3 ways Tacko Fall can become the Boston Celtics’ next franchise center

https://hardwoodhoudini.com/2019/12/10/boston-celtics-tacko-fall-center-future/




3 ways Tacko Fall can become the Boston Celtics’ next franchise center



by Mark Nilon

5 hours ago



It’s Tuesday. You know what that means…the Houdini is here to talk everything Tacko. This week, we examine the three ways Fall could become the answer at center for the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics are rolling at 17-5, after another victory over the hapless Cavaliers on Monday night. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were supposed to be the franchise players of the future, while Kemba Walker and the recently returned Gordon Hayward were supposed to buoy the team as the “Jays” develop.

Turns out removing Kyrie Irving from the equation made the 2016 #3 pick and the 2017 #3 pick explode into should-be All-Stars.

Even the center problem isn’t turning out to be a big one–if you could even qualify it as such. Daniel Theis is playing his role perfectly as the starter, Enes Kanter is providing an offensive boost off the bench, with his notoriously bad defense not appearing to be too much of a problem, and Robert Williams is showing impressive flashes off the bench as a rim-running professional dunker and shot-swatter.

With all of that said, minus perhaps a huge leap forward from Williams, the Boston Celtics don’t have what you’d consider a potential franchise center.

At least, not on the professional roster at the moment.

Down in Maine, there is a specimen who was built for this sport. He is of Senegalese descent. He is 7-foot-5. And he could one day be the franchise center of the future.

You know I’m talking Tacko.

Tacko Fall has had an impressive season with the Maine Red Claws after going un-drafted in the 2019 NBA Draft. In 24 minutes per game, his counting stats read as such: 15 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and just under two assists per game. He is shooting 70% from the field, serving as a vacuum in the deep post.

You know, things that your typical 7-foot-5 center could do. Oh wait, your team doesn’t have a 7-5 center?


Wow, sorry, can’t relate.

What I can relate to is listing all of the things Fall needs to do to become the center of the future for the Boston Celtics. Read on to find out, friends! (Don’t you just love Tuesday!)








Free-throw shooting

While you may have remembered me praising Fall for his overall shooting percentages, you may have noticed that I didn’t mention either his 3-point percentage or his free-throw shooting percentage.

His 3-point percentage sits at 0.0%. Don’t fret Celtics fans; that’s not the result of Fall doing his best Ben Simmons impression from beyond the arc. The Senegalese super-giant simply does his work exclusively from inside the arc. He has yet to attempt a 3-pointer in his short professional career.

His free-throw percentage is a work in progress, however. So far, he is converting on 1.2 out of 1.8 attempts per game. That comes out to a measly 67% aka hack-a-Shaq (or hack-a-DeAndre for the Gen Z crowd) numbers.

Luckily, over the off-season, Fall worked with noted skills coach Drew Hanlen.

Tacko Fall shooting free throws with guidance from his trainer @DrewHanlen. New form much better these days, after shooting 36% from the free throw line this season. https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1128523905830924289

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 15, 2019

And thankfully for Boston Celtics fans, Fall is as coach-able (and grateful) as he is towering.

“Drew is a wizard,” Fall said. “He pretty much started from the beginning [with] everything. He has helped me a lot. The work that we have done has really helped me, especially in the last couple of weeks going to the Combine and everything else.”

Fall, by his very nature, is going to go to the free-throw line. It’s physically the only way he can be stopped by most of the human beings roaming this planet.

If he can make his free throws? Forget it. There will be no way to stop him in the post.





Improve defensively

As many of you already know, perhaps Tacko Fall’s most talked about attribute is his ridiculous height. At 7-5, the UCF product is already one of the tallest players to ever grace the hardwood of the NBA.

With this advantage, the 23-year-old was able to garner ample attention during his collegiate career, and certainly made an opposing team second guess themselves when driving into the paint. Fall ended his 3-year college career averaging an impressive 2.4 blocks per game.

At such a ridiculous height, it is expected that blocks should be a statistic registered in Tacko Fall’s sleep. So far with the Maine Red Claws, the center is continuing the success he found in this department at Central Florida, as he is averaging 2.7 blocks per contest. This is a great number to see, as it would be tied for second in the NBA with Anthony Davis, a leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year in 2019-20.

However, if Fall truly wants a shot at becoming the future holder of the Boston Celtics’ starting center position, truth be told, he needs to improve on the defensive side of the ball — specifically with his blocks averages.

The player Tacko Fall is most often compared to is the late, great Sudanese-born center, Manute Bol.

Bol, despite being at a slender frame (hovered around 200-pounds for his career) during the age of dominant low-post big-men, carved out a productive 10-year career in the association by being one of the most intimidating defensive forces the game had at the position. For his career, Bol averaged an impressive 3.3 blocks per game (converts to 6.4 per-36 minutes) and a defensive box +/- of 5.3.

Similar to Bol, Fall’s offensive game is severally limited to, well, utilizing his ridiculous height and dropping the ball into the rim. If he wants to have himself a long and successful career in this league, stellar defensive chops is the key.

As previously stated, at his height, it is expected that blocks should be a statistic registered in the center’s sleep. 2.7 blocks per game is fantastic. But, frankly, it’s not surprising. He needs to focus his attention on becoming an elite defender, similar to players like Bol and Dikembe Mutombo, if he wishes to be a true impact player for the Boston Celtics moving forward.





Develop a jump shot

Over the last 15 years or so the NBA has shifted in style of play. For a majority of the game’s existence, basketball has been a game predicated on X’s & O’s and low-post/ stellar big-man production.

The Boston Celtics are a perfect example of this. From the late 1950’s through the mid-60’s the Celtics collected a grand total of 11 NBA Championships. They were able to do this, one, because the overall team executed like a well oiled machine and, two, because of what was stated above: Red Auerbach providing his great X’s & O’s coaching style and the legendary Bill Russell providing his stellar low-post/ big-man production.

This approach to the game reigned supreme for the better part of the preceding decades…. until a man by the name of Mike D’Antonio introduced us to his high octane, heavy 3-point shooting “7-seconds or less” offensive style of play in the early 2000’s.

Since this introduction, we’ve seen team after team forfeit a traditional low-post game in favor of a player — as we all now know, even the center — who can stretch the floor, as the NBA’s new style of play loves to space things out. The game of old, where greats like Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, George Mikan and, more recently, Shaquille O’Neal, is dead.

Now, it is more than often that we find a lineup consisting of players from the one all the way to the five who can stretch the floor anywhere from 15-feet to beyond the 3-point line. Looking at the champions from over the past decade, it is evident that most, if not all, of these teams consisted of at least one player at each position who was capable of stepping out of the paint and consistently hitting a mid-to-long range jumper.

What I’m getting at is, if Tacko Fall wishes to become a staple in this Boston Celtics rotation for the long-run, he must get with the times and develop himself a jump-shot.

In college he was able to somewhat get away with this offensive deficiency, as he would simply body/ tower his way against still physically developing ballers to get an easy bucket at the rim (averaged 10.1 points on 74% shooting from the field). He’s also proven to be an efficient scorer during his time in the G-League, averaging 15 points while shooting 70% from the field.

The NBA, however, is a different beast than both College and the G-League; everyone is bigger, stronger and, simply, better. He’ll find it much more difficult to work his way in the post against strong opposing bigs like Rudy Gobert, Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond and even Hassan Whiteside.


bob
MY NOTE:  So, only shoot better fritos, defend better and hit jumpshots.  Anything else?  A ridiculously obvious list, I'd say, and overkill to boot.  Shoot fritos better?  Absolutely, we cannot have empty possessions because they are doing Hack-a-Tacko defense.  A franchise player, I don't care what position you play, cannot be a liability at the line.  Period.  Defend better?  Well freaking duh.  A 7'5" player who cannot defend well, and can't hit fritos, is Chuck Nevitt and Chuck Nevitt was a 7'5" human victory cigar, NOT a franchise player.  As far as a jumpshot goes does Clint Capela have a jump shot?  Andre Drummond?  Hassan Whiteside?  Rudy Gobert?  The only player on the list of franchise centers he provided above of players Tacko could play against that has a jump shot is the best big in the league and a transcendental player at that.

I'd be happy if, over the next few years, Tacko could become our 2nd or 3rd center.  I'm not sure he'll ever have the talent to be a starting NBA center but he could replace Enes Kanter (easily) and maybe even challenge The Time Lord for minutes (at the minimum he could force RWill to develop his outside game and play more 4, and I'm good with that too).  As handicapped as Theis is physically against NBA centers he still plays well and is perhaps better because of his BBIQ than Tacko will ever be.  Basketball isn't about running fast or jumping high, it isn't about being tall (Kyrie, Lillard, IT and Kemba prove that), it's about being in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing when you're there.  Theis does those things because of his IQ.  Tacko?  WAY too soon to tell, but his late start in learning the game didn't help.  I think his first step should be to drop about 30 pounds.  Aside from reducing the wear-and-tear on his body he'll also be more mobile and that is more important in today's NBA than a center with a jump shot.


.

He will never be a franchise defining center.

He needs to work on his conditioning most of all so that he can get up and down the court. Jump shot my ass. He needs a signature move and shot in the post (other than the obvious dunk)

He needs to develop court awareness.

He is a project that should become a viable rotation center for us.

If he can learn to jump 18 inches off the floor he could become a great rim protector.

He has a long way to go but he’s a nice, smart kid who seemingly made a bit of progress to this point. Good luck to him

Develop a jumpshot?

Sure. Every 7'6" center needs one.

Just as much as he needs a smooth crossover dribble and a decent Euro-step.

#4 - Spend some time in the weight room adding about 25-30 pounds of muscle. Enough to push Embiid to the ground. Right now, he'll snap like a toothpick against the big 5's in the league.

db

dbrown4 wrote:#4 - Spend some time in the weight room adding about 25-30 pounds of muscle.  Enough to push Embiid to the ground.  Right now, he'll snap like a toothpick against the big 5's in the league.    

db

I dunno. He’s a big guy. He’s no bol bol.

I must thinking about a different Tacko...the one in the D-league is like 290 lbs.

forget the jump shot,, work on FT's and conditioning as dboss said.

if he improves there he should get a roster spot over Poirier next year at least.

KyleCleric,

I really want to see him snap a rim off and shatter the backboard. That's about what it's going to take for him to put the fear of God in the AD's and Embiids of the NBA. No joke.

db

I really doubt Tacko can ever play consistently solid defense  against those quicker big men like Anthony Davis and Giannis . I just don't think he has the quickness needed, but then most players in the NBA can't really guard them either.

he has the sheer size to create problems inside for guys like Embiid though. IF he can have the mindset and stamina to give high end effort in at least short  minutes at a time.

I think Tacko's ceiling is more like a Boban Marinovic type NBA back up.

67% frito shooting is not so bad. Definitely not hack a shaq level

worcester wrote:67% frito shooting is not so bad. Definitely not hack a shaq level

Huge improvement over college

He will get better at Fritos, and there'll be no reason why he wo 't be able to make shots from 12 to 16 feet out with a high %. Wait for that to happen by next year. Tacko is smart. He will learn the game.

worcester wrote:67% frito shooting is not so bad. Definitely not hack a shaq level

13 FTA’s is a very small sample size.
This was the weakest part of his game at UCF.
We need more free throw attempts to prove that Tacko has improved.

I had no idea he had only 13 fta's...yes, a very small sample size.

NYCelt wrote:Develop a jumpshot?

Sure. Every 7'6" center needs one.

Just as much as he needs a smooth crossover dribble and a decent Euro-step.

                  snorted tea out of my nose

Fall is no where near a polished NBA big man at this point, but I have to think that he can make at least a decent 2 to 3 minute contribution three times per game with the second unit.

Better able to help the varsity Cs than Poirier?

Sam Mitchell was talking this a.m. on NBA.Com radio about why the Celtics are trying to develop Tacko Fall. I's not for his offense, although he will shoot about 70% or so with dunks, tip-ins, and short shots near the basket. It's for his potential effect on defense. Someone on our board was criticizing his D. Justified, but he is developing to learn how to play D in the NBA, and the Celts see that he can become a major force in altering and or blocking opponent's shots. Say 4 blocks a game and 3 shots altered per game - easily a 7 to 10 point per game impact. I see lots of promise in his game In two years he could be a major factor in our continued success, and he'll be another young one in our bevy of barely post-adolescent super stars. Young, young men with long futures ahead of them in the NBA.

I'd be happy if he works on defense, free-throws, and a mid-range shot. He doesn't need to take threes (that's why we have guards and wings). If anything, I want him getting offensive rebounds, which translate to extra possessions.



KJ

worcester wrote:Sam Mitchell was talking this a.m. on NBA.Com radio about why the Celtics are trying to develop Tacko Fall. I's not for his offense, although he will shoot about 70% or so with dunks, tip-ins, and short shots near the basket. It's for his potential effect on defense. Someone on our board was criticizing his D. Justified, but he is developing to learn how to play D in the NBA, and the Celts see that he can become a major force in altering and or blocking opponent's shots. Say 4 blocks a game and 3 shots altered per game - easily a 7 to 10 point per game impact. I see lots of promise in his game In two years he could be a major factor in our continued success, and he'll be another young one in our bevy of barely post-adolescent super stars. Young, young men with long futures ahead of them in the NBA.

I love Sam Mitchell, he was one of young KG’s mentors at Minnesota, and always has great insight on the game. Seeing the growth of 2 J’s, especially Jaylen, we have a great great staff for developing young talent, you put in the work, results can be had. Tacko has much bigger frame then Manute Bol or Shaun Bradley, he already looks much smoother than the stiff kid we saw in college. I don’t know if he’ll ever be an all star level player, but he could have easily a long career, no pun intended, and be a serviceable Mark Eaton type defensive force. Adding a unique force like him, if he succeeds with all our other talented young pieces, we will be the most entertaining team in the league. I love these young pieces Danny keeps finding, Tremont, so clever and competitive, can even get after it defensively, Romeo, it’s early, but kid looks like a natural, GWill, had a breakout party, RWill if he ever can shake the injury bug and be best version of himself, will wreak havoc and fit in seamlessly with the other talented pieces....so many young pieces.

I've been own on Gwill, but last game he showed me a LOT! keep it up young man. Since going 0-25 from three, he is now 4-7.

https://nesn.com/2020/03/brian-scalabrine-offered-celtics-rookie-tacko-fall-some-quality-advice/



Brian Scalabrine Offered Celtics Rookie Tacko Fall Some Quality Advice



by Abigail Adams

on Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 10:18PM



More than a decade ago, Brian Scalabrine was a cult favorite among Boston Celtics fans — even though he didn’t quite measure up to teammates like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and others.

That said, fans still adored the 6-foot-9 big man no matter how he played, something that Scal admits he found “disrespectful” at points, per The Atheltic’s Jared Weiss. It’s a situation Tacko Fall currently is experiencing as a 7-foot-5 rookie, with fans erupting every time he takes the court.

So Scalabrine, who now serves as an analyst for NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics coverage, recently gave Fall a little advice.

Embrace everything — the moment, the role and all the attention — but don’t lose sight of what brought you here. “You know what he has to do? Switch the floor. Get from one side of the floor to the other. Be better at dribble handoffs. Get back on defense. Play two. Meet guys at the rim. That’s the expectation,” Scalabrine said, per Weiss. “… Do 19,511 (fans in the stands), do they know that? When he checks into the game and he guards two and meets a guy at the rim, do they cheer then? OK, so Tacko needs to worry about doing what Brad Stevens, Danny Ainge and all the Celtics brass underneath him needs him to do. Not go get a bucket.”

Fall is averaging 3.2 points and 1.8 boards in six games for the C’s this season.



bob



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