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Kyrie Thompson
This is Mike Gorman and you're listening to Green with Envy with Will and Greg.
Will
All right everybody, we got a jam packed episode here. It is the last Green with Envy episode before the regular season tips off Wednesday night. Celtic Sixers going down. We'll be live with a postgame podcast after that. On today's episode we are going to preview everything about the Celtics upcoming season here as well as an in side look at that Celtics media verse. Coaches, we've got our guy from Boston.com Kyrie Thompson's here with us. So you guys know the deal. This is Green with Envy. Let's lock in. What up?
Kyrie Thompson
What up?
Will
Welcome into another edition of Green with Envy. As always, this is what will we checking in. How you doing? How you living? I like joining me. He does each and every time. My best friend, co host and the coach of our podcast, the one and only Greg Manakis. How you doing my guy?
Greg Manakis
Baby, you're bringing the energy right now. My guy with the second cup of coffee. Let's go. We all just Full disclosure everybody, we're all pretty tired. K and I both just woke up from naps but we got it. We're good.
Will
Hey, you, you got to bring the juice. The season's here, so we got to give the people what they want. And of course, as I mentioned at the top, join us today to preview this Celtics season and give us the inside scoop to the Celtics media verse coaches showdown. People are calling him the chief of the Celtics media basketball team. It's the one and only Kyrie Thompson of Boston.com Kristen. Appreciate you joining us on this one, man.
Kyrie Thompson
Oh, no problem. Shout out to you guys. You have an inside source on this one. This is a story you guys can make new break news on.
Will
I know. I like it, man. I like it, man. I'm very excited. Greg and I have for, you know, now years in the podcast. We've pitched a bunch of times. Like we want to do like a podcast media 3 on 3 tournament. Not gonna lie, K. We're recruiting you. This is, this is the official recruiting pitch for you to be the third member of that three on. So. Okay, exactly. So we've got some questions about the media game I want to get to. But there's one thing here I want to start us out with here because I just think this needs to be a bigger deal. Greg and I were talking about it last night. We were talking about it before you came on here, Kari. I want to talk about Shohei Ohtani for like five minutes because it's just, it should be the biggest freaking story in sports and I'm not getting enough texts about it from people in my life. I'm not seeing enough information about it on Twitter. There's not enough people that are just losing their mind over a guy going 3 for 3 with 3 home runs, 6 innings pitched, no earned runs, 10 Ks, throwing over a hundred miles an hour to send his team to the World Series. There's just simply not enough coverage. So we need to at least mention this here on our show. And I want to connect it to basketball as well. So I have a question that I want to pose to you guys here. What, if anything, in a, in a similar scenario, you know, conference finals, closeout game, big time playoff spot, could be a basketball equivalent, like a single game stat line to what sh Otani did last night. Does it even exist? I'm not sure it does. But, but Bakari, I'll start with you. One, any thoughts on Shohei Otani? And then two, is there any basketball equivalent to this?
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, we're watching the modern day Babe Ruth, baby. Like, you know, it's just this historical stuff. But as a Basketball equivalent. I really don't know. Like, the. The craziest thing I could. Like, it would be like Kobe dropping 81, but, like, there has to be some kind of defensive. Like he has to get like 25 rebounds or something crazy. Like, you know, that's. That's what I would say. Kobe, Kobe 81 with 30 rebounds.
Greg Manakis
Right? You kind of got to go back to like the Bill Russell error where he's, you know, he's got like 40 rebounds in a game or something. But if we're talking modern day I. I was looking back at Giannis's Game 6 box score against the Suns back in 2020 or 2021, whenever that was. Giannis and TMPO went 50 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks. That's pretty close. I feel like that's pretty close. And that itself probably didn't get enough love because it was buck sons.
Will
That's fair. I think that is probably the. Like, I literally tweeted this out without even thinking about this that it would be like a 50 point, 20 rebound, 10 block game. And that's actually really freaking close to what Giannis did in that game. But, like, that's. And I think, you know, obviously he's. We'll see what. The season's very exciting to see what comes with Victor Wenyama going forward. Like, it feels like if anyone's gonna do it, he's the guy that might be able to do something like that. But Greg, you kind of blow my mind right now that Giannis was that close. Like, that's. That's insane that Giannis had that stat line and that was to win the championship game six NBA final. So I think you're right. That's probably the closest thing that exists to it, but. Yeah. Anyone else just want to give any sh. Thoughts? I just. I just feel like this needs more attention than it's getting. I know we're a basketball podcast, but he just needs more love car.
Kyrie Thompson
You guys are gonna hate my take on this because, like, so I covered the Celtics and Pats. I have no room in my sports life to watch anything other than Celtics or Pats.
Will
Like, no, I don't think that's bad at all. Greg and I admitted we've. We've become the. So you know how it is growing up in Boston, right? Like, like die hard Red Sox fans. We. We all knew it, like growing up as kids, like, what that atmosphere was like. And the pink hats, right? Like the. The bandwagon fans. Greg and I talked about it going into the. The Red Sox postseason We covered the Red Sox for about a week and a half before they were eliminated. And we were like, listen, we full hands up. We are part of the pink hat squad now. Like, there's not enough time in the day. When you get older, you got to pick and choose. And I can box score watch, but it's tough to keep up. So we totally understand where you're coming from.
Kyrie Thompson
Well, the cool part about my job is I literally, when I lay out my week, I'm picking and choosing, which days am I at Gillette, which day am I, which days am I at the hour back center. And so, like, yeah, that's literally all my time watching Celtics and Patriots stuff.
Greg Manakis
That's pretty cool. That's a pretty good job, man. Yeah, I think with Shohei, for me, like, for. I always gauge with Danielle, my fiance, who I just need to make my wife already, guys. You know what I mean? Like, it's, it's time I just kind.
Will
Of started calling her your wife to other people. And, like, literally, my cousin was. My cousin asked me that. She goes, when did they get married? I was like, well, they're still engaged, but it's been like four years, so.
Greg Manakis
It hasn't been four years. Okay. Okay. But I, I. It's time. I gotta. We just gotta elope and not tell anybody because everyone, like, it's gonna be a whole to do. But she doesn't know anything about sports. So I, as we were watching the game last night, just a brief couple moments of it, more like the end of the game, where I'm like, this was the greatest single, like, baseball performance of my lifetime right here. I was like, you should know this person. I was telling her. I was like, you should know Shohei Otani. And she was like, that, that name means nothing to me. I was like, what baseball. What baseball players do you know? She's like, Barry Bonds, Aaron Judge, and Derek Jeter. Those are the only three names that she knows.
Kyrie Thompson
And she said, baseball's falling off, man.
Greg Manakis
Baseball has fallen off, dude. It has fallen off. But, Kari, what are your thoughts on this? Because for me, I, I was talking to Will before you got on here. I was like, it's also like, baseball's fallen off. But we have become so desensitized to, like, amazing happening in the world that when Otani does something like this, when Victor Wembanyama does something crazy, it just gets, you know, barely a day of coverage, if that.
Kyrie Thompson
Nah, I think baseball has a serious marketing problem, like the storylines and all this stuff. Like, I'm not familiar with any of it. If I. If Mike Trout walked into a bar, I would not know who he is, period. Like, that's just what it is. That's the state of baseball and stardom. Everybody knows Tatum, Everybody knows Drake May. Like, if Roman Anthony walked down my street, I would not know who Roman Anthony is. Like, I just wouldn't. Like, would you guys. Would you ever pick him out of a lineup?
Will
Like, probably nothing.
Kyrie Thompson
Walking around in Dorchester. Like, come on now.
Will
No, Especially not in our part of Dorchester. No. Definitely, definitely ain't gonna pick him out down at, you know, one of the. One of the. Trying to think of the name of the bar down there. Lucy's or whatever. Wouldn't notice them. Wouldn't notice him at all. Just blend right in. So, yeah, it's interesting to think about. I'm again shocked that you're. That Danielle knew who Aaron Judge was, so maybe that she's from New York. Judge coming with. Okay, so that does. That does help a little bit. But, yeah, man. Had to give a little love to Shohei Otani in baseball. You know, my first love, I had to give a little shout out to at the beginning. But, Kari, we got you here. We need to. Before we get into a Celtics season preview here, we got to get in to the coaches and media game, and we need the inside scoop. So I want you to just give us, you know, the inside view of, you know, how you felt about that. Because Joe Missoula, if I'm correct here, you guys didn't know until moments before the game that you were going to actually play the coaches. Like, this was a surprise that Missoula busted out when you guys thought it was just going to be the media breaking up into two teams and playing. Is that correct?
Kyrie Thompson
So they were smart about it, right? So the way they build it is they were like, all right, you guys are going to play your media game, and some of the coaches are going to hang around to coach you and give you some pointers. So that's how it sounded on the email. But we show up there and it's a regular day of practice. Joe wasn't even going to tell us. It's the last question someone asks him about it. And Joe thinks about it. It takes a B. And he's like, actually, you guys are playing the coaches. You're not playing against yourselves. And just walks away. Straight face, not even a hint of a smirk. Just complete Missoula game face. Like, game on. And that was awesome. That was how it unfolded.
Greg Manakis
That's so cool. And you wrote an article on. It's on Boston.com right now. An opinion. The coaches versus media game was Joe Missoula's way of showing love. I know some people out there had kind of suggested it was bullying. And your articles, the thesis is that it's bonding. But one, one piece here. I just want to read this quick excerpt because I thought this may literally made me laugh out loud. Let me attempt to address a few of these concerns. This was no attempt at bullying. Bullying is forcing someone with less power than you to do things they don't want to do. I'm a grown man. I'm 6 foot 6, 260 pounds. Joe Missoula did not force me to do anything. Unbelievable.
Will
I feel like there's a little. You remember, guys, Remember that Oklahoma State coach? Like, I think his name is Mike Gundy. I'm a man. I'm six six. I'm 260. You can't tell me what to do. That's the energy in that.
Kyrie Thompson
I got a little pissed off because you got people that weren't even there trying to say it was bullying. And first of all, Joe actually doing something really cool for us. And we got people from the outside commenting who aren't there, who might even ruin it, like, because Joe didn't have to do it, but he did it for us. And so, like, that pissed me off. And it's like, oh, they're bullying. They're like, Joe did not bully me. Like, he asked me and my friends if we wanted to play basketball. And his friends are better at my friends than it. You know what I mean? And he's obviously a lot better than me. That's the reality of the situation. So, like, let's not make this bullying come on now. Like, I'm sure Joe heard some of that because by the time he did his Sports Hub interview, he was like, I hate that it even got out. That wasn't the point of it. He was like, next time we'll make sure it don't get out. And it's because of people like that who aren't even there that are going to have their takes that don't know what they're talking about.
Will
Well, here's the thing, man, about it getting out. Like, I. I was actually like, you know, obviously we're locked into Celtics Twitter. So when it was making the rounds, like, it's all over our feedback. But it made its way through NBA Twitter, right? Like, it was. I was seeing people that I follow that cover, the Nuggets, the Lakers, like, all these other teams that you know that I follow, and they're like, yo, we want to do this. Like, it was really cool seeing the NBA reaction to it. And I saw actually maybe it was yesterday that the Nuggets are literally doing this. Like, they're, they're. Their media team is going to play the Denver coaching staff. I think it's maybe Tuesday night or Monday night. And so I was thinking about it this morning. Man, there's a chance that you might be a part of. Of history in some small way here where if this does take off, this becomes the origin story of what maybe 10 years from now is the annual media coaches game that every team in the NBA is doing. So I think that's like unbelievably cool that there's a chance that this becomes not just a moment, but almost a legacy.
Kyrie Thompson
And it's great marketing for Joe. Like, I think if you got 10 PR people in a room and like crafted a way for Joe Mazulu to get good PR heading into what's actually a really good p. A really important year for him, like, they could have.
Will
Come up with more about that in a minute.
Kyrie Thompson
That's.
Will
We'll talk more about that.
Kyrie Thompson
But yeah, they could not come up with a better PR stunt than that. And like, because it's, it's completely on brand, it's completely authentically Joe. I mean, what other NBA coach do you know that's like, all right, we're playing the media. We're going to crush them. Guys. We are full court, pressing from the tip. We are spreading out. We're playing Missoula ball. Five out. Make them guard us right. None of this, none of this post up stuff. Five out, whip the ball around. They can't guard us from three. Like, just domination.
Greg Manakis
What was your starting lineup?
Kyrie Thompson
So Corralis started. We didn't pick starting lineups. It was just like whoever first five wants to go out there. And we did wave substitutions, which I'm not saying that would have made a difference, but like.
Will
Maybe balance it out a little bit.
Greg Manakis
Your best five was never on the court at the same time.
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, I don't know if we have a best five, but I think I forget who even started. All I know is I didn't start. I was on the bench starting. And so I knew Corrals out there instead of me. I think Caleb Burton started. I think Bobby Manning started, but I can't even remember because by the time you looked up, it was like 22 to nothing. Yeah, and that's like, when I went in.
Greg Manakis
That's hilarious.
Will
We were playing.
Greg Manakis
We were playing a men's league game the other. The other night, Kari, and we're basically the equivalent of what you guys went through. Like, we're. We were playing the team that was the media, and we were the coaches, and we were up 31 to 2, where, like, they literally did not score a basket until like two minutes left in the first half. And I was like, this is. This is exactly what. Is exactly what the coach just felt. And it was just like, it was so funny just to like, make that I was like, this doesn't happen. You know, like, coaches in media don't play. You don't. You don't. Full court press with like, all former professional athletes and. And Division 1 athletes. Like, Phil Pressy was one of the best point guards in Massachusetts. Like, he was so goddamn good. He's like four years younger than me. Yeah, he played for the Celtics.
Will
Yeah.
Greg Manakis
But he was, you know, B, A, B, C and all that stuff. Just like an absolute legend in. In Massachusetts, so.
Kyrie Thompson
Well, just having Emile Jefferson on the floor alone is unfair because he's 6 foot 9, early 30s, still with bounce, and a former former McDonald's All American who played with Tatum at Duke. Him on the floor alone is unfair. And it's like, Joe didn't even have to score like that because he had dudes like that that he could just.
Will
This is the thing. The. The Celtics coaching staff is, you know, especially compared to other coaching staffs, insanely young. Right. Like, Joe Missoula, I think, is 37. I think he's the same age as Craig and I. I looked it up right before. Phil Press is 34. Meal Jefferson's 32. God. Sham God Junior. I didn't. I couldn't find his age, but I know he's like late 20s or somewhere around there. Like, like, this is like a. This is the same as going to a. You know, Greg and I were talking about this, like, we played the worst team in our league, and that's what happened is. Is what he talked about the rec game. But like, the best team in our league that we struggle to beat is like insanely athletic, but they're like, you know, men's rec league level athletic. This is. Could theoretically still be in the NBA level athletes that are, you know, that were, you know, all Americans in high school, college, and they're still relatively young compared to, you know, Corrales is the oldest guy on the court.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah.
Will
And.
Kyrie Thompson
Well, actually, no, he wasn't because Bob Shawn played in the game for us. Okay, Bob Sean it's like 80.
Will
This.
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Kyrie Thompson
But not. And to add to your point, Will, these are guys whose job it is to like literally work out and play basketball.
Will
They're the scouts. Actual team. Like that's Part of what they do.
Kyrie Thompson
This is what they do. Like, Joe was jumping in there in the scrimmages with datum in them. Like, it was hilarious.
Greg Manakis
Yeah, Bobby. Bobby tweeted something out that made it sound like he wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were where he was. He was like, man, I've never seen ball pressure like that. I was like, bobby, no, no, say ball pressure like that.
Kyrie Thompson
Do you not know who. Do you not know who Joe Missoula is? Come on, Bobby. That's what Joe Maa did. He went to the final four show's entire game.
Greg Manakis
That was too funny, mcard. But I mean, for real, holl at you, boy. Next time I will. I will at least be able to get the ball over half court a couple times. A couple times. That's your boy. I'm in there. Let's make it happen, man.
Kyrie Thompson
We needed a point. We needed a point guard desperately, man. And. And. And. And we got a c. Scout, Eddie House, for abandoning us because, like, we could have had real NBA talent at. From NBC Sports Boston on our team homeboys.
Will
And hey, listen, I. And I also. I don't know if Drew. If Drew can play, but Drew's tall as Drew's. Drew's a big boy. So you got. If you could add scale, Drew and Eddie in there, you're at least getting more size and obviously the NBA talent.
Greg Manakis
Then you get along. Corrales, who's like, your size, right? Isn't crowd on your size?
Will
Yeah.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah.
Greg Manakis
He was like an unbelievable college athlete.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah.
Will
Yeah. So now we're at least. At least, height wise, we're getting closer, right? We're at least evening some of the play.
Kyrie Thompson
Height wise wasn't the issue. The issue was they were. They were so much faster than us, than. We couldn't get the ball. We couldn't break their press. That's what it was.
Will
Yeah. That's where we needed.
Kyrie Thompson
We needed a couple guards. We needed a couple.
Will
This is. This is your calling. You got. You got to send in, you know, the. The video that always pops up of Peyton Pritchard, like, dribbling in his. In his garage when he's in, like, college or high school. I think you need to recreate that GRE and then send that out as your audition tape.
Greg Manakis
Here's what I'm gonna do. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'mma. I'mma send it out, but I'mma play at 1.5 speed, so they think I'm a lot faster than I actually am. Because I'm not that fast, man. Like, those.
Kyrie Thompson
That's a.
Greg Manakis
That's the thing. Like, I've played against, like, really high level competition, and you go from being like the best guy on a court, like, playing with your friends, to I literally can only stand in the corner and shoot threes because if I try and dribble against these dudes, like when. Like at bc, like, anytime I was at a practice, I was like, oh, my God, like, these dudes are so fast. I'm standing my ass in the corner. Like, I ain't doing.
Kyrie Thompson
Hey, if you score on Joe, I'm buying you a beer afterwards. Let's go on Joe. We can make that bet.
Greg Manakis
I'm in.
Will
All right, one. One last question here before we move on to the Celtic season preview. And this one's. This is gonna be for you, Kari. But let me play this first. Damn.
Kyrie Thompson
Kari.
Will
Do to you, dog. What. What she do, man? What happened?
Kyrie Thompson
First of all, Noah's the best. Noah's one of the best in the beats. Love her, she's a good friend, but nah, you take advantage of the opportunity. She said she pulled up for a two point jump shot along two at that, I'm supposed to just let it go? That would be disrespectful.
Will
My man Kari out here teaching lessons. No long.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah, I mean, come on, man. Decision making is part of being a guard. No, but we know this, you know, Ball. Come on now. Well, that.
Greg Manakis
That basically got her on ESPN, though.
Kyrie Thompson
No. Yeah, well, I mean, she would have. She would have been on ESPN anyway. But, like, yeah, they played it on espn, so. I was on ESPN too.
Will
One more time. Damn.
Kyrie Thompson
Sorry, yo.
Will
The dismissive ass way that you walk down the court, don't even go after the ball for like, yo, let's get this last break. Just like straight Mutombo stroll after that.
Greg Manakis
Well, you forgot Kari. 66260.
Will
I read the article. I know.
Kyrie Thompson
Well, when you go from trying to chase Emil Jefferson to guarding Noah, that's a pretty big swing within the span of like 10 minutes.
Will
Oh, man. Well, that's awesome to appreciate the insights giving us a look inside that game. It was awesome. I love seeing it blow up. I hope you guys do it again. Obviously. Let the podcasters in. Greg and I, we'll find a way to get down there. I don't know if we're going to help much, but we'll do our best. We'll do our best if they allow us to. To get some run. But let's transition and let's Talk about the upcoming season because the Celtics tip off their season Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. Looks like maybe Joel Embiid's gonna play play in the preseason last night. So could get Joel Embiid. Paul George looks like he's already ruled out for that game. Let's start here. Kari, just in case you have any insights, but obviously one of the biggest storylines at the end of the preseason, Jalen Brown leaves the last game with a hamstring injury. I think at least the last latest that I've seen is there's not really much of an update, but anything that you know or have heard leading up to Wednesday night, Saturday afternoon, as we're recording this, just for those listening, I.
Kyrie Thompson
Don'T have anything later than the updates. I've been hanging with. The paths we covering Drake May.
Will
All right, we'll get to that, because I do want to hear about what's going down in Gillette, because I've. I don't know. I'm getting close to some hot takes that are coming for. For the Patriots, so we'll. We'll get to that here in a minute. So TBD if the Celtics will have Jalen Brown for the season opener. But I want to take this time and just kind of look out at the season here. And, Kari, we briefly grazed this. I said we'd come back to it. I want to talk about what are some of the most interesting story lines, because you're going to actually be covering this and writing stories. So as a writer, when I'm sure in your mind, in some capacity, you're kind of mapping out things that could potentially happen or things that could be interesting to keep an eye on. So lay out a couple of those. Those story lines that you've already got an eye on as we head into the first game.
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, I think Joe's the figure we'll learn the most about this year because this is the first time that he hasn't had an absolutely stacked team. So we're going to find out if Joe can actually coach this year. Like, that's the top storyline, in my opinion. I mean, like, you know, he inherited a team that made it to the finals, and we, granted, he took them over the top, but now it's like, all right, no Tatum, no Drew, no Porzingis new roster. You don't have the stretch fives that you had before that can just rain threes down. So you're gonna have to change your play style. We're gonna see how Joe goes about it. I think to me, that's the number one most interesting storyline along with Jalen's playmaking, because Jalen is not going to be able to just make up all Tatum's buckets on his own. He's gonna have to evolve as a playmaker and become way more consistent in that regard. So I think to me, those are the top two storylines heading into Celtics regular season.
Greg Manakis
What have you, besides the offensive philosophy seemingly changed to a bit more of an up tempo style, seem like kind of stealing from the Indiana Pacers on offense and a little bit on defense. It looks like they're kind of extending that full court pressure. What, what have you. What insights have you gained? Just being around the team a little bit and, you know, hanging out with the other beat writers.
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, it's just how intense. How intense you're talking about the practices. You know, everyone's calling it a war, which I guess can be kind of a cliche, but given Joe's personality and like, I don't think these guys are messing around saying that practice has been like a war. Like it's something you typically do here, you know, going into seasons or preseasons. But it's been intense and they know it has to be intense because they don't have any bigs man. Like, who's the starting summer right center right now? Neemi. Is Neemi their starting center?
Will
Like completely by default, I think.
Kyrie Thompson
Complete change in personnel. And that's why it's going to be interesting because it's going to be. Granted the NBA is a guards game. It is guard focused. But the Celtics are going to really have to lean into that because all their best players and scorers are guards.
Will
Yeah, it's the front court. And this is something Greg and I especially as we've been watching the. The preseason is the front court is going to be a roller coaster. Right. And it's the biggest wart on, you know, think of any expectations that you may even want to like, you know, get a little overzealous about. It's just immediately tempered when you really dig into that front court. So let me ask you this, Kari. Like, if we remove some of the mainstays from the rotation of of teams over the last couple years. So let's eliminate Hauser, Pritchard White and Jalen Brown from this question. Who's the most intriguing player for you on this team?
Kyrie Thompson
I would say it's Anthony Simons because I like his fit within Missoula ball. I mean he can spray it from three. I just. The question is, can he Play any defense. And defense also is a bit of an effort thing. Like, you don't need to be the most talented to be a good defender. You actually have to care enough to focus every single possession. And I haven't seen anything in Anthony's game that makes me go, he can't be a good defender. Like, I don't look at him and I go, oh, he's slow, or, oh, he's weak. Like, I look at Anthony Simon, I'm like, actually he's athletic enough to be a 20 point per game scorer in the NBA. He probably has more to offer on the defensive end than people think. So I think if he can give you anything on defense and be, you know, help contribute some of those missing points that you're gonna have without Tatum and Porzingis out there, I think he'll be an intriguing piece for the Celtics.
Greg Manakis
As we've said, you're 6 6, 260. I have a theory that Anthony Simons is not 63 or 6 4, whatever he's listed as. And he's actually more like 6 2, like, barely 6 2. He seems like Kyrie sized to me who's listed at 6:3, but it's really not 6:3. So you've probably stood around Anthony Simons. How tall is he? How much do you think he weighs?
Kyrie Thompson
I saw him at media day. I really don't think he's that much shorter than he's listed. Right. Like, but it's just funny the way people play. It often changes your perception of them. Because I. I meet a lot of people that think Derek White is a lot taller than he is. Right. It. I've met a lot of people that are like, is there quite six six? No Derek White, six four. Like, I'm taller than Derek White. So it's like, you know, like, it's just. I think that's the perception because he has those long arms and because he chases people down, that Derrick White is taller. He's not. And so you're not seeing those type of plays from Anthony and you're like, oh, this must be a smaller guy. But I didn't see anything that made him look out of price. Because if you're saying he sits two, you're saying he's around Pritchard height and he's taller than Pritchard injured. So it's like, yeah, no, I think 64 is legit for him.
Greg Manakis
Okay.
Will
It's funny what you mentioned about, like, the perceptions of, you know, how people play or, you know, like, what makes them feel smaller. Or bigger. We mentioned this, I think, during our off season podcast. Like, Chris Boucher is kind of that guy for me, where I'm like, chris Boucher. When you just watch and you don't look at the actual depth chart, you're like, oh, that's probably like a seven footer out there because he's so long, but I think he's like 6, 9, right? 6, 8, 6, 9. Like, he's actually smaller than. Than you think. But, like, I think if. If he just didn't Google it, I'm like, oh, that Guy's probably like 6, 11, 7ft. But you're right. Like, the. The length of his arms makes it seem so much different.
Kyrie Thompson
So, you know, who's that guy for me? You know who's that guy from in the reverse?
Will
Al.
Kyrie Thompson
Right? Al is not as tall as I thought he would be. Right? Because, like, Al plays huge and he's an older guy. So you got. He must be 6, 10, 6, 11. No, Al. 6, 9. Like, Al. I'm in the wheelhouse of his height range. Like, I'm not saying I'm his height, but I'm within like 2 or 3 inches of with him. So, like, that was actually kind of shocking to me. Seeing Al. I was like. And it made me all the more impressed with them because I'm like, you're doing this at 40, and you're not that much taller than me, and you're guarding the bigs of all bigs. Like, that's insane.
Greg Manakis
I. I actually really, really like this conversation because I'm fascinated with, like, NBA listed height versus actual height. And you're like a legit six, six. You don't need to, like, throw it on the media report, like in the media game presser beforehand listed at 68. Like, no, you're 66, right? So how tall is everybody? Like the Jalen Brown? I think he's six.
Kyrie Thompson
Me and Jalen. Me and Jalen are almost the exact same height. Okay, so Jalen is legit. I'll give him six. Six.
Greg Manakis
Okay, let's go. So you said Al is six, nine. There's. Yeah, everyone says Tatum, six, ten. He's not six, ten. How tall is Jason Tatum?
Kyrie Thompson
Tatum is tall, though. Tatum. I. I'll give Tatum like, 6, 9. Like Tatum taller than Al.
Will
Like, that was kind of. When you were speaking, that was what was jumping through my head is like, so is Tate. Is Tatum just bigger? Like, if at the whole time that he might be a three, and we're like, al's our five. It's like, well, is he actually just even bigger? You know, they're close, but.
Kyrie Thompson
This is gonna sound weird. I sound. I spent a lot more time around Al than I did around Tatum. Like, we, like, never see Tatum outside of the press conferences, but, like, Tatum, to me, just seems. Maybe it's also just his presence, but Tatum just seems a lot taller in real life.
Greg Manakis
That's fair. And then you said Derek White, six four. Pritchard's a legit six two.
Kyrie Thompson
Pritchard. I'll give him, like, six feet.
Greg Manakis
Yeah, I was gonna say he's like six and a half. Maybe six one. Yeah.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah.
Will
Peyton.
Kyrie Thompson
I'm. I'm quite a bit taller than Peyton. I'm like five or six.
Will
Yeah, it's.
Kyrie Thompson
Which is impressive. Like, that dude's in the NBA. No, he's six men a year. That's crazy impressive.
Will
And he's one of the guys that I'm most interested in, like, going into the season. And I'll couple it with. With Derrick White, because I was thinking about this after the last preseason game, and Greg and I have talked about this a little bit. I'm curious to get your thoughts, but I feel like, you know, leading up to the start of the preseason, it's been okay. Peyton's gonna take in even, like, a further leap than six man of the year, because he's gonna get the start. He's gonna get, you know, more reps, more handles, more shots, so on and so forth. And I've been impressed in that last game, even though he wasn't making shots, his distributing, his playmaking, his passing, which we haven't had a chance to see quite as much up to this point, so I'm excited to see what that looks like. But I think the biggest thing that I've changed. Not changed my mind on, but that I've altered my view on, is a little bit of Derrick White. Just kind of. I put him to the side all off season. It's just like, I know who Derrick White is. Derek's gonna be awesome. Derek's doing Derek things. That last game against the Raptors, I saw a completely different mindset to Derek White that I wasn't really sure was there, where he was like, oh, Jalen's out. I'm the guy. Like, I'm. I'm gonna be the guy like. And he wasn't the most efficient, but he got to the line and, you know, he had 30 plus points. And it was this different mental that he certainly has not had to take on during his time in Boston. I'm sure at some point in his college career, high school career, he's taking this on. And so he's really kind of reaching back to this mentality that I hadn't really given much consideration to, but now that he's the, you know, Robin to, to Jaylen's Batman, if you will, like, you kind of have to have that mentality on certain nights when either JB's not there or there's a night JB doesn't have it that you're next up. And so I, I think this is kind of changing my expectation for, for Derrick White for the season. And like, I was doing an exercise in my head this morning of, like, I, you know, maybe this really is the Derek White All Star. Like, I'm, I'm becoming more and more convinced this is actually going to be the Derrick White All Star year. What are your thoughts on. On Derrick White and him stepping into a new role for the season?
Kyrie Thompson
I like it. I think it's going to be good for him because I think at times he was underutilized last year. And I'll use the Knick series as an example. Like, throughout a lot of that series, he actually had the hot hand, but they kept going to Tatum and Brown and like, Tatum, Tatum was awesome towards the end of his time in that series. But like, Derrick White had a couple of those games where he was opening the game like five or six and three and it would go away from him and then the Knicks would get back in the game and it's like, no, like, keep riding Derek. Like, Derek has shown consistently over his time as a Celtic that he's good for at least one game for playoffs where he's getting four. Like, so the consistency, we'll see if he can do that over the course of the season because he hasn't really shown that, but he's shown that he's a superstar in his role. But I think I, I like what I've seen out of Derek's game. I think it's going to be a big year for him.
Greg Manakis
You know what I think we should do when Tatum comes back? Because I'm thinking about that Knick series now, when we're up 20, it should be Derrick White is in charge of the offense and only Derrick White because, like, he's not gonna do any. He's gonna still make the right play, whereas everybody else, like, starts doing the heat check shots and all that stuff. Like, I feel like if Derek, if we just put the ball in Derrick White's hands when we up game one and game two against the Knicks. We win those games, he could be the closer.
Kyrie Thompson
He could be the Mariano Rivera, the Celtics, like come on now.
Greg Manakis
Yeah, but like, like you're bringing him in in the ninth inning up six. Not when it's like a one run game.
Will
Right?
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah, yeah.
Will
It's interesting to think about because I, you know, I saw the. I forget where the Jalen quotes were coming from. Where he was like, yeah, I still can't believe we lost that series. I saw a bunch of Nick's people get really pissed off. Like I'll tell you how you lost defense hustle like all this other. And like, you know, like I get what Jalen was saying because they had two 20 point leads at home and they blew it. Like it's crazy to think about. Like even before you get to the Tatum injury and that's been weirdly enough, a pretty consistent part of the Missoula era DNA is get it. Is being able to get out to 20 point leads but consistently losing 20 point leads but typically still winning the game somehow. Like it's a really weird kink. I don't know what the right word. Maybe not kink.
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I don't know.
Will
I don't know where I'm trying to go for there. But it's been a really weird part of the Missoula Celtics experience that this year, to your point, Kari, of like what is Missoula gonna think as a coach? Because like it's gonna be a lot harder to get out to those 20 point leads just given the talent deficit from, from last year to this year. And so what is that go to look like? And, and what does Derrick White, to your point, Greg, now being, you know, more responsibility on Derrick White, who's, let's just call him a more responsible ball handler, I guess or more more responsible player with the lead. How does that change this, this team's, you know, DNA? I think that's going to be kind of fascinating when we look at the season.
Kyrie Thompson
We're going to find out if Joe has some frable in him. Man, if he can take a scrappy squad and get more out of them than is expected. That's what we're going to find out about Joe because Joe has always had the squad. He's always driven the Maserati. Now he's back. Not a Honda Accord, but he's like, he's in a. Give me a, give me an okay, like a like luxury but not quite luxury car.
Will
Like an Audi maybe he's.
Kyrie Thompson
He's in an Audi Q5 now. Like it's not a Maserati anymore. There's no Tatum. Like, like, you know, like he's in an Audi Q5. So we'll see how he drives it.
Greg Manakis
Well, that's interesting, Kari, because clearly you want to talk about the Patriots now bringing up variable and I'm okay going there, Will, if you're okay going there, because I want to talk about the Patriots too.
Will
I do. I. I want to say, does anyone want no one has to Anyone want to give a prediction for the Celtic season before we we wrap up this preview?
Greg Manakis
Okay, so let's just do the Derek White is an All Star thing, right? So two years ago we're at the Celtic spurs game in San Antonio and that's when the Whites and All Star thing starts happening from the crowd. And that's when it really starts picking up steam. And when the crowd has to chant, you're an All Star. You're probably not an All Star, right? I don't think you're going to hear much of that this year. I think his play is going to speak for itself. I think Derrick White becomes an All Star. But it's not like a gimmicky All Star campaign. It's an undeniable All Star campaign.
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Will
I like it. Kari? Anybody? And it doesn't have to be a record prediction, any prediction you want to make for this, for the season.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah, I mean I think the Celtics are still a playoff team. I think I see 45 to 48 wins in the future. That's my, that's my range.
Will
I like that, man.
Kyrie Thompson
I'm more optimistic than most. I think it's a guards league. I think the Celtics guards are really good. I think that they're. Most of the teams in the east aren't actually that good and that the east is actually sneakily wide open. Like there's no Tyrese. How this Halliburton in Indiana, you know, you'll have to deal with the Knicks, but that's only a couple times a year. I think they're still, they could still compete with Philly even without Tatum. Like, you know, I just, I don't know. I'm, I'm weirdly optimistic that they're going to be not just above.500, but pretty solidly above 500, even without Tatum.
Will
I was thinking about the Philly thing because obviously we're playing the, the Sixers opening night and I think, you know, when we get to the playoffs and I'm with you, I, I think it's all. There's going to be a little bit closer to 500. Like 40 over.
Greg Manakis
Under is 41 and a half. I think.
Will
Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate. Like, and it depends, you know, we'll see if Tatum comes back and when and all that. That's going to be obviously the other lingering storyline. But I was thinking in regards to Philly, like you mentioned Kyrie, like best case and worst case is, you know, let's say, you know, everybody's hyped and be played 15 minutes last night, yada yada yada, whatever. We'll see if he can actually play, you know, 50 games, 60 games and you know, be healthy in the postseason. But you know, if the Celtics were to match up with the Sixers, let's say it's like a 7263 thing and somehow Embiid, you know, his healthy Max, he does his thing, you know, whatever else has to go right for the Sixers. It's a best case and worst case scenario where best case I would love to just squash all of the Philly hope in one. Like yeah, we have the worst front court in the NBA. NBA. Tatum's coming back with like playing 12 games and we still beat that ass. That's like the best case scenario. The worst case is they catch us at our weakest moment. And Embiid squeaks out one series win against a much lesser Celtics team and now he's like, yeah, see Celtics don't always win. And so it's really interesting to think about and I think the Celtics are heading towards a 67 seed. I don't know how it's gonna, you know, all play out but it likely they're going to end up in a first round matchup either with with if the Sixers stay healthy Embiid or that front line of the Cavs and Knicks. And that's where I think ultimately it's just going to fall apart. Unless Brad Stevens has some mid season magic and can flip Simons for somehow a lesser contract that has, you know, for a front court guy that makes a difference. I don't know. I trust in Brad. So we'll see what happens. But yeah, I'm excited for the season to start. So we'll keep track of our predictions here as we go forward. But what you were at Gillette yesterday, right? K. Let's listen to the Patriots.
Kyrie Thompson
Let's talk Pats. Let's talk fast. I was actually not at CH yesterday.
Will
Okay.
Kyrie Thompson
But yeah, Pats are awesome. What else do we need to say? Drake May is balling like Pats are fun.
Will
Drake May is that dude, right? Like he's like, I feel like we all feel like he's certified that dude. Correct?
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah. And it's crazy how quickly the perception changed because remember last year they were like should we even play this game behind this offensive line. That's terrible. We might ruin them. It's like, no, now, now it's pretty solidly. Like, yo, you got one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Greg Manakis
Where do you rank him? Top 10, top seven?
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, he's playing like top five right now. The question is like, can he keep it up? Like, that's the thing. That's like, how consistent can he be? Was that Bill's game just an aberration? But let me tell you, what he. What he did against the Saints last week. Week was impressive. I mean, first of all, he had that TD to pop that was completely taken off the board. Like he lost like 100 yards. He lost 100 yards alone on those two Stefan Diggs OPI penalties, which were.
Will
Both which were horrible calls.
Kyrie Thompson
Horrible calls, like late, like nowhere near the play. Like terrible calls. And that was a hundred yards right there and a touchdown. So it's like, like. Yeah, no, he's been. He's been. He's been balling crazy and he's been elevating them because the Celtics, I mean the Patriots don't have the most talented roster, but all of a sudden they're in the mix for a playoff spot. And not just a playoff spot. Like we could be depending on how well frable can have them take advantage.
Will
Get spicy. Do it, make it. Make a spicy statement. Right now, I feel it.
Kyrie Thompson
Could we be talking about a. A home playoff game at Chalet? Could we be talking about it?
Will
I mean, listen, so here's the thing. So I was thinking about this and this is where it gets probably a little bit, you know, off the rails, like looking across the NFL and we'll just stay in the AFC for a second here.
Kyrie Thompson
Sure.
Will
There's not really like a lot of super scary teams like the Bills. We just. We just beat the Bills in Buffalo. That defense not great. Like Josh Allen in the playoffs. That sounds scary as hell. I get it. Even. Even as the biggest. You know, Drake may believer I'm probably still would. Would pick the Bills to. To beat the Pats in the playoffs. But the Chiefs are three and three. You look at everybody else in the afc. Why you know, the like the paths certainly are not a team that I look at as a Super bowl team right now. To your point, the talent's not there quite yet. Although trade deadline car. You have any inside sources let us know of any rumors that maybe this is where they try to make a move. But as they're growing right now, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibly this team could make a run with the right matchups given. If we feel that way about Drake May and he continues to progress, it's unlikely, but I don't. It's becoming. And we're six games in. It's becoming less, you know, insane. Like, it's getting a little bit more realistic as a slight possibility. Am I crazy?
Kyrie Thompson
No. I mean, they've been competitive in every single game and I think they have have probably the easiest schedule I've ever seen in my life.
Will
It's a real easy schedule.
Kyrie Thompson
Schedule is so cupcakes off. Like, if you don't beat the Titans this week, you have a major problem. They suck. Like, you know, like, I mean, the.
Will
Bucks, I think it was the Bucks and the Bills and then it's Titans.
Kyrie Thompson
This week, then they got the Browns at home next week and then rest the schedule.
Will
Those are like the only two good teams that they have left on their schedule, I think.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah, it's like, that's like, oh, and six. They got the Dolphins again. Like, yeah, they'll play Buffalo. They'll play the Bucks. That should be. Should. They should flex that Bucks game to like something. They should get Brady on that broadcast because that's gonna be probably their best game left. But yeah, I mean, they play the Giants. Like, I don't know. The Giants are scrappy, but like, I'm not scared of Cam. Scatterable. Like, come on now. Like, ah. Like, I mean, they. The sneaky one is the Ravens, right? The Ravens aren't playing well right now, but they do play the Ravens. Ravens in Baltimore later in the year. And I think the Ravens will find a way to snap out of that funk. But we're not counting the Ravens against the scrub teams because the Patriots are legitimately gonna play a bunch of scrub teams.
Greg Manakis
Yeah. What's cool about the Patriots in general is that it's like now becoming. I need to find a way to watch this game type football where in the past if like, like you had to miss a game, you missed a game. Obviously we're speaking from a fan perspective, not someone who's covering the team. And it now it's just like I need to figure out a way to get NFL Network or whatever it is. Like, I have to go to stream east or meth streams or whatever the legal illegal websites are. You can get football and I. I need to do it. You know, like last week I missed all the. I missed the Patriots against Saints the week before. They were on national TV for the first time in over A year, and I was so excited to just be able to throw the TV on and there are my Patriots playing. I don't have to go out of my way to watch football, but now I got to go out of my way to watch the Patriots because they're back, baby. And Drake May is exciting. You know, I'm texting my dad about Drake May. I'm texting my dad about Roman Anthony. Like, Boston sports is young and it's fun right now. And Drake May is the man, man. He's. I. I'd say he's like right behind, like, the Dak Prescott's of the world. Like, that's kind of where I have him ranked because he's only been doing it six games, right? He played a little bit last year, but we. We've very quickly anointed him as like, a top five quarterback in the league. And, like, we gotta pop the brakes a little bit. A little bit.
Will
But those throws, man, like, the, like, you can tell, like, like, when Mac Jones got hype, it was like, yeah, cool, man. I. He hasn't made one single throw that's made me excited. He just, you know, didn't turn the ball over his. His rookie season. Drake May is making throws that are like, holy. Like, that's a real throw. That's a dude throw right there.
Kyrie Thompson
And he's doing with his legs, too, and he's doing it with a roster that's not a bunch of world beaters. That's why I think he deserves to be in the MVP, like, conversation. Like, they've had Keisha on booty for a couple years now. Like, you know what I mean? They know what Pop Douglas looks like. Like, you know, you got Diggs. Diggs is a difference maker, but he's also 31 and coming off an ACL. You know, they got Mac Hollins, but, like, like, this is not an all pro stable of receivers that he has or all world beating offensive line or even running backs are even effective. Like, you know, they're running onto that ball.
Will
Petey, hold on to that ball.
Kyrie Thompson
Ramandre Drake is carrying them right now. Like, you got to give him his props and you got to give Josh McDaniels his props because the offense looks so much better. I don't feel Passing attack. It's back, baby.
Will
Yeah.
Greg Manakis
Crazy stat real quick. Well, I saw some stats, and I don't know if this is an actual stat, but it just came across my feed. Whereas, like, Drake May's completion completion percentage of passes 20 yards down the field is like, 70% and the league average is in, like, the 40s.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah. It's insane.
Greg Manakis
That's nuts.
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, in general, he's completing, like, close to 70 of his passes, period. Like, he's just. He's just balling. He's doing with accuracy, and he's doing it with good decisions. Like, the thing about Drake is, like, going in, you're like, oh, is this guy gonna be a gunslinger? Is he gonna be Bret, where he's just throwing all these crazy interceptions? Like, you know, like, Drake's actually been wildly efficient. Like, I can't even remember the last time he's turned the ball over.
Will
Like, I mean, if you think about this season right now, they're two plays away from being 5 and 1. Right. Like that Pittsburgh game where you turn. You turn the ball over two times, literally at the Madre.
Kyrie Thompson
Fumbles at the goal line.
Greg Manakis
Yeah, right.
Will
And that was, like, one of probably Drake's last picks was that. That tip pass in the end zone. And it's like, you take those two plays and it's. It's. You know, the. Whatever the percentages are of turning the ball over. Right. There are got to be so. And like, you flip those. They're five and one. They're five and one, and they're. They're.
Greg Manakis
They should have beat the Raiders.
Will
Yeah, that's the one game I missed.
Kyrie Thompson
Yeah. Drake threw a pick. They killed them in that one, though.
Will
Yeah. So that's like, the one blemish, Right? So the Raiders game, it's like, all right, fine. That was the blemish. The Steelers game, they dominated minus those five turnovers and specifically those two ones at the goal line. And so that's what's like, you know, like this team's two plays away from being five and one and so. Karina, either give me your thoughts or if you have heard anything, like, for the. The Pats to make. To make up some of the talent deficit. Do you think they make any moves? Is there anything realistic out there that maybe either you've heard or that you just would like to see them do?
Kyrie Thompson
I mean, I would like to see them go get another receiver for Drake, continue to bolster that because the O lines handle it well enough. And I don't know how many blockbuster you trades you see for O lineman. I think they're fine at running back. I think pass rush has actually been really good, and they're really strong up front with Barmore and Mil Williams. Mil Williams has been an absolute beast at corner. They've been solid with Li Gonzalez and Davis, the middle of their defense has been a little soft, a little slow with the linebacking crew. So, you know, I think you go either receiver or middle linebacker. If you're trying to make a deal, the question is like, how much draft capital are you trying to give up? And if you can get a deal for someone who's disgruntled, sold. Because that's if you can get one of these disgruntled diva wide receivers, that's like, I want out of place. X. And you can give up like any.
Will
Any fourth round picks out there for Randy Moss again. Can we get a part two of that?
Kyrie Thompson
Yes. That's what you want. And then it's like you get another big time receiver pairing with Diggs. Now all of a sudden you've got a lot of speed, you got a lot of explosiveness and you got a quarterback and who can hit all those guys.
Greg Manakis
I gotta say, whoever we bring in has to have a name that fits, fits the this crop of receivers that we have because we got some of the best named receivers in the league. Booty Pop Douglas Stefan Diggs. Like, those are some sick ass receiver names, man.
Kyrie Thompson
Heck yeah.
Will
I like it. I like it. I like the excitement that's been brought on this podcast. So K, we appreciate you for joining us and there's really only one way that we can send you out. Damn. Sorry. The be leading scorer, the chief, Kyrie Thompson of Boston.com K, anything you got coming up that you want to promote? Where can people find you? What. What you got in the works here for the next couple weeks?
Kyrie Thompson
Oh, man. Just split my time between the paths and celts. So just follow all my Patriots and Celtics coverage@boston.com. yeah, it'll be interested in following them in Nashville, the Fable return game this weekend and then yeah, I'll see y' all in opening night and hopefully I'll write something cool off of it.
Will
Hell yeah. Appreciate that, Greg. Any final thoughts here before we sign off on this edition of Green with Envy?
Greg Manakis
Bro, I'm telling you, I will buy that plane ticket. I will be there for the next time you play the coaches, you holla at your boy. I'm there. Thank you for joining us again. Car. You're the man.
Will
Let's go, let's go. Celtics opening night Wednesday. Celtics 6 just will be live with a post game podcast afterwards. So as always, make sure you guys are following us on all of our social medias. We'll be live on YouTube and Twitter. Enjoy the start of your week and we will see you on Wednesday night. Let's go. Green. Peace, everybody. No more.
Kyrie Thompson
Until I hit the floor Every time I get this high it's you I find it don't take much no more.
Will
Until I'm at your door.
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Will
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Will
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Podcast Date: October 19, 2025
Hosts: Will & Greg Manakis
Guest: Khari Thompson (Boston.com)
In this lively season preview before the Celtics' opener, Will and Greg are joined by Khari Thompson of Boston.com to break down the upcoming Celtics season (minus Tatum and Porzingis), dig deep into Joe Mazzulla's much-discussed coaches vs. media game, compare baseball and basketball greatness, swap stories from inside the Boston sports media world, and finish with a spirited New England Patriots/Drake Maye update.
[End of Summary]