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In the Big Three era, we've had our share of journeymen like Stephon Marbury, Rasheed Wallace, Shaquille O'Neal, Jermaine O'Neal, and Nate Robinson that have come to Boston in search of that Celtic magic. But it's been the rare veteran that's comes in--the Keyon Doolings and P.J. Browns of the NBA--that were always Celtics even before wearing the green, guys that epitomize the Celtic Way. Keith Bogans might be one of those guys.
Bogans has had to change zip codes nine times in his eleven year career, but it seems like he's been the same hard-nosed, modest player at all his stops. In yesterday's press conference, Bogans exuded the veteran calm that a young team like this is going to need as they deal with the growing pains.
My guess is that Keith Bogans charmed Chris Forsberg over at ESPN Boston just as much as he did me. Here's a clip from Forsberg's sit down with Bogans. When asked about whether his new teammates might tank the season to secure a better lottery pick, he responded:
"Well, they are going to be mad," Bogans said of fans who want the Celtics to mail it in this season. "We're going to come out and we're going to play Celtics basketball. We're going to give 110 percent. If they think we're going to tank this away and give up, they can cancel that because we're going to come out and play hard every night.
"If you are tanking, in my book, you shouldn't be playing. I think every night you go out you should want to win. I hate losing, personally. So I'm going to try to pass that on to everybody else. I hope that's their mindset too."
I love this guy. If he's going to keep everybody motivated and help Rondo transition this team into the future, he's worth every penny of that inflated contract. Here's more from Marc D'Amico at Celtics.com:
Meet Keith Bogans (via bostonceltics)
While Kelly Olynyk steals the headlines with his impressive play in summer league and the organization rallies around their rookie head coach Brad Stevens, it sounds like Keith Bogans will be doing most of his work behind-the-scenes and in the locker room. Over the next couple of days and weeks, we'll tinker with the trade machine to see what Gerald Wallace or Kris Humphries could net us and expound on the potential of Marshon Brooks. Knowing the trajectory of his career, he'll be long gone when the team uses or trades the plethora of first round picks they have in the next five years or utilizes the TPE created by his contract, but for now, it's nice knowing that this life long Celtic is finally with the team he seemed destined to play for.