Tag: Enes Kanter Freedom

Shams: Enes Kanter Freedom latest Boston Celtics player to enter health and safety protocols

Boston’s frontcourt is perilously thin.

The Boston Celtics frontcourt has become perilously thin with news that veteran big man Enes Kanter Freedom has now entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Freedom becomes the eighth such Celtic to enter the league’s protocols, and with Grant Williams and Al Horford out indefinitely as well, the team is down to starting center Robert Williams III and Bruno Fernando, with perhaps forward Juancho Hernangomez able to play some spot minutes as a small ball five for the team in a pinch — which has evidently arrived in the non-metaphorical sense.

Boston can use a hardship exception to add a free agent big man to the roster to help cover the gaps in the rotation before their next game, which is their Christmas Day game against the Milwaukee Bucks on the road.

There is also a chance that one or more of the Celtics’ bigs can make a return before Saturday’s tilt, with both having been out of commission for 10 days now.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics player report card: Boston drops close one against Philadelphia 76ers

Here are some player grades from the Boston Celtics loss to the Philadelphia 76ers Monday.

The Boston Celtics dropped a close game against the Philadelphia 76ers Monday, just two nights after coming back to beat the New York Knicks. The Celtics could not put Joel Embiid and the Sixers away, despite finishing the third quarter with a lead after trailing for a majority of the game.

With both teams short-handed due to players in health and safety protocols, each teams’ stars played big minutes. That means Joel Embiid got even more minutes than he normally does and he made the most of them. Embiid worked the Celtics lean frontcourt for 41 points, including wonderous long-two in the final minute to ice the game for the Sixers. Tobias Harris and Seth Curry each scored in the mid-20’s with efficient shooting. The Sixers didn’t get much else from their roster, but evidently, they didn’t need it as they took home the win 108-103.

The Celtics struggled to secure the ball and underperformed from beyond the arc en route to the loss. They coughed up 18 turnovers to 16 assists and finished shooting 25.9% from deep. Against a team with a legitimate star and a solid supporting cast like the Sixers, that’s not going to win many games. However, they still almost did and overall gave an energetic effort at times. The closing quality is still lacking from this team at the moment, though, as they fall to 15-16 on the season.

Here are some player grades from the loss.

Celtics Lab 78: On activism, Freedom, and Enes with Dave Zirin

Enes Kanter Freedom has caught flak for his approach to activism in recent weeks, but can learn from his missteps.

The Boston Celtics center once known as Enes Kanter is back with a new identity as a US citizen and human rights activist with an updated name to reflect this new iteration, Enes Kanter Freedom. He has been using his platform as an NBA player to draw attention to a number of important causes.

But as many have learned parachuting into a struggle they are not part of personally and thus do not have the same stakes nor familiarity with the details, Freedom is finding his efforts are not always going as planned — nor received perhaps as hoped. Getting flak for tactics and his comments about LeBron James, Jeremey Lin, and Americans protesting their government, the Celtic center has felt blowback in recent days.

To that end, this episode of the CLNS Media “Celtics Lab” podcast features your trio of usual hosts taking a closer look at Freedom’s activism with Sports Editor of The Nation and columnist criticizing the new US citizen’s recent activism, Dave Zirin. Alex Goldberg, Cameron Tabatabaie, and Justin Quinn talk with Zirin about what’s not gone right, and what could go better.

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They also cover how de-centering oneself from the work at hand and forging ties with affected communities that allow them to use their own voices for their own struggles rather than usurping their place in the fight could breathe new life into Freedom’s goals.

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And more importantly, help do less damage while trying to do good.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom responds to criticism over his ‘Tucker Carlson’ appearance

The Boston big man appears to have walked back his earlier comments suggesting Americans ‘shut up’ and stop criticizing their government, but is that enough?

Most fans of the Boston Celtics and NBA more generally have heard or read Boston big man Enes Kanter Freedom’s controversial statement on the controversial Fox “Tucker Carlson” television show on which he suggested Americans “shut up” and stop criticizing their government by now.

Now, in a recent episode of the “Rematch” podcast with BasketballNews.com’s Etan Thomas, Freedom took some time to talk about those comments, his appearance on the show, and his activism more generally. “What I mean is people should feel lucky, and at least they are not in a country like Turkey, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Belarus, and many other countries,” related the Celtics center. “I would never tell a person to shut up” (about what is wrong with the US domestically).

Has the nascent activist come to terms with the responsibilities of using one’s platform for the ostensible greater good? Or does he still have work to do on managing the delicate balance between recruiting powerful allies and becoming their pawns?

Watch the video embedded above, and decide for yourself.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Four Boston Celtics role players making a big impact on both ends

These four bench players have been making a difference for Boston.

The Boston Celtics have not made tremendous use of the bench players on their roster so far in the 2021-22 NBA season, but a number of players in the Celtics’ youth movement have shined in the limited run they have earned so far.

Some veterans, some young — all have stepped up in Boston’s recent games. In a recent video segment called “Celtics Post-Up” produced by NBC Sports Boston, hosts Amina Smith and Chris Forsberg reveal the four players coming off of the Celtics’ bench who have been helping the team the most in recent days.

One is turning into a lockdown defender, another is hitting 54% of his  midrange jumpers, a third is in the neighborhood of the 50/40/90 club and the last of the foursome is grabbing 16.8% of offensive rebounds available to the team.

Watch the video embedded above to hear their four bench players most helping Boston this season.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Enes Freedom getting flak for ‘Tucker Carlson’ appearance on ‘Young Turks’ show

This likely isn’t the sort of awareness he was hoping to bring to his cause.

New citizen of the United States of America Enes Kanter Freedom is finding himself the subject of quite a few recent publications about his activism for human rights, but it may not be the sort of attention he was hoping for.

While his causes are widely supported as he does his best to champion human rights causes in his ancestral Turkey, around the world, and in China in particular, a recent appearance on the controversial Fox television “Tucker Carlson Show” and the comments he made on it are dominating the coverage the outspoken Celtics center has been getting in recent days.

And while his comments taken out of context are undoubtedly worse than otherwise, it seems that Freedom now finds himself at the center of a minor political kerfuffle that is not doing much to further his ostensible goals.

One such example is a recent episode captured on the video embedded above that features Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian reflecting on the Boston big man’s recent activism in the public sphere.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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