Finally, A Breakout Year for Vanilla Thunder

Brian Scalabrine has three years under his belt as a Boston Celtic, and two more to go.

Phew!

A five year contract…for Brian Scalabrine.

I really (really) have never said one bad word about this signing. But in hindsight, I don’t think there is a person alive (other than those happy that the Celtics don’t have another roster spot open for someone more productive) who hasn’t scratched their head over this one.

I might just be the last of them.

Once upon a time there was a feeling that Brian Scalabrine might be a player. I don’t recall the year, but his number was called during an overtime session in the playoffs while he was with the Nets, and he delivered. Boy, did he deliver. Several three-pointers and a couple of hustle plays helped the Nets prevail.

Obviously, Isiah Thomas had loaned the Big Fella some of his smelling salts from the old Bad Boys days.

Don’t get me wrong. I still root for #44, and I was totally on board with starting him in place of Garnett when the Ticket was out with an abdominal injury. Many questioned how Doc came to the decision of replacing KG with Veal after not having played the USC grad much at all in the preceding games.

Easy.

Vanilla Thunder kept the rest of the rotation in tact.

Ironically, as much as we all root for this guy, laugh at his crazy sense of humor, and feel bad when fans bust his chops, his biggest contribution this year may yet turn out to be his contract.

By mid-season, Scalabrine will have only one full year left on his contract. Not only is a one-year deal relatively appealing, the final year is worth $3.4m. Thus, Scalabrine's contract suddenly becomes more marketable, and, when combined with the contract of another player on the Celtics roster, just might be enough to match the salary of a player the Celtics need to acquire for another championship run.