Nenad Krstic Recruited Sasha Pavlovic?

Posted by Brian Robb on Mar 21, 2011 183011 commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F03%2F21%2Fnenad-krstic-recruited-sasha-pavlovic%2FNenad+Krstic+Recruited+Sasha+Pavlovic%3F2011-03-21+14%3A54%3A42Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D18301

There has been a lot of moving and shaking with the Celtics’ roster the past month, with the vast majority coming with a great deal of campaigning. Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers handled the majority of the work in this department, primarily by convincing Troy Murphy to enter the fold.

Yet, as Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe unearthed in his article this morning, one of the newest members of the Celtics was of major assistance in helping Boston to fill out their depth chart on the wing:

Nenad Krstic was reading newspapers online, sifting through the rumors as NBA teams were eyeing the market of bought-out players, when Sasha Pavlovic’s name came up.

The Celtics, Krstic’s new team, apparently still were looking for small forwards, and Pavlovic was on their radar. That was interesting to Krstic.

He has known Pavlovic since they were teenagers playing for Yugoslavia in the FIBA Under-20 European championship. They kept in contact when they both went to the NBA. Now, Krstic was in Boston after a deadline trade from Oklahoma City, and speculation was that Pavlovic could be joining him.

He reached for his cellphone.

“He was telling me, ‘Please, man. Do whatever you can to come here,’ ’’ Pavlovic recalled.

“I called him more because he didn’t have a team,’’ Krstic said.

Joining the Celtics was tempting, but Pavlovic had options and he was still weighing them.

“He said there were a couple teams trying to get him,’’ Krstic said.

Pavlovic ended up signing with the Celtics for the rest of the season, giving them depth, but also giving Krstic a familiar face in a new locker room.Krstic has done enough on the floor already (although he has dipped recently) to make his acquisition a big plus for this team going forward, but this is yet another reason to like the guy.

Although he may have bringing in Pavlovic for mostly personal reasons, the added voice of trust he provided may have been enough to put the swingman over the top in bringing him to town. Krstic has done and said all the right things so for in a C’s uniform, evening earning his stripes even more in a dustup with David West on Saturday night.

And although there’s no guarantee Pavlovic will be a factor for this team going forward, the experienced depth is an upgrade over….well what would have been nothing. We can thank Nenad for that.