Sean Grande (3:15)

I. The asterisk on this being that Kevin Harlan and I both thought Buffalo was going to be Kansas City. We're both leaning that way. But I am of the opinion and have been for a while that you cannot keep winning one possession, three point games over and over and over again, that eventually the coin is not going to come up heads 38 times in a row and that one of these times someone's going to drop the pass, Pat Mahomes is going to fumble, scrambling for the first down. One of those plays that always magically happens for him is not going to happen. I think the Eagles are the better team. I think it's just too, I think people are resigned to the fact, particularly in New England because of the whole Patriots legacy thing of Kansas City winning this again. And I just, I, I have a gut feeling that it's, it's the Eagles time. Not that that could sues the New England soul very much. Although those of us who have maybe a reason to become Jeff Lurie fans are also, hey, go go Birds.

Adam Kaufman (4:22)

Yeah, let's. And, and I agree with you top to bottom, the Eagles are the more talented team. But if you are a gambler, and you know, many of us are, obviously how you could possibly justify putting your hard earned money against Patrick Mahomes where whether as a short favorite or underdog, just manages to keep getting it done time after time after time, especially this time of year. I wasn't even going to go here at least immediately, but because you mentioned Jeff Laurie, there was the report recently and quickly denied by him in New Orleans. No surprise that he's interested in buying the Celtics. You know, obviously from the area. Celtics fan also owns the Eagles. For anyone that don't know, doesn't know that and you know that's his priority. I don't know what anyone expected him to say, like he's not going to steal the shine, steal the spotlight from the super bowl and his team that is vying for a ring and trying to, you know, end this, this back to back run for the Chiefs and say, yeah, we're in the mix, yeah, might buy the ball like, of course he's going to deny it. But my. My question for you is, no, I.

Sean Grande (5:24)

Think it's a perfectly normal thing to think that on your wedding day that you'd answer questions about another woman. Of course. Right? Yeah. This is great up here, this whole party we have going on here. But, yeah, let me. Let me talk about this deep devotion and interest I have in. In someone else, right?

Adam Kaufman (5:40)

But much like, you know, all the guys on the text threads with their buddies that their wives aren't on. Hey, did you see that mom at school pickup today? So, you know, people have wandering eyes, right? Jeffrey, Laurie might have wandering eyes. So let me ask you, Sean, finding.

Sean Grande (5:55)

Out a lot about how Adam's mind works, right?

Adam Kaufman (5:57)

Was that Ye.

Sean Grande (5:59)

I check. I keep your phone on lockdown.

Adam Kaufman (6:02)

See, the text that I receive, it's obscene. I tell you, all these people, I'm gonna name them, I'm going to give out phone numbers. Was that posturing out of Lori, or do you believe that truly he's just not in the mix?

Sean Grande (6:15)

No, I believe he probably is in the mix. I have tried to stay as out of it as you can. I hear a lot of the same things because I think those of us that seem like we're closest to it and we're with the team we're traveling with, this is not the circle in which this is getting discussed. You know, there. There are people in offices, you know, putting books together, working 80 hour weeks trying to get this thing organized because this is an extraordinary undertaking to sell a franchise and make a, you know, a billion dollar. Multi. Billion dollar deal like this. So for those who have used it well, the pending sale is the reason the Celtics have only won, only on a pace to win 57 or 58 games this year with a plus nine scoring differential and not, you know, walking. That the sale has anything to do with it is not. It's a little bit silly. I don't think it's like an absurd thing from the outside to say, but I can tell you as someone around the team all the time, it does not get discussed within this little circle.

Evan Valenti (7:14)

Just as long as it's not the feminine sports group. I think we all can agree, as long as it's not those guys, I'm all set. I just can't do it. I mean, I. Look, they. The. The. The one thing, this Luca trade just gives me so much Mookie bets, vibes of like, trading away best player to LA and regretting it for the entire duration afterwards. I. I still haven't gotten Back from that. I still, still can't do it. So, you know, as long as it's not those guys.

Sean Grande (7:39)

No, I, I feel you as a play by play guy, I would hate being connected to the Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Celtics all at the same time. If you're a multi sport, play by play guy, that sounds terrible.

Evan Valenti (7:49)

So I'm totally drawing.

Adam Kaufman (7:53)

Trade deadline behind us. Ed mentioned Luca, of course, that was the stunner of all stunners when it comes to just, you know, we'll see how big a deal it is in the long term. And I have my thoughts on that as to just how sort of transformative this deal is going to be. And only time is going to bear that out. But when it comes to just out of nowhere, nobody saw it coming to the point where the insider who breaks it, Sham Sterani, people are wondering for a half hour afterwards was the guy hacked. It was that big a deal, it was that shocking, it was that monumental. And that's surprising, you know, maybe the most surprising, shocking trade in NBA history, quite frankly, certainly in the last, you know, quarter century or whatever. But a lot of different guys moved homes over the course of the last few days and I'll, I'll rattle down a list of some of them. Luka and Mark Williams to the Lakers. Anthony Davis, obviously a maverick. Jimmy Butler suspended his way out of town in Miami to the warriors, who did pursue Kevin Durant. It didn't work out. He's still with the Suns, not playing right now, but still with the Suns. De' Aaron Fox making his impact early with the Spurs. Good team up there with Victor Wembanyata. I think that's, that's going to be a crazy tandem to watch for a little while now. Brandon Ingram to the Raptors hasn't played yet. DeAndre Hunter to the Cavs, who of course continue to lead the Eastern Conference, have been a little up and down of late. Kyle Kuzma, Kevin Porter Jr. To the box. Zach Lavine, Jonas Valencunas to the Kings, Yousef Nuric, a Hornet. Chris Middleton and poor Marcus Smart to the Wizards. Kelly Olenek, just because I feel like I should mention him, goes to the Pelicans. And Dennis Schroeder went to about six teams. We'll see where he winds up playing. So just a, an insane, insane time, Sean. But I think what sort of not most notable, but equally notable with it all was, you know, Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations for the seas, as we all know, sort of asked about Boston's lack of Activity because it generally was. They brought in Tory Craig as as a free agent signing previously the Bulls and obviously dealt away in a salary dump effectively Jaden Springer. But he was asked about the lack of activity and and essentially said look, when you are ready made for a championship as we are right now, it's a boring ass day, trade deadline day. You just sit around and see what everybody else does. Everyone's chasing us and we just need to live up to what we have on this roster and what we did last year. So all that in mind. I can't imagine you were surprised Boston was inactive, but do you believe that anyone narrowed the gap or even that Boston is still top of the food chain right now?

Sean Grande (10:35)

Well, I certainly like what Cleveland did. I like DeAndre Hunter. I think it gives them, I think the mix of too many offensive players and not enough defensive players and you can't have enough now. You need more defensive wings. This is why even when the Lakers early in the year, they just made the deal of the century, the deal of the millennium, the shocker of all time, most stunning trades in professional sports history. Just the minor thing of sending d' Angelo Russell away and getting Dorian Finney Smith is an indication, better indication of where the league is than what just happened that you need these bigger wings. Which is why Tory Craig is a bigger, you know, a bigger wing than Jaden Springer. What? Listen, I hate to see Jaden Springer go, especially the way he had been playing over the last couple of weeks. And that's there's economics. The having being the championship caliber team had less to do with the Celtics being inactive than welcome to life above the second apron where there's just very, very little you could do. Like the new. The second apron dictated a lot of what happened here for, for better or worse, four teams, just the new cap. The fact that the Luca thing is about many, many, many things. One of them is the first pushback against the supermax. This is going to be an automatic thing that your superstar player, we're just going to give him the supermax if there's, you know, issues there. And I will take issue with this. Adam, you're saying time will tell. Time will not tell us the whole story because what we will never ever truly know is if Luca was going to leave Dallas in 2026. When you make deals like this, you erase that portion of the space time continuum where you're waiting around to find out. We'll never really know if he was going to leave Dallas on his own. You know, who knows the stuff that they're saying now down there, they obviously felt it was a legitimate case that they either weren't going to. That they probably weren't going to sign to the supermax or indicate that they might not. And by the way, how did not indicating publicly that you were not going to sign a player and extend him. How'd that work out for Miami with Jimmy Butler? So once that this is all about players get their contract and then once they have the contract, then they want to force, force the movement. Look at what Jimmy Butler just did. That was the most lucrative temper tantrum in the history of the planet. He made $55 million off a five year old, is just trying to get his toy back. Jimmy Butler got $55 million by doing that. It was brilliant. But. And that is what the next CBA will be about, is preventing players from. You're always trying to, you're always one step behind. It was like James Harden with the rules, like, all right, you can't do this anymore. Okay, well, this is how I'm going to get to the free throw line. Trey Young, like stopping short. So guys, okay, we got to take that rule away. Then people will think of something else. But that's, you know, that's where we are right now. I was not obviously in any way surprised by the way the Celtics started and ended. I do think the Cavs, did they close the gap a little bit? Sure they did. But it's not going to be. DeAndre Hunter isn't the reason the Cavs have beat Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. It's going to be Donovan Mitchell and all the things. The one thing that happens with the Knicks, the Celtics, of the Cavs, as we talk here at the start of February, that happens on March 18, where somebody gets hurt or some weird thing happens that's going to change the course of, you know, what's about to happen. I can't sit here. I know you're going to ask me to do what I did last year, which is essentially, if you'll remember, at this exact time of year.

Evan Valenti (13:51)

Tell you, we wrote, we wrote this down.

Sean Grande (13:53)

This is coming up, what was going to happen. Right. And that's the beauty of this year is that we don't know. Like last year I kind of felt like we knew. And even though there are not one, but two teams having the year that the Celtics had.

Evan Valenti (14:05)

Mm.

Sean Grande (14:06)

I'm not, I'm not going to be surprised in any way, shape or form if OKC or Cleveland win the championship. But I don't feel as as confident about them. Because there are significant issues, you say with OKC because it's all about matchups. OKC could win 70 games, but can they be Dallas four times with that, with the particular lineup combination? That's what the whole thing is about.

Evan Valenti (14:28)

That's funny because we're gonna bring it up later and I, and yeah, get into it now when, when I often come back to that saying, I've been looking for that same thing this year. Like just the definitive, this team just looks too good. And OKC has been doing that for me more than any other team where you watch them and you're like, man, I mean, the defensive stuff they can do when they're locked in from a, you know, a perimeter, you know, guard yard standpoint, like, they just, they impressed the hell out of me. And when they're really hitting shots, they're just impossible to beat. Which reminds me a lot of last year's Celtics team, but they are a little smaller, especially if chat is banged up and, you know, and Harnstein's not going to play. I mean, I, I, those guys will get healthy and they'll probably be okay, but, you know, there's not much depth behind that. I, and I was going to ask you, does anybody give you that vibe this year? Does even the Celtics team at points give you the same confidence, so to speak? Like, this is just, I don't with historic things happening in the NBA with these three teams, I don't know if I feel that confident about any of them.

Sean Grande (15:32)

As we get to April, the Thunder guard like crazy. They've got the MVP who could score whenever he wants. But this is a league where shooting is number one. Are they an elite shooting team? And then add to that not saying no, I'm not saying the elite, elite shooting team the way the Celtics were last year haven't been this year, but were last year. And then combine that with the fact that, you know, OKC is not going to win the shot margin because they're just not, they just don't rebound well enough to win that. So if you're not a super elite shooting team and you don't win the rebound margin, this is really, I mean, this is trying to nitpick at a 70 win team that we just talked about the Celtics having one of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history. Last year, as we're talking now, it looks like the Thunder are going to top it with the scoring margin and you know, and the number of wins. So obviously you got to put them in the top spot. In the most likely team to win. But I see more potential for them to get upset, and I'll use that term, more potential them to get upset than I saw with the Celtics. As you guys know, I didn't. I felt like they would walk backwards and win and they did. I feel like that could happen for okc. But the west, it's not just the depth of the west, it's who do they have to play? Who are they going to be matched up with? Where is the Denver and the Lakers play in the first round? Does OKC have to beat both of them? Just like the Celtics path is going to be much harder, which could theoretically be Milwaukee, New York and Cleveland just to get back to the NBA Finals, you know, the Celtics path is going to be much harder. What specifically is OKC's path? Because I think there are teams they can sweep and I think there are teams that really they could win 70 games if they're matched up with the wrong team. It could be, you know, life and death.

Adam Kaufman (17:21)

Celtics, as we know, are record wise, really a team without concern. I know six games out of first in the east, but still we're talking about 36 and 16 entering this game against the Knicks. It is, you know, a top record in the NBA technically. Third behind obviously the Cavs and Grit and Thunder. Pardon me, but there's been so much talk and we talked about it on the show a couple weeks back. During that stretch from essentially early January to late January, it was the pulling up here. From January 3rd through January 29th, this team went every other win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss. With the exception of one little two game win streak in there when the team was out west. It wasn't until we were looking at now the four straight wins leading into that, you know, sort of, well, honestly embarrassing performance against the Mavericks. This team has just been so up and down, so night to night, unpredictable, you know, even at full health, even if the other team isn't, even if you're a double digit favorite, home, road, whatever. It's just been, there's been something missing. There's been something that has not looked as it did last year. And that leads to a lot of conversation here and elsewhere about flip switching, as you well know. And I guess I'm, I'm really just kind of wondering, looking at the calendar and you've been around a while, you know, talking from experience and, and what you see in this team, what we saw last year, the general makeup, all the personalities and you know, the, the names, everything that, that has carried over now in this. This chase to repeat, which, as we know is so rare in today's NBA at least. Where do you get to on the calendar where flipping the switch just isn't a thing? You know, concerns are real, they're lasting, and it's believe it when I see it. You got to prove it. You got to show it to me. Versus nah, I think they can get back there. It's early February. Super Bowl's not even here yet. They'll be fine.

Sean Grande (19:25)

Well, it's about what are you comparing them to do? And I often will cite in a extraordinarily deep literary reference one of the great cultural figures of our time, Mellon in Back to School, who had the big and tall clothing shops. And his tagline was, if you want to look thin, surround yourself with fat people. All right, so are you comparing this team to last year's Celtics team? Are you putting them in those footsteps which, by the way, they walked for the first third of the season. They were dead on with last year. Again, one of the greatest teams ever. Or allow me to compare them to a different team. Since you cited how long I've been the voice of the Celtics and how long I've been the play by play guy here. I was here in 2010, a year in which, as I told Scal on one of the telecasts, we did, we were talking about load management. And I said, hey, scout, you know who invented load management? You guys did in 2010. You just did it on the court, letting guys run around you like you would take nights off literally while dressing up in uniform and playing that 2010 team. If you compare, if you compare this team to last year Celtics team, now, they're going to falter. And even TNT was doing it even up until last night. There's still a comparison to be made. They're only a couple of games back and the scoring differentials close and all that, but we know we're not seeing the same thing over the last five or six weeks. However, in 2010, that team finished the season 27 and 27 in their final 54 games with a negative scoring differential. And they got to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. And I know that because I was there. And when Kobe Bryant stood on top of the thing and did his big fi. You know, when he stood on top of the thing, his sneaker cropped neatly cropped out of the picture as my head because I was standing right there when Kobe was doing that. So I've seen it. I've seen teams you want to say, flip the switch. You can. There's a lot of things going on. I think what's frustrating a lot of people, even those of us whose job it is to try to explain what we're seeing, is that it isn't one thing. One night it's the offense, one night it's the defense. And on many, many nights, you are cliche as this has become. You are getting the best shot from other teams. We're seeing, you know, great performances. You can't figure out what's going on in the rest of the league. The Celtics going to Toronto and the Raptors were at the bottom of the NBA. That was a bad performance by the Celtics, no question. But Toronto, that started a run for them where they were one of the best defensive teams in the league. And they won, like six of eight games, something like that. On the other hand, Houston comes in. That was a loss I had no problem with because the Rockets played an unbelievable game that night. They had been playing. They haven't won since. So it's. Everybody's got it. And that's why it seems like you're feeling all the angst and frustration. The Celtics, and they got to get it together. And. What did you just say? They're the third best team in the league right now out of 30 with all of the things that have gone wrong. So one of the things about that Doc would always say to me, partially trying to just justify it. He said he would say a lot of things to me to try to justify things, but one of them was he was never worried because at the start of the year when they were. That team was 23 and 5 or 20, you know, whatever that team was at the start of the year, he knew they could play at a championship level. This team not only has last year's championship, they also had the first third of this year when they were 21 and 5 with the plus 10 or plus 11. You know, that said, isn't it interesting that to a man, everybody shooting is down? Everybody shooting is down. Now, where does that come from? That come from how you're being defended every little bit plays in. Are you, you know, trying to get through to the All Star break? It's monotonous when you not only won the championship, but you've had long playoff run after long playoff run after long playoff run. Yes, there was the Olympics and yes, there was Abu Dhabi, and it's, you know, it's human nature for a lot of these teams. The Celtics still, now Cleveland and okc. I've said This, a lot have skewed this year to where it feels more uncomfortable than it really should. Because if you looked at the Celtics record and their scoring margin and all the advanced metrics, they are better right now than a lot of the teams that went on to win the championship. Most, you know, Denver two years ago and you know, Golden State three years ago and even the Toronto team, the Celtics have a championship pedigree now despite the last six weeks.

Adam Kaufman (23:41)

So that in mind, especially as you look at the new makeup of the NBA post trade deadline and we'll see what sort of comes out of the buyout market as well and how much that alters things and, and just the unpredictable. Who knows what, what rosters are going to look like with respect to injuries when the playoffs roll around.

Sean Grande (24:00)

But we won that. We won the girlfriend in the buy in the roster editions. You know about that, right, Tory?

Evan Valenti (24:07)

Yeah, yeah. Oh, come on. You don't know about this?

Adam Kaufman (24:14)

No, I don't think I do.

Sean Grande (24:16)

Don't give me the kids excuse. I've got it. You know. Well, actually, I've got a kid who's, he was most impressed by this, actually.

Evan Valenti (24:22)

Yeah, I, I will say it is impressive.

Adam Kaufman (24:26)

I mean, we gonna share or what?

Evan Valenti (24:29)

Did you not pick this up? You know who that is?

Adam Kaufman (24:32)

Yeah, no, I know.

Sean Grande (24:32)

Okay.

Adam Kaufman (24:33)

I didn't know that. No, I, I, I didn't know that. I, look, I'm, I'm not, I'm not on, on top of who the, the guys are involved with other than when like Humphries was with Kardashian a million or, or obviously, you know, IME and Nia Long, but that's, Yeah, I know. I, I couldn't even tell you who Tatum is involved with and she's important or something.

Sean Grande (24:53)

So please keep, let me give you the greatest stat. People always accuse me of being a stat person just because I share all my prep between games. My favorite stat in the 20 something years I've been doing this in NBA history. You guys are old enough to remember the year that Kris Humphries was with Kim Kardashian.

Adam Kaufman (25:08)

Yeah.

Sean Grande (25:08)

On the COVID of every magazine, right? Like literally on Us Weekly, People magazine the whole summer. And then she, you know, she, she dumped him, Right. She ended it. Sure. Broke up with the guy the following season.

Adam Kaufman (25:18)

Heartbreaking.

Sean Grande (25:19)

Heartbreaking. I know. So imagine having to go through that and literally you're on the COVID of every magazine. And everybody in the world knows the following season, Chris Humphries had his shot blocked more than any other player in the NBA, which makes Sense if you think about his size and you know, but his, he had his shot blocked more than anybody. So literally the dude goes to the entire year on Us Weekly and Kim Kardashian breaks up with him and the following year he literally leads the league in getting rejected.

Evan Valenti (25:46)

That's tough.

Adam Kaufman (25:47)

That's good.

Sean Grande (25:48)

It's my favorite.

Adam Kaufman (25:49)

Yeah, I like that. No, what I was going to ask you is like, who's the. Who is to you in the east, specifically, matchup wise, the biggest threat to the Celtics. And when your partner Cedric Maxwell was on with us not too long ago, he. Orlando, that was mine too.

Sean Grande (26:06)

I, I would normally, I would pretend, I would back away and say that's because I can't for the life of me figure out what's going on. I loved Orlando early in the year and I kept saying if once they get healthy, once they get healthy and everyone keeps losing, people look away from teams. Certain teams in the league, yeah, they're losing, but they've had no, those guys are back, Van Carroll's back, Franz Wagner's back, and they're still just losing games that make you like turn your head sideways. I hated the Orlando Magic because of the young athletic defenders. So you asked me in December, I'd be like, yeah, Orlando was the team that absolutely concerned me. I'll say this about as we're talking, it's late night on Friday. We're 21 hours away from going into one of the games of the year. And you know, people ask me why I made the choices I make. And so you get to do the games that matter. And Madison Square Garden Saturday night, prime time, Celtics, Knicks. And I think it's a really important game for New York because they're only, they're closing in now. They win this game, they're just a half game behind the Celtics, even in the lost column for that number two spot. And I will say this, I think the Celtics beat the Knicks in a seven game series. That's a smart pick. I don't like the idea of New York. If you're a Celtic fan, know this. I don't think the Knicks are going to lose Game 7 at Madison Square Garden two years in a row in the same round. And I just don't think you want knowing that for the Celtics to win a championship, you know, they're going to have to be, they're not going to have home court in the conference finals or the NBA finals barring something, you know, an upset somewhere out west. So how many rounds do you want to mess around with this. Yes, the Celtics have been the best road team in the history of the game for the last three years. Insane on the road, even in the playoffs. But at some point, not unlike Pat Mahomes, your luck is going to run out. Like with winning these get. Celtics won the Eastern Conference championship in game seven on the road. They've won, you know, game six in Milwaukee, the Tatum game, game six, the Marcus Smart game in Philadelphia a couple of years ago. These phenomenal world wins. That's why last year was so amazing. Whereas the Celtics won eight games facing elimination, eight of them the previous couple of years, eight times they faced elimination of one and then never, as we some brilliant mind said on this very show last year, they're not even going to have to deal with that in 2024 because they're not going to face elimination. You know that's going to happen. You know they're going to be down 3, 2 at some point, you know they're going to be facing elimination. And I just don't think you want to mess around with this Knicks team and not have home home court because this city is going to be in a fervor by the time we get there. That last year, that conference final which didn't happen with the Celtics and Knicks would have been a 10 day ESPN, Stephen A Thon and I would have been here for every second of it because it would have been awesome. It would not have been competitive, especially with Brunson getting hurt. The Celtics swept Indiana, Indiana beat New York. It would not have been a competitive series this year. Knock on wood. Assuming we finally get it, it will be.

Evan Valenti (29:03)

You know, it's, it's funny that you bring up the road record because this is the one thing that I keep going back to. I just feel like sometimes like when certain teams like Denver gets the, you know, they're kind of Teflon. You got to beat them four times. And when you beat Jokic for the fourth time, that's when he, he's dead and you kill him. I feel like they get the respect, expect that, you know, they're a previous champion y the best player in the league. You know, they could stumble their way to a four or five seed and people be like, you can't look out for Denver because they're, you know, they got Jokic. I don't feel, I feel like from a national perspective, Boston doesn't get that same play. And for me, I go back to that road record, I'm like, this team is just absolutely nails on the road. And I Just, I can't quite explain other than like Tatum has talked about, I care more because, you know, there's kids that have my shoes and my jersey. I want to make sure I show out for them, blah, blah. But this team is super comfortable on the road and I laugh because, you know, you, they go back. Their home record this year is interesting, but the road record is just unbelievably good. And they have signature win after signature win after signature win. They've, as you said, have won several playoff games on the road facing elimination, like they're just, they're nails. So when you have. We have all this fluff that has happened over the course of this year and I just keep going back to. Well, nobody's won more games in this team, you know, outside of like Golden State since Jason Tatum's been in the league. So I don't know, I feel like people should be taking them a little more seriously. I know they haven't looked great, but at the same time it just sometimes feels like the world is ending. And I don't know if it's a respect thing or not, but like this road record where it doesn't matter where they play on the road, it's just they're going to probably show up and kick your ass. Like I, I love that mentality and that's typically, to me, Sean, what championship teams are made out of teams that can win in any element.

Sean Grande (30:55)

And it's one of the reasons that the Celtics, by the way, there's this other thing going on here if you want to spin it. Positive for the Celtics. Yeah, they've lost games that they probably shouldn't have and lost more than I think some people are comfortable with. What have they done after those losses? We're going into Madison Square Garden tomorrow night and I'm going to be telling you The Celtics are 15 and one after a loss. And that little stretch they had at Christmas time would wait that one interesting to me is that's the first time and since losing to Miami in the conference finals in 2023, that was the first time that little Christmas stretch where anybody. They had lost any four games in a seven game stretch at all. They had lost four out of seven at any point, which is amazing now. And if you can't even up and down as they are not playing great, not completely connected the entire time, they still, you can't beat them two in a row. How are you going to beat them 4 out of 7?

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Adam Kaufman (32:47)

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Evan Valenti (33:15)

Kaufman Big game. It's right here. It's right around the corner. It's now or never, brother. Okay? You cannot miss out on the last football game of the season with prize picks available to you in select states, buddy. It's just not. It's. You can't miss out.

Adam Kaufman (33:31)

It's the best price picks and not watch the game. Could I do it?

Evan Valenti (33:34)

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Adam Kaufman (34:16)

You know what? You might be wrong about that.

Evan Valenti (34:18)

It's possible I could be, but I, I think I'll be okay for the game. Jalen hurts more than a half rushing or receiving. Touchdown. You know how many he's got? What, 18 rushing touchdowns this year?

Adam Kaufman (34:29)

Something like that. It's, yeah, it's crazy. It's, he's, he's as quote unquote, reliable as Saquon the man himself, the offensive player of the year.

Evan Valenti (34:37)

Speaking of Saquon, I'm going for more than 115 and a half rushing yards. He can't be stopped. He can't be stopped. I, I, I don't know where the number would have to be for make me to pick less, but it's definitely not 115 and a half. And if you hit on all five on three of those, it's good for five times your money. And Kaufman, getting your money could be any easier. In as little as 15 minutes, you watch the money roll into your account. Price picks if you use Venmo. Okay. I hear Callahan talk about it all the time on Pats interference. He uses Venmo all the time to deposit and withdraw. And there's nothing really easier than that. My man.

Adam Kaufman (35:12)

Download the app today. Use code CLNS. Get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup again. Download prize picks code CLNS. $50 instantly in your account after playing your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. Run your game back here with Sean Ev. I, I know when we were texting earlier just, you know, some of the things we wanted to hit on with Sean. One of the things that you kept coming back to.

Sean Grande (35:40)

It's about the. We texted about school pickup.

Adam Kaufman (35:43)

Yeah.

Evan Valenti (35:44)

No, I mean, yeah, that's right up there. Right way up there.

Adam Kaufman (35:47)

When I got that text, it's, it's like it, I talk about it all the time because it made me laugh. So who's checking out moms at school pickup? Like they're, it was the best, it was just the best line, but it's like you're like in your car, you're not even where you're looking through a window. I, it's crazy to pervs out there. Sean. You wanted to get into with Sean.

Sean Grande (36:07)

The Guy who's got the sex chain going on his phone. All right, there you go.

Evan Valenti (36:12)

Listen, that the worst thing on his phone.

Sean Grande (36:17)

Let's. Let's hope.

Adam Kaufman (36:18)

I, you know, I, I make anything.

Sean Grande (36:23)

Stallion on his phone. We know that.

Evan Valenti (36:25)

You know what, though?

Adam Kaufman (36:26)

It was probably. And I. I bet I know how you guys would answer this and how probably most people would answer it.

Sean Grande (36:32)

It was.

Adam Kaufman (36:32)

I don't know if this was a barstool show or something. I. I saw this just. It was, you know, viral clip on social media, but the. The conversation was, you know, the. Would you rather have your entire camera roll released publicly or your. All of your text messages released publicly? And, and who in the world would choose their tax.

Evan Valenti (36:57)

Yeah, nobody. Not a single person. Not a single person.

Sean Grande (37:02)

Not a serious camera would be like a thousand pictures, said my wife and I, since our wedding, we probably have three pictures of each other together and 18, 000 pictures of the dog.

Adam Kaufman (37:11)

Right?

Evan Valenti (37:11)

That's all. Mine's just my dog.

Sean Grande (37:13)

It's great, right?

Adam Kaufman (37:15)

Yeah, my. My pictures are very boring.

Evan Valenti (37:17)

Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, dog's cute.

Sean Grande (37:20)

Yeah.

Adam Kaufman (37:21)

Hey, where I was attempting to go with that was ev. You were talking about just all of the. All the miles on. On Tatum's proverbial belt and maybe how little we. We discuss that in the grand scheme of things. And it's the royal we. Not necessarily Sean. I'm guessing Sean, you know, gets into this from time to time on the broadcast, but, you know, do we take for granted the workload that. That this guy puts forward? I know It's. He's not LeBron. Not yet. I'm just talking about minutes. I'm not talking about accomplishments. But in terms of the amount that he has played at such a young stage of his career, do we, I don't know, overlook that. That, like, eventually this guy's going to run into potentially an issue after, you know, during one of these deep playoff runs, unless he's just truly one of the most durable people on the planet.

Sean Grande (38:14)

I worry about that a little bit. I thought about that recently, about the fact that nobody ever talks about his availability and that we're going, you know, tomorrow night. It's going to come up as a topic because tomorrow night we're going to be at the home of Tom Thibodeau at Madison Square Garden, where four of the top six players in minutes played right now in the NBA, obviously are Knicks, but who are the other two? Anthony Edwards and Jason Tatum in minutes play. That this whole Doc Rivers bit that We've heard for 20 years that the number one ability is availability and there are very few superstars. And by the way, the biggest trade in the history of professional sports just happened because the franchise didn't believe that it's franchise player was going to be durable and be able to be able to give them the minutes. And at what point if you could say three years ago, if you said, hey, who would you rather have, Joel Embiid or Jason Tatum? An average fan is going to go, Joel Embiid, he's dominant, he's MVP. Okay, well, he plays 30 games a year and Jason Tatum is doing, you know, he does so many other things that he'll never get credit for. And he was the one who called the meeting at the start of last year saying everybody's got to eat. Which means I think we all know we can conceive, I think we would admit into evidence without having to make the case that if Jason Tatum were playing in Charlotte or somewhere else, that he would average 30 a game easily. Okay, Jordan Poole scored 40 something points tonight. What would Jason Tatum do if there was no way. And by the way, I would submit, your honor, I don't need to put in evidence games like the San Antonio game, the 60 point game against San Antonio where he didn't guys get hurt. He had a 50 point game in the playoffs against the Nets, the game before Kyrie stomped on a logo and hadn't won in Boston since until the other night because Jalen Brown was hurt in that series. So we've already seen, we've had nights where Jason Tatum has had to, he's had to have these superstar performances and he doesn't score 40 every night because he doesn't have to. And he defends, by the way, which is another reason the generational superstar in Dallas got traded, because there's two ends of the floor. So yeah, he. And I think we just have to become resigned to the fact that no one is going to say Jason Tatum is one of the top three players in the league. Fine. But ask yourself this question. Would you have taken Luka Doncic as a Celtic fan or Jason Tatum straight up?

Evan Valenti (40:29)

No way.

Sean Grande (40:29)

I think you're going to get a lot more nos and yes to that. And that people nationally going to go, what? What, what? That was when everybody would say every team in the league, every team would trade their superstar player for Luka Doncic. Everyone in Boston looking around going, no, no, we're good.

Adam Kaufman (40:45)

Yeah, I'm sure you remember it. That's, that's an exact conversation we had on our, you know, Celtics not mom related text thread a few years ago when it was there was the constant, like, is Tatum gonna be traded? Or, or I, I think it was, it was, you know, Seth, our buddy, who he's been on before and we reference him from time to time. I think he may have even posed the question or you did. It was, you know, like, who. If you were trading Jason Tatum. And again, this was, I think even before a first finals appearance. So this probably was like three years ago. You know, how many guys in the league would you accept for Jason Tatum? And I think at the time, obviously we debated Luca. And I think at the time I may have even said Luca, but I wouldn't do it now, obviously, you know, for a million reasons on both sides. You know, Tatum pro and Luca Khan.

Sean Grande (41:37)

Nico Harrison, of course.

Evan Valenti (41:40)

No, because he actually plays.

Sean Grande (41:42)

And before we skip by the Tatum thing and not recognizing his greatness, we literally could be talking 20. He needs a big game to do it. Now two weeks ago, when I first came up with it, I thought this really could happen at Madison Square Garden. Now I think he needs 35 to do it on Saturday night, which is possible, but, you know, not as likely. Jason Tatum, at 26 years old is going to move into the top 10 in Celtics history in scoring. And by the way, he's going to move into ninth two shots later because, you know, JoJo White and Dave Cowins are 10, nine right there. So he literally, this is a guy before his 27th birthday is going to be ninth on the Celtics all time scoring list. So if we don't think there are ways to back up what we see with our eyes, the stats certainly do.

Evan Valenti (42:27)

There's that list too, of like guys that under 20 before their 27th birthday of score.

Sean Grande (42:32)

I've been running that one for a while. And he's.

Evan Valenti (42:34)

Where, where is he now?

Sean Grande (42:35)

He's like, he's eighth or ninth. He's gonna, he's got a couple of guys he might be able to pass. Will Chamberlain's there and Devin Booker. I can find it for you. But it's, you know, he'll end up six or seventh on that list. But a lot of the guys in front of him remember didn't have the year in college.

Evan Valenti (42:51)

Right?

Sean Grande (42:51)

You're talking about, you know, Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant did and Carmelo did, but LeBron obviously didn't and Kobe obviously didn't. So listen, you could slice any way you want. The only knock there is to make on Jason Tatum is he's not One of the two or three best players in the world. Okay, he's the top six player in the world and he's going to be that for. And he's been that pretty much every year, which is by the way we're going back to this year's team. The two things that have been the under discussed problems with the Celtics that nobody really wants to acknowledge before last year is that they weren't great at home. They were good at home but not elite at home and the minutes when Jason Tatum was off the floor were average. Celtics were a mid level team. When Jason Tatum was off the field floor last year, both of those things got completely corrected. They were 37 and 4 at home and they were just as good, just as dominant in the non Tatum minutes as they were when he was on the floor.

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Sean Grande (44:25)

There's been significant regression in both of those things. We're sort of back to where we were 21, 22, 23 with the non Tatum minutes have been mid is what the kids would say who like Megan thee Stallion would say mid and Celtics have not been great. Obviously you know at home and how much of that is circumstantial? We'll find out when the games matter later. These that first home game after a long road trip. I mean look at what just happened here. The Celtics had a brutal Western Conference road trip and they go three and one on it. Awesome. They come home, get blown out by Sacramento. Then they get another long western trip and what do they do? They go three and one on it. What happens in the first game at home? They lose to Houston. Then they go 30 on the last road trip which started out west and eventually came east 3 and O on the trip. First home game blown out by Dallas. So I don't know. You're not going to have those when you get to the playoffs but and you won't have what the Celtics are finishing here on Wednesday night. Which is 16 games in 29 days. And there were only a few back to backs. They were early. There was a home back to back with Orlando in Atlanta, there was the back to back in la. There weren't a ton of them. But the relentless nature of the fact I consider a day off in the NBA when you don't have a game, you're home and there's no game the next day. That's a true day off. You might get a practice in eventually the following day. The Knicks, by the way, we're talking about loading up their minutes. The Celtics are in the middle of this stretch. They've been literally going either back to back or every other day for a month now. Knicks haven't played since Tuesday, so they've had three full days is why it's a really important game I think for New York, because they are, they're really teed up. All this stuff goes away when you get to the playoffs, but I would expect after the all star break to see fewer nights. There'll be a night in there just as there was last year. The Celtics got crushed by the Knicks at home late late in the season last year after they had played a game in Milwaukee the night before or two nights before. They'll be bad, there'll be losses. People have plenty of angst. There'll be plenty of things for people to complain about. I don't think there'll be as many in this final third of the season as there was in the middle third.

Evan Valenti (46:29)

Let's take one more break, one more quick break.

Adam Kaufman (46:33)

Tell you about our friends over at game time. Watching sports is fun. Talking sports, good time. But what could be better than going to a live game? So many core memories I have as a kid or as I make today with my kids revolve around going to some sport, sort of a sporting event, major league, minor league, college, you name it. Going to a game right now, it's easier than ever because of our friends at game time. The best part of game time, how easy it is to tell how much money you're saving with game time picks. Now they've tickets labeled great deal, an amazing deal. But if you find tickets labeled super dlf, that means the tickets you're looking at are in the top 1% of prices based on value. And usually you'll see right up front that you're, you know, while you're scrolling through the tickets, they're right there staring you in the face. This is the one. May as well be a flashing light. Super deal. Invest. And there Are some big home games coming up throughout the month of February that you will need game time for.

Evan Valenti (47:38)

Yeah. Spurs game coming up. Wemby coming to town. The only time that you get to see him February 12th. And as I tweeted out the other day the get in price Kaufman. I don't know if you saw this. 78 bucks to get into that game might be different. Now I haven't checked in a minute but at the time that I tweeted that Celtics game.

Adam Kaufman (47:58)

That doesn't feel bad.

Evan Valenti (47:59)

No. Especially to see Wemby. Come on now we have another game coming up. February 23rd home game Sunday versus the Knicks. And then the last game of the month. February 28th is the last game against the Cavs. So some really huge monstrous games to get in on in terms of trying to get tickets for.

Adam Kaufman (48:19)

You can use game time for that finals preview.

Evan Valenti (48:22)

Yeah, seriously. And potentially with the Knicks or the Cat. I mean we'll see how it goes. Plus you get all in pricing which is the best thing for me because I hate the. The hidden fees and things that come up at the end of your transaction. Nope, all up front. As soon as you hit which one that you would like, you get a panoramic view from your seat and. And Game time has the lowest prices you'll find anywhere. Or they will credit you 110% of the difference comp and you're making money. If they're not the cheapest game time.

Adam Kaufman (48:49)

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Sean Grande (49:28)

All right.

Adam Kaufman (49:28)

Let's keep the. The conversation going about Jason Tatum and and all of the great things that, that he has accomplished. Now we'll get to some of that but Ev.

Evan Valenti (49:36)

It's. Some of it is.

Adam Kaufman (49:37)

Is the concern that you know Sean talking about all the different things that are or not worrisome sometimes for a lot of people out there watching these games tonight. Tonight it's what this looks like when there's no Jason Tate on the floor.

Evan Valenti (49:49)

Yeah. And that's. And it's like I think they're tinkering with that still I think they're trying to figure out the best combo because I was texting Brian Barrett the other night and I, I was just remarking on the lineup that Jason Tatum had on the floor with him. You know, the Tatum, Pritchard Hauser, Luke Cornett and Al Horford lineup. And I was like, that's okay. That's gonna be fun. That's going to be a lot of Tatum trying to carry the load offensively and defensively. We'll see how this goes. Meanwhile, that leaves like Brown with Derek White and Drew Holliday and Chris Evzingis. So it feels like to me that they're trying to figure out the balance of yes, we know the Tatum minutes aren't going well, the non tata Mints aren't going well. We get we have the ability to fix this. You think that's the best way to do this is to give the non Tatum lineup a Jalen, a, a White, a Drew Holiday and Chris Epps Porzingis so that the offense keeps functioning. Is that the way to fix this or is there some other way that we, that Boston can experiment with as we head towards April to fix the non Tatum minute issue? Because it seems like if you just put four guys around Jason Tatum, he's going to figure out how to make it work.

Sean Grande (50:57)

He has. And some of the best sequences over the last few weeks for the Celtics have been Jason Tatum with a cobbled lineup around him. But you know what's going to fix it? It's not Joe Missoula tinkering in the lineup. What's going to fix it is guys playing better, Derrick White being Derrick White again, Drew Holiday playing well again and being healthy. That's what's going to fix it. You know, and not going through this stretch, I think you can overthink it. Derrick White went through a two or three week stretch where he just didn't look like Derrick White. And you could see it's coming back again. Not because the shooting, not because the shots are falling, which they are. Here's the key to Derrick White. Here's the, here's the tell the decision making, the quick instant decision making is back for Derrick White. That was gone for a couple of weeks and you didn't notice it. I kept trying to put my finger on what is it, what is it that isn't there. And then when it was back I was. That's what it was. That lightning. I'm going, I'm gonna that slot drive on the right side. I'm taking that. I'm gonna shoot when I get. I'm getting to the corner here. I'm gonna shoot it the second I get it. The decision making was back. It happens to. Listen, these guys have been on a long, long journey. I talked about the travel and the Olympics and all the other stuff. What's going to fix it is when they start playing like themselves again. And then probably the only guy who has, in a lot of ways, consistently has been Porzingis because he got back and he's looked great. And it's almost as if he's looking around like, come on, guys, let's go. And everyone else is exhausted from playing all of the playoff games last year, which he didn't play, and play in the Olympics, which he didn't play, and playing in Abu Dhabi, which he didn't do, and having a training camp, which he didn't have, and playing the first 20 games of the year, which he didn't play. So eventually, everybody you hope is going to catch up. And again, I'm. The All Star break, to me, is an interesting time because there'll be fewer. Obviously, I won't have this to fall back on as an answer. If this continues into March, then eventually, as the legendary Bill Parcel said, you are what you are. I just, I think we have enough evidence to say, all right, are they this team? They've been this 15 and 10 type, 15, 11 type team. Although the metrics obviously are really good. Even when I do them, I take that Toronto game out because such a historical beatdown that it skewed all the numbers, but they have been good, but they've lost close games that they didn't, you know, that they probably shouldn't have and that were coin flip games. Okay, no big deal. But the fact that they had a 21 and 5 start combined with this, that's why the overall numbers are still pretty healthy. And I think I don't expect them to go 21 and 5 in their last 26 games, but I expect them to be closer to that team than they were to this last, you know, five or six weeks.

Adam Kaufman (53:35)

John, while you've been chatting, you sent along some of the numbers that you referenced. You were going to look it up earlier. The most Points at age 26 in NBA history and in order. I won't read off all the points, but in order. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Will Chamberlain, and then Jason Tatum. I'd say he's pretty great.

Sean Grande (53:54)

Three guys, Three guys there that didn't go to college.

Adam Kaufman (53:57)

Correct.

Sean Grande (53:58)

Tmax in there, too.

Adam Kaufman (53:59)

Yeah. So where I wanted to go with that. And you know, I know we've been kind of pinballing around between this year's team and previous teams and all time and all this stuff, but the Celtics historian that you are, I am curious your perspective.

Sean Grande (54:15)

Long time, long time. Voices.

Adam Kaufman (54:17)

Long, long time. Voice of the team. I. I want to be abundantly clear to our listeners and viewers when I say this. I know he's nowhere close right now, but what does it take, do you think, statistically longevity, which kind of go hand in hand, obviously, for Jason Tatum to be considered not one of. But the greatest Celtic of all time.

Sean Grande (54:41)

I think it's one of those things.

Adam Kaufman (54:42)

Next to Bill Russell, I'm excluding someone.

Evan Valenti (54:45)

You can't. I mean, come on. Okay.

Sean Grande (54:46)

Yeah, but. And obviously that's a special club because of the accomplishments of the Celtics. I think being around long enough now to know this stuff happens in a way, it sneaks up on you. And I'll give you, here's a random example of one that's come up recently. If I say, even now, if I say, hey, DeMar DeRozan, that's a hall of Famer, right? People will be like, DeMar DeRozan. He's not. If DeMar DeRozan is not in the hall of Fame, he will be by 2000 points. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more@WhatsApp.com the all time leading score to not be in the hall of Fame like the Marta Rosen is going to be in the hall of Fame. They're just, you know, people. People, even five, six years ago, were smirking at the idea of Carmelo being in the Hall. You people just don't. I don't think they recognize it in real time, particularly in this era where we just like to go at players. And for all the stuff you've heard.

Adam Kaufman (56:06)

About hall of Famer, people still haven't come around to that.

Sean Grande (56:09)

To who?

Adam Kaufman (56:10)

Al Horford.

Sean Grande (56:11)

Oh, Al. Well, yeah. And now I think, I think we had this conversation last year. Yeah, the owl one is a little bit easier too, because it's not the NBA hall of Fame, it's the basketball. He's got two championships. College. Listen, I think I'm pretty sure that the three of us talked 48, 72, 96 hours before the championship was wrapped up, if I remember it right, because I remember being in Dallas and what I was saying doing all the interviews then is they're about to walk through this door to the other, to the other side, where it's an entirely different place of. They've never won because no one can ever say that again. Once you win that championship, they've won the champion. Oh, the Celtics don't win ever again. Oh, they only won one championship. Okay. That's more than a lot of amazing players, you know, haven't. We don't know what the. Jason Tatum. Let's say Jason Tatum's in Boston's entire career. We don't know what 20, 27, 2028 looks like. Are we going back to Paul Pierce in 2006, Paul Pierce in 2005? Where I think it's going to be when the fog is settled of this run, I think, and Jason Tatum gets closer to 30, it's going to be pretty apparent that he is one of the greatest Celtics of all time and that you're, you're talking about not just hall of Famers. Now. How many banners are going up here when they, you know, I mean, is Al, is Al going up now? He's got a championship played the same number of years as Kevin Garnett. It's a discussion. Right, But Jalen and Jason are. Those numbers are going up. This is, this is happening. This is the 80s right now. Try to get a Celtics ticket right now. We had a game, maybe New Orleans and I, I saw empty seats and I was trying to remember the last time I saw empty seats at a Celtics game anywhere. You know that most of the teams now, and I, you know, I'm not involved in tickets, so I didn't either. I asked these questions. Most of the NBA teams now are using tier pricing. So not only are all the Celtics games sold out on the road, guess what's in the top tier, pricing wise? If you want to see, if you want to see this show, when it comes to town, you're paying through the nose to do it. And the Celtics are still selling out buildings. The TV ratings are down. Yeah, the tv. The NBA is in bad shape right now. The TV ratings are down. Like that's such a fundamental misunderstanding of what metrics matter. How television ratings. You know, I've got a 13 year old who will not know what cable television is. Essentially, we've Got. We've got. This is. I'm tying this into the Jason Tatum conversation because sometimes you have to catch up to what's really happening and not look backwards to, you know, why are we comparing Jason Tatum to Bill Russell? And it was a different conversation back then. Is Jason Tatum already one of the greatest? If Jason Tatum left tomorrow and retired, is Jason Tatum one of the top 20 Celtics of all time? Yep. Top 15. Probably. Like, this is where we are now. He's 26. So I think sometimes people just don't realize. I said we were talking off the air. So much change is happening so fast in our industry. People are talking about the TV ratings being down, ignoring the fact that the billions of dollars that are changing hands for the rights to tv. I believe strongly there's a revolution coming, and I think local television in the NBA is going to be a dinosaur that I think eventually every game is going to be available on some kind of streaming app or. Or everything's happening fast. The way the league is covered, the way the league is profitable, is there going to be International League or not? All these things are happening in real time. And the people that are successful, the ones that look ahead to 20, 28 and not look back, which is what we're trained to do when we say, is Jason Tatum one of the greatest Celtics ever? Yeah, he is already. But who cares? Because let's just enjoy. The only message I give to everybody right now is that this is the 80s. You're living the 80s right now if you're younger and the new big three Celtics were your Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. And I loved every. I watched it. I listened to every game back then. It's happening again. This is really happening right now. Celtics have a great chance to go to seven conference finals in nine years. You know how absurd that is when Minnesota has been twice and never been to the finals in the history of their franchise? And it took this extraordinary Game 7 win at Denver to do it. They have two moments, two gain seven wins in the second round, and that's their franchise history. And if you're old, you think, oh, Timberwolves, that's a new team. They're not new anymore. That's just the point. There's 35, 36, 37 years in the Timberwolves history. You're older than you think you are, is life lesson number one. And number two is the comparison is the thief of joy thing works here. Know that Jason Tatum already is one of the greatest Celtics ever to play and enjoy every night. You get to see this show because between the second apron and the age of Horford and Holiday and real, this is not going to last forever. So when the Celtics and the Knicks tee it up at Madison Square Garden at the Mecca, the greatest stage in the game on a Saturday night on abc. Find a place to listen, find a place to watch, because these are the, these are the moments you're going to be romanticizing about years from now.

Evan Valenti (61:31)

It's funny, I think the cell. I think Jason Tatum has as many second round big performances. I'm just thinking the Philly game where he was absolutely terrible until the fourth quarter and then obviously game six in Milwaukee where he had 46. It's just as many big moments as this the Timberwolves do as an entire franchise.

Sean Grande (61:54)

And by the way, I mean it's a great. And I guess there for the, there are more Timberwolves in the NBA than there are Celtics. Appreciate the fact that Celtics not only have the history and the all time championship lead, now you're getting to have another golden era again when it's much harder to create them than it was. You know, back in Red's day. It was a different ballgame. You think, how do you think Red, if we have conversation with Red right now, how do you think you'd feel about the second apron?

Evan Valenti (62:23)

Oh, my goodness. Can we take a minute to appreciate how many teams are trying to emulate what the Celtics did with Brooklyn, getting those future picks and future swaps that led to Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown? Everybody's trying to do it. These 20, 29, 30, 31 picks that are out there, like, oh yeah, that could be, could be Jason Tatum. You don't know. I just feel like everybody's trying to recreate this and it's just.

Sean Grande (62:48)

And people forget I brought it up the other night when he was a big part of that comeback when he was hitting the big shots. But for Jason, you don't think, you never put on the glasses of the other, the other side, right? You never look at your house from the neighbor's house. Jason Tatum is now that guy. Imagine being a Philadelphia 76ers fan. Jason Tatum is Freddy Krueger. Not only does he, does he have all these game winning shots and obviously the game six stands alone. Which by the way, that was the market smart game. He bailed the Celtics out for three and a half quarters until Jason Tatum, you know, came out of the bullpen and finished it. But Jason Tatum had the game winner, ABC Saturday night game winner there a couple of years ago. He had the, you know, the big shots in the fourth quarter and they come back the other night. And every minute you watch Jason Tatum, as a Sixer fan, you're thinking, that could have been our guy. We drafted Markel, we traded and for Markel, folks, yeah, you know, Markel Fulton, Lonzo Ball taken before Tatum, and that was the guy. Speaking of Madison Square Garden, it was a game at Madison Square Garden in December of 2016 that I think that was the game where Brad finally was. I think we were off that night and remember Brad and I talking about him watching the freshman at Duke. And by that point every, there was some degree of unanimity that this was the guy that the Celtics wanted and, you know, got to make a trade as well. I mean, the Celtics would have taken him number one. Don't have any illusions about that, but they were.

Adam Kaufman (64:22)

Before we wrap, since you mentioned it before, let's end this show on a low note. Marcus Smart, as I mentioned earlier, he is a wizard now. And obviously the Memphis tenure was not all that he wished it would have been. Injuries factored into that underachievement by the team. A lot of injuries to the team in general over the last year and a half, despite a very good record this year. But now he's off to Washington, which is one of the seller dwellers of the NPA right now. Is this sort of the beginning of the end and not. And like, is, is Marcus going to be kind of like Kelly Olenek where like we're just every, you know, every year, year and a half, you're seeing him on a different team until he retires?

Sean Grande (65:05)

Possibly. I really think what it is, is the Belichickian cold blooded nature of the business of making moves with guys at a certain stage of their career. Even before we see it, they see it before we see it. And look at, you know, the players that have been shipped out. Brogdon, Rob Williams, Marcus, forget personalities, forget character, forget ability. Just look at availability of the guys that are, they just haven't, they haven't played. This is what's, you know, obviously making these deals. I think we probably have discussed in this podcast that, you know, Brad was in the doghouse in my house for quite a while because my wife and my son, Marcus Smart was the favorite player. He was a lot of people's favorite player. And so that was very jarring and very difficult. But you look at it now and you literally have a press conference tonight. The GM of the Grizzlies tonight, because we're talking Friday night, gave A press conference basically saying, yeah, that was my bad trading for Marcus Smart. And he did a lot of good things and he helped the young players, but from an availability standpoint, you know, they didn't realize they were going to have the guys to eventually replace him. But it's a difficult part. I hope every time Marcus comes back, you know how I feel about this. Marcus and IME should never be forgotten in the championship. Even though they were, you know, they got no Mark, they got Tony and Monty, they got, you know, they were the ones that didn't get to, you know, be there on Christmas morning after spending the whole year with the family. And they were a big part of it. And by the way, you can make a case. We'll discuss this again when we get to Memphis and make it more of a longer form conversation. Not Memphis now, but the game against Washington at the end of the year. Is Marcus the best Celtic as far as accomplishments with the Celtics? I'm not talking about Shaq or Dominique Wilkins, the guys that just came in for a year. Is Marcus the best Celtic to have never won a championship? Because at first you're like, oh no, there's got to be other guys. Then you start thinking, no, no, no, he was on the championship team. No, that guy was on the championship team. And pretty soon you're, you're basically with the, with the Walter McCarty's and the D Browns and the, you know, Reggie Lewis and guys like that that didn't win a chat and who, who accomplished more for the Celtics than, you know, than Marcus did.

Evan Valenti (67:22)

Yeah, fair point. And he brought a lot. He kept the, the culture kind of that KG left, kept it moving. And that's, that's the one thing that other teams will understand. When you talk, we all just wax politically about how awesome Marcus Smart is. No other team will understand what that was like because it was a show and I fell in love with it when he was in Oklahoma State and he would just kind of do a little bit of everything, you know, like 26 points, eight assists, six rebounds, two steals, three blocks. He just put up weird stat lines and he just. Oh, he was just one of the most fun guys you could ever root for because, you know, you never have to worry about him, you know, not having 100 in the game. He was always.

Adam Kaufman (68:02)

He didn't take nights off.

Sean Grande (68:04)

Yeah. As this were sliding doors. The guy this, the only guy the Celtics out absolutely had ahead of Marcus Smart on their board and would have taken him had he fallen, was embiid. Sure would have Been.

Evan Valenti (68:17)

They liked Aaron Gordon a little bit. I know there was like Aaron Gordon.

Sean Grande (68:20)

There was a. There was a groan in the building that night when Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon got taken. But of guys that, you know, that dropped down there. Aaron Gordon I think got taken. I had to look it up. I think he got taken before embiId got to three.

Evan Valenti (68:33)

Three. Aaron Gordon got to four.

Sean Grande (68:34)

Four.

Evan Valenti (68:35)

I think Hazonia was five, Smart was six and Randall was seven.

Sean Grande (68:39)

And the other guy in that conversation, that was Exum. Strangely enough, this came up last night. It was exam xmu. Had one three all year and made four.

Evan Valenti (68:48)

Oh, wait a minute. Exom might have went five. Yeah, Exom was five, Action was five.

Sean Grande (68:54)

And the Celtics absolutely love smart and not. It was going to be smart, not Exum. If they had had that.

Adam Kaufman (68:59)

I was bummed. I didn't like the pick. I wanted Randall.

Evan Valenti (69:02)

No, I loved Marcus Smart in college. He was chaotic. It was awesome.

Sean Grande (69:05)

Randall did not want Josh Jackson. A couple guys just didn't want to come to Boston. And you eventually, you don't want to mess with that. Randall did not. Randall didn't want to come to Boston.

Evan Valenti (69:16)

He took a magazine photo shoot instead. Right. Wasn't that.

Sean Grande (69:21)

It's really interesting. The relationship with Randall in New York is really fascinating. There's a lot of stuff, by the way, again, not seeing what goes on in other people's lawns here in New York. Not that I any reason to follow the Knicks particularly closely the last couple of years, but the. The conversation here is that it isn't as much fun as they thought it would be because they love that team so much last year. So, you know, and last year the Knicks were the league pass team to watch. They were so much fun. They were in all these great games last year. And now this is one of the greatest offensive shows we have ever seen here with Towns. And yet there's still that, you know, that feel. Now all of a sudden they have that expectation which they have not had here in a very long time. And suddenly there's what comes with that, is that angst that Celtic fans know full well from the last few years. What if we don't win now we're just going to get. What if we lose in the second round again and we're going to get cooked on, you know, on social media and whatever. And that, you know, that absolutely exists here. And that's why I think. I think tomorrow's important. I think the Tuesday game in Cleveland was a. That was a rough night to the Cavs because you Got the message sent to you. The best road team in NBA history over the last few years just won a game in your building, which we know we're going to have to do here. As I said, you'd like to avoid not having home court against New York, but this is a building where the Celtics, even before they became the best road team in history, this has been the home away from home up the street here at Madison Square Garden. The Celtics have a better record in the 20, 24 years I've been the voice of the Celtics. The Celtics have a better record at Madison Square Garden than they have at TD Garden.

Adam Kaufman (71:03)

Well, all star break is right around the corner. But before that, three games, two on the road. New York and Miami on Saturday and Monday, back home against Wendy and the spurs on Wednesday, and then we break. Any good break plans for you, Sean, before we let you go, are you gonna actually, you know, avoid a hotel, sleep in your own bed, spend some time with your family for a few days?

Sean Grande (71:26)

My what? My what? Now? Do you have any. You have pictures of them or the family? Know what they look like on the camera roll? So that's what. That's what happens when you're on the. Will Hardy is the first one. I don't think he coined the phrase, but he has popularized it in our circles. We call it the 82 train. Now, once you get on the 82 train and it's just one long. It's one long day. It's just one long ride to the end. So wherever there is not a basketball bouncing or not a podcast to do or there no bat signal come out for what I've suddenly realized is the newest oxymoron to enter our lexicon. Emergency podcast. No, that's. You're not understanding what a podcast is. They're emergency exits. There are emergency rows. There are emergency. There's not an emergency pod. A podcast is not something that nobody.

Adam Kaufman (72:14)

Just has to have it. You're saying right after a trade deadline, George gets traded? Quick emergency.

Sean Grande (72:19)

Emergency Stanza doesn't knock kids out of the way to get to an emergency podcast. You know there's a podcast. My voice has to be heard. Everybody watch out.

Evan Valenti (72:31)

Wait, isn't like. Isn't the clown is Jon Favreau?

Sean Grande (72:36)

Yes, I believe. I think that's right.

Evan Valenti (72:39)

Yeah, I. It blew my mind the other day when I saw a clip of that. I was like, really?

Sean Grande (72:43)

That's amazing. Let me give you that one thing. And nobody else ever gets that in depth thing. So Matt Reynolds has become famous now because he's the instant replay guy on the Celtics bench. You go to. Everybody turns to Matt Reynolds the second there's any kind of play. So this has become what he's known for. Matt Reynolds is also a huge, huge Seinfeld guy. So constantly going back when I. When I see each other, when I see him and then dap him up, whatever, I just say, Dr. Van Nostrum. And we just, you know, we go on from there. We celebrated the fact that last year, if you met, might have been the year before, but I think it was last season. In an early season of Seinfeld, a very early season, George goes to a holistic healer for some crazy thing. I forget what it was. Jerry has written a joke. He's written something, scribbled something in the middle of the night that he thinks is the funniest joke of all time, but he can't make out what the writing is. And he hands it to this guy who's. Because he thinks he can. And the guy looks at it and laughs hysterically. And he thinks. He goes, what does it say? And he reads some random NBA score. Like, San Antonio 124, Cleveland 118. Thirty years later, that game happened. The exact score happened. You can Google it. But if, like, you know, that was like, 1990 when that happened. And whatever the exact random score that the guy said in the episode, like, 32 years later, that's perfect in the NBA.

Evan Valenti (74:03)

Love it.

Adam Kaufman (74:03)

He does more than talk. Cell.

Sean Grande (74:05)

This is what you missed. This is what. If for some reason you don't prefer your. You prefer your broadcast with pictures. This is what you miss every night with. With Grandy and Max.

Adam Kaufman (74:14)

How dare. How dare they?

Sean Grande (74:16)

Well, now we have pictures because we got cameras on us.

Adam Kaufman (74:18)

So this is true. John Grandy, voice of the Celtics with Evan Valenti. I'm Adam Kaufman. As we always tell you, rate review. Most importantly, subscribe to Celtics beat, whether, of course, it is in podcast form or you want to check us out with pictures available on the CLN that's Jacket YouTube page. We appreciate it. Yeah, seriously. I mean, we even show off the coat before we let you go.

Sean Grande (74:43)

Again, for if you're old enough, you know, if you don't know, you don't care if you're not old enough. This is the Axel Foley jacket from Iconic, which I got for my wife, who's a Detroit, who's a Lions fan, and she left it lying around. I'm like, no, that's too awesome. I'm taking that.

Evan Valenti (74:57)

That's great jacket.

Sean Grande (75:01)

There's, you know, there's ups and downs of being married. But you know, stealing something like that from your wife is certainly one of the upsides.

Evan Valenti (75:07)

Bingo.

Adam Kaufman (75:08)

For Sean Evan, it's like when Homer.

Sean Grande (75:10)

Simpson got marched a bowling ball.

Evan Valenti (75:12)

Yes. There you go.

Adam Kaufman (75:14)

All right, well, enjoy the Mecca. Should be fun. And hopefully the Celtics show up for this one. I imagine they will, and probably not in Miami on Monday. But make the most out of this one anyway. And on on to the next. We'll be back with you next week folks, and enjoy the Super Bowl. Go birds.

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Sean Grande (75:42)

Yep.

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Sean Grande (76:05)

Listen.

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