Carsen Edwards, Celtics Beat Nuggets in Summer League; Tacko Fall Scores 4
The Boston Celtics maintained their perfect record in the 2019 NBA Las Vegas Summer League (3-0) and cruised to a 95-82 win over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
Carsen Edwards was one of the game's top performers, scoring 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and a 5-of-7 performance from beyond the arc. Grant Williams also delivered, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Tacko Fall came off the bench to play 16 minutes and had four points to go along with four boards and one block.
A number of the 2019 draft's top stars either entered the summer recovering from injuries or have had their workloads carefully managed by their new teams. That has created a void in terms of fans getting behind a summer league sensation, such as Lonzo Ball during the 2017 edition.
Fall is approaching that level. It's must-see television whenever he's on the court, and Tacko-mania is apparently taking over Sin City:
Tuesday's game was more of the same from the 7'7" center as the Nuggets, at times, simply didn't have an answer for his size:
Fall will face an uphill battle to earn a place on the Celtics as a rookie, and he would probably be better off starting the year in the G League, where he'd play more regularly. Head coach Brad Stevens is taking notice of the undrafted free agent, though.
"I really admire him because he walks in the building and everybody is talking about him," Stevens said, per MassLive.com's John Karalis. "He dunks and lands on his feet and he's still hanging on the rim and everybody's talking about it. My daughter and son are watching the games to watch him. But I admire all the things about him not only on the court but off the court."
Edwards, on the other hand, has a much better shot at earning reserve minutes for Boston in 2019-20.
Summer league performances are never fully indicative of how a player's skill set will translate to the NBA, but the No. 33 pick of the 2019 NBA draft is making the most of his chance in Vegas. The former Purdue star attacked the basket and flashed a great shooting stroke Tuesday:
Given his height (6'0"), Edwards is basically locked into the point guard position in the NBA. While he obviously won't surpass Kemba Walker or Marcus Smart on the depth chart, he should be able to spell those two for stretches and give the Celtics some scoring off the bench.
Likewise, Williams continues to play well at power forward and saw some minutes at center Tuesday. Although plus-minus isn't the definitive metric to illustrate a player's contributions, the No. 22 pick's summer league plus-minus through three games is telling:
With Marcus Morris gone, Jayson Tatum is projected as Boston's starting power forward. The team hasn't signed a direct replacement for Morris, so there will be a spot for Williams in the frontcourt rotation.
In any conversation about the Celtics' most promising young stars, Tatum and Jaylen Brown will deservedly dominate the discussion. As the franchise shifts gears in the wake of the Kyrie Irving and Al Horford departures, Edwards and Williams look like two players who can help for years to come.
