B (3:24)

There you go. Yeah. Still, in the face of adversity, you continue to make it happen. So good on you. It's one thing, like next year, the super bowl, because people love it around here when we talk football. The super bowl falls on Valentine's Day. This year, of course, like you said, All Star Saturday night. I think one thing is probably going to demand a little bit more attention from the greater masses than. Than the other. But nevertheless, while I won't be deliberately staying in to watch all things All Star Saturday, I. I do have tepid interest. I do have some thoughts on it. We can get into all of that, but we'll save that for a little bit later in the show. Ev. I think where we should begin is of course, with the Boston Celtics. Maybe the best place to start is with Jaylen Brown, who put out a tweet on social media, obviously on Twitter. He posted on Instagram, whatever the caption. And this was at this point, this is about two days old. I'm proud of this group and staff and, and front office and looking forward to a second half. Go Celtics. With a nice shamrock emoji. Then the graphic is comparing this year's team, absent, of course, Jason Tatum, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, Drew Holiday, Luke Cornett. All the changes from last year versus what this year's team has, you know, this year's team versus last year's team. What, What? You know, the, the side by side and the record of the All Star break is very close. Last year you had 39 and 16. And despite losing all of those players, now this year sitting at 35 and 19, two seeds still in the Eastern Conference, both cases, offensive rating actually better this year without all of those guys, which people love to say, see, they're a better team without Jason Tatum. 120.2 offensive rating versus 190, 118.8. The defensive rating comparable as well. Only a few points off and still inside the top 10. Last year was fifth. This year, ninth. The net rating, third in both cases. Last year was marginally better at 9.2 versus the still very, very impressive 7.5 this year. And, you know, I think I'm glad Jalen did this. I think it's a great place to begin just in terms of what this team has accomplished during its quote, unquote gap year, but also start with a little bit of controversy, actually spitting in the face of controversy, because a lot of people, Keith, have wanted to take this as Jalen taking a shot at his counterpart, Jason Tatum. See, look what we've done without you. The team is damn near the same. Now, I did not interpret it that way at all. Didn't even enter my head, as a matter of fact, until I started people, you know, seeing people posting all over about it and, you know, trying to drive radio talk show traffic with it and all of that, I don't feel that way. I think it was simply. Jaylen Brown is a prideful individual who, as we know, hangs on to every little slight that has been sent his way since the very moment that he was drafted and fans booed him, not really knowing who he was. And everything that has happened since, whether it has been the clashing of the Jays in terms of the media, not internally, or the, you know, Celtics, quite frankly, trying to trade him multiple times, or at least considering trading him in packages for, at the time, all star players, and just every little thing that has happened. I think Jalen put this out not to say, see, Jason, look what we are without you. It's more, look what we can do. When I am a focal point and those two things do not have to be, you know, immediately tied in together. So that's how I took it. I'm curious how you took it and how you take the reaction as well.

D (6:58)

Yeah, it's funny. I. Same as you, I saw it and I was like, cool. Like, this guy is happy. Of all he has accomplished in the team this year. And I didn't even think at all about, oh, this is a shot at Jason Tatum. Until, same thing. I started seeing people and then I had a couple people ask, you know, questions of like, hey, why is JB taking shots at jt? And I was like, did he. I was like, let me go look. And then, because maybe I'm very naive, I started scrolling through his timeline and I'm like, not seeing anything. I. I'm not big on Instagram usage. But I pulled up Instagram to see did. Did something get put over there. Then I started looking for. I know he does his live streams from, like, say something there. And I'm, like, not finding anything. What is this about, people? No, he posted that. That tweet in that graphic about how good the team is without Tatum. And I was like, oh, that's not where I took it. So I'm with you. I think he's just. He. He has a lot of pride, and he is someone who I think is real or imagined, has these slights that he is. Motivates him, and he plays with this chip on his shoulder all the time, and that's probably a big part of why he is so successful. And I think that's what this is about. I think he is just trying to make the case of, hey, we're pretty good. Like, and we'll, you know, we'll be there. And. And then what's funny is he was asked about Jason Tatum right around that same time, potentially returning, and he was basically, yeah, of course we want him back. Like, it was like. And he talked about how, like, yeah, I can understand why he, you know, has some hesitancy and nervousness or however you put it. I'm very much paraphrasing here, but. But he was basically extremely supportive. And it's. It's just funny. I. I really thought a few years ago, we were over this and past it and. And done with it, and it's just. It's. I guess it's just gonna always come back around every once in a while. Even though, you know, I continue to tell people, like, can't we just enjoy that they're both on the team? Like, and they're both really, really great players. And, like, that.

B (9:00)

That.

D (9:00)

That should be enough, but. But it just apparently isn't.

C (9:04)

Yeah, this is. I just. I can't do this anymore. I can't do the Jason Tatum verse vs. Jalen Brown thing anymore. We did it enough when they were younger. They want to. Once you win the. Like, once they got to the finals together, I was like, this is. I'm done with this conversation. I don't want to hear this anymore. These guys can fit together. This is ridiculous. And they want to win a championship. Last year, they were very. They've been competitive literally the entire time they've been together. They've been super competitive. That, you know, the Celtics have done long, long playoff run, deep playoff run after deep playoff. Like, I don't. I don't do this anymore. So people don't want to pit these two against each other. I think it's ridiculous. I do think maybe Keith, this gives us a little bit more insight into how Jalen Brown, if he were the only guy in the team, how he would kind of, like, maybe lead this team. I. I do think they're like, you guys both said, there's a lot of pride in. In this particular set of statistics, right.

D (9:55)

Of.

C (9:56)

Of, you know, everybody. There's that great quote from Derek White, I think, on young man in the three of Joe Missoula calling Derrick White in his birthday, saying, hey, happy birthday. It's like July. And he's like. And he goes further on and says, everybody thinks we're gonna suck. I love it. And then hangs up the phone. I think these guys are super proud of the fact that they have proven everybody wrong this year. Everybody thinks that they were going to suck and tank and be out of the playing game and be, you know, trying to get the number one overall pick, etc. Etc. I think these guys are just throwing giant middle fingers to everybody that has talked about this team and said, nope, nope, we're still good. We still have a bunch of guys in this team where we go out and play hard every night. We still don't have one of our best players, and yet here we are. I think maybe that's a little more insight to how Jalen would do things if he was the sole guy on this team in charge of leading this team. Luckily for him and everybody, it seems to be multiple guys in this team capable of leaving this team. So that's all I took it as. It's. It's a sign of pride. It's a sign of where they are. Yeah, the east stinks. And part of the reason why they are where they are is this entire conference is terrible, but this is.

D (11:01)

Is it.

C (11:02)

People are trying to make controversy out of nothing.

D (11:04)

Keith, is the east as bad as people say? I'm just gonna throw that out.

C (11:09)

So let's. Let's get into it.

B (11:11)

Like, Pistons are at the top five and a half in front of the Celtics. Then you have the Knicks a half game back. The Cavaliers, who have improved after a very slow start. They've won nine of 10, five in a row, sitting a game behind the Knicks. So they're fourth. Then you have the Raptors, who I. I have never been high on. And yet they won't go away. They continue to linger at 32 and 23. Then the Sixers, who are playing better than most would have expected. And that is your top Six right now. Then you get to the play in tournament, the Magic who everyone expected to be higher in the standings than that. But again, their, you know, mediocre run kind of continues, followed by the Heat, the Hornets, who are surprising a ton of people, wins a nine out of 10 and the Hawks at that point, four games below.500, but still in the mix for a playoff spot. So I don't think there's any surprise that the Bulls, the Bucks, the Nets, the Pacers, the Wizards are nowhere of interest, even though the Bulls and Bucks technically are mathematically in range of making a push. These are teams that you would expect to not be around. I think you're, you're 1 through 10 in whatever order you want to put them in are probably roughly the teams that you thought would be there. You know, unless you were higher on Milwaukee going in just because of the honest factor or didn't presume the Bulls would tank as fast as they have. But top to bottom, Keith, we're looking at, that's seven, eight teams right now that are above 500 of the 10, you know, and in some cases barely. And it definitely is a top heavy conference. So when, when, when you question it, what exactly are you highlighting?

D (12:42)

Yeah, my thing is if you look at the conferences side by side, it looks like on initial glance, like the west is just this loaded bloodbath of a sure conference. And I get it, Phoenix is better in the spot, is in seventh than the teams in the east, but not by a great margin. Like people suggest things like, oh, Phoenix or Minnesota or the Lakers were in the east, they'd be, you know, dominating the conference. Well, the Pistons have the best record in the league. It's not the Thunder right now. Yeah, if you made me pick one team to win the championship today, I'd pick Oklahoma City to repeat. Like they're just, I think if they get healthy, they're, they're the best team again and they've. You earned that. But I just it then the spurs are very good, but I don't let the spurs are all that much better than Boston. I don't know that the next group of teams is all that much better than the Knicks or the Cavs. It's a bigger group that kind of second tier in the west than it is in the East. But in the end, only four teams in each conference can make it to the, to the conference semis. And it is, I just, I feel like it is a little bit more balanced. This is not those years where the 8th seed in the east is going to be 38 and 44 and in the 10th seed in the west that's out is going to be 45 wins. We're not there. I think we have achieved a little bit better balance here. And I think the teams at the top of the conference in the east can beat any team that's at the top of the conference in the West. So that's where I do kind of push back a little on the yo. Is it better? I think it's easier to be a bad team and get in in the east. But that's, you know, again you're talking about the last couple teams in the playing tournament and that all amounts to basically the same thing anyway.

B (14:32)

So if I I would say that's to Keith's credit a little bit of an outlier take. I think most people that you hear from will tell you sure the you know, west better knees done on the overarching scope and I I would agree with that. But I think where a lot of people will lean is your top. Let's say three, four teams in the west are better than anybody in the East. That's something you will hear from a lot of people. And those teams that we're talking about and Keith mentioned, you know, OKC if it gets healthy. Sure. San Antonio, that's a team that that if it can maintain health. I have a ton of respect for Denver is just so long as Jokic is on the floor, I don't care what's around him. That team is always going to scare me. Then you get into the Houston territory and the Lakers territory and the Timberwolves territory. I don't know to me and maybe people disagree on Houston anyway. I don't think I'd have a ton of detractors on on LA or Minnesota, but I don't necessarily despite the record being right there put Houston in that same company with the top three of okc, San Antonio and Denver. Do you maintain that all three of those teams are better than anybody in the east or do you fall more in line with what Keith is saying?

C (15:43)

Yeah, I think fully healthy all three of those teams are better than anything that's going to come out of the Eastern Conference. I just think when you have the star power, I mean Oklahoma City coming back with that team after winning a title is unbelievable. And Shea, if he comes back healthy, that team is certainly I think the favorite to win the title. I think Denver is my pick at the moment. If Yoko just healthy because I do like the way they've built around him in this Past offseason. I think it makes a lot more sense. And that spurs team is so weird and fun and so young. You have no idea what they're capable of. Between Stefan Castle and Wembanyama and they bring in Cornet and they have all these different pieces. I, I love the way they play.

B (16:26)

I love.

C (16:26)

I love Mitch Johnson. They've had a terrific season. I think the Timberwolves will be heard from just because I think ant in the playoffs is a different monster. I, I can't believe what I'm watching with Houston because I didn't think Stephen Adams would be that important to the success of that entire team. But it seems to be something that's pretty serious. But, like, if you just line like, I can already see it now that whoever comes out of the east and this is maybe just more of a snapshot of where we're at as a society. Coming off the Patriots have the easiest schedule of all time. If you look at when the Celtics won the title two years ago, all you heard about was they didn't play anybody. I can tell you right now, you prepare yourself for the. Well, whoever comes out of the east is not going to be good because they haven't played anybody. And like, Boston being this good, I think in, in terms of the standings is a direct relationship to how, how unstacked the Eastern Conference is. Like, I mean, I'm not trying to downplay the accomplishments of this team. I think some of the developments they've had this year between all the wing players they have, Ugo, Walsh, Shireman has been unbelievable. Kate has been a revelation. But I think part of that is because the Eastern Conference doesn't have anybody that totally scares you. Even with Detroit, even with the Knicks. Like, it's. I look at those teams and like, Boston has played Detroit pretty tough. And you look at those games and say they're playing Detroit pretty tough and they don't even have their best player. You go watch Knicks game they played the last time they played them, it was a Sunday afternoon game, which is always a wonky time to play. But you watch them once again miss a kajillion threes, you're like, I don't know. I think boss is going to hang with this team is if they just, if those shots fall and then the rest, you know, you look at Cleveland, Cleveland's had a great season, especially the way they started. But you look at Orlando's been super disappointing. Nobody on Toronto actually scares you. Miami is a disaster. Like, I just, I look at that. The star Power in the Eastern Conference and it's just not there for me. Keith. I just don't see guys in a seven game series like that's why nobody takes Detroit seriously. Detroit's having a great year. They haven't won a seven game series of this corps ever. So it's, it's one of these things where the star power is not there. The teams that have been around for a while, you know, the Knicks and the, the Cavs and the Celtics, like, they have a little more staying power. But again, nobody in the east scares you at all because all the superstars are out west. And I just don't think we can take that and say, you know, say like that Boston's great record isn't in partly due to the fact that just nobody plays in the Eastern Conference any good.

D (18:59)

Yeah, I think to, to that point it. Because I hear you on the Pistons and I've made the same point, right? Like great season. They haven't won a playoff series yet. Spurs haven't even made the playoffs yet. But people like their title contender. Right, right. I get it, Wemby. But the Pistons have Kate Cunningham, who is, we got to start talking about Kate Cunningham. He's a full blown superstar. Like he's awesome. Like, you can put the ball in his hands and let him take over the end of a game and he's going to win games for you. And I think it's just we're catching up to it, right? It's not. He didn't, I know he's the number one pick, but he came in in a weird time for the league in the COVID post Covid years and it was very odd. And then he missed time early and he wasn't very good. And I think now people are finally catching up to, oh my gosh, this guy is incredible. Whereas Wemby hit the ground running day one and was like this dude. I don't even know what to do do here with this seven foot five shooter, you know, wing, giant, monster alien guy. Like, I don't even know what to make of him. And, and that's where I, you know, I kind of. The Thunder, when healthy, they're on a tier of their own, right? They're, they're just, they're that much better than everybody else. And that part I don't like. I said if you made me pick one team to win the title, I'd pick the Thunder without even a moment's hesitation. I just think we're finally getting to a place where like, all right, star talent Jalen Brown's a superstar. Donovan Mitchell's a superstar. Jalen Brunson, you can argue, right? If maybe a lot of people, Knicks fans would certainly tell you he is, you know, and they in, he's close. And then I look in, you know, in the west, and it's a little like, all right, Denver, I'm with you. Denver would be the next team for me in the Western Conference because of Jokic, and Jamal Murray is great. That team is deep. If, if they're healthy, right? If they stop having strained hamstrings, they're going to be really tough. But Houston, I don't know, they just leave me kind of cold. Like, when your best offense in crunch time is throw the ball at the rim and go get the rebound, like, that part, I just kind of like, I don't, I don't know. And the way Boston went in there in a night when Jalen Brown didn't play and kick their butts from, from start to finish and took it to them, I, that left me very cold on the Rockets. And then the Lakers, they don't play any defense, so they're kind of all right. Yeah, I mean, Luca and LeBron, they're going to be tough, right? Because it's those two guys, they can win games almost by themselves still. So it's, it's going to be a tough series. And I'm with you on Minnesota, but Minnesota, they play two good games and they play three bad ones, and then they play four good ones, and then they, they're awful for two games. That comes direct from Chris Finch, their head coach, who's like, I don't know what to do here anymore. I can't get these guys to be consistently good. So I, I, I, I just think it's, I think the east teams deserve a little bit more respect for the way they've played. And we'll see, right? I mean, and you're absolutely right. It's going to be the same narratives that it's been, you know, for the last, what, 20 years or so of they don't play anybody. So it's just easy to get through the Eastern Conference playoffs. And my thing is, it's like, okay, you go against the Detroit Pistons, who are going to knock you down 100 times and laugh at you and probably get in a fight and get guys thrown out. Like, I don't, I don't know that that's going to be easy to, to play against. Even, even if you do beat them in the end, they're not going to make it easy on you. It's like Orlando and Boston last year, right? Celtics. Part of the reason why I think they lost the Knicks was the Magic beat the crap out of them physically for, you know, that series. Even though the Celtics won it relatively easily. They. They were pretty beat up. So it's just. Just a little bit of a. For me, it's like, I don't think it's as far off as. As, you know, it has been in years past.

B (22:49)

As a Patriots fan, I've been doing six months. If they don't play anybody, I need a break from. They don't play anybody in whatever scope, whatever team, whatever league.

C (22:56)

I just.

B (22:57)

I need a moment. You know what? Let's take a break here in today's show and tell you that this episode is powered by our friends at Prize picks. Shoot your shot on prize picks. Get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. That's right. Prize. Prize picks is now giving you $50 in lineups when you sign up and you play your first for only $5. Prize picks makes every dunk, every dime, every board that much more exciting. So don't miss this chance to get started on America's number one app for sports picks.

C (23:29)

Ev. Yeah, Price picks. It's simple to play. You just pick more or less and two to six players stat projections. Get your picks right, you cash in and you pick from all your favorite sports. Basketball, baseball, hockey, ufc, soccer, college basketball, tennis, golf, esports, the Olympics going on right now again, I know football's gone, but there's so much sports happening. And with the. The college basketball tournament, I mean, quickly approaching, life's gonna get a lot more fun with prize picks and of course, Hoffman. We have a flex play for all Stars Saturday night. Now I will update everybody that. It took me, I don't know what, six weeks, seven weeks. But I finally blew the last part.

D (24:11)

Of my wallet last week.

C (24:14)

I did not. Did not hit flex play on this super bowl lineup to put out there. Kenneth Walker killed me.

B (24:23)

Destroyed.

C (24:24)

Absolutely killed me on that.

B (24:25)

Troy, you and the Patriots, it's unfortunate.

C (24:27)

But you know what? We'll be. I should have taken. You know, Kaufman, I threw out one of the legs when we did the. The week before the Super Bowl. I threw out Bryce Bearing. You're more than four puns. I should have stuck with it.

B (24:41)

Jeez.

C (24:42)

Yeah, should have stuck with that. Would have been an automatic winner anyway for all star Saturday night. We're gonna. We're gonna throw some out there. So these are all Round one. So you'll be able to put different rounds in your lineup. Let's say, let's say you, you do well in the first round of the dunk contest and the three point contest or whatever you can, you can go back for round two.

B (25:00)

Etc. Etc.

C (25:01)

So this is all just for round one. So round one score for the three point contest. We're going to take Jamal Murray more than 23 points and Norm Powell more than 21 and a half points. I think Norm Powell actually might be the best shooter in the group. I'm not so sure what Dame's gonna look like considering has it really played. But Norm POWELL More than 21 and a half. I'm, I'm on that easily. And Jamal Murray I think is having a tremendous year, has been locked in. So I'll take that. And then we're gonna go to the dunk contest for the last part of our lineup here. Jackson Hayes. Less than 95.5 dunk score in the first round. I, I just can't believe he's. The dunk contest. I don't understand it at all. I know he can jump very high and he's pretty athletic, but we're just gonna.

B (25:45)

I don't get it.

C (25:46)

I'm just not.

B (25:47)

I.

C (25:47)

We're gonna go less than on that one. So if we had all three I3X my money, Kaufman. Two out of three. You know what happens in my money back. And getting your money couldn't be any easier. Okay, you know this. You can little as 50 minutes watch roll in your account. I use Venmo. You can use whatever you want. And again, last thing I'll say is if your lineup hits early, they offer early payout over at Price Picks. Hadn't happened to me yet, but maybe it'll happen for you in your next prize picks lineup.

B (26:13)

Download the prize picks app today. Use code CLNS. You get 50 bucks in lineups after playing your first for only $5. Again, download the prize picks app. Do it today. Promo code is CLNS. You get 50 bucks in lineups after playing your first for only $5. Prize picks. It's good to be right. Get back to the show. All right, let's keep talking about Jalen Brown for a moment. I don't want to do this for a long time because we've only got another, I don't know, 20, 25 minutes left in the show. And I actually do have some thoughts on All Star Saturday night that I want to get to that are more timely than just your generic big picture. Jalen Brown conversation. But we had, you know, we've been doing this more and more in recent weeks, guys, where, you know, just the MVP conversation surrounding Jalen Brown. And I have maintained, and I won't do this again because I've done it, but I have maintained Jalen Brown, while he's having a career year, a phenomenal year, fantastic year, all NBA, first team, all star starter kind of year, he's not actually in the MVP conversation or shouldn't be, because to me, the only guys who belong in the MVP conversation are guys who actually have a chance of winning the award, which Jalen Brown. I mean, Vegas has Brown at 100 to 1 odds. Just to give you an idea right now of, of how it views that. Whereas someone like SGA is minus 180, Nicole Jokic is plus 290. And then there's a huge drop off and you still get to guys like Kate Cunningham, Luka Doncic and Wemby before you get anywhere near Jalen Brown. So to me, Jalen has no disrespect to him. He's just not an mvp. He's a guy who's having an incredible, incredible year. A top five year should be recognized for it, but he's not the best player in the league. I say all of this to also say, Keith, that some people, more and more people are beating the drum. Tracy McGrady, who it should be noted Jalen has trained with in the past, said that he is his mvp. Others have said that Jalen Brown, at the very least belongs in the MVP conversation, a serious contender for the award. Not just, again, a name that you throw out when you're talking about guys that are having successful years. How do you read it if you were someone that had a vote, yeah.

D (28:24)

He would be in the mix on the ballot, but not in the top two spots. To me, that's SGA and Jokic still, right? Those two guys are. Their, their teams are really good in their, Their individual profiles are beyond anybody else's. And that those are the two things, right? It's, you need to be on a good team and you need to be playing well as an individual. They're. They're both hitting those markers every single way. The weird thing is, right then you got to start getting into, wait, is this guy even going to be eligible? And then you start looking, all right, where's it going to go? And you got to start eliminating guys because they're not going to be able to be on the ballot and those kind of things. So for me, yeah, Jalen Brown should be in the mix to be in the top five in voting and all NBA spot for sure on the first team, no problem with that. But a guy like Kate Cunningham I think has been just as valuable and as important and just as good on a team that was, quite frankly, not thought to be that much better than where the Celtics were going to be going into the year. So I have no problem if, if you. Somebody puts him ahead of Jaylen Brown. But yeah, to me it's when I, when I term it, because I tweeted about this, that he should be in the MVP conversation. To me it's, that's to be on the top five because you vote for five people for mvp, then you rank them one through five. He should be in that conversation to actually win the award. No, unless we get really wonky with SGA missing a bunch more time and Yokich missing more time, then it starts to become airborne, kind of picking from the best of who's actually eligible and, and maybe at that point that does swing things a little bit, but for now, no, just somewhere in that top five. And it's, and it's funny because for the Jalen Brown supporters, that's insulting and for anybody else, that sounds crazy. And it's like to me, when that's where the conversation goes, I'm like, yeah, that probably feels about right.

C (30:19)

Then. Yeah, I mean, he's a, I think in the discussion, first team, all NBA. And that's super, super, super high praise. But yeah, I mean like, unless, unless SGA and Jokic don't qualify because they missed too many games. Then yeah, I'll copy. We've talked about this. I'll entertain the conversation if they of those two guys miss enough games. But it's more about a first team all NBA selection for, for, for Jalen and I, you know, that's going to be difficult and it's probably more difficult now because it's positionless and you just pick your five favorite guys and you know, I don't know what people are going to do. You know, I don't know if, you know, Simmons always does the. You gotta have a center, two forwards and two guards the best you can. He tries to at least because the consistency throughout NBA history, it makes a lot more sense that way. And I, I respect the way that he kind of approaches that. Some people are just gonna be like, yeah, we're just gonna throw four guards on there and a big guy like, we'll see how this goes. It's a wonky year in Terms of, you know, past guy. Like we've always had spots for Steph Curry and LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Like those guys have been locks. No, like you have to, you know, knock them off. LeBron for the first time in what, 21 years is not going to make an all NBA team because he missed too many games. Again, Luke has been kind of hurt a little bit, but he's back recently. But we'll see there. You know, Katie, I don't think Katie's making a team. I just don't think the way that Houston's played that he's probably gonna make like. So there's a lot more opportunity for a guy like Jalen to kind of move up and I think there's a possibility ends up first team all NBA. I don't know if the season ends today if he gets it. I think if you look at it, there are a lot of conversations around sga, Jokic, Maxi, Cade, him. I mean there's, there's a, I mean Wemby at some point is going to get in there. There's a lot of guys that deserve a lot of these spots. But Jalen has been the best version of himself and proved to everybody in the league that he can lead a team by himself with, with the right personnel around him. He's proven all the haters wrong and, and honestly that's like good enough for me as someone who's defended Jalen Brown for years and that he's, you know, he's sacrificed a ton to be on this team and to make it work and all these things. Like I think this year is proof in the pudding that the guy is built for bigger things. And Boston's just lucky to have him as their 1B or 1A or whatever the hell you want to call him. He's been phenomenal both sides of the floor. But like, so here's what I'll tell you. I love that he, he claims that he's the best two way player in the league. I don't think he actually is, but I, I love the fact that he believes it and he, and he, and he goes out there and, and tries to defend the toughest guy in every team every night. So again, I don't think he's the best two way in the two way player in the league. I think that's wemby. But you know, the fact that he's at least attempting to try and be the best away player in the league and talking about it and backing it up like that, that deserves more Respect considering the guys, some of the guys that don't play defenseless league like he does are, are, are more more of those guys than there are Jaylen Browns.

D (33:23)

It's also I would like to see Joe Missoula tell him once in a while, okay, we all believe it, but I need you more on the other end. I don't need you chase like the other night when he was chasing around Jalen Brunson through screens and stuff. Now let the other guys do that. You go go defend Mikhail Bridges or something which then Mikhail Bridges posted them up and scored on him and pointed at him and was Ted words which is like, okay, Kilbridge is like you got him once. Like what are we doing here? But yeah, I did. There are times when they're like, okay, look, we all believe you and we'll save that and you can show it in the fourth quarter if we need it. But in the first quarter I don't need you hitting a million screens chasing guys around. Just, you know, that's, that's. But I'm with you. I love that he's. That that's where he sees it and that he does want to prove it every night like we, we need more guys that, that want to do that than, than last. So, so it is a good thing.

B (34:16)

Conversations, picking up guys around Jason Tatum and his potential return, which I, I think, I don't want to put words in your mouths, but I, I think we all believe that is happening this year and at this point, in terms of the physical, we may only be a couple weeks out. The mental, that's a question mark and that is surrounded some of the comments that he has made, some of the various reporting out there in recent weeks as well. Obviously there are all these little tea leaves that people try and grasp onto. Most recently yesterday, the league flexing game against the Sixers at the start of next month, a couple hours later into prime time to make it a nationally televised NBC Peacock game. People say, oh wait a minute, what's so special about this game? So these are some of the different things that, you know, we as fans just try and, you know, again latch on to and, and find meaning in. If we find meaning in things that Jason has said in the past, and I do take him true to his word on this, I'd say we're at least a couple weeks out still, because between the All Star break and then a heavy road schedule to close out this month, I do believe when he returns it is going to be a home game so you can cross out most of the remainder of this month. Unless you believe that as soon as the next home game, February 27th against the Nets, that's your day. I don't. Seems to me a little bit soon. I don't think the nationally televised scope against Philly is going to be the day either. The one that I have all season long had circled on my bingo card is, I think, the next game after that not having the schedule up in front of me, which is a home game against the Hornets, a team that he has mentioned in the past as. As we know, you know, Monday night in Charlotte kind of thing. This one, a Wednesday night at the Garden against the Hornets, which also happens to be the day after his birthday and puts him very nearly 10 months removed from this surgery. And again, you're seeing him practice now five on five with Maine. You're seeing him doing more and more media basically by requirement, because he is now again part of these workouts. And again, the, the ramp up is there. I think he's coming, and I think we're inching very, very close to this actually happening, Keith. So I'm. I'm wondering one, you know, am I or are you at least in line with me, Are you believing he's returning this year and if so, when?

D (36:34)

Yeah, I'm 100. I think he's gonna play. I. I go back to the players can do whatever they want with documenting recovery and obviously Jason Tatum, and he's not the first, he's not gonna be the last. Documented a lot of it, the early parts of his recovery and all that. And let's face it, we all got a little excited when I was like, oh, wait a minute, he's already shooting, he's already doing this, he's already doing that. Those things were fun. The one that told me, oh, yeah, this is happening was that workout in Detroit when they let the media just come in and watch him go against coaches and work out and do his thing for like 45 minutes. It was a. You don't do that for no reason. Right. That could have very easily been, hey, get out of here, guys, and done their thing with that. Then the. Hey, let's. Let's. It's funny because people were like, yeah, it's. The team wouldn't have said about him going to Maine if they didn't have to. My thing is, well, nerds like me who are checked the transaction log 100 times a day would have seen the transaction, because anytime you assign a NBA player to the G League, there's a transaction associated with it, I would have seen it and immediately started tweeting and asking questions about what's going on here. You know, I assume this is a rehab style assignment type thing. So that would have. So the team got in front of it, right. And was like, let's put this out so we're not having to deal with it. Then having him talk to the media, he was very, I think, just very Jason Tatum about it in those comments when he was asked, you know, hey, are you gonna play? He's like, we'll see. You know, I don't like, like he is. He's never gonna say yes. March 1st is the day I'm playing. Because let's just say he gets the flu, people are gonna be, oh, see, I knew he wouldn't be back. And this is your, you know, so you're just not gonna do that. There's no, there's no upside into saying this is the day. I keep telling people, you know what, we'll know when he's upgraded to anything. But out on the, the injury report, first time that goes to doubtful or questionable, we'll know. All right, we're. We're gearing up towards a return here. But yeah, and I think the timing that, that you're saying is somewhere in that range now. I can tell you. Sure. They move that game on the first Boston Philly to the night game on, on NBC Peacock. The game was supposed to be Oklahoma City, Dallas. They're not like, that was more about Boston Philly has a chance to be a good game in a what's been a rivalry in the past kind of situation over watching the Thunder show up and roll over a Mavericks team that's not really trying to win. So that's what that was about. But yeah, maybe it's. Then I am with you. It's going to be a home game. I am fairly certain with that. People have asked, will he start? Will he come off the bench? Who knows? I kind of think he'll probably start because of that. When you start, you warm up, you go through intros, you play versus if you're coming off the bench, it might be a good solid in actual time, 20 to 25 minutes before you actually get after warming up, get on the floor. And I don't think they're going to want to warm them up. Go sit for a while, then come out. It might. And if it is, it's going to be go ride the bike, go do whatever you got to do, because we're not going that way. But yeah, I think we're in that range. And that why that's important, too. That gives him a month to a month and a half of ramp up, build up your conditioning, get all this, like, kind of behind you, and then we're ready to go into the playoffs. Do I expect him to be all NBA superstar MVP candidate Jason Tatum at any point this season? Probably not. But if he could be 85%, Jason Tatum is not health wise because that's clearly going to be a hundred percent or nothing. But if he could be 85 production wise, that's a heck of a lot better than no disrespect men, than what the Celtics 9th, 10th, 11th man have been. So let's go. Like, there really becomes no downside because we're past three injury worries with this. Way past it. Every doctor you talk to says as much as you can ever say it's not going to happen. We're there, like, now. It's just about building back his confidence and having him be ready to go.

C (40:59)

Yeah, I'll first off want to apologize to Steve Bulpek because he put out that tweet last night that, that the game had been flex and I had seen people reacting like, oh, that's what this means. And then I commented on it and him and I will back and forth there. So I apologize for that. But the one thing I'll say to.

B (41:14)

Both of you is, what do you offend? Bullpet.

C (41:19)

I, I, I, I made a comment in terms of, like, people are overreacting to this. Obviously, when you put out a tweet like that, people are gonna just rush to conclusion.

B (41:28)

Sure.

C (41:28)

I just said, like, something like that. And he was like, you know, I don't do that. I'm like, I know, Steve. I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth. I promise you. I know what he, it's just, he was just trying to report the news. Yeah.

D (41:40)

He's just giving you a news item and. Yeah, yeah.

C (41:43)

Let me ask you boys this question just because I, it might be because we haven't seen him in so long and you just forget kind of what he looks like, you know? But does he look bigger? Like, he looks like yolked, right?

D (41:57)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Up top.

C (41:59)

I'm like, yeah, Nikki got bigger in the shoulders, biceps, chest, back. Like, I think he looks even bigger than he was when he got hurt. Am I crazy on this? Because I think he looks huge right now.

D (42:10)

No, I'm with you. And it's not, it's not that he was sitting on the couch for months Eating cookies. Right? Like, like he looks like ripped. And I think we've been trending that way because I think for him, we go all the way back to the, to the championship year. He finished a lot of those games at the five at times, especially when poor Zingis was out during that run. And I think for, for Tatum, it's, I think we have now transitioned into. He can be a four, occasionally small ball five instead of being like a three, big two. I think that's just the natural progression of him just, you know, getting a little bit bigger here. So. Yeah, but I'm with you. Clearly there was, there was work done on that. And that's. You do see that sometimes when guys have leg injuries, you can't do a lot else, but you can work on the upper body strength and, and they, they get guys doing that. So I'm with you on that one, Evan.

B (43:05)

All right, let's go All Star Saturday night here for the next five, ten minutes. And we'll, we'll just go event by event and any thoughts that we have, I, I definitely have some along the way. Let's go in reverse, though. Let's start with the, the featured event, which is the dunk contest. And it's not so much that's featured because of the participants, but because it's just always the last event of the night. It's the one the NBA wants you to be the most excited about. Despite the participants, the Mac McClung era is, you know, either over or on hold. After three straight championships. He is not participating, although rumor has it he, he is going to release after the contest a video of the dunks that he prepared that he would have used had he participated, which to me is just so.

C (43:50)

The OJ Book. If I did it, here's how I would have done it.

B (43:52)

Yeah, pretty much like it's, it's, it's gonna be.

D (43:55)

Here's how I would have beat you guys.

B (43:56)

Yeah, like, we have like John Morant put that out. Like, who gives a crap? So Carter Bryant of the Spurs, Jackson Hayes of the Lakers, Keyshaw Johnson of the Heat, and Jace Richardson of the Magic. That is your four man contest, which is embarrassing on behalf of the NBA. It is Bryant. Nothing special.

C (44:20)

Again, no.

D (44:21)

Bryant.

C (44:22)

Bryant's got. Bryant is my sneaky winner to win this thing. That guy can jump. He is.

B (44:27)

He can. He can. You know, I'll tell you the. If, if anyone is curious by the way, the betting odds for this event. Let me see. I, I had it. Now, Bryant is your favorite at +180 on the book that I'm looking at anyway. Followed by Hayes at +250. I will say for Jackson Hayes one, he's a dick. Nobody likes this guy. But on top of that he like big men other than Dwight Howard. Seven footers centers like don't win this contest. So Jackson Hayes is not going to win this contest. Keyshawn Johnson, this dude can jump. He's got like a 42 inch vertical explosive. Some nice in game dunks this year. A at +320. There's certainly some value there. I think he's a compelling option. And then you have Jace Richardson who, who is small, he's six foot one. He's got hops obviously but he's only six foot one.

C (45:23)

He's got the bloodlines which is the most important part here.

B (45:25)

Got the bloodlines. His dad Jason Richardson is one of only seven two time winners of this event in NBA.

D (45:32)

Expect to be involved at some point.

B (45:35)

Yeah and he's probably going to be wearing his jersey too and all of that like they're gonna, you know, contest.

C (45:42)

Was actually good too. Like his dad was the G. Yeah.

B (45:47)

You got to go back almost 25 years to when he was participating in this thing. So anyway if I'm betting it and I probably will throw a little something on it for my own entertainment, it's not Brian, it's not Hayes. It's one of the two, you know, quote unquote long shots with similar odds at +320 and +350. Johnson is probably the guy that I like the most here. You know, not because of, you know, I, I appreciate the Jace Richardson bloodlines but this dude only has four dunks this entire season. You know, we, we just haven't seen it.

C (46:15)

Doesn't mean he can't do it.

B (46:16)

Clearly. We just haven't really seen it. Johnson you've seen a little bit and kid's explosive. He is, he gets well up above the rim. Like I, I think he could dunk on a 12 foot hoop and not have a problem doing it. So I, I think the athleticism there, the explosiveness, I think he could give us some stuff. That's my pick. In this embarrassment of a contest that honestly the NBA at this point in time should just shelve. And if we're going to do this with guys that we don't know and haven't heard of, let's just make it an N1 mixtape kind of contest. There are a lot of dunkers out there in the world. Harlem Globetrotter Type guys that are insanely talented dunkers that we've never heard of. Fine, let's use them. Let's stop putting G leaguers in NBA jerseys and using these guys. Unless you're going to get real NBA participants again. The jaws and, and you know, bring back Levine and Gordon and guys, you know what I mean? Like guys who, who, who are legit players, stars in this league. Allah, MJ and Nick back in the day. Gordon Lev. Like yeah, I mean Jaylen's not much of a dunker but I at least appreciated that he participated in it. I mean give us like, give us something like that. Give us name recognition. If you're not going to do that, flip it and, and again and one mixtape the thing. But as it exists right now, I think Johnson's going to be my pick.

D (47:33)

Guys, I, I'm gonna pick Richardson because of the bloodlines in my adopted hometown of Orlando. So I'll pick him there too. But I'm gonna finish with in Adam. This goes for you too. If you feel compelled to bet on the dunk contest. I'll give you my ways. You can get me that money and just give it to me. I'll put it together.

B (47:55)

Fair.

C (47:55)

Yeah. Carter Bryant is a hell of an athlete so I think I'm just gonna stick with him.

D (47:59)

Yeah, he, he's, yeah, he's fun.

C (48:02)

All right.

B (48:03)

Three point contest. So your favorite. This is an eight man field. Some saying that, that Sam Houser should have been in it. I mean if not now, when. But sure he's not your, your field is Con Knuple is your favorite who of course is having an outstanding rookie year and is, you know, pacing to break the rookie record for three pointers made in a season followed by Damian Lillard at -120 odds. When I pulled up the article of participants in this event, I thought I was looking at an article from last year, the year before I, I was like I'm sorry, what dame is in this? I think this is, it's not that he doesn't belong. He's a two time winner of the event. Obviously he's had nothing but time, you know, over the last nine, 10 months since his injury to try and get himself right. He's ruled out for the entire year but I mean can he participate in a three point contest and probably perform very well? Yeah, I would say the answer to that is yes. And that's why you've seen this thing steam to minus 120. I looked at it yesterday and it was plus money on Lillard but more and more people are, are catching the fever here because yeah, why the hell couldn't he, you know, line up and, and drain some uncontested threes over the course of a couple minutes? By all means he can do that. I just think it's stupid that he's in the contest. Like you're going to tell me an active player in the NBA isn't worthy of being in this thing versus a dude who's out the entire year. Like you're just desperate to bring name recognition into All Star Saturday night and look for eyeballs. I think it's incredibly stupid. But he's second on the board. Then you have Devin Booker who has won this event as well, but is having a terrible season shooting. Jamal Murray, Tyrese Halliburton, Donovan Mitchell, who is participating I think for the third time has never made it to the finals. Norman Powell and then the only non guard in this thing, Bobby Portis, who is at +320. I probably, in spite of everything I just said, would bet Lillard because dude has had nothing to focus on in recent weeks or months other than yeah, let's go into the gym and heave up some threes. You know, get into a rhythm that like, it's not like nerves or, or a lack of muscle memory is going to hurt him or anything like that. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he goes out and wins the event.

C (50:15)

You meant Kyrese Maxi?

B (50:17)

Did I say Halliburton? No, I meant Maxi. I said Halliburton.

C (50:20)

Yes. I was like, wait a minute. Hal and Jason Tatum.

B (50:24)

No, I'm just kidding.

D (50:26)

Could have, right? He could have done it that way.

B (50:29)

He could have done it. I mean obviously Lillard can do it. Why can't the others? But no, Lillard is the only non active player who is participating in this thing and he probably would get my money as dumb as it is that I think he's in it. But what about you guys?

D (50:43)

Keep an eye on Bobby Portis. Here's why I say this. He is a very good shooter. He is also the one guy in the field who shoots only spot up shots, which is what the three point contest is, is spot up shooting. Tyrese Maxey. For as good as he is, he is an off the dribble shooter. You can't do that in the three point contest where you always see those guys struggle a little in this event because it's just a different shot then get a ball, stand in place, shoot it, that kind of thing. So, so I Think Portis has a real chance here being the only big guy. But I'm with you. It's going to be Damian Lillard and if he gets it going, you know the crowd's going to get into it and get behind him as well and that get, get all fired up. There's also, there's no local in this right there. There isn't a LA guy in this because that's the other thing that usually gets the crowd going with this. So yeah, well, we'll see. But I, I, I, I think Portis has a better chance than, than people are maybe giving them here.

B (51:41)

I would like to correct one thing by the way. The odds that I, I was looking at the wrong column. The odds that I gave you were the odds for these players to reach the final, the odds to actually win the event. Then they are across the board plus money. Canopol is plus 250. Lillard. This makes way more sense to me. At plus 430 he is second on the odds board followed by the book Booker, Murray, Maxi, Mitchell, Powell, Portis, in that order. Portis at 15, 1 to win the contest. So if you are looking for value off of what Keith said, that would be the guy to sprinkle. But again Lillard at plus 430 when he's had nothing to do but go in the gym and hoist threes for the last however long. I, I think I like that play.

C (52:22)

Ev, I like Norm Powell. I think if, if you get, every one of these guys is on fire. I think Norm Powell might be able to outshoot everybody. He's, he's had a really good season. He's down to 39.6 or 7% with a 43 point shooter. But you know, watching him the other night with Miami, I have a huge amount of respect for that guy. I think he just, is a natural, just shooter. I would say Khan, but I think, I think Khan, even at 43% this year. I said on great volume too, like seven a game, your first time doing it is a little, is a little tough. You don't know what to expect. You probably have some, some jitters, some, some butterflies going on. I, I, I want to root, I'm gonna root for Khan. I'll tell you that. I will root for Khan to win.

B (53:07)

But if I had to put my.

C (53:08)

Money down, I'm putting it on Norm Paul.

B (53:10)

All right. We're not gonna do any of the, you know, team.

C (53:16)

Nick Harper, baby.

D (53:18)

Yeah, yeah. We gotta root for Ron Harper Jr.

C (53:20)

Yeah, don't Harper, baby, come on.

B (53:22)

Don't care about Ron Harp.

C (53:24)

Just doing everything this weekend. How amazing that is.

B (53:27)

In the final couple minutes we have, I'm gonna. I'm gonna forward this to Sunday and the game itself, which, again, this year's format is the world versus the Stripes versus the stars. Very Olympic themed. I don't.

C (53:42)

Is this dumb? Is this dumb? It's dumb.

B (53:45)

It's dumb. Year after year, you know, the. The conversation that we have every single year, guys, this is a larger conversation that I want to spend a lot of time on because, again, we got to wrap. But the. The larger conversation is, how do you make this event compelling? How do you make this event competitive? How do you make the players themselves care? If anyone missed it, Nick Wright, who I don't tend to agree with a lot of what Nick says. Nick had a take in a conversation with Bill Simmons earlier this week. I don't know whose podcast, whose format it was. I apologize.

C (54:13)

Okay.

D (54:14)

Yeah.

B (54:15)

For. For anyone that missed this take, I'm going to tell you what it was. I'm going to tell you what it was, and I'm also going to tell you that I 1000% co sign it, and that was make it whites versus blacks. You could do it. You could genuinely. No, listen. Listen to the argument from Nick Wright. I'm paraphrasing the argument. The argument was this. Obviously, it's not PC, and again, I want to make clear this is not my take. This is Nick's take. I just. I do happen to agree with it. On the quote, unquote, white squad. I say quote unquote because we're not talking, like, white Americans where, like, back in the day, you know, your. Your best player was like, Gordon Hayward. We're talking about all the European guys, right? Luca and Canople and. And, you know, mix him and he's not European. You know what I mean? Jokic, obviously. And, you know, you go up and down the list of. Of impactful European players. What's that?

C (55:12)

Cooper flag. Peyton Pritchard.

B (55:14)

Yeah, Cooper flag. Seriously, though, on that side versus the other side, which is obviously very well represented. It's. It's, you know, still a. A sport that, you know, you're seeing, like, the influx of the European players have, you know, we. We spend all this time talking about the yokages of the world and guys like that, but it's a sport that's a little more equally dominated now than maybe it was in the past couple of decades. You know, one side versus the other. If you want something that is truly motivating, that these two sides in a game like this in exhibition are going to care, are going to try, are going to play defense, are going to have pride on the line. Even though like it feeds into everything that is wrong with our country. There's, there's no doubt about that. It would, it would work, it would actually work for a game of this. You know, like you want to put eyeballs on a game like this, you want to get record setting ratings like that. That's how you do it. This, this was the whole argument behind Nick Wright and what he was saying with Bill Simmons. And I think it's, I, I, you could disagree and that's fine. And I hope I'm not offending anyone by simply repeating somebody else's take, but I think it's one that is worth bringing to the surface because while, you know, not PC, I thought it was interesting to bring to light.

D (56:36)

A billion people would watch and it's never going to happen.

C (56:40)

It's, you know, I agree with both of those things.

D (56:42)

Sure. Long before the Hunger Games existed, I had this idea that I had to pitch in high school in Problems of democracy class.

B (56:51)

Yeah.

D (56:51)

Where I said we should take all the death row prisoners and put them in a steel cage and have them fight on pay per view TV to the death. And whoever wins just gets a life sentence. They, they, they're off death row and then repeat it every few years when you have that because people are crazy. People would pay who knows how many hundreds of millions of dollars to watch that event. And it was like in, my teacher was like, what is wrong with you? And I was like, what's wrong with the fact that half the class is like, I'll do it. I'll pay $1,000 to watch that. Like, it's just, yeah, sure, but it's never going to happen. Right. And it's, I think we're in a place where for me, fine, they're trying this, this year, USA versus the world thing. It is, in some respects it's a version of what Nick Wright said. Right. It's just a different kind of version of that. And I think it's, it's, it's interesting. I just don't, in this environment, guys aren't going to play hard. And anybody who screams and yells about it. My counter is Jalen Brown's in the game. Right. Jalen Brown goes out there and goes really hard Sunday and then comes up with Jalen Brown tore his hamstring chasing down, you know, a player for a chase down block. Celtics fans are Going to be livid and lose their minds as they should. That's why guys don't try hard. I'll also say this. People have gone into the nostalgia of the All Star Game and created things that never happened. People act like the All Star games from the 90s were these cutthroat blood feuds that were going on. As if Magic Johnson, not an active player in the NBA, wasn't in an All Star Game and spent a large chunk of the fourth quarter taking half court hook shots. Like it's just stop. These games have never been good. Nobody's ever played hard. Unless you got into that under six minute timeout and the game was close, then you might get a handful of times that was true. Guys would go a little hard, but they act like guys. They act like Kevin McHale clothesline Kurt Rambis in an All Star game that was the NBA Finals. Like that's not like these things don't happen like this in All Star Games. And I just, I don't. Yeah, I think Knicks way for a lot of probably not great reasons we'd get guys playing hard. But I don't like. Yeah, I don't, I just don't know that. And I honestly at this point, is it even worth fixing? Like, who cares? Like just let them go out there and bomb away and make wide open dunks. I mean half the dunks in the game are, are better than the dunks in the dunk contest. So it's like just let it be what it is. I, I don't know. I don't really have any real problem with it.

B (59:42)

Well, so I think really what that does ev is it introduces a larger question that we don't have time for because I do have to go. But the larger question is actually at this, you know, at, at your core, you, the fan, at your core, do you really actually want your players trying hard in this game at risk of injury? And, and maybe the answer is no.

C (60:01)

I think people do. But I think if we do, if we were to entertain this idea, you got to open it up to more because like right now I'm looking at the rosters guys, the white guys can barely feel the five man team here. You're looking, you're looking at Chet Ohmgren, Chet Holmgren, Danny Abdia, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Alperin Shengoon. That's, that's all you're playing.

B (60:23)

One thing that I did leave out of Nick's take, I sort of made it more immediate, I think to Nick's Credit. He did say, like, you could do this, but not for another, like, four or five years. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. These guys mature in their careers a little bit.

C (60:41)

I want Pritchard on the team. I think if anybody's going to play super hard, he's going to work his ass off. You're gonna have to make exceptions. You're gonna have to find ways to get guys on because it's just. It's just the talent. The talent pool is the same. It's just not.

B (60:56)

It's not. It's not the thing.

C (60:58)

So you got to get, you know, if you want to get Khan and Flag and Pritchard in there, just. Just to get. Just to fill out the roster, you got to make exceptions. This would. I don't know if it would work. It's fun to talk about because it's. Because. Nothing else to talk about right now. So I get the idea of, like, why it's fun to talk about. I don't think it would actually. Actually would work, but it's fun to. To fantasize about it.

B (61:21)

Just.

C (61:21)

It's like Keith said, I don't think anybody's ever going to play hard in this thing. And look, it's for entertainment. You know what it's for. I keep going back to the. The rookie versus sophomore game when Tim Hardaway Jr. And Dion Waiters just went shot for shot for like three minutes. And how awesome that was. You're looking for, like, two of those a game. If you could get, you know, like Jalen Brown versus Devin Booker or whatever, something like that, where guys go shot for shot and, like, you go five trips down the floor, you have five straight makes, like, that's all you're looking for. Or a guy to, like, get his ankles broken. But you have to play defense, get your ankles broken. So that's, to me, like, I. I'm looking for that kind of stuff. If you have, you know, guys on heaters where, you know, you have Dion and who never met a shot he didn't like, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Pulling up from 32ft, and both of them are making it, like, that's. That's fun. And everybody gets out of the way, so they just do dribble moves until they feel like hoisting, like, that's where it gets fun. That's the only time it's fun.

D (62:18)

And we'll see if Wemby follows through with his promise that he's going to go hard and he's going to be out there blocking shots and going crazy. It did one guy could force other guys to go a little bit harder, right? And that could be a thing. So. But it's going to be. Or does somebody get in his ear and is like, hey, be careful, right? Like, you don't need to be screaming across the lane for, you know, you know, help block and land awkwardly. And next thing you know, your season's ruined. Like, it's going to be. And I thought it was funny that Kevin Durant was like, everybody calls us out, he goes, I'm going to call it the European guys. Your Jokic and Doncic's gonna play hard there. They're laying on their back, shooting shots from the ground. Like, what are we doing?

B (63:02)

So, but all right, so in, in summation, Celtics are great. Jalen's great. Tatum be back soon. NBA All Star Weekend still needs a lot of help, and we intend to be back with you probably even before the quote unquote second half begins next Thursday for the Celtics because we're just planning to have an earlier show next week. So we're looking forward to that. And I haven't given any thoughts on the NBA trade deadline yet because I've had that show last week when I was off in San Francisco at the super bowl and and doing that coverage. So I do have thoughts, some lingering thoughts on the Booch acquisition, some of the moves made, not made by the Boston Celtics, but we'll save those for next week because we're out of time. But Keith Smith again, the front office show and spot track. Evan Valenti. I'm Adam Kaufman. We remind everyone as we thank prize picks on our way out the door, check out the CLNS YouTube page, specifically the all access page. You can find loads of great Celtics content, this show and others, Cedric Maxwell among them. Make sure you check that out and wherever you get your podcast, the audio versions, beyond the video. If you want the video, that's where you go. If you want the audio. Wherever you download your audio, podcast rate review. Most importantly, subscribe to Celtics beat Ev Keith. Thank you both very much.

E (64:17)

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