Luigi's Mansion: Datome's At Home With The Celtics

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4718292/luigis-mansion-datome-at-home-with-cs



Luigi's mansion: Datome at home with C's
March, 10, 2015
MAR 10 1:11 AM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com




AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee
With his scruffy beard and hot shooting, Gigi Datome is developing a following in Boston.



There were rumblings as far back as two years ago that the Boston Celtics were interested in Italian League standout Gigi Datome. In fact, the Celtics were intrigued enough that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge traveled to Rome to watch Datome compete for Virtus Roma near the tail end of his MVP season in Italy's top league, Serie A.

Nothing came of that visit and the Celtics, who ushered in a full-fledged rebuild in July 2013, watched the Detroit Pistons ink Datome to a two-year, $3.5 million deal. Ainge kept an eye on Datome as the Pistons struggled to find floor time for him, then pounced when a chance to land him for virtually nothing presented itself last month.

With Boston playing without starting shooting guard Avery Bradley the past three games, an opportunity opened for a shooter and Datome got his chance. The 27-year-old swingman matched his NBA career high by scoring 13 points Monday on 6-of-9 shooting with three rebounds over nearly 21 minutes, this after scoring 10 points in 10 minutes in Saturday's loss to the Orlando Magic.

Datome, with his scruffy beard and man bun, has quickly elevated to cult figure in Boston. Choosing obscure No. 70 (a nod to the year his first Italian squad was created), Datome built an immediate curiosity factor that hasn't diminished.

And by the end of Monday's TV broadcast, even Celtics end-of-the-bench legend Brian Scalabrine was commenting on the phenomenon of his Italian brother.

Datome endured healthy DNPs in seven of his first nine games with Boston, playing extended minutes in only a lopsided loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. His recent emergence hasn't been lost on coach Brad Stevens.

"I'm drawn to people that are ultimate pros," Stevens told reporters in Miami on Monday night. "I said that about [veteran swingman] Gerald [Wallace] and how he’s handled being in and out [of the lineup] -- just guys that don’t complain, guys that come to work and do their very best. But you still have to take advantage of your opportunity and [Datome has been] putting the ball in basket."

The 6-foot-8 Datome was regarded as one of the top marksmen in Italy while shooting 51 percent overall and almost 40 percent from beyond the arc in his final season overseas. He has showcased that shooting ability the past two games, knocking down open jumpers and displaying a deep range. What's been more surprising is his ability to create off the dribble. Datome has finished a couple of dunks at the rim and has shown a Dirk Nowitzki-like one-foot step back jumper at times, including one make over Wade on Monday night.

Playing important minutes for a Boston team in a bit of a must-win game on Monday, Datome has become a face of the Celtics' improbable playoff push. And fans, particularly on social media, have embraced him with his offensive highlights being distributed in video form almost immediately as they occur.

Datome began endearing himself last week against the Utah Jazz when television cameras caught him dispensing some advice to Tyler Zeller before the young big man converted a buzzer beater to lift the Celtics to victory. Zeller credited Datome with reminding him that he had enough time to not rush the final shot.

By the time the Celtics get back from this three-game road trip, some fans will be clamoring for Datome's No 70 jersey to head to the rafters. In reality, his playing time could dip if Bradley is healthy enough to return.

In Datome's four appearances so far, the Celtics own a net rating of plus-10.2 when the Italian is on the floor behind solid ratings on the offensive (104.5) and especially the defensive (94.3) ends.

Datome can be a competitive defender when he stays in front of his opponent, but he's been beaten badly off the dribble at times the last two games. Miami's Dwyane Wade had a highlight moment Monday by shaking Datome on the baseline and ultimately forcing him to foul for a three-point play.

But give the ball to Datome and he's going to help put points on the scoreboard. And his legend grows in Boston with every bucket.

On Monday night, the Internet took particular notice of Datome's presence when he got matched up with Miami's Mario Chalmers. For those raised in the Nintendo generation, seeing Mario vs. Luigi -- with Mario in red and Luigi in green -- was a noteworthy experience.

The way Datome is playing lately, you get the sense that he would win over the heart of a fictional Princess Peach Basket.



bob



.

A guy who has a professional mentality and a reasonable degree of athleticism can learn team defense.  He just needs to load up on popcorn and go to the movies.  Lots and lots of movies.  At the Brad Stevens Theater.

Sam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuqnXd34GX0

I am sure nobody remember it but I posted this video in this forum with a title that said..Gigi Datome will be a Celtic.And I remember many people saying ...those European players are good players overseas but this is the NBA and they cant help because they are soft and are not good enough to play here.3 years later this guy and others like Nikola Mirotic are better than what people think.There are players in Europe that are NBA ready and they just need a fair opportunity.

Datome has played well in two games with the Celtics, but he is far from a rostered player for next year at this point.

He may or may not play well enough between now and the end of the season to get another chance with the Celtics. If he has to be paid in 15-16 like he is paid now he could be a little bit expensive if he is going to be on the end of next year's bench.

Right now he is a better player than James Young for this year's team, but Young is younger, cheaper, more athletic, etc and I doubt that Ainge will give up on Young after only one year.

For every successful European player, there is a long list of under achivers who never accomplish much in the NBA....so lets not not go crazy with a 3 game sample size, but I like him a lot and like what he has brought to the table.

Hope he also finds the North End soon and realizes what a great place Boston is.

mrkleen09,
nobody is going crazy with a 3 game sample size,it just that there is a wrong theory that European players are soft or not good to play in the NBA.And your comment saying ..for every succesfull European player,there is a long list of underachievers that never accomplish much in the NBA prove that I am correct,i can say exactly the same ..for every succesfull player born in America there is a long list that never accomplish much in the NBA because Larue Martin,Pervis Ellison,Stan Love,Robert Swift,David Harrison,Joseph Forte,JR Giddens,Jajuan Johnson a many others are not European,meanwhile Dirk Nowitzki,Tony Parker,The Gasol Brothers,Rudy Gobert,Nicolas Batum,Alvidas Sabonis,Drazen Petrovic,Vlade Divac and many others are.Right now there is list of young centers like Gobert,Jusic,Vucevic,Ibaka,Mirotic that are from that basketball ,lets stop that bulling against Europeans and start to realize that basketball is growing worldwide.

And the list of underachievers should include most of the Syracuse players ....... many whom left early and never got a sniff of the NBA or a degree,

beat

international wrote:mrkleen09,
nobody is going crazy with a 3 game sample size,it just that there is a wrong theory that European players are soft or not good to play in the NBA.And your comment saying ..for every succesfull European player,there is a long list of underachievers that never accomplish much in the NBA prove that I am correct,i can say exactly the same ..for every succesfull player born in America there is a long list that never accomplish much in the NBA because Larue Martin,Pervis Ellison,Stan Love,Robert Swift,David Harrison,Joseph Forte,JR Giddens,Jajuan Johnson a many others are not European,meanwhile Dirk Nowitzki,Tony Parker,The Gasol Brothers,Rudy Gobert,Nicolas Batum,Alvidas Sabonis,Drazen Petrovic,Vlade Divac and many others are.Right now there is list of young centers like Gobert,Jusic,Vucevic,Ibaka,Mirotic that are from that basketball ,lets stop that bulling against Europeans and start to realize that basketball is growing worldwide.

Since when does expressing that Luigi has only played in a few games and we should be balanced in our approach to his success mean someone is BULLYING European players....LOL.

Your bias is making you less the objective here.

international wrote:I  am sure nobody remember it but I posted this video in this forum with a title that said..Gigi Datome will be a Celtic.And I remember many people saying ...those European players are good players overseas but this is the NBA and they cant help because they are soft and are not good enough to play here.3 years later this guy and others like Nikola Mirotic are better than what people think.There are players in Europe that are NBA ready and they just need a fair opportunity.

international,

I remember you told us about Datome.  You were the one who first alerted us to the fact that Danny himself went overseas to personally scout him.

So far so good, as far as I am concerned.  James Young was the 10th man in the rotation, a wasted spot as far as I am concerned, and I'm glad we have a 12 year veteran replacing him.

It's interesting that, even though Danny knew about this guy and all, he didn't draft him and apparently didn't bid for him against Detroit either (I seem to remember Gigi saying that somewhere, that Danny was interested but never submitted a legit offer).  Instead, he let Detroit season him a bit, set the market price for him and then traded for him.

Gigi has, as Scal describes it, "Kiki Vandeweghe's step back jump shot".  Kiki had basically one move, "the Kiki move", that was almost impossible to stop (much like Dirk's wrong footed fallback jumper is) but soft as a grape on defense.  I'm hoping Gigi's emulation of Kiki is limited to his signature shot and that both their names consist of only 2 letters repeated once. I've already seen him do more, so I'm not that concerned about it. :-)

The music dubbed over that video is interesting.  A rap song about a gorilla?


bob



.

wide clyde wrote:Datome has played well in two games with the Celtics, but he is far from a rostered player for next year at this point.

He may or may not play well enough between now and the end of the season to get another chance with the Celtics. If he has to be paid in 15-16 like he is paid now he could be a little bit expensive if he is going to be on the end of next year's bench.

Right now he is a better player than James Young for this year's team, but Young is younger, cheaper, more athletic, etc and I doubt that Ainge will give up on Young after only one year.

clyde,

Young is younger, true, but considering Danny loaded up a championship team with grizzled veterans I'm not sure he sees that as a plus.  Same as draft picks.  He has collected them, almost obsessively, but I don't feel like Danny thinks too highly of them himself.  I think he sees them as being appealing to other GMs.  He wanted IT, he had to throw in a highly conditioned 1st to get him, he did it.  The pick was just sweetener. Young is young, cheap talent with upside. Bait.

Cheaper?  Not by much, probably.  Gigi is making $1.75M this year and will be a free agent with a sparse NBA track record to point suitors to.  He played a total of 255 minutes over a season and a half in Detroit and has only played 49 in Boston.  My gut says that, if we lose him it will be to a European club.  He's very well known there and they might be willing to pay him more (then again, he signed with Detroit for fairly short money, so maybe that's not what he's about).  Young will make $1.75M next year.

More athletic?  True.  If basketball was all about running fast and jumping high that would be significant.  Then again, if it was about those things Bird and McHale and Zach Randolph and quite a few other players would have been insurance salesmen instead of NBA players.

Give up on him after only one year?  Maybe not, but I wouldn't count on him not packaging him if he thought that would get him what he wants.  I think Brad's frustration level with Young has reached the boiling point and that's why Gigi's playing.  

Brad's the type of guy who follows the old rule "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".  With Brad, I listen more for what he doesn't say more than what he does say.  If you listen to Brad, he talks about how he admires professionals who always keep themselves ready to play.  He exalts Gerald Wallace because of this (but doesn't mention his weak offense and declining athleticism), Evan Turner's dedication to watching film (but not his turnovers even though limiting turnovers are a high priority for him) and now Gigi.  I've heard him talk about Young's talents, his BBIQ (although I personally haven't seen it on display) but I have never heard him talk up Young's preparation or work ethic.  



bob


.

bob,

You could be very right about Ainge and Stevens no longer thinking as highly of Young. I have also been disappointed in his visual lack of improvment since the beginning of the season and mostly since the trade deadline when he started to get some prime time minutes.

If he turns into "bait", I am sure that Ainge will get something back for him that will help the team.

As I mentioned, I am not upset at all that Datome is playing more than Young. Young had chances and as yet has not taken advantage of them.

And, good points about Stevens and what he does not say. Our weekly Celtics breakfast crew has mentioned that many times this season.

mrkleene 09,
The problem is not if Datome has 3 games or 100 ,is the comment that you used..about going crazy after seen a player only 3 games and the comments about underacchivers.I don't like to talk about it ,but I am an ex players who played a lot of games against European teams and I think I know when a player is capable or not.Sam once told me that whenever I see a international player with good ability to play in the NBA just let us know and that what I an trying to do ,but each time I bring a player with those characteristic I see the same comment....Maybe he is not that good because is European and that really bothers me.Yoy can find underacchiviers in every part of the world.

international wrote:mrkleene 09,
The problem is not if Datome has 3 games or 100 ,is the comment that you used..about going crazy after seen a player only 3 games and the comments about underacchivers.I don't like to talk about it ,but I am an ex players who played a lot of games against European teams and I think I know when a player is capable or not.Sam once told me that whenever I see a international player with good ability to play in the NBA just let us know and that what I an trying to do ,but each time I bring a player with those characteristic I see the same comment....Maybe he is not that good because is European and that really bothers me.Yoy can find underacchiviers in every part of the world.

Sorry if you didnt like my words. All I said was SLOW DOWN in giving too much praise to a new player. Thats it.

If you choose to read into it further than that, that is your problem.

I think it's important that we all give each other some latitude in the precise words we use because the board represents differing degrees of familiarity with the English language.  I believe the operative policy would be to listen to what people mean more than what they say.  Moreover, International did not actually use the word "bullying."  It was "bulling." I'm not certain whether that was a typo or he might have been characterizing some of the prose to which he objected.  Either way, I believe his point was pretty clear and defensive but also inoffensive.

Slack.  It's a good thing.  Thanks.

Sam

sam wrote: Either way, I believe his point was pretty clear and defensive but also inoffensive.

Yes, same with mine.  

I like international and appreciate his comments and insight particularly into what is happening on the continent, but I see in his comments the same thing I see with Outside when I talk about the Warriors or TJ when we talk about the Lakers.

Someone saying pump the breaks on Gigi and give it some time as we have seen many European players who came out strong in a small sample size, is not insulting Europe...same as not anointing the Warriors with the trophy in December is not insulting Golden State.

When people make a post - they have to expect that others might have a different opinion on the subject.  There is no need to take every comment as a personal affront to you or your region of the world.

Slack is a good thing.  So is a slightly thicker skin.

I think we can probably all agree that forbearance is a desirable factor in evaluating a basketball player or even a team.

Just as we can probably all agree that enthusiasm is a desirable factor in a basketball fan or in someone who's proud of his culture.

Whether the words "let's not go crazy" are interpreted the same way as "pump the brakes" in various parts of the world may be open to debate.  I guess that's where the need for slack may come into play.

We all have our individual approaches in player evaluation.  Some people start with an empty cup and put the onus on the player to fill it up.  Some start with a full cup and carefully watch for signs that the player is emptying it.  Personally, I haven't seen a consistent shooting touch like Datome's all season long on the Celtics team.  I see every reason for continued optimism about his potential until he proves otherwise.

Sam

mrklenne09 .
Excuse me for my behaviour and if I offended you with my comment.It just that for me the phrase go grazy is for people who doesn't know about what are talking and I think with me is not that case,10 years playing against players like Walter Davis,Mitch Kupchap,Phil Ford,Oscar Smithd,Eddy Palubinkas and the players from the former Yogoslavia and the Soviet Union give me at least a bit of credibility.To me is an honor to be sharing comments with you and that is important to me.i need to apologize because my English is not as fluid as yours and sometimes my words are mistaken.Lets go Celtics and let destroy Memphis tonight with or without Datome.

I certainly hope it will be with Datome.  I enjoy watching this kid shoot and monitoring his defense.

Sam

Its funny but I remember writters in the 80s saying that latin players in baseball couldnot be good catchers because they were slow and had problems with the language and communication ,but players like Ivan Rodriguez,Santos Alomar,Benito Santiago and Yadiel Molina destroyed that theory.Sometimes people tends to repeat things that are wrong.

International,

Speaking only for myself, I'm so glad to have lived when I lived partly because it has been such a pleasure to watch improved understanding between cultures.  It's more than language.  Learning more about how people from other countries think and live has been one of the most exciting parts of my life, as has the opportunity to be an unofficial ambassador for my own country.

Sam

international wrote:Its funny but I remember writters in the 80s saying that latin players in baseball couldnot be good catchers because they were slow and had problems with the language and communication ,but players like Ivan Rodriguez,Santos Alomar,Benito Santiago and Yadiel Molina destroyed that theory.Sometimes people tends to repeat things that are wrong.

International,

I'm off topic here (sorry all), I know this is a basketball forum but Santiago and Molina have to be among my favorite catchers ever.  Santiago's arm was amazing, I remember him throwing out base-runners from his knees.  No lead or jump was big enough on him, he would get rid of the ball so quickly.

Molina, however, may be among the best ever.  How many Gold Gloves has he piled up in a row now?  6 or 7, I think.  He can call a game like no one I've seen since maybe Bench or Freehan.  If you watch the way he positions his fielders for each batter and situation, you know he has complete control of the game.  No doubt in my mind a big part of The Cardinals' ongoing success is because of Molina.  Molina is going to be enshrined in Cooperstown one day.

Regards

Thank you NY Celt,



Regards.

international wrote:mrklenne09 .
Excuse me for my behaviour and if I offended you with my comment.It just that for me the phrase go grazy is for people who doesn't know about what are talking and I think with me is not that case,10 years playing against players like Walter Davis,Mitch Kupchap,Phil Ford,Oscar Smithd,Eddy Palubinkas and the players from the former Yogoslavia and the Soviet Union give me at least a bit of credibility.To me is an honor to be  sharing comments with you and that is important to me.i need to apologize because my English is not as fluid as yours and sometimes my words are mistaken.Lets go Celtics and let destroy Memphis tonight with or without Datome.

international - please no need at all.

I used to have a Nets shirt as I loved Petrovic...so been a big fan of european players for a long time. My concern with giving the keys to the car to Gigi yet is just wanting to see what happens first vs because he is from Italy.

We are totally good....my apologies as well.