Guerschon Yabusele's footwork impressing Boston Celtics: 'He's like a big dancing bear'

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/07/guerschon_yabuseles_footwork_i.html



Guerschon Yabusele's footwork impressing Boston Celtics: 'He's like a big dancing bear'






Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com



on July 01, 2016 at 2:00 PM





WALTHAM -- First impression of Guerschon Yabusele: the Boston Celtics' first-round pick is big, very big, with a contagious smile and an obvious positive energy about him. During his initial interview with the Boston media last week, the man said the word happy three times -- in his very first answer.

To a lot of Celtics fans, Yabusele is an unknown commodity. He played professionally in France last season, has some impressive highlights on YouTube, and, well, that's about it. A bit of research would show he's on the short side for a big man at 6-foot-8, but makes up for it with long arms and a wide, 270-pound frame. NBA Draft analysts agree he has a load of offensive tools -- DraftExpress' scouting report includes that he "possesses terrific scoring instincts" -- and Brad Stevens loves how well the big man moves his feet.

"What put me over the top on him was his ability to move laterally," Stevens said one day after the draft. "For a guy that size, the ability to move laterally is pretty unique. With all of the agility stuff we do and measure, it was pretty impressive what he was able to do. That stood out. And what we saw on film is that he'll be able to guard a few different spots."

Through two days with the Celtics summer league team, Yabusele has continued to show off his impressive footwork, even earning a most creative description from Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry.

"He's like a big dancing bear out there," said Shrewsberry, who will serve as the head coach in the Utah summer league.

"Man, he's got great feet," Shrewsberry continued. "First of all, when you see him, like he's got that just big lovable looking personality, like a big smile. He's always happy. But he's done some really good things for us. And like I said, his feet -- man, he can move on the perimeter. He makes good play offensively. You can give it to him in the seam and he can make really good passes. He made some great passes yesterday when people were helping -- finding guys in the corner or out on the perimeter. It's fun. Even for us watching, as assistant coaches, watching clips on film to finally get him and see and now we can try and tailor some things to make him look even better."

Informed of Shrewsberry's comments, Yabusele smiled, as he often does, and suggested he benefited from playing soccer as a child.

"A lot of coaches tell me I have good footwork," he said. "Even if I'm 270 pounds, I can move a lot, jump and run."

"I was always like this because when I was young I was a little bit skinny, so it was easy," Yabusele added. "But I gained some weight and I'm still moving, so it's great."

Open to the idea of staying in Europe for at least another year, Yabusele may not begin his NBA career during the coming season. Still, he will play for Boston's summer league team, which opens competition Monday in Salt Lake City. Especially for Celtics fans curious to see the No. 16 overall pick in action, it could be fun to see a dancing bear get buckets.


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