Jeff Teague is the new backup point guard for the Boston Celtics. At 32, the former All-Star will try to return to the front of the stage after a few too discreet seasons with Indiana and Minnesota. In Boston, Teague will be coached for the first time in his career by Brad Stevens. Not many people knew it until now, but there is a history between the two, as the veteran point guard recounted on NBC Sports.
While in high school in Pike, Indiana, Jeff Teague met Stevens, then a young head coach from nearby Butler’s college. Brad Stevens had obviously spotted the point guard’s talent for years and hoped he could enlist him with the Bulldogs. A frank discussion and a parental denunciation that probably changed the trajectory of Jeff Teague, as hard as the way seemed at the time.
“Brad changed my life, to put it simply. I really wasn’t focused enough on school. I played basketball, sure, but going to class was clearly not my favorite occupation. We got together. in a room with Brad, my dad and me.
He showed her the bad grades and ballots that I had been hiding for years. And he said to me: ‘If you want to have the chance to play in college, you have to improve your grades. My father was angry to hear that. I had to pick myself up and I got there.
Whenever I have faced Brad and the Celtics afterwards, I have said to him: ‘Thank you for saving my life. He looked at me every time with an air like, ‘We don’t care, man, shut up’. “
Brad Stevens: who is the mastermind of the Boston Celtics?
Jeff Teague preferred to join Wake Forest than Butler and was finally drafted in 2009 by the Atlanta Hawks, in a league where he amassed just under $ 100 million in career earnings. We can a priori trust Jeff Teague to give everything on the field, to thank a coach who referred him at a crucial time and perhaps allowed him to become a highly paid professional player.
