7'6" Tacko Fall Starts His NBA Career with the Celtics

The young player will hope to emulate the feats achieved by other tall players like Yao Ming.

Sengalese player Tacko Fall played his first game in the NBA as a Celtic in their 118-95 win against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

23-year-old Fall was not selected during the 2019 NBA draft, but was signed by the Boston Celtics and played for them in the NBA Summer League. He averaged 7.2 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks with an incredible 77% FG shooting in the field.

In his four minutes playing in the NBA against the Knicks, Fall (more commonly known in the league and fans by his given name "Tacko") scored four points, three rebounds, and a block. All-star point guard Kemba Walker led the Celtics with 32 points, but the highlight of the game is Tacko's standing Slam Dunk, marking his first two career points as an NBA player.

Tacko is not the first player with "above-average" height to play in the NBA. The father-son pair of Manute Bol and Bol Bol excited fans but came up short of dominating the game. Chinese player Yao Ming, who is also listed as 7'6," fared better, appearing 8x in NBA All-Star games.

The legendary Celtics do not have a shortage of Hall of Famer Centers. Robert Parish, Dave Cowens, Artis Gilmore, Bob McAdoo, and Bill Russell certainly fit the bill. If you add Shaq and Kevin Garnett, who played for the Celtics for a few years, that is even a longer list of impressive centers. Celtics fans are looking forward to the young Tacko and how his height can help bring back the team's glory.

The question is, will Tacko be able to do it? Summer league numbers don't really show a stellar performance. However, extrapolating his game stats using just four minutes of play, those will be amazing figures. However, it will probably take a while before Boston Celtics management decides to put Tacko in the front line.

TD garden fans disagree with them. There was already a "We Want Tacko!" chant when the Celtics played at home during the preseason warm-up games. The same cheer was heard against the Knicks, and when Celtics Coach Brad Stevens put him in, and he performed brilliantly.