← Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
Angry Brad Stevens on Adding Players, Mazzulla's Job, How Good Team Really Is
00:39:24
Boston Celtics eye bold roster changes after a disappointing playoff exit. Can Brad Stevens find the missing piece to push the team past the league’s elite? John Karalis of Celtics On SI highlights how the Celtics’ struggles to generate quality shots and attack the rim exposed glaring weaknesses against top defenses like the Philadelphia 76ers and rim protector Joel Embiid. Analysis includes Stevens’ direct admission that Boston lacks the personnel to consistently finish at the rim, sparking speculation about potential additions—could a new center or high-level ball-handler be on the way? The discussion addresses Neemias Queta’s development, roster flexibility under CBA constraints, and Joe Mazzulla’s future after a turbulent postseason. Tom Westerholm joins to break down the coaching staff’s impact and whether Celtics fans are undervaluing the significance of their recent championship. Don’t miss this inside look at Boston’s strategic crossroads and what’s next for their champion...
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A
Foreign podcast Network your team every day. This message is brought to you by Apple Card Spring always feels like a reset, clearing things out, simplifying what you don't need. Apple Card is built with that same idea in mind. No annual fee, no late fees, and no foreign transaction fees. No fees, period. Get started and apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 17.49% to 27.74% based on credit worthiness rates as of January 1, 2026. Existing customers can view their Variable APR in the Wallet app or@card.apple.com Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com hi, this is Wes Goldberg, host
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of Locked on NBA Daily and Locked on Heat. And today's episode is brought to you by by adt.
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It's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one. You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day. And with Discover you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. Seriously, all of it. And we trust you to make smart decisions. After all, you listen to this show see terms@discover.com credit card that's discover.com credit card and now part two of our discussion about Brad Stevens. Talking about the need to get to the rim more and willing to bring somebody in who'll make that happen. Plus Joe Missoula's job. Brazen business and we finished blocked on Celtics pod home of the winners. Peace. Hey there. Welcome back to the show. I am John Corrales. If you missed yesterday's show, that was part one of Brad Stevens extensive he talked for half an hour after the season ended. He talked about everything big major topics in yesterday's podcast including their inability to handle prosperity, their record against good teams and his relationship with Jaylen Brown. That was all yesterday. Today we're going to be talking about Joe Missoula's job in the third segment, we're going to talk about three point shooting and the need to get to the rim in the second segment. And we're going to start with the gap between the regular season and the playoffs. And we're going to do it with Tom Westerholm, everybody. This is so embarrassing, Tom. We're wearing the exact same stuff.
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B
It's very embarrassing. Obviously. Well, listen, I mean, if astute listeners may remember that we're doing these back to back. So if, if people want a little time stamp. This podcast started as Luke Cornett dunked on a guy and then blocked. Dunked on Rudy Gobert. I shouldn't just say a guy dunked on Rudy Gobert and then blocked a shot on the other end. So that's where. That's when this podcast started. The last one started. That's. It's. The last one ended a little after the Sixers and Knicks game ended. So.
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A
Yes. So that's where we are.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So because we're.
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B
You're all welcome. This matters incredibly. Yeah.
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A
Okay. Because Brad said so much, we couldn't just, we couldn't just wrap it up in, in one podcast.
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B
Realistically, if you just played Brad Stevens press conference start to finish, we actually would have finished around 30 minutes for
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A
once, which we never do. It's funny because I was talking to one of the TV sports reporters and she was, she was like, we, Brad had wrapped up. And I said like, so what do you get about a minute and a half to talk about this? And she was like, I get a minute and 20 seconds to talk about Brad and the Bruins in the same story. I was like, I'm gonna do, I think two podcasts on this thing. That's how much he said. That's the difference between TV and all the regular media and then what we get to do. So let's just get right to it.
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B
All right.
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A
We talked about their, their inability to beat the good teams and their, their inability to handle the prosperity. J. King asked the question. I said both Jay and Gary had, I think the two best questions of the press conference. Gary's question was about the prosperity. Here's Jay. I'm including Jay's question about the gap between the regular season and the playoffs. You brought up the record versus the top teams in the league and obviously you lost in the first round. How much of a gap do you feel like there was between the regular season, which made you guys look like one of the favorites, and the reality of this team and how will that guide you going into the off season.
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C
Well, I think, I think it's, It's a, It's a really fair question. And I think you could look at both us and Philly, right? So Philly doesn't have their whole team all year. Paul George gets suspended for 25 games. Embiid plays 30 to 40 games, whatever he plays. And then all of a sudden, game five, middle of the game, it's like, oh, that's, that's, that's a lot of talent on the court on the other side of the floor, and they're a seven seed, right? And so each team has its own story, and each team is, you know, playing at a level that they're at when you get to the playoffs. And so that's why when the playoffs start, you know, if you're fortunate enough to make it, everybody's 0 and 0. And those teams that have had ups and downs get a fresh start. And those teams that have played well all year, they are 002. And so it's a, it's an interesting question simply because I don't want to take. We have to play well in the regular season to get to where we want to go. And so, like, we don't want to undersell the regular season. That said, as. As I look at us, honestly, I think that how we played against the best teams is relevant and should be taken into account as we look at our team moving forward.
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A
So that's the gap. The gap is, hey, we had a nice regular season, but when you play the good teams and, you know, he counts the Sixers, no matter how dismissive I was about the Sixers, he counts the Sixers as. Listen, and you know what? It's fair to say Paul George. Paul George had, like, the most amazing series. I don't even know. I. I made the joke that he was going to shoot like 31% from. From three.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Against the. I don't know what he's shooting. Game two.
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B
I think he was lower than that today because the Knicks as a whole shot 30%.
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A
He shot 5 of 13. You know what? Yeah, but 5 for 13. I mean, I guess that's still a lot. But anyway, that's a lot of shots.
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B
It is 30, 38. It's pretty good.
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A
That's. Yeah. 13 three pointers, though. Live and die by the three, Tom.
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B
Anyway, somebody needs, Somebody needs to go ask Paul George, are you shooting too many threes?
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A
But the gap, the gap between the regular season and the playoffs, that's something that we were worried about. Yeah, we came into this saying, listen, if there are any questions about what this Celtics team's going to be in the playoffs, it's. We haven't seen Keda and Charman and Walsh and Ugo and all those guys. We haven't seen those guys in. In these big moments in the playoffs. Like, yeah, we saw, like, Ron Harper Jr. Started game seven, and everybody's like, all over Joe. We'll talk about that in the third segment. Yeah, but Ron. Ron had two great games against San Antonio and okc. But this is like March regular season, and it's just different in the playoffs. The game planning and the physicality and the officiating and all that stuff. So I think it's important. Brad has talked about in this thing. I think he said, looking at it honestly, like three or four times. And like we said in the last show, you know what's true. What's true about this team is they were good enough to do certain things and not good enough to do other things. And that's why he. Brad brought up unsolicited the record against good teams. So this was very much an offshoot of what he had said before. And it's very clear. It's very clear. He does not believe the Celtics are good enough to beat the good teams. And so they have to do something to improve their team. Whether it's adding a free agent, adding through the draft, or finding somebody else through a trade, he is going to improve this team so they can do that.
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B
Yeah, I think, you know, you look at that, the 20, 24 team that won the title, that team was very clearly good enough to compete for a title. Like, you just, like, even. And obviously they had their struggles in the postseason, too. And, you know, I mean, their postseason run wasn't the most strenuous through the Eastern Conference. Yeah, but you look at that team, and it was like, that is. That is one of the best teams in the NBA. Like, no, like, even before they. Even before the playoff started, you just could look at their roster, look at their results, look at everything, and be like, yep, that's a contender. That's a real one. This year's team always had this kind of, like, are they for real? Like, is this.
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A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really?
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B
Like, it was one of the reasons. I mean, before. Before the playoffs started, I texted you and I was like, I. I kind of think this team is gonna be out early. Like, I. Yeah, I did not have the guts to say that on the podcast. I wish I had in retrospect, but I. But I would have gotten Yelled at a lot. But I. I think that, you know, like, this. The untested nature of this team, like, it really. I don't know, it, like, it really showed how untested they were from the regular season, right? They. You can be a really professional, like, good team in the regular season, because I think that's one of the things that's always distinguished the Celtics over the last couple years is during the regular season, they pick up these. These wins on. On nights where it's like, some teams might slip up, but during the regular season, the Celtics do really well. It just kind of like, nah, we're just. This. This is a bad team. We're gonna be. We're just gonna go out there, we're gonna rack up wins, and we're gonna beat them. And then when the postseason rolls around, it's just so different, right? It's. It's. All of your weaknesses are just on full display. And that was one of the biggest problems, was that the Celtics had weaknesses, and those got exploited so much. That was the thing that really set them apart in 2024. Is it what weaknesses, Real, true weaknesses did that team have? You couldn't attack any of them one on one. They could attack you one on one really well. This year's team had defensive weaknesses, and it had, you know, like, problems like that had offensive holes and just stuff that. That wasn't quite right. And that. That's where the regular season stuff. That stuff doesn't show up because you can just try hard and win a lot of regular season games if you've got a good roster. But, like, a good but flawed roster that tries hard can win a lot in the regular season. A good but flawed roster in the playoffs gets exposed. And that's at least part of what happened, I think.
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A
Yeah. Yeah. Now, the other part of what happened is that the Celtics could not generate the types of shots that they wanted to generate. And because the Sixers found a way to keep the Celtics off the glass, the Celtics weren't able to pile up second chance points. Like, one of the ways the Celtics won 56 games was on bad shooting nights. They were able to crash the glass, get a ton of offensive rebounds, and even when they shot 30% from three, they had a chance to win because Baylor and Luca Garza and all those guys would just come in and Nene would come in and just grab a bunch of offensive rebounds, get put back some fouls, and they would find a way to score. Celtics were under 100 points, what, four times in that series. Because their first shot offense was terrible and they had no chance to get second chance points, which is part of what Brad talked about when he was asked about the three point shooting. Which is what we're going to get to when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by Quo. It's the number one business phone system out there because you know missed calls and slow follow ups are silent killers for businesses. That leaves money on the table and you don't even realize it. So that's why today's show is brought to you by Quo. Spelled Q U O. It's a business communication system built so you never miss a call. The reason why it's the best is because everything lives in one clean thread. There's no missed communication between the team and I know as a customer when I call and I get two different messages from two different people, that's an easy way to lose my business. Quill helps you keep every conversation organized by letting your entire team manage the calls and texts from one shared number. No more drop messages, missed opportunities or disconnected communication. The whole team sees the conversation so nothing falls through the cracks and it just makes your your business feel more organized and responsive. So money's on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus you get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com lockdown NBA that's Qu-.com LockedOnNBA Today's show is also brought to you by Prize Picks. The regular season has wrapped up and now we're in the second round of the playoffs and there's no better way to get even more out of all all of the high flying action then Prize Picks. A preferred partner of the NBA. Every bucket, every dime, every big performance means more when you're building your lineups on Prize Picks. Prize Picks is simple to play. You just pick more or less on 2 to 6 players stat projections and if your picks are right you can cash in. You can also choose from your favorite sports too. Other favorite sports, not just basketball, baseball, hockey, UFC, soccer and more. And it's available in all 50 states. So start building your lineups around your favorite players in the playoffs, picking more or less on points and assists and it honestly makes every game more exciting to watch. Features things like Flex Play because with Flex Play you can get a payout even if one of your picks misses. Make sure to check out all the live players picks during games and you know which adds another layer to the playoff experience. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use the code locked on NBA to get 50 in lineups after you play your first five dollar lineup. That's code locked on NBA to get 50 $50 in lineups after you play your 1st five dollar lineup. Prize picks Preferred Partner of the NBA thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Being with me every Monday through Friday, plus those bonus podcasts when I'm dropping those during the week. The show is available Everywhere. It's on YouTube. Get into the comments section and share your thoughts there. Join me every day. I'm John Corrales. I cover the Celtics for Sports illustrated Celtics on SI. I've been covering the team for 20 years. I've been doing this podcast for 10. I've also written a couple of books about the team. So I feel like I got a good handle on the Boston Celtics. Tom Westerholm, we used to work together at Mass Live, so I know Tom has a pretty good handle on the Celtics. Yeah, listen man, I'm trying to be complimentary, being a good teammate, so. All right. So Brad was asked about the three point shooting and acknowledged, listen, it's not just about the three point shooting. It's about each individual shot. And so you got to judge each shot on its own merits. However, he said we do need to get to the rim more. And this is where he might have dropped his most interesting little nugget of the press conference.
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C
I think it's really fair and we need to look at everything and I think that's, that's going to be the charge. The other thing that we haven't been done this early in a while and so there's, you know, there's, there's time to do deep dives and it's really important that we all do them. I will say that I look at more each shot individually and my, my general feeling watching us play in really each of the last two playoffs in the second round against New York, even against Orlando in the first round was we had a hard time generating really good looks on that first shot. So we got to figure out a way to do, to do better in that. And I think that that's, you know, again, I think that one of the things that we've got to figure out is how to, how to have more, more of an impact at the rim. And I think we need, we do need to add to our team to do that. So I think that there's, you know, it's, it's, everybody plays a role in that. But you know, at the end of that game, you know, embiid is standing at the rim on all those possessions or a lot of those possessions. Right. And so I thought the shots we took, with the exception of Jalen's top of the key 3 and the 1 where you got in the middle of the lane and then. And then Peyton's open shot, I thought they were really well defended. I thought we struggled to get to where we wanted to go on offense a lot of the series, but particularly in those last four games when those four perimeter defenders, who are all very good, had Embiid standing behind him.
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A
So we have to add a player to be able to get to the rim. That's pretty. Pretty flat out Stark. We do not have the personnel in this situation to get us to the rim the way we need to get to the rim. And to me, Tom, I know we were talking before and he had a little bit of a disagreement. To me, that sounds like it's a center. To me, that sounds like we're looking at somebody because we're talking about Joel Embiid. He brought up Embiid a couple of times and how much better he made the defenders in the perimeter. I think that's like, we need a pick and pop guy. We need somebody that would draw an Embiid or look, a Jalen Duran and Evan Mobley. We go down the line of all of the teams the Celtics are gonna have to get through to get to the NBA Finals in the next two, three, four years. There are a lot of guys that are rim protectors there. To me, this is Brad saying, I am going to go get a center, and I am going to go get us a guy who can draw the rim protectors out of the paint.
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B
I think that's a. I think that's a very valid way of listening to that quote. To me, I. I kept going back to the last time that the Celtics were able to generate the types of shots that they wanted to generate, right? And that was when they were able to, you know, especially in that series against the Mavericks, right. They got whatever they wanted by attacking Luca and by getting past him off the dribble. And that was whether that was in the pick and roll, whether that was just attacking him one on one and creating the two on ones that. That. That Missoula loves to talk about. Yeah, like that. That. That comes from. Those looks. Come from a ball handler. And look, Tatum, Jalen, these guys can. Can do that in the right context, but they didn't in this series. And there were guys that, you know, I mean, like, you know, Brad was right like the Sixers have a lot of athletes. That's true. But the fact that the Celtics struggled so much to, to, to get, you know, I mean like they got some good looks. They missed. I guess the, the, what really happened was the Celtics missed a lot of shots and they like, they talked after every game like, oh, I like the shots we got. There were good looks that they missed for sure. But I think it could go either way. I, I, I hear what you're saying about, you know, the mentions of Embiid and then the center and drawing them out. I think all that is, is definitely valid, but I also think it's, yeah, I mean look, there's the Celtics. Getting to the rim is so important for the Celtics to generate the looks that they want to get, for them to get these threes that they want to get to jump start that, that, that, that kind of wheel around the outside of the, the outside of the, the three point line that offense starts when you create that two on one, when you create these four on threes, whatever it is, that starts when, when you can beat your, the first guy. And you know that that can start at the point of attack too.
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A
So 100. It could be both. It could just be both. It could be both. Yeah, he said we have to add to the team. He didn't say I'm adding one player. Yeah, they have to add to the team.
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B
He said we're looking at everything.
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A
Yeah, no, for real, like this is, it's, it's going to be a kind of wild off season and at some point, you know, one of these, one of these podcasts will be kind of like a real breakdown of if they're going to use the full mid level and if they want to use the traded player exception. That also includes trading away some of the guys who are here. Right. There's just to give a little brief overview. You can't have all of these guys here and use the full mid level and use the traded player exception because using the full mid level hard caps you at the first apron and using all that stuff puts you over the first apron.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So even if they decide to pay the tax and use all of this stuff, there's, you have to trade away a Sam Houser as part of this to get 10 millions off. 10 million off. So you can bring in whatever millions that you're bringing in. So it's, it's not as easy as oh, the Celtics have all these tools they can use. They still have to do other things. And so that's where the evaluation, what do you want? What's the truth? How do you get there? Like the what do you want and how you get there part involves more maneuvering. This is, Brad's not just going to be like, hey guys, we also have mid levels, you know, Anthony Simons, you know, all of these 20 million dollar guys going to now be like 15 million dollar guys because they're making, they're gonna, they're. No one's gonna pay them the 20, they're just gonna pay them mid level. So anyway, it could be both. It could be both. Is, is, is the answer. But for him to flat out like Brad never is as honest as he's been. Like, he's like, we are adding a player. The only way to. We need to fix this. And the only way to fix it is to add a player. We do not have the guy or guys that we need on this roster to get to the rim the way that we need to. That is a very direct thing for Brad Stevens to say. And hey, listen, if I'm currently on the Celtics, I'd be like, man, that's rough. Yeah, that's rough. And yeah, because every roster spot is full.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So somebody ain't coming back. I mean, sorry, it's going to start with Delano Banton and you know what I mean? Like Amari Williams is going to get, they're not going to pick up the team option. He's going to go back on a two way. Max Shoga is going to not going to pick up a team option. He's going to go on a two way. So there are going to be rosters.
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B
I know we disagreed about this too. After his press conference. I will be stunned. Stunned if Vucevich is on the team next year.
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A
Also that yes, I agree on that point as well. I don't think Vuch is coming back. I don't think that's that. Listen, Vuch was supposed to talk in the, in the exit interviews. He did not. And so I think that's done.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So yeah, everybody wants to talk about Joe Missoula's job. Brad Stevens talked about Joe Missoula's job. We will talk about Joe Missoula's job when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by Door Dash. We got the postseason in full swing and Door Dash has a way to keep you in your bag the whole way through. Whether you're watching the highlights, the tunnel fits or just your favorite player. Doordash makes the entire postseason more fun because every player has their bag and with DoorDash, you have one too. DoorDash keeps your snacks stocked, your gear fresh, and your watch party vibes absolutely on point. There are nights where your team just stresses you out. We know that fairly well here. So a little post game therapy, a little dessert, a box of cookies coming to your door by, you know, order that in the fourth quarter. No problem. DoorDash has you covered. If the group chat says pull up, DoorDash can make sure you show up prepared. You can get even things like snacks and cups and a phone charger for a friend who's always at 2%. So from tip off to overtime, stay in your bag in order on DoorDash. Get snacks, drinks, gear, whatever gets you through the season delivered right to your door. DoorDash in your bag all season long. Today's show is also brought to you by indeed. With workplace chaos and deadlines stacking up, inboxes overflowing, that one position you have to fill is still sitting there open. Pressure is on and this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. It helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. The skills, experience and location. You're just sitting there hoping. Why would you just sit in the hope for the right candidate to come stumbling across your post? No, you want Indeed Sponsored Jobs because that will help you spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes in this minute that I'm talking to you. Companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed according to Indeed Data Worldwide. So spend less time searching, more time actually interviewing these candidates who check all those boxes. It's less time, less stress and more results for you. With Indeed Sponsored Jobs. You will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast. Go there right now and support the show by saying you heard about it here. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day and now you never miss an episode. So let's make it official. Join the Lockdown every day or club. Get ad free audio access to our members only. Discord and more. All built for you, our most loyal fan. Go to lockdown celtics.supercast.com lockdownceltics.supercast.com and join the Lockdown Celtics community. All right Tom, the last big topic here was Joe Missoula and the job that he did. Lots of just crazy reactions to Joe. It's DID people. It's the knee jerk Every time they lose, it's fire. Joe. I thought we were past it. I know. That's me. That's on me.
- [29:13]
B
That's on you.
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A
It really is on me. Here's. Here's. Here's Brad Stevenson. Joe.
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C
Yeah. I mean, I think, first of all, I know how hard that job is, and I know all that goes into it, and I know he and his staff are putting everything they can into it. And, you know, when I say that we struggled to get by, I think that's his again. That's. We need to add to our team. So I think our coaching staff, like all of us, can continue to improve and get better. That said, I think they're very good, and we need to continue to provide them the resources to grow and, and to get better and to continue to be the best that we can be. I think, you know, again, I don't think we can ignore. And certainly, again, it's like, can't ignore anything good and the bad. But there were. There was a lot of growth this year, and, and I thought that there was a lot of things that we can build off of. Even though the ending was disappointing,
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A
I, I think that's 100% fair. And, you know, look, this is where we do have to be fair. Brad Stevens talked about all the fair questions. He must have said that's fair five times. Let's be fair to Joe. He was not given. He was not given great players. They developed players and made them into the things that we expected. So we have to go back to the beginning of last season and say Namish Kana was not expected to be a legitimate starting center, and now he is. Do they have to upgrade that spot? Maybe. But either way, the fact that he's even in the conversation as a starting center is an amazing progression. Baylor, Scheireman, Jordan Walsh, like, we were out on Jordan Walsh and now he's like, he could be a starter next year. That's not out of the question. Ugo Gonzalez comes in and is. Is, even though he fell out of the rotation, was really good, and it's
- [31:33]
B
going to be better than Derek White
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A
is going to be the best player on this team in like two months now. So listen, the coaching staff is part of the reason why the expectations were so high, correct?
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B
Yes.
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A
And so you have to give them that credit. The coaching staff also made mistakes and they did not have the best counter to Joel Embiid. That is also fair. No one's going to sit here and be like, Joe Missoula really coached a hell Of a series. No. Right. Like every coach, every good coach, like, you can't fire every coach that's like, oh, man, that was, that was not his best series.
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B
Yeah. You know, you don't Ben Shooter, you know.
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A
Right.
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B
Well, you don't bet a shooter when they miss some threes.
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A
It's 100. Right. Like, you, you can't be like, oh, man, he didn't go to these guys. What are you talking about? He's the one who developed these guys.
- [32:38]
B
Yeah.
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A
He's the one who knows what all of these guys are about. So did he. Should he have gone to a couple of them maybe a little bit sooner? Sure. That's a totally fair thing to say, but. Okay. Give him some better players as well. This is a growing moment for everybody, like Brad said. So I obviously have always had a very high opinion of Joe Missoula. He is going to be the coach of the year, no doubt in my mind, the way things are shaking out. He's, he's going to be the coach of the year, deservedly so. And this, this one bad series, when you consider the players that he had, I think Brad, in that quote, to me, is it. He's understanding that, yes, we all need to improve. That's fair. But come on, like, I gotta give him, I gotta give him a couple more dudes before we start. Before we start going down the road of like, oh, man, is he really, is he really as good as he think as we think he is?
- [33:44]
B
Yeah, yeah. Before his heat, before his seat starts getting warm. I think he's got to get some more guys in there. No, I, I agree with you completely. I think, you know, I thought Missoula had a really bad playoffs, you know, like, that's, that's stakes, you know. Oh, well, like, it's, I think that he had a really excellent regular season. He's gotten this team quite far in the postseason several times when he had really good players on his team. Right. Won a championship. I, I think it's, I, I, I kind of as an aside, but related to this, I think it's kind of wild, the level to which we, like, people are sort of like, I think the, you know, just kind of pushing that championship that they won to the side. They want a title. Like, that's, you know, you cannot just like, like kind of shuffle that away because it's inconvenient for the narrative that you want to, you know, like, that they won a freaking title two years ago. Like, that's quite recent. A year and a half ago. Right. So far, right. There's only been one. There's only been one championship winner since the Celtics won a title right now. So you can't just shuffle that to the side and like. Yeah. I think. I think Joe had a tough playoff series. I think he could have done a lot of things better. I'm sure, you know, he will. I'm sure he's watched the tape and has would, you know, probably come to the same conclusion. All that aside, this was not a championship level team. I think that's what we learned. And I think that's, you know, I mean, they tricked us for a while. Joe was a big part of the reason that we were tricked, like you said. Right. That's. That's part of the reason that we thought that this team had these. This, this very unrealistically high ceiling was because Joe Missoula made them, like, helped
- [35:33]
A
them look really victim of his own success.
- [35:36]
B
Yeah. Like, don't. Like as. Like, he certainly wouldn't be the first coach of the year to be fired after winning it. Like, that has happened.
- [35:45]
A
Yeah.
- [35:45]
B
Before, but it's not gonna happen in this instance. I, I don't think it's. I don't think that we're particularly close to that outcome.
- [35:52]
A
Extended.
- [35:53]
B
Yeah, like, we're. Again, he wouldn't be the first coach to get fired after getting extended either, but.
- [35:59]
A
Right.
- [35:59]
B
The point is that Joe is really good and had a really good year. Right. Like, had a bad playoff run, but had a really good regular season. Has had, you know, like, has had his struggles in the playoffs at times. Sure, fine, whatever. But he's a good coach, and he's a coach that these players, you know, like, respect the organization likes and respects.
- [36:20]
A
Yeah.
- [36:20]
B
It's. It's a good situation. And again, I cannot stress this enough. As of recording, only one team has won a championship since Joe Missoula won a championship.
- [36:29]
A
Yeah, it's pretty recent. And like.
- [36:32]
B
It's pretty recent.
- [36:33]
A
It's pretty recent. We really do need to. Can we just get past some of this. These, The. This notion of, like, well, you really need two championships. Like, it. So it's so hard. Like, no team repeats anymore. There's like, maybe OKC will do it this year. But even that, it's so tough. Like, why people are so dismissive of a championship is beyond me. Like, you can't. How can you not enjoy a championship anymore? You just. I remember, was it Bill Simmons who had like, the, the kind of like the. Like, you. When you win a championship, you get like a. A five Year buffer of you. You. You get, like, some leeway after you win a championship.
- [37:28]
B
Yeah.
- [37:29]
A
And I think that's actually true. Like, when you win a championship, that there should be, like, a. Just. Okay, just won it. We know what the history is. It's going to be, like, up and down a little bit. Maybe you win it again in a couple years and, you know, take the. The CBA into account. Like, all of that stuff which Brad referenced in this press conference. I don't know, man. Like, just so many people. I. I swear, I think this is just, like, social media.
- [37:57]
B
Yeah.
- [37:57]
A
It's just the people are on
- [38:02]
B
you.
- [38:03]
A
You. You have to make, like, these big, crazy statements, and I don't even think people realize they're making it for social media anymore. But, like, the only way to get any attention anymore is to be big and bold and brash, and people just, like, aft not even two full seasons after winning a championship, after winning 56 games with a roster that we knew coming into the season wasn't a championship roster, people immediately like, oh, my God, this was a disappointing end. Fire. Fire Joe, Come on, man. Like, that. You really.
- [38:42]
B
That's.
- [38:43]
A
You're just gonna go to that. You can't even build up to it. You're just like, come on, I'm gonna end on this. I tweeted something out, and somebody's like, oh, it must be nice to always be, like, feel like there's, you know, waking up the sunshine every day. I'm like, actually, yeah, like, it must. Must really suck to not feel like there's a positive in things, that sometimes a couple of things might go wrong, but it doesn't mean everything that happened before that now was suddenly bad. I'm like, it's a criticism. You're criticizing me for being happy about things. Is that. Is that really how this is anymore? Because let me tell you, I got to get that better help code out there again because people need some therapy, man. If. If your. If your criticism is, wow, it must be nice to find the good in things. Like, yeah, it actually is nice to be able to find, like, oh, this thing just went bad. Okay, that sucks. But, like, most of this stuff was good. And, like, it's like, oh, my God, my dessert. My dessert wasn't great, but now the entire meal sucks. Like, no, I had a very good meal and a bad dessert. Like, I'm leaving the restaurant on a bad note, and, like, that. That really sucks. But I also just had a really good meal, and, like, 80% of my night was great. And, like, Okay, I had a bad dessert and I got into a fight with my wife. Doesn't change the fact that I had a great meal up to that. And like, I know the whole night might feel ruined, but it really wasn't that bad.
- [40:20]
B
Yeah, no, for sure. As always, the takeaway here on the Locked On Celtics podcast is go to therapy, man.
- [40:29]
A
Therapy is great.
- [40:30]
B
It's pretty good.
- [40:32]
A
All right, Tom. Appreciate you, man. As always, appreciate you. And I do appreciate you listening. We 80 minutes of podcasting on 30 minutes of Joe, I mean, Brad Stevens talking to the media. And frankly, we could do more, but this is the Friday show and you know what? I've earned that dinner with my wife and that dessert and we're gonna make it through the whole dinner just fine. So thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy whatever's coming next with the Celtics because it's just basketball, folks. It's the not that serious. Thank you for sharing the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It's your team every day. This podcast is brought to you by Colgate Total. We take oral health as seriously as you take sports. That's why Colgate Total Active Prevention uses advanced technology to help prevent oral health problems like cavities and gingivitis before they start. It's clinically proven to provide 24 hour antibacterial protection with twice daily brushing after four weeks of use. So get a winning routine and prevent oral health problems before they start shop. Colgate Total Active Prevention At a retailer
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