Point Guard Helps Celtics Hire Center With Recruitment Call

The Boston Celtics signed Kyrie Irving in 2017 to be their team leader and guide the young core on their roster. But it was a failed experiment as the six-time All-Star, who also wanted to lead his own team after playing alongside LeBron James, did not mesh with his teammates and has now departed to join the Brooklyn Nets and team up with Kevin Durant.

The Celtics brought in Kemba Walker from the Charlotte Hornets in free agency to replace Irving and he is already making the right moves to integrate himself into the franchise. Apart from Irving, the Boston franchise also lost Al Horford and they needed a replacement for the big man who brought so much on both sides of the court.

Enes Kanter was the second player they signed and the former Portland Trail Blazer center has credited Walker for him choosing the Celtics in free agency. It immediately shows that the former Hornets point guard is already thinking about making the team better, something Irving was unable to do in his two seasons with the team albeit he did make a difference with his individual performances.

“One of the reasons I picked Boston was because of Kemba Walker,” Kanter said during a recent press conference, as quoted on Fansided. “He called me during free agency on Danny Ainge’s phone. He said, ‘Hey, how we doing, big man?’ That was special to me.”

Walker made the third All-NBA team last season and is not on the same level as Irving in terms of his ability to handle the ball but averaged more on points per game than the six-time All-Star last season. He will be expected to step up his game and mesh well with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown if the Celtics are to make a deep run in the playoffs next season.

Meanwhile, the Celtics have one more roster spots to fill and general manager Danny Ainge recently revealed that summer league sensation Tacko Fall could be given the opportunity to fill the spot and start the season in the NBA. The 23-year-old, who went undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft was given a non-guarantee Exhibit 10 contract and played all five games in the summer league.