Wanamaker sees ideal opportunity
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
At 28 and on the cusp of a decorated EuroLeague career, Brad Wanamaker easily could have stayed in Turkey, or Germany, or Italy, or anywhere else that basketball has taken this seasoned guard from North Philadelphia and the University of Pittsburgh.
That he signed a one-year contract with the Celtics this week is telling, though.
Wanamaker couldn’t pass up the guarantee of a deep playoff run with what, in the wake of LeBron James jumping to the Lakers, “I had opportunities in the past, but this situation seemed like perfect timing for me,” he said before working out with the Celtics summer league team yesterday.
“A great organization,” he continued, “a great coaching staff. I knew some of the players on the team already. They told me a few things and it just was perfect timing.”
It helps that Wanamaker already has deep ties with these Celtics, starting with Marcus Morris, a former AAU teammate, and continuing with Daniel Theis, who was a teammate for two years in Bamberg, Germany.
Theis’ recruiting pitch was predictable enough.
“A great group of guys, hard workers, a young core of guys who are hungry to win,” Wanamaker said of Theis’ message. “I’m all about trying to help a team win and this is a perfect situation.”
Wanamaker, of course, has thought in the past that he found the so-called perfect situation, only for the opportunity to fall through. Not this time.
“It was crazy, because over the years you get those calls from teams, you come out in summer, you put on a private workout for teams and they’re telling you give us a few days and we’re going to send you a contract or you’re high on our radar,” he said. “This time it was real. They were consistent with it coming back and forth, and draft night Austin (Ainge) hit me up and said, ‘We’ve got a spot for you.’ So that’s what I did.”
Any number of possibilities
Wanamaker will wear No.9, worn last year by a pair of 10-day contract players — Xavier Silas and current summer-leaguer Jarell Eddie. Demetrius Jackson wore the number two seasons ago.
But Wanamaker is well aware of the player who made the number iconic in recent Celtics history, the same player who signed with the Lakers on Monday.
“Obviously, (Rajon) Rondo was a great player for Boston in his time here,” he said, though Wanamaker’s reason for choosing the number was not by design.
“It was a number that was available. There’s no meaning toward it,” he said with a laugh.
Pushing for consistency
Jay Larranaga’s early approach to camp has been relatively rudimentary, though yesterday’s practice site was comparatively luxurious.
“We threw a lot at the guys over the last two days, three practices,” said the team’s summer league coach. “I think the best part is just the continued enthusiasm, the continued hunger to learn. The effort has been great, the focus has been great. Obviously this is exciting, to get to practice in the new facility.
“We tried to tell the guys yesterday, the great players I’ve been fortunate enough to be around or have been in our program, they establish a daily routine and they stick to it through the ups and downs of a long season,” he said. “We told them the intensity of that routine might change . . . . But the consistency of getting to the facility every day, getting your skill work in, getting your treatment in, getting your strength and conditioning, that consistency is what we’ve seen has helped guys be successful.”