Not Whistling Dixie

Songaila is making an impression at the Shaw's Pro Summer League Photo By Wake Forest

In his dorm room at Wake Forest, Darius Songaila recalls watching the rugged play in the NBA. He saw the players bumping. Grinding. Pushing. An elbow here, an elbow there. All part of the professional game.

So nothing shocked Songaila more than when he was on the receiving end of a quick succession of foul calls earlier this week at the Shaw’s Pro Summer League.

The referee’s whistle put him in foul trouble, and the sight of Songaila shaking his head on the way to bench was a regular occurrence. The summer league has a no foul-out policy, but when a player records his sixth personal foul, his team receives a technical and the opposition is awarded a technical free throw. A technical is issued for every personal foul the player picks up thereafter.

The technical free throws add up, and while the league is intended to give players a chance to develop and display their skills (hence the no foul out rule), coaches still put a premium on winning.

His problems began on Monday, when Songaila found himself with three personals before halftime of the Celtics. He then picked up his fifth less than two minutes into the final period. It got worse on Tuesday, as the Celtics game was barely five minutes old when he was flagged with his third personal foul. He saw only 9 minutes of action the rest of the way.

“I expected a little bit of a rougher game,” said Songaila. “It is the NBA and when you watch it on TV, you see these big guys banging. And once you actually get here, it is like every single touch you hear a whistle. But it is just another thing I have to make an adjustment on. I was in foul trouble in the last two games and coach says he wants to keep me in, but I keep picking up fouls.”

Through the first two days of the developmental league, the Celtics only pick in the 2002 NBA Draft played 42 minutes, not exactly what they (or Songaila) had hoped for. When he picked up three fouls in the first quarter on Thursday, both must have wondered if the first-year forward would ever get any sustained action.

Whether it rooted from questionable calls, over-aggressive play or just plain old bad luck, Songaila broke the streak in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game against the Magic. In 9 minutes of play, he scored 4 points, grabbed 3 boards and picked up no fouls.

On Friday, Songaila had his finest performance at the Shaw’s Pro Summer League. In 25 minutes of play, he scored 19 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field and grabbed 7 boards. The fact that 5 of those rebounds were collected from the offense glass speaks to how Songaila has quickly learned what he can and cannot get away with.

“I am not going to back down just because I don’t want to get fouled,” said Songaila. “Maybe I can just stay away from those silly calls, but there will always be some calls you just can’t escape.”