As if there wasn't enough hubbub over whether Greg Stiemsma is the evolutionary Brian Scalabrine, the Steamer has signed on to be the newest weekly guest of 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich program. His first interview was today, and featured him talking about his time in Turkey and South Korea, and his path to the NBA.
They have a post with assorted quotes up at cbsbostonsports.com, as well as a podcast version of the 10-minute interview.
Stiemsma wasn't nearly as entertaining as Scal used to be, but who is, really. Scal will be an excellent broadcaster or analyst when his career is over; Stiemsma sounds more like any other athlete. But he still has such a unique story among NBA players that the interview is worth a listen.
He did say a few things of note about this Celtics team. First, KG appears to be pro-Stiemsma:
"KG's been great, breaking down a lot of stuff for me and simplifying things at times."
It's not much, but we hear about KG abusing or ignoring rookies, so it's good to see that they have a good relationship.
He also talked about the now-famous "I'm a shooter" story, in which Doc made him declare that he could score the ball during practice after he had been too timid. His timidity is really the result of the role he has filled at all levels.
"I've never been much of a scorer, even in high school we had a great team. I was just a guy in the middle who blocked shots. It's never been a matter of not being able to score, it's not really looking to score and not really needing to score. Every shot I take I expect to make, so I try to take good shots and limit the bad ones."
This is an interesting point. Usually the NBA is filled with guys who were the best player in their state or region all through growing up, used to scoring the ball (and doing everything else) in bunches. Then finding a role beyond scoring can become a challenge. Clearly that's not the case for Stiemsma. It's one thing to not score at Wisconsin, which is a notoriously slow and defense-oriented program. But to not score even back in high school shows where Stiemsma's game has been focused.
If you like what you hear, Stiemsma will be featured every Wednesday at 9:00 on 98.5.
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