Vitor Faverani ready to beach the competition

Vitor Faverani wowed the C's faithful with some stellar performances in November last year, but November's hero became January's zero as he went from Celtics starter, to the Celtics bench, to the Maine Red Claws, to the medical disabled with a left knee issue. He had arthroscopic surgery for his left knee in March '14 to address a torn lateral meniscus, and since then has been rehabbing and enjoying all that Valencia, Spain has to offer this summer. Now it's back to Boston and reality for the 7-footer, who the C's could really used to fortify their front court and "rim protection".

Vitor Faverani has had an interesting summer and has liberally documented his comings and goings on his social media sites (twitter @faverani and instagram.com/faverani). The highlights are that he’s been rehabbing his left knee after having arthroscopy to repair a torn lateral meniscus in early March. That rehab returned him to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Valencia, Spain, where he played professionally for the Valencia Basket Club for two years prior to joining the Celtics last Fall. He had been working out under his personal trainers.

Shortly thereafter, only 6 weeks ago, he had the indiscretion of running a red light and crashing into a bus, fortunately not injuring anyone. His blood alcohol content was measured to be three times over the limit, and so there will likely be some sort of consequences from the Celtics and/or NBA. For example, Greg Monroe just got a 2-game suspension to start the season after pleading guilty to a DUI (and urinating on himself during the booking process). Faverani is now back in Boston and he undoubtedly ain’t misbehavin’ anymore, but his knee is not 100 percent, as he’s been trying acupuncture on it just last week.

Faverani’s indiscretion harkens back to his initial scouting reports that suggested "El Hombre Indestructible" was prone to both immaturity and injuries. That is reportedly why he went undrafted when he was NBA-eligible in 2009.  After playing in the Euroleague, the 6’ 11", 260 lb center got his big chance in the NBA last year with the C’s. But now, at age 26, he has to face the music if he truly is going to contribute to the Celtics this year.

It could be argued that Faverani is moderately buried on the depth chart, despite the departure of Kris Humphries to the Wizards. Although no one knows what Brad Stephen’s rotations will look like for the 14-15 season, Faverani will be competing with the newly acquired Tyler Zeller, Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger, at the Center spot. All three of those hombres are known to be quite coachable and don’t have maturity issues that Faverani has struggled with.

The Promise of "El Hombre Indestructible"

What we all can get excited about is that Faverani can actually play pretty decent. Favarani has been noted to have some impressive stat lines, and has shown that he has the goods to play the Center position for the C’s. He literally exploded for the first two games of the season last year, making him the odds on favorite as the C’s best big man. But November's Mohawk-bearing hero became an end-of-season zero as he went from Celtics starter, to the Celtics bench, to the Maine Red Claws in January, to the medical disabled with a left knee issue in March.

What is intriguing is that Faverani has that rare combination of being able to bang, block and make the trey. In the history of the NBA, only a few bigs have been able to make a three, block 2.5 shots and snag 3 offensive rebounds per 100 possessions, and this is what Faverani did in his first year in the NBA. Besides a few cameo performances by the likes of Andrei Kirilenko, Brad Lohaus, Robert Horry, Arvydas Sabonis, and Chris Webber, only Raef Lafrentz and Eddie Griffin have been able to do so in multiple seasons.

Vitor could be special if he stays on the court, as he had the highest foul rate of the C’s last year along with Olynyk, both of whom exceeded 7 fouls per 48 minutes.  However, with Olynyk on the floor, the C’s had a 9 point improvement in plus/minus than when Faverani was on the floor, which means that Faverani has a lot more work to do in order to get in the flow of Brad Stephens’ game plan.  Then there's Tyler Zeller, a former Butler recruiting target of Brad Stephen's, that Faverani will have to contend with.  Competition at all positions will undoubtedly be good for these young Celtics.

Yes, Vito loves the beach, but to avoid the bench, it’s time for him to get extremely focused, and be the indestructible hombre the C’s need on their front line.  Vitor gets some additional kudos because he’s a dog lover too!