Diaw Almost Signed With Celtics

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2014/06/boris_diaw_almost_joined_the_b.html




Print Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com
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on June 16, 2014 at 6:35 PM






During Jonathan Abrams' predictably great piece about Boris Diaw for Grantland, the Frenchman said he almost signed with the Boston Celtics in 2012 after getting bought out by Charlotte.

“I was thinking of going to Boston, or coming here (San Antonio), and I was wooed before Boston split up, so that was when (Kevin) Garnett and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were still there,” Diaw said. “It was definitely weighing in the balance that Tony (Parker) was here and I would come to familiar faces, and I felt the team was fitting me most. And I felt like I knew the team, I knew where it was going, because I’ve been friends with Tony all these years, and so I knew the way they were functioning inside this team.”

Diaw obviously chose the Spurs and has meant a lot to their success over the past two-and-a-half seasons. His unselfish play and versatility fit in with everything Gregg Popovich wanted to do and helped the Spurs to the championship this year.

Without Diaw in 2012, the Celtics lost a brutal seven-game series to the Miami Heat, bowing out by 13 points after entering the fourth quarter of Game 7 with a tie score. With just one reserve notching more than nine minutes in the decisive contest (Mickael Pietrus played 22 minutes), Boston's bench tallied two points combined. Carrying a huge offensive burden, the Celtics starters seemed to run out of steam down the stretch and the team managed just 15 points in the fourth.

Diaw might have helped. He started all 14 games for San Antonio that postseason, averaging 6.2 points and 5.0 rebounds, and he's obviously the type of player whose unselfishness can aid an offense. He might have been able to spend some time guarding LeBron James, keeping the rest of the Celtics fresher.

Or maybe James was just too good that series and the Kevin Garnett-era Cs, after capturing their title, were always destined for the worst types of heartbreak. We'll never know, but it's interesting to wonder.

Anyway, we have a growing amount of evidence that Diaw is pretty awesome despite not choosing the Celtics:





Boris Diaw        ✔ @theborisdiaw
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bob



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I don't know whether he was yet at the level where he could have helped the Celtics over the hump against the Heat, but Boris is surely one heck of a ballplayer now.  Of all the Spurs, he's my poster child for having an unusually good handle for his position.

Sam