The Quotes Coming Out About Kemba Walker Are Straight Up Celtics Porn
While NBA stars were opting out of the FIBA World Cup left and right, it was a different story for the Boston Celtics. I think most of us who live and die with this team had a similar thought about this whole experience. First, please don’t get seriously hurt. But after you get over that initial fear, this opportunity provided not just an opportunity for our young building blocks to continue their progression (remember Kevin Durant erupted after his FIBA appearance in 2010), but with the addition of Kemba Walker to this roster this summer, the FIBA tournament was going to give our four most important players crucial time to build chemistry and figure out how to play together so they could hit the ground running once training camp opened.
If you’ve watched the games, you’ve seen almost all of these things are happening. Jaylen and Tatum have shown progression in their playmaking and rebounding ability, Smart is actually shooting 43.8% from the floor which is a surprise. Kemba’s been arguably their best all around player. During stretches when we’ve had 3 Celts on the floor together, Team USA is more often than not extending a lead. From a basketball standpoint, it’s been everything we could have imagined.
But it gets better.
Ask anyone who watched this team play last season and they’ll tell you chemistry was a big time problem. It proved to be more important than their talent level. Whether it was Kyrie’s fault, the kids, Mook, Brad and his rotations, the point is during the entire year the chemistry was fucked up. Enter Kemba Walker. He’s the guy who is in charge of saving that chemistry and bringing things back to a point where these guys actually enjoy each other. Be a better leader than what we just experienced. Well, if you were to read this piece in The Athletic you’ll see that the most important box of this entire experience is being checked. I’ll warn you, if you’re a Celts fan reading this blog, you may or may not get aroused at some of these quotes. For example.
The descriptions of Kemba Walker from three of his Team USA mates, who just happen to be Celtics, make clear they’re drawing a comparison, even if they didn’t realize it.
“He fits in perfectly. Everything that Brad envisions as players, (Kemba) has it,” said Marcus Smart, referring to Boston coach Brad Stevens.
“I didn’t know how down to Earth and how humble he was,” Jaylen Brown said.
“He’s really humble, and a guy like that you always want to be around because he gives off good energy,” Smart added.
“I think that resiliency that he carries will fit Boston’s personality very well,” Brown continued.
I mean holy shit, we’re just getting started and I’m already flustered. Everything Brad wants in a player? Gives off good energy? Boston Strong? I’m pretty sure this is Celtics buzzword bingo. You could stop right there and I’d have enough material to entertain myself as I turn all the lights off, light some candles, and unbuckle my pants. However, there’s more
“The dude can actually play defense,” Smart said. “Guys who score the ball can kinda get that notion that, you know, they’re not really good defenders. Especially him being a little guy, it’s probably harder to play against him because of a lower center of gravity. Plus, he’s feisty. So he’s really good, he’s a really good defender and he plays both ends.
“You didn’t get to really see that a lot from him because he exerted so much energy on the offensive end that he had to take a couple of breaks off on the defensive end, understandably.”
You know who I trust when it comes to someone telling me if a guy can defend or not? One of the best perimeter defenders in the league and current All NBA Defense First Team member Marcus Smart. I couldn’t agree more with his assessment either. There’s no denying Kemba is going to be attacked on the defensive end, we’ve even seen it this tournament. But what I can say is he’s absolutely been feisty. He’s fighting over picks, he gets up into the air space of whoever he’s guarding which is huge for Brad because he talks all the time about “owning their space”.
“I knew he could defend, even watching you could tell what kind of cloth he was cut from,” Brown said. “Kemba’s a tough dude. He’s from the Bronx, so you know he’s going to come with that personality, that swagger, but what I didn’t know was how down to earth and how humble he was.”
OK by now you’re probably at a half chub, which is totally acceptable. A perfect fit, great guy, and not a liability on defense? That’s some A+ quality dirty talk right there. However, it gets even better.
As Smart spoke of Walker, he compared him (by name) not to Irving, but to Isaiah Thomas, the All-Star and MVP candidate point guard Boston had when chemistry was surging. Smart said “we had a little guy like that, similar to that on our team in Isaiah Thomas. It’s kind of funny some of those little guys that can score the ball, they have an energy and a motor about them you don’t see very often.
OK so maybe this is a little bit of pandering, but as a Celtics fan if you say anything that makes me think about that 2016 Isaiah season I am all in so fast it’ll make your head spin. Is Smart suggesting we could have an efficient 26/6 season on our hands with better defense? So basically what Kyrie gave only without the bullshit? Sign me the fuck up.
Listen, Kemba is not the perfect player. There are still things he needs to get better at (crunch time scoring for example). It’s one thing to play well in FIBA, it’s another thing for it all to gel once the regular season starts. There are still questions as to how this will all work when you insert Gordon Hayward. You’d be silly to think otherwise, but all we can do is evaluate what we’ve seen so far, and everything from the on the court production to how much his teammates already love him and the fact that they are bursting at the seams with chemistry tells you that these four all being a part of Team USA is the best thing that ever could have happened this summer.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a minute.
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