Tacko Fall is a viral sensation. He’s the most dominant player in high-school basketball history. He sometimes ends up in concussion protocol after hitting his head on the ceiling. He signs tacos and makes his professional basketball player teammates look like Snow White’s dwarves. Unfortunately the Celtics rookie's impact on the court hasn’t been nearly as seismic as it has been on Twitter, playing just four minutes across six games during the 2019/20 season. All of that could be about to change, however, with this footage of the 7’5” center draining a long-range jumper putting sweat on the brow of more than a few All-NBA defenders on Thursday.
Splash Brothers? More like Splash Mountain amirite? In all seriousness though, if Fall can add this to his locker before the end of July, it’s going to make the Celtics a very tough out down in Disney World, especially with limited tape, short prep time, and ample rust. That’s a pretty big “if,” though. Being able to regularly knock down shots from the outside during an NBA game is a hell of a lot different than hitting one with your boss filming. Plus the precedent for 7+ footers who can legitmitally shoot isn’t great.
Dirk Nowitzki is the only Big who ever achieved sustained success from beyond the arc, and he’s a once-in-a-generation Hall of Famer. He’s also nearly half a foot shorter than Fall. Fall’s more realistic target should be a guy like Arvydas Sabonis, who at 7’3” shot 33% from beyond the arc, draining 136 three pointers—including several multi-tre games—over the course of his too-short NBA career.
Pair that kind of inside-out ability with Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker, and the Celtics could be a very real threat in the East later this summer . . . assuming Ben Simmons doesn’t figure it out first, of course.
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