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- [00:00]
A
Today is Friday, October 17th and this is Celtics beat on the CLNS media network, the leading online provider of audio video coverage of the Boston Celtics. I'm Adam Kaufman. Episode 646 features mass lives Brian Robb.
- [00:15]
B
And I'm Evan Valenti. And today's show is powered by prizepix. Prizepix is the official daily fantasy partner of CLNS Media. Download the app today, use the promo code CLNS. You get $50 in lineups when you play. Five dollars.
- [00:38]
A
Hey everybody. Welcome in. Finally after weeks months of speculation and talk and over the top analysis surrounding all things Boston Celtics because that's just what what you do in the offseason especially when they deal out notable players. Chris Staps Porzingis, Drew Holiday, Al Horford, Luke Cornett, both leaving free agency. There's been roster turnover, folks. You don't need me to explain that to you. There was a Preseason Boston goes 3 and 1. Honestly, who cares? 404 doesn't matter. What matters now is that regular games are on the way less than one week as we sit here right now Wednesday at the Garden against the G League Sixers because Joel Embiid's probably not going to play. Paul George not going to play. I mean honestly, Philadelphia never change.
- [01:28]
B
You guys are the way that Paul George is playing.
- [01:33]
A
I don't think he's playing.
- [01:34]
B
I think he's not playing in this game. I saw there was announcement today so I just want to clarify that I.
- [01:38]
C
Don'T think he's out Embiid maybe. I think that's the latest.
- [01:42]
A
He's not going to play. Come on. He's got a cut into the the awards absences already. Adam Kaufman, M. Valente, Brian Robb who of course is a big part of the Celtics media family. Maybe not big enough. We'll get to that in a second. But B Rob here is on Twitter Brian T. Robb. He is part of Mass Live, part of the CLNS family as well does the still potable show but the reason I say maybe, just maybe be Rob not a big enough part of the family is because well like Evan and I I don't know May. Were you not invited to this media game against the coaches or did you just wisely elect to not participate in the 57 to 4 thrashing that took place at the Auerbach center this week.
- [02:26]
C
I had a prior engagement. I literally was at a doctor's appointment so I could not attend. Can't imagine I would. I would have been. I would have been there upset that you weren't part so yeah So I was like rscp, sorry guys, can't. Can't be there. And then. Yeah, so I can. I was not boots on the ground for the. Whatever that was, but the 54, 57 for demolition. But I, I feel for my, my, my fellow media members that were on the floor for going through that.
- [03:03]
A
Do you think you would have enjoyed it? Like, you know, Noah, who of course is part of the clns family as well and writes and she put a post together for Celtics blog saying that, you know, obviously detailing the. The whole event and her love for basketball and how she, you know, played back in high school and, and it's. It's just like truly her. Her most passionate thing is basketball. It's a fun article. People should go and check it out. But anyway, it. It sort of in summation, totally disgusting performance. Wildly embarrassing if you just look at the score. But also one of the greatest moments of her life. Do you think you would have enjoyed an exhibition against Joe Missoula and company?
- [03:45]
C
I think I would enjoy playing the floor. I, I would not have enjoyed 57 to 4. I'm pretty confident of that of just like full corporate. I don't know like that the full. I would have much rather had been an experience with. That would have been, you know, there's two coach captains and then there's a couple on each team and then you.
- [04:05]
A
Play stuff like that.
- [04:06]
C
Exactly. You know, like something like that. But yeah, I can see too if you, you know, if you play against NBA players is. Is cool. Like that's, that's like a unique experience. I have not done that in my life to this point, actually. I mean, I play like scout played in the media.
- [04:24]
A
Right.
- [04:24]
C
A few years ago. Like, I don't know if you've played any.
- [04:26]
A
Yeah.
- [04:28]
C
Yeah. So we had a few of those.
- [04:30]
A
Yeah.
- [04:31]
C
But luckily scout was not folk or pressing us in those days so that we had a. Those are fonder memories of those games.
- [04:39]
A
Closer games.
- [04:40]
C
Closer games. So yeah, we'll see. Maybe Joe goes back to the drawing board, makes it a little more competitive next year. Next year we'll see how this shakes out.
- [04:48]
B
I would have loved for the players to ask the media questions after the game. Like we just flip it. So in company, like sitting in the audience trying to ask questions of how embarrassing this was. Look, first and foremost, that's the people. What I don't understand is the people that are like, this is ridiculous. I'm like, it's for fun. First off, that was for fun. And yeah, they got our guy Zanis.
- [05:11]
A
Right Zan is from here at the network.
- [05:14]
B
He called them.
- [05:14]
A
They felt like this was bullying.
- [05:17]
B
It's it like dude, it's. It's just fun. Like, who cares? Like I would have, I would have. I'll take a step. I would have enjoyed getting my ass kicked because it would have been like real. It's like, yeah, we got our ass kicked by the Celtics coaching staff who like, I don't know. Emil Jefferson's like the only. That didn't really make it. And Emil Jefferson was a five star guy that went to Duke and had a pretty solid collegiate career at Duke. Other than that, like everybody else kind of did something. So I. It's just, it's just to gain perspective. And like Joe talked about how he got certain things out of bottle, but it's a better way to understand like the people that you're interviewing a daily basis. Like you can go back and like it will strengthen bonds. Part of the thing that has been sapped out of the media and the media job the past couple years is the access to guys. I mean b. Rob, you're in a locker room all the time. You don't have the same access it used to pre Covid. This gives you a different type of access to guys and gets them to maybe warm up to you a little bit differently that you can kind of like break bread over. I thought that was awesome. I think people are making a big deal out of it.
- [06:20]
A
Are insane.
- [06:23]
C
Yeah. I mean everyone, everyone has to write to their own perspective on and yeah, it is, it is over the years. Like it has like access is not. That's gone downhill for me ever slope. So anything that opens the door to that is inevitably a good thing. Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see how it maybe you know, we get. If we get better, more, more quotes from Joe over the course here if he's opens up the media a little more than that. So that's a win for the media on that front. There's no doubt about that. But yeah, 574 is still.
- [06:56]
A
I know it's a. It's a breathtaking score. It's like I didn't even play in the game. I. I'm not sure I will ever forget that score. And by the way, I don't want. Just so we're perfectly clear with anybody out there watching, listening here on the CLNS media network, I want to make it abundantly clear. Had I participated, had I been asked to participate, the score would have been no better. It might have been worse. Maybe I would have Scored on the wrong basket would have been 59 to 4. Maybe I would have somehow inadvertently stepped in the way of one of those layups that like K. Thompson hit. And it, it would have been, you know, 57 to 2. I might have made it worse. Just a jarring score. And the, the last point on this, because I'm sure people out there listening don't give a singular poop about this media game. If they cared about it, they've already heard about it elsewhere or read about it from people that did participate in this game. I think it's just the, the humbling notion of, because like these guys, most of them weren't in the NBA or didn't have success in the NBA as players. I don't even know if any of them played in the NBA. Might be all college guys and even many of them not stars in college. And yet still blue doors against your average Joe's. It's like that's the, the humbling reality that, you know, we sit around so often. This guy sucks. He's the 12th guy on the bench who could kill you. He is the, he is in the 99th percentile of the world when it comes to abilities to play basketball, which these guys are not. And still not even going like trying their hardest obviously throttled every member of the media that was out there. So I just think that's the fun part. Like we forget how good a lot of these guys are at basketball because we just don't, you know, watch them. We don't get to see them. They don't, they didn't make it to the highest level and they're still crushing us losers. Anyway. Season preview edition for the Boston Celtics. Let's get into it, B. Rob, because we've been talking about it, like I said, for months. Varying guests have come on this program with expectations for this team ranging from they're going to win 25, 30 games. It's going to be like Brad Stevens first year as head coach of this team to have you guys looked at the Eastern Conference. This is still a 50 win team. I don't care if they don't have Jason Tatum conversations around Tatum. He's not coming back. He shouldn't come back. He's absolutely coming back. You got to bring him back. This team's going to the playoffs. This team is winning multiple rounds. This team with a healthy Tatum might even be in position to contend for the Eastern Conference and then obviously lose against whoever it is that's representing out there in the West. So that's just Sort of a tone setter for this thing. You tell me what are your expectations as the roster exists now and we can talk about Jalen Brown and pray that obviously this hamstring is not an issue entering the season. I know we don't know. What are your expectations for this team?
- [09:58]
C
Yeah, I think realistically I expect them to be in the like, low to mid-40s for wins. I think that's. You can put me in the middle of like the high end and the low end of what expectations are on the whole of the preseason total.
- [10:13]
A
41 and a half. You're going over.
- [10:15]
C
Yeah, I'd go over. I'd go over for that right now based on what I saw in the preseason. If this is a, and I think this is largely dependent, like one injury, not even to Jalen Brown, like one injury to Derek White, paying Pritchard, if one of those guys is out of the mix for a long stretch, then it's a hard under. But for now, I think the upside of the like of the preseason is you saw more good than like, than bad with the new guys. Like Josh Minot looks like he can play and be a guy that matters not just for this season, but could be in a rotation player on a winning team down the line. Chris Boucher works quite well with what they're trying to do right now as far as far as a versatile big who brings energy, who can shoot the three a little bit and can play some four, and then even a young guy like Ugo, like, that's a guy where you're seeing promise. Wisdom's like, oh, I thought he was going to be in Maine for most of the season, but now it's like, well, like he might be one of your best, better wings off the bench right now. He might be beating out Walsh and Shireman for that spot. So when you throw that, those developments into the mix of Jalen Brown, Payne Pritchard, Derrick Wait, Hauser and a guy like Neemi who's come a long way, then it's like, yeah, this is, this is a team that is going to play hard for Joe Missoula and is going to hold its own most nights. And are they going to lose a lot more than they have the last few years? Absolutely. But I expect them to be competitive as long as, you know, that healthy group is intact and they don't trade other parts away.
- [11:49]
B
You know, we've talked a lot about roster construction and the depth of it, and you talk about injuries and like, yeah, like there are certain guys where, yeah, if Jalen Brown goes down like this hamstring's a big deal. They are. It's not going to be great, but there are, there are certain. I think, I think the wing depth. When I, when I think when the off season first started, you looked at the wing depth, then you're like, I don't know where the hell they're gonna have bodies this thing, because you lose Jason Tatum, who is your best rebounder, your best defender, like all these things, and he's also your primary wing player and you lose him. So you. The best wing player you have. Then after that it's like, what do you have? But I, I think I've been extremely encouraged by the guys that they have behind him with the Minot and the Gonzalez's and like Boucher is kind of this weird. Is he a big, Is he a Wing? He's kind of both, like depending what lineup you're playing. I'm actually impressed with the way they've been able to build up, like, because I don't think they've been really strong in the wing in the past. They've had good bigs obviously with Cornette and with Horford and Kate is like your fourth big. And then you have Porzingis whenever he's in there. Like, that's, that's pretty solid. Their guard has been pretty good, you know, for the most part. They know the fine guys to come and play guard for them. But the wing has always been such a thing that's, you know, other than Tatum and Brown, that they really haven't had a lot of depth there. I know how there's like, Hauser's fine, but after Hauser, they didn't really have anybody. We saw the Shireman, like, he's kind of hit or miss during the day. Are you impressed, are you surprised with how quickly they've been able to kind of rebuild that position from. I think their biggest weakness point to. I would say now here their, their, their, their biggest strength and their second biggest strength there. We all know their big depth is, is just tough right now, but their wing depth is actually not that bad considering they're missing their best one the first couple of months.
- [13:40]
C
Yeah, I think it's a great point. Like it's the fact you have what looks to be a couple hits in that area and Minot and Hugo, it's like that's a, it's a very big deal because you don't. That's a position that is just hard to find good bench guys at. And they're certainly not Going to have a lot of money to spend at this position in the future. And if they're going to make a. A big trade, it's probably going to be for a big guy. I think, you know, finding the center of the future is a big thing on the task too. So if you can find and you're not going to need a starting levels wing when Jason Tatum comes back, but you are going to need a couple guys to back them up. And even Jalen Brown already mentioned with Minot, like, that's a guy we could use the last couple years. And so to have a couple guys like that who get after defensively, we might not can't really shoot, but he can do everything you want defensively and a good cutter. And who goes. A guy who is gonna have to take his lumps. There's gonna be growing pains. But there's a, like, a lot more good from him this preseason given coming off of what he played like in Vegas to get there already get that already from him in some preseason games here. It's like, that's a guy you probably want to invest in minutes and now potentially over a guy over Charmander Walsh. Because in my mind, like, the upside is there for him because I'm not sure those two other guys are going to be rotation players on a contender down the line. But Ugo obviously has a profile, a guy who could be all right.
- [15:09]
A
One quick thing. We've had people bring this up in, in the YouTube chat last couple of shows have not actually addressed it in show. We are aware that for the last, I don't know, handful of shows, for whatever reason, EVs mic suddenly sucks. He's getting a new mic. Don't worry. I just, you know, people have asked about it, like, why is this just me? Why aren't they talking about this? Do they not know that his mic is crackling? I just want people to know of that. We know. We're working on it. We're going to take care of it. We're gonna start a GoFundMe for Evan's microphone. It's gonna happen.
- [15:43]
B
Yeah, no, we're getting there. I just, I think it's the cord, but I'm just gonna buy a whole new one anyway and get a better system. I apologize to everybody.
- [15:48]
A
No, you don't need to apologize. I just. I just want people to know because it's come up in the YouTube chat a couple of times. So I just don't want people to think that, like, we're not aware.
- [15:56]
C
We're aware.
- [15:59]
B
Just to point it out like I'm not connected to anything, just to get all out there. But yeah, I'll have a new mic next week. Don't worry about that. That's the hope. If I have one next week, we'll see. But we'll have one for this most of the series.
- [16:10]
A
All right. With that, we're going to take a quick break, tell you about our good friends over at Prize Picks. Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings. You heard me right, that's beat billions. Billions Prize Fix has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 2000 times your cash. 2000. Run your game all season long EV on prize picks.
- [16:41]
B
Coffin. We're back. Another flex play Friday. Last week we didn't hit and I gotta tell you, the, the pass interference on the, the Stefan Diggs bomb 50 yards down the field cost me at least two out of three. That was, that was brutal. We did hit the, we hit the Rico Donald anytime. You know, the touchdown. More than 0.5. We hit that one. We would have hit. Yeah, I know it's a real bummer. But we're back at. Look, we've only lost two times so far this season. We've hit the flex play, the 3x once. We've 1xed our money for the most part. So we're still up, still up, which is good. So for flex play this week, we're going back to Stefan Diggs because I believe, I believe in my guy. More than 52 and a half receiving yards. I just, look, he needs one catch to really make that work. And I think, as you would would guess, the Patriots going to Tennessee, that's going to be a bloodbath down there. So I'm gonna go Steph Diggs More than 52 and a half receiving yards. We're gonna go less than here. Dig Daniel Jones less than 30.5 pass attempts. Colts versus Chargers. I think the Colts win this one. I think it's a heavy dose of the running game. I think the Chargers, with all the offensive line injuries, they're going to have a hard time moving the football. So I don't think the Colts will pass as much. That's why we're going less than there. And they're going back to Tennessee for our third part of our lineup. Cam Ward. More than 32 and a half pass attempts. I think the Pats are going to blow the doors off the Titans, the cam would be in a passing structure, if you will. So hit that over, I think. No problem. Again, flex play. I get all three. I get three X. I hit two out of three at one X. And again, that's when.
- [18:30]
A
That's.
- [18:30]
B
That's a win for me. And getting your money from prize picks, folks, is the simplest in the realm of this particular thing. As little as 15 minutes, you can watch your money roll into your account. Whether it's your debit card, whether it's your bank account, whether it's Venmo. It's super easy, simple. And again, it happens super quickly.
- [18:51]
A
All right, well, again, like Ev said, as little as 15 minutes, you can watch money roll into that account. Prize picks. It just makes things easy for you. Download the app today. Use the promo code. It is CLNS. You get 50 bucks in lineups after playing your first lineup for only $5. Once again, download the prize picks app. Go do it right after you listen to this show. Heck, you could do it while you're listening to this show. The promo code, CLNS. Get $50 in lineups after playing your first for only five bucks. Prize picks. Run your game. All right, we're here with B. Rob and talking about the Celtics and expectations and obviously a lot of good win conversation right there. And I think it's one of the big questions entering this year as far as just over the course of the year, like, the big thing with this team, again, we've spent time on this before Ev is, you know, this needs to be a season of, for lack of a better way of putting it, identification, because it is not a rebuild. It's a, you know, what's the. Brad likes to say retooling or restructuring or resetting. Like, remember when Larry Lucchino used to throw all these rewords back when they wanted to avoid the Red Sox? The term rebuild, that's what this is. The difference is you got a Jason Tatum coming back. Whether it's at some point this year, we've joked about by Halloween, but honestly, whether it's February, March, April, whether he doesn't come back at all, and it's opening night 20, 26, 27. You know, the team is not positioned or even internally believes that it's a contender this year. So it's thinking about the future and it's identifying which guy, whether that's Ugo, who obviously they just drafted a guy like Minot, who, again, like Ev, already wants to give an extension to. And, you know, on the other side While Scheireman, like, are you part of the plan? Are you not part of the plan? But one big question that I, I didn't foresee having going into opening night is the status of Jalen Brown. And I know, B. Rob, as we sit here, you don't have any more information on this than we do because, you know, we're. I know this just to let people behind the curtain. I know the show is being released on Friday morning. It's being recorded on Thursday night. So maybe during Friday's media availability, Joe Missoula and company will shed some light on Jaylen Brown. Maybe even Brown will speak himself and say, yeah, just got a little tight preseason game. Doesn't matter, didn't need to play. I stepped out. It's no big deal. See you Wednesday night. And there's no problem. And that would be great. But hamstring situations, whether a strain, a pull, just tightness, they can linger. So any, I don't know whether it's opening night specifically or just the longevity of the season. Any concerns around this situation for Brown out of that three and one preseason?
- [21:38]
C
Yeah, you have to be just. Even if he says it's just fine, like hamstrings, like I said, they, they, they linger. And so you hope he's good to go. But especially with the type of way that they're playing this season, which is getting, getting up and down and hauling ass, pressuring the ball like, that's, that's where you need. You know, you're going to be putting a lot of onus on your body over the course of these games, and they're gonna be, they're asking a ton of Jalen regardless this season with Tatum out, and then you're kind of adding on to it there. So, yeah, that's, that's certainly a concern. Even if he's out there opening night, that's something to keep an eye on. We know, we all know he's like a gamer. He'll pull. He played through freaking tournamentiskas for the last couple months of last season just because that was the, you know, he wanted to get used to the pain when a chatty deal for the playoffs, seemingly. But yeah, that would be a. Just a concern because, like, we haven't seen Jalen Brown, like super healthy for a while now and he hasn't had any big hamstring stuff over the course of his career, but he has had injuries here and there that have popped up involving it. So, so, yeah, that's, that's certainly something to watch. And we'll be curious to see. You know, you hope it's nothing, but if it is something and he's down for a couple weeks out of the gate, then that potentially changes the complexion of the season to a degree because you look at the starting schedule out of the gate for this team, guys, and it's like it could. There aren't a lot of easy W's on there, at least in the first two weeks.
- [23:10]
A
Definitely, definitely not easy matchups with the Celtics from Cordiff.
- [23:13]
C
No.
- [23:14]
B
No way. Yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna be a real tough start. You know, picks up to the first one against Philly. But to, to kind of like follow up on that if you're, you know, this is an 82 game season, it's a marathon sprint, etc, etc. Do you hold them out just to say look man, don't like we don't need to do this right now. We need you to be healthy towards the end of season. We're trying to playoffs. We don't need to do. We don't risk a hamstring tear the first game of the season. Like we know you want to be out there. We all know that Jalen wants to be out there. Again, as Brian alluded to, he played through a tournamentis like that's, that's, that's, that's pretty amazing and that's pretty badass right there. Like I, I first off, I can't get out of bed of my ears never mind play like an actual basketball guys.
- [24:00]
A
I grunted over in time. I get it.
- [24:05]
B
I know, right? So you know, I, I can't, I can't even fathom that. But you think there's a little more of, I shouldn't say pressure but a little bit more emphasis on the hey, Jalen, like look, just, just take a little bit. Just let's, let's make sure here because you know, we're, it's not, this is gonna be a pretty sucker the season anyway. But let's just make sure that you get the time off you need to come back healthy because like the thing for me with Jalen is Jalen more than ever he's going to have to rely on himself athleticism here to try and guide this team. Like you don't have Tatum as a fallback plan to like to hang your hat on you. He's the face right now. He needs to be the old. We saw at the beginning of the first game, first preseason game where he was just killing everybody, what 21 points in the first half. It was phenomenal. You need that guy, you don't need to hobble. Jalen Brown playing games in October that, you know, like, who really cares? Because we're just waiting for team to.
- [25:01]
C
Come back here and we're done. Like, this is this. That should be this entire season. Evan is like that mentality for anyone who matters on this team, whether it's Jalen Brown. I mean, Derek White too. Like, those guys should not be playing 38 minutes a game in the regular season because you're trying to grind out a win against the Magic in November. It's like, no, like, this is, this is not the season to do that. You want to keep them. You want to, you know, not their best, but, like, you don't want to grind them into a ground and put miles in these tires because, I mean, Jaylen Brown is 28 now. Derrick White is in his 30s. And so these are, you know, they, they can handle a lot, but they're not exactly spring chickens anymore where they're just going to bounce back where they would if they were in their, you know, early to mid-20s. So I think that's a huge thing for that. And this will be, I think, the first example of that with Jalen of like, if it is anything that is lingering and you look at just being extra careful holding him out of start. Like, you look at back to backs with Jalen too. Like, he obviously is going to play them, but if this is a recurring situation over season, like, they might be careful of that too. So it's less of a concern of guys like White and Pain Printer, because I think those guys just play a ton anyway and they're just super durable. They don't get hurt much. But Jalen, over the course of his career, gets beat up a lot over the course of the year. And so I think they, they need to kind of save him from himself. In a season where it's taking those type of, you know, risks that we saw last season with him, it's just, you know, it's not necessary.
- [26:29]
A
Do you think the. Not Joe Missoula, certainly not the players. Like, nobody wants to play, coach, watch losing basketball. But we've talked about what this season is. We've talked about it a lot on this podcast. Hours of mouth breathing on expectations for this year. What it should be, shouldn't be. Do you think Brad Stevens, Mike Zarin, like, you want to build a culture, you want to, you know, have the right environment, all that. You don't want to surround yourself with negativity. But all that said, do you think they ultimately care about the outcome of this year? Playoffs, no playoffs. Do you think they even want playoffs versus not actively tanking, but not going to sit there and be all that upset, all that heartbroken, you know, if they wind up in the lottery maybe somehow for the first time ever, get a little lottery luck and get that asset. And that doesn't mean you're using it like, it doesn't mean you're. You're drafting the player with a top five seven pick, whatever it is. Maybe it just means you're trading it to go and get a good established NBA player, this, that can come in alongside Tatum, Brown, White, whoever's here, and help you toward Banner 19. But for this season, I mean, what do you suppose any intel or just opinion that the priority within that front office is?
- [27:51]
C
I think that, I mean, Brad is alluded to, like in his press conference, like, I'm not going to put a ceiling on any team. And you go back, I think you can look back a decade or Adam, like the 2015, like 14, 15 playoffs in the year. They like traded for Isaiah like that, that was a team that I think the front office kind of wanted. They wanted to tank going to that trade deadline. And Brad as a coach at that point was like, no, I like, I kind of like what we're building with this group. And they end up being, you know, surging their way to the playoffs and obviously propelling themselves higher in the Eastern Conference a year or two earlier than anyone could have guessed. So I think ultimately, like, the front office is probably realistic about what's possible this season, but they certainly, if they're healthy, are gonna, they, they hope they're gonna be in the playoffs because I think you have enough uncertainties on this roster right now where, like, you are figuring things out for the future and invaluable experience now can help that. So if, like, if you find out which one of these bench players you're going to actually be able to trust next year, is Nimi going to be. Is Nemi a viable starting center for long term? Is he a viable backup center on a good team? Like, these are all questions that are easier to answer when you're playing meaningful basketball down the stretch. Now, again, one injury takes that away. Are they going to be devastated if they're going to drafting top 10? Of course not. Like, that's going to be a huge weapon for them in the off season. But I think the default there is like, all right, we're gonna, we have still have a lot of talent left on this team when it's healthy and we can, you know, make some noise in the east, at least the bottom of the east and see what the hell happens with Jason Tatum and you know, the March April time span.
- [29:42]
B
Kaufman, you know, I've watched a lot of Celtics basketball B. Rob's watched a lot of this basketball the past 15 years. Plus no part of of Brad Stevens or Joe Missoula, I think wants to lose basketball games. I think if you pulled some other guys in the front office, maybe they'd have different opinion. But I, I think if you think that Joe Missoula was would prefer to lose games this season, I think you're crazy because at least with Joe, I know Joe does not losing basketball games again. Still got the competitive firing.
- [30:12]
A
Not coaches, not players. I remove like they're, you know, again you, you think like the, the tanking for Tim Duncan and all of that stuff. Like players still have pride, coaches still worry about their jobs. Now. I don't think we've talked about this before. This team could win 15 games this year. Joe Missoula is still not going anywhere. This guy has multiple years. I don't even remember remaining on his contract. I mean remaining on his life as Celtics head coach. He this is a freebie year. It doesn't matter what happens this year for this Celtics team. Joe Missoula is safe but obviously the competitive guy that he is, he wants to win. No doubt about it. I don't question that. That's why it becomes a front office question where you can at that point strategically align the outcomes of games to some degree based on what your roster is and their roster right now is not what it was last year. You know, they, they paired that down.
- [31:06]
C
Again and it could change even more, Adam. It could could change even more in a couple months.
- [31:10]
A
You know what? To that, to that point, let's go there. Ev let's let's bring up what we were talking about on our text thread earlier today. This is this was not on my mind to go to this place tonight, but not a conversation that listeners are going to enjoy. But I think we should go there. Our buddy Seth Landman, he's popped on this show from time to time. Huge Celtics fan, always someone that is looking at the bigger picture. Sends Evan and I a text early today. Where was it first thing this morning said Here it is 10:30. I have a sneaky feeling Derrick White gets traded this year. He's too valuable for a team, not playing for anything. And he's 31. Contending in a year is not as simple as I me make it sound there's a roster to build. Not a lot of tools to do it. I think the package would be starter level player on a below market contract, at least two firsts or one really good one, an excellent prospect on a rookie deal and some financial relief. Then he starts outlining he was getting into the trade machine talking about prospective packages. Some of the things that he mentioned, again these are conjecture. It's opinion. It's goofing around. Says I was playing around with a three teamer where the Rockets get Mike Conley from the Wolves. The Wolves get White. We the Celtics get Divincenzo, Dillingham, Eason, Jean Tate and a future first from the Wolves. Another option, White and Anthony Simons for a sore Thompson and Tobias Harris. Maybe the Pistons also add Ron Holland. He threw out one more I think somewhere in here. D. White for Castle Cornette. Bring Cornette back and Sohan in San Antonio. B Rob, if I could play the role of your Mass Live editor for a hot second I would love for you to explore this in print because this is not something that is I'm not going to say this is something that's never come up. You know everything has come up this offseason. Yeah but this isn't something that has been heavily heavily dissected. We've been talking about like are they going to trade Jaylen Brown? Is Jaylen going to go? Jaylen makes 35% of the cap, blah blah blah. Like he you know we haven't really explored the is Derrick White going anywhere and what would the Celtics actually get in return that they could justify making it worthwhile because you know we're all sitting here going we love Derrick White. He's you know in the Sam Adams commercials he's got the White Noise podcast. He's getting better every year. He's you know lining up to maybe be an all star this year. We love Derek. This is not Derek slander. This is team building for the Boston Celtics. Do you think there is something that makes sense?
- [34:01]
C
I don't know if I only got trades out there where that makes sense for the Celtics at this point. Like I think you're looking at like the Desmond Bain type offer to think it to even to think about if you're the sub is this one because if you're trading Derrick White now and it you're they're the calls are going to keep coming in on Derek White because he's a guy that any no any team wants like any if you're a contending team and you have stuff like Houston has stuff like the spurs, like that of extra draft picks and a desire one now you want he's the perfect guy for you to deal with. But if you like the road back to contention if you're the Celtics, if you give up, Derrick White in this scenario is I think a very long one. Like this is like a, a longer reset and like good luck getting like Jason Tatum on board of that and like Jalen Brown. Like that's still. The financial problems aren't going to go away. If you trade Derek White. If you still have two super max guys and you have to build around that like that, it's gonna probably just get harder because now you don't have the perfect third guy to go with them. So it's, it's. His name is going to come up. But the like the ones they're throwing on there, I think that's like the Celtics would hang up on those. Like they need to be blown away by an offer for Derek White this way it's. Which I don't know if it's out there because he is in his 30s now. So it's like you're not. He's at the tail end of his prime as opposed to beginning of his prime. So. But yeah, like any team building stuff this year like in season would surprise me. But without that, these are questions that aren't going to go away because building around this core as is is going to be the margin for error is very thin and obviously involves you need Jason Tatum coming back looking like him himself after this Achilles terror and you know, next season and that's, you know, another can of worms there. But obviously so far so good. I'm not trying to at least what we've seen in his recovery.
- [36:02]
B
Yeah. And I think this is going to be the best year of Derrick White's life. I think like the, the little that we've seen of him so far. You know, you go back a couple of years and everybody. The dirty little secret was they're better with Derek than they are with Marcus bar on the floor. And it was a. You know, why is. Why is Marcus playing over Derek at the end of games? They're clearly better when Derek's in the floor. Well then they got rid of Marcus. They bring in Drew Holiday. So who's you know, going to run point guard for them? And so Derek, you know, slides over the two guard make it work.
- [36:32]
C
And it was great.
- [36:32]
B
Like, I'm not saying it wasn't great, but the idea of more and Kaufman, you and I have been on this. Seth was honest with us as well. Like, I want to be in the more Derek White business. Like, more. Derek White is good for the Celtics. Like, if he has the ball more, he's dictating pace more, he's shooting more, he's controlling the offense more. Like, it's going to be a positive thing for the Celtics. I think Derek White's gonna have the best years career this year at age 31. I think it's going to be awesome. I think he's going to have the best impact he could possibly have. And sorry, Kaufman. Selfishly, I want to see Derrick White. I want to see him more. I want to see more minutes. I want to see him play point guard. I was texting the other night. I can't wait to see Derek White, like, with the backup, with the bench. Like, the way I want them to stagger, this is. I think, you know, maybe Jalen comes out first and Simon comes in or wherever they want to do, but I want to see Derek White with the bench mob. I think it's going to be really fun and really entertaining because I think he can. He can push the pace a little bit better than the most guys can. I want to see him in pictured and Simons be really small, but create all sorts of chaos. I am primed, B Rob, for the best year of Derrick White's life. Am I here to be let down or am I. Am I. Am I right on this?
- [37:46]
C
All Star Derek White. I think it's like a real. Like, you look at the Wednesday night's game against the Raptor. I know it's a preseason game, but it's like, yeah, that. That's a guy.
- [37:55]
A
Why is he playing 35 minutes, right?
- [37:56]
C
I mean, that's another question. That's like you said, like, I couldn't believe, like, oh, I took him out. I'm like, oh, my God, he's played 35 minutes. It's like, all right. And so May Joe's gonna have to save himself from, you know, wearing him out. But regardless, if. If anyone gets hurt, I mean, regardless, Jared White should probably be getting 20 shots up a game. And in the past, you know, when poor singers came back last year, mid season, like, Derek White went through that slump. He wasn't getting the looks he usually was now. Now you like having your boy, like, he has the ultimate green light now. It's like, we need you, Derek. We need you to do. To be the center of attention pretty much every night and kind of run this show. Not next to Jalen. And honestly in crunch time, probably over Jalen in a lot of spots as far as far as like creating for himself and others. So yeah, like this is, this is a defining, you know, a developmental year from in many ways for this team and seeing what Derek White can do in this, you know, as big role as he ever is going to have in his NBA career. Like that's I think a big part of it.
- [38:52]
A
Yeah, look, I mean Derek White took 17 threes in this latest preseason game and Joe Missoula probably pulled him aside and said like great, I hope you take 20 a couple of times this year like that. That's just what this is going to look like. I want it written in blood, guys. I also love Derrick White. I don't want Derrick White gone. I just wonder. And this is not a preseason conversation any more than it has to be. This is going to be an in season trade deadline, certainly next off season and, and see what everything looks like with the health of Tatum, Brown, assuming, you know, everybody's here, all that stuff. You just, we went from the Celtics having one of the deepest teams in the NBA, you know, top, top to you know, one through eight or whatever you want to look at it as to now a team that has some very obvious flaws and holes and roster question marks that you know, I am just fascinated by the roster building decisions that are ahead for Brad Stevens, Mike Zarin, that entire group. I'm fascinated by it. Not rooting for any singular thing. I'm not like, oh, trade Brown, trade White. You're like, don't I. If they can get this thing back on, on track, the, you know, in a true contending way, not like fifth six Beth sods to win the Eastern Conference with Tatum, with Brown, with White, with Pritchard, with Hauser, like, like go to it. Great. I'm not looking for anyone to go. I would love for Anthony Simons to be a part of this thing long term. I don't think that's going to happen, you know, but I, I, you know, I just, I'm curious, I'm curious at how they end up pulling this off. But B, Rob, as we wrap this thing up again, next time we talk on this podcast here, like regular season games are going to be underway. You said you like low to mid-40s for the Celtics. Is this to you a playoff team? Is it a team that if and when it gets there has a then healthy Jason Tatum to help them out to where maybe, just maybe if some things break right, they could go On a run?
- [40:54]
C
Yeah. I mean, I think if they're in the playoffs, I would. Barring setbacks, I would expect, like, Jason Tatum to be a part of that, just based on, like, the timeline there he's at and what's reasonable now if how the team handles him, like, this is gonna be also, like, we know Jason Tab loves to play, and, you know, he's like, he's pretty much declared, like, I want to be back out on the core this year if you. If I'm ready and whether the team can talk him out of that or actually, like, push as I will. Like, we'll see. Like, it's. It's one thing to come back on the court for a few games at the. After an injury. I think Paul George did it like a decade ago after he got hurt with the Pacers. But those were, like, inconsequential games. They were out of the playoff mix. Now I feel like if he comes back in and this, like, the Celtics are in a play in race or, you know, try and get to the six seed, like, that's a whole different animal. But ultimately, like, I'm. When it comes to Jason Tatum being on the court, like, injury wise, I'm. I'm not really betting against him, like, just based on his career progression on that front. So I. It would be. How hilarious would it be if it's like 2 7, like, Nick Celtics.
- [42:08]
A
Just what I was gonna say. Oh, you took words right out of my mouth. Yeah, I was. I was. My closing thought was going to be, there's one thing, one thing I want from this entire season, and whether that's 2 7, 3 6, whatever it is, is for Boston, New York to play in the playoffs in the opening round, and for the Celtics with a healthy Tatum to knock the Knicks out. That's. That's all I want. That's all I want from this year. That's. That's my super bowl, as they say.
- [42:35]
C
It has to be on the table. Right? Like, it's. It's too easy. It's too easy after how that ended last year. That would be. But it is. It's gonna be. I do wonder just how much where this team is at in January and February will influence that decision at all. If, like, if Tatum can be like, listen, like, I want to be out there and like, this season may not be a throw at the Eastern Conference is like, the Eastern Conference, like, we can't throw away a season in these conference if I'm actually 110 in, like the middle of February or So like that. But if they're 25 and 35 and Tatum's like, I'm ready to go, then it's like, all right, like that's great. But we're not like we're get a couple games and I guess. But we're not, we're not going to throw you out there for anything meaningful.
- [43:23]
A
Yeah. We say final prediction on this team.
- [43:28]
B
I, I trust me, if it's Nick Celtics found one. I'll be revved up.
- [43:34]
A
Bing bong, baby.
- [43:35]
B
I, I have, I have changed my opinion on Tatum coming back like 18 million times. And with every video that he puts out, I, I change it again because it's like, all right, this is real. He's coming back. I Kaufman will tell you I was very anti even entertain the idea of coming back and then I might come back. Well, I, I don't want him playing games because whole different animal. It's way more physical and the guy's just coming off an Achilles tear now. I'm just like, you know what? He's probably gonna be fine and they're gonna bring him back in February and by March he'll be fine and then in April he's humming and if they get into the playoffs, they'll be the team. Like you don't want to play. Like, it'll be like, remember, like Miami being a seven seeds. Like you definitely don't want to play in Miami. You want to play these other teams because Miami's got that voodoo magic. Boston could. That could be. It could be Boston this year. That could be, that could be their, their, their name and I, I would relish the opportunity. That's all I'm saying.
- [44:28]
A
Completely agree. Again, Brian Rob, he is one of the hosts of the Still Potable show which is part of the CLNS media network. He also, of course, is a Celtics beat writer for Mass Live. I am looking forward to him at some point writing this Derek White article so that I can learn more about what potential packages could be out there. Just again, fact finding, that's all I'm looking for. I just want the education so I can speak more intelligently about it and maybe help clue in our guy Seth as well. But listen, for the last time, Celtics games are on the way. I really mean it this time. Regular season games are coming as soon as Wednesday at the Garden. B. Rob will be there. Evan I at some point in time will find our way there as well. Looking forward to it. For Brian Rob on Twitter at Brian T. Rob. B. Rob. Thank you so much. Evan Valenti I am Adam Kaufman again. This is Celtics Beat. Check us out podcast form. Wherever you get your podcast. Spotify, Apple, Pandora, Stitcher, still a thing. I don't know. Download those. You'll get our podcast rate, review, subscribe. Most importantly and of course for video CLNs All Access page, the Celtics all access page. We're there, along with a lot of great other Celtics podcasts. Like still potable again Wednesday night. No Joel Embiid, probably no Paul George, probably. Celtics already favored to win this game. The Road to Banner 19 starts now. We'll talk to you soon.