Joe Mazzulla deserves all the blame, but also deserves to keep his job

Summary

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Green With Envy: "Joe Mazzulla deserves all the blame, but also deserves to keep his job"

Date: May 4, 2026
Hosts: Will and Greg Meneakis
Theme: Breaking Down the Celtics’ Game 7 Collapse, Joe Mazzulla’s Role, and What’s Next

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Episode Overview

In the aftermath of the Boston Celtics' devastating Game 7 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Will and Greg deliver a raw, reflective, and pointed breakdown of what went wrong, why coach Joe Mazzulla bears much of the blame—but also why he deserves to keep his job. The hosts dissect coaching decisions, player performance, the effect of Jason Tatum’s injury absence, and what this all means for the team’s future.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Game 7 Emotions & Environment

• Hosts were still smarting from the loss. Will and Greg watched together in Austin, expecting a low-key environment, but found themselves sidetracked by a raucous Kentucky Derby crowd—which felt symbolic for a night that didn’t go to plan.
  • “I was just overwhelmed from the beginning, so that probably should have been a sign things weren’t going to go as planned.” — Greg [02:41]

2. The Game 7 Lineup Controversy

• Missoula's Gamble Backfires:
  • The coach made sweeping changes, starting a lineup that had never played together all season, including Luca Garza and Ron Harper Jr. over long-standing starters like Nimi Keita and Peyton Pritchard.
  • Greg voiced disbelief:
    • “You can’t change three out of the five spots in your starting lineup in a game seven. That’s just absolutely insane.” [10:43]
  • Will saw it as panic but admitted some hope:
    • “There was kind of two feelings…Joe is panicking and this is just a desperation move....[but] the weirdness of that lineup actually gave me hope that I was going to see the Joe Missoula that had made me do a complete 180 on what I thought about him coming into the season.” [07:51]
• Effect on Players:
  • The lineup confusion led to on-court mishaps, missed rotations, and possessions where players appeared entirely out of sync.
    • “Those guys had never played together before, and they didn’t understand their spacing.” — Greg [9:33]

3. Joe Mazzulla’s Performance: Genius to Goat

• Missoula’s Overthinking and Slow Adjustments:
  • The hosts agreed the blame for the series collapse was largely on Missoula’s indecision and reactive rather than proactive coaching.
  • “He was just too late to everything, right? All of the experimenting that needed to happen...he did none of it and then tried to do it all on the fly in game seven.” — Will [11:28]
• Notable Missoula Moment:
  • Failure to call timeout with 30 seconds left, two TOs still remaining, down five—seen as symptomatic of broader issues:
    • “How do you not call a timeout with 30 seconds left in your season on the line?…You’re the coach. It’s the time to do the coaching thing.” — Will [20:38]
• The Verdict:
  • Missoula is a “phenomenal regular season coach, very, very questionable playoff coach.” But the hosts agree he should remain for now, under the microscope moving forward.
    • “I don’t think Joe should be fired. I really don’t…I’m very disappointed in Joe. But...I believe in continuity…the regular season success...but…once we get to the postseason next year, Joe is under a microscope.” — Will [19:51]

4. Jason Tatum's Injury and Absence

• Tatum Misses Game 7—Right Call:
  • Hosts agree the medical staff, not Tatum, made the decision based on his condition, and it was the correct one:
    • “If Jason Tatum is not 100 percent of whatever his version of 100 percent is right now...do not play him. He’s 28 years old.…Do not play him.” — Will [04:21]
    • “You would not believe the amount of people who are like, this is a stain on your legacy...I’m glad they made the right decision.” — Greg [31:21]
• Public Backlash Dismissed:
  • Greg called criticism of Tatum’s absence “nonsense takes,” noting Tatum would have played if medically able.
    • “If Jason Tatum didn’t really push for it, you know, that he wasn’t ready.” — Greg [31:47]
• Ripple Effect:
  • Will points out that had Missoula managed Tatum’s minutes more cautiously in prior games, maybe the injury wouldn’t have been as limiting.

5. Player Performances & Critical Plays

Jalen Brown: Close But Not Enough

• Scrutinized Late-Game Decisions:
  • The infamous screenshot of Keita open in transition: hosts say blame is misplaced—Jalen made the right decision.
    • “All the hullabaloo about Jalen Brown right now with that screenshot…I think is overblown.” — Greg [23:53]
  • Missed key shots and passes in crunch time, but also stepped up as a defender, even guarding Embiid:
    • “He was guarding Embiid…that’s what you want out of your superstar. That’s why I love Jalen Brown.” — Greg [28:49]

Derrick White: Disappearing Act

• Lack of Impact in Series:
  • “The biggest culprit for the entire series was Derrick White, right? Like, Derrick White was a ghost through six games.” — Will [36:48]
  • White shone briefly in Game 7's first half but cooled—hosts wonder if a single half like this earlier could've saved the series.

Nimi Keita, Sam Hauser, Others:

• Keita’s Benching Questioned:
  • Starting Garza over Keita was seen as particularly inexplicable given Keita’s season-long presence and performance in Game 7, despite benching:
    • “As a coach, your job is to put your players in positions where you know they can be successful.” — Greg [17:00]
• Hauser, Shireman as Bright Spots:
  • Per shooting stats, only a few shooters delivered; Hauser and Shireman stood out with solid percentages even as others went cold.

6. Shooting Woes and “Missing the Moment”

• Open Look Analysis:
  • Will went through all the Game 7 threes—24 out of 30+ attempts were quality looks, but only six were hit. Celtics lived and died by the missed open shot.
• Comparison to Sixers:
  • Philly had consistency from Maxey, Embiid, and supporting cast; Boston had only rare outbursts outside of Tatum or Brown.

7. Trade Rumors and Offseason Outlook

• Big Questions Loom:
  • “All trade options are to be considered except Tatum” (Will [50:14]), though Greg says even Tatum should be at least theoretically on the table given his injury history.
    • “If you’re gonna say you’re open to trading Jalen Brown, I say you have to be open to trading Jason [Tatum].” — Greg [52:05]
  • White’s contract and lack of playoff reliability could make him a trade centerpiece; Jalen-for-Donovan-Mitchell or consolidating into multiple assets discussed as hypothetical paths.
• Celtics’ Assets:
  • Mid-Level Exception (~$15M) and Traded Player Exception (~$27M) available
• Philosophy on Team Direction:
  • Strong sense that a first-round exit means the team was “not that close” and real, broad changes must be discussed, though continuity and belief in Missoula’s potential remain.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You can’t change three out of the five spots in your starting lineup in a game seven. That’s just absolutely insane.” — Greg [10:43]
• “How do you not call a timeout with 30 seconds left in your season on the line?” — Will [20:38]
• “I think with Jason Tatum...He’s the guy. If for whatever reason you have to decide between [Brown and Tatum], it’s Jason Tatum…I just think that’s very clear cut.” — Will [36:48]
• “He [Jalen Brown] was guarding Embiid...That’s why I love Jalen Brown. And I would be so upset if we ended up trading him this offseason.” — Greg [28:49]
• “Missoula is a phenomenal regular season coach, very, very questionable playoff coach.” — Will [19:49]

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Timeline of Key Segments

• 02:41: Greg and Will reflect on pregame nerves and environment
• 07:50: Discovery of Missoula’s unprecedented starting lineup sets tone
• 09:20–12:56: Deep dive into bizarre lineup choices and their cascading effects
• 18:13–21:25: Extended analysis of Joe Missoula’s shortcomings and future
• 22:16–28:49: Jalen Brown’s Game 7 and legacy evaluated
• 30:37–34:57: Tatum’s injury, media backlash, and host defense
• 36:48–40:51: Derrick White’s letdown and secondary contributors scrutinized
• 43:30–46:14: Listener chat, off-season trade rumors discussed
• 49:34–52:20: Statistical breakdown of shooting and the path forward

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Final Thoughts

The Celtics’ season ended not with a bang, but with a confusing whimper of late panic, missed chemistry, and, above all, “overthought” coaching. While Joe Missoula shoulders most of the blame for reactive decision-making, hosts Will and Greg are unified in believing in the value of continuity and his return—albeit under fierce scrutiny next year. Player accountability, especially for reliable contributors like Derrick White, came under the microscope. Meanwhile, the off-season promises seismic questions around the roster, including (but probably not) both Jays and the real possibility that “if you lose in the first round, you’re not that close” might force the Celtics’ hand on changes.

For Celtics fans, this episode provides catharsis, critique, and a roadmap for what’s next—all in the authentic, no-nonsense Green with Envy style.

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Transcript

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[Greg Meneakis]

This is Mike Gorman and you're listening

[Will]

to Green with Envy with Will and Greg. All right, Everybody, we've had 24 hours. Just about to digest what took place Saturday night at the TD Garden. A funeral for the 2526 Boston Celtics season. They fall a 31 comeback from the Philadelphia 76ers. They win the series four games to three, move on to face the New York Knicks. So we asked a simple question. What the hell happened? We'll talk about game seven, we'll talk about the series and then we'll give some quick highlights into what comes next. That will be a deeper dive for the off season. That's what the offseason's meant for. But for now, this is Green with Envy. You guys know the deal. Let's lock in. What up, what up, what up? Welcome into another edition of Dream with Envy. We are live on a Sunday evening in which there are two game sevens in the NBA. Detroit already took out the Magic, Cavs and Raptors at it. Right now with the Raptors up in the second quarter. We're here to talk about the season that is no more for the Boston Celtics. As always, this is what will. We're checking in. How you doing? How you living? Joining me on this Sunday evening live stream. And if you're joining us here live on YouTube, on Twitter, you still got some thought, still got some feelings. Make sure you get in the chat. We're going to tell you all of our emotions that go towards it. 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 Meneakis. Greg, roughly 24 hours later, feeling any better than after you and I left each other last night watching this game in person?

[Greg Meneakis]

Not really, man. I mean, I was pretty upset so Will and I watch for the audience out there. Will and I got together, we went out to this place called Chalmers, and in Austin, Texas. And we didn't, first of all, we didn't know what we were walking into because neither of us, like, go out anymore. And it was Kentucky Derby Day. We completely forgot about that. So we show up and we're expecting like kind of a low key environment before the night goes crazy. And it's just like teeming with young professionals in their early to mid-20s. And I was just overwhelmed from the beginning, so that probably should have been a sign that maybe things weren't going to go as planned. Then we get the news that Joe Missoula goes complete galaxy brain and decides to start a lineup that had played zero minutes, which I didn't realize at the time. When I found out later, I was like, oh, my God. Like, he, like, what were you thinking, Joe Missoula to do that? Because when I first heard the lineup change, I was like, okay, like, Missoula's just going crazy. And like, they like trying to find something that works. But. But the more I thought about it, I was like, okay, Kada has started every single game this season. Like, why, why all of a sudden are we bringing Kate off? So let's go instead of Kada, let's

[Will]

go quick chronological here. So. So I think the best way to do this podcast, Greg, is let's, let's talk about game seven, then we can talk about the series as a whole and that these thoughts can kind of intertwine eventually. And then we can end the podcast with like, what does this mean? What comes next? And just kind of bullet point that out. We don't get a deep dive. It's. But so yesterday. So let's even go back to game six, right? End of game six, we know a game seven is coming. Celtics, you, you can say they didn't wave the white flag, but they basically waved the white flag with 10 minutes left. Go to the bench squad and you see a little bit of life and it gave like, all right, this is kind of what's been missing. But part of that was Jason Tatum was out, knee was wrapped up. You saw him kind of trying to keep it loose in the, you know, latter parts of the, of the third quarter. I think he sat the last like 15 minutes of the game, something like that. So we came on air and that was a huge talking point. And as we were doing our live podcast, they were doing the press conferences and basically kind of poo poo it away. It's like, ah, it's fine. No, it's just like precautionary. We're all good. We said just to make sure that we were on record. Listen, if Jason Tatum is not 100% of whatever his version of 100% is right now with wherever he's at in this recovery ramp up process, do not play him. He's 28 years old. There's still six, maybe seven years of a prime that could be left in his future. Like, do not play him. We were very adamant about that. So after we get done recording, it seems like, all right, sounds like Jason Tatum's gonna try. I'm gonna play. Like, it doesn't sound. Sounds like a lot of what we just said might not matter. Right. Get to yesterday and about probably two, three hours before a game, I think it was Chris Haynes had it first where Jason Tatum was downgraded to. I don't know if it was. I can't remember if it was or doubtful. But you knew what was coming. You knew what was coming. And so then shortly after that, basically the Celtics step in and do the right thing and make the decision for Tatum. He's out. So that's step one in what leads up to game seven. And you know, Greg, this is where I want to start getting into, like, how we felt about things in the moment and then how we feel about them now. And so going into Game 7, I didn't feel great. This is before we knew Tatum was out. I was like, I just don't have a good feeling about this. Just this kind of feels like just there's too much momentum with Philadelphia right now. It just feels like all the good juju is on their side. So then we get this Tatum news and then maybe I think we found out about maybe 20 minutes before the game started that we get this wild change from Joe Missoula. Now changes had been something, you know, just mixing up the rotation, getting back to more of a feeling for what this team, what made this team, their identity, what made them so special, so fun. All season we had been asking for Joe to get back to that. What we didn't expect is what you just laid out a lot of that had never played together the entire. And you know, you get Derek White, you get Jalen Brown. We've been asking for Baylor over, over Sam. We can talk. We'll talk about their performances in a second here. So Baylor over Sam. Okay, that's a good start. I like where we're at right now with those three. We're in a Good spot here. Now the next two spots in the starting lineup we've been asking for. Basically about halfway through the series it became very apparent Vuch is not the answer. And Garza is not wildly different as a player from Vuch, but at this time he's, there's more hustle, energy that comes for him and there's just better shooting. So it was all right, Garza over Vuch. That was the ask. What we got was Garza over Vuch and Nimius Keda. So insert Luca Garza into the sorry lineup and we'll talk about it. You could, you could talk yourself into it. I don't think it was a good decision, but you could talk yourself into, into why, why that decision was made. The final part of the starting lineup here, which of course this is kind of the, the Jason Tatum slot that is, you know, that wasn't going to be with him out goes to Ron Harper Jr. Ron Harper two way contract earlier this season. We like Ron Harper Jr. Ron Hopper Jr. Has some potential. He hasn't played all series outside of that garbage time in the last 10 minutes. Now granted he's had a few moments this year. That Rockets game earlier in the year, the spurs game. We went to the Thunder game that night after where he's played some big moments and some gotten some spot starts that, that went well. Be honest, Greg, I don't think game seven was the time for it. And when I heard this, thinking back to my state of mind when I first saw this, there was kind of two feelings that came across. One, Joe is panicking and this is just a desperation move of all desperation moves. And number two was actually a little bit of hopefulness, which is a very weird combo because the one thing it did signal to me was that Joe was gonna get back to the roots of I don't care what anyone thinks. Because it felt like Joe was coaching, like he cared what people think, despite what he says. Didn't feel like Joe Missoula that we saw coach this entire season coach this series until we got to game seven. So the weirdness of that lineup actually gave me hope that I was going to see the Joe Missoula that had made me do a complete, you know, 180 on what I thought about him coming into the season. And that kind of happened. But at the end of the day it was a panic. That's just.

[Greg Meneakis]

He just overthought it, man. He overthought it. I. Look, I don't think Ron Harper Jr. Was the reason the Celtics lost this Game by any means. There are plenty of moments later.

[Will]

You don't think his four minutes was the reason they lost?

[Greg Meneakis]

No. And, like, he made. He had that one unbelievable play where he got back on defense and stopped the fast break. Like, he contributed. He. He wasn't great on offense. He's part of the reason why Jalen Brown ended up making that pass out to the wing when there was just like, nobody there, Right. It's like these guys had never played together before, right? Yeah. When he made that pass up to the wing, it was like, there's literally nobody on that side of the court because those guys had never played together before, and they didn't understand their spacing. And at the time, I didn't realize that they hadn't played together before. And I was like, man, that was like, a weird possession. Like, did Jaylen get confused? Because there was a guy in a green jersey right next to Joe Missoula? Like, he was. Yeah, he was like, 65 years old. He's still wearing green. And all these things just going through my head. But with Garza starting over Keda, like, I. That's the move for me that is more punishable for Missoula than. Than Harper Jr. Starting over Pritchard, for example, like, I. I do think that Pritchard should have been in the starting lineup last night, but should it so should have been Keda. Like, they should have gone to the starting lineup. That was the starting lineup when Jason Tatum wasn't on the team. Right. And that's Peyton Pritchard in the starting lineup with Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Nene, and then insert somebody into that fourth spot. That's Baylor Charman. That's Sam Houser. That could be Ron Harper Jr. If you want. But you can't change three out of the five spots in your starting lineup in a game seven. That's just absolutely insane. I don't know what he was thinking. He clearly was thinking way too much. And the adjustments for the rest of the game, I felt were fine. But that starting lineup is just like, what were you thinking, Joe?

[Will]

It.

[Greg Meneakis]

It really made me question a lot about Joe Missoula are finally, like, coming around at the end of the season. Both of us were just singing his praises, like, we. We're drinking the Kool Aid. Joe Missoula do what Joe Missoula is gonna do. And now I'm just like, man, I don't know if I can trust you anymore, guy.

[Will]

It. I think the lineup was a kind of a microcosm of just like, what was Wrong with Joe all series. He was just too late to everything, right? Like, like throwing Ron Harper Jr. In that spot. To your point, like, if this were game five and you replaced Harper Jr. For, for Hauser or something, it's like, okay, maybe you see something. All of the experimenting that needed to happen that Joe Missoula was so good at in the regular season of finding the right mix. He did none of it and then tried to do it all on the fly in game seven. Yeah, right. And then on the. And then on the flip side, like, Philly went the exact opposite. They started the season playing Bono or started the series playing, you know, Adam Bona, playing Dominic Barlow, you know, playing, you know, even what's his name, Edwards. He played a little bit in this game. Quick two minutes, but like, like, they were playing long, deeper guys. And then they got to a point where, like, these are our seven. They went Grimes. They went really off the bench. Grimes played 26 minutes. Drummond played 8 1/2 minutes, and then 4 minutes combined for Edwards and Barlow, like, they were very secure and knew who they were. In Game 7, the Celtics were following Missoula's lead throughout this series of just abandoning their identity. And by game seven, it became, let's throw some stuff against the wall and let's see what sticks. And like, to your point, with the starting lineup, Greg, Sean Grandy tweeted this out last night. The final plus minus leaders in this series.

[Greg Meneakis]

And big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp, for partnering with us for this important

[Will]

conversation about mental health.

[Greg Meneakis]

This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 show on YouTube.

[Will]

So having a counselor and working with BetterHelp, that gives you an opportunity to really, really start to unpack.

[Greg Meneakis]

But people don't understand when you unpack

[Will]

things, you also open up a box that you're not always sure what's inside. So I think that's why seeing a

[Greg Meneakis]

professional is extremely important.

[Will]

If you need someone to open up

[Greg Meneakis]

to visit betterhelp, that's betterhelp.com 89.

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[Will]

Plus minus isn't everything. But when you get to like a seven game sample size, like it can be actually meaningful of like guy just who was playing well, even if it's not definitively the best players. Pritchard plus 44, Walsh plus 39. Not a lot of Jordan Walsh, Tatum plus 28, Edgecomb plus 23. Garza was in there at plus 13 and George Paul, Georgia plus 12. That was the combined best plus minuses. So you would think Pritchard and Walsh could have been two guys that, you know, played meaningful roles and could have been in that starting lineup. And it was just really unfair in my opinion. Some of the moves that Joe Missoula made last night of Harper Jr. And specifically Hugo Gonzalez, who Ugo played, I thought great, like Google made a very positive impact. But the end of the day you left guys that you hadn't played for six games. Your season's on the line and Ugo's a rookie. I don't know if Harper Jr. Is technically a rookie or if he's a second year with the, the two year stuff. I don't know. Two way stuff. I don't know either way. Not a guy with a lot of experience. Those guys were left sitting there to make some of the biggest shots of the entire season after not playing a second basically the entire series. Hugo literally didn't play at all and Harper Jr. Played, played cleanup minutes.

[Greg Meneakis]

It's crazy that we're talking about ugo and Harper Jr. Having like we're 13 minutes in.

[Will]

This is, this is, this is the

[Greg Meneakis]

combo because it's just crazy. And then Charman, who's a guy that was like coming on really strong at the end of the season that everybody, myself included, was just like he should be starting over Hauser. Like I didn't see the argument for Hauser over Charman with 15 games left in the season. I was asking, I included him as

[Will]

a bullet with a bullet to the, to the playoff rotation. You were right to, to pause me on that, but I, I thought he should have been part of it.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yeah, I just like there was something about the way that Joe is treating Shireman, Walsh and Ugo down the stretch of the season where I was just like, I don't. He's searching for something. He's trying to find confidence in, in certain people. And I was hoping that that would, you know, bear some fruit in the playoffs. And it did to some degree. Right. Like the Jordan Walsh, the last 10 games of the season going back to Jordan Walsh and playing him prepared him for the first round of the playoffs. But then in game seven, after being to your point about the plus minus being one of the most positive impacts on the court, you start Ron Harper Jr. Over Jordan Walsh. Like, what are you thinking, buddy? Like, play, play Jordan Walsh. It should. It should have been Jordan Walsh in the starting lineup with Baylor Shireman or Sam Houser. Like, like, if you, if, if you're gonna go there and then just. I, I can't get over taking out Keda from the starting lineup, man. Like, I know he didn't have a great series, but he had a great game seven. He was really good in that game. And he was a guy that started the entire. Literally started the entire season. And then the biggest game of the year, you're like, actually, let's go put you in a different role. And we're gonna start Luca Garza, who I, who I said many times at the beginning of the year, I was like, luca Garza will never play a meaningful playoff basketball minute. And, man, was that meaningful for the Philadelphia 76ers that Luca Garza got the starting lineup because he was unable to step up and, like, rightfully so. He's not a start and center in a Game 7 of a playoff series. It's. That's Joe Missoula's fault for putting him in that position. And it's Joe, as a coach, your job is to put your players in positions where you know they can be successful. And he's like the guy who's like, hey, I'm going to put people in uncomfortable positions because that's where you grow the most. It's like, okay, buddy, like, yeah, that's where people grow, but not in Game 7 and not with Luca Garza and Ron Harper Jr. Like, those aren't the guys that you need to see grow in those moments. Jordan Walsh is a guy that you want to see grow in that moment. Mimi Keda is a guy that you, like, double down on your trust for him and say, hey, you haven't had a great series, but I trust you. You are starting because you're our starting center. Like, what. What does that even do for Kate? His confidence going into the off season that he was ripped out of the starting lineup at the most important game of the year.

[Will]

Yeah, he ended up playing a phenomenal game. We'll get to him in a second here. Also, love the fact that you call Joe Missoula buddy twice in that rant. That's. That. That's what I know.

[Greg Meneakis]

Called him Buddy, that's where, that's how, you know, how I feel about Joe Missoula right now.

[Will]

So let's, let's continue on Joe Missoula for a minute here and then we'll start to get into the players because the players are not without fault throughout the series. Right. Like, I think there are things that we need to talk about, but if we're doing a blame pie, I do think like half 60 of the series kind of falls on Missoula. Like, I really do. Like I really walked away from this with a pretty sour taste in my mouth with Joe Missoula. And I mean, listen, this is the second time in four years that the Celtics have lost a seven game series in which they've lost three home games. That's, that's not good. And in my opinion, the way that we have to view Joe going forward, phenomenal regular season coach, very, very questionable playoff coach like that. That's my opinion of Joe Missoula going forward. And you said something interesting that I thought about earlier today where, you know, Joe loves putting guys in uncomfortable positions to, you know, bring out the best in them. Well, Joe, buckle up, my guy. You are about to be in an uncomfortable position going forward. Because I'll say this right now, and this is part of what we'll talk about is like, what comes next. I don't think Joe should be fired. I really don't. Like, I'm very disappointed in Joe. I don't feel great about Joe right now. The regular season success, the ring I believe in continuity is an underrated factor within what makes consistently good teams. So I'm not on, on board with, with anyone that I haven't seen this take out there too much yet, which is a good thing about firing Joe. But, but big but right here,

[Greg Meneakis]

when

[Will]

we get to the postseason next year, Joe is on a. Under a microscope. Like if this ha. If, if anything even resemblance, because this feels. And again, I will give him a pass for his first year as a head coach against the Heat. Like, that was a tough position. Right? Tough position. But last year against the Knicks, this year against the Sixers, there are way too many similarities. For a guy that preaches accountability, growth, you know, learning from, from your mistakes. He repeated almost every single mistake in this series, right down to the point of, of something that's been lingering around him. That's low hanging fruit that I'm gonna grab right now. How do you not call a timeout with 30 seconds left in your season on the line? Your season's on the line. You need your best possession of the entire season.

[Greg Meneakis]

Five. Down five.

[Will]

You have two timeouts. Down five. 30 seconds, two timeouts. And I'll, I'll split some of the blames. I thought JB took a terrible shot, but you're, you're the coach. It's the time to coach. It's the time to do the coaching thing is calling a timeout and getting your best play out there. And you can look back to the Knick series and some of those 20 point collapses. And there were multiple times where Joe Missoula needed a timeout to drop a good play to end a run, to, you know, get a game winning shot, and he didn't do it. So for Joe Missoula, it's gonna be very uncomfortable next year. I think he should be back, but I think it should be very uncomfortable for him next year, which he loves and maybe he'll thrive in. But I, I've got a lot of questions for a guy that I, I thought he had answered a lot of them. I'm, I'm right back to having a lot of those same questions with Joe Missoula.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yeah, let's put a pin in the Missoula conversation for now because we're going to have plenty of Missoula content over the offseason. And I do want to talk about Jaylen Brown and I also want to get to the Jason Tatum conversation because there's plenty of meat on that bone that we, that we can talk about. But Jalen, you know, I, I put something up, put something out on threads earlier. Are you on threads, by the way?

[Will]

Not really. I know we have an account. I haven't, I haven't checked it, though.

[Greg Meneakis]

That's probably why you're not seeing the fiery Joe content, because it's there.

[Will]

Okay, fair enough.

[Greg Meneakis]

It's on threads. It's on threads. And there's a lot of Jalen Brown anti Jalen Brown content out there and a lot of anti Tatum content out there right now. And with Jalen, the, The first thing I want to start with is, is the, the screenshot of Nemike in the paint on the fast break. Okay. You've seen the screenshot, I'm assuming.

[Will]

Yes.

[Greg Meneakis]

Okay, so let's set the stage here. 99, 98. Paul George gets an open lane to the basket. Jalen comes flying out from the weak side and stuffs him at the rim. Makes like an all time defensive play. He's coming up the court. The ball goes to Derrick White on the wing. K is running down the middle of the court. Okay. If you're going to make that pass to the guy going in the middle, middle of the court, that pass is coming from Derrick White. That pass is not coming from the top of the key. That's a very tough pass to make to. To judge that. And if you look at where people are in that moment, if you watch the play, the screenshot's different from the reality where as Jalen catches the ball, Nene is not looking at him initially, and then Jalen goes to dribble, and that's when Kada kind of turns around Max. He's kind of starting to help towards him. Uber is kind of starting to help towards him. So the screenshot to me doesn' actually show the truth of that play. And the truth of the play is that I think Derrick White probably should have kept the ball and not given the ball to Jalen. Derrick White takes one more dribble. Kate is there. Wide open pass. That's not on Jalen. In. In my opinion, and in my head, I was like, oh, like, what happened there? Did Jalen shoot a three? Like, is that why people are so upset? No. Jalen found Peyton Pritchard for a wide open three three pointer in the corner, and Peyton Pritchard missed the three pointer. Right. You can get into the whole wide open two versus wide open three thing, but a Peyton Pritchard wide open three is like, about as good of a shot as you're gonna get in that situation. So I just want to start there and say all the hubba Lou hullabaloo about Jalen Brown right now with that screenshot, I think is overblown. Agree.

[Will]

Your thoughts so on that particular play, I agree. And I will say I think Jalen for the series had a below average series. Like, when you look at the.

[Greg Meneakis]

The total, especially with the standard he set for himself in the regular season.

[Will]

Absolutely. And I think game seven, I was thinking about this earlier today. I'd probably give him an A minus, B plus, pretty. Pretty good in this game. The biggest thing that I think you can hold against him and. Well, one of the things you can hold against him is, is a rough start to the game. But that's kind of back to the whole Missoula thing. It's a line that didn't play together. Like, yeah, I. I kind of got to give him a pass on that because that was. That was. That was bizarre. The things that. And these are nitpicking things at the end, but when you're the guy. When you're in the MVP conversation, When your first team, all NBA, there's about three or four plays in the last four minutes that you just kind of hope Jaylen Jalen makes. And. And sometimes they just don't go in. And there's the. So the. The. The Pritchard play you laid out. I thought he did everything right. Like, I thought that was the play that he did correctly. And it was also a play that I thought closely resembled a play that he would make this season because that was the type of plays that he was making. I have no problem with that. To your point, like, the K to pass was at a tough angle. Like, I think the Pritchard play was the right play. And it's. If you look at the way this team plays Pritchard for three is what they're going to take every time.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yeah.

[Will]

And Edgecombe had a great closeout on it because he's athletic as. And. And pressure. Just missed it. And we'll talk about some of the open shooting.

[Greg Meneakis]

Close.

[Will]

Yeah, it was a little rough and, you know, but Jalen down the stretch, he had a really open three that he missed that. And there was a bunch of stuff in this.

[Greg Meneakis]

Dude. It was funny. We were sitting with you, your buddy Ross, and right after I said to Ross, I was like, this. This game is going to come down to in the next couple of possessions, a Jalen Brown wide open three, and he's going to miss it. And then, like, the next play, Jalen Brown got a wide open three at the top of the key, in and out, off the glass. And I was, damn, Jalen. Like, that was even closer than I thought. I thought you were going to brick it.

[Will]

He missed. Yeah, he missed that one. He had the pass ahead to Sam Houser where, you know, number one, it was, you know, throwing the ball to Sam Houser on the break with the game in the line is not exactly my idea of, like, the smartest play. But he was wide open and Jalen just missed the pass, right? Yeah. Like, you hit him there. I forget what the score was at that point, but that's an easy two points at the cell.

[Greg Meneakis]

I think that gets into one possession game, right?

[Will]

So. So there's that play and then the. Probably the. The coup de gras at all was the play that really was Jalen Brown all season. He kind of pushes off, kind of uses the shoulder. You know, sometimes it's called, sometimes it's not. Ask sga. Ask anyone else that does that move. Like, don't. About that not being called. Like, it's. It's kind of 50, 50 these days if they're calling it or not. Or maybe even less than that. And he gets Maxi, Maxi goes into Embiid's leg. You get Embiid limping around, all that again. And honestly, maybe the shot was too close. Like usually he's a little bit further back when he hits that jump shot. But that.

[Greg Meneakis]

And, and I think part of that was probably he was expect whistle when he pushes Maxi, he like pauses for a second and breaks his rhythm.

[Will]

Pause. Yeah.

[Greg Meneakis]

And it was like, oh, damn. He overthought it because he thought he was going to get another offensive file.

[Will]

Yeah. And so you look at those three plays and I'll throw in. I already mentioned. I, I thought the three he took with 30 seconds left, which is also part on Missoula, like that was just like an NBA 2K. You just run up and shoot it. Like there was no thought to it. It was just, I have to shoot this. And like granted, there's 30 seconds. There's 30 seconds. There's not, there's not 10 seconds left. Like there. There was time to get something better than that.

[Greg Meneakis]

You, I get the, it's like the, the whole two for one thing. Like you need to, you need to get a three pointer up early so that if you hit that three pointer, you can then play defense and then hope to win the game without fouling. Right. So like that's the thinking there. Jalen Brown. I like Jaylen Brown shooting a three pointer. It's going to be someone shooting a three pointer. I was okay with the shot.

[Will]

Yeah, I, for me, I just. It's a combo of. That's what you get when you don't call a timeout. And yeah, I don't know. I, I think you could have got something better. Give it two more seconds because you. I don't know. Either way, whatever. We can argue about that one. But those are the points that don't allow Jalen's game last night to be an A minus A. And it has to be a little bit down just because you're the guy. You're the guy. And you had three, four opportunities to get over that hump to get it from 98, 99.98 or 99.96, whatever the score was, where it was just lingering in that moment for so long.

[Greg Meneakis]

It was there for the taking and nobody grabbed it.

[Will]

That's the part that's, that's frustrating. It was just sitting there and then eventually Embiid and Maxi, they went and grabbed it and that was, that was Case close. So for Jaylen Brown, again, overall, not a great Jaylen Brown series. Game seven, specifically, it sucks that in the he. He stepped up. It sucks that the big moments didn't. Didn't line up with it, but he stepped up throughout the game.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yeah, dude. I mean he was guarding Embiid for several possessions and doing like a pretty good job of it. Blocked him at the rim. One was like really making him work and just like, that's what you want out of your superstar. Jaylen Brown, 66, right? Joel and Bre and Joel and Beat is 7 foot 2. That's like an 8 inch difference and it's probably about a 50 pound difference. And Jaylen Brown is there like in his face, like, listen, I'm gonna be the, like, if I have to be the guy, I'm gonna be the guy and I'll guard Joel Embiid. And that's what you want out of your superstar. And that's why I love Jalen Brown. And I would be so upset if we ended up trading him this offseason is because I do think there's something mentality wise with Jalen that he, he does special gene about him and he's such a fierce competitor. He's proven he's battle tested. I really hope they don't move on from Jaylen Brown this offseason.

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[Greg Meneakis]

I do want to talk about Tatum, because you and I, like, immediately were just like, we shouldn't play Tatum. It's like no question. After game six, I was like, don't play Tatum. That's just it. It didn't make any sense. If Jason Tatum is feeling any lower leg injury, he just came back from a Achilles surgery, like, you don't play him. Right? So I'm glad they made the right decision. But, dude, you would not believe the amount of people who are like, this is a stain on your legacy. This is like, you're, you don't bleed green if you don't play in game seven. Like, all this, all these nonsense takes out there, and I'm like, did you guys miss the fact that he had a miraculous recovery? Like, and he's not the one choosing to sit out. This is the medical team. His trainer, Nick Sang, who Jason Tatum trust with his life, and Joe Missoula came together and told jt, hey, you can't play tonight. And Tatum trusts them. And he said okay. And if, if Jason Tatum didn't really push for it, you know, that he wasn't ready. Because if, if there was even a slight, a slight thought in Jason Tatum's mind that he was actually good enough to go for that game, I think he would have fought hot enough to stay in it. But I, I think, yeah, he, he

[Will]

said, he said he would have been ready some point in round two. He didn't even, he didn't even say, like, yeah, if we won, I'm playing game ones tomorrow night. Right, Right. He didn't say I would have played then. He said I would have been ready at some point in, in the second round. So. Yeah.

[Greg Meneakis]

Did you, did you listen to his comments?

[Will]

I listened to a couple clips. I didn't listen to, like, the full thing, but I don't know.

[Greg Meneakis]

Okay, yeah, but I mean, he said he was, he was putting himself at like 85%. He, he kept referencing how his right calf is smaller than his left calf, how there was like some muscle imbalance there, and the fact that to play to the, the level that he was playing at with those inconsistencies in his body, one, it's like crazy that they allowed him to play in general just because, like, he still clearly wasn't 100, but I guess 85 is enough to allow you to go back and compete at the highest level of, of the league. But then this goes back to Missoula because what the hell are you playing Jason Tatum 40 minutes if, if this is where he's at, right? Play Jason Tatum 30 minutes, keep him on, like, somewhat of a minute restriction 30 to 35, but you don't play him 42 high stress minutes in the Playoffs when he's not the level that he needs to be to play those minutes. And you have the guys on the bench that you've been relying on all season.

[Will]

Exactly. And, and yeah, not to get back to Missoula, but this is where it's all going to keep coming back to because he's the biggest part of this blame pie is you play him 30, 35 minutes, that solves a lot of the how do we inject more energy into this? And you keep Shireman, you keep Ugo involved, you keep Jordan Walsh involved. And you know, you could have pulled some of those minutes from Sam Houser as well. Now all of a sudden you have. And this is the frustrating part for me is in the regular season, you tell me if you feel differently, but in the regular season, when Tatum came back, it didn't feel like Joe changed up the ideology. Like, of course you ran a little bit more things to try to get Jason Tatum going. Like we saw they went to more, you know, high ball screen and like you're going to do certain things because you have Jason Tatum. He's one of the, you know, at his best, he's one of the top four, five, six players in the Ms. You're going to change at least a little bit. But the identity of this team, the crashes from the side, the guys that were rotating through, playing 15, 20 minutes a night constantly based on the matchup, giving you like what you needed and feeling involved with this team, like, that didn't change when Tatum came back. I forget what the record was, but it was like, I think it was like 15 and two or 15, three, something like it was a really good record when Tatum came back. And again, Missoula just abandoned all of that. And like, like, like there's so many parts of this that could have lined up. And this is why I think we are left sour and frustrated despite the fact this is a season that never should happen. Happened, right? Like the Celtics never should have been the number two seed. Jalen Brown wasn't gonna be first team all NBA. Nimi Cata wasn't going to be one of the nearly one of the finalists for most improved and Missoula's gonna win coach of the year. Like we, we didn't think most people did. A couple green teamers out there did you know, whether they actually believe they would have said that no matter what, who knows? But like this season wasn't supposed to happen. But then when you see how we got to this point and then we abandoned what got us there, it's it's, it's just really frustrating to sit with. Yeah.

[Greg Meneakis]

I mean, I would say the biggest knock on Tatum is how methodical he is. And like when, when you're playing Jason Tatum on the court and you're running the offense through Jason Tatum, it is going to be at his pace and he's good enough to warrant that. The numbers show that, like the points per possession with Tatum on the court is like third best in the league. Jason Tatum off the court, it's like last in the league. Right? So, like, Jason Tatum was giving the Celtics a very efficient offense. However, that was coming at the expense of all the other guys on the team, like really being involved to the point that they were involved in the regular season. And the Celtics had this chaotic nature about them that was just gone when you play Tatum. And then you also, I think going along with that is Vuchevic. Like, Vuchevic is a very methodical player and Garza is the chaotic counterbalance to that. Right. Like, there was just too much pushing towards the like professional battle tested veteran style versus what made the team the team this year and the soul of the team, which was the chaos that, that those agents of chaos brought off the bench, which I think they should be called now that I'm saying it out loud, like all those wing players

[Will]

should be called a little late. Greg, wish you could have came up with that, which is a little bit earlier and we might have had some, some T shirts, but.

[Greg Meneakis]

Oh, God, but yeah, man, I mean, to put a bow on it, I'm glad Tatum did not play in game seven. I don't think it's a stain on his legacy and all that that people are saying out there. I'm excited to have him back at 100 next season because you know, that dude with another extra two months of off season to get back to what he was, is going to come back and he's going to be gangbusters along with Peyton Pritchard, who had some great comments after the game as well. It's just like, I can't wait to get back in the gym and that's what we need.

[Will]

I mean, I think with Jason Tatum, the one thing that he showed is, you know, we'll talk about what might come this off season or what discussions might be had. He's the guy like, like Jason Tatum at whatever percentage he was at was. He's just the guy. He's. He's the guy like, I know Jalen was awesome this year. If for whatever reason you have to decide between the two, it's Jason Tatum. I just think that's, like, very clear cut. Like, that's like, not even a question to me. And so I am very excited to see what Jason Tatum comes back with. But I want to talk about some other players here, Greg, because we. We've been harbored on Missoula a lot, but sometimes the guys just got to play, right? Like, like. Like there was an element of this to just the players not stepping up. And the biggest culprit for the entire series was Derrick White, right? Like, Derrick White was a ghost through six games. Derrick White in the first half yesterday was awesome. Like, that was Derrick White. Derrick White in the first half yesterday had 19 points, 6 of 13 from the field, 4 of 7 from three, had four rebounds and assist the block. You know, second half, the. The number. The shooting numbers fell off. 3 for 13 in the second half, 3 for 13. He took the shots that we expected him to take, and he made some defensive plays. And that was more of a half where it's like, okay, he didn't shoot the ball well, but I felt Derrick White still made.

[Greg Meneakis]

But, dude, he still had that moment where he had the wide open three and. And he like, second guessed himself and looked at Jalen and then shot it and bricked it. And I was like, that. Derrick White shoots that shot in the regular season 10 times.

[Will]

And so that's the part that's not on. Not on Joe Missoula, right, Is that he basically played an entire series without Derrick White. And when you think about just these two rosters, I was thinking about it. Outside of Pritchard's 32 points that he had, what was that? Game three or four. I can't remember which one. It was game four. Yeah, outside of that, there wasn't a moment for a guy not named Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum like, the entire series until we got to game seven. And Neemi, Derrick White, Sam. I mean, only five guys scored yesterday, so everybody kind of had at least a little bit of a moment that scored in that game. But outside of that, nobody had a moment. Whereas you look at the Sixers, and Maxi was steady the entire series. He was there. Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, Paul George, we talked about it. He matched it. They added in bead back. And outside of game four, the last three games of the series, Embiid was also at that level. So we're at a deficit and beat him.

[Greg Meneakis]

Maxi. The last three games of the series, Embiid and Maxi were the two best players on the court every single day.

[Will]

Like there's, there's no doubt about it. And then you think about what they got in different games from BJ Edgecomb, one game from Quentin Grimes and you know, some nice contributions from, from Kelly Oubre. Right. Like the Celtics didn't have that as an ecosystem throughout this entire series. Right. Other than the Peyton Pritchard 32 point explosion. And then you get to game seven and you get one half. And you said this to me yesterday and it was so accurate. If we get that first half from Derrick White, if you just get that from him one time in either game two, game five or game six, just one half that was like that. We probably never got to game seven. If we just had one half of true Derrick White basketball in, in those three games, we probably never even get to game seven. We're not having these same conversations right now. Jason Tatum maybe never gets hurt. Who knows? Depending on like when that happens and like that's where the players have to be held accountable is like Derrick White just not being there for six games. Neemi, you know, obviously he's outplayed expectations, but it wasn't really till game seven where he was awesome. He was so good in game seven despite coming off the bench in a brand new role, but then just not having anybody to really have a X factor.

[Greg Meneakis]

Do we, do we include the, the Mimi Cada Dreamshake and that awesome appraisal of his game?

[Will]

That, that, that was, that was a whole broken series of events. But yes, that was, that was not. That was. I think it was the one shot he missed, to be honest. I mean, I think he was perfect.

[Greg Meneakis]

He was great, man. Nimikator was awesome in that game. Yeah, I think Derek White is probably,

[Will]

you know, that's the one shot he missed the entire game. Craig was the dream shake.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yep. So imagine if he hit that though. Yeah, I was kind of, I was kind of rooting for it, you know, but when he went to it, I was like, okay. But I think with Derrick White, he even more than Jalen Brown in terms of like off season trade rumors. I think he's the name that you're going to see come up a lot. He's, he's the oldest of the three. He's making a little over $30 million a year. Right. So like it is enough money to really go out and you package that with Sam Houser's contract or something like that, you could really get a difference maker. If you don't think Derrick White is a difference maker after his performance in these playoffs, I still think Derrick White is his difference maker. It's just like is he worth the 30, 30 plus million dollars a year if we can't be sure that he's like a shoe in for just consistency in the playoffs which if you're getting paid that much money, you have to be a consistent performer in the playoffs. And he wasn't this year, which is so surprising because I, I never thought coming into the playoffs that we would have a series like this from Derrick White. I was like, oh yeah, Derek White, he's good. Like we're good. He's going to be, you know, somewhere in the top five players in this series and he wasn't even in the top eight. You know, like he just wasn't even good. So it was a real problem. I do think. Yeah. That there's going to be some tough conversations about Derek. What I do want to go to the chat though real quick because we have, we have some comments here in the chat from I loves greatness tatum team had green 19 written all over them before they traded Simons. Cheap bastards should have kept him nation. Yeah man, I agree. We shouldn't have traded Anthony Simons for the corpse of Nicola Vuchevic who there's no chance Vuchovic comes back with this team next year. I do think there's a chance that Anthony Simons come back comes back with

[Will]

this team this year because he's on an injury. I don't know injury.

[Greg Meneakis]

And he didn't play well for the Bulls while he was there. It'd be interesting to see if Simons came back on like 10 to 12 million dollars a year. That would be I dude, I'd be ecstatic. Another comment here from I loves greatness. This team had some blowouts. Who they look like the shiznit that could beat anyone. I'm assuming he left upbeat. And one more Celtics had moments where they quickly beat San Antone or okc. Yeah, the ceiling of this team was pretty special this year. That's why it it's really tough to lose in the first round to Philly. Jimmy J.689 says Jalen Brown for Donovan Mitchell this summer. Let the trade talk and then lay thigh. I don't know how to say this. I'm not gonna even try. We need to keep the Jays but improve the bench and have a veteran that helps the team's mentality.

[Will]

Yeah, I mean just to adjust the the Jalen Brown for Donovan Mitchell this summer and right now, you know, the the Cavs and Raptors are playing let's See if. Get a quick update here. Cleveland is stormed back. They're up 10 here in the third quarter, game seven. So we'll see what happens there. It did cross my mind, as I was. As I was going for a walk today, starting to kind of do the mental exercise of, like, you know, what would a trade look like? And, you know, we talked about this briefly last night when we were together, and I don't want to go too deep into this, but I'll just kind of lay it out real quick. I think there's kind of two paths. If you're looking at Jalen Brown, I think Derek White is more to your point that you just laid out. That's kind of the route that I think if they're going to make a splash, like I probably would have said, that's off the table for the most part. You've got to be more open to it after the series. You just have to be. Be more open to that. And I think that's probably the route that would make more sense. But for Jalen Brown, I was thinking there's kind of two paths. There's one, we try to trade him for another superstar, and of course, Giannis is the big name on the market, and that's probably the only trade that exists in which you can say we're trading Jalen and we're getting back a better player. Other than that, I don't think that exists. And then I thought about Donovan Mitchell, because I was like, well, if this gets really weird with Cleveland and they lose, like, is there a world in which. And I don't know if Donovan Mitchell is even better than Jalen Brown, it would be more like, hey, we've been missing a wing for years. You guys could use, like, another athletic ball handler. Like, maybe this works better. And, you know, I. I think I'd have to give it more thought. But then I kind of thought about, if you're Cleveland, if you still had Darius Garland, that probably makes a lot more sense, where you just traded up 10 years in age and now you have James Harden, and you're not going to rely on Harden for a long time. Like, I don't know, maybe it does, but it. But it's just funny to see that in the chat, because that. That potential crossroad Mike, that's like the only other guy who's on a similar plane to Jason, to Jalen Brown, that you could do that trade, whereas the other option is kind of gathering multiple assets. Like, how do you get two guys that make 25 million and maybe some draft picks. And one has potential to be more than whatever he was, like a Trey Murphy or maybe not Jabari Smith after watching, you know, this last series. But guys that are in that fourth, fifth year range that you're like, okay, he's 30 million, but he could play himself kind of like Jalen did into a Max guy. Right, Right. How do you find that? So I think those are the two Jalen routes. If you go down that. And I don't know that they should. We'll explore it as, you know, a thought process.

[Greg Meneakis]

You know, it's funny. Well, remember that. I forget who. Who said it, but there's like a Boston radio guy a few years back that was like, adamant the Celtics should trade Jalen Brown for Denny Avia and Rui Achimura.

[Will]

I don't remember that. But that's. I mean, it's kind of funny because now that's like, kind of. If you add in like a draft pick or two, that's kind of the trade that I'm talking about.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yeah, exactly. It's pretty funny. So I remember everyone was just like, ripping that dude a new. When he threw that out there, he was like, you. You trade. You trade Jalen for. For the kid from Israel and Rui Yachimura, like, that's what you do. And everyone's like, what are you talking about, dude? But now that he's. Then he's turned into a hell of a player. And Rui is a knockdown shooter for. For the Lakers.

[Will]

Well, Denny was an all star. Rui was a. Was a big. Is a big. Is a big part of a team back in the second round.

[Greg Meneakis]

I wonder. I wonder if he's eaten off of that take.

[Will]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe he was on to something. But. Yeah. So game seven, it sucked, man. And. And I went back and watched all the threes in second half. Greg, there were some pretty good looks. There was. There was some good looks to be had. Like you, I think out of the 33s, I just did, like, my own calculation, and I think I came up with, like, six of them were either questionable or bad shots, but that leaves 24 pretty good shots, and you ended up hitting six of them. And you look throughout this. So I got it pulled up right now. I'm just gonna go through it. See.

[Greg Meneakis]

Well, there's only five guys that scored, so.

[Will]

Well. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's. It's.

[Greg Meneakis]

It's two from Hauser, one from jb,

[Will]

one from white, one from white. Yeah, yeah. Everyone besides Kate who doesn't shoot Threes except dream shakes. But I did pull up some of the shooting numbers for this particular postseason. So let me start with this was. So this is throughout the whole series here. And this is based on NBA.com's metric of open, which is 4 to 6ft of space. So in this series, Celtics had. Jalen Brown was 8 of 24 33. Pritchard was 7 of 23 30. Derrick White 4 of 19 21. Tatum 4 of 19 21. Hauser 6 of 12 50. There we go. That's a number you like to see. And then some one of five, one of four from some other guys. The other stat they have here is the wide open metric, which for that here, while this loads better but not great, but this is kind of like where the series was hinging on. Pritchard 10 of 29 34.5. Derrick White 11 of 29 37.9%. Vuch 7 of 22.31point. Pretty sad that that's all of Vuch's shots fall into the wide open. I didn't mention Vuch in the just open category, only in the wide open category. Hauser 9 of 21 did his job. Shireman when he was in the game and had wide open looks. Other, you know, missed a couple of them last night, but seven of 1643, three of seven from Jalen and three of six from Tatum. Which basically that just means they didn't get the wide open of the looks right. Like they had mostly contested shots. So again, a lot of this falls on Missoula. A lot of this does ring true to some of the comments you heard where just didn't make shots. And some. And they just didn't. They just didn't. And it's. The interesting part is hearing this team constantly talk about playing to your personnel. I don't even know that a lot of the Celtics that were out there like, you know, like we're playing guys that are somewhat three point shooters. But I, I don't know that I would naturally say these are like, hey, we played all these guys that are knock down shooters. Like it's not Porzingis, it's not Horford who was over 40. Like these are guys that are like either unknown or like can shoot the three, but are not necessarily like knock down guys. Yeah. Other than Hauser.

[Greg Meneakis]

Hauser and Shireman I would say are like the two dead eye shooters off the wing. Pritchard, yeah, obviously is an elite shooter. Jalen can shoot, Tatum can shoot. But neither of them, I would put them as shooters first. Right, Vuchevich. Don't get me started on that guy.

[Will]

And White struggled to shoot all year.

[Greg Meneakis]

Yeah, I, I still can't believe we made that boot of his trade. All right, man, do you want to wrap this up?

[Will]

So, yeah, let's, let's wrap this up here. It is what it is. We've got a whole off season to talk about what comes next. Let's just do a quick, quick bullet point of what comes next. People are going to talk about Missoula as the coach. I think. What do you. I said I think he should still be the coach next year. Do you agree with that?

[Greg Meneakis]

Yes.

[Will]

Yeah. Okay. We'll talk more about it, but yeah, I think that that should be the case. Celtics will have their mid level exception for 15 million. They've got a traded player exception for 27 million. And then I think on that trade front, we've already kind of started to gloss over it a bit and we'll dig more into it here. In my opinion, all trade options are to be considered except Tatum. Does that mean I would do them all? No, but I think the discussion of Jalen, of Derek, of Peyton, of Sam, of whoever else not named Jason Tatum, you have to be open to it because Nikola Jokic said it pretty, pretty good the other night. When you get knocked out in the first round, you're not that close. Like, that's just, that's just how it goes. If you lose in the first round, you're not that close to a championship team, so you need to look in the mirror. So that's where I think we're at for the off season. Is there anything else that you would add to what you might come next?

[Greg Meneakis]

I, I just think you have to be open to trading Tatum, too, man.

[Will]

Really? Okay, well, that's, hey, that's, that's a whole other.

[Greg Meneakis]

Just with the injuries, just with the injuries. He's, yeah, he's, he's been injured a decent amount, you know, like, he, I, I would, I, I would bet that Jason Tatum has a very healthy rest of his NBA career just because he works so hard in his body. But, like, it's elite worth it, where you're gonna get the biggest return for Jason Tatum. So if, I think if you're talking about potentially trading Jalen Brown, you at least have to open the door to, like, what could we get for Tatum and see, like, what's out there. Because maybe you get like an offer you can't refuse, you know, and then you build around Brown, whatever that brings you. White, Pritchard, Keita, you could. I think you do some damage there.

[Will]

Well, that's a whole podcast into itself, so we'll, we'll leave that there because that's, it's pretty big matzah ball. So we'll, we'll see what we'll see.

[Greg Meneakis]

I don't want to do it, but I, I, I, I just think people are talking about trading Jalen Brown. Like, I would also be open to trading Tatum. I think they're, they're both franchise cornerstones. I don't want to trade either of them. But if you're gonna say you open a trade in Jalen Brown, I say you have to be open to trade Jason.

[Will]

Yeah, well, we'll have a whole conversation because I would, I would agree with you. I don't want to trade either, but I think I would put Tatum off the table and I'd put Brown on the table. So we, we can talk more about that. We'll have a whole podcast built out around that because you know what? We have.

[Greg Meneakis]

Greg.

[Will]

We have a ton of time now. Celtics are out. Celtics are out of the playoffs. And so the off season, it begins, man. We'll see what news trickles in. We'll stay updated on some of the postseason here. But shout out to everybody that's been listening to us this season. It was honestly a lot of fun this season. Like, this season didn't. I did not expect to have as much fun covering this team as I had this year. I genuinely enjoyed covering this team more so than even the team last year that I thought was better and had a higher ceiling. Like, this was a more fun team to cover. And so I'm just. It makes it all that much sadder that this is kind of where it ends and now we transition into off season talk and feels too soon, man. Very. It's May 3rd and we're talking off season reason. Didn't even make it a Cinco de Mayo doesn't. Doesn't feel right. But it is what it is. So we'll sign off with this. Thank you guys for subscribing to our YouTube, for following us on Twitter, for interacting with us in the chat, anywhere that you guys come across us, we are really appreciative of it. And shout out to our guy Alex for putting out the content out there. We'll continue to give you guys some stuff here in the off season, so make sure you're locked in at Green Envy Pod across all socials and we will catch you guys sometime later. Peace.

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