The Boston Celtics have been getting creative with some of their drills this season. We first saw this during the offseason when they had Romeo Langford take shots with a ping-pong paddle attached to his hand to correct a mechanical flaw.
But apparently, these unique methods of improvement have spread to the whole team.
Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com outlined some of the unconventional drills the Celtics are using this year, and one of them involved assistant coach Jerome Allen having Tacko Fall run slant routes and trying to catch a football. Brad Stevens explained why this drill was a sensible one for Fall to be working on.
"It makes total sense," Stevens said, per Westerholm. "(Fall) has to run, sprint, find the ball, quickly turn his head, catch it on the fly, maybe have a cone up to avoid the next obstacle, just little things like that that have nothing to do with basketball, but still have a lot to do with movements that he’ll do in the game."
The returns from Fall's route-running appear to be paying off so far. Fall has shown good movement and pass-catching skills in limited preseason and NBA action.
That said, the Celtics better make sure the New England Patriots don't catch wind of Fall running routes. Otherwise, they may try to steal the 7-foot-7 playmaker from the C's and convert him to tight end!
Boston Celtics
In all seriousness, It's good to see the Celtics coaching staff continuing to work and embrace unconventional methods to improve their team. Perhaps these drills are part of the reason the team has been able to stay fresh and engaged amid their impressive 5-1 start to the season.
Blakely's Takeaways: Hayward's O, Smart's D stand out>>>
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.