Boston Celtics: Making sense of the Amile Jefferson signing

Former Duke Blue Devil Amile Jefferson was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract by the Boston Celtics. The Houdini divulges as to why that could be the case.

Ask, and you shall receive. The Houdini wanted the Boston Celtics to hunt after a traditional power forward, and there Danny Ainge was, scooping one right off the free agent wire.

It wasn’t Ryan Anderson or Ersan Ilyasova. It wasn’t even in a trade, like I have been scheming up recently. Instead, it was someone followers of Jayson Tatum’s entire basketball career might remember well: Amile Jefferson.

So what is Tatum’s former teammate at Duke doing on the Cs roster as the team heads into training camp–armed with the most important mission in franchise history: preserving the team’s title of winningest franchise in sports?

Sidebar: the Los Angeles Lakers are spookily close to claiming banner #18 before Boston does. That’s why Jefferson’s signing may seem puzzling from a wide-frame view. Why is Danny Ainge wasting his time signing guys who may not even make the roster? Do remember, Jefferson shot 35 percent from the field last season with the Orlando Magic and didn’t so much as attempt a 3-pointer.

The reason is simple and has been dropped as a hint several times before I continued to ask questions and divert from the answer to the very question I asked: Jefferson is a former teammate of Tatum from their days at Duke.

Jefferson wasn’t just any teammate, he was the captain under Coach K. Given the team’s national championship victory in 2015, it is not hard to imagine Jefferson earning the unmitigated respect from all of his fellow Blue Devils and all of the Cameron crazies too, for that matter.

Keeping the team’s recent $195 million investment happy in the first season of his new deal is a smart move, especially considering the likelihood Jayson Tatum will need to recreate his phenomenal February and bubble performances to keep the team afloat until Kema Walker returns in January.

Good move, Danny. We see you painting the corners.