How Tacko Fall factors into the Celtics' fight for the 15th roster spot

How Tacko Fall factors into the Celtics' fight for the 15th roster spot

NBC SPORTS BOSTON By A. Sherrod Blakely     July 19, 2019 12:00 PM  


BOSTON -- For those of us who watched the Boston Celtics during summer league, it wasn’t all that shocking to learn that they would sign Javonte Green to a multi-year deal.

But the perception of many has been signing Green meant that the Celtics had passed on signing 7-foot-7 sensation Tacko Fall. 
Not so fast, people.

Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, has made no secret about the team’s interest level in signing Fall to a contract beyond his current Exhibit 10 deal remains high. 
So how can they do it?

Let’s take a step back and examine Green’s deal which is partially guaranteed for the first year and non-guaranteed for the second.

That means he has to make the team in order for it be fully guaranteed either season, which means the team’s current allotment of guaranteed contracts remains at 14.

Boston also has a pair of players signed to two-way deals in Max Strus and Tremont Waters. Because they are on two-way contracts, neither counts towards the team’s guaranteed contract allotment which can be no more than 15.

That means that there’s still an open roster spot that the team can use to sign another player, and so the fight for 15 - as in the 15th and final roster spot, can include Tacko Fall.

And with Fall being signed to an Exhibit 10 contract, that guarantees that he will have an invitation to training camp where he could in fact fight for that coveted final roster spot. 
“Tacko is going to have a chance to make the roster,” Ainge told NBC Sports Boston. “We see some upside there, we’re excited about him.”

In addition to Fall potentially landing the last remaining roster spot, the Celtics could also waive one of its two-way players and turn around and convert Fall’s Exhibit 10 deal into a two-way contract which would result in him spending most of his time with Boston’s G-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws and be limited to spending no more than 45 days with the Celtics.

“He’s a great kid. He’s working really hard. We want to take his development very, very seriously,” Ainge told reporters earlier this week. “He’s a high priority for us to develop into a player.”

Ainge added, “Tacko is fun to watch. He makes me laugh. Some of the plays he makes are hilarious because you just don’t see them. Guys get in a bind and they just throw the ball in the air, and Tacko grabs them and tip-toe dunks them into the basket. He looks like a senior in high school playing with fourth graders out there.”

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I have mentioned on other threads, but Fall will be a great signing as the 15th man on the Celtics as he is far from finished improving.

Green did look good in the summer games, but he is still only a wing while Fall is a center. If Green proves better than Wanamaker perhaps this is a way for Fall to gain a roster spot even if this means the the Cs would be pretty top heavy with rookies.

Green is an energy guy (good defender and big time hops)  but where is the jump shot?