addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
BOSTON – Friday was another great day to be a two-way player for the Boston Celtics.
The NBA G League announced Friday afternoon that both of Boston’s two-way players, Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall, had earned G League end-of-season awards.
Waters, who was recently named the league’s Rookie of the Year and who finished third in the league’s MVP voting, added to his list of accolades by earning All-NBA G League Second Team and NBA G League All-Rookie Team honors.
Fall, meanwhile, was named to the NBA G League All-Defensive Team.
These two players have both shown significant promise and growth since joining the Celtics this past summer. C's head coach Brad Stevens has commented multiple times on the upside and development that he has seen in each of them.
“I like the two-ways, and we like both of ours and they’ve progressed really well,” he said March 3, just a week before the NBA went on hiatus. “I think Tremont’s had a year where he’s probably going to be in the mix as one of the better players in the G League, and I think Tacko has improved as much as anybody, just watching him and seeing him and being around him on a daily basis”
Stevens was rather accurate in his forecast, as the G League’s Friday announcements attest.
Waters, who was chosen with the 51st overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, has made an impact far beyond his 5-foot-10 frame ever since his debut in the 2019 NBA Summer League. He went on to average 18.0 points. 7.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game during 36 games with the Maine Red Claws this season. His top performance for Maine arrived during a Nov. 27 win over the Greensboro Swarm, during which he tallied a season-high 33 points to go along with seven assists, two steals and one rebound.
Waters also appeared in 10 games for the Celtics, during which the team went 8-2. He logged a positive plus/minus rating during six of those 10 appearances, including a career-best plus-20 during a Nov. 25 win over Sacramento.
Fall, who signed with Boston as an undrafted free agent, also logged gaudy statistics for Maine despite averaging only 23.3 minutes of playing time per contest. He finished the season with averages of 12.9 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. He ranked third in the G League in blocked shots and sixth in rebounding.
During 29 games with the Red Claws, Fall registered 11 games with at least four blocks, including a season-best nine blocks March 8 against the Windy City Bulls. He also registered double-digit rebounding games in all but eight of his full games, highlighted by a season-best 18 rebounds that he logged twice against the College Park Skyhawks, on both Dec. 29 and Feb. 20.
The top performance of Fall’s G League season was a 16-point, 14 rebound, nine-block performance March 8, during which he shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the field.
As these numbers indicate, there was no shortage of great days for these two players during their first respective professional seasons as two-way players for the Celtics and the Red Claws. Friday added to the list – a list that is sure to grow as these two young careers continue to blossom.