← Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
EMERGENCY POD! Celtics Trade Simons for Vucevic + Cooper Flagg's First Game vs Boston, James Harden to the Cavs and other NBA Trade News
00:46:36
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- [00:01]
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- [01:01]
Will
This is Mike Gorman and you're listening to Green with Envy with Will and Greg. All right, everybody. Emergency podcast post game. I don't know which one it is. A little bit of both here, but we've got some news that sent us, you know, to the podcast studio. We had to give you guys another podcast today here on a Tuesday night, the Celtics got busy in the trade game. Anthony Simons out, Nicole Vucevic in like three or four other trades around the NBA go down today. And of course, on top of all that, Cooper flag plays his first ever NBA game against Boston Celtics. So we had to fire up the pods here a little bit early this week. But let's get into it. It's Green with Envy. You guys know the deal. Let's lock in. I wish that they never seen. What up, what up, what up? Welcome into another edition of Green with Envy. A Green with Envy post game live slash emergency podcast edition. Lots of news dropping today in the Celtic world. We got trades. We've got head to head matchups between a current superstar and a future superstar. So there's a lot for us to talk about. And as always, this is your boy, Will. Weird. Join. I can't. There's so much going on. Greg, I messed up the intro.
- [02:29]
Greg Monakis
That's the first time I think you've ever messed up the intro.
- [02:32]
Will
I. I really think it is. There's that much going on. But this is your boy, Will. We're checking in. How you doing? How you living back and 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 Monakis. Greg, on a night when you get Cooper flag versus Jalen Brown, that feels like that should be the lead story, but it's just not right now. It's not.
- [02:52]
Greg Monakis
Yeah. So the Celtics make a big trade today. For those of you that have been living under a rock, we sent out Anthony Simons and a second round pick and we got back Nicola Vucevic, who has long been rum to be, you know, an apple of the Celtics eye for the past like six, seven years dating back to his time on the Magic. He's now in Boston. Right. Vuch. Here's a stat from Dick Light. NBA players this season with 400 plus rebounds and 80 plus three pointers. Nicole Vuchevic. That's it. So you know what you're getting out of boots, you're getting defensive rebounding, you are getting a floor stretching big. So kind of filling in that Chris Stabs Al Horford role. Even though Luca Garza looked pretty good and he was like, don't take my minutes just yet.
- [03:39]
Will
I was thinking that tonight I was like, Lucas saw the news and was like, okay, I gotta step my game. I gotta get my Nicola Vucevich on tonight. And we'll talk about that game a little bit later. But certainly did a great impression of it. But yeah, I mean this is something we've been talking about basically all season, right. Like is because Simons has always been the most likely guy to be moved. And to be fair, Brian Rob reported that potentially Stevens might not be done. So Vucevich to the Celtics for now, that's all we know. Right. Still about a day and a half left here as we're recording this Tuesday night here about 9:30pm Central Time. And so, you know, this is the move that we've kind of circled around in some various form. We've talked about the Candace, we haven't really talked actually too much about Vusovich. He's come up in passing. We were more focused on the Zubaches. Daniel Gaffer, who the Celtics played tonight, you know, a few other names and Vuch was a. That hadn't really come up too much. But to your point, Greg, you talking about the past flirtations that the Celtics have had around Vucevich made me think of like it was kind of like that Marcus Smart like for Vucevich type deal back in the day. This is like Orlando version of Vucevich before he goes to Chicago. And so it's interesting that this is where the Celtics fall. And of course about a week or two ago there was a report that we talked about where this trade had already been proposed. But in that proposal, the Bulls were looking for a first round pick from the Celtics and we both immediately were like, correct call. Do not trade a first round pick for Vucevic. Now in this, you even it out. You swap seconds. Yes, I know some people are going to gripe that second that's coming from the Celtics. It's close to a first round pick. It's going to be somewhere in the first, you know, 31 to 33 range because it's the best of like five different teams that are likely going to be the Pelicans. And then the Celtics get back a Nuggets pick which is probably going to be 15, 16 slots later. End of the day, second picks are second round picks. Was such a crapshoot. I'm really not super, you know, worried about that part is what it is. I get ends up being Vucevich for Simons, basically straight up two expiring contracts. And I think it's pretty interesting. I think there's a couple different ways to look at it. But Greg, we've been texting about it, but let's get the thoughts out here for everybody. So it's out in the open, your initial thoughts and then your thoughts now as we've had, you know, five, six hours here to digest this.
- [06:01]
Greg Monakis
So let's just talk about the, the real reason the Celtics did this deal. It has everything to do with money, right? So trading Simons and his 27.7 million dollar salary, you are trading that for 21.5 million from Vuch. So that gets the Celtics under the first apron and it puts them about $6 million away from getting under the luxury tax. So if you think about it from a financial perspective, and the Celtics had a projected salary plus tax bill of in almost, you know, half a billion dollars in the summertime. And now that tax bill is cut pretty much in half.
- [06:40]
Will
Can I jump in with a quick stat on that, on that part? I took a screenshot of this earlier because I was like, I have to bring this up because like, honestly guys, we understand the financials. The first second apron, the third apron, whatever's going on in the kitchen, it's boring as we get it. It's not. We'd rather just talk about what does this all mean bas wise. But that's just not giving you the full context. But to the point that you just made. Greg, I saw this earlier tonight online. Shout out to Celtics muse here. Celtics salary and luxury tax on June 15 was 540 million as of February 2, 2026, or February 3, 2026. 211 million. That's. Listen, I know that's boring to talk about. That's incredible cap work by Brad Stevens.
- [07:23]
Greg Monakis
All the cap nerds are throwing Brad Stevens a party ton.
- [07:27]
Will
Massive boners for the captain.
- [07:29]
Greg Monakis
Yeah, huge, Huge. Huge cap owners tonight. But I, I just think that's the reason the Celtics did this deal and for them to get under the tax, 6 million away. Chris Boucher was out for personal reasons tonight, which is code for they're probably trading him. He makes about $3.3 million. That gets them $3 million away. And if you somehow flip Vuch for somebody else that's making 14 million, say Bobby Portis or somebody like that, that's out there. Now the Celtics are under. I think Vuch probably finishes the season with the Celtics, though. And my initial thought, back to your question. My initial thought was, I don't like the trade. I was really enjoying what I was seeing out of Simons. It made me feel like we weren't going to see Tatum until Peyton Pritchard came off the bench tonight. And I was like, there's no reason Peyton Pritchard comes off the bench tonight unless that is a signal Jason Tatum is coming back this season. So now that I've had time to process it, where if you get Vuch plus Jason Tatum back with Pritchard coming off the bench again, I'm starting to talk myself into a pretty deep playoff front.
- [08:38]
Will
Coming around, coming around full circle. This is why I wanted the, the full spectrum of it. So the only thing that you said that I would push back on a little bit. You're 100, right? There's a financial component to this that is potentially the major part of this. Right. Like, if we're doing a whole scale of it, it could be 80 of this. Right. I won't deny that. I don't know. And we'll see over the next couple of days and whether or not tat comes back, that will tell us, you know, kind of where it falls. But I do think from just a straight up on court perspective, like, I, I do think there's that element to it as well. Like the front court has been an area that even though it's performed much better, as we just mentioned, Luca Garza had a, had a Nicole Avuchovic audition impression that he did tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. And Kate has been, you know, just phenomenal.
- [09:21]
Greg Monakis
Right.
- [09:21]
Will
I think that's something we can debate is whether Vucevic or Kate is going to start. I think that'll be an interesting question that we see over the next, you know, week or two as if Vucovic is still in Boston and we can talk more about that.
- [09:32]
Greg Monakis
He won't stop and answer that question now, but keep going.
- [09:35]
Will
Yeah, no, I think I probably agree with you, but I think, I think it's at least something worth debating. But, you know, when you look at this team, we knew that there needed to be an upgrade, right? And so maybe, you know, and this is something that watched the game tonight, I was like, you know, maybe actually Vusovich isn't that much of an upgrade over Luca watching that game tonight. But. But what I think it does do is it's a great hedge, right? Because if Tatum doesn't come back, Vucovic in Simon's out Celtics are just still a flawed team that are probably going to be frisky and you know, it's going to be a fun, fun playoff run, maybe slightly less fun with just watching Simons vs. Vucovic from, from that standpoint, but it's still a flawed team that's probably not going to win a championship. So end of the day, you do all the savings turn into a tpe, which was something we haven't mentioned, by the way. They did it with a tpe, so now they're going to have this massive TP work with for the next year. That's a very big point of it and you're kind of in the same place. However, the flip side of that, Vucc isn't changing your world. But now when you have Kada, Garza and Vucovic, you just have more optionality and versatility in the front court. And that's of course, if it's combined with Jason Tatum coming back, who gives you more small ball, 5 options gives you options to go big. And with Vuch V's ability to shoot, you theoretically could have a lineup where you go really big and you have like a tatum at the 3, a Vuch at the 4 and a K at the 5. 5. Like there's more options to work with. And what you're losing with Simons, he was never really a ball handler. So Tatum coming back is going to be the other ball handler that you're looking for. And there might be some buyout guys that we can that maybe come up in the next, you know, couple of weeks or so that could be fringe, you know, participants in the playoffs. And then Tatum's obviously going to give you a lot all or more of that scoring that you're losing from Anthony Simons. So I think that's what it comes down to is if Tatum comes back now you just have. I, I think for me it's pretty cut and dry that I think you have a better roster and versatility with Vuch vs Simons if Tatum comes back and no other moves are made at this point. Yeah.
- [11:36]
Greg Monakis
And I think anytime you can size up, you want to size up. Just in general with Simons, the, the limiting factor was the, the puniness of the lineups with Peyton Pritchard, Andrew Simons, Derrick White, like we were just going to be a really small team and now when you think about the, the lineup that we're probably going to put out there, Peyton Pritchard goes back to the bench and he's going to assume all the Anthony Simons shots and minutes and everything like that. Right. So we're not losing anything there because Peyton Pritchard is going to take all that and maybe do more with it there. You keep Keda as a starting center. That would be my preference. Vuch comes off the bench in the initial Luca Garza minutes and maybe he's the third big for a while as he gets up to speed with all the schemes and everything. Not to mess up chemistry and all that. Right. But you think about the starting lineup that they put out there tonight with Baylor Shireman in the place of Peyton Pritchard in the place of Jason Tatum. You just put Jason Tatum in there in the Baylor Shireman spot. The Celtics go Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, Sam Houser, Kada, right. Sam Houser's big guy. Jason Tatum's a big guy. Jaylen Brown's a big guy. Nemus K is 7ft. Derrick White is as a point guard, one of the bigger point guards that you'll see out there.
- [12:52]
Will
He's our shot blocker. He's the shot blocker of the lineup. He's your point guard.
- [12:55]
Greg Monakis
Right. So there's just so much size, so much versatility with that starting five, like, that's a championship starting five. If Keda continues to progress and I'm, I'm putting in another like 5% growth out of Cata for the rest of the year. Because I love everything that Neemi's doing is the motor that he's playing with the, the touch around the basket, the shot blocking, everything. You see him versus Gafford tonight and you're like, I'm like, we have the best bargain big in the, in the game right now. Like, Kate is making two and a half million Dollars like Gafford's making. You know, what's he making?
- [13:30]
Will
Like 13 or 17? Something like that?
- [13:31]
Greg Monakis
Something like that. Like, I would have Neemi at that, at that money over pretty much any center. That's not like Jokic.
- [13:39]
Will
Yeah, no, no. I mean, the value, I forget there was something going around the other day where there's some new application or website out there that's like showing you the actual contract value or there's some algorithm and it was like Mimi making two equivalent of like 28 million dollar production or something like that. So, I mean, take it with a grain of salt. But still, you know, seeing that is. Is impressive. And watching Kada vs Gaffer tonight, it was like, man, there's a pretty big gap in what these guys are making, but not really in production. I like Gaffer. I think Gafford's solid. I mean, that was always kind of my case for if Gafford was one of the guys that the Celtics traded for. Is cool. Let's just have Neemi for 48 minutes. Just two versions of Nemi out there. Like, that doesn't sound horrible. Like, I like, I get it. It's not that, that different, but it's just getting you what you need. And so something else with Vucevich that I think is important here is again, to your point, we'll see how Joe staggers the minutes. And I think when I, when I think about, you know, with like Luca Garza, like Mimi's just kind of where he's at. Like, I'm just neemi. 20 plus minutes up, 20 up, 20 plus minutes up to 30 minutes is kind of like the, the range of where you're gonna get from Neemi, and I think that's good for almost every matchup every single night. Like, that's just where I feel about Nemi right now with Garza, like tonight you got 20 minutes. I think there's some games that we're gonna see where it's like, yeah, you can get like five minutes out of Garza and I don't think you're going to be able to scale Garza up too much. Whereas Vuchevic, you're probably going to have certain nights where he can get you 30 minutes. Like he's averaging 30 minutes playing in Chicago right now. He's gonna have a very different role right now with this, with, with the Celtics. But I think there's going to be certain nights where his threes are hitting where, you know, the. You saw some of the ball movement was really great tonight. Like Vuch is going to add to the ball. Butch is a smart passer. Like, he's going to be able to give you a lot of additive things from rebounding. So there's going to be nights where he's gonna just have to, you know, be cool with riding the bench because Joe's not going to play around. If the defense isn't there and it's not working, Joe's just not gonna play it. Yeah, but there is going to be nights where I think Vuch is hitting and it's like, cool. Butch is getting 30 tonight. Mimi's getting the other 18 or, you know, whatever, we'll make it work. Math, 20, whatever minutes. Whereas Garza's like, there's never going to be really a night where it's like, like, this is a 30 minute Luca Garza night. Like, I just think that's going to be too much. Right. But so now you just have more optionality and versatility. So from that standpoint, I, I just think it makes a lot of sense. And again, if Tatum doesn't come back, you're still just a faulty team. That's really fun, really scrappy. Gonna make some noise, but I just think it's worth it so much for everything else that it comes with. It's just, it's hard to see where there's a lot of downside in this move. By. By Brad Steve Stevens.
- [16:09]
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- [16:33]
Greg Monakis
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- [16:34]
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- [17:10]
Greg Monakis
Yeah, that's fair. I'm definitely coming around to it. I. I just really wanted to see Simons play with Tatum that Was my thing all year is I just wanted to see it for a sample size. I was actually listening to Corrales today because he dropped an emergency pod and I hadn't listened to his pod in a while. And he was saying that he was thinking Simons and the open market is going to get about $15 million. He doesn't think he's going to get much more than that. So, like, if the Celtics felt like maybe it was beyond 15 million, which would be a steal to. For Anthony Simons, right?
- [17:42]
Will
Yeah. It's a good deal.
- [17:44]
Greg Monakis
If he could come back to the Celtics at $15 million. It's, it's. It's still there, right? So, like, we miss out on Simons for the rest of this season. But that's not to say that the Celtics didn't see enough out of Simons to see if he would be open to reunion in the off season. Right. Vuch his. He's an unrestricted free agent, right? That's another thing. He's at 21.5. Maybe he looks at this as an opportunity where he could come back to the Celtics for the twilight of his career at seven or eight million dollars a year right now, Vuchevic at seven or eight million dollars a year, I like it a lot more than Bucchevich at 21 and a half. Right? But, you know, go the. The one thing that, like, I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around is player for player going from Drew Holiday to Vuchevic. If you just think of it as like a straight up talent trade, I just can't compute. But then when you look at the contracts, it's like, oh, yeah, we don't have to pay that, like, 38 million dollar number, whatever crazy number Drew was making for the next couple of years, right? So it's, it's pretty amazing cap work. The TPE stuff is huge as well. So with a traded player exception, the Celtics now have a Anthony Simon size traded player exception that they can use in at any point up until next trade deadline. And they can also break that up into multiple pieces, right? So if they wanted to get a guy that was 8 million, you could slide that 8 million into the Simons TPE and you still have, you know, 19 million to work with. So there are ways. You don't have to take on a $27.2 million guy. You could take on bits and pieces of that. Or you now leave yourself available for being a facilitator. And if you can be a facilitator now, people are throwing pics at you to be a facilitator and you start to like rebuild that asset pool.
- [19:29]
Will
Yeah. And one thing we know from Brad, he doesn't let assets go unused. So that will get used in some capacity over the next year. What that looks like, you know, we don't know. But interesting day.
- [19:40]
Greg Monakis
We.
- [19:41]
Will
We said what two days ago that we were banking on, we were bad. Not banking on, but betting on, you know, Anthony Simons probably not being moved, price drop. Things change. And at the end of the day, like, I think this is a pretty, a pretty good move. Again, great hedge. I don't think I'm doing backflips over the moon for Nicola Vusovic. I don't think it changes a lot the trajectory of this team. Jason Tatum coming back or not is what changes the trajectory of this team. So that's what we will have to wait on and see where that lands. But Greg, on this Jason Tatum question, you know, you said the. Really the first thing that started turning your mind around about what this might mean for Jason Tatum coming back, which of course got some kind of mixed signals over the last couple of weeks or so here. Not even weeks, last couple of days or so is Peyton Pritchard coming off the bat. Just so let's jump into a little bit here. We'll go back and hit some of the other NBA trades that happen here because I want to just bounce around and get our quick thoughts on some of those other trades. But you know, Cooper flag, big deal when the Celtics play him for the first time, when he plays the Celtics for the first time. But Peyton Pritchard goes off the bench for the first time all season. And let's just say he responds. 26 points, 1220 from the field, 7 assists, 4 rebounds. And I'm curious to just get your thoughts about Peyton going back to that role. I know we had talked a little bit about he's earned that starting role, but this might be one of the things just better for the team. So curious as to your thoughts from tonight. Just seeing Peyton back in his sixth man of the year role.
- [21:07]
Greg Monakis
Well, what was interesting to me, I, I caught the last 10 minutes of the pregame show and they were talking about the starting lineup at the end and they were like, is this a misprint? Like, Forsberg was confused. He was like, is, is Payton Pritchard really not starting in this game?
- [21:20]
Will
Baylor shire I turned on the game late. I was very confused. I was, I, I was like, did I miss Peyton Pritchards out tonight? Does he get like an ankle thing.
- [21:27]
Greg Monakis
Like, yeah, my bro Pritchard, like, violate a team rule. I was like, Peyton Pritchard's the last guy that's gonna violate a game rule. Like, Peyton Pritchard sets the team roles for everyone else to follow. And then I. All I could think about was, this has to mean Jason Tatum is coming back, right? Like, there's no other reason Peyton Pritchard to come off the bench unless it means Jason Tatum is coming back this season. So I went from at the beginning of the day being like, ah, Jason Tatum's probably not coming back. This was a cap move. Like, this is just to, to, to, you know, get us through the rest of the season with another big man and save us some money. To seeing Pritchard come off the bench and being like, oh, my God, is Jason Tatum, like, coming back next week? Like, that's what I started to think about. And he was great off the bench. He was on fire. He came in. It looked like he was back in, in the role he was born to play. Six man.
- [22:15]
Will
Another buzzer beater. Buzzer beater again, man. Doing his best. Three games.
- [22:19]
Greg Monakis
Doing his best Caitlin Clark impression. Shout out Reggie Miller on the, on the call. I, I love how Eagle tried to try to bait Reg talking about it, and Reggie just like, didn't even exist.
- [22:31]
Will
I know what you're doing. I know what you're doing.
- [22:32]
Greg Monakis
I'm not gonna do it, not gonna take the date. But Pritchard was great, man. And like I said a couple minutes ago, if this is. If Peyton Pritchard just goes full dynamo and takes all the confidence he gained from 50 games as a starting point guard, and now he's just bringing that into the six man role like the Celtics win there. Because what I've been saying all year is too many guys are punching above their weight, right? Their cruiserweights fighting in heavyweight divisions. Peyton Pritchard probably best served as a six man versus starting point guard. Derrick White best served as the number three or number four guy. Jalen Brown has proven everybody wrong. He is a heavyweight right now. You're getting Jason Tatum back, and I just can't wait to see the finished product of this team. If Jason Tatum comes back and is able to play at even 85% of who he was last year.
- [23:22]
Will
It's so exciting to think about Jason Tatum coming back that it's like I have to reign myself in a little bit. It. Because, like, it just to your point, like, everything feels like it kind of fits more into place, but only if that happens. If it doesn't, everyone is still kind of hitting above their weight class. And, you know, you think about all the confidence Peyton Pritchard has gained this season being a starter, and obviously, you know, it was nice to see that for some guys, like, mentally, it can be a little bit of a hurdle. Like, I'm a starter. I'm a starter. What do you mean? I'm a. You know, I'm going back to the bench here and, like, you gotta think about it. Like Kevin McHale, Mano Genoba. These are hall of Famers that. That won multiple six mans of the year that came off the bench. And, like, that's the kind of mindset that you need. And for Peyton Pritchard, like, now going from every single night playing the starters to running with those second units more consistently, again, like, you have to think for him, it's like, you know, barbecue chicken to a certain degree. When he sees. When he's gonna get to see some of these lineups and be like, oh, word. I don't have, like, you know, a star Thompson out here every single time that I'm playing, right? Like, I have, like, some of the backups that are out here that I can kind of go at. And, you know, tonight, obviously, Pritchard took advantage of it still. And this is the thing, he plays 34 minutes. Like, I don't think his minute distribution is really going to change all that much. You know, when Tatum comes back, we'll see everyone, minus probably Derrick White and Jalen Brown, is going to see some form of a shift in their. In their playing time, just with the minutes that need to. To go to Tatum. But that will take time to ramp up. But Bridget's still going to see considerable minutes, and so it's nice to see him just. Just very kind of seamlessly flow back into that role tonight. And him and Luca Garza, you know, we talked about. We've mentioned this. We haven't kind of talked about it directly, but Luca cars at 20 minutes tonight. 16 points off the bench, four or four from three. So Vucevich coming in to, you know, potentially knock down a bunch of threes. Luca Garza was like, hey, remember, remember me, the guy who's shooting like 45? Like, I can. I can do.
- [25:21]
Greg Monakis
That thing looked good tonight, man. That thing looked good coming out.
- [25:24]
Will
He didn't touch the rim tonight.
- [25:25]
Greg Monakis
Yeah, he. He looks good, man. Luca Garza is the guy that I think I've done the biggest 180 on this season. I think for a lot of people, it was Simons. I did a big 180 on Simons as well. But I think even with Luca Garza, I'm like, okay, like, Luca, you really proved that you're an NBA player. I did not think you were an NBA player at the beginning of the season and you proved me wrong. So excited about that. Excited to see Luca ball out. I do want to talk about Jalen Brown though, because he was named Eastern Conference, which I think is great stuff right there. You see that on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. Jalen Brown, after getting snubbed for player of the month in December, has ostensibly a worse month in January. Like he was not as good as he was in December and he wins and he wins it this month. So that just speaks to the consistency that we've seen out of jalen averaging like 29, 7 and 4 in. In the month of January, to be fair.
- [26:19]
Will
Still a great month, but just. Yeah, not. Not as quite as to the other level of that his. His December was.
- [26:25]
Greg Monakis
But I will say he got off to a hell of a start. Jaylen Brown's all about the energy shifting, man. He shifted into not a higher gear, almost a lower gear tonight where he played with that really controlled pace and just got wherever he wanted on the court. When you see him first play of the game, picking Cooper flags pocket and going for a breakaway dunk. And then the rest of the game he was just like, I got this, like, I'm the best player on this court. I proved it in, in the first play of the game and I'm gonna prove it for the rest of the game as well. And nobody could stop him. He was hit thing. He wanted all three levels of the court and he played great defense as well. Finished with a 30, 30 point double double out of Jalen Brown.
- [27:04]
Will
Yeah, 33 points, 11 rebounds, 15 of 29, only two free throws. So I see Jaylen Brown's gonna have probably some thoughts about that on his. On his stream later. But I, I think this was really just bookended by Jaylen Brown to your point, cooking to start the game. And then in that fourth quarter, I mean the Celtics were up by nearly 20 points, but. Or maybe even a little over 20 points. Cooper flag kind of got really cooking in that. In that. And I think that's. Mavericks might have got it down to I think maybe 10 or 10 or 11 was the closest they got it to. And then Jalen should like a quick 8, 0 run. Like, nah, I'm gonna come in. I'm a pivot. I'm up fake. I'm gonna give you that. That one floater that he hit where the ball crazy was like above the, above the shot clock. Basically. That's, you know, that's, that's just one again. Once again, that's the evolution of Jalen Brown. Like I don't think we've seen that shot until this year, right? Just him having.
- [27:52]
Greg Monakis
He hit them with the Rondo at one point where he drove to the basket to go flying by. He. He was just playing that he didn't have before this season. A lot of what he was doing before this season was trying to dunk on people and, and going full speed ahead, being shot of a cannon, 13 points in the first quarter, doing stuff in transition. He just looks so poised now and his ability to run an offense in addition to all the other stuff he's able to do, you know, taking damn near 30 shots a game, like, it's pretty impressive. And it, and this was another thing I was thinking, Peyton Pritchard going to the bench, one bat signal out there, another tea leave. I'm reading. Jalen Brown was like, jason Tatum's coming back. I need to get my shots up because I'm not going to be able to get 30 shots a game anymore when Tatum comes back.
- [28:41]
Will
Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. Get it, get it in while you can right now because we're gonna have to distribute that a little bit here. But yeah, unreal game from. From Jalen 15 to 29. Like you said, 11 rebounds, 33 points. And ultimately it was kind of head to head, you know, for the most part with Cooper flag. Cooper Flag. Man, this guy's so good. He's so good. He's so composed. I do, man, 36 points, nine rebounds, six assists, plays 37 minutes. And I think probably most impressively is how much he has to handle the ball. And he had one turnover in this entire game. You know, this is three straight 30 point basically 30 point double doubles fell one rebound shy of that tonight. But you know, I was thinking about it, Greg, there's over the last, you know, 10, 12 years, you know, there's. There's probably a handful of rookies that I've just. The first time I see them play the Seltzer, I'm just like, this is just different, right? Like this just looks and feels a couple of guys that I know thinking in this tonight that stood out to me in case there's any other specifically rookies that you watch the first time versus Celtics that stick out. Kyrie Irving's one of them. I just remember watching him.
- [29:46]
Greg Monakis
That was just the first one, first one that popped in my head.
- [29:49]
Will
Yeah, that guy just like, yeah, we're up by like 20 but this dude is cooking like he is just killing everywhere. Kyrie was one, Luke is another one that sticks out out Cade Cunningham. I think Cade and Luca both kind of stood out to me for, for the same reasons. They both just had this control of them. I'm like they're not going to win this game. I don't think I have to look back to see who actually won these games. But I was like, they just feel like they're, they're the going at their speed, they're controlling the tempo. But like those three Cooper really stuck out. I thought I had one more in my head that I'm blanking on right now. But any, any other rookies that you can think of that the first time you really got a chance to watch them like in a full game versus the Celtics that you're just like, you know, yep, this, this is, this is one of them ones.
- [30:30]
Greg Monakis
You know, I, I, I have a hard time remembering the very first time I watched people against the Celtics early. Kyrie for sure. There's that one game where he, I think he was isoed against Avery Bradley on the right wing drives and like has a spin move with a little floater where I was just like damn. He did that on ab. Like if, if he's doing that on ab, he's going to be able to do that on anybody in the league. Devin Booker obviously, you know, know before he had that 70 point game against the Celtics, he was still, you know, cooking. Anytime I watch him play, he's another guy that stood out to me. Trying to think of any other people I think Luca obviously as you mentioned, I'd have to think a little bit more about. That's a really good question though. Maybe Dwight Howard.
- [31:17]
Will
That's another good one. Yeah, yeah. That's the thing. Sometimes it's just like the early impression. But yeah, it's just, just, just, it's, it's always guys that just feel so much more mature than, than what they should be when you have something that really stick out. And so Scotty Barnes, you know, I.
- [31:32]
Greg Monakis
Was a big Scotty Barnes fan.
- [31:33]
Will
You're too Giannis man. Never forget Year 2 Yanis rookie Scotty Barnes. But yeah, Cooper flag. Just a really impressive game. Can't wait to see him join the jays in 2030. Gonna be oh, let's do it. That's. We're just gonna keep rolling that TPE over until we can trade for Cooper. Flag directly in to the tp. All of here. Greg, on this podcast, Celtics weren't the only team getting busy today. So trade deadline is Thursday. It's Tuesday night here. A couple of big trades that went down today. I think the biggest one that probably, you know, affects the Celtics in, in one way or another when it comes to, to the playoffs is the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers. James Harden for Darius Garland and the second round pick. So essentially Harden for Garland straight up. Up. Let's start just from the Cavs perspective. They bring in James Harden. I'm going to be honest to you, to me, this just. It's not a panic move, but it kind of feels like a panic move.
- [32:31]
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- [32:55]
Greg Monakis
Arby's.
- [32:57]
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- [33:32]
Greg Monakis
It's just them giving up on the current iteration of the team. And I don't blame.
- [33:36]
Will
Correct. Yeah, Yeah.
- [33:39]
Greg Monakis
I don't know if Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroeder and James Harden are what the team needed, but that smells like a championship. I don't think it smells like a championship in Cleveland. I do think it makes them better, though. And one thing, Darius Garland, they could not count on him. He couldn't stay healthy and he was someone that they could be picked on to the point where it was like alarming for the, for the rest of the team where it was just like, man, he. It was like when we had Isaiah Thomas, right? He's just so small out there on the court with James Harden. You can exploit him on the perimeter. You can figure out ways to get him in isolation. He's not someone that you can just, like, back down into the post. Right. And if you have Jared Allen and Evan Mobley behind you, it's less of a problem if you get cracked off the dribble because you have such great rim protection. And then when you think about how great of a pick and roll player he is. Jared Allen and Evan Mobley have not realized whatever potential they have on the offensive side of the ball, James Harden is going to make them so much more efficient. And that's the thing that scares me about that team. It's not what James Harden himself will bring in terms of scoring or anything like that. It's what he could unlock for Evan Mobley and Jared Allen. So that's the thing that I'm. I'm most interested in watching their team to watch for the rest of the season. I still don't think they're a championship team, though.
- [35:03]
Will
Yeah, I'm with you. Just James adding James Harden, the later you go, it just feels like that's less and less of the. Of the final piece of a championship recipe.
- [35:11]
Greg Monakis
Right?
- [35:12]
Will
Like, it just. It just feels like we've just seen it too many times. I was also thinking just like, man, how. How weird is this LeBron era that we're. We're about to leave with all these stars who ended up having these superstars, these hall of Fame guys, is that end up just having these really weird, like, post 10, post year 10, 11 of their NBA career. The second half of their career is just this really weird journey. Whether it's James Harden or it's Durant or it's Westbrook. You know, even LeBron to a degree himself, where it seems like his relationship with the Lakers is about to end. He might end up back at Cleveland for a third time or something, right? Yeah, it's just these really weird stories or really weird paths you're gonna have to look back at, like, thinking about when. And you know, like, someone like your son James is like, maybe getting into, like, sports when. Or getting into, like, looking up stats. He's like 12, 13. He's like, so this guy was, like, really good, but he played on all these teams and like, every two years and, you know, like, I. But it seems like he just complained and quit every time and then went to a new team.
- [36:14]
Greg Monakis
The craziest thing about this Hardy situation is he requested the trade from the Clippers, who have been playing phenomenal basketball. They've been the Best team in basketball. And it's like you asked out of that situation. Is it that that much of a shitstorm behind the scenes with all the like, stuff going on with Kawhi and, and Balmer and all that?
- [36:33]
Will
I think he just wants to get paid and they weren't gonna pay him. Like, I think that's, I think that's honestly what it comes down to more. And that's another thing that I keep thinking about is like, because as he's coming up with Anthony Davis, who still has like two more years on his contract, and they're like, they're always looking at that next extension. I'm like, can, can these guys just play like, or can you as an owner, like, just grow a backbone and be like, listen, you're just gonna play it out and like, if you don't, we don't give you the extension. Like, who's gonna, who's gonna give you that money next if you don't play right now?
- [36:58]
Greg Monakis
Right.
- [36:59]
Will
You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, I don't understand why it's always get the extension. You gotta, you gotta blow it up. It's like, what was James Harden gonna do? Just not play? And then if he, because if James Harden at his age now, like, right. Like there's a certain age where you can pull that off as a player and be like, someone's still gonna give me three, four years and $180 million, whatever. Yeah, when you're 36 years old, 37 years old, and you just, just are like, nope, you guys are gonna give me extension, I'm out. I'm gonna ruin our playoff chances. Who's gonna jump in next year and be like, cool, two years, 100 million, let's ride with James Harden or two years, 80, you know, counterpoint, Counterpoint.
- [37:34]
Greg Monakis
Will the James Harden scholarship that's out there for all the hard working girls. Okay. Like, he has to put these girls through college. All right, well, so like he's gotta get money somewhere.
- [37:46]
Will
Cleveland State, baby. Cleveland State. I don't know, Akron State, whatever. They're, they're about to get, get their, their, their Scholars time tell you that much. And I don't think there's many, many strip clubs out there. So whichever ones are near the arena, you know, they're, they're, they're making prep work right now. They're working overtime tonight.
- [38:03]
Greg Monakis
Yeah. Let's talk about the trade that probably actually matters a little bit more. And may maybe not, but it's the Detroit Pistons making a big deal.
- [38:13]
Will
Yeah.
- [38:14]
Greg Monakis
So the Pistons give up on Jade and Ivy, which is probably the biggest line item here in terms of what's going out from the Pistons. But they get picked back Kevin Herder, Dario Sarich and then they get a 2026 first round protected swap in this deal Chicago that was part of the three team deal. They get Mike Conley Jr. From the T Wolves, Jaden Ivy from Detroit to add to their 10 guards that they have and then Minnesota doesn't receive anything. They are just a facilitator in that deal and setting themselves up for a Giannis deal. So what are your thoughts?
- [38:53]
Will
Latest latest update is Minnesota is hustling to find a fourth team to try to make a Giannis straight happen, which I think that's actually pretty interesting. You know, I think they're gonna have to be. It's gonna be a weird mix of like just ant Giannis and like Rudy Gobert left over. So I don't know what that gets you but. And Yanis together. Sounds interesting. But to the rest of this trade which is really focused on that Pistons portion which I think is giving up on Jaden Ivy and then going to get more shooting, I think it makes sense. I, I, at least from what I've seen from Jaden Ivy. Like there's this year he just hasn't come back and been the guy that he potentially was looking like what was it last year before he got hurt at the beginning of the season where we're like oh, he's shooting 40, he's given another off ball guy. Like that was exactly what the Pistons needed, was a guy that can be off the ball and create space shooting and then potentially also handle the ball. Herder's not going to give you the handle, but he's going to give you that knock down shooting.
- [39:49]
Greg Monakis
Right.
- [39:49]
Will
He's they desperately need else that's a.
- [39:52]
Greg Monakis
I mean he just beat the Celtics a week ago.
- [39:54]
Will
Exactly. So they desperately needed somebody like that. So I think it's a good move for the Pistons in, in that sense they still probably need to go find another ball handler. You mentioned a guy, Mike Conley who's in this trade. Like he's probably not going to end up staying with the Bulls. He's probably going to get waived at some point. Celtics could be in the mix for him as well too. That's something that the trade opened up is that he could be, you know, a guy that comes in to just give some extra ball handling. But Pistons could be another option for him as well. So I, I think overall this is a positive for The Pistons. It's probably disappointing because Ivy was always kind of the guy that's like, hey, we're gonna get into the market in sweepstakes and we get all of our picks and then Ivy is the young guy. And now they kind of. Unless they're gonna part with, you know, I don't know how much value Ron Holland has out there. He's okay, but like, unless you're partnering with like, Assar, which they probably shouldn't be in most scenarios, like now you're kind of stuck with this is your team. Unless they're. There's a Tobias as salary filler and picks that gets you something else. Like this is probably your team and if this is going to be your team and you're going to take this year to do what the Thunder did two years ago, where it's like, maybe we could go all in and just go for it now or we can ride with our young team and see where we're at. I think they're in a pretty good position. Like, Herder gives them something they needed, something they weren't going to get from Ivy, so they get another rotation guy. I don't think it changes a ton about how I feel with the Pistons or changes a lot of the Eastern Conference landscape, but I think it's, you know, it's a solid B, B minus move overall for the Pistons.
- [41:20]
Greg Monakis
They needed shooting, but now they have two guys that don't fit their ethos with Duncan Robinson and Kevin Herder just being the dogs of the team. Right. Like, they, they just make them a little. A little fluffier and it, you know, like a little bit more punier. Yeah, a little puny. Whatever you want to say. Like, I actually really don't like the deal for the Pistons because I feel like we have another guy that we can target out there, go pigeon hunting. So something to think about. We'll see what. What wins out. Like, do they have enough defense and toughness around him where they can withstand that? You did mention marketing and I did want to bring up that there was a trade with the Utah Jazz, right. Where they decided to go win now mode, which was pretty interesting, and grabbed Jaren Jackson Jr. From the Grizzlies, a guy that, you know, was rumored that the Celtics were interested in. Right. So in this, Utah receives Jaren Jackson Jr. Jack Landale, John Conchar and Vince Williams Jr. Memphis receives Walter Clayton Jr. So they give up on that first round pick. Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, who I mentioned on the last pod, George Niang and three Major first round picks. This is a really interesting deal because now the, the Utah Jazz suddenly have a lineup that is pretty interesting with Jaren Jackson Jr. Laurie Markkin in Keonte George, they got Ace Bailey. They still have. That's a. I think he's a restricted free agent. So they've, they've got some real talent there.
- [42:53]
Will
They said call year, just put up some numbers.
- [42:58]
Greg Monakis
But really interesting deal, man. What were your thoughts?
- [43:02]
Will
It's something. Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest, I don't have a ton of thoughts on this. You know, you and I were just so. It's funny. Everyone that I did talk to about Jared Jackson was just out. Like, everybody, like, no, no, I didn't find person that I talked to that was like, what do you think about Sharon Jackson? They're like, yeah, I could see it. No, everyone was just like, I don't want to do that. I mean, I think for the Jazz it probably makes a little bit more sense because marketing is really their only expensive contract at this point. Right. So you can kind of weather having the, the Jaren Jackson contract on there a little bit more and kind of rise the level of your team to a certain point. You just got to start playing competitive basketball.
- [43:40]
Greg Monakis
Yeah. And you're not signing anybody in free agency. Right. So this is like a free agency signing for.
- [43:44]
Will
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I, I think if there is a team that could go for the Jaren Jackson type of move, it's this. I'm a little surprised that Danny angel is willing to, you know, I haven't seen if there's any protections on these picks or what it looks like. I'm sure there's something knowing Danny aims and it's not just three unprotected first round picks because that's, you know, Danny Angels is pretty stingy when it comes to giving up his picks unless he really, really is going for it. So I thought it was a little bit interesting just from knowing Danny Ainge the way that we do and then, then, you know, on the Memphis side they're just, they're just rebuilding. So I'm just waiting to see what happens with Jah here. Like, I feel like there's a jaw trade that's going to be probably pretty similar to Trey Young. Maybe he can get a protected first round pick or some type of first round pick addict because he's a little bit younger and there's still like the, you know, just new. There's a little bit more hope that a new scene means something different than it does for Trey Young, which is funny because they're probably actually a lot closer in age than I'm giving them credit for right now, as I'm thinking about it.
- [44:41]
Greg Monakis
It.
- [44:42]
Will
But I don't know. For some reason, I just. I. I would feel that there's a little bit more optimism with Ja than Trey, even though Trey probably has a higher floor.
- [44:50]
Greg Monakis
Well, the, the. The thing about Jaw is his contract's not that bad. So he has two years left after the season. Average annual salary around 43 million there. Like, he's not making $60 million a year. He's not one of those guys. And then he's an unrestricted free agent in 2028 where he's either going to play himself and earn himself a. A mega max deal, or you're going to be like, John Moran at $20 million or $15 million is probably a nice contract to have. So I think he's still worth it for some team out there that, that wants to take a chance on a young, you know, budding superstar. So it'd be interesting to see if anyone does.
- [45:27]
Will
Where do you think just. And I'm literally looking at the standings right now, trying to think of the. My own answer to this question is like, where do you think would be an interesting John Morant sp spot?
- [45:37]
Greg Monakis
That's a great question. I'm also looking at the standings now.
- [45:41]
Will
I've got one here that I'll.
- [45:43]
Greg Monakis
I'll.
- [45:43]
Will
I'll start with here. That just kind of jumped out to me that it's a team that is a little bit of a blind spot for me this year that I need to tune into a little bit more. What about the Phoenix Suns, if they can. If they can do something around Jaylen Green, like, Jaylen Green plus whatever that gets them to John Morant and you kind of have a job. Devin Booker, Dylan Brooks, Grayson Allen, and, you know, I like everywhere else. Right. Like, that's, that's kind of interesting. Like, I feel like that's a team.
- [46:11]
Greg Monakis
Back with Dylan Brooks, they played together in Memphis. They got. Right there. I like that.
- [46:15]
Will
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a team that's. At least. That's like a worthy gamble if you're not having to give up, you know, draft picks and stuff to go with. And I don't know if the sun, you know, what the Suns have from draft equity to. To be able to give up anyways, but yeah, that's. That's one. I think that jumps out to me here. Other than that, it's kind of tough to find Stuff that makes sense, you know, if the Bucks could pull it off without giving up Giannis, that's just their desperation move. We talked about that at one point. Like, I don't know if it makes a lot of sense, but it's a. Who knows what the. If the Bucks aren't trading Giannis and they're trying to fake like they're winning now, I don't know, maybe that's.
- [46:50]
Greg Monakis
Yeah. The only other teams out there, I could see an argument for the Trailblazers to maybe make a move for him.
- [47:00]
Will
Yeah, I thought about that as well. What about. What about your Raptors?
- [47:05]
Greg Monakis
I don't know. Is he that much of an improvement over, like, Emmanuel Quickley right now? For what? Quick.
- [47:11]
Will
Theoretically, he is. Theoretically. It's just. It's just. I mean, the biggest thing would just be like, if you have, like, him, Scotty Barnes, Brandon. I don't know.
- [47:21]
Greg Monakis
It's not enough shooting. That's what. Quickly.
- [47:22]
Will
Exactly.
- [47:23]
Greg Monakis
He's a Force baser.
- [47:24]
Will
Right.
- [47:24]
Greg Monakis
That's more what I was like. John vacuums better than quickly. But in terms of what that team needs, I don't know if that's the move. Yeah. So I. It might. It might just be the Suns, man. You may have just pulled off a deal there, so I'll be interested to see that. I like Jalen Green. I want to see him play, man. And I think he'll get an opportunity to play if he's in Memphis coming back from that hamstring injury. So either way, I think the sun's to be good, because if Jalen Green comes back and plays on that current team, I think he's going to add something to the Suns. And if they decide, you know what, like, we need a real point guard. John Morant's on about option.
- [47:56]
Will
Yeah. That's not bad. Well, got a couple days left here. Got about a. A day plus here left before the trade deadline on the fifth hits. So maybe this is the last pot of the week until we hit Sunday against the Knicks. Maybe you'll hear us again. I don't know. We'll have to see here, I think. Unless the Celtics have some really breaking news or there's a Luca part, too, that just shakes the NBA earth where it's like, it doesn't matter if you're covering the Pelicans, like, that had nothing.
- [48:21]
Greg Monakis
To do with it.
- [48:21]
Will
Like, you have to do a podcast to talk about it. Hey. Hey. Luca. Luca. Magic. Was Luca Garza tonight, man.
- [48:31]
Greg Monakis
Yeah.
- [48:31]
Will
Luca Garza taking over the house of Luca Belt. Yeah. So we'll see what happens here. It sounds like we're gearing up for some interesting moves to be made. I don't know if it's going to be earth shattering, but I think there's some interesting moves that are coming down the pipeline here in the next day or so. If something big happens with the Celtics, we'll fire up the mics. You'll hear us back on here. Otherwise, we'll probably be checking in with you either before the super bowl after Celtics knickknack early in the day on Sunday, or we'll be back Monday after the super bowl and give you a Super bowl recap as well. So that's going to do it for this emergency pod post game live combo. This is your boy, Will. We're checking in. This is Greg Meninkis, my best friend and co host. We will catch you guys later. It don't take much, no more.
- [49:21]
Greg Monakis
Until.
- [49:21]
Will
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 door.
- [49:38]
Wells Fargo Active Cash Visa Announcer
To be a Team USA skier, it takes dedication, determination and lots of hard work. But it doesn't take all that. To score unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases, just use the active cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo and tap to pay with that natural born talent and unwavering focus. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with the Active cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo. Terms apply. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa, proud sponsor of the Olympics and Paralympic Games.