Loading summary
Transcript81 lines
- [00:01]
Chevy Truck Advertiser
There's a reason Chevy trucks are known for their dependability because they show up no matter the weather, push forward no matter the terrain, and deliver. That's why Chevrolet has earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand in 2025, according to J.D. power. Because in every Chevy truck, like every Chevy driver, dependability comes standard. Visit Chevy.com to learn more. Chevrolet received the highest total number of awards among all the trucks in the J.D. power 2025 U.S. vehicle Dependability Study Awards based on 2022 models. Newer models may be shown. Visit jdpower.com awards for more details.
- [00:27]
Evan Valenti
Chevrolet Together, Let's Drive this episode is.
- [00:32]
State Farm / 1-800-Contacts Advertiser
Brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.
- [01:01]
Jack Simone
Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body.
- [01:04]
State Farm / 1-800-Contacts Advertiser
Relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast.
- [01:16]
Jack Simone
And breathe.
- [01:17]
State Farm / 1-800-Contacts Advertiser
Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste.
- [01:25]
Jack Simone
Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-contact contacts.
- [01:30]
Evan Valenti
Today is Friday, December 12th, and this is Celticsby on CLNS Media, the leading online provider of audio video coverage of the Boston Celtics. I'm Evan Valenti and episode 654 features Harvard Houdinis. And how about them? Celtics host Jack Simone. And today's show is powered by Prize Picks. Prize Picks is the official daily fantasy partner of Clowness Media. Download the app today, use the promo code CLNS and get $50 in lineups when you play. $5. Welcome in, everybody. Evan Valenti solo this week. No Adam Kaufman. Just a little bit of Let me put this It's a crazy time of year, if you could imagine, right? With everybody kind of flying around for the holidays and things. And I just told Adam, I said, hey man, you got a lot going on in your life. Let me just take this over and get this out to the public or to our fans. Make sure folks, if you love the show, leave us a rating a Review on Spotify or on Apple itunes. Wherever you get your podcast, if you're listening to it via the Just an App, if you're watching us on YouTube, if you haven't subscribed to the CLNS Celtics All Access YouTube channel, please do that. It'd be wonderful if you want to make fun of me in the comment section of the videos. I say this all the time. I don't really care. The best insult I've ever gotten from a commenter is when I had my longer hair that it looked a little bit like Charles Manson. That was the funniest insult I've ever gotten in my entire life. So, yeah, if you want to, like, throw stuff at me, that's totally fine. But make sure you subscribe to the channel for all the Celtics content that we're coming at you. It's Garden Report. It's the Big three podcast. It's us. It's also my guys still pot. Like, we have so many, so many podcasts in the CLNS YouTube page, so make sure you take a look at that. No coffin this week. Just me, Evan Valente, joined by Jack Smo. Jack, what's going on, buddy? How are you?
- [03:35]
Jack Simone
I'm good. I'm good. I'm ready to rock. I'm excited to talk about the Celtics as I always am, even though they. They lost last night as we're recording this. But that's all right.
- [03:46]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, start there because there's some other things we're going to get to, including the last time Jack was on was around Halloween, and we did this little. I'm not going to call it stupid, but we did this little funny segment where we did, like, this trick or treat thing. And now that we have more raw data to play with, we can actually look at some of those things and see actually if one of those things came true, if they didn't. And I have, again, a little bit of a running tally going there. We'll get into that later on in the program, but we will start with the Celtics losing to a shorthanded Bucks team Thursday night. 116, 101. The final score from Milwaukee. Milwaukee. No Giannis. This is tough. A little. Definitely a tough loss. I think some people out there in the Internet, you know, whether it was X, Twitter or wherever, we're saying this could be a trap game. This could be a trap game. Guess what? It. It kind of was. Definitely kind of was. Jack, there's a lot of different places we can go in this game, but, like, if you're. Oh, For a million in the second half, you're just not going to win a lot of basketball games. Is it just that simple?
- [04:45]
Jack Simone
I think probably. I mean, I, I said this last night when I was talking about the game. Like, this just was a classic NBA. One team's hot gets really cold. One team's cold gets really hot basketball game, right? Like, the Bucks had won or lost 10 of 12 going in. The Celtics had won 10 of 12 going in. It felt inevitable that one team was going to cool off, One team was going to get hot. And it just so happened that the Celtics ran into the game where that exactly happened. Right. And I feel like when a lot of teams like hot stretches end in the NBA, it's in a classic case of that. So I don't think the Celtics are going to shoot 3 of 26 in the second half many times from three this season. Hot take, maybe. Who knows? I just don't think they're going to shoot that poorly. They shot A season low 18% in the third quarter, including not making a single three, which is the first time that's happened all season. 18% tied for the fifth worst field goal percentage they've had in the last decade in a single quarter. So sorry if I don't think that's going to happen too often for this Celtics team. And then Kyle Kuzman and Bobby Portis just decided to go scorched earth. So it's, It's. It's frustrating, right? Like, it's definitely not a game that the Celtics should or wanted to lose. Right? So I, I don't think they'll take it with a grain of salt, but if I'm looking at this in the grand scheme of the season, I'm going to take the large sample size of everything we've seen from them for the past two weeks over a one game sample size of Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma turning into Jordan and Pippin. So, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.
- [06:11]
Evan Valenti
Like, what was he last night? He was 11 to 13. Like, that was so annoying because, yeah, at a certain point it's like he's just throwing it up there and they're all just going in. Like, he does. He's so hot. He's like. And Scout talked about. He's like. He's just. He, he don't. He could be blindfolded. It's going to go in right now. It's just one of those. One of those things. This is. The Celtics have been, you know, they, They've done this before. They've gone cold before. We've seen this before. And the one thing that I like to know when this happens is like, yes, the shots don't go in, but is the process good? Are they generating good shots? Are they getting open looks? They're just missing them. What did you see in that last night? Because that's where, like, if you want to really talk about them missing so many shots, if they're bad shots, like, okay, let's cream them. If they're within the flow of the offense and they're open looks, they just keep missing them. Like, that's the process by which they got the shot was good, the. The end result was bad. Was it more of the latter or more of the former in that particular regard, do you think?
- [07:11]
Jack Simone
I think the process escaped them at least a little bit in the second half. It felt like they went to pick on matchup isolation ball a little too much, and that is like a big part of their offense. Don't get me wrong. Like, it is getting Jaylen Brown on a good matchup and going from there, but it just felt like they got too obsessed with doing it rather than running some of the really awesome, like, sets and actions and plays and, and whatever that they've been running this year a lot more. Right. Like, it. It feels like they've done a great job of off ball screening, of moving around the floor, of engaging everybody in every single offensive play to confuse the defense. And that really didn't happen as much as I think it should have in the second half. And so I, I do think there was a little bit of that. But at the same time, like, you got to make the shots. So I, I think it was a mix of both. I do think they definitely let the. I, excuse me, the offense divulge a little bit too much into chaos in the second half. But I, I don't think it was like the worst possible game they could have played. I. I think most of it was just. I mean, they just. They couldn't hit the side of a barn.
- [08:17]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, they're susceptible to this kind of stuff. I mean, we saw it in the playoffs, most recently against the Knicks, where in the second half of games one and game two, you're like, what in the. I mean, I was in the building for game one. My. My brother and I were perplexed as to what was happening. It was. We. They were up 20, and we're sitting there like, oh, this is. Isn't this great, Mike? Like, my brother and I sitting there like this. This is the best. You know, you go to game one, they blow doors. This is great. And then they just don't hit a single shot for the second half because, a. I think you're right. I think sometimes they get a little too, you know, Missoula likes to talk about where, you know, we're, you know, whales hunting seals here, they just pick on the weak link too much. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I think they fall into that a little bit, maybe too much, instead of just trying to get good shots within the flow of the offense. And then what happens is when they try and get back to their flow of the offense stuff, they're so cold that it doesn't even matter. And they're. And they're down so much, they feel a little bit more pressure to hit these threes. And so that, to me, is like, if you're going. I will say this coming into the season, I said this a bunch on the show just because, you know, you're in the off season and you get to, like, August, and it's like, what do we fraking talk about with this team? Like, there's so just like, are we. Are we there yet? Can we just get to the season? This is like, we're really struggling for story lines here.
- [09:33]
Jack Simone
I was.
- [09:34]
Evan Valenti
I was coming up with this, like, is this a make or break year for Missoula? And I. I made that point because, like, we saw Mike Malone get fired, and we saw, you know, Taylor Jenkins get fired, and. And we saw. And, you know, Tom Thibodeau getting fired was a little more predictable, but we saw some of these big head coaches get fired, and I'm like, I don't understand how anybody would ever fire Mike Malone. He's like, my. One of my favorite coaches in the league. I thought this is a make it or break it year for Missoula. Like, if I didn't see, like, significant change in the way that this team functions, I was gonna be like, hey, if this doesn't go well, and Missoula is just like, nope, this is what we're gonna do, I would be concerned. I obviously don't have those concerns. The Celtics, even with the laws last night, where they're, you know, just ice cold from the field, they're 15 and 10 through the first 25 games. I think a lot of people would take that, considering Tatum hasn't played a. But, like, this is the one thing that I. I keep coming back to with Missoula ball. It's like, sometimes this happens. Is this just, like Again, something we just have to deal with collectively as, as players, fans, people that watch the game. Or is there something they can actually do in the game that can get them out of these ruts? Because it's like, this is the stuff that pisses me off.
- [10:43]
Jack Simone
I think it's frustrating. I do think they get themselves out of the ruts more often than people realize. It's just not as, like, obvious or noticeable when it happens. Like the Raptors game, they went on a huge rut, they couldn't score.
- [10:57]
Evan Valenti
They.
- [10:57]
Jack Simone
They completely fumbled their lead away and then they came back and they won the game. Like, they, they've done a pretty good job of fighting back against some of these comebacks. And I remember looking on a recent podcast when we were talking about like, oh my God, the Celtics always blow leads. The Celtics always blow leads. They're always like, you know, they, they can never hold on to a lead. That's just the NBA. Like you look at any single game chart in any NBA game and there is a 15 to 10 point lead going down to three and then going back up to 20, then maybe going all the way down to the other side, up by five, then going back up. Like, that's just how scoring in the NBA works because there are so many threes, there are so many talented players who can just get hot in a moment's notice and it's just kind of the way things go. But I think the Celtics this season in particular, and lately in particular have done a pretty underrated job of like holding on to leads and even when things get tough, sort of finding ways to grind out wins. Like that Knicks game. The Knicks battled all the way back and they still managed to, to hold on. The Pistons game was a close game that they still managed to win. The Lakers, I, you know, I never got too, too close, but they battled all the way back to like down 15, down 12, and then the Celtics ballooned it back up. So I do think they've done a better job at sort of managing things and reigniting their offense when they need to. But I don't even know if it's as much as how do they reignite the offense. I think it's more of how do they stop the bleeding so they can get some easy buckets. And I think the best way to do what you're talking about is to get stops, get out in transition and get those easy dunks right. And they didn't really have a chance to do that last night because again, Bobby Portis and Kyle Guzman missed four shots combined and they combined for like 50 something points. So I think there's a little bit of both ends of the floor that goes into it. But I do think you're going to get some of these anomaly games just throughout the course of a season.
- [12:53]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. The fact that like it's hard to get out in fast breaks when the ball's going through the basket. You have to take it out and read throw a basket all the time. Like that just, that's, that's just gonna happen like if you can't. And that's the one thing with the Celtics team this year that's been kind of fun. This has been one of the different wrinkles that we've seen is their, their ball pressure is much better. Yeah, they're following a ton more. That comes with the fact they're trying to generate more steals. They're again, instead of being dead last in generating steals, they're like middle of the pack. They're like 16, 17, 15 somewhere in there. And, and that's just a, a huge difference in what they've been doing previously. And when you can't, you know, force those turnovers and get out in these two on ones, the three on twos, the three on ones, like it becomes a little bit, a little bit harder. Like news flash to everybody out there that watches basketball, half court offense is harder than transition office. Like it's not a huge, not a, not a huge story there. But again, this is just a, you know, sometimes you're going to have games where Payton Pritchard can't miss, Jordan Wallace can't, can't miss and he didn't last night. We'll get into that later in the program. But they've had some struggles this year. Like Pritchard was 4:14 last night. Like that's just not going to get done. Sam houser O of 10, O of 9 from 3 point range. How many times in your life are you going to see Sam Houser go O for in a game? Like I've always said, you know, he walks on the court. He's 42% from 3 basically since he gave, came in the NBA, which is insane. He's been basically. And I know people are going to maybe roast me for this. Some, some people might. He's basically been Kyle Korver since he's just walked on a basketball court, he's just been Kyle Korver and there's just not a lot of these zero for nine games. I don't, I don't know if there's something up with Sam, if he's hurt. I know he hasn't been his usual Sam Houser self. Maybe he's a little bit of a funk. Like Derek White got out of his. Payton Pritchard got out of his funk. They just need Sam Houser to be a little bit more consistent and they would have probably won the game last night if he goes 4 of 10 like he normally does instead of, instead of o of 10, I believe Jack. This is a very different basketball game. So again, when it comes down to it, Boston can't afford one of their core seven guys going 04 from the field. When everybody, when you have your. But your starting point guard going four or 14, like it's just, just not gonna. Like when you have two guys. So you're O of 10, 4 or 14. So you're 4 24. Like that's just not gonna get it done. Flat out.
- [15:15]
Jack Simone
Yeah. The same Houser stuff I saw on social media last night was crazy. Like people, people forget just how good he is. Like first off, I did a video on him earlier this season. He's been a great defender all year. Great job defending without fouling. He has like of players like 300 plus minutes or something like that. He is like the fifth least fouls in the entire NBA. And that's because he just plays good defense. Like there was a play earlier than Bucs game or Miles Turner tried to back him down and post him up, didn't move him an inch and then just threw up a weak hook shot and it didn't go into like he's very underrated defender, especially off the ball as well. But this, this 0 of 9 performance from 3 and 0 of 10 from the field, which the 12 point miss was a layup that he missed. Just couldn't get out of his own head which I, I feel him on a spiritual level. That happened to me in my rec league game on Monday night too. So it happens to the best of us.
- [16:05]
Evan Valenti
Trust me, Sam, man, even you, brother.
- [16:08]
Jack Simone
Exactly. But before that game, so through the first 14 appearances of the season, Sam Owser was 32.9%. I feel like that's the Hauser that people are still ragging on a little bit. 10 games going into Milwaukee, 42% on five and a half attempts. He was right back to where he's always been. And what's funny is through the first, you know, 25 appearances he's made this year, this includes the O of nine. It was at 34. He's at 34.2% from three last year through his first 25.36.2 and he still finished at 42. And if you erase the O of nine, he's at the same 36.2 he was last year. He's just a slow starter. Like he just starts slow from three. And it's happened last year, it's happening again this year, but he's, he's Never finished below 40% from 3 any year in the, in the pros or in college. I'm not worried a little bit about Sam Houser. He's the most consistent 40% three point shooter we've ever seen and one of the best three point shooters in the NBA. He's only, he's. I think he's the only three point shooter who shot above 40% on at least five attempts for the last three years in the entire league. Like, that's, that's consistency at its highest level. These games are going to happen for every shooter, but he, he's the last guy I'm worried about.
- [17:21]
Evan Valenti
I wonder if there's like a little bit of this, this Duncan Robinson effect of, you know, everybody's waiting for the shoe to drop because it happened to Duncan Robinson once in his career and he just couldn't shoot threes anymore. He was literally unbelievable at one point with Miami, it's like, oh my God, this guy's amazing. He got this huge contract from the Heat and then all of a sudden just cooled off because he became a podcaster and everybody was like, no, he's not focused on ball anymore. He's just too busy po Podcasting. Like, I don't. I think we have a little bit stuck in our, our brain with Sam, because I do think Sam. It may be because they're both white and this is how this works. But like, I think Sam's gonna be okay defensively. He's. He guards way better than people expect. And when you hear you, you hear guys that have been a league for a long time, like Sam Alger's way better at defense than any of you give him credit for. You just think he's a three point shooter. And again, I think water will find its level here. Sam has just had another tough start, but I think we'll be okay. I do want to quickly touch on the defense because again, when you have two guys in, in, in Kuzma and in Portis, that again, I think they combined to miss like, what, five shots? Part of that is, well, you know, it was just their night, but part of that Is like, defensively, they, they weren't. They weren't as crisp last night. They weren't as sharp last night. They weren't like, into people's airspaces as much last night, at least from where I was sitting. And again, I, I think we sort of have to adjust this Celtics team a little bit because defensively they're different, but they're just not as good. Like, when you look at their defensive rating, they're think they're going to. Last night they were 17th in defensive rating, which is not what we're accustomed to with the Joe Missoula Celtics team. So when they're bad defensively, I think we also have to kind of learn, like, they're just not as good. Like, we don't have Jason Tatum on the floor or you don't have Drew Holiday with you. Like, yeah, no, no, you're not as good defensively. Like, those are the best defensive players in the league, and without them, like, yeah, you're just average now. Yeah, we have to kind of adjust a little bit, right?
- [19:09]
Jack Simone
Yeah, it's weird because it's. It's almost like the opposite of their offense. Like, they have a really good offensive rating, but they don't score a lot of points at all. They have a 17th best defensive rating, or I don't even know what it is. Now they allow the. The third fewest points per game in the NBA. So it's like, is, is the defense good? Are they just controlling possessions? Like, how well are opponents shooting? Opponents are shooting 45, 37 against the Celtics. That's a pretty high three point percentage because they do protect the rim at a higher level and they give up some threes. And I do think the rotations and everything that goes into this new style defense wasn' as well as it needs to be in the Milwaukee game. And I don't think they adjusted the Portis quick enough. I think he got hot posting up some smaller guys and they, they didn't get Kate in the game quick enough. And for what it's worth, I do think Joe went to put Kate in the game to match up with Portis quick enough, but there was no time for a sub and he didn't want to burn a timeout, so Portis got going a little bit too quickly there. And I think another part of it is when the Bucks were getting hot, I feel like a lot of it was Kyle Guzman taking the ball and running. And you can't really prevent that fully unless you're making shots. And the Celtics just weren't making shots. And so the Bucs just got to grab the ball, run in transition, get easier buckets. So it's a two way street in that regard. But I definitely think as their offense started to fumble, their defense got a bit more scrambled than it usually is. But they've struggled with transition defense a lot all season, just from the eye test, like the Jazz game, it cost them mightily. It hurt them in the, in the Raptors game too. Jamal Shad was running all over them and I, I think it's just hard when they're missing shots to, to get back in transition and cover some of those easy looks for other teams. And I mean, last night's third quarter was the perfect example of they're not making any shots. And so it makes sense that they got burned on the run a little bit.
- [20:57]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, it's just one of these things where again, there's 82 games, things are going to happen. It's, it's important to note the things that have happened but not overreact or underreact. Either way. You know, just a couple of things that really, again, Boston, look, they're, they're, they're punching above their weight right now, but there's no question about it, they're, they're, they're playing way better than anybody expected. They're playing some of these really tough teams really hard. They've come out with a couple of really impressive wins. But with that, you know, with, without again, one of the top five players in the league. Like you're going to have these nights where things go like this and you don't have Jason Tatum to come and save you, but you do have other guys to come and save you. We'll get to those guys right after this break. Quick break from today's show to tell you this episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. It is the holiday season, folks. The best time of the year for several things including sports bowl games, basketball matchups, playoff pushes. It's all happening at once. And while you and I are out here making decisions every single day, what gives to buy, what to do, eat, which game to watch. There's one place where it feels good to be, right? And that's Prize Picks. Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action. Join over 10 million users. Sign up today and you know the drill. If you've been on this show with me, you know about the Friday Flex play, which means you can still cash out even if your lineup isn't perfect. Trust me, Flexplay saves me all the time. And it has, I think, what, three straight weeks in a row. It's pretty, pretty good. With that in mind, Steph Diggs, first part of our lineup. More than 48 and a half receiving yards against the Bills. Folks, last time they played the Bills, Steph Diggs took it personally. And to the tune of over 100 yards. I think 48 and a half. Very doable. Love Steph Diggs. For leg number one of our lineup, number two, Josh Allen. Other side of the field. Field. Josh Allen. More than 0.5 rushing touchdowns. Josh Allen's insane. He's been superman several times this year for the Bills. If the Bills have any chance of winning this game, I think he's got to throw the cape on one more time. Then we'll go to Devon HN more than 77 and a half rushing yards. They're playing the Steelers this week, I'm pretty sure. And the Steelers rush defense is abysmal. So I'm rolling with one of the best running backs in the league, Devon HN. So we got Steph Diggs more than 48 and a half receiving yards. Josh Allen more than half a rushing touchdown. So just gotta get the end zone one time. And then Devon HN more than 77 and a half rushing yards. Flex play. Hit all three. It's three X. Two out of three is one X. Which means get your money back. Which is a win for me. It would be for you as well. And prize picks now has early payouts. If your lineup gets off to a hot start and you have all three hits, you'll have the option to cash out earlier before we have to wait to the end of the game. That absolutely rules. It's happened to me once, so it's not like I do this all the time, but it is cool to, you know, it's like, hey, get the cash out early. All right, very good. Anyway, getting your money can be any easier as well. Little as 15 minutes. Watch the money roll into your account. Price picks uses Venmo. Easiest way to do it, I promise you. Download the app today. That's Prize picks. Use the code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 again, that's. Download the app today, use the code CLNS and get $50 in lineups after YOU play your first $5 price picks. It's good to be right back here with Jack Simone, Evan Valenti with you here on a Celtics feat. Coming off a loss against the Bucks. A little frustrating. 116, 101. Celtics now 15 and 10, which is again better than anybody expected. There's no question about that. And we talked a little bit about the things that played the Celtics in that loss, you know, in Milwaukee Thursday night. But one of the things that did not plague them is a guy that's been just unbelievable this year. You know, you're talking all NBA, no question right now. You're talking that he was on the, the Kia. I love these stupid bliss. The NBA MVP ladder brought to you by Kio, whatever the hell that is. Like, I love stuff like that. But Jalen Brown has broken through that ladder. He's on the ladder. He's in the top 10, quote unquote of MVP candidates in the league this year. Another 30 ball last night. You know, I said this. I think in the off season at some point, like this is going to be really great for Jalen Brown, this Tatum injury. He's going to get to learn how to like become initiator, creator at a different level with different stakes and, and just learn how to be the guy on an offense. Jack, has it gone better than you expected? Because it's definitely gone better than I expected. Without question at this point.
- [25:46]
Jack Simone
It's definitely gone better than I expected. And I wasn't like down on Jalen Brown going into the season. I was like, I pretty high. I thought he was going to play pretty well. He's just been a monster. And I think the, I don't want to say emergence, but like the willingness and comfortability of the Celtics allowing him to go to that mid range shot I think has completely altered everything that he's done this season. He, he's just been dominating from the mid range. He's been getting mismatches, rising up, making tough shots and I mean after a 25 game sample size, I don't know that he's going to cool off. And he's significantly for mid range. I think he's just good at those shots and so they're going to continue to go in. He's done a great job of driving to the rim and making plays. He's making reads that we've never seen him make before. And now in the last like 10 or so games, he's getting to the free throw line more too. I think he's at like nine a game and either it's either the last five or less 10, he's getting a free throw line nine times a game. He got there six times in the first half alone against the Bucks. Like everything's really just coming together for him. The efficiency, the Shooting, the shot selection, the playmaking, the. The foul drawing. Like he's a genuine all NBA first team candidate right now. And it's been so incredible to watch how dominantly he's taken over the number one option spot in Boston. For what it's worth, I think it's something he's always been confident that he can do. He just never had the chance to show it. Now he's getting the chance to show it and it's going exactly as I think he has told us all that it would go.
- [27:14]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, he's always talked about sacrificing a lot for this team and it was hard to kind of imagine it looked like. But you're seeing it right now like, well, again, what are he's capable of, what he can do and how he can manipulate games. And like when you talk about dictating the pace of a game, like the game happens at his pace. And I think that's like the last step of becoming just an awesome offensive hub for what you want to do is being able to dictate the pace of the offense. It never looks like he's spent. Like there are moments in Jalen's life and obviously there are still moments. When you watch him now, they're obviously fewer and farther between, but there are moments where he would get so sped up you would know his brain is moving faster than his body would go. Now they're much more connected. You can see the movements, like the footwork is just unbelievable when he gets into the mid range and how he uses his athleticism, his strength, his body to get by guys or get through guys or absorb contact. Like that stuff has become huge. You talk about going to the free throw line like that. That's what kind of unlocked Jason Tatum into becoming this huge 29 point per game scorer, was him getting to the free throw line like 11 times a game like that. That is the easiest way to go from a 23 point per game score to a 29. Like just get six extra free throws, like just get to the free throw line. And Jalen complained about that earlier in the season and I think maybe that's part of the reason why he's getting more free throw attempts now. It's like, hey, I'm getting filed all the time down here, like what do I got to do to go to the free throw line? I think maybe him saying something has resulted in some positive results for him, but it's for me, just watching him day to day, like game to game, it's just amazing. And you look At. And this is what gets everybody so excited about Tatum coming back. It's like, well, if Tatum comes back with this version of Jalen Brown, like, holy moly, like, what can these two guys do? And it just kind of. It flies in the face of everyone that told Celtics fans or people that were listening, there's no way Tatum and Brown can coexist and blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? Like, these guys are still. This is the one thing about Jalen Brown that I really love is, like, even at 28, 29, like, he still finds ways to get better. And you look at some of the guys that were drafted around him, like, you just can't say that every year Jalen comes into the year better than he was last year. And this year, again, he's been around for a while, but the stuff that he's doing now, like, I know the three point shot comes and goes, and I'm willing to be okay with that. Like, okay, sometimes Jalen's gonna hit one out of seven and sometimes gonna get five out of seven. But the other stuff where he gets to his spot, he like it kind of. And I hate. Don't, you know, don't kill me with this comparison, but it kind of reminds me a little bit of Paul Pierce, where Pierce knew exactly where his best spots were on the floor, and no matter what you were gonna do to him, he was still going to find a way to get there and hit tough shots in your face. And that's exactly where Jalen is right now. Like, he just knows where. That's my spot. I'm going to get there. You're. They're going to follow me, or I'm going to hit this, or I'm going to do both. You're going to follow me. I'm still going to hit anyway. Like, it's just a beautiful thing to watch right now. It just seems like the conductor of the orchestra currently, I. I just think.
- [30:17]
Jack Simone
The Celtics have been able to sort of tailor things to him. Like, that was one of my biggest. I don't want to say worries, because I don't think I ever thought Joe Missoula would do this, but a lot of coaches would be like, this is the way I play. We're going to tailor everything to the way I play, and that's how we're going to do things. And I think that's how you see a lot of coaches get fired in the NBA when teams turn over and there's a lot of change. Joe Missoula saw Jason Tatum go down. He saw the financial implications of the CBA forced him to trade some of their, you know, the Celtics lost five of their top nine rotation players, whether it be to injury or free agency or trades this summer. And Joe Bazul said, okay, we're going to overhaul the offense, overhaul the defense. Jalen Brown is going to be, you know, the driving force for everything and it is a lot of mid range looks and that's okay. It's part of the offense and we're going to mitigate some of those misses by crashing three guys and Jordan Walsh is going to crash and Sam Houser's going to corner crash and Bailey Charman's going to crash and Mishkan is going to be a monster on the boards. And, you know, we're going to run some more plays. We're going to run some action, some flare screens for Jalen to get him coming off a CADA screen at the top so he can have easy driving lanes. We're going to run some, some staggered screens from the corner to get a guy coming up and then they'll be driving lanes out of that. We're going to run, you know, however many different sets and plays the Celtics have done this year, which I think has added some nice. What's the word? Diversity to their offensive profile. And Jalen Brown's at the center of it all and he's really finding the exact spots on the court, like you mentioned, that he's most comfortable in to succeed. He's driving to the rim and he deserved to say something about the foul calls because it was really bad in the early part of the season. It's gotten a lot better and he deserved a lot more foul calls than he was getting. So I, I think everything's just really coming together for Jalen and the Celtics as of late. And it's, it's fun to see when it all unfolds nicely, unlike it did on Thursday. But for the most part, it's been nice to see unfold the way it has.
- [32:08]
Evan Valenti
Did you catch that Fred Katz article for the Athletic this week about offensive rebounding?
- [32:14]
Jack Simone
I read the start and then I, I was at like Celtics practice and we had to go down. So I, like, I haven't finished it yet, but I started reading.
- [32:20]
Evan Valenti
I don't mean to like, you know, be this guy who's like, we're gonna go check this. It's a great piece. Fred did a great job with this. It was really about this new revolution of offensive rebounding. I'm only bringing this up because you brought it up and it just seems like a real natural segue into it. Boston's been experimenting with this in Maine for a couple of years trying to figure out the best way to crash the offensive glass. So it's like the stuff that you see this year has been sort of like a multi year project. It goes back to Mike Brown working with team Nigeria and finding like you know, obviously going up against teams that have more talent but finding ways to to manipulate possessions in their, in in their favor. And that has obviously come overseas here and, and made a huge impact on the NBA. Look at some like Mike Brown obviously with the Knicks and they have the personnel to do that with the, you know, with Cat and with Mitchell Robinson and with Bridges and with an Anobi and Josh Hart who might be the best one of on the Knicks of doing these sort of things. But the Celtics have been experimenting with the three man crashes, the four man crashes, the five minute. Like what does a five man crash look like? Do we. Can we sustain an entire season of this and will it work out for us in the long run? Like they've been experimenting with this for a bit which is so insane to me how some of these coaches try and find edges and ways to to manipulate the possession game in their factor and this is what the big storyline and I think what's funny is Boston got to this 5, 15 and 9 start. Everybody's like what the hell's going on? Like how are they doing this? This is the people are calling in right now about it. How are they doing this? How are they finding ways to to do this? And one of the way and everybody's been coming to the same sort of head of like well Boston's doing two things. One, they're not turning the ball over which is the ah, I love that like the. If I had to pick one thing that that makes me angry than anything else. It's just dumb turnovers in Boston was very very capable of that earlier in the Jason Tatum Jalen Brown era. You go back to the finals appearance against the warriors and the one thing that plagued them against the warriors of those early battles with Miami was dumb friggin turnovers. It killed me. They've eliminated that. And again you, you mentioned this. They're crashing the offensive glass at an unreal rate in trying to create extra possessions for themselves to get themselves either a look at the Ram, B an open three point shot or C going to the free throw line. And that results in all good process. And so when you look at this thing and try and like, from the 30,000 foot view, which is what we like to do on this show, it's like, is this going to be sustainable for the Celtics over the long run? And you look at the minutes that everybody's playing, it's like, yeah, kind of. Nobody's like, Tyrese Maxey playing 42 minutes a game, trying to keep the season afloat. Like, no, they're all averaging around, you know, somewhere between the. The main key core guys, somewhere between 23 and 33, 34, 35 minutes a game. It's not like they're tiring anybody out. So you look at what they're the projections of this team and trying to figure out what this feels, Jack, to me, sustainable. Does it feel sustainable to you?
- [35:25]
Jack Simone
I think it is sustainable. I think the Celtics have done a phenomenal job of finding hidden gems. Right. Like, obviously, Jordan Walsh is having this moment and I'm sure we'll talk about him, but he's been incredible. Ugo Gonzalez was the 28th overall pick and now he's playing like actual minutes for a competitive basketball team. Baylor Scheireman was the 20, the 30th pick, I think, last year and is now playing really good minutes for the Celtics. Josh Minot was a castaway from Minnesota who's played good minutes. Luca Garza, although he's fallen out of the rotation, was playing impactful basketball minutes was another castaway for Minnesota, to me is Keita was a castaway from Sacramento three years ago that they picked up that they've developed into a starting center on a top four seed in the Eastern Conference. Like, you think about all the guys on this roster who they have just found and developed and have molded into playing a role that has just worked really well. And it's kind of incredible that they are where they are. And obviously Jaylen Brown was the third overall pick and he's the star of the show, but traded for Derrick White when he was in San Antonio. He was a late first. They drafted Peyton Pritchard late in the first. Sam Houser was an undrafted free agent. Anthony Simons was, I think, like a 20th pick. I think he was later in the first round, too, and they traded for him and he's been a lot better lately. And then everybody else I mentioned, Jordan Walsh, second round Baylor Sharman, 30th pick. Google Gonzalez, 28th pick. Josh Minot, castaway of Minnesota, Namish kid, a castaway. Luca Garza, like, they're just, they're picking up scraps, putting, putting it together. And Joe Mazzulla Deserves a ton of credit for the way he has molded this basketball team to play in a way that works optimally for the roster.
- [37:04]
Evan Valenti
He has.
- [37:05]
Jack Simone
He's, like, squeezing every last bit of juice out of every single player on the roster, and the result has been winning basketball.
- [37:12]
Evan Valenti
Yeah. One of the funny things that has happened, at least on this show and, like, this show's atmosphere has been Joe Missoula is not getting enough, like, Coach of the Year talk. And in the same vein, like, Brad Stevens is not getting mentioned for Executive of the Year at all because of what. What the. With the Thunder of doing, like, folks, like, if the thunder goes 70, whatever and whatever, like, Dagnaut's gonna win coach of the Year. And in Presti. I mean, is at the goat status of GMs at this point, and it's well deserved. I'm not saying it's not. Not. It's just like, no matter what Boston does, those two guys are probably gonna win those two awards, and it's fine. And do we really care a lot about postseason awards when it comes to coaches and executives? Like, I guess. I don't know. I. You know, you always want Boston to win something, but at the same time, it's like, do we really need to care that much about these things? But you do have to highlight the job these two guys are doing, because it's, like, ridiculous. And there was that. That survey, the GM survey that came out where I had Brad Stevens ranked second only behind Sam Presti for GMs and presidents of basketball operations in the league. And I. I have a hard time giving the nod to just one person. I think you have to give it to the entire front office, because Boston's front office is not just Brad. Like, I give Mike Zarin a ton of credit all the time. I try and DM Mike, and I try and tweet at Mike all the time to be like, hey, man, like, how do you guys keep doing this? This is unbelievable. Like, how you guys just keep finding ways to. To. To pluck a guy here, there, and there and just plug him in and it works. But, like, the success at this point with what they've done is unbelievable. And we gave Joe a lot of credit last week where, you know, Greeny was like, I can't believe he's not getting more. More, you know, talk for Coach of the Year. I don't think we're in that stage of NBA media cycles yet where we're talking about coach of the Year. But when we get to that point, like, Joe needs to Be mentioned because the job he's doing with this roster is insane. Like, but there's like, a lot of guys like that. Like, you look at Toronto, you look at obviously with. With the. The Thunder, what they're doing is insane. Like, Eme should get some credit for what he's doing in Houston. I think that's a pretty remarkable job. Do we give Jokic credit for what's happening in Denver? He's kind of like a player coach this, like, I don't know, like, what do we do with that? But, like, the Celtics hierarchy, right. All the makes sense. You have a lot of times dysfunctional organizations. You have a broken chain of command or chain of communication from the top to the bottom. And this again, you can tell with ownership. Well, we'll see. With Bill Chisholm, we don't really know yet. But past ownership, Brad, Joe, players, everybody is on the same page. And I'm not quite sure Jack, who we give that credit to. Right. Like, the fact that everybody's on, like, moving in the same direction. Who deserves most of the credit for that? Or does it get just split up with everybody? 50, 50, like, whatever it needs to be?
- [40:18]
Jack Simone
I think you have to split it up. I mean, it's just the entire Celtics organization at this point, they've proven it year over year that they're just capable of putting together winners in whatever way they can. Like, just because they won the title, you know, making smart trades and finding smart players and putting things together that way doesn't mean that's the only way they can win basketball games. Right. They've done this before. Realistically, this whole, like, we're going to find guys off the scrap heap and put together a really talented basketball team. Those Isaiah Thomas years were exactly this. Like that. That is exactly what that is. Like, Isaiah Thomas was a guy they pulled off of, you know, coming off of two different teams who didn't really utilize him the best. And he was a good player. In Sacramento and Phoenix Suns teams, they.
- [40:59]
Evan Valenti
Had like, three point guards. It was dry, like Redco and. And Thomas. And like, it emerges as the best guy of those three.
- [41:06]
Jack Simone
Yeah, like, what are we doing? Like, he was good. Like, don't get me wrong, it's not the same as Mish K, but like, the Celtics got him, optimized him, put a bunch of guys around him who, you know, were pretty good basketball players, but everything great, like Jay Crowder, they got from Dallas and he was fine. And he turned into, like, a legitimately really good rotation player for a few years. Same Thing with Marcus Morris and Avery Bradley, who they drafted and they developed into this all defensive. Like, they just. Tyler Zeller led them in win shares one year. What? Like what, what are we doing?
- [41:38]
Evan Valenti
Tyler Zeller, Those are dark years, man. Those are dark, lean years. Tyler Zeller, guess what?
- [41:42]
Jack Simone
They missed the playoffs once. They missed the playoffs once. Like, it's, it's insane. It's insane since Brad Stevens entered the Celtics orbit. So, like, he deserves a ton of credit as far as the coach of the year stuff. Right. I think it'll come down to a lot of these, like, big guys like Mark Dagnote obviously will get some credit. Deservedly so. J.B. bickerstaff and Mike Brown, like, classic, really good young team takes a leap and new coach comes in and helps lead a team. I think the real coaches of the year for me it comes down to two guys, one in each conference. I think Joe with that roster, what he's done, and then Jordan Ott for the Phoenix Suns and neither of them are going to win. But like, if you want to talk about coaching, getting the most out of the players on the roster, I think those are the best two guys to look at.
- [42:24]
Evan Valenti
Yeah. Like Gillespie. Who the hell is this guy? Like, who the hell is.
- [42:29]
Jack Simone
Like, like, it's, it's ridiculous. What you're not. Is doing with Phoenix Suns. The fact that they're over. 500 is a miracle. Like, most people had them as the 14th best team and they're going to be a playoff team.
- [42:38]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, they, they lost Katie and Brad Beal and got way better. I, I like. And you know what? Credit Devin Booker because I, I've given Devin Booker a lot of flack throughout the years. Like, you go back to that video of him. What are you doing doubling me during like a pickup game? And I was like, dude, like, like, come on, man. Like, you're, you're Devin Booker. Let's, like, let's go. Definitely turned it around. And it reminds me of the guy that everybody fell in love with when they went to the Finals. Like, everybody loved Devin Booker. Like, oh, is he the best two guard in the league? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He's getting back there, which is cool. I think you're right about that. And again, he's not, he's definitely not going to win. Joe's probably not going to win. It's going to go to Mark Degno, who's going to just, you know, shatter the wind's record, probably. But I, I just wanted to highlight the fact that like, Boston has been Is. Is currently being run as. As well as you could possibly. Like, again, the Thunder having this Clippers pick is just unbelievable.
- [43:34]
Jack Simone
Disastrous.
- [43:35]
Evan Valenti
You can't. Like, anytime you want to talk about organizational, like, powerhouses, like, just what Sam Presti has done and, like, oh, yeah. Oh, here's A.J. mitchell again. Come on. Like, he's just gonna be awesome now. Like, he's gonna be great. You know, Lou Dort's gonna be able to shoot threes. Like, it's just. They're. They've been. They've hit on every. And not only just like, hit, but, like, hit grand slams, hit home runs. Like, it's not just like, oh, they got a single and drove a guy in. Like, no, no, they're clearing the bases. One swing here, guy, and it's collectively over the past, like, five years. This is ridiculous. And good for them. I'm not saying it's just making basketball a little. A little bit more boring at the moment because they're just steamrolling. Have you. It's gotten to a point where, like, I'm not a huge gambler, but I just might have to take the Thunder Moneyline every night and just throw huge amounts of money at it because it's like, are they going to really lose? Like, probably not.
- [44:25]
Jack Simone
Yeah. I mean, you're probably getting -625 on every single one.
- [44:29]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, well, you know what? You can't go. You can't go broke making a profit.
- [44:33]
Jack Simone
It's true.
- [44:34]
Evan Valenti
I do want to. We. We'll wrap up a little bit here, but I think it's crazy. We've gotten 40 minutes in this podcast and we haven't talked about Jordan Walsh yet. Because I think. I think we're almost, like, up for losing. Like, I almost get kicked off the network if we're not going to talk about Jordan Walsh in 40 minutes. Man. I mean, look, this. This. This run of Jordan Walsh, like, doesn't miss anymore. Eventually will stop, but it's not stopping yet. He was 8 of 10 last night. Three. Four from three. He had 20 points, eight rebounds. You know, it's funny. I remember Brad trading back in that draft being. What is he doing? And they just love Jordan Walsh from the jump. And they're like, we knew we could get him at. I think. What. He went 38. He went 38. We knew we can get him at 38, so we just traded back and picked up some second rounders and. And we got him. Then he. So when Tatum comes back, he's still starting, right? Like, he's still going to be the starting part of the starting five because.
- [45:38]
Jack Simone
Like I just can't take the question.
- [45:40]
Evan Valenti
No way. Absolutely not right now. It's hard but like what are you like dude, what are you gonna. Like, what are you doing? This guy's unbelievable. Good.
- [45:50]
Jack Simone
I don't think he can take him off the floor right now. I mean maybe eventually, like if he does cool off, then you go back to the two guard lineup. But I mean Jordan Walsh has been like close to their second best player for the last 10 games. Like with the defensive impact he has with, with how good he's been shot making and cutting and offensive rebounding and everything. He, I mean it's, it's been insane to watch. Like going into the season I was like, okay, you're gonna have to have Jalen Brown guard the best players. Like he's gonna have to be that two way force if the Celtics team wants to be good. And now Jordan Walsh is just guarding every single best player that steps on any court the Celtics play on and doing a phenomenal job, right? Like Cade, James Harden, he's guarded. Tyrese Maxey, Carl Anthony Towns, Jaren Jackson, he's guarding every position. He's guarding one through five and doing a great job at it. Like I don't think anybody could have predicted this leap. Like I don't think people would have predicted a leap half this big. And now he is just a legitimate starter, like high quality starter, probably going to get paid on his next contract type of guy. Like genuine all defense arguments for Jordan Walsh are going to happen this season. Like that is incredible to talk about.
- [47:10]
Evan Valenti
He's. I'll give you this because Forsberg had this in one of his columns recently that Forsberg based. Forsberg was doing some research. Basically Jordan Walsh is the best wing defender in the league. Not named Derrick Jones Jr. Players are shooting a 13 percentage points below expected against him so far. And you're as you've noted, like he's guarding way different types of guys. Like if you go back to that first Knicks game, I think you and I talked about like the bat. The guy that guarded Brunson the best was actually like a mixture of Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez. Walsh has since guarded every best player on every, every team they've played and just done an unbelievable job. And it's like, okay, at a certain point, like you gotta really, really value that. And for someone I, I've with a team that is doing extremely well offensively, like they're, they're, you know, one of the top five rated offensive Teams in the league at least going into the game last night or Thursday night, we should say I value a little bit more defense. And if you like can think about this of a Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, Namaskeda 5. Who the Kate is the worst defensive player on that group. Is. Is Jalen Brown the worst defensive player in that group? Like, I, I don't know, but it's outrageous. Outrageous. Length from one to five.
- [48:39]
Jack Simone
Yeah, insane. And for what it's worth, like, Jordan Walsh deserves everybody talking about him. Derrick White's been incredible defensive this year too. Like, he's everything, like three stocks a game.
- [48:48]
Evan Valenti
Yeah, he's. He's insane. Like, he is literally insane. He's the best shot blocking guard in the league. He's like the best. Like you see like rim protection stats and Derrick White's like fourth dude.
- [49:01]
Jack Simone
He might be the best shot walking guard ever. Like, genuinely one of them ever. Like, I asked SPO about it last year because people usually give that title like Dwyane Wade and SPO basically laughed at me and he was like, listen, we set up our offense for Dwyane Wade to get blocks. I don't know how Derek White gets blocks. He's just like, yeah, we did that for D. Wade. Like, Derrick White just goes out there and gets him. What he does on the defensive end is out. Like you said, outrageous. And, and Jordan Walsh and him combined, plus the Jays, plus Mishkeda, plus. Then you don't even talk about like, Minot's coming off the bench, Ugo's coming off the bench. Baylor, who's been incredible defensively this year, coming off the bench, like, you just got dogs like in the lineup, up and down, like just ready to come in and wreak havoc. And it's, it's, it's going to be a problem. It's going to be a real problem. It is a problem.
- [49:46]
Evan Valenti
Have you seen Walsh's numbers? And this is tough because everybody has kind of a different way of measuring, you know, at the rim or in the restricted area or something. Have you seen some of Walsh's numbers, like in the restricted area or like at the rim this year? Because this is like, this is one of the things that I think is getting lost in the. Jordan Walsh and I apologize. But holy, what is going on here? The numbers at the rim. He's like high 60s, low 70s percent after him. Like, I know Luca was not like at 1.93 at the rim this year was. Which is like unbelievable. But for 21 year old Jordan Walsh, who nobody expected anything out of coming into the season to be high 60s, low 70s percent is like ridiculous and actually might be the most impressive thing about him this year.
- [50:37]
Jack Simone
It's, I mean, everything we've seen from him is just beyond what I could have ever expected for, for him. Yes. At the rim this season in the restricted area, he's shooting 76.5.
- [50:50]
Evan Valenti
That's like what that's like. It's like you have to, you have the, the numbers up. Can you look up what Jokic is at the rim?
- [50:58]
Jack Simone
Yeah. The room this year is 79, right? 79.2. Yeah.
- [51:04]
Evan Valenti
So the best player in the league who's unbelievable is shooting 3% points higher than Jordan Walsh at the rim. That's ridiculous. And again, the three point shot, I said this. I don't know if it was after summer league this year. I think it might have been where I was like, if I'm Jordan Walsh, I just want to just lock yourself in a gym and shoot like 3,000 threes a day. Like if he could just hit threes reliably, he would be a rotation player. Well, he's not only doing that, he's like finishing through contact. Like it's so like he'll go up and get an offensive rebound and then just somehow get it to softly kiss off the rim and roll into the basket all the time. And I always think it's never going in, but it just keeps going in. I just can't. Like I, I. His tweets are on the rim is crazy.
- [51:54]
Jack Simone
Of players with at least 50 attempts in the restricted area, Jordan Walsh was 51. He's 14th of 144 in percentage. In the pain in the restricted area, like it's, it's insane.
- [52:05]
Evan Valenti
In his feel around the dunker spot, like for a wing player, it, you know, if you go back to those heat teams, the, the, the Heatles, Wade BOSCH and, and LeBron Birdman Anderson would navigate the dunker spot with extreme efficiency. He would be in one on the right, on the right side, then the left side. And he would get so many easy baskets because he just hung out there. And you know when this team fully starts humming, you got a guy that fully understands how to navigate that spot as an off ball cutter. Like as they get used to him doing that. It's just going to be easy points like it I. He's hitting every single check mark and then some this season and has completely changed the entire outcome of this season by himself. And you're right, there is a payday coming For Jordan Walsh. I don't know what it looks like. I have no idea how the CERS afford it. I don't know what the restrictions are with what he can do, what he can he get from the Celtics versus what he can get from other teams and the Birds rights and all those things. That is way above my head. It's way above my pay grade. I, I, I look like the Keith Smiths of the world to help me figure that out. But you're right, dude. There is a, barring catastrophic injury, there's a ginormous payday coming for this guy. And honestly. Oh yeah, I know. Jalen's been like the 30 point per game. Like, this is great. Jordan Walsh is the storyline of the entire season so far. I don't think it's even close.
- [53:33]
Jack Simone
100. I mean, I don't think anybody expected, like, there are probably people out there who could have told you Jalen Brown was going to be this good. And I would have been like, okay, I can see that happening. If somebody had told me Jordan Walsh was going to be doing this, I'd have been like, really? Like, really? And that's not a knock on Jordan Walsh. That is just based on the sample size we had seen up to this point. And so summer league two years ago was brutal and never really cracked the rotation at all. Shout out Jordan Walsh. Man, he is, he is absolutely incredible.
- [54:01]
Evan Valenti
I agree. I do want to get to a couple quick things before we're, before we leave here because we did have the episode back in October where we did Trick or treat, which I think was, you know, was fun. Was whatever. We're trying to make it festive for you people. Goodness. Some of the things we went over. Is it, is it for real that the Celtics have a top 10 offense? Still happening, by the way. Still happening. Celtics going into last night. There you go. We're number two in the league at 122 points per 100 possessions. So that's amazing. Top 10 defense. Not anymore. Where we've gone, we've gone away from that pace, which at the time, again, they were five games and they were dead last in pace. I was like, how is this possible? They talked all year about how they're going to get out, trade this Rod. Guess what? They're still dead last in pace. And I think it's on purpose. They lied to us, Jack. They lied to our face in the beginning, all off season, telling us that they were going to get up and down and run a lot more ridiculous.
- [55:00]
Jack Simone
I, I think the Celtics version of pace is not necessarily going super fast because if you look at all the numbers like I, I think it's a, it's, it's the reason all of their advanced metrics. Metrics, excuse me, and traditional metrics are backwards. Like they don't score a lot of points but they're a top three offense. They don't allow a lot of points but they're like 17th ranked defense. I think it's because they just completely control the possession battle. Like I think based on what I've looked at they have like some of the fewest possessions per game which also means their opponents get some of the fewest possessions per game and they allow the fewest field goal attempts per game in the NBA for other teams. And so I think this just pace is just. They're just controlling how many chances that they get but also how many chances the other team gets. Like they, they are allowing the fewest shots per game and also give up offensive rebounds. Like that, that is what you remember all that. That's with all of that included and they still give up the fewest shots per game. And part of that is they, they foul. So they give up some free throws. But even that number is tailed off. Like start of the year they were giving off the most free throws per game. I think they're down near like the, the 10th most, 12th most like that's dipped down into like a pretty average range. All the while their free throw attempts are going up steadily because Jalen Brown's getting more free throws. And I mean like they're just their, their rim protection has been great this year. They don't turn the ball over so they're not giving up extra positions that way. They force a lot of turnovers so they're getting extra possessions that way. Like pace for them is just like controlling possessions and it's working pretty well.
- [56:34]
Evan Valenti
Totally agree. A couple other things before we get out of here that we talked about. Namash Kada, is he actually a starting center on a playoff caliber team? Yes. And we can I think expand on that for a contending team. I think it's there. I think it's possible. We'll see when Tatum comes back if it is possible. But I mean check that box. No question. Can Jalen average 30 a game? Well, he's at 29 right now and scored 30 last night. So yes, still there. Derrick White, 10 threes attempts a game is at nine. So he's hanging around there. And the success is starting to come back more toward the, the Derek White we know and love. So a lot of things that we talked about in a five game sample size still ring true 25 games into the season. So I think that's interesting that, you know, some of the early trends that we saw we sought out or start are still holding on here, which is fun. Jack, before we go, give us all the plugs where we can find you. How many you know, with your cool videos and your podcast and your writing. Like, how. Tell us how all the ways that we can look at you, listen to you, watch you. All those things.
- [57:43]
Jack Simone
Yeah, all my written content is@hardwoodhudini.com I host a podcast with Santa France. It's called How About Them Celtics? There's a new video up on the channel every single day. Full length podcasts on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, game recaps after every game as well. So there's a new video, a new content to be consumed every single day there. It's also on podcast platforms and my own videos are on my Twitter feed @JacksonOneMBA. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel, Jackson MBA. All my videos there, short form and longer form, go there. It's on TikTok and Instagram as well. So, yeah, thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate you.
- [58:17]
Evan Valenti
That was longer than a CVS receipt, my guy. That was crazy. There's a lot going on.
- [58:21]
Jack Simone
I'm a lot of players.
- [58:24]
Evan Valenti
Jesus. My goodness. Well, that's the game though, man. If you aren't grinding, Jack's grinding. And if you're not, gotta, you know. You ever see that video? That guy who's like, I've divided the day into three different diets.
- [58:35]
Jack Simone
Yes.
- [58:38]
Evan Valenti
Over. Over a week, I'm kicking your butt. Over a month, you're in the dirt. Over a year, you're, you know, like that guy, like, kind of feel like that guy right now. You're making me feel like. For Jack Simone, I'm Evan Blante. Again, thank you all for watching or listening to Southern Speed wherever you can you consume the content, so to speak. If you're listening on itunes, Spotify, whatever, make sure you subscribe to something speed. Leave a rating review. That'd be great. Be wonderful. Helps us, not only us get better, but also us, you know, reach out to sponsors. I'm just gonna be honest with you about that. Also, make sure you subscribe to the Celtics all access channel on YouTube. Please, for part of the CLNS Media family, sell this content. We are crushing it right now, my Patriots guys. I gotta tell you, I'm so pumped for my Patriots guys. And I'll tell you why. The guys at Seal and that's been covering the Pats for the past couple years have had absolute dog teams to watch and cover and deal with. And now they have Drake May, they have Josh McDaniels, Mike Frable. This defense, like those guys have been just going through it for a couple of years. Taylor Kyle's my dude. I love that guy. Mike Cadlik, love that dude. Alex Bart loved that dude. Like, make sure you check out the Pat's content too. They are crushing it daily. For Jack Simone, for Adam Kaufman, my guy Harrison editing this video, my guy. I'm Evan Valente. We'll see you guys next week here on Celtics beat on CLS Media.
- [59:55]
Jack Simone
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half price. The service Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means half day.
- [60:15]
Evan Valenti
Give it a try at Mintmobile.
- [60:16]
Jack Simone
Com.
- [60:17]
State Farm / 1-800-Contacts Advertiser
Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed Flow Hugger. 35 gigabytes of network fizzy taxes and fees extra.
- [60:24]
Evan Valenti
Cmtmobile.
- [60:25]
Jack Simone
Com.