Delonte in fist fight with Von Wafer

[GreenEnvy]

I just watched the Knicks telecast and they talked about it and it was surprising to me. I thought they were talking about the incident in practice when they needed to be seperated, and they simply embellished the story.

Then they went on to explain it.

I am pretty upset with this. I wouldn't want ANYONE on the team getting into physical altercations, especially with their teammates. But of ALL people, Delonte should be the last one. I don't know, he obviously has a problem with Wafer, who *seems* to just go about his business. He has that Marquis attitude based off his body language.

Whatever, Doc didn't seem happy about it at all.

I know Wafer probably won't mean much to this team, and West can help a lot, but this should not be tolerated. I would not mind if they added games to his suspension. This guy should not be getting into it with anyone about anything.

[Bahku]

Scuffles between team-mates happen all the time, we just don't hear much about them for reasons of negative publicity. The odd thing about this one, though, is that DeLonte knows he's being scrutinized and watched closely due to his recent problems, and yet he still fails to avoid this kind of additional altercation. Really makes me wonder where his head is at, and just what his real priorities are.

[Atzar]

Scuffles between team-mates happen all the time, we just don't hear much about them for reasons of negative publicity. The odd thing about this one, though, is that DeLonte knows he's being scrutinized and watched closely due to his recent problems, and yet he still fails to avoid this kind of additional altercation. Really makes me wonder where his head is at, and just what his real priorities are.

I agree with most of what you said here, but I don't think I'd question his priorities or even his headspace right now - not based on this.  

Delonte is an aggressive, confrontational player, and it sounds like Wafer has a tough time dealing with that.  If anything, Delonte's priorities might add to his own personal frustrations - his team is out there competing every other night, and he still has to watch seven more games before he's allowed to play.  I don't imagine he feels good about that right now.

And honestly, it's possible that Delonte and Von just don't like each other much.  They're competing for minutes, and from the little I've seen of Von's personality they seem like complete opposites.  This definitely doesn't excuse the incident - this stuff shouldn't happen, even though it does all the time in every practice facility anywhere.  But I definitely wouldn't include Delonte's priorities as a reason for it.

I go to school at UMass Amherst.  The basketball team practices at the rec center, and I happened to be working out there during a practice once.  A couple of the players got in a fight, and punches were thrown.  The coaches and players separated the two quickly, but in general it felt like business as usual - it definitely seemed like something that happened fairly often.  Now, Coach Kellogg ran their asses off for the rest of the practice, but my point is that this isn't unique or a big deal in any way, and it definitely shouldn't have made it to ESPN.com's front page.

[paul]

The whole thing seems overblown at this point.  Hopefully those with more authority, be they players or management, will be able to convince both guys to challenge their competitive fire a lot better.

[thirstyboots18]

TP, neuroticguy!  I agree with your whole statement.  The Celt's knew what they were getting with Delonte...a prexisting condition...and should be willing to work with him now.  This is not anti-social behavior on a grand scale, and "maybe" it was even prevoked...."maybe"...

Delonte has not, to my knowledge, been called a locker room cancer before...sounds fishy to call him that now because of a few small incidents with a player who hasn't yet added much in the way of effort to the team.

Danny and Doc will get to the bottom of the problem and straighten it out one way or another.  That is what they get paid to do.

[GreenFaith1819]

TP, neuroticguy!  I agree with your whole statement.  The Celt's knew what they were getting with Delonte...a prexisting condition...and should be willing to work with him now.  This is not anti-social behavior on a grand scale, and "maybe" it was even prevoked...."maybe"...

Delonte has not, to my knowledge, been called a locker room cancer before...sounds fishy to call him that now because of a few small incidents with a player who hasn't yet added much in the way of effort to the team.

Danny and Doc will get to the bottom of the problem and straighten it out one way or another.  That is what they get paid to do.

TP for TB.

This is along the lines of what I mentioned yesterday afternoon - Delonte does have a medical condition. This is what we have to deal with in regards to him.

I remember there being a thread here discussing Bipolar Disorder from NickAgneta, NG, and a few others back in Sept, I think, and that was the first thing I thought of with the DWest situation.

He is a talented player, but at the end of the day he is a human being and he has this "thing" he is struggling with. I'm not professing to know how much this may have contributed to the fight, and I really hope to not know. This would mean that Danny and Doc have "Circled The Wagons", and that is good.

I hope the best for both DWest and Wafer. Glad that no one has been dismissed here. I'm sure there are some media outlets that would love to see The Celtics implode with this, but - as we saw with the secrecy of "KG's Knee Status", from Danny - he knows how to close off the media.

And that is a good thing.

[Jon]

I think this is being overblown.  

First, if you (and this is a theoretical "you," I'm not addressing anyone in particular) dislike this story because you dislike professional athletes that are violent, you're romanticizing the past.  There's countless stories of Bird, Ainge, Russell, etc., doing all sorts of dirty things.  While these things were usually directed towards the opposition, I'd also contend that quite frankly we don't know what went on at a lot of these practices in the days before the internet, twitter, and cell phones.  

Second, if you think that this is going to "hurt" the team, you're misjudging the character of these veterans.  It'd be one thing if this happened on a young team like the Sixers, who then might start fighting when something goes wrong in the future.  However, I don't see Ray and Paul starting to fight in practice because Von Wafer and Delonte West started the trend.  

Finally, Von Wafer probably won't even be on the roster at the end of the year.  There's no need to rush to any conclusion right now.  

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Well, it seems to be true, but as far as i have seen wafer has no ability to do anything on the floor, so can him, and keep west, he can play...they are at each other because they are competing for the same position...!  should trade marquis danials for TA asap....the kid is worthless.

[celtics2]

Absolutely do not cut West. Bon Voyage Von. He doesn't look nor act like a basketball player. West is a better back up than what we have now and he can play point. Sometimes you have to deal with the Devil. Detroit had it's Rodman. West would be huge in the playoffs. This is a business not a Social Club. Unless Vonny shows he can actually play :-)) I've seen no clues yet. Since 05-06 season what's kept him in the League??

The Big Three are older than the Big Bang. We need all the help we can get so they aren't over played. West can put up 15 in a flash. After the games they can lock him in a cage. He's not really a desirable individual unfortunately. But he can be of use.

[hpantazo]

I think this is being overblown.  

First, if you (and this is a theoretical "you," I'm not addressing anyone in particular) dislike this story because you dislike professional athletes that are violent, you're romanticizing the past.  There's countless stories of Bird, Ainge, Russell, etc., doing all sorts of dirty things.  While these things were usually directed towards the opposition, I'd also contend that quite frankly we don't know what went on at a lot of these practices in the days before the internet, twitter, and cell phones.  

Second, if you think that this is going to "hurt" the team, you're misjudging the character of these veterans.  It'd be one thing if this happened on a young team like the Sixers, who then might start fighting when something goes wrong in the future.  However, I don't see Ray and Paul starting to fight in practice because Von Wafer and Delonte West started the trend.  

Finally, Von Wafer probably won't even be on the roster at the end of the year.  There's no need to rush to any conclusion right now.  

exactly. Von Wafer probably won't be on the roster at the end of january either. Our bench is begging for DWest to come back and give them some stability, scoring, and leadership. Cutting him because he got into a fight over a scrub who is trying to take his spot that also has a history of not getting along on any team, is just dumb.

[nba is the worst]

TP, neuroticguy!  I agree with your whole statement.  The Celt's knew what they were getting with Delonte...a prexisting condition...and should be willing to work with him now.  This is not anti-social behavior on a grand scale, and "maybe" it was even prevoked...."maybe"...

Delonte has not, to my knowledge, been called a locker room cancer before...sounds fishy to call him that now because of a few small incidents with a player who hasn't yet added much in the way of effort to the team.

Danny and Doc will get to the bottom of the problem and straighten it out one way or another.  That is what they get paid to do.

TP for TB.

This is along the lines of what I mentioned yesterday afternoon - Delonte does have a medical condition. This is what we have to deal with in regards to him.

I remember there being a thread here discussing Bipolar Disorder from NickAgneta, NG, and a few others back in Sept, I think, and that was the first thing I thought of with the DWest situation.

He is a talented player, but at the end of the day he is a human being and he has this "thing" he is struggling with. I'm not professing to know how much this may have contributed to the fight, and I really hope to not know. This would mean that Danny and Doc have "Circled The Wagons", and that is good.

I hope the best for both DWest and Wafer. Glad that no one has been dismissed here. I'm sure there are some media outlets that would love to see The Celtics implode with this, but - as we saw with the secrecy of "KG's Knee Status", from Danny - he knows how to close off the media.

And that is a good thing.

I remember that thread, it was full of information.

I've been wondering lately where nickagenta has been, I find myself agreeing with him on almost everything...

If you're out there, nickagenta, give us a quick post and let us know you're OK!

[More Banners]

Beware December 15th...beware December 15th...

Ye of non-guaranteed contract, beware!

[Celtics4ever]

Back punchers are cowards, and your supposed to have guys you'd go to war with on your team.  That leaves Delonte out as far as I am concerned.  I liked him and think he is a better player than Von Wafer but sucker punching someone like that is an action more worthy of a mangy cur than a man.  If that is all you can bring to a fight then one best not fight.  Its unmanly.   Fighting is stupid most of the time but fighting like a coward is worse than not fighting at all to me.

Lasme is looking better and better.  Someone will get cut to save caop space and they both should be expendable.

[LooseCannon]

Beware December 15th...beware December 15th...

Ye of non-guaranteed contract, beware!

December 15 is when you can trade players you signed in the off-season.  January 10 is the deadline for cutting people before contracts become guaranteed.

[j804]

LOL at the Celtics organization and players sticking up for West and trying to cover up this foolish mess he created just because they know they need him (as a player). Desperate indeed. Of course the reports today say none of the players had conflicts with West aside from Wafer, well it's because Delonte has been a punk to Wafer because he has to sit on the bench can't even be in the arena, jealousy probably whatever. Sucker punching someone is straight up coward. Wait till one of the vets trys to scold him and catches him on a bad day. It'll get ugly and the whole staff will be the ones to blame.