Vote in our poll: Which Celtics player is going to be the most fun to cheer for this season?
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.
Today's Award: The Semih Erden Award for the guy that will be the most fun to sarcastically root for. This could also be named the Brian Scalbrine award. A guy who's success brings you more gratification than the average player.
Mike Dyer (Follow Mike - Mike_Dyer13)
Vitor Faverani - Language barrier that makes all of his quotes somewhat funny? Check. Ridiculous nickname? Check. Guy who looks like he plays his ass off every single play? Check. I'm going to enjoy the Vitor era.
Mark Vandeusen (Follow Mark - LucidSportsFan)
Unknown Player #15 - The mohawked Brazilian Vitor Faverani is the obvious choice, but there's also a solid chance he may be fun to seriously root for. I could go with the $5 million man on the end of the bench Keith Bogans, but that doesn't seem very enjoyable. Instead I'll look outside the box and say "as of yet unclaimed roster spot #15 guy."
Eric Blaisdell (Follow Eric - EricBlaisdell13)
Keith Bogans - Who even knows how much the journeyman shooting guard will play, but when he does fans are going to cheer for every shot, rebound and pass. The guy is getting $5M this year, so it'll be nice to see that money actually go for something. And he seems like a nice enough go so he'll probably enjoy the chanting.
Danielle Hobeika (aka DH) (Follow DH - dhobeika)
Kris Humphries - Don't make fun of Semih, I loved him! If Kris Humphries remains on the team, I would have to go with him just because of his history with Kim Kardashian and his fight with Rondo last year.
Burak Tekin (aka semioticus) (Follow semioticus - semioticusCL)
Jordan Crawford - Ah. Speaking from experience: Jordan Crawford. I'll always root for that weird shot and dribble of his.
Matty Mackay (Follow Matty - MattyMackay)
Vitor Faverani - Vitor Faverani is this guy 100%... With the nickname of "El Hombre Indestructible" (Translation: The Indestructible Man) there’s no other option right?
Karl Dillinger (Follow Karl - karl_dillinger)
Vitor Faverani - Vitor Fevarani. No clue who this dude is but Vitor is a great name
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| Thumbs up for winning the Semih Erden Award |
Padraic O'Connor (Follow Padraic - padraic_oconnor)
Kris Humphries - A friend of mine owns a Semih Erden jersey - one of two in existence. The other is owned by Semih Erden. I vote for Kris Humphries. Yea I can talk myself into this guy, but will immediately turn on him if and when he is traded.
Julian Edlow (Follow Julian - BleedGreenBlogs)
Vitor Faverani - I hope I am wrong, but we still know nothing about the guy. Why the hell was he playing 17 minutes a game in Spain? Might take a minute to develop his game.
Shawn Cassidy (Follow Shawn - Celticstitletow)
Gerald Wallace - When I think of a player that I would sarcastically root for, wouldn't that be Crawford? When I think about comparing Erden and Crawford. I don't see an oddly loveable character in Crawford like I did Semih. I would have to pick Gerald Wallace, his contract doesn't benefit the Celtics at this point in time. But his veteran leadership could benefit a young team like the Celtics. I would love to see Danny turn Wallace's contract into something else, so that's why I'll sarcastically root for Gerald Wallace.
Matt Richissin (aka MattDotRich) (Follow Matt - MattDotRich)
Kris Humphries - Tune into the Red Sox. What makes Boston a great sports town is that we're all kind of surly jerks who are just dying to give someone a really hard time. But what separates us from, say Philly, is that I at least like to think we do it with a smart charisma.
Sarcastically booing Kris Humprhies is played out. You know what's not played out? Embracing the.. how do I put this politely... "bro-ishness" of Kris Humprhies is not. Applauding the man for entering the mouth of the Kardashian and finding his way out. Lamar's hanging out under the bridges of Los Angeles, Kanye's somehow become angrier. Kris Humprhies?! Still getting paid, y'all.
Devin Archer (aka Devin A) (Follow Devin - TheCelticD)
Kelly Olynyk - Every made shot I’ll go “Dirk!
Mike Saver (Follow Mike - SaverSports)
Kelly Olynyk - Ah Semih Erden. The days of the Turkish Thunder have long passed. The man who routinely dunked his free throws in our imagination. The key to being a sarcastically rooted for player is you have to seemingly have come from out of nowhere, be mediocre enough to actually get playing time but any good play you have comes as a surprise and most importantly you need to be pretty goofy.
Mr. Kelly Olynyk is really the best option we have, Celtics fans. And this is the most important award too. When your team is about to lose over 50% of their games, you need a heavy dose of sarcasm to get you through the tough times. Long haired Olynyk will be our release. Unfortunately, Olynyk doesn't meet the first criteria. He didn't come out of nowhere, he was a first round pick. However, he knocks the other two out of the park. He'll get plenty of playing time, and Ainge himself has said he'll be nothing more than a role player. He's guaranteed to make plenty of plays and it'll make it all the more fun watching this goofy lanky white dude with long hair nailing a three on LeBron or something.
Jordan Crawford compared Olynyk to Legolas from Lord of the Rings and no one treated it as "Shots fired!". That tells you everything you need to know.
Speaking of my favorite Celtic Jordan Crawford, he'll be number 2 for me with the potential to overtake Olynyk. There will be many a time where I say, "Jordan Crawford really knows how to pick his shots" with a heavy dose of sarcasm. If he wears his famous playoff marijuana socks in actual games then my sarcastic respect for him will skyrocket to Semih Erden-like levels.
Writer votes: Vitor Faverani, 4 votes; Kris Humphries, 3 votes; Kelly Olynyk, 2 votes; Keith Bogans, 1 vote; Gerald Wallace, 1 vote, Jordan Crawford, 1 vote, Unknown Celtic (15th roster spot guy), 1 vote
Explain your pick in the comments!
