Celtics already know what Fenerbahce Ulker's McCalebb can do

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ISTANBULThe name Bo McCalebb probably doesn't ring a bell to the average Boston Celtics fan.

He's one of the top players in Europe and the Celtics will see plenty of him Friday night when the C's take on McCalebb's team, Fenerbahce Ulker.

He's certainly a familiar face to the C's who pursued him earlier this summer.

Ultimately the 6-foot-3 point guard signed a three-year deal with Fenerbahce that's worth 2 million per season. When you throw in all the financial perks that come with playing overseas, bringing him in would have been too costly for the Celtics.

Boston will see first-hand on Friday night what they missed out on. But there's at least one Celtics player who is quite familiar with McCalebb's game.

That would be Brandon Bass, who like McCalebb, is a Louisiana native. The two played against each when Bass was at LSU and McCalebb was at the University of New Orleans.

"Nobody could stay in front of him," Bass said. "He's got game. You have to respect him."

In college, McCalebb was indeed a big-time scorer.

In 2007, he was the Sun Belt Conference player of the year and had career averages of 20.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and three assists per game.

Although he put up big numbers offensively, he was known primarily as a slasher who didn't look to score much from the perimeter.

He played in Italy last season for Montepaschi Siena and averaged 17.3 points per game which included him shooting 52.6 percent on 3-pointers.

With his size, speed and a steadily improving jumper, it's not all that surprising that the Celtics were among the NBA teams to express interest in him.

In addition to Boston, the San Antonio Spurs appeared to come as close as any NBA team did to signing him, but San Antonio could not reach a buyout agreement with Montepaschi Siena. Shortly after that fell through, he inked a multi-year deal with Fenerbahce.

"He probably should be on the other side of the waters now," Bass said.

Celtics rookie Dionte Christmas played in Turkey last season, and is well-versed on McCalebb's game.

"He should have been in the NBA, but he's making a lot of money over here," Christmas told CSNNE.com. "These guys are one of the top 3 teams in Europe, so this will be a great test for us."

And for Rajon Rondo who has not been shy about proclaiming himself as the best point guard in the NBA.

"He's the best American point guard over here the last couple of years," Christmas said of McCalebb. "And Rondo, in my opinion, I think is the best point guard in the NBA. His stats show it; his winning percentage shows it. This matchup on Friday is going to be a great test for both guys."

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