Christmas signing with Celtics

Good for him. I'm hopeful he can compete at the NBA level and can contribute to the Celtics. He's getting his chance.

MORE ON CHRISTMAS

Christmas says he has deal with Celtics
July, 22, 2012 8:20 PM ET
By Greg Payne | ESPNBoston.com

LAS VEGAS -- The Boston Celtics have reached an agreement with free agent guard Dionte Christmas, a team source confirmed to ESPN Boston on Sunday.

Full details of the deal are not known, but Christmas said following the Celtics' 92-77 summer league loss to the Los Angeles Clippers that the contract will be partially guaranteed.

"I actually got the call before the game started," Christmas said. "I don't really know all the details now, but I'm going to go over them with the staff. But I'm just happy, man, emotional. I actually got the call literally two minutes before the game started."

The Celtics and Christmas' representatives had been discussing a potential deal all week, with Christmas seeking some sort of guarantee from the club. He said he had received significant offers to continue playing in Europe, where he had spent the majority of the last three seasons, but Christmas maintained throughout the week that his ultimate goal was to make it to the NBA this coming season.

"That was my whole mindset," Christmas said, "to come in here and try to get (the Celtics) to like me and bring me in, and it happened."

Christmas also later tweeted: "Wanna thank the @celtics for giving me this opportunity to make my dream come true ....#wordscantexplain".

Christmas, 25, went undrafted in 2009 after a four-year career at Temple.

In Summer League play, Christmas averaged 14.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and shot 47.9 percent from the field overall and 45 percent from the 3-point line.

112288

REPORTS: C'S INVITE CHRISTMAS, SMITH TO CAMP
By: Ben Rohrbach

The Celtics agreed to contracts with Summer League standouts Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith in addition to veteran center Jason Collins, according to multiple reports.

Collins is expected to sign a veteran minimum deal to replace the departed Greg Stiemsma, while shooting guards Christmas and Smith have been invited to C's training camp, presumably on non-guaranteed contracts.

"Wanna thank the @Celtics for giving me this opportunity to make my dream come true," tweeted Christmas, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard who averaged 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals as a senior for Temple in 2008-09. He has played in Israel, the Czech Republic and Greece since.

The 7-foot, 33-year-old Collins, known as a Dwight Howard stopper defensively, averaged just 1.3 points and 1.6 points in 30 games for the Hawks last season. He averaged 2.4 and 2.4 in 17 minutes a night over five games in the first round of the playoffs against the Celtics.

A 6-foot-3 guard out of Southern Indiana, Smith averaged 13.6 points, 5.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 48 games for the Maine Red Claws (the C's NBA Development League affiliate) last season.

112288

We're talking about end-of the bench guys we can get on the cheap at this point, but you never know. Christmas and Smith look like decent guards. Sometimes you find a guy who can plug a leak along the way and we've seen that injuries can pile up. One of them might just stick around this fall. I hope they can make the most of the opportunity.

Hey That is how Steamer got into the NBA!

112288

112288 wrote:Hey That is how Steamer got into the NBA!

112288

Yes, absolutely.

NY

Are you going to the Cape and when? I may be there mid August after going to MV.

112288

When I think of XMAS I hope he'll be the second coming of Darrell Armstrong...

From Wikipedia:

Armstrong first signed with the NBA as a free agent for the Orlando Magic in late 1994–95, playing just 3 games with 10 points and 8 minutes of action including a spectacular one handed reverse windmill dunk late in a blowout vs the Indiana Pacers in his 2nd game. In 95–96 he played just 13 games in 41 minutes, scoring 42 points total.

He saw 67 games in his first full season on the roster in 1997–98, averaging 6 points per game in 15 minutes per game off the bench. Armstrong won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award and the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 1999, thus becoming the first player in NBA history to win both awards simultaneously. In a 1999 game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Armstrong stole an inbounds pass and streaked to the other end of the court for a game winning layup as time expired. He subsequently became the starting point guard for the Magic. His career year was in 1999-00, averaging 16.2 ppg in 31 mpg. During his nine years in Orlando, the team never posted a losing record, making the post-season seven times.

112288,

We're going with a changeup this year.

Right now I'm sitting near the beach at Plum Island, MA.

The vineyard is always nice, except the dry town, Oak Bluffs I think (kidding).

Any special destination on The Cape?

Sam's the resident expert there of course. We usually stay in Chatham, but stayed in Orleans last year and enjoyed it.

We have to be back home by July 30 this year; first day of football practice. I've got 22 wild 8 and 9-year olds, including my son, ready to make the leap from flag to tackle.

Regards

NY

Too bad, would have loved to catch up along with Sam. Going to Edgartown -Harbour View Hotel and then perhaps the Cape for a few days. I already asked Sam and he was kind to send some information on Inns' etc.

Have fun and enjoy!

112288