With no fans and limited hobbies to hone in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, watching what players do to kill time is often just as fascinating as what’s happening on the court. The latest example of this is the confirmation that the Celtics are making sure Tacko Fall learns to swim.
Since joining the team Fall became an immediate fan favorite on what’s an extremely likable Boston Celtics team. Fans love the Celtics putting games away to the point where the intriguing 7-foot-5 rookie center can get some valuable minutes, and even in a pandemic you can see people selling “Tacko Time” shirts on the streets of Boston. One of the most delightful parts of his reputation in the city is that he was actually taking swim classes at the Charlestown Boys and Girls Club, as he never learned while living in Dakar, Senegal, or while at school in Florida.
And we now know that, despite those lessons almost certainly getting cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, Fall has continued his training in the Orlando Bubble thanks to teammates Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter. The latter posted a video to Twitter on Monday ahead of Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors that showed them holding Fall up in the water while he got in some strokes.
https://twitter.com/EnesKanter/status/1300531112008200193
It’s great to see Fall is still putting in some reps and learning new skills in the Bubble, something that many people with a lot of down time say but rarely follow through on. And there’s something oddly mesmerizing about an absurdly tall human being, even compared to two professional basketball players, learning to swim in a pool. It’s good teamwork all around, and it only makes the legend of Tacko Fall grow.
