Dancing Bear in groove
Yabusele returns from China
As he moved around the court before last night’s game, Guerschon Yabusele easily set a personal record for selfies. Though he was one of the Celtics’ three first-round picks in last June’s NBA draft, he hasn’t been in these parts in months. But people still wanted to pose with him.
With the Dancing Bear. Yes, the nickname has stuck.
“It’s funny,” said Yabusele, who spent this season terrorizing the Chinese Basketball Association for the Shanghai Sharks (insert theme from “Jaws” here). “It’s really funny. Yeah, very happy with the name.” Any other nicknames? “They call me G,” he said. “It’s simple and it’s fine.”
OK, Dancing Bear it is. Hey, a guy who’s 6-foot-8, 260 pounds and has enough touch to shoot 36.4 percent from 3-point range deserves something more interesting than G.
Yabusele is certainly an interesting prospect. After being taken No. 16 overall in the draft, the product of France turned some heads with his flashes during summer leagues in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, leading Celts assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry to liken him to the aforementioned dancing bear. He went on to average 20.9 points and 9.4 rebounds for the Sharks, though he suffered a sprained ankle in his last game.
Now that he’s here, the plan is for him to get the ankle examined, do rehab and perhaps play some DLeague games with Maine. (Disappointingly, Maine’s official state animal is the moose, not the black bear, which is the nickname for the University of Maine’s athletic teams.)
“I’ve got to see a doctor for my ankle, and I’m just going to wait for the result and we’re going to see what is going to happen,” Yabusele said.
Of playing for the Red Claws, he said, “It could be a possibility. I want to play, but we’re going to see. We’re going to wait for the doctor and see what happens.”
Beyond that, Yabusele said, “I don’t really know yet. We didn’t make the plan yet, but today I’m here and I’m enjoying it.”
The 21-year-old French forward certainly enjoyed his time in China and the playing time it afforded him.
“It was pretty good, pretty good,” Yabusele said. “It was a great experience for me to go over there as an import player. I have more responsibilities, and it was actually a great season. We lost in the first round, but we made the playoffs, and it was good. I have more confidence. It was great for me because I had to take care of the ball and make the plays for the team offensively. I get better defensively, too, so it was great. My 3-point shot is better. Offensively I’m good. I have a lot of confidence, and I’m just ready to play.
“I’m much better than I was this summer. I just want to show what I can do on the court.”
The Celtics have already seen.
“We’ve watched almost every game of his,” assistant general manager Mike Zarren said. “We’ve watched pretty much every minute he’s played in China.”
Looking ahead to whether Yabusele will be able to help the Celts next season is a bit hazier proposition.
“He’s still going to be a rookie in the NBA, and I think we know the Chinese league is a lesser league than our league,” Zarren said. “But there are a bunch of good players there, and he was very, very successful there. I mean, we have high hopes for him, but it’s hard to know until we see him with these players exactly how that’s going to go. His strength and athleticism was a notch ahead there, and it might not be here. But it might be; we’ll see.
“The combination of movement, rebounding and shooting in a guy that size is rare.”
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge is, not surprisingly, of a similar mind.
“We like who he is, which is why we drafted him, and we like his progress,” Ainge said. “But that’s all I know. When you say next year, I hate to put any pressure on young guys. But we like him as a person and as a player, and we’re obviously invested in his future.”
For his part, Yabusele is setting a fairly high standard for himself. Asked to compare himself to a player currently in the NBA, he didn’t need to think for long.
“I might say (the Golden State Warriors’) Draymond Green. He’s been having a couple of incredible games,” he said. “So I think the comparison with Draymond Green is good.”
But without Green’s technical fouls. Hey, someone with the kind of moves to earn a name like the Dancing Bear won’t be kicking opponents in improper places, right?
“Yeah,” Yabusele said with a laugh, “no technicals for me.”