So it's been a little while since i've blogged on here, so I figured I'd step back into the scene with an article about a player i'm heavily in favor of.

As a few people who looked up the history of Stephane Lasme know, this guy was a beast in college. Playing with UMass and graduating in 2007, Lasme broke both Marcus Camby's single season and career blocked shots numbers (finished senior season averaging 5 blocks per game), and is also tied with Michael Anderson and Jason Kidd as the only players to record 4 triple doubles in one season. All of this was accomplished during his senior season, where he was accredited with Atlantic-10 Player of the Year and Atlantic-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

The now 27 year old Gabon-born power forward was originally drafted after his senior season by the Golden State Warriors at the end of the second round, and after a 4 game-stint, Lasme was waived. However, Stephane got a second chance that season by signing with the Heat in March and playing in 16 games, averaging 5 points and 3 blocks. Again, Lasme was waived soon after.

The last two seasons, Stephane has played overseas. In 08-09, he played with the Partizan Belgrade out of the Euroleague, and led them to a championship while averaging 10.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, and 1.5 blocks per game. The following season, Lasme signed with the Maccabi Tel Aviv out of the Isreali League, but his performance was hindered due to a foot injury.

Stephane Lasme's invite to training camp and preseason play with the Celtics has been his first return back to the NBA since being waived by the Heat in 2008. In my opinion, we may have found a diamond in the rough. While obviously the hype about Lasme has skyrocketed due to his dynamic ability to block shots and dunk over Andrea Bargnani, he has established the fundamentals to contribute off of the bench. Although our bench may be too full to keep him on our opening day roster, I hope we manage to store him away in our D-League until the time arrives where we need another big man on the court.

Worst case scenario, he is still going to perform better than Mikki Moore and Patrick O'Bryant.