What follows is a guest blog from my aforementioned friend - and Celtics Madman - Adlew Druz, who’s working on putting together his own blog on the shamrocks…which we look forward to having many battles with…but in the meantime he wanted to share his feelings on Leon Powe with us Cavs aficionados.
There’s also chatter about Big Baby Davis, which I expect Holland may have a thing or two to say about.
And with that I’ll pass the mic to Druz…
*************************************************************************************
Leon Powe is a Grown-Ass Man. I captialize the Grown-Ass Man epithet for several reasons, the main reason being that it’s the undeniable truth.
When news finally broke that Leon Powe had officially signed a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers I noticed that, in Boston, this news could not be reported without the accompaniment of a saccharine farewell. Boston fans were going to miss Good Old Leon. The headlines plucked Celtics fans’ heartstrings one by one: “The Powe Show Hits the Road”, “Powe Show a No Go”, “Farewell, My Sweet, Sweet Leon”, “Powe Celtics Lose Leon”, and who could forget the timeless classic “Remember When Leon Powe Dunked on the Lakers?” Damn. It had finally hit me. I was going to miss that Grown-Ass Man.
It occurred to me that my Cleveland brethren might not even know that Grown-Ass Man is the must-use moniker for Leon Powe, Jr. Does Cleveland know what they’re getting? Sorry. I should correct myself. Does Cleveland know what they’re getting…when the aforementioned player is healthy?
Another undeniable truth: watching Leon Powe play professional basketball for the Boston Celtics for the past three seasons has been an absolute pleasure. He’s all hustle and perseverance. He pounds the boards, plays physical down low, has a touch around the basket, draws fouls, commits hard fouls, and, best of all, he thoroughly enjoys posting up against stronger and taller Big Men. Sure, he plays below the rim most of the time, but there’s no other place you’d want him to be. He executes, he’s efficient, and then he’s out of the game having left it all on the floor and you, the fan whose hands are tingling and lobster-red from clapping so hard, will find yourself wondering why he’s not playing forty minutes a game. The short answer is: why change a good thing? The other short answer is: because his knees, his skills, and his size won’t allow him to compete at this desired level for those kind of minutes. But that’s what makes him the perfect role player for a team competing for a title as Cleveland inevitably will be this upcoming season.
I don’t mean to disparage what Leon Powe adds to a basketball team by categorizing him as simply a “role player.” He’s a success in the NBA not just because he executes in the role he’s given. Oh, no. Grown-Ass Men are not merely role players. Leon Powe is a bona fide Game Changer. Get ready, Cleveland. There will be moments when his knees don’t buckle, when his teammates clear out of the paint, when the bench starts hootin’ and hollerin’ and wavin’ towels in a Big Game as Leon skies above the rim to throw one down like a Grown-Ass Man. You, Cavs fan, you’ll soon find yourself rising from your seat and shouting, “Leeoooooonnn!” at your TV screen in ecstatic disbelief as if you had a son and that son miraculously grew into a 6’9” black man with a finely man-scaped goatee and with the ability to throw down a stunner in the heat of an actual NBA game (hopefully all of this won’t go down on February 25th when Leon will most likely be healthy enough to play in the Cavs match-up against the Celtics). Coaches love Powe because watching him succeed is basically watching hard work and perseverance pay off right before their eyes.
I know Tim has broken down his eye-opening per minute statistics but, statistics aside, you’re going to love watching this man play the game of basketball. You’ll get excited about watching the Grown-Ass Man because his teammates get excited about playing with the Grown-Ass Man. They’re excited because a) they recognize that he’s a great man with the heart of a lion and they respect him by acknowledging that having a lionesque heart is a big part of being a Grown-Ass Man and b) they know he can Change Games. Without question, Powe helps his team win and, of course, his teammates are going to love that aspect of his game. Keep an eye on the Cleveland bench’s reaction when Powe executes down low with an And-1. They’re going to go bonkers. His teammates loved him in Boston. And, yes, this is an illustration of how KG expresses his love for a teammate:
KG fondly referred to Powe as a Grown-Ass Man after pounding him in the chest - hard - after a big play. Then KG whispered sweet nuthin’s into Leon’s ear as shown in the photo above. As you may have already figured, the nickname also references Powe’s maturation as a homeless teenager growing up alongside his siblings without a father in Oakland. It’s the ultimate tip of the hat. It’s both unabatedly serious and ridiculous. “The Show” works as well, but in my mind it has an And-1 connotation that doesn’t correctly encapsulate Powe’s game. That is not to say Leon Powe can’t put on a show. Let’s flashback for a moment, shall we?
(Sidenote: The subtitle of that reel is “Rondo Doin’ Work.”)
The Grown-Ass Man single-handedly took over Game 2 of the 2008 NBA Finals in what many refer to as a quintessential “Powe Show.” The nickname is solid for someone who is not already known as the Grown-Ass Man. Powe capped off his epic Game Changing performance with a vicious Plastic Man-esque running tomahawk (Stacey Augmon reference? Yup!) that will forever be branded in the front row section of my medulla oblongata that preserves all Celtics related memories. I know I don’t really need to seel Leon Powe to Cavs fans (especially at the bargain of a price Cleveland got him) but you need to be reminded of what this man is/was capable of.
It’s not often that a player can take over the NBA Finals and leave Phil Jackson scratching his head, asking himself on camera, “Who is this guy? Leon Powe? Pow? Am I pronouncing that right?” No. No, you’re not, Phil Jackson. It’s pronounced, “Grown-Ass Man.”
Leon Powe has a shot at being the steal of the off-season. He’s bounced back from these types of knee injuries many a times. Unfortunately, the Celtics misplayed their hand trying to re-sign Leon. There are rumors flying all over the place at the moment, but the fact of the matter is that the Celtics felt it was necessary to have a healthy PF coming off of their bench for the start and majority of this oh-so-important upcoming season. They also believe Big Baby will provide more positive impact on their team over the next two years than Leon Powe would at this juncture in their respective careers. Leon and his health issues were apparently too much of a risk for the Celtics to take on.
I’m convinced that if Baby had not resigned Leon Powe would still be a Celtic. I don’t have all that much to complain about since I’m a big fan of BBD. Of course, Baby is beloved in Boston as well albeit for different reasons. But Baby committed to the Celtics’ coaching staff just as Powe did and all of his hard work paid off. We witnessed Baby’s quality of play improve dramatically at the tail end of last season. It’s well known that Doc Rivers had Baby and Powe constantly battling each other for playing time. I have no idea how heated of a contest it was between them or whether or not practice got as awkwardly intense as I would like to imagine. Regardless, it was a shrewd coaching strategy that only works in the NBA if you have two truly dedicated and hungry competitors suiting up for you night in/night out. Baby finally figured out how to stay out of foul trouble so he could physically stay in the game so that he could make an impact. And then he started to hit his jump shots in Big Games including his clutch push-that-damn-kid-outta-the-way-holy-shit-did-I-just-win-us-a-playoff-game-why-wasn’t-Ray-Allen-taking-that-shot-I-can’t-believe-I-hit-that-jump-shot-against-the-Magic. In hindsight, that shot, after the weight incentives are all paid out, could very well have made Baby an extra $2.5-$3.5M. The Celtics thought investing in Baby for the right price was worth it so they made him a priority this off-season post-signing Sheed. Counterpoint: Powe also led us to a win in a Big Game only his performance took place in the NBA Finals, not the Eastern Conference Semis. Either way, I’m glad the Celtics managed to at least sign one of the two players because the prospect of not being able to re-sign Baby or Powe after we signed Sheed seemed very real at one point, earlier this off-season. Had Ainge failed to bring back Baby or Powe then diehard Celts fans would have been agitated and the team would likely experience some trouble matching up against the Eastern Conference elite.
That said, the miscommunication between the Celtics’ front office and Powe continues to befuddle me. At this point, I’m ready to move on and I’d rather not dwell on it. However, I’m led to believe the Celtics were aware of the fact that they might have been able to re-sign Powe for something close to a veteran’s minimum contract, but there had to have been some internal concern about the current team’s health and/or age for this upcoming season after signing Sheed. And so, at the end of the day, the Celtics went in another direction, as employers like to say when respectfully declining a good man’s services.
Leon understood it was a business decision, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be ticked off about it. My reaction would be “Sherwin Williams”? before stringing together a slew of expletives directed towards Danny Ainge and Wyc Grousbeck. Leon has every right to be ripshit at the Celtics and, apparently, he is since he signed with the Celtics’ Eastern Conference rival. But before I know it Good Old Leon drops a gem of a quote on Celtics fans just as the door slams shut on his way: “There’s no hard feelings. I understand that you need someone who can play the whole season.” The man is a gentleman even when he doesn’t need to be. My father would call him a class act. Friends and teammates have called him “The Show”. Personally? I think I’ll stick with Grown-Ass Man. You might want to do the same, Cleveland.
(view comments)
