GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT
“I wanted to let you know that we have removed Sebastian’s nameplate from his locker in Waltham. The facts and circumstances of this case have not been determined but he does not have a Celtics locker and we do not anticipate that he will.” — Boston Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck in an e-mail to The Boston Globe yesterday
Not the nameplate! Didn’t we see this earlier this season? Obviously, not this, not someone in the NBA getting, essentially, booted off a team for a crime that he hasn’t been proven guilty of yet. But, remember when the trade rumors swirling around Allen Iverson were still just rumors? Then, one night, ESPN showed A.I.’s empty locker, save for one, lonely button-up and some lint. And we knew his time in Philly was up.
Here’s the thing: This time around, it’s not a trade. It’s essentially a multi-million dollar deal that says that the Boston Celtics would rather pay 21-year-old point guard Sebastian Telfair to leave the team than pay him to play for them. And why?
“It’s fair to say that if the charges were to be true, it wouldn’t make me too proud to have someone I know speeding without a license and with a gun in the trunk,” David Stern said during an interview at halftime of the Nets/Raptors game last night. “But I don’t know what the ultimate decision will be.”
Wow. Well, from everything I’ve read, Telfair was arrested in the wee hours of the morning last Friday for speeding along at 77MPH on a highway in Yonkers, N.Y. and for driving without a license. But, contrary to Stern’s statements, the gun was under the passenger’s seat and Telfair’s attorneys are now claiming that it is registered to his girlfriend. (And, if you remember, Telfair, then a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, was also arrested last year for carrying a gun registered to his girlfriend onto the team plane…in a pillow case.)
The media is already having a field day with this. For a variety of reasons. One, since the arrest took place less than a week ago, Telfair obviously hasn’t been found guilty of any wrongdoing. If he’s found innocent, do the Celtics change their mind? And two, Telfair’s lawyer is bringing up everything from the Duke lacrosse players, who were cleared of any wrongdoing last week, to the fact that Telfair supports 17 relatives on his NBA salary to try and slow down the Celts.
All things aside, though, this situation really breaks down to one thing: In two seasons as a professional, the much-hyped, high-school-straight-to-the-League Sebastian Telfair just hasn’t been a very good basketball player. In 78 games last year with the Celtics, the point guard averaged 6 points, 1 rebound and a measly 2.8 assists a game. He lost his spot to a rookie (Rajon Rondo). And, between the two gun charges and an incident in New York where he was allegedly robbed of a $50,000 chain by associates of rapper Fabolous (allegedly, I said) just before the rapper was gunned down and wounded, Telfair has turned into a distraction, a liability and, above all, a pain in the ass for both of the NBA teams he’s been a part of.
As long as the Celtics honor his contract and pay the man his money, letting Telfair go might be the smartest move they’ve made all year. It might just force him to step back and look at how he wants to be remembered in a league full of stars shining brighter than he is right now. It might make him work a little harder on and off the court. It might make him realize that, while it’s great that he’s using himself to help his family, it’s time to be selfish, become a better person and do whatever it takes to come out on top. For now, though, his locker is cleaned out. And we can only assume his time in Boston is up.
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