During the offseason, the Boston Celtics let go of a player that had a very strong "love-hate" relationship with the fans in Boston. That guy was best known as T.A, aka Tony Allen.
The best way to describe Tony's tenure in Boston would be to say that it was a roller coaster ride. Tony had many high's and many low's during his days in Boston. His high-flying, out of control offense both provided postives (like this) and negatives (like this). On the opposite side of the court, his defensive aggresiveness also provided positives (like this) and negatives (like the time he fouled Chauncey Billups on a three point attempt to give the Pistons the win).
Just when we thought Tony Allen was garbage, he'd turn it on and prove us all wrong. When we thought Tony was going to be a solid sixth man for the Celtics, he would prove us wrong by becomming over-aggresive on both sides of the floor and ultimately hurting the team.
Now Tony Allen is gone and the Celtics are in hopes of finding another player who can take over the role of "crazy defender who can lock down guys like Kobe and Dwyane Wade". With the roster currently assembled the Celtics seem to lack that guy.
When you think of defense, the first players you think of aren't neccesarily Nate Robinson, Delonte West, or Von Wafer; however, the Celtics currently have a guy on their roster who is known for his very aggresive defense.
That guy is camp invitee Mario West, who spent the better part of last season with the Atlanta Hawks after spending the first half of the season with the Maine Red Claws. Many people don't know of Mario mostly because he's a somewhat reserved guy and isn't best known for dropping in thirty points a game.
Well you know what, folks? Neither was Tony Allen. Tony's role with the Celtics was to be a defensive stopper and Mario West is out to prove he can be Tony Allen's replacement.
I recently spoke with Maine Red Claws head coach Austin Ainge, who coached West for eleven games last season and spoke with West at the Celtics training camp in Newport last week.
During the conversation, Ainge stated that West was "a coach's dream". "He is a hard worker, a really hard worker," said Ainge. "Right now he's just doing everything he can do to impress the coaches." Ainge also went on to compare West's game to Tony Allen's and stated that he'd be "a good replacement" for T.A.
West's hard work has not gone unnoticed. It's not very often that a training camp invitee like West gets a compliment from a future hall-of-famer and that's exactly what West got this past week from Celtics captain Paul Pierce. “I feel like somebody told him if you don’t make this team, your life is on the line,” Pierce said. “That’s the way he’s playing; like his life is on the line.”
If West was to make this year's team the candidate most likely to leave the Celtics is Von Wafer. Doc Rivers was recently quoted saying that Wafer has "not made a shot yet in camp". I'm sure this was a bit of an exaggeration but when Wafer's main job is to knock down shots this isn't good news.
When it comes to the defensive end of things, Wafer is far from the defender that West is. His off the court issues in Houston also don't help his cause when he's going up against "a coach's dream" like Mario West.
Check out West's huge dunk at the 1:00 mark in the video below.
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