His smooth, comfortable playing style invokes his platonic ideal of a basketball player, Larry Bird.
The Boston Celtics have made some minor roster moves recently, including signing and then subsequently waiving Taylor Funk to help guide them to the team’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics. Funk, a 6-foot-8 forward from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, played collegiately at St. Joseph’s and later Utah State, where he displayed strong shooting abilities and an impressive wingspan.
His smooth, comfortable playing style invokes his platonic ideal of a basketball player, Larry Bird, which ought to endear him with Celtics fans and his potential for becoming an NBA-level role player.
Funk averaged 13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals per game in his sole season at Utah State.
The Pennsylvanian may not make Boston’s regular roster this season, but the hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast took a deep dive into his game just in case the Bird-influenced forward makes his way to the parent team some day.
Schakel, Funk, and Slater are a trio of wings who fit the profile of the sort of player Boston has been looking for in recent years.
The Boston Celtics have made a flurry of moves to strengthen their G League roster by signing Jordan Schakel, Brandon Slater, and Taylor Funk — and then cutting them. If you are confused, this is part of the team’s strategy to develop role players within their system, similar to what they’ve done in the past.
Schakel, Funk and Slater are a trio of wings who fit the profile Boston has been looking for in recent years. The move to sign the three to camp deals and then waive them is to set them up to join the Maine Celtics as affiliate players for the G League season to come.
The hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast recently took a deep dive into this new approach by the Celtics to develop future role players.
Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say about this strategy and how it might pay off.
This was specifically done to pave the way for the trio of small forwards to join the Maine Celtics this coming G League season.
The Boston Celtics reportedly completed a flurry of transactions. Before you get too excited, it does not have much if anything to do with the rumored pursuit of Portland Trail Blazers point guard Jrue Holiday.
Spotrac’s Keith Smith reported the team has “signed and waived Brandon Slater today” and “also waived Taylor Funk and Jordan Schakel.”
This was specifically done to pave the way for the trio of small forwards to join the Maine Celtics and keep them in Boston’s development pipeline in the short-term future.
Much like Funk and Schakel, Slater is an older (24) and rangy, long wing able to defend, but has faults in his game that led the Virginia native to go undrafted out of Villanova in 2023. Unlike them, his shot from deep needs work.
Several unresolved storylines could potentially impact the team’s 2023-24 campaign significantly should they remain in such a state much longer than the start of the regular season. https://t.co/UlOI51NZRn
His career 3-point shooting average at Villanova (32.5%) showed signs of steady improvement, so it makes sense to give the former Wildcat a shot at honing his shot in Maine this season.
Funk models his game after Larry Bird of all people.
The Boston Celtics are working on their roster for the 2023-24 NBA season. Per CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning, the Celtics have signed forward Taylor Funk, who models his game after Larry Bird, to an Exhibit 10 contract.
Funk, a 26-year-old forward, displayed solid numbers last season, averaging 13.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting a respectable 45.1% from the field. His 3-point shooting is solid; he hit 37% from beyond the arc during his time at Utah State. In the NBA’s 2023 Las Vegas Summer League, he played for the Miami Heat, averaging 3.5 points per game. Now, what could he bring to the Celtics if he makes the team?
The hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast got together to talk it over on a recent episode.
Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they think of Funk’s chances.
Funk, a 6-foot-8 shooter, played for Utah State and St. Joseph’s during his NCAA career — and reportedly models his game after Boston legend Larry Bird.
The Boston Celtics signed Taylor Funk to an Exhibit 10 deal, adding him to their training camp roster ahead of the NBA’s 2023-24 season. Funk, a 6-foot-8 shooter, played for Utah State and St. Joseph’s during his NCAA career — and reportedly models his game after Boston legend Larry Bird.
While the signing is a relatively minor one given there’s no guarantee the Lancaster native will even make the regular roster, it highlights the Celtics’ willingness to explore potential talent. Funk struggled during the 2023 Las Vegas Summer League while playing for Miami. He shot below 30% from the field and around 23% from 3-point range. However, he demonstrated his shooting abilities in college, with a 35% success rate from beyond the arc.
To hear what Funk can bring to Boston, check out the clip embedded above for the assessment of the man who broke the story, CLNS Media reporter Bobby Manning, on the “Garden Report” podcast.
The 26-year-old Funk put up 13.4 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game on 45.1% from the field overall last season.
The Boston Celtics continue to make moves to solidify their training camp roster for the looming 2023-24 NBA season, according to new reporting from CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning. Per the CLNS Media reporter, the Celtics signed forward Taylor Funk to an Exhibit 10 contract ahead of Boston’s training camp. The deal will allow Boston to convert Funk to a two-way contract should the Celtics like what they see.
The 26-year-old Funk averaged 13.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game on 45.1% from the field overall and 37% from beyond the arc at Utah State last season, according to Manning. He played in the NBA’s 2023 Las Vegas Summer League with the Miami Heat.
There, the 6-foot-8 swingman logged 3.5 points per game on 5-for-19 shooting, going 4-of-17 from deep.
While Funk is clearly a bit raw around the edges, his length, size and shooting flash enough potential that the Lancaster native has a solid shot of making the team as a two way player.
The Utah State alum has worked out for the Celtics ahead of this year’s draft.
If you want to get the attention of Boston Celtics fans ahead of an NBA draft, tell the media you are a fan of Larry Bird’s game. If you want to get the attention of the Celtics’ front office ahead of an NBA draft, spend your entire career as a basketball player molding yourself in the image of the Hick From French Lick.
Utah State’s Taylor Funk has done the latter since a young age, his family’s interest in the sport (and one of the greatest to play it) helping to shape him into the player he is today. That player is a very solid prospect known as much for his passing as his shooting, qualities which have got Funk in the door to work out with Bird’s storied ball club. And he shares Bird’s near-maniacal dedication to his craft as well.
“I was home-schooled my entire life,” said Funk in an interview with Utah State Athletics’ Patrick Mayhorn. “The decision of me being homeschooled was so I could train more than the average player.”
Jackson was the do-it-all glue guy who helped keep the Huskies afloat all the way to the NCAA title with his well-rounded, fundamental-rich toolkit. https://t.co/vH6EtLy7rN
A new round of prospective Celtics have worked out for Boston ahead of the 2023 NBA draft.
The Boston Celtics are working very hard to work out as many prospects seen as likely to go somewhere in the second round of the 2023 NBA draft ahead of the big event, with the ball club bringing in quite a few prospective targets seen as likely to end up somewhere outside of the first round of the annual affair.
With a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) giving contending teams like the Celtics a new two way player slot on rosters to raise the total to three per team at the same time it puts up new barriers to teambuilding for teams over the so-called “second apron,” it is more important than ever to make the most of the draft to onboard talent around the roster’s margins.
Adding to our previous reporting of the team’s known workouts comes a new wave courtesy of our sister sites Rookie Wire and HoopsHype — let’s take a look at who Boston has been scoping out.
Fred Funk became just the fourth player age 64 or older to survive the 36-hole cut at a PGA Tour event and did so playing alongside his son.
Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead and … Fred Funk? One name doesn’t fit with the others. Even Funk would be the first to admit that but he joined that Hall of Fame trio as the only players age 64 or older to make a cut on the PGA Tour.
Funk, 64, shot 1-under 141 to make the 36-hole cut at the Bermuda Championship.
“Shoot, I didn’t know they were that old and still played a Tour event. I knew Watson had maybe. Wow, that’s pretty good,” he said. “Watson, Nicklaus and Snead? That’s really good. And then Funk. You throw that in there, it doesn’t sound right, does it?”
If making a cut wasn’t special enough, Funk did it while playing in a threesome that included son Taylor, who celebrated his 25th birthday by missing the cut.
“This guy is pretty damn good for an old guy,” Taylor said.
Indeed, he is. Funk, winner of the 2005 Players Championship among his eight PGA Tour titles, spends nearly all of his time competing on PGA Tour Champions, where he’s won nine times in all. But he played on a sponsor’s exemption last year at the inaugural Bermuda Championship and missed the cut.
"Just a dream come true."
In his second start, @tfunk1030 is playing alongside his dad and eight-time TOUR winner Fred Funk @Bermuda_Champ.
“The whole time I was saying, why aren’t we playing together?” Funk said of last year when father and son played in separate groups. “It would just be so much fun to play together, and it was beyond fun to play with him. Yesterday and today was really phenomenal. Something you kind of dream about or think about. I don’t know if you actually can put it whether it’s really going to happen, the probability of it happening, but it did and it’s really special.
“The only reason I played this week was because I was in the field with Taylor. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to go yesterday the way I felt Wednesday in the pro-am. I said, I’m going to go and tee it up and see what happens. I played surprisingly really well.”
On a blustery day that made scoring difficult, Funk carded 1-over 72 despite averaging just 234.5 yards off the tee. He bogeyed three of his first six holes on Friday, but rallied with four birdies on the inward nine and overcame a double bogey at No. 5, his second nine.
“When he made that double on 5, I was like, ‘Oh, God,’” said Taylor, who approached his father after the hole and said, “I’m your cheerleader now, I’m 6 over. I was rooting him on and tried to keep him upbeat and keep his mind off his body aches.”
Taylor, a former member of the Texas Longhorns who is still seeking status on one of the professional tours, struggled to a 36-hole aggregate of 12-over 154.
“I wish it was flipped, I really do. I wish he was out there competing in the championship on the weekend,” Fred said. His son’s weekend off did nothing to diminish his own pride in his accomplishment.
“It feels good to know you can do it,” said Fred, who took just 24 putts in each of the first two rounds. “Not many guys even have an opportunity to play this late into their career on a regular Tour event.”
Fred capped off his day with a chip-in birdie at No. 9, which led to quite the father-son celebration.
“Yeah, he almost killed me. He horse collared me and I wasn’t ready for it,” Fred said.
“I went the other way and I was like, ‘I didn’t hurt you, did I?’ He’s very fragile nowadays,” Taylor said. “No, it was a cool moment to hug him after that. Looked like he was about to cry making the cut again.”
While the stars prep for Augusta National in two weeks, there are plenty of storylines for someone to grab the spotlight in Bermuda.
A year ago, Brendon Todd arrived in Bermuda as a down-on-his-luck journeyman PGA Tour pro winless since 2014. By Sunday he had blitzed the field at the Bermuda Championship, victorious by six strokes, won the next event too, and racked up another 10 top-25 finishes last season as he resurrected his career.
When asked how he would have responded if told prior to the start of last year’s tournament that he would improve from outside the top 500 to No. 41 in the Official World Golf Ranking this week and be the highest ranked player in the field, he said, “I probably would have laughed and said, ‘I’ll take it, give me more, right?’ ”
While much attention already is being devoted to the Masters, which begins in two weeks, for the 132-man field this week and next at the Vivint Houston Open, these starts mean everything. Todd, who is making his 200th career Tour start, took advantage last year making seven birdies in a row in the final round, beginning on the second hole, to coast to victory.
“I felt like I was kind of walking on clouds and that’s a really special feeling to have,” he said.
For some of the special invites, this week could change the trajectory of their career. Take Camiko Smith, a 35-year-old native of Bermuda who is making his Tour debut after winning a 36-hole local qualifier played earlier this month. Until Todd came along and shot one of three 62s at last year’s tournament, Smith shared the course record of 64 with Adam Scott. Smith grew up along the fourth hole of Port Royal Golf Club in Southampton, so close to the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design, in fact, that a ball pulled left will end up out of bounds in his family’s yard.
“I actually hop over a fence and I’m right on it,” said Smith, who had been teaching golf in Orlando and Dallas prior to returning to Bermuda and working at a local glass company for the last four months. “I used to get kicked off for doing that, now I’m sitting here playing a PGA Tour event in my backyard, so it’s pretty awesome.”
Danish teen sensation Rasmus Hojgaard has already won twice on the European Tour, becoming its first champion that was born in the 2000s. The 19-year-old, who has PGA Tour aspirations, played in the U.S. Open in September and jumped at the chance to make another PGA Tour start.
“It was a no-brainer for me to come over here and play,” he said.
Left to right: Brothers Ben, Luke and Ollie Schniederjans enjoy a walk in Bermuda. Photo by Mark Williams/PGA Tour.
The Bermuda Championship also has a couple family affairs as 64-year-old former Players Championship winner Fred Funk and son Taylor, 24, are grouped together Thursday (12:15 p.m. ET tee time) while brothers Ollie and Luke Schniederjans, who also benefited from sponsor’s exemptions, will be playing in their first Tour field together. It didn’t hurt the chances for the brothers, who both attended Georgia Tech, that Bermuda Championship tournament director Sean Sovacool is also a fellow Yellow Jackets alum.
Ollie, 27, a former No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, lost his Tour privileges after finishing No. 180 in the 2018-19 FedEx Cup point standings and spent last season competing on the Korn Ferry Tour, while younger brother Luke, 22, is making his Tour debut. (Middle brother Ben has caddied for Ollie for the past year.)
“I always dreamed of us playing a PGA Tour event together,” Ollie said. “All three of us brothers out here walking around, it’s pretty incredible.”
Someone will leave Bermuda with a trophy, $720,000 added to their bank account, a two-year Tour exemption and a berth in the 2021 Masters among the spoils.
“There’s probably going to be somebody this week that finishes first or second who is a great player and has shown great form either in the last year or in a previous year that changes the curve of their career,” Todd said. “That’s what’s so cool about some of these events that don’t have the top-ranked guys in them.”
