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| I'm like Kobe now... except I respect the ladies |
CSSNE
“I think Danny (Ainge) was really up front with what he was trying to do,” Scalabrine said. “He never led me astray or anything like that. He wasn’t lying to me, he was being really honest with me. The Celtics have always been a great, upfront, straight organization. They tell you what it’s going to be and they do it. He wasn’t trying to hide anything, so I really respect him for that and I appreciate him treating me that way.”
Even though the Celtics were able to enhance their roster, Scalabrine’s presence will still be missed. He brought energy off the bench and averaged nine points and four rebounds in three starts last season while Kevin Garnett was sidelined. During that time, he played through a shoulder injury to stay on the court for the C‘s.
"I don't think it ever makes sense not to have a Scal on your team,” Doc Rivers told CSNNE.com.
“The Scalabrines of the world are rare. They are not a dime a dozen. When you get one, you do what you can to keep one.
Once we made all those moves, we knew we couldn't. But we would love to. He's just a terrific guy.”
The respect and admiration is mutual.
“I obviously cherished my time there,” he said. “I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being with Doc – I learned a ton from him. I enjoyed all of my teammates. I think that those are life experiences that I’ll never get another opportunity to go through with a group like that, with a coach like Doc, with a city like Boston, with a team like those guys. Quite honestly, last year I could’ve played with four Hall of Famers. I don’t know if Rajon (Rondo) makes it or not, he seems on that track. It’s just a very, very, very unique situation. I respect every single one of those guys in there and I respect Doc and Danny.”
Love him or hate him, Scal definitely brought out the reactions in fans. Personally I don't understand how anyone could of hated him. He was a good guy who gave his all. On the other hand the love went too far as well. The “Scal-a-bri-ne” chant was embarrassing and too me more mocking. Scal is too nice to bring that up, but he does mention his distaste for the chant.
His appreciation for the entire Celtics organization is one of the reasons why he wouldn’t mind if the infamous “Scal-a-bri-ne” chants stayed back in Boston. To him, they represent individuality while he is focused on the team.
“People who know me, who really know me, know that that’s not really my personality. All my concerns were only about my teammates and my team, the Celtics, the Celtics, the Celtics, the Celtics,” he said. “People loved it, and I understand that and why they do those type of things…. But we’re grinding it out, and those people (the Celtics) at that point were the most important people to me in the world at that time. So I never want to stand out, I don’t want to do things individually to stand out.”
Well figured I should post this, since Scal does have strong followers in Boston. At the least I expect a solid comment from Karl later today.
