The above video is a Dionte Christmas workout at Reebok Headquarters. The more I think about Dionte, the more I like the signing and think he's going to be able to help the team, especially while Avery Bradley is out at the beginning of the season. At 6'5" with a 6'9" wingspan, Christmas can play 3 positions. He is a good ball handler and proved in summer league that he can play the point and run an offense. He can also play shooting guard and has a complete offensive arsenal. He also has the size and quickness to play small forward.
Dionte Christmas won't be your typical rookie. He was a four year player at Temple but was not drafted coming out of college. He knew he needed to work on his game to make himself more valuable to an NBA team so he played 4 years overseas. Last year in Greece, he averaged 18.6 points. He shot 57.8% from two point range and 36% from beyond the arc. He also averaged 4.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He comes in with experience behind him.
Dionte impressed during Summer League and received several offers, including overseas teams. But Dionte's dream was to make the Celtics. After signing with the Celtics, he also signed a contract with Reebok. In my opinion, Reebok doesn't just offer contracts to random players they don't believe will make it in the league. They saw some promise in the Celtics rookie as well.
This summer, Dionte has been playing basketball and working out with other Celtics. There have been tweets of him working with Jason Terry, Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo, and Kris Josephs. He has also been playing in tournaments in his home town of Philly. Both tournaments included NBA talent and both tournaments were won by Dionte's teams. The second tournament, the Rumph Classic, was in honor of Danny Rumph, a former teammate of Courtney Lee for whom he chose the number 11 jersey. Dionte was also named the MVP of the Rumph classic.
This kid has talent and he's coming in this season very hungry. He's worked 4 years overseas to get this chance and he's going to work very hard to make this chance work out for him. He's very coachable and very versatile. And his hunger is going to make him even better. I'm looking forward to seeing him in training camp with the veterans around him. I really think that Danny has a diamond in the rough in this kid and he's going to surprise a lot of people once he gets the chance.
Dionte Christmas 41 pts vs Olympiacos Greek A1 League