I Love Waltahh! Vote in our poll: Which Celtics player will become King of the Tommy Point this year


With the pre-season officially upon us, we here at CelticsLife thought it would be fun to dish out some pre-season award predictions for the Celtics. We came up with eight awards (four positive, four not-so-positive), and will be giving out writer predictions on each of them over the next week or so.

These awards will be named after Celtics greats (and not-so-greats), and hopefully we can have some fun with this. We'll also be posting a poll for everyone to vote on, and be sure to add your two cents in the comment section.

Award #1: The Paul Pierce Award for Team MVP - Writer's pick: Rajon Rondo

Award #2: The P.J. Brown Award for the guy most likely to give the line-up an unexpected boost. - Writer's pick: Kris Humphries

Award #3: The Semih Erden Award for the guy that will be the most fun to sarcastically root for. Writer's pick: Vitor Faverani

Today's Award: The Walter McCarty Award for the guy most likely to become Tommy Heinsohn's pet this year. You know, every year Tommy has one guy ("I..LOVE..WALTAHHHH") that becomes his binky. We're picking out that guy today. 

Mike Dyer (Follow Mike - Mike_Dyer13)

Gerald Wallace - If I hadn't picked Vitor yesterday, I may have done it again as he is a great choice. But for the sake of being different, I'm going with Crash. I mean, have you seen this guy play? He's a walking Tommy Point. Diving everywhere, running the floor, playing hard on defense. Wallace's contract is bad, but he is not. It has only been two pre-season games, but if we see anything close to 2004-2012 Wallace this season, he's going to be a hell of an addition. And his style of play is going to get Tommy all hot and bothered.

Mark Vandeusen (Follow Mark - LucidSportsFan)

Kelly Olynyk - Nothing makes Tommy happier than the thought of the Celtics finding diamonds in the rough, and developing their young players into future Hall of Famers (how can we forget the "Stiemsma plays like Bill Russell" comment?).   At some point in the near future Kelly Olynyk will grab a rebound, make a nice outlet pass, then hit an open three at the other end to give Tommy a heart attack.


Eric Blaisdell (Follow Eric - EricBlaisdell13)

Vitor Faverani - The guy has a great name and plays with plenty of hustle, meaning he was tailor-made for Tommy Points. "I love Vitor!" just sounds so natural and I can already hear it in Tommy's voice. Wonder who Tommy will say Faverani plays like. Is he the next Shaq? Tim Duncan? Maybe the next Dave Cowens? Time and Tommy's crazy predictions will only tell.


Danielle Hobeika (aka DH) (Follow DH - dhobeika)

Kelly Olynyk - I think Kelly Olynyk will take this award. He showed a lot of potential in the summer league and I think Tommy will be all over him if he can continue to make noise during the regular season.
Tommy <3's Kelly according to our writers

Burak Tekin (aka semioticus) (Follow semioticus - semioticusCL)

Vitor Faverani - This is a long shot, but I'd say Faverani: He's Brazilian and if his nickname "el hombre indestructible" suggests anything it is that he's gonna play old school basketball out there.


Matty Mackay (Follow Matty - MattyMackay)

Kelly Olynyk - The skilled rookie can do a lot of things well and will emerge as Tommy’s guy for sure. I like this kid as well and think he will emerge into a great player in this league, but Tommy will find a way to compare his scoring ability Kevin McHale or someone. Bonus points because Kelly is an Irish name. Close behind Olynyk is Phil Pressey, Tommy sometimes gets infatuated by bench guys… You guys remember ‘I love Lestah’ for Mr. irrelevant Lester Hudson?


Karl Dillinger (Follow Karl - karl_dillinger)

MarShon Brooks -
(Editor's note: Karl short and sweet with this one).


Padraic O'Connor (Follow Padraic - padraic_oconnor)

Kelly Olynyk - The Clynyk Kelly Olynyk.  All hustle (as long as his foot stays on his leg) and a low post presence.  That has Tommy Award written all over it.  


Julian Edlow (Follow Julian - BleedGreenBlogs)

Jared Sullinger
Tommy already knows Jared’s game, but Sullinger just seems so old school to me, Tommy has to love it. A big (and wide) man with legit post moves that actually enjoys banging the boards. I actually love this pick a lot more than when I made it 30 seconds ago.


Shawn Cassidy (Follow Shawn - Celticstitletow)

Kelly Olynyk - I think Kelly Olynyk was born for this role. It feels like Tommy had a casting call. During the first preseason game, Tommy already sounded deeply in love with Olynyk's game. Kelly has the hustle, and the skills to impress the Celtic legend.


Matt Richissin (aka MattDotRich) (Follow Matt - MattDotRich)

Gerald Wallace - 
There's no way this guy is going to be able to earn his contract - his body was never meant to substain the injuries his playing style subjected it to, and you're seeing the effects of it. That being said, he's a proud guy. He was given every excuse to slack off during his tenure in Charlotte, but he continuously gave it everything he had.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: There's no reason this guy can't be what Shawn Marion was (and I guess, still is) to Dallas: An elite defender, who rebounds well enough, and gets out in transition to get easy baskets where he can. And that's the kind of stuff that Tommy loves (and could get him out of Boston).


Devin Archer (aka Devin A) (Follow Devin - TheCelticD)

Avery BradleyHe’s a hardnosed, gritty player who’s sitting on thousands of Tommy Points already.


Writer votes: Kelly Olynyk, 5 votes; Gerald Wallace, 2 votes; Vitor Faverani, 2 votes; MarShon Brooks, 1 vote; Jared Sullinger, 1 vote; Avery Bradley, 1 vote




Explain your pick in the comment section!