Local piece on Kris Joseph (Syracuse Post Standard)

Kris Joseph, likely to make Boston's 15-man roster, is living the dream
By Donna Ditota, The Post-Standard The Post-Standard
on October 24, 2012 at 11:38 AM, updated October 24, 2012 at 1:17 PM

Syracuse, NY -- Kris Joseph has lugged the bags of Celtics veterans. He’s been sent to retrieve ingredients for communal peanut butter sandwiches, careful to select the required wheat bread and Skippy brand of peanut butter.

His new Boston teammates have yet to subject him to any extreme forms of rookie hazing, though Joseph anticipates that might happen.

“Nothing crazy yet. But just in case, you gotta be mentally prepared for that, too,” he said. “You never know if you’re going to have to put on a wig, or go bald, or whatever.”

Joseph laughed the easy laugh of a young man delighted with his current circumstances. He was in Albany last Saturday with the Celtics, who played the New York Knicks in an exhibition game. At that point, he had yet to learn officially whether the Celtics would carry him on their 15-man opening day roster. Boston selected Joseph in the second round of the June draft. He signed a non-guaranteed deal with the team, meaning he must make the roster to get paid.

Every indication out of Boston suggests that Joseph will be the 15th and final player signed to a Boston contract. He claimed last week to be unfazed by speculation about his status, instead narrowing his focus on the daily tasks the Celtics assigned him. He resisted the urge to view each opportunity on the floor as an NBA tryout, he said. He tried to ease the pressure by concentrating on the variables he could control: effort and execution.

A longtime fan of Boston forward Paul Pierce, Joseph is playing for an organization geographically close to his hometown of Montreal, which affords friends and family the opportunity to visit. He has impressed Boston coach Doc Rivers with his talent and his earnest approach to the game. During a conversation before last week’s exhibition, Joseph could not stop smiling.

“It’s been good. Real good. I’m just enjoying the experience, living in the moment, I guess,” he said. “I couldn’t have fallen into a better situation. Since I’ve been here, I’ve worked on a lot of things. I run a lot better, I feel like. And physically, mentally, I’m just seeing the game from a different perspective. I have a great coach and great guys surrounding me.”

He left Syracuse as the team’s leading scorer last season and its all-time winningest player. His career arc in Orange progressed in steady, restrained measures. Once the Big East’s best sixth man, Joseph put up respectable, but not remarkable numbers over the course of his Syracuse career. Some SU fans demanded more from a player they branded as too passive, too inert.

SU coach Jim Boeheim scolded him, prodded him, tried to ignite a fire within Joseph. In Boston, Doc Rivers traces Joseph's inherent caution to his nature and his circumstances with the Celtics.

“He’s a good kid. And he works at (the game),” Rivers said. “We’d like him to be a little more aggressive. That’s the same thing you heard at Syracuse. But listen, you are who you are.”

Rivers said players, even veterans, who come to Boston often survey the talent that surrounds them and relinquish responsibility to veterans like Kevin Garnett, Pierce and Rajon Rondo. Rivers sees that same tendency in Jeff Green, the former Georgetown forward who missed last season with a heart condition. He sees it in Joseph, too.

But Rivers witnessed a different player last Saturday, when the former SU forward scored 13 points in 26 minutes as Boston beat the Knicks in the Albany exhibition.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when a lot of (the veterans) went off the floor, Kris Joseph got aggressive,” Rivers said. “Sometimes, that’s just who you are. You’re a player that defers. And that’s not all bad, either.”

Joseph is learning these days to fully immerse himself in a game he hopes to make his occupation. A devotee of video games that once occupied him deep into the night, he has traded his fondness for NBA2K for longer, more luxurious sleep. Teammates have counseled him on the value of keeping his body fit. They’ve reinforced proper eating habits.

He is learning other things, too. Like Fab Melo, Joseph played zone defense at Syracuse. In Boston, the 6-foot-6 Joseph has guarded small forwards and shooting guards. Rivers complimented his defensive effort against the Knicks and believes Joseph can evolve into a competent defensive player.


ESPNBoston.com reported that Joseph was the team's best preseason defender from a purely statistical perspective. Synergy Sports data, the website reported, revealed that Joseph limited opponents to 19 percent shooting (4-for-21) and nine points over 25 plays. Those numbers came mostly against NBA reserves, but they were encouraging indicators nonetheless.

“I can play some D, you know,” Joseph said. “A lot of people are stunned by it. But I like to think of myself as pretty athletic. And I’m pretty long. So I think I’m able to use my length against a smaller guard or a smaller forward and then use my lateral quickness to play defense.”

“Kris is getting better,” Celtics teammate Jared Sullinger said. “Playing against Paul (Pierce) every day – The Truth kicks his butt every day. But at the end of the day, you know Kris got better because Kris never backs down from the challenge.”

Muscle memory, Joseph said, is “finally clicking” from the NBA’s deeper 3-point arc after months of shooting the ball from longer distance. He is absorbing the fundamentals of the Celtics’ system, the importance of spacing the floor and complying with Boston’s offensive scheme.

“It’s the timing of certain plays, of not moving or creeping up,” he said. “If they tell you to be in the corner – be in the corner.”

Garnett, he said, has mentored him about the importance of pace. Joseph used to believe that faster always meant better, but he is learning that the briefest of pauses can influence a decision and alter its basketball consequences.

Rivers appreciates Joseph’s versatility. In the fourth quarter of a preseason game against Brooklyn, he designated Joseph as the team’s point guard, despite having never exposed Joseph to the position in practice. Rivers discovered something about Joseph from his performance in that unfamiliar situation.

“I like his talent. I think he’s an extremely talented player,” Rivers said. “He’s learning the NBA speed, the Celtic way and all that stuff and that’s just going to take time. But I do think he has NBA talent.”

That talent, though, will not earn him much playing time this season. Joseph will likely spend many nights dressed in street clothes; the NBA allows for 15-man rosters but teams can dress only 12 players per game.

Joseph expects to summon memories of his early bench time in Syracuse to ease the transition.

“It’s like going back to freshman year, where you’re not playing and you’re going in the game in the fourth overtime against UConn or something,” he said. “You just gotta be ready whenever your number’s called. Whether it be for 40 seconds or a whole quarter, you gotta be ready.”

Joseph spoke those words minutes after he finished a pre-game workout for his NBA team. He talked with great fondness for his former Syracuse teammates and promised to keep track of their NCAA trajectory. But he clearly relishes his new environment.

He inhabits locker room space with Pierce, one of his NBA idols. He dribbles basketballs on the same floor as Rondo. And Kevin Garnett has pulled him aside to offer advice.

“The best thing about it is you’re practicing every day with future Hall-of-Famers,” Joseph said. “You’re being coached by a Hall-of-Famer. And you’re somewhere you wished to be and dreamed about being your whole life. So every day, it’s a great experience. Every day, I wake up and just feel blessed.”