← Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
25 Years, 25 Celtics: The Quarter Century Boston Celtics Draft
01:12:38
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- [00:01]
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- [02:15]
Greg
This is Mike Gorman and you're listening.
- [02:16]
Will
To Green with Envy with Will and Greg. All right everybody, 25 years, 25 different Boston Celtics basketball teams. We are going to review the first quarter century of Celtics basketball. With the draft, we're going to have a little bit of fun today. Stick around, find out exactly what's going to happen here on Green with Envy. You guys know the deal. Let's lock in. What up, what up, what up? Welcome into another edition of Green with Envy. As always, this is your boy, Will. We are checking in. Joining me as he does each and every time, my best friend, co host, and the coach of our podcast, the one and only Greg. Minus Greg. Very excited about the concept we have today.
- [03:14]
Greg
Yeah, man, I can't believe it's been 25 years already into this century. That's just wild to me, you know? And nothing says we're getting older and the passage of time is going by faster than I have yet another stomach bug. So this has been a rough 24 hours to me. It's been tough, man. I've just been, you know, going from toilet to bed, toilet to bed.
- [03:38]
Will
Stomach bugs, no matter the age, are never fun. Right? Like, stomach bugs are just something that's. And we were talking before, your. Your suspicion is that it's likely. Likely food poisoning, right? That that's typically where it's coming. Yeah, it sucks because there's. Unless you really, really bang yourself and you go to just some disgusting restaurant that you know you shouldn't be going to, typically, it's not really something you did. It's like, you know, you. It's just bad luck of the draw, basically, for the most part. And that's what this sounds like.
- [04:10]
Greg
I think the. The biggest bummer was I've. Since I moved to Austin, you know my favorite food, Right. I was gonna get it done.
- [04:18]
Will
I was gonna say chicken cacciatore, but.
- [04:20]
Greg
Chicken parm. Close.
- [04:22]
Will
Chicken parm. Yeah. Okay. Chicken family.
- [04:25]
Greg
Yeah. Italian chicken family. That's actually not a bad name for a restaurant. Italian chicken family. Not that Michael Scott it.
- [04:33]
Will
Write that down real quick.
- [04:34]
Greg
Yeah, but I've been looking for, like, the best chicken parm I could find down here in Austin, and I haven't really found a chicken parm that I love. And the other day when I was traveling to Tempe for work, I grabbed Danielle a bunch of, like, easy, simple meals for her to use just because she wasn't going to have time to raise the kid, go to work, and all that stuff and prepare food. So one of them that I got was a chicken parm, and she didn't eat it. So when I got back from Tempe, I ended up eating it, and I was like, oh, this is amazing. I love this. I'm definitely going to make this part of the rotation. And yesterday at work, I Went into work. I stopped at H E B on the way there after I left the gym and I had that for lunch and everybody was complimenting it. They were like, oh my God, what do you. That smells so good. Like I'm so jealous. And I cut into the chicken and I'm not going to lie to you, I did question it when I cut into. Just looked a little suspicious. Suspicious chicken. And within an hour my body started to reject it and I've been projecting it.
- [05:40]
Will
It's just suspicious chicken. I think you just can't do it. That's one of those things where I feel like we've all had that before. Whether it's, you know, we're, we're on a new grill or it's a new oven top, whatever you, you think it's cooked or you cut it open or you take one bite and you're like, okay, whatever I cut into was cooked. But maybe there something in the middle or there's some area you gotta throw that thing either right back in or throw it away. Like you gotta cook it longer. Like I understand like the h. And for those that don't know what an heb simple meal is just basically a pre prepared meal that you throw in the air fryer or the oven and it's, it's, it's good to go. But suspicious chicken, that's also, I don't know, that could be a name of some suspicious chicken. That's, I like the way that sounds. I don't know what it is. Yeah, I mean, exactly. That's a, that's a great. Suspicious chicken plant the Middle east this weekend. That's, that sounds, that's, that sounds perf. Perfect.
- [06:30]
Greg
I'm already feeling better. I needed this. I needed this.
- [06:33]
Will
Okay. Okay, well let's, let's continue the fun here, Greg. Let's get into what we're gonna do today. So again, we're still kind of counting down the days until training camp opens and that's when we can really kind of ramp up a lot of the positional previews. We'll start to look at, you know, the different divisions, playoff races, predictions, all of that. And that's going to be coming up here in a few weeks. But we're still in kind of dry season right now right there. There's not a lot going on, not a lot for us to get too into. So Greg, the year is 2025. 25 years. Quarter century. 25 out of 100. It's a quarter century. Right. And so that's a large portion of our basketball lives. That's right there in that 25 year window. And so we thought this would be fun. Let's look back at a quarter century of Celtics basketball, and then we wanted to do it in a fun way. So here's what we're going to do. And we've laid this out over text, but now we're going to talk it through and make sure it makes sense here live on the podcast for all of you. And if you find something that's an issue, DM us, hit us up later. But what we're going to do is we're going to draft a player from every single of the season of The Celtics from 2000, 2001, all the way through last year. One player for each of us. We're going to go back and forth. They've already decided who's going to go first. And the main basic rule, once a player is drafted, they cannot be drafted again. Easy example. Good chance Paul Pierce is going to go in one of these first couple of picks here. He will not be available at a later date. You're drafting the player for the time that they're on the Celtics. This is where I think we should talk about, Greg. I think it's the player for the time that they're on the Celtics. So an example would be, obviously, if you're drafting Shaq, you're not getting Shaq for his whole career, you're getting him for his Celtics career. If you draft Marcus Smart, you're getting him for his Celtics career. Not what's happened with Memphis and Washington.
- [08:26]
Greg
Interesting. Yeah. So I, I thought of it as like, you get them for that year. Like that iteration of the player is.
- [08:34]
Will
On your team could do that as well. That gets a little spicy. I guess it gets, it gets even tougher if we want to do it that way.
- [08:39]
Greg
So that's what I would like to go with if, if you're okay with that.
- [08:42]
Will
Yeah, I'm, I'm okay. I thought about that as a concept. It just, it gets real dicey. So we'll see how that plays out. But I think that's general premise that we're going to go under. And so it's one player for every single year. And then the other thing that I would challenge us to do, Greg, is I would like us to draft a real team like you have. And I think to give us a guideline for it. Typically, the all star game is set up as two guards and three front court players. Their bench two guards, three front court players, and then two wild cards. That's going to give us our 12 and 12. I think we should stick to. To that. So we have to define who it is. It doesn't limit us from. For defining who's a forward and who's a center, but we do have to put them into one of those categories. Do you think that's fair?
- [09:26]
Greg
Yeah. Yeah. We'll figure it out.
- [09:27]
Will
Okay. I like it. I like it. So. All right, we're going to start this here. We're going to start with the year 2000. 2001. We already determined that Greg is going to have first pick. So quick setup for this year. The 2000. 2000. You got it, Greg. Go ahead, take it away.
- [09:44]
Greg
Okay, so 2000, 2001. Celtics finish 36 and 46. No playoffs this year. This is before they start to experience a little bit of that early 2000 success. Draft pick, fun name, Jerome Muiso. Will, what are your thoughts on Jerome Maurizo? What do you remember about Jerome?
- [10:03]
Will
He went to UCLA. That's about it.
- [10:07]
Greg
Lefty. I think he was like 6, 9, 6, 10. He was supposed to be one of those, like, lottery pick.
- [10:12]
Will
That's. That's not all.
- [10:14]
Greg
I got 11. The interesting thing storyline coming into this season. This is the year in which Paul Pierce gets attacked in downtown Boston. He stabbed several times before the season, so there was a lot of question whether or not Paul Pierce would even be able to play. But Paul Pierce, being the absolute animal that he is, ended up playing a majority of the season. He may have even played 82 games. Paul Pierce averaged 25.6 rebounds and three assists. 38% from three that season. Our guy, Antoine Walker, one of his best seasons. 23, 9 and 5, 37% from 3. And this is when the Celtics were kind of ahead of their time shooting those three pointers. Why do you take so many three pointers, Will?
- [11:02]
Will
Because there ain't no fours, baby.
- [11:04]
Greg
Ain't no fours. Some other fun names for this team. Doug Overton, Chris Heron, Rick Brunson. Some fun names from that season.
- [11:15]
Will
Rick Brunson did not know Rick for the Celtics. Yeah.
- [11:18]
Greg
And although I'm getting him the year in which he was stabbed and probably two years before Paul Pierce officially enters his prime. I'm gonna take Paul Pierce, get him off the board. This version of Paul Pierce, I still think, although he, I, I don't think he was an all star this year. You'll have to double check that for me. I grabbed Paul this season. He probably was an all star, but.
- [11:43]
Will
Yeah, no all star football. That particular season. But he actually, he was an all star that year. He made NBA 13. So this was, this was still breakout season for Paul Pierce. Finished 11th in MVP. I'd have to double check. I think that's one of his highest rankings that he had actually. Correct me, my bad, I already moved ahead. That's for next season that he ends up doing that. So my bad on that moved one step ahead. But that's the right pick, right? Paul Pierce here is the right pick. I don't know that there's much of an argument for it otherwise. And this is where now we're, we're going to start to get interesting as to to where we're going here. And maybe it's the pick after. This is where it really starts to get interesting.
- [12:22]
Greg
Oh yeah, my name is interesting for sure.
- [12:26]
Will
So now we're going to the 2001, 2002 Boston Celtics. This team here is going to be the team that we start to really fall in love with. The team. Here they go, 49, 33. They finish second in the Atlantic Division. This is the team that goes all the way to the Eastern Conference finals and has that memorable comeback against the New Jersey Nets. Largest fourth quarter comeback in NBA playoff history. We've talked about it multiple times on this show. Greg and I's relationship to this game, the story that goes behind it, unfortunately. Celtics go up two one, lose three straight to the Nets. The Nets go on to the NBA Finals for this team. A lot of similar characters to what we had from from that team the year before. A couple of noticeable notable changes though. Biggest one being the Celtics had rookie Joe Johnson on this team. Rookie Joe Johnson being one of the biggest difference makers. Of course they also had your boy Greg Kedrick Brown on this team as well as another rookie named Joe Forte. So three rookies and hit big on Joe Johnson. Of course the biggest issue with hitting big on Joe Johnson was you got to keep him if he's playing as well as he was. And instead they make the short sided trade mid season and go for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers who do help the team get to the Eastern Conference finals. But obviously leaves you with that giant wh if of hey, I wonder what Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker all would have grown into being year five and below. Fifth year for Antoine, third year for Paul Pierce, rookie Joe Johnson. That's a, that's a really underrated what if, Greg. Of just that of that, of that nucleus staying together for the early 2000s.
- [14:12]
Greg
It seems crazy in retrospect. It probably seemed Crazy. At the time that the Celtics traded Joe Johnson, you know, we were what, 12 years old at that point? 13 years old. So I think for us we probably didn't realize how crazy it was to trade a rookie that was showing a lot of promise. I do remember with Joe Johnson there was this Boston Globe article that was all about how like his silky touch wasn't translating to free throw attempts or something like that, where he was just like a little too hesitant, he was a little too finesse when they needed a little bit more out of him. And when you think about the construction of that team and the amount of three pointers that they're shooting, like Rodney Rogers was one of the best big men shooting threes. He was a stretch. 4 Tony Del 41 on three and.
- [14:57]
Will
A half attempts, which three and a half attempts at that time, specifically for a role player is like 6, 7 attempts today.
- [15:03]
Greg
Right. So you saw the vision. They didn't see the long term future with Joe Johnson who obviously turned out to be one hell of a player. So who, who are you picking from this team, Will?
- [15:13]
Will
Well, Pierce is off the board. Rookie Joe Johnson is a little tempting, but his numbers are much more underwhelming than you remember. 6.3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 1/2 assists. Again, he was a rookie. It was about seeing the potential of that long term. This is an easy pick for me. I knew where this is going to go right away. I knew this was how it was going to go for the first two picks. Give me Antoine Walker. Still an all star season for Antoine. He averaged 22 points, 8.8 rebounds, five assists, 1.5 steals, half a block per game, three turnovers. So five assists to three turnovers. Not, not horrible. Shot eight threes per game which led the league to say the least. 34.4%. Not, not ideal, not horrible. But the efficiency stats of not being kind to Antoine is. If you were to look at his overall field goal percentage sub 40. So not, not, not, not ideal. But still those are some pretty, just blanket numbers. Greg, 22, basically nine and five with a steal and a half per game. Like that's, that's a pretty incredible stat line. Putting the efficiencies to the side.
- [16:20]
Greg
Yeah, it's unfortunate that Antoine, you know, has had a little bit of a rough time post basketball career because he's sort of turned into a forgotten guy from that, that era. Like he was a really good player.
- [16:33]
Will
Or not tweeted, but, but reposted on my personal Instagram. Not on the, on the green with Envy account. But it was KG who was talking about Pierce and Twan. They were talking about, like, underrated dynamic duos, and KG was getting super. And I mean, Antoine's got the Chicago connections. I know KG has some Chicago Conn as well, so I'm sure there's that. That lineage. But he was talking about how, you know, when he used to play Boston before he went here, before he came to Boston, and it was Tuan and. And Paul Pierce. He was just like, yo, I. We couldn't stop him because we doubled one, they just give the ball the other dude. And so it was cool to hear the respect that they had from another guy like that at the time.
- [17:11]
Greg
Yeah, I thought about drafting Antoine with my first pick just because I think the best version of Antoine was probably the year before this, because this is the year that Kenyon Martin, like, really starts to get in his head. And this is like a of the downfall of Antoine after that series against the Nets. So that was my thought process. But I ended up going with Paul just because it, you know, he's Paul Pierce, and you got to take the truth every single time.
- [17:35]
Will
All right, Greg, this is. Let's. Let's keep it going here. The. The times were still pretty good in 0203, so set it up for us.
- [17:42]
Greg
Okay, so The Celtics go 44 and 38. They finish six in the Eastern, six in the Eastern Conference, third in the Atlantic Division. Paul Pierce makes his all NBA third team once again. This is in the off season. The Celtics trade for Vin Baker and Shamond Williams, and we also traded Shamon Williams during that season for Mark Blunt. So Mark Blunt, who was on the team before, apparently the Celtics were like, we can't get enough of Mark Blunt because we got to get him back on this team. So we traded Shaman Williams for Mach 1. One of those dudes, like early centers, stretch fives that could shoot the three a little bit. Pierce, Antoine were both all stars again. We had a board. Yep. Both off the board. We had a guy named J R Bremmer. Do you remember J.R. bremmer? A little lefty, point guard, A little bit.
- [18:33]
Will
Little lefty. Yeah, I do remember him. Yeah.
- [18:35]
Greg
So he goes undrafted, but makes the all rookie second team with the Celtics that season. I didn't see that coming. We drafted a guy named Darius Sangaya. I don't know if you remember Darius, but he was traded to, I think before the season to the Kings. This is Antoine's last season, part one, and we end up losing once again to the Nets in the Second round, we get swept by them. Some fun names from this team. Kedrick Brown, who you already mentioned. Bimbo Kohl's one of the best basketball names of all time. Bruno Sundov and Grant Long, who's your pick? I'm gonna go Walter McCarty here. I'm gonna go Walter. Walter. This is probably peak. I love Walter. The fascination with Walter McCarty around the city of Boston, you know, black dude with the Irish name can't get better than that. And you know, Walter would just sit in the corner, shoot those threes. He would, he would run the court as Tommy Hindson screamed, I love Walter. And I think I just got to take Walt there. And I'm setting myself up for, you know, pretty nice front court. I'd say Walter's probably going to be coming off my bench in the long run, but, you know, Walter didn't have the longest career in the NBA, but he was definitely an effective player and I think he was a little bit before his time.
- [19:54]
Will
Yeah, I like that pick. I mean, I think the nostalgia as. As Celtics fans, how much did Tommy Hindson being in love with Walter McCarty increase our perception of who Walter McCarty was?
- [20:09]
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- [21:24]
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- [22:24]
Greg
Pretty significantly, I would say.
- [22:26]
Will
Yeah, I, I think it tilts the scales. If you ask anyone else about Walter McCarty's basketball career, there's. Unless they're, like, really locked in around this time, I'm sure there's not much of a memory. Ask any Boston Celtic fan about Walter McCarty and it's one of their, like, top five memories. It's kind of insane when you really think about it, how much Tommy's love of Walter elevated him. And it's, it's the way he says his name, it's the way that Walter leans itself into that Boston accent. But, yeah, the, the amplification of his career locally is, is pretty astounding when you. When you look back on it.
- [23:03]
Greg
Yeah. And of course, I have the connection with Walter through my high school coach, Brendan Smith, who's the CEO of A Step Ahead Basketball. And, you know, so I went to a lot of Walter camps. Walter was boys with Brendan, so he used to come to my high school game. So got to give a shout to Walter.
- [23:19]
Will
All right, we're moving on to the next pick here. We got 0304 Boston Celtics that we've got here. They finished 36 and 46, fourth in the Atlantic Division. They do squeak into the playoffs, but are swept by the Indiana Pacers. And Greg, we're not quite there. We're about. We're on the precipice right now of approaching a segment of the 2000 Celtics that obviously we're not in the 90s, but they're the spirit of the 90s Celtics, where it gets pretty grim. Like, this is where we're, we're on the edge. Teetering right back into that 90s void of kind of nothingness, I think.
- [24:01]
Greg
Yeah, this is the. The brink of the collapse. Right. We're right on the precipice where we end up, you know, we'll cover it in a little bit, but we end up tanking hard, hoping to get Kevin Durant or Greg Odin in a few years. And this was definitely the. The first bit of the fall. Yeah.
- [24:17]
Will
So you've mentioned a couple of guys that are already on this team from. From years past. Vin Baker has made an appearance here. This is something that I think is a little bit interesting. This is Dana Barrows coming back to the Celtics. But question for you and I actually, I'm just looking at this in real time here, Greg. Dana Barrows is on this team, is returning to this team. I guess Marcus Banks is on this team as well. Who's wearing number 11?
- [24:44]
Greg
Marcus Banks.
- [24:45]
Will
That's right. What was Dana Barris's number? Who?
- [24:49]
Greg
Three.
- [24:50]
Will
Pretty close. Thirteen. Not bad. Not bad. I'll give that to you. That was pretty good. But yeah, Dana Barris is always number 11 because we went to his camps. We had him on the show, friend of the show, you know, so it's interesting looking at that. But yeah, we've got Dana Barrows back on the team. We've got Marcus Banks as a rookie making an appearance. Do you still have that jersey somewhere, Greg?
- [25:07]
Greg
I wish I did. I think the only Celtics jerseys I still have to this day are Rajan Rondo and Robert Parish.
- [25:15]
Will
Marcus Banks would have been an excellent festival jersey. Right. Like how like everyone brings out their throwbacks for A.C.L. orever Music Festival. Marcus Banks would have been an incredible fine. Other guys that we have on this team making their first appearance, we have Ricky Davis is in the mix now. He is on the board. You joining him. You mentioned, Greg, that this was leading up to previously the. The trade of Antoine Walker. Rafe la France. Say hello to my R France. He's now in the mix as well. As well as we have rookie Kendrick Perkins. So again, Greg, this is where I think it starts to get a little bit tough as to who you're gonna pick for me here. It's not the peak of Perk yet and perk's gonna be there. So I think. Think I'm going to leave Perk where he is. Kind of the same for a guy like, like Mark Blunt. He's got a few more years here. This is. I'm. I'm considering Mark Blunt. Mark Blunt's just when you look at the Celtics history Greg, we're gonna, we're gonna find it's, it's relatively slim pickings at the center position. The center position has not been strong in this first quarter century for the Celtics, so we're going to need some guys there. So I think for me, it ultimately comes down to I'm looking at Mark Blunt versus Tony Bati. And I think, honestly, it's just a. And Ricky Davis is in this mix too, but I think I can get some more wing play other areas than. Than Ricky. So I'm actually gonna go with Mark Blunt here. Who. That was the name of my college team, the Mark Blunts. Yep. Pretty good name. Mark blunt this year. 10.3 points per game, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game while playing. Let's see, how many minutes did he play? He played 29.3 minutes. And Greg, you know, looking at this, when I was doing some research, to me, we had this conversation maybe a week or two ago, two podcasts ago. This is kind of my vision for Nemi Escada. Having a successful season is not, at least from, from a number standpoint, is not too dissimilar from this. Mark Blunt was not shooting threes at this time. So it's, it's, you know, he's shooting 56.6 from the field, playing 29, 30 minutes. A game like this would be a pretty satisfying Nemius k to line for me in present day.
- [27:34]
Greg
I hope Nemi's Kate is a little bit better than Mark Blunt was. I'm surprised he didn't go. Ricky Davis.
- [27:40]
Will
Yeah, I mean, I, I like Ricky Davis. I just think when I look at, when I was doing my preliminary research, it's real thin on even decent backup centers. And so, you know, Ricky Davis definitely the higher talent. But we'll see. It's going to get real interesting here, these next couple of picks and, you know, maybe it's, maybe it's a trap to get you to take Ricky Davis so I can take somebody else. My next pick. I don't know. We'll, We'll. We'll have to see, but I will not be totally. Let's go for the 0405 season. Greg set it up for us.
- [28:11]
Greg
Okay, so the Celtics have a little bit of a bounce back in the season. They go 45 and 37, finish first in the Atlantic Division. So this is Doc's first season with the Celtics. They bring in the glove Gary Payton and Rick Fox. So old friend Rick Fox comes back, but he ends up retiring before this season. So the Celtics clearly wanted to. To, you know, kind of reclaim some glory after a pretty bad year before they end up trading Gary Payton for Antoine Walker as a little reunion there. But Peyton was inevitably waived by the Atlanta Hawks and then resigned with the Celtics. So they ended up. I don't know if that's still a loophole you can do. I feel like they closed that loophole, but he ended up returning.
- [28:54]
Will
Reacquiring a player.
- [28:55]
Greg
Yeah, Paul's an all Star this year. They end up losing in the first round to the Pacers in seven. After this season, they trade Antoine and Gary Payton to the Miami Heat, where they end up becoming two parts of a championship team. So you could see the vision, what the Celtics are trying to do here in the draft. They end up getting Big Al Jefferson, Delonte west and Tony Allen. You've mentioned the other fun names from this team, Marcus Banks, Rafael Friends and Ricky Davis. And I got to take my guy, Big Al. Big Al Jefferson is going to be my pick here. Although it's his rookie year. Do you remember how excited you were to see Al Jefferson as a rookie? And Tommy.
- [29:34]
Will
I do. That was the whole point of my trap was I hoping you would pick Ricky Davis, that I'd have Al Jefferson. That was. That was my trap right there.
- [29:42]
Greg
Yeah, Al Jefferson was so much fun and you know, obviously he ends up becoming part of the KG trade. Has a pretty good career in the NBA. And I think Al Jefferson is probably one of those guys that is going to be looked at as one of the best pure post scorers of this time.
- [29:59]
Will
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'd have to double check this here and let me see if I can pull up his basketball reference real quick. But I'm pretty sure Al Jefferson never made an all star team, but did make an all NBA team. Like Al Jefferson was a pure bucket getter. And I remember when the Celtics drafted him. Yeah. Never made an all star team, made an all rookie team and made an all NBA team with, I believe it was the Bobcats at the time. Either the Bobcats or the Jazz. But I remember when they drafted Al Jefferson, he's from Mississippi and I remember his high school stats are insane. It's like 45 points, 22 rebounds and seven blocks or something insane. And that was back when there just wasn't the same, you know, level of exposure. Right. So I'm just reading about in the Globe and I'm like, yo, who is this kid out of high school that we just drafted and one year after.
- [30:48]
Greg
Taking Big perk out of high school too, right?
- [30:50]
Will
Exactly. And. And then having. Having Antoine, losing Antoine, reuniting with Antoine and then like he was like, this is the guy to fill the void of who's gonna run side by side with Paul Pierce, right? Like he's gonna fit into that mold. Different stylistic player than Antoine. But that one, two punch of, you know, at the time, everything was kind of centered around like, hey, there's a shack and code, right? How do we get our version of. Of Shaq and Kobe and that, you know, not that it was ever going to be that, but it gives you the vision of that. So. Yeah. Al Jefferson, great pick. That's my guy, man. I absolutely love Al Jefferson. All right, let's go to the next season here again. 0506. We are looking at this here as a. Again kind of a lineage to the 90s Celtics. They go 33 and 49 in this season. Not a great year under Doc Rivers. Some of the candidates that I'm going to be looking at here for potential choices that we have, we got Tony Allen in the mix, Ricky Davis still on the board as you mentioned. Al Jefferson now off the board. Delonte west underrated being being on the board here. Delonte west really like him. We'll talk about him a little bit more here in just a second. Wally Zerbiak, what do you. What do you remember about Wally Zerbiak as a Celtic?
- [32:10]
Greg
Greg, the hair. The hair. Wally Zerbiak had some great hair. You know, he's a wing, like a kind of a stocky wing who could shoot the three super athletic. When he played for the. The Timberwolves, you know, he was one of KG's running partners with the T Wolves. While he had a decent NBA career, man, he had a few seasons over 20 points and an all star team. Didn't really work out with the Celtics, but he was on the Celtics. That's for sure.
- [32:38]
Will
He was on something. He could shoot that thing, right? So in this season, you know, he averaged 17 and a half points a game. He had. He shot 39.3% from three on three and a half attempts. Like pretty good, right? Not. Not a bad season from. From Wally. I think he had some injuries. Only played in. In 32 games. So that obviously held him back. So for this pick, Greg, I'm debating between two guys. Should mention rookie Gerald Green. Also on the steam first time around for Gerald Green. He'll come back up later. So don't get him now. There's going to be opportunity for. For Gerald Green later, which I would argue is definitely the better version. Veteran Gerald Green was always one of the nicest surprises I've had in my NBA fandom of him coming full circle from complete, you know, unfulfilled potential to nice solid veteran that you like having around the young guys. Didn't, didn't see that coming. But for this pick, Greg, I'm stuck between three guards right now.
- [33:33]
Greg
Okay.
- [33:34]
Will
And I'm going to tell you who it is that I'm, that I'm looking at. So we've got Tony Allen, we've got Delonte west, and we've got Ricky Davis still on the board. So we've got an explosive scorer, we've got Delonte and let's, let's talk about Delonte west for a second. Right. Obviously we've seen a bunch. Every, every couple of years it comes up the hardships that have gone on in his life. And it's super unfortunate, but I really, really liked watching Delonte West. I thought Delonte west was now that. And it's not a one to one, but now that we have Derrick White in our lives, I don't think that longevity ever could have been the defender that, that Derrick White is. But offensively, I, I feel like there's a little bit of lineage there. Like his numbers from this year. Greg, 11.8 points per game, 4.4.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists. He's shooting, you see from the, from the three, he's shooting. 38.5 played, games played, 34 minutes. Like, am I crazy in saying, like I said, take the defense out of it. Offensively, is there a, is there a Derrick White light in, in, in Delonte west game that you remember?
- [34:39]
Greg
I'm actually surprised that you're saying he wasn't a good defender. Obviously he's not as good of a defender as Derrick White is, but that's all.
- [34:45]
Will
I mean, I'm just for. Yeah, for the comparison sake, I'm saying that Derek White's an all NBA defender who leads the league in blocks for, for guards.
- [34:52]
Greg
Yeah. Delonte, you know, he had some moments where he would fly in, get some blocks. He was great at playing the passing lanes. Long arm. I think one of the things with Delonte that I really liked about him was his college career ending up in, in the pros. Right. Like there. That was when I was really into college basketball and it felt like the Celtics never really got any of the guys from college that I loved onto the team. Like, you know, even when we got Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker like, they weren't my guys. I wasn't a Kentucky guy. I was a UNC guy. So, you know, I'm there hoping for Vince Carter and Antoine Jameson, and instead we get Paul Pierce and Antoine Williams from that team. We did get Shaman Williams from that team. That's true. And we got Joe Forte as well. You kind of skipped over that.
- [35:36]
Will
Didn't work out. Well, neither of those worked out.
- [35:38]
Greg
Yeah, they didn't. Undersized guards almost never do.
- [35:41]
Will
Yeah.
- [35:42]
Greg
But I. I really like Delonte, man. If you pick him here, you're stealing my next pick. So I'm gonna just be very honest with you. I'm taking Dante next.
- [35:49]
Will
I'm doing it. I had kind of planned on it like that at some point. I wanted to talk about Delonte west because he's one of those role players where, you know, I mentioned the. The opposite of this, where Walter gets kind of elevated. I feel like Delonte gets forgotten. And Delonte was a lot of fun to watch, and I believe he ends up being in the. In the Ray Allen trade. And it's one of those moves where it's like, ah, I get it. But it was either that or the cage. You. I can't remember which one. And it's obviously like, I get it. We're getting Ray Allen or kg.
- [36:20]
Greg
Yeah.
- [36:20]
Will
But Delonte's good. He's just one of those guys that it always felt like to me, I was like, hey, listen, you got to make that trade. But it's the same way I feel about, you know, Derrick White, to a degree. I think he's kind of elevated himself out of this, but like a Josh Hart where I'm like, that guy just wins. I. I know. Like, it's like just watching him, it's like that guy feels like a winner. You have him on your team, I think your chances are increased. Even how, to a degree, we felt about Marcus Smart at times with his faults, it's like, it. That guy wins. That guy hustles his ass off. You see him doing these little things, and, you know, Delonte had a good shot to back it up. He was 11. 4 and 4 12. 4 and 4. As second, third year in the league. I'm pretty happy with. With Aden Delante to the squad, he'll. He'll come off the bench for me. So I'm. I'm. I'm good with that.
- [37:03]
Greg
All right, let's keep it moving. Let's head to 2006, 2007. This is the nadir for the Celtics. 24 and 58 before the season. Red our back passes away. Dennis Johnson passes away mid season. So it's just an overall terrible season for the Celtics. Paul Pierce has stress. Stress reaction in his left foot. The Celtics after Paul Pierce's injury, do you know what their record was in the 42 games in which Paul Pierce sat out with a stress reaction in his foot?
- [37:33]
Will
Well, I know this is, this is when the famous 18 game losing streak happened, Right? So how many games was it? You said? 40. What?
- [37:40]
Greg
42.
- [37:41]
Will
42. I'm gonna say they went 5 and 37, if my math is correct.
- [37:48]
Greg
3 and 39.
- [37:50]
Will
Oh my God. I thought, I thought I was. I was like, all right, maybe they won like seven games and I'm sure it changed them. I can't believe I hit the over on this.
- [37:58]
Greg
Yeah, 3 and 39. They draft Randy Foy, who they end up trading to Portland. Randy Foy, who's a fun college player as well. Some fun names from this team. Michael Oluwa, Candy, the Candyman, Kevin Pinkney, Alan Ray, Brian Scalabrini, Wally Zerbia, still on this team. Sebastian Telfair is on this team. And old friend Theo Ratliff is on the scene. Theo Ratliff, who is one of the best shot blocking bigs of his time. What I'm gonna go with here, I'm gonna go with Tony Allen. All right. This is probably Tony Allen's best offensive season. I think this is also where Tony Allen tears his acl.
- [38:36]
Will
Yeah. On the dunk. That doesn't count.
- [38:38]
Greg
On the dunk. That doesn't count. And Tony Allen was really showing some stuff, right. I think he was averaging close to 20 points a game.
- [38:44]
Will
This is, this is where he had that famous comment where. I don't know if it was. I can't remember if it was book before the upcoming next season where all the changes happen or if it was during the season where he was interviewed and I remember he was like, everybody's talking about a big three, isn't it? Why is nobody talking about a big four? Like, did you guys see what I was doing before I got hurt? Like, he actually made comments insinuating he would be the big four with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. So that's the type of smoke Tony Allen had going at this time. He did show promise. But yes, I think you're right. This is definitely his best offensive season. Even when you look ahead to his.
- [39:19]
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- [40:36]
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- [41:37]
Greg
Yep. And obviously he becomes one of the best perimeter defenders, lockdown defenders, the one defender that Kobe Bryant didn't want on him. Right? So I'm gonna grab Tony here. I'm glad that you grabbed Delonte. Maybe I just played a little trap on you. Maybe I wanted Tony Allen this whole time. Who knows?
- [41:52]
Will
Hey, that's all right. Take it. My guy can shoot threes, so I'm okay with it. Quick, quick, quick, quick. Reset here. As we're coming up on the 0708 season. Currently, Greg, your team is consisting of Paul Pierce, Tony Allen, Walter McCarty, and Al Jefferson. On my side, we've got Antoine Walker, Delonte west, and Mark Blunt. With my next pick coming up here. And let's just be real. There's not a real lot of drama in this one. It's the first year he's on the board, he's getting picked. It's the 0708 Celtics, NBA champ. 66, 6 and 16. There's nowhere else to go. It's Kevin Garnett. Take him off the board. Put him on the squad. I don't even think we need to talk much about it. We've talked. We talk about this team all the time and the nostalgia that goes with it. This is the probably, along with you taking Paul Pierce as the first pick, probably the two easiest picks of the entire draft.
- [42:46]
Greg
KG was just such a culture changer, man. Like, everything that he did when he came to the Celtics, it was just. He was my brother's favorite player. So when I know when the Celtics traded for him, my brother was ecstatic. And he. He just did everything for this team. And when you go back and when you watch tape of that season, you just see how much of a force he really was on the court. Great stories from him, obviously, defensive player of the year and all that, but Kevin Garnett was great, man. And yeah, I agree. Considering how many years we have left and how long into the pod we already are, we should probably keep it moving.
- [43:20]
Will
Let's keep it moving here. Let's keep it moving.
- [43:22]
Greg
All right, 2008, 2009, Celtics go 62 and 20, 27 and 2 start to this season. And when you ask anybody with the Celtics, they thought that this was actually the best team that they had during this era. KG goes down with an injury, calf injury that he's never able to get over, and he never plays again that season. KG just sits out the rest of the season. We keep hearing that he might come back. He doesn't come back. And that's the last championship. You know, it's the championship where we. We end up losing to the Magic in seven. The Magic end up playing LeBron and the Cavs, and that's supposed to be the LeBron vs. Kobe final, and it ends up being the Dwight Howard and Orlando Magic against Kobe Bryant. And they just smacked them okay, for the draft that year. The Celtics grab semi. Erden and Junior Giddens what do you think about those guys? Any remember anything?
- [44:17]
Will
I was just thinking, what are the chances that a team drafts two guys with the name semi semi urgent and then semi OJ I mean that's got to be the only team in history.
- [44:29]
Greg
Stefan Marbury joins this team in February, as you know.
- [44:32]
Will
You know what, I know we're going long, but it. We're having a good time. It is what it is. Game five against the Magic. I believe it was the last win the Celtics had that year. You and I were at that game. Stefan Marber, I mean, he came in, I remember in the second half he had a big run, probably his only run as a Celtic, where it felt like he was a difference maker. And he got the Celtics one game away from the Eastern Conference finals before the Magic just caught fire. But I don't know if you remember that game like I do, but it was in from what I remember the only time it felt like Stefan Marbury made an impact with the Celtics.
- [45:05]
Greg
Yeah, they just kept going back to him, hoping that he would turn back into Starberry. And he never did, except for that one stretch in Game 5. But yeah, I kind of forgot that he was on the Celtics for. For that year. Some other fun names from this team. Mikey Moore, Gabe Pruitt and Bill Walker. Year I'm gonna go Ray Allen. I think this is actually the best Ray Allen that the Celtics have because he has to elevate in KG's absence. I believe this is the year in which the Celtics play the. The Bulls in the first round. And Ray goes crazy going up against Ben Gordon.
- [45:37]
Will
Ben Gordon just. That's one of the best. One of the best first round series of all time. Yeah.
- [45:41]
Greg
So I think grabbing Ray Allen here actually gets me my best bang for my buck with Ray. So although you had to take kg, I think it works out well for me grabbing Ray Allen here.
- [45:49]
Will
Here. I like it. I like it. Let's keep it moving. Let's go to the 2009, 2010 season. This is where the Celtics end up back in the NBA finals. They go 50 and 32 in the regular season. They beat the heat in the first round, which is obviously pre LeBron going to the Heat. So just Dwayne Wade. Then they beat LeBron in his last series with the Cavaliers, send him essentially packing directly to Miami. And then they get revenge against the Magic in the conference finals. Of course, unfortunately, falling to the Lakers in seven games at the hands of of Ron Artest, AKA Meadow. World peace for this season. Greg, a lot of familiar Faces. But we do have some new additions in here. Nate Robinson is in the mix. Rashid Wallace is in the mix. Sheldon Williams, who doesn't even deserve to be mentioned, is unfortunately on this team. He's available to be picked. Michael Finley. Forgot Michael Finley made a brief appearance on the Celtics. Really like Michael Finley, Mavericks version back in the day. I thought he was a little bit underrated in that two guard role when they had the Steve Nash, Mike Finley, Dirk Nowitzki court. But I think this is gonna be interesting too, right? Say that again.
- [46:54]
Greg
Petrus. Michael Petrus.
- [46:56]
Will
This is pre Michael Petrus. This is Marquis Daniels, our guy friend of the show. Marquis Daniels is on this show. Is on the show. Is on this team as well. Scalabrine's on this team. But I think for me, Greg, this is actually where the big four ended up going to. It's Rajon Rondo. Rondo's the pick here. I, I don't know if this is definitively his best season. It's probably a year or two from now when he's. When he's basically the guy out of the four, he's like probably the best player out of the four. When they go toe to toe with Miami here in a year or two, in seven games, that's probably the best version of Rondo. But I, I don't think he's gonna get past the next one. And we've already drafted the other three main guys. You took Tony Allen. So I think this is the best pick right here. I'm going with. With Rajon rondo for the 2009, 2010 Celtic season.
- [47:47]
Greg
I'm actually surprised that I didn't have like a visceral reaction to you mentioning Meta World Peace hitting that three pointer because it was gross that night.
- [47:55]
Will
I still remember watching that on your couch at BC and just, Just agony. Just agony watching that game.
- [48:03]
Greg
Yeah, it was brutal. It was brutal. But I don't think I could feel worse than I do with my stomach right now. So I think that's why. Okay, we're. We're going to move to 2010, 2011. This is the year that the Celtics big in the bring in the big Shamrock Shaq. They also bring in his o' Neill brother, Jermaine o'. Neal. This is also the year that they break up the starting five. This is the storyline from this year is that they trade Kendrick Perkins. They bet on Shaquille o' Neal and Jermaine o', Neal hoping that they can hold down the center position, and they felt like they needed to go get younger. So they trade perk mid season for Jeff Green. And you know the. The famous line that start in five. Never lost an NBA finals when healthy first year. This is also the first year of the Heatles. So the Celtics go up against the Heatles in the playoffs and lose in five. This is Avery Bradley's first year. Celtics draft Avery Bradley and I will give you $100 right now if you haven't looked this up already. Can't lie to me. Who's the other draft pick for the Celtics this year?
- [49:05]
Will
Okay, I was just looking at the roster, but I didn't see who this is. So Avery Bradley, who I know we picked, I think at like 19. I do think I know this because I think we knew someone that maybe either went on a date with them. Is it Gabe Pruitt?
- [49:19]
Greg
No, Gabe was on. On the team in 2000.
- [49:21]
Will
He was on the other team. Okay, never mind. I don't know.
- [49:23]
Greg
Luke Herringote.
- [49:24]
Will
Luke Herring. You know, he looked like my uncle the Heron.
- [49:27]
Greg
God.
- [49:28]
Will
For those who don't know, I'm adopted. My uncle's very Irish.
- [49:32]
Greg
Some fun names from this team. Carlos Arroyo. Fun little point guard. Nanag Christ. Stretch five. Troy Murphy. Notre Dame legend. Sasha Pavlovich. And Vaughn Wafer. Remember Vaughn?
- [49:44]
Will
What a great name. We mentioned Bimbo Coles being an all time name. Von Wafer is an all time name too.
- [49:48]
Greg
I'm gonna go Big baby for this one. One of the better big baby seasons that we're gonna get. So I'm gonna go big baby here. He's gonna shore up my. My front court and he's gonna be my backup center.
- [50:04]
Will
You ever watch Big Baby Stand up Special? No.
- [50:07]
Greg
I need to.
- [50:09]
Will
Yeah, I was looking up his IMDb. He's got actually a decent, like. I mean, I think he's in jail right now, but he's got a real IMDb of like actual shows that he's been in where it's like, oh, like I'm pretty sure I've seen that on, like, Netflix. He's been in Shameless a couple episodes. He was on something called the Lincoln Lawyer. So, I mean, he's got a real acting career. There is a second phase of Big Baby once he gets out of jail, that could be coming to your TV screen. So I like that pick. Big Baby was definitely on my board here. Let's keep it moving. Let's go to. So this is now the 2011, 2012 season. This is going to be the NBA lockout season. So let's go 39 and 27. Ultimately this ends up being the year where I kind of referenced it earlier with this is probably Rondo's peak. I think this would have been like the actual best Rondo year where the Celtics in the playoffs, they beat the Atlanta hawks, beat the 76ers who were an eight seed that beat the one seeded bulls. This is the year Rose goes down. His whole career takes a. Takes a different term. But this is a 76ers team that had Andrea Godala, had Drew Holiday, had Elton Brand, like really interesting 76ers team. And then ultimately the Celtics. And I believe it's also the 76ers team that was depicted in Uncut gems. When you're looking at that scene with kg, I believe it's from that. That and ultimately Celtics fall in seven games to the Miami Heat. And so for the season, Greg, you mentioned a guy who I'm probably leaning into. You mentioned Avery Bradley was his rookie year the year before. This is kind of the year where Avery Bradley starts to show a lot of potential and ends up being the reason that Ray Allen is not brought. Well, not. It's not fully the reason the Celtics still offered him a contract, but it's the reason that things got tense between the Celtics and Ray Allen. And especially, you know, I mentioned some of the stories that KG and Pierce tell on their. Their podcast show. Whatever the hell it is, I mostly just see it in clip form. They love Avery Bradley. Absolutely love Avery Bradley. And actually Greg, I meant to tell you this before our rec our men's league game last week. You got there like right before tip off the game before us. Marlin on our team, there's a guy playing before us. He goes, yo, anybody else think this guy out here looks like AJ Bradley? And I knew exactly what he meant. I was like, no, you mean Avery Bradley. And yes, this dude does look like Avery Bradley. Avery Bradley was an absolute monster. So that's gonna be my pick. A couple other guys to mention here. Brandon Bass is on this team who I think is a little bit underrated other than him trying to guard LeBron which never went well. Brandon Bass actually a pretty quality Celtic in my mind here. Each one more. And Dwan and Joanne Johnson, two Purdue teammates that were both rookies on this team. Jermaine o' Neill still on this team. Mikel Pietrich who you mentioned earlier, GRE and of course the ghost of Bill Russell AKA Greg Steamsma was on the team as well. But Avery Bradley is where we're going for this pick for me and Greg, let's let's send it back to you.
- [53:05]
Greg
All right, 2012, 2013, the Celtics go 41 and 40. This is the last season of Pierce, Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett. Rondo tears his acl. So this is like the year after the year where Rondo goes nuts in the playoffs and we're expecting Rondo to like be in MVP conversations, right? Like that's how good Rajan Rondo is playing and he ends up tearing his acl. First round exit to the Knicks of the Pigurini, Pablo Priggioni. I think there was, there was some issue. There was like an elbow from J R Smith in that series or something like that. But yeah, first round exit to the Knicks. This is also, I believe our first year in 10 Texas will it's either.
- [53:50]
Will
Yeah, that sounds right. I remember watching this game with shout out to friend of the pod, Lip Tack. I remember watching this game, watching one of these Knicks games with him at whatever that sports bar that used to be over over off of like South 1st and Barton Springs area.
- [54:03]
Greg
Yeah, I can't remember the name of it right now, but we draft Jared Sullinger this year. Fab, Mellow, Rip and Chris Joseph. Some other fun names from this team. Shablik Randolph, Jordan Crawford, Brandon Bass that you mentioned, Courtney Lee. You know this was when Courtney Lee and Avery Bradley were like kind of a two headed defensive monster for the Celtics and D.J. white. And I had two names written down here, Will it was Avery Bradley or the guy you already mentioned, Brandon Bass. Brandon Bass of the famed 18 foot baseline jumper. So I'm gonna go ahead and take Brandon Bass here off the board. My front court looking pretty good, pretty stacked. But you know, as we saw, Brandon Bass can, can guard the three, especially when it's LeBron.
- [54:46]
Will
So quick update to give everybody just tracking back at home who we have right now. Greg on your team. I currently have two starters slated and this can always move around here, but I have two starters. I have Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and then potentially on your bench and it looks like Al Jefferson, I might move to your, to your starters here. But you have Tony Allen, Walter McCarty, Al Jefferson, Big baby and Brandon Bass. So you are loaded up at the backup forward position right now. For myself, I have myself currently listed with three starters. I've got Rajon Rondo, I've got Antoine Walker and I've got Kevin Garnett on my bench. I've got Avery Bradley, Delonte west and Mark Blunt and then that will bring us into the 2013, 2014 season. This is a rough one, Greg. This is, this is not a great season. This is the year of the full rebuild. And to be fair, it leads directly into to kind of the era that we're still in right now. So a full reset here. Brad Stevens is the new man in charge. Celtics go 25 and 57, come absolutely nowhere close to making the playoffs in this particular season. And honestly it's, it's. It starts to get a little slim pickings for this year as to who you would go with. But you mentioned some of the guys that are already off here. Brandon Bass, that was gonna be my pick. If you did not already make that. Some other guys that are still on this team. Marshawn Brooks is here. Jordan Crawford, player of of the week. Jordan Crawford, two time player of the week. Jeff Green is on this team still. Courtney Lee, Kelly Olenek as a rookie. Phil Pressy, who is now the head coach of the main Celtics, is actually a rookie on this team as well. Jared Solinger, his second year in the league. And then Gerald Wallace, who obviously came over here I think the year before in that nets trade. Question for you. Was anybody better at the baseball inbound pass at the end of the game than Gerald Wallace? I feel like that man was money. I don't know how many times it converted, but he was pretty amazing at it. Granted, there wasn't a lot to throw to during this time frame.
- [56:47]
Greg
Yeah, I think he, they actually had a play where he would throw it off the opposite backboard.
- [56:53]
Will
Right.
- [56:53]
Greg
So he would be on one baseline, he'd throw it all the way off the opposite backboard.
- [56:57]
Will
Yeah, great arms, deep voice. Wasn't really in his prime the time he got to us here. So with this pick, Greg, I've got kind of two guys that I'm looking at. And you know what? I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go with Jared Solinger. I feel like he's a little underappreciated. I always felt like he had a chance to have a better career. Didn't work out here in Boston. Goes to Toronto and it fades out really quickly. But again, a guy I really liked in college always was like, can he slim down a little bit? Like he uses his body well. But he had a pretty nice year this year for the Celtics Here he was 13, three points per game, averaged 8.1 rebounds, shot 43 from the field. You know, Jared Sellinger, I just think a little bit underappreciated. It could have gone with Jeff Green here, who's probably the best player that's on this board here, but I'm gonna stick with my guy, and I'm gonna. I'm gonna go Jared Salinger for this one.
- [57:48]
Greg
Okay. All right, let's go on to 2014, 2015, and I want to actually pull up the roster here because I was actually pretty surprised that you just took Jared Solinger there.
- [58:03]
Will
Yeah, it was a pick with my heart. Yeah.
- [58:08]
Greg
All right. Okay. So that makes this a little bit easier for me. So. 2014, 2015. Celtics go 40 and 42. This is Brad's second year. Rondo gets traded to the Mav, so the big three era is officially done. They end up trading for diminutive point guard by the name of Isaiah Thomas. They get swept by the Cavs in the first round in the draft. They grab Marcus Smart and James Young. And Marcus Smart, I believe, was a fifth pick. James Young somewhere in the. In the teens. And I remember being very excited about James Young, as many Celtics fans were, and he turned out to be not much. Some fun names from this team. Marcus Thornton, Luigi Datome, Tayshawn Prince is on this team. And our old friend Jameer Nelson. Okay, I. I'm gonna go ahead and grab. I'm gonna give you a gift. No, I gotta get a guard. I'm gonna grab an it. I'm grabbing it.
- [59:05]
Will
Yeah, clearly that's what you're going with.
- [59:09]
Greg
Peak it, right? We only get him for half a season. We don't know how good he is.
- [59:14]
Will
But, I mean, he pops, though. He does pop in this year. And, like, you know, obviously the next two seasons are when he hits the. Is his peak. And he's an all star for two years, but yeah, you have to take Isaiah Thompson. Who else would you even consider in the spot?
- [59:28]
Greg
Jeff Green.
- [59:30]
Will
Okay. Yeah, I mean, I guess, but it's. It's Isaiah Thomas. He's the pick. He's the reason that the Celtics went from, you know, making that trade at the deadline kind of being like, yeah, whatever. To actually making the playoffs and being a really fun team and then kind of restarting where we start to go to here in the next couple of years. So let's keep it going here and let's go to the 1516 Celtics. They go 48 and 34, finish fifth in the Eastern Conference. They make it to the first round, but lose to the Hawks in that Al Horford led Atlanta Hawks team. This is one here where we're like a year too early. I wish I had the next season. You know exactly who my pick would be. I know who probably your Pick is going to be. So looking at this particular team here it is off the board. And this is, this is probably one of. You know, I know they're. They were only. I think they were a five seed at this time. They were a five seed and the Hawks were four seed. This is probably Brad Stevens best coaching job. I'm just going to read you the whole roster here real quick, Craig, because this team being a 5 seed is. Is kind of nuts. So we've got Avery Black, Avery Bradley, Cody Clark, whoever the that is. Jay CROWDER, John Holland, R.J. hUNTER, My biggest draft let down of all time. Jonas Jarebko, Amir Johnson, David Lee. But like old David Lee, not like all star, borderline all star. David Lee, Jordan Mickey, Kelly Olenek, rookie Terry Rozier, second year, Marcus Smart, Jared Solinger. I t who we mentioned, Evan Turner, James Young and Tyler Zeller. That team is a five seed. Get the out of here. That's a Brad Stevens masterpiece. So having said all that that I'm gonna go with. I might be giving you a gift here, but I'm gonna do it. I'm taking Evan Turner. I really liked Evan Turner.
- [61:18]
Greg
He was good.
- [61:19]
Will
E.T. was good, man. He was good. And clearly, you know, he's still boys with, with some of the guys that come later here to this day. But Evan Turner was just, you know, he was a guy that might get you a 10, 10, 10. You know, he might get you that just, just barely scraping the surface of a triple duck level. Just go ahead and get you, dude.
- [61:36]
Greg
If you watch some old Evans kind of looks, he kind of moves like Jason Tatum out there.
- [61:41]
Will
Yeah, there's, there's some connective tissue there. Yeah, so I'm gonna go with, with Evan Turner here. He slots into one of my forward slash wild card spots on my bench here. Yeah, let's keep it going here, Greg. Let's go to the 1617 season.
- [61:57]
Greg
Okay, so this is one of the Celtics most successful seasons of this era. Number one seed, 53 and 29. They draft Jalen Brown, Yabu Selli, Ante Zicic and Demetrius Jackson. This is the Gerald Green series in the playoffs, right where they go up against the Bulls. Rondo's kind of giving us the business against the Bulls. Jimmy Butler's on that team. And Brad Stevens decides he needs to go small inserts. Gerald Green turns the series around. And this is also the year of the Caliolenetic game. So this is a fun playoff, fun playoff run. So we beat the Bulls, we beat the Wizards in seven, and then we lose to the Cavs in seven. So I'm gonna go. This is a tough pick. I'm gonna go Marcus Smart here.
- [62:45]
Will
Okay.
- [62:46]
Greg
Year three of Marcus Smart. Yeah, I could take a rookie, Jalen Brown, but that's nowhere near the best version of Jalen Brown. Jaylen Brown doesn't really become anywhere close to what he currently is until, like, year three or four. So if you want to grab him year two next season, you're welcome, but I'm gonna go Marcus Smart. I think this is when people really started to get excited about what Marcus Smart was for this Celtics team. I think there's an argument for a Kelly Olenek or Gerald Green, but taking them over Marcus Smart just seems crazy. So I'm gonna go Marcus, and I feel good about it.
- [63:23]
Will
All right, Marcus Smart is the pick, and that's interesting. All right. And this is where your rules sets this up to be really interesting as to, you know, what we do with some of these decisions. So I've got a big decision here for 1718. Celtics go 55 and 27. Second in the Eastern Conference. This is where they beat Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. They take out the Philadelphia 76ers with Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and then they eventually lose to. Not even the Cavs. They just lose to LeBron. They lose to LeBron 4:3 in the Eastern Conference finals. And this, of course, is. Is that team where Greg. There's a lot of interesting choices, obviously, that we can go to. This is where we start to have. Kyrie Irving's in the mix. We've got great. Gordon Hayward's in the mix. Jason Tatum, rookie year is in the mix. You now have year two Jalen Brown out here. And so this is really tough. I'll be honest. I kind of. In my mind, I don't know if. You don't have to. This. This is. This is just. I'm telling you, this is what I did when doing this. Yeah, I kind of disqualified Kyrie and. And Gordon Hayward because I just don't feel like Celtics. Right. This is supposed to be a celebration of 25 years of Celtics. Is there anyone that you're going to talk to that's like, man, I. You know, I'm really still thinking about the Kyrie Celtic days. The. The Gordon Hayward, they. So, like, listen, I'm not taking either of those guys. Those will be on the board for you. If you want to take them, feel free. That was just my own. My own personal rule. So for me right now, the Biggest. There's a really big decision that I'm gonna make right now, and I didn't. Because I didn't know how we were gonna set this up. I didn't think I was gonna have to make it. And now I'm. I'm torn. But I think. I think I know what I'm gonna do, and it is what it is. Give me Al Horford. I'm taking. All right. Taking Big Al. Al's my guy, so Al Horford. I'm taking him. He's gonna round out my front court here where at least preliminarily, see what. See what breaks here in these next couple of rounds here. Looks like Antoine KG and Al H. Horford is going to be my front court. Pretty excited about that. There's a few other ways that. That I could have gone here, but there's more decisions to be made. There's more game to be played. Greg, let's head to the 1819 season and see what you got.
- [65:44]
Greg
Okay, so we lose in five games to the Bucks this season. I do have Horford written down as the pick I thought I was going to take at this point, but you just took them off the board in the draft. We grab Lob Williams, some other fun names from this team. Team Brad Wanamaker, PJ Dozier, and old friend Semi Ojale. So I feel pretty lucky, man. I think my. My gambit worked out, and I'm gonna be able to get Jalen Brown year three here. And, yeah, I'm gonna go Jalen Brown year three. I know I'm passing up on Tatum year two, but I'm gonna go Jalen Brown year three, and I feel good about it. Jalen's my guy. I gotta have him on my team.
- [66:23]
Will
That's what I'm saying. That's your. Al's my guy. Jalen's your guy. Like, it. It all makes sense. And, you know, Jaylen, Year three is when you start to see kind of the. The tea leaves, right? Especially when everything starts to. To break down a little bit, right? And it's becoming, you know, would you trade Jaylen Brown and, you know, somebody else to get Kawhi or whatever, or, you know, like, there's. There's some of that talk going around Jimmy Butler, and it's like you're starting to get the tip of the iceberg with Jaylen, where you're like, there's more than what we're getting right now. But this team was just such a disaster that. That it was hard to get the full picture. Obviously, I think probably the most disappointing team from an expectation standpoint out of this entire exercise is that team right there. But that brings us to the 2019, 20 Covid season. And so let's bring this up here. Celtics go 48 and 24. Finished third in the NBA Eastern Conference. They win the first round against the 76ers. Sweep them out of the bubble. This is of course Al Horford on the 76ers now at this point, sweep them out of the bubble. Then a pretty memorable but unfortunately forgettable series against the Raptors because of it being in the ball. But a really entertaining seven game series against the Raptors, who this was right after their championship run. So no Kawhi Leonardo there, but they had Lowry with Og and Pascal Siakam, Fred Van Bleed, a host of other guys. Chris Boucher now on the, now on the Celtics was on that team as well. Well, Celtics squeak by in a pretty fun seven game series. And this is where we started to get our hopes really up. We're like, oh my God, we're gonna go to the NBA finals this early with this team. Look at all this revamp, change and then the heat. And this is Jimmy Butler at Jimmy's peak. The block that Bam Adebayo had on Jason Tatum will be imprinted in my mind. I think Maybe other than LeBron's chase down, maybe the greatest and maybe the greatest defensive play I've seen in the playoffs. Like it looked like he broke his wrist on that play. Like it's pretty crazy great. Still incredible that he was able to make that. But this is year three, Greg. It's year three of Jason Tatum. I just, I mean, Kemba Walker, you could consider, consider him at this time. This was Kemba's best season as a, as a Celtic. He was actually pretty electric in that first half of the season before all the knee injuries and then just completely.
- [68:32]
Greg
Well, do you remember the, the Raptors when they were covering him, they, their whole game plan was just like, take Kemba Walker out of the series in, in the bubble double and make the other guys beat us. And that's what they did and the other guys had to step up.
- [68:43]
Will
Yep, 100. And so I, I would love to talk more about Kemba, but it's going to be Jason Tatum. This is year three Tatum. He finishes 12th in MVP. He's an all star. He makes the third team all NBA. It's definitely not his peak. We know where that is coming. But he's not going to be available if I pass on him now. So 23.4 points per game, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.4 steals, and a block. It's just a no doubt slam dunk. Give me Jason Tatum. Not in my wildest dreams when I was prepping for this, that I think Jason Tatum was gonna make it to me. But sometimes, my friend, that's just how the cookie crumbles going on to the 2021 season. Greg, what do you got for us?
- [69:24]
Greg
Okay, so this is a very disappointing year. Jalen Brown ends up getting hurt going into the playoffs. The Celtics end up in the playing game. I think it was the inaugural playing game, or maybe no, the year after, because they did the playing game in the bub.
- [69:38]
Will
Right?
- [69:38]
Greg
Is that when it started?
- [69:39]
Will
No, no, this was the inaugural. Inaugural one where JT dropped 50 in the first ever playing game.
- [69:44]
Greg
Okay. Yep. So JT drops 50 against his buddy, Bradley Beal. They end up losing in five game to the Nets. But Tatum, like, really balls out. You know Tatum, this is an all star season for him. I think this is his first all star season. 26 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal. Jaylen Brown also makes all star team, averaging 20, 24 points in this one. I'm gonna go with. Let's see. Probably Kemba Walker here. Although this is like kind of the beginning of the end for Kemba in the NBA, he still averaged 19 points this season. So I'm gonna grab Kemba here. He played 32 minutes per game. You know the other guys that are available, Evan Fournier, Daniel Tice, it's about it, man.
- [70:34]
Will
No Lob Williams. I know it's. It's a year before. He's probably at 13 games. Yeah, that's a little tough. That's. That's starting.
- [70:41]
Greg
I'm sorry. Sorry. Started 13 games, he played 50.
- [70:44]
Will
Okay. Games. Apologies. I mean, Tremont Waters, that's your boy. He's on this team.
- [70:50]
Greg
Imagine if I picked Tremont over Kemba.
- [70:52]
Will
I mean, you could. You could. It's your team.
- [70:54]
Greg
You can do what you want.
- [70:55]
Will
But okay, Kemba Walker, there's the pick there. I mean, honestly, at this point, he's going to be on your bench. So it's a quality player that you got coming off your bench there. Let's keep it moving here. We'll go to the 21, 22 season here for the Celtics. This is the loan season with Ime Udoka as the head coach. They go 51 and 31, finished second in the Eastern Conference. We know how this one goes. They sweep the Brooklyn Nets, the KD and Kyrie Irving led Brooklyn Nets 4 0. That dramatic game one winner with JT at the led, layup at the buzzer. We got second round against Giannis. One of the most memorable series the Celtics have had in recent memory. Of course, the Jason Tatum Big 46 point game on the road and then a seven game series against the Miami Heat. That was. Man, I still, still can't believe they won. They got away in that fourth quarter, really thought that was gonna, gonna be slipped away, slipped through their fingers. Ultimately they win the Eastern Conference, end up in the NBA Finals, lose to the Golden State warriors four games to two. A series where as they've talked about, about just weren't ready for what the NBA Finals brings. And one of the few times where I think we were the, the more talented team, I think definitively actually lost that series. But it was just the championship moxie actually mattered in that particular scenario. And so on this team here. Greg, I think there's only one place that I'm, that I'm gonna go here. Well, there could be a few places that I go, but I have no choice. Again, one of my guys here that I've got to, to put on the squad here as now Jalen Brown's out, out of the picture. Al Horford's out of the picture. I already got him. JT's off the board here. There's no doubt about it. Mid season pickup here. Give me Derek White. Derek White's coming on the team. Yeah, this is his first year. Mid season pickup. He's available. I've got to add him into the squad and he's looking like he's probably going to be my sixth man on this team or no. We got a few different ways that we could play it here where we might squeeze him in into the starting lineup, but he's going to be, going to be a big contributor for this team. I said Delonte west was, you know, kind of Derrick White before Derrick White. Well, you know what got both of them now feeling real good about that backcourt, the create the creation from that backcourt. Yeah, a little suspect but, but we're feeling pretty good about that backcourt overall.
- [73:07]
Greg
Oh man, that's a, that's a great pick. I kind of forgot that that was one of the story lines that we traded for in that season. Okay, let's go to the next season. 22, 23 Celtics go 57, 25 under Joe Missoula. His first year finished second in the Eastern Conference. We lose in that series against the Heat where we go down 03 and make the comeback. And then Tatum sprains his ankle. That's the Derrick White layup series. Looking at this roster, you know, you got Malcolm Brogdon, six man of the year. You got Rob Williams, Peyton Pritchard. So I think this is probably the best Rob Williams that we see. So I'm gonna go with. I think this is Rob's best season. No, the. The season before on the eme was his best season. So Rob might just not get picked here. Man, I'm gonna go Malcolm Brogdon, six man of the year.
- [74:01]
Will
You go Malcolm Brogdon. Okay, I. I think that's an interesting. Blake Griffin on the table as well. I don't know if you want to go for.
- [74:07]
Greg
Or Grant Williams. Yeah. Rob plays 35 games a season, is hurt like the previous season. He's like, in the defensive player of the year conversation. Right. And all that. But this is not the best year for Rob. It feels wrong that I'm taking Malcolm Brogdon over Rob Williams. So I'm going to change my mind, and I'm gonna call it Robert Williams.
- [74:28]
Will
All right. I like it. Going with. With Rob Williams as the pick. And let me ask you this. Great. Because this is your last pick here. Who would you go with as a. A starter in your front court right now? I have Paul Pierce and Jalen Brown written down as two out of the three. The other options that you would have are Walter McCarty, Al Jefferson, Big Baby Davis, Brandon Bass, and Rob Williams. Who would you round that out as the starter?
- [74:57]
Greg
I'd probably go with Big Al. I'm gonna go Big Al at the center. Pierce, Jalen, it. And Tony Allen. I think that would be my five.
- [75:08]
Will
Yep. I think that's the. I think that's the. The correct pick here. And then that finally brings us to the 2324 team, which, you know, obviously, so. So I guess. I guess we're one team. Are we one team short? Now that I'm thinking about it, yeah.
- [75:24]
Greg
But we can skip last season. Last season sucked.
- [75:26]
Will
Yeah, last season. This last season. So we'll end this here at the 23, 24 team. And of course, this is where the Celtics are bringing in Drew Holiday, bringing in Chris Daps for Zingis. As I look at my roster here, know all about this team. We know exactly where this team ends up. They go 64 and 18, they win the NBA championship. We've spent a lot of time on that team and rightfully deserves. So I'm not trying to be smirch them in any way. Obviously a great, fantastic team. It comes down to, do I want to go with Drew Holiday or do I want to go with Chris Daps? Poor Zingis here. Greg, I tell you, my team is stacked when I'm looking.
- [76:01]
Greg
You got a good team now.
- [76:02]
Will
My team is load. And some of that's just, you know, it broke the way it did with the different years. I'll go. I'll go. Chris Daps here only because I feel like I'm pretty good with my guards. I got a pretty big. I'm just going with a really big team here, and he's gonna come off my bench, I think, is what. I don't know. It doesn't matter. We'll put it out there in the. In into the universe and let people decide. But let me read the final rosters of what we got here. You ready, Greg?
- [76:26]
Greg
Yep, I'm ready.
- [76:27]
Will
All right, so here's what we've got for you, Greg, and here's what I guessed as your starting lineup. I'll allow for you to edit this afterwards. And we're gonna have Alex put this in a graphic and put it out there for everybody but Greg. Greg, your quarter century starting lineup for the Boston Celtics, we've got Isaiah Thomas, Ray Allen at the guard spots and in the front court, we've got Paul Pierce, Jalen Brown, and Al Jefferson. Coming off the bench, we've got Marcus Smart, Tony Allen, Walter McCarty, Big Baby Davis, Brandon Bass, Kimba Walker, and Rob aka Lob Williams. How do you feel about that team?
- [77:00]
Greg
Like that team. I forgot I had Ray Allen. That's great. So I, I really like my starting line lineup.
- [77:07]
Will
Get my team here. I'm gonna have to move some things around. This will probably not be the. The final starting lineup. I think I'm probably going to end up moving Antoine to the bench. But here is my all sentry Celtics team. We've got Ran Rondo and Jason Tatum, followed by Antoine Walker, Kevin Garnett, now Horford on the bench. Tentatively. Right now we're going to move some things around here. We've got Avery Bradley, Delonte West, Evan Turner, Jared Sellinger, Mark Blunt. Blunt, Derrick White, and Chris Daps Porzingis.
- [77:36]
Greg
I feel like we have to include Drew as just like the. The automatic QB or something. Just so we do 25, and Drew's like such a big part of. Of the Celtics. Like this last championship doesn't happen without Drew Holiday. So Drew Holiday is Auto Q.
- [77:50]
Will
He's. He's Auto Q and he's honorary captain at this game. Right. We got to have Drew Holiday involved, but fun game, Greg. Really enjoyed this, being able to look back on everything. We're going to put this up for people to look at on socials. We're gonna have Alex chop this up so we can take two teams. Let us know your thoughts. What did you guys think? What do we get right? What do we miss? Who should we have drafted? Who did we not draft? Let us know all of these different things and make sure you're hitting us up across social medias at Green Envy Pod, Tick Tock, Instagram, hit us up on YouTube. This video will be live here shortly. Greg, fun time went a little long, but I think when you're having fun, that's, you know, hopefully this took your mind off what you're going through right now with your own situation.
- [78:28]
Greg
Yeah, I can't believe I made it through.
- [78:30]
Will
Hey, that's the goal. Shout out to you. Good job by you. Good job by me. Everybody enjoy the rest of your day, the rest of your week. And coming up soon, we'll have real content, real basketball to talk about. So stay, stick in there. We'll be back soon. Training camp starts in just a couple of weeks. Let's go, Celtics. Talk to you guys later. It don't take much no more until I hit the floor Every time I hit this high it's you I find it don't take much no more until I'm at your dark. Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change your receipt did the sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.
- [79:35]
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