See Ya In A Year Yabu My Sweet Prince
I am man enough to admit that when Yabu was drafted, I was a bit confused, you could even call it angry. I had never heard of him, seen one second of film, and all I knew was we were spending our 16th pick on a guy who probably wouldn’t make the roster. That upset me to some degree, but once we saw him play, collectively I think we all fell in love. It’s certainly no surprise that Yabu is being stashed, since that was most likely the plan all along, and his performance this summer was probably more icing on the cake than an audition for him to make the final roster.
Having said that, this is still heartbreaking. The best part about summer league is letting yourself buy into ridiculous hype and predictions and nothing was more intoxicating than the Yabu Hype. He hit threes, he dunked on people, he seemed to glide up and down the floor like he wasn’t Jared Sullinger 2.0. Yabu was up there in terms of consistent summer performers, averaging 8/7, which by no means is really impressive but at the same time was totally impressive.
When you add this news to the fact that Ante Zizic is staying in Croatia, all this really means is their cap holds come off the books but the Celts still own their rights. Basically what we thought would happen on draft night is actually happening, and it makes me think about what this means for Abdel Nader. Does he make the team now? Seems like the Celts have roster spots, with Sullinger gone, and Zeller still being up in the air, so I’m curious why this is happening. Maybe a trade (wink wink)?
Either way, Yabu, have fun in China, I will miss you, and thank you for the few weeks of irresponsible conclusions you allowed me to form. And remember, we’ll always have our Summer ’16 romance