Boston Celtics: Without substantial improvements, Tacko Fall will not make team’s 15-man roster

Tacko Fall, one of this summer’s most buzzed about players, recently signed an Exhibit-10 contract with the Boston Celtics. However, without substantial improvements to his game, don’t expect to see the center on the 15-man roster come day one of the regular season.

After a fantastic Las Vegas Summer League, the Boston Celtics offered center Tacko Fall an Exhibit-10 contract, which is a non-guaranteed deal that can be converted to a Two-Way contract down the line. It can also be converted to a standard one-year deal if the team so chooses.

With this, the 7-7 wunderkind is slated to be a participant at Boston Celtics training camp and will have a fair shot to compete for a spot on the regular season roster. However, though Fall has a chance to join the team’s 15-man roster, unless he makes significant improvements in his game, I wouldn’t count on this happening — at least, not right away.

With his enormous height and 8-4 wingspan, Fall will always tower over his opposition. Only Kristaps Porzingis and Boban Marjanovic come close to staring eye to eye with the awe-inspiring Fall. And while both these players are fun to be grouped in with, when looking at all three of their games it appears Fall falls behind both of them.

In today’s game, floor spacing is everything. From the point guard all the way to the center, everyone on the court is expected to be able to have somewhat of a shooting game.

Tacko Fall’s jump shot is seemingly non-existent.

Throughout his collegiate career Fall managed to average 10.1 points per game on a very impressive 74% shooting from the field. However, if one watched his games, you would have noticed seemingly all his points came from within two to seven feet from the rim, and many of his buckets came from second chance possessions — the first possession also being his, but he usually ended up missing the initial shot.

While this may have proven to be successful in college, the NBA is an entirely different beast.

Players at the professional level are taller, stronger and, of course, better than a large majority of the talent in college. If Fall were to miss his initial shot, the likelihood of him having a second chance at a basket is very low. Guys like Kevin Love and Draymond Green will box him out of the paint, while rim protectors like Joel Embiid and Rudy Gobert will swallow him whole. Being the tallest guy on the court doesn’t get you as far in the big leagues as it does every level before it.

Marjanovic came into the league with a successful career already in Europe. Fall doesn’t have the most successful college career behind him. He ended up going un-drafted because of it. Kristaps Porzingis came into the league boasting a never-before-seen skill set. We have seen guys like Fall come and go. Shawn Bradley was seven-foot-six but didn’t do anything with his height. Right now, that seems like a more likely path for Fall than becoming the next Yao Ming.

Luckily, Fall will have chances to become a more well-rounded player within the Boston Celtics organization. However, it may not be with the team’s regular season roster but, rather, with the Main Red Claws in the G-League.

Until he improves upon his low post and/ or mid range game, don’t expect to see Tacko Fall landing on Boston’s 15-man regular season roster.