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Celtics sign Tony Adams
According to the article below found through Google, the
Celtics beat out offers from China, Turkey and the Frito-
Lay Company to sign MEAC Player of the Year Tommy Adams,
a 6-3 guard. He played with Minnesota in the Summer
circuit. The article also mentions that Boston's training
camp opens next Tuesday, the 1st of October. I didn't
know that. Paul Pierce has had a non-stop hectic summer.
I hope he can get this trial behind him.
Joe H.
Sep 24, 2002
Hylton's Adams signs with Celtics
http://www.manassasjm.com/sports/MGB1COM9H6D.html
BY KEITH MCMILLAN
kmcmillan@potomacnews.com
It's been a long time since Tommy Adams played basketball
for Hylton High School.
He averaged 18.7 points per game during his senior year,
1997-98, for the 13-10 Bulldogs. He was better known as a
soccer standout, and jokes that he had a hard time
earning local postseason basketball honors.
On Friday, Adams signed a one-year, non-guaranteed
contract with the NBA's Boston Celtics. He'll compete
with Shammond Williams and fellow rookie J.R. Bremer for
Boston's point guard job when training camp begins
October 1.
"I'm happy," said Adams, who returned to Virginia this
weekend after spending much of last week in
Boston. "Making a vet camp was my main goal. The good
thing is I've signed the contract, and if I get released,
it won't be on a bad note."
Adams expects to participate in exhibition games with the
Celtics, and signed a backup deal with the NBA's
Developmental League, the NBDL, in case he is cut before
the season begins. Even in that event, he could be called
up and signed by the Celtics or any other team at any
time.
Adams, who garnered little attention from college
recruiters out of Hylton and went undrafted out of
Hampton, passed up a marketing job at Frito-Lay and
basketball contracts offered overseas to pursue the NBA,
against the advice of his mother and agent.
"I went out on faith," he said. "Nobody expected me to
make the team out of Hampton. I fell through the cracks.
I was a player who had trouble making first-team all-
district in high school."
Woodbridge head coach Will Robinson, who coached against
Adams in high school and is a deacon at Adams' church,
Ebenzer Baptist in Woodbridge, said Adams didn't make it
this far by luck. Adams, at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, was
a scoring point guard at Hampton. In postseason
tournaments and workouts, Adams drew plenty of praise for
his jump shot.
"Tommy shoots the ball extremely well," said
Robinson. "He has the body and the athleticism [to make
it in the NBA]. Now he just needs to work on the handle
and the ability to orchestrate a team."
Adams, who was the 2001-02 Mid-Eastern Athletic
Conference player of the year and graduated from Hampton
in May, played with the Minnesota Timberwolves' summer
league team. He expected that to be the best fit for him,
though he'd received interest from Denver, Seattle,
Dallas, Detroit, the L.A. Clippers and Milwaukee. He also
attended a mini-camp with the L.A. Lakers earlier this
month.
He landed in Boston for a workout on Wednesday and signed
a contract on Friday, three days before he expected to.
He also signed a contract with the NBDL in case he is cut
in training camp.
Adams says Boston is committed to keeping 12 players, the
size of an NBA active roster. He could displace someone
by playing well in training camp, find himself on the
NBA's version of a practice squad, the three-man injured
reserve, or get cut altogether, voiding his one-year deal
and sending him to the developmental league. But even
there, where eight players were called up to the NBA last
season, he can pursue his dream.
Frank Catapano, Adams Boston-based agent, advised him to
accept an overseas deal, Adams said earlier this summer.
Teams in Greece, Turkey and China were interested in him.
Adams' mother, Marietta, suggested he take the job at
Frito-Lay.
"Her thing was to go get a job," he said. "She had a
mother's reaction, she didn't want to see her son get
hurt [if he failed]."
Adams said his father Tom is proud of him because few
people can earn a living doing something he or she loves.
Tony Adams followed in the footsteps of his older brother
by going to Hampton. He also believed in Tommy.
"My brother always thought I could make it if I got the
right chance," said Adams.
Adams credits a lot of people for helping get him this
far. Robinson recommended him to then-Hampton coach Steve
Merfeld. He also put Adams together with Ed Myers and
Reggie Kitchen, with whom Adams worked out this summer.
Adams also credits Rev. Dwight Michael and the
congregation at church for supporting him along the way.
"A lot of people play a part," said Robinson. "[But] the
person has to be willing to accept that, to want that for
himself, and Tommy wanted it."
Adams had no idea when he was at Hylton that staying the
course would get him this far. Neither did Robinson.
"My feeling at the time was that he'd be a good Division
I player," Robinson said.
Now Adams has got his shot in the NBA.
"The Lord led me to the right place," Adams said of
landing in Boston. "I've tried to put as many things in
his hands as possible."
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