effective?
“Tacko is fun to watch. He makes me laugh,” Ainge said. “Some of the plays he makes are hilarious because you just don’t see them. Guards get in a bind and they just throw the ball up in the air, then Tacko grabs them and makes tip-toe dunks from under the basket. It’s just like a senior in high school playing against fourth graders sometimes out there.”
Green, 26, most recently played competitively with Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany. He played in all five of the Celtics’ summer league games, averaging 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.8 steals.
Waters was selected by the Celtics in the second round (51st overall) in this year’s NBA Draft. Strus, 23, joins the organization after spending two years at DePaul University.
• The Turkish government cast a broadside at NBA player Enes Kanter, calling the Boston Celtics’ center a “liar” and a member of a “cult” and terrorist organization after he accused the Turkish Consulate in New York of frightening a mosque out of hosting a free youth basketball camp.
Kanter said the consulate sent “goons” and “thugs” to the Islamic Center of Long Island to halt the clinic in retaliation for his clashes with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The mosque called off the clinic late Wednesday night, citing “unforeseen circumstances” in a tweet.
In response, Turkey’s Consul General Alper Aktaş shot back at Kanter in a phone interview Thursday afternoon: “Lies, lies, lies.”
Kanter, 27, is wanted in his native country for his allegiance to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan’s government accuses of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in 2016. Gulen, a permanent U.S. resident, lives in exile in Pennsylvania.
BUCKS: The Milwaukee Bucks added veteran guard Kyle Korver.
The 38-year-old guard was waived July 7 by Phoenix – which acquired him in a trade with Memphis – making him a free agent.
Korver had been traded to Memphis by Utah, where he played most of last season.
WIZARDS: Forward CJ Miles, a recent addition via the Dwight Howard trade, underwent a surgical procedure to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.
Miles is expected to wear a walking boot following the operation, with the team saying he will be re-evaluated for a return to basketball activities in six weeks. Working with that timeline, the earliest the Wizards would have an update would be the first week of September. The team is expected to start training camp around the end of September.
RAPTORS: The Toronto Raptors signed Cameron Payne, a guard who played last season with Chicago and Cleveland.
NETS: Kevin Durant still can’t walk on his own, but a “renowned” foot and ankle surgeon anticipates a near-complete (if not fully complete) recovery for the two-time NBA Finals MVP.
Durant, 30 and in his 12th NBA season, tore his Achilles in Game 5 of June’s NBA finals. Shortly after that, Durant left the Warriors and signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent.
Recently Nets Insider consulted with Dr. Steven Weinfeld, a Chief of Foot and Ankle Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, who isn’t ruling out a return to the court this season.
“I think he’ll probably be somewhere between 90 and 100 percent,” Weinfeld told Nets Insider. “That’s my thought assuming everything goes smoothly and he doesn’t have any setbacks.”
TRAIL BLAZERS: The Portland Trail Blazers added six-time All-Star Pau Gasol to their roster.
The 39-year-old Gasol has averaged 17.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists over an 18-year career that has included stints with Memphis, the Lakers, Chicago, San Antonio and Milwaukee. He won two NBA titles with the Lakers.
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