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Sebastian Telfair (born June 9 1985 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association currently playing for the Boston Celtics.

Telfair was the 13th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers out of Abraham Lincoln High School. At 5'11", he is the shortest high school player ever to be drafted. He had committed to the University of Louisville and coach Rick Pitino during his senior year, but decided to turn professional instead. Telfair is the cousin of Stephon Marbury.

NBA career highlights

2004-2005

On January 1, 2005 Telfair had a semi-breakout game by scoring 14 points on 5-11 shooting, making 4 of 5 free throws to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists with only 1 turnover.

In February of 2005, interim coach Kevin Pritchard promoted Telfair to the starting lineup. Although Telfair put up decent numbers, the Trail Blazers lost 23 of their final 28 games and finished with the team's worst record since 1975.

2005-2006

Under new head coach Nate McMillan, Telfair began the 2005-06 season as the starting point guard. He was occasionally paired in the backcourt with another high-school draftee taken in 2005, Martell Webster. Telfair's production was an improvement over his 2004-05 numbers, but it was still considered below par for an NBA starting point guard. As a result, he experienced increasing pressure from the Portland media. In December 2005, Telfair suffered a thumb injury and was replaced in the starting lineup by Steve Blake. Blake was less flashy but had less turnovers and more assists. Telfair returned to the court on January 9, after missing 12 games. Blake continued to start with Telfair coming off the bench. Although the Trailblazers were eliminated from playoff contention, Telfair scored the winning basket against the Houston Rockets on April 5, 2006.

2006-2007

On June 28th, the Trail Blazers traded Telfair along with center Theo Ratliff and a 2008 second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for guard Dan Dickau, center Raef LaFrentz, and the 7th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Randy Foye, who was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 6th overall pick, Brandon Roy.

Handgun incident

On February 15, 2006, a loaded handgun was found in Sebastian Telfair's pillowcase on the Blazers' private jet at Boston's Logan International Airport. Telfair told authorities the gun belonged to his girlfriend and that he inadvertently grabbed the wrong bag when leaving for the team's road trip. The gun was registered to Samantha Q. Rodriguez, Telfair's girlfriend of five years. On February 21, the Massachusetts State Police announced that no charges would be filed against Telfair in the incident (Massachusetts has very strict gun laws, the violation of which can lead to a prison sentence). On February 23, the NBA front office announced that Telfair would receive a 2-game suspension for breaking the league's collective bargaining agreement, which prohibits NBA players from carrying firearms while on league business.

October 2006 robbery incident

On October 16, 2006, Telfair had a chain reported to be worth $50,000 snatched from him while he was outside P. Diddy's restaurant, Justin's. The following night, Telfair left a preseason basketball game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden to attend a police lineup, where he did not make any identification. A rumor began to circulate that he was seen making a phone call roughly an hour before rapper Fabolous was shot outside of the same club. Telfair voluntarily surrendered his cell phone records to police, and is not under investigation for any involvement, despite rumors to the contrary.

Biographical coverage

Telfair is the subject of the book The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High-Stakes Business of High School Ball by Ian O'Connor, and Through the Fire, a documentary film by Jonathan Hock which follows Telfair through his last year in high school and his decision to choose the NBA over college. The film made its television debut on March 12, 2006 on ESPN and is the highest rated film ever for an original movie on that network. Telfair is sponsored by sportsgoods manufacturer Adidas.

External links

• NBA.com Official Profile
• Yahoo! Profile
• Sebastian Telfair - Official Site
• [http://www.dvdideas.com/index.asp/MovId/786936698633/Through-The-Fire-DVD/ Through The Fire (2005) Documentary]

Notes

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