Boston Celtics starters REVEALED? | Joe Mazzulla's MAGIC TOUCH with players

Summary

Locked On Celtics – “Boston Celtics Starters REVEALED? | Joe Mazzulla's MAGIC TOUCH with Players”

Host: John Karalis (Boston Sports Journal)
Guest: Tom Westerholm
Date: October 3, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the unique coaching style of Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, highlighting his unorthodox methods for building team chemistry and trust, notably through activities like spike ball in practice. Hosts John Karalis and Tom Westerholm piece together clues from team social media and practice footage to reveal the likely preseason starting lineup for the Boston Celtics. The discussion weaves together insight on Mazzulla’s player relationships, coaching clarity, how he manages egos, and breaks down what to expect from this group heading into preseason.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Joe Mazzulla’s Team-Building Methods & “Magic Touch”

(Starts roughly at 03:00)

• Spike Ball at Practice:
  • Mazzulla uses activities like spike ball to create instant partnerships and foster communication among players.
  • Tom Westerholm: “The key to spike ball is angles... you gotta be unpredictable. I’m sure these are all things that Joe likes.” [04:04]
  • John Karalis compares it to Karate Kid’s ‘wax on, wax off’: “You don’t realize that the spike ball stuff is... Oh, wow. We’re actually incorporating spike ball concepts into what we’re doing.” [04:38]
• Building Micro-Connections:
  • By rotating partners and games (previously relays, football, etc.), Mazzulla creates many “micro connections” throughout the roster.
  • Tom Westerholm: “You’re making little memories with spike ball… just creating these little, these little connections.” [07:06]
• Purpose & Impact:
  • Such “silly” games at the NBA level show Mazzulla’s grasp on what the team needs for camaraderie and morale.
  • Karalis emphasizes: “Joe has a real good grasp on just what the team needs in the moment.” [08:06]
• Offbeat Coach Persona:
  • Mazzulla is not just all intensity: “He’s not just Mr. All Intensity Predator, you know, prey, whatever… he’s got it set up so that his guys can have a good time.” [09:25]

2. The Mazzulla Relationship Factor

(Starts at 13:00)

• Deep Personal Connect:
  • Mazzulla is known for going beyond player/coach boundaries: “He’s come over… been at my house and played with my kids.” [13:29]
  • He attends important personal milestones for players (e.g., Chris Boucher’s baptism), signaling genuine investment.
  • John Karalis recounts: “Now think about being Chris Boucher… you’re just joining a team… and then your coach shows up… How many people are showing up for that?” [17:40]
• Coaching with Care and Clarity:
  • Mazzulla tailors his motivational tactics by building a dossier on each player, knowing who needs pressure versus support.
  • “Joe is always gathering a dossier on people, and so he knows who can take it, who can't take it. How do I treat this guy?” [13:57]
• Trust-Based Accountability:
  • Players accept tough feedback because they trust Mazzulla’s intentions.
  • “When you know this guy actually cares about you personally, the stuff that he says to you in practice doesn’t matter because... it’s coming from a straight basketball place.” [18:16]
• Clarity Over Common Sense:
  • Mazzulla’s strength is “clarity in how to communicate with people... and in who he is.” [20:04]
  • Tom Westerholm: “That clarity is so strong for Mazzulla that it then shows up as super… just very real, you know, like, very authentic to... who it impacts.” [20:35]

3. Starting Lineup Sleuthing: Piecing Together Preseason Five

(Begins at 24:24)

• Methodology:
  • Using Celtics practice footage/social posts, they deduced the likely starting lineup by looking at who wore green (starters) vs. white (reserves).
• Probable Preseason Starters:
  • Peyton Pritchard
  • Derrick White
  • Jalen Brown
  • Sam Hauser
  • Neemias Queta (Nami Escada) [as cited from video breakdown]
• Supporting Evidence:
  • Sam Hauser’s starting record cited—“32 and 8 as a starter”—and recent high praise from Mazzulla lend further credibility. [25:00]
• Hosts’ Reaction:
  • Westerholm calls it a “weird starting lineup.” [26:08]
    • “You got Queta out there, and it’s not like Hauser’s particularly speedy. You don’t think of Sam Hauser as a ‘get the ball and go’ guy.”
  • Both stress that no combination felt “normal” given the roster’s odd blend and depth. Rotation will likely be fluid.

4. Lineup Fluidity, Egos, and Mazzulla’s Button-Pushing

(Begins at 27:20)

• Earning Opportunities:
  • Emphasis on rewarding long-standing contributors like Pritchard and Hauser; “You’ve been here, you’ve put in the work, you have earned this opportunity.” [28:17]
• Managing Egos / Communication:
  • Because of his relationship-building, Mazzulla can adjust roles without causing friction, explaining moves using data or on-court logic.
  • “Because Joe has these relationships with these guys, you can do that. So... just because it’s the starting lineup... there's no reason to think that by November, December, January… we might be doing podcasts on how many different starting lineups the Celtics have.” [30:05]
• Roster Oddities:
  • The groupings feel “odd” now, but will evolve as roles and chemistry settle—signaling that flexibility is expected all season.

5. Sam Hauser’s Expanded Role & Celtics Offensive Philosophy

(Begins at 31:32)

• Player Development:
  • Hauser acknowledges he may need to act as a pick-and-roll handler and secondary creator, not just a shooter.
  • Sam Hauser (via media day quote referenced): “I might be in situations like a ball screen... or a second side action where I’m handling and I have to make the right decision, or it’s a pass, a shot, whatever it may be. I’m excited for that.” [31:32]
• Team Offense Outlook:
  • Expect a high-pace, side-to-side attack, with bigs needing to be in elite shape, wings making decisions, and more duties for traditional spot-up shooters.
  • “If the offense runs the way it’s supposed to, it’s going to be heavy side to side, multiple attacks… if you can’t run a pick and roll and make a good decision, you’re not going to play.” [33:35]

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Noteworthy Quotes & Moments

• On Joe Mazzulla’s Approach — John Karalis:
  “It’s very Mr. Miyagi Karate Kid. You don’t realize that ‘paint the fence’... is another [defensive] move. You don’t realize that the spike ball stuff is... Oh, wow. We’re actually incorporating spike ball concepts.” [04:38]
• On the importance of connection — Tom Westerholm:
  “You’re making little memories with spike ball… creating these little micro connections.” [07:06]
• Mazzulla’s care for players — John Karalis:
  “Now think about being Chris Boucher… then your coach shows up [to your baptism]… that’s your inner circle. His family, and then his new head coach, who has known him for like, a day… and now he’s there, and you’re like, damn, this dude is in it.” [17:40]
• On the ephemeral nature of the starting lineup — John Karalis:
  “There’s no reason to think that by November… we might be doing podcasts on how many different starting lineups the Celtics have.” [30:05]
• On pace without transition — John Karalis:
  “I don’t even know they’re going to be a big transition team… you can be a good pace team without transition.” [32:16]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Team-Building with Spike Ball: 03:00–09:30
• Mazzulla’s Relationship Skills & Coaching Style: 13:00–21:40
• Preseason Lineup Sleuthing & Analysis: 24:24–30:15
• Player Development & Team Offense Talk: 31:32–34:40

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Takeaway

This episode highlights how Joe Mazzulla’s authenticity, connection, and creative leadership are critical for maximizing buy-in on a roster full of talent and competing egos. By investing in the human side, Mazzulla sets the tone for on-court confidence, role clarity, and adaptability—key in a year where the Celtics’ lineups remain in flux and player responsibilities expand. The coaching “magic touch” is about relationship-driven leadership and clear communication—qualities that, paired with the right X’s and O’s, prime the Celtics for another high-level campaign.

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Transcript

[John Corrales]

It's the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because MultiCare has been here guided by a single purpose, making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn [e-mail] When's the last time you got something that was fast, reliable and affordable? Like almost never, right? Well, US Cellular Home Internet is breaking that streak.

[Tom Westerholm]

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[Tom Westerholm]

What's up?

[John Corrales]

I'm good, man, I'm good. You know, we're a few days away from preseason games.

[Tom Westerholm]

So crazy.

[John Corrales]

This is like, I was like happy to be back and happy for media day, like, okay, we're good. And then you're like, okay, we still can't see everything that's happening, so we gotta wait for preseason games. But the, the Celtics social team, between your tick tocks and your Instagrams and tweets and youtubes, you can piece together a lot of the things that are happening in practice. I, I gotta start with spike ball. Tom, you spike ball guy.

[Tom Westerholm]

I, I, I've, I've dabbled. Yeah. I, I mean, you know, I live in, I live in a beach town now. You know, spike ball's a nice thing to, to bring to the beach and play a little bit. It's a, it's a pretty, it's a good time.

[John Corrales]

Seems like a fun. I've never played spike ball.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, I mean, the key to, the key to spike ball is angles. It's all about you gotta, you gotta hit the angles. I mean, you know, you gotta, you gotta be unpredictable. I'm sure these are all things that Joe likes, is that like the key to spike ball is to like really, you know, like you can hammer it as hard as you want, but if you hit that thing hard, straight down onto the net, it's gonna go super high. The other team's gonna have a real good chance to, to get to it. You're way better off just, just being sneaky by like, you know, doing some tricky stuff like be, be unpredictable, be ungovernable. That's, that's the key.

[John Corrales]

It's funny to me because, you know, Joe's always using like these crazy, like he, he, what was he doing last year? I know he had a football and they had like other crazy little games and stuff. And he's always looking for something to kind of get the guys going. Watching these spike ball videos, I'm like, you know, this is actually, not only is it like a good warm up, good camaraderie, you know, gets the competitive juices flowing. This actually seems like a hell of a drill for basketball yeah, he's like, you said, like, you, you. You're sliding. You have to Blake on your toes. You have to read what the defense, what the other guy's doing with the ball. You have to, like, react quickly, communicate with your teammate, and it's just a lot of like, yeah. Unpredictable, you know, what does the situation call for it? It's. Oh, it's very Mr. Miyagi Karate Kid. You don't realize that you wax on, wax off is a defensive, you know, karate move. And you don't realize that, you know, paint the fence and all that stuff is, you know, another. You don't realize that the spike ball stuff is. Oh, wow. We're actually incorporating spike ball concepts into what we're doing, but it really is a. An interesting way, a Joe Missoula way to. To get these guys kind of used to moving with one another and working with one another. It's kind of cool.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's cool because, you know, part of it, right, is like, you. You have these instant groups, right? Like, you're grouped immediately. Like, it's like, okay, this is, this is a. This is now your partner. You need to. You need to learn how to communicate. Like you said, you need to learn how to communicate with this person. You need to learn how to work with this person. And hey, if you win with this person, you have that little bit of. That little bit of dopamine, right? You got that little bit of like, oh, I remember. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I might not know Garza super well, but I did win not, not just one, but two rounds of spike ball with that man. You know what? That guy's okay. That guy's okay. Like, it's a. You know, we were just talking yesterday, like Jaylen, you know, he's like, oh, like, I'm sad to be missing my guys. Sad to be missing my, the teammates. It's like, well, this is a good way. Yeah, like, for.

[John Corrales]

For sure.

[Tom Westerholm]

Fair. I mean, you know, those were guys that you, you played football with last year. Like, you know, these are, these are guys that you made memories with over the last couple years, but in a small, little way, in kind of a, you know, a get started way. You're making little memories with spike ball. Like, you're. You're just kind of creating these little, these little connections, these little micro connections.

[John Corrales]

It was the baton talk, the baton handoff that I was thinking of last year. Right? I forgot about the four by four. Like, that was the baton again.

[Tom Westerholm]

Again, little micro connections. I mean, in a literal Sense there, right? Because it's like you're literally like you are holding the baton and then somebody else is holding the baton. Like you're you. Yeah, yeah. Little micro connections.

[John Corrales]

It's. It's funny that at this level, at the NBA level, something silly like spike ball is kind of exactly what a team like this needs. And these. All these little things, right? It's. It's any team building thing. You see, guys, you go bowling.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Little movie. You know, you find these situations. I think it does show. Joe has a real good grasp on just what the team needs in the moment. And like, I gotta ask him, like, we're gonna have practice on Friday. What made you think spike ball was the way to go and start your practices now? You know, And. And like, was he at a beach and he saw people playing spike ball? He was like, aha. Ah, that's it. So it's. It's just wild to me that I never would have thought that, like, you know, whatever. What are they gonna do that frisbee game next? What's that? The one. The frisbee with the barrel.

[Tom Westerholm]

Oh, can jam.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah. Why not?

[Tom Westerholm]

That.

[John Corrales]

Why not? Sure.

[Tom Westerholm]

I mean, you know, find some, you know, find some baskets. Bring in a little. A little disc golf next year.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Put around the facility, you know?

[John Corrales]

You know.

[Tom Westerholm]

All right, the next one is up underneath the banners on the walkway. You got to get it up onto the walkway.

[John Corrales]

Like just a big frisbee golf thing. As soon as you walk in the door at the RBAC center, here's your Frisbee. There's the target. Go.

[Tom Westerholm]

So much fun.

[John Corrales]

It would be fun, honestly.

[Tom Westerholm]

I mean, spike ball would be fun, you know, like, it's funny, right? Because it's like, when you think Missoula, you think about a guy who does like, you know, he's like, he likes to fight, he likes his martial arts. You know, he's like about. You know, you're thinking about a guy who. Super intense. Always talking about, like, predators in the animal world, but like, also, you know, it's early in the season. He's. These guys are gonna be. He's got it set up so that his guys can have a good time. Like, yeah, it's not. He's not just. He's not just Mr. All Intensity Predator, you know, prey, whatever, whatever. Like, it's not just that.

[John Corrales]

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[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's funny, right? Because, like, Missoula would be. I mean, I think Missoula would be good at a lot of jobs if he was, like, interested in them. You know, he seems to be a guy who, like, when. When something piques his interest, he really gets, you know, very interested in it. But I think, you know, you'd probably make a pretty good journalist, right? He likes to, like, find stuff out.

[John Corrales]

Oh, sure.

[Tom Westerholm]

You know, he likes to. He likes to get little. Little tidbits about people. That seems to be a kind of a thing. But. Yeah, I mean, I think. I think that seems to be. It's funny that that's so unique, you know, that. That, like, all these coaches out there, and it's like, you know, why is. What Missoula. A lot of times, what Missoula does, it sounds. It feels like common Sense, you know, it's like, like, oh, like, wow. Missoula really, like, you know, he looked at his, at his roster and saw a bunch of three point shooters. Like, wow, is it real, real genius level stuff to like, turn him into a three point shooting team? But like, yeah, like, that makes sense. Like, some of this stuff feels like common sense. It feels like common sense for the head coach of an NBA team to, to spend a lot of time getting to know the, the players on such a personal level. But I mean, he clearly, he has a gift for it, right? Like, that's part of it, clearly. He is, he is. He's good at it beyond, I think, probably the normal level, but. But it is funny when you just kind of say it out loud to just be like, oh, man, you know, Missoula's. Missoula. He's just so good at getting to know guys and it's like, yeah, yeah, don't you. Doesn't that sound like, you know, kind of common sense?

[John Corrales]

But that, that's the beauty of it, because he, he's. He's not encumbered by how he thinks he should act. And I think this is, I think this is his worldview. You know, you. You hear on the radio on 98. 5, and they start asking him a bunch of questions, like, is it, you know, the one about Tatum where they're like, is there, is there, you know, a timeline for his return? And he's like, well, don't we all have timelines for our return? Like, like, he's, he just gets rid of a lot of the sports kind of pretense from every question that we, we give him and that, listen, when I'm asking him questions, like, I know that he, he doesn't buy into a lot of the canned premises of a lot of questions, right? And you know, he, he's not, he's not like that. And that allows him to do this stuff. When you say it's common sense, you're like, yeah, not enough people have common sense. It's the, the very simple. You know what? I'm just gonna. I'm gonna go hang out with Jalen Brown and go to one of his things. I'm gonna go hang out with Derek White and go to something. You know, I'm gonna go to his house and play with his kids, whatever.

[Tom Westerholm]

I mean, how excited do you think he was to go to a baptism? Like, he must have been.

[John Corrales]

I mean, like, honestly, knowing Joe, he was probably very, like, that might have been summer.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, absolutely.

[John Corrales]

But, like, but now think about being Chris Boucher.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

You know, you're just joining a team. You've made this decision, this personal decision you're doing. You're doing this, and then your coach shows up, and it's like, that. How many people are showing up for that? Right? It's. It's your inner circle. Right. You're not. It's not a big public event. It's. It's the people at his church, you know, however many people that is his. His family, and then his new head coach, who has known him for, like, a day, and now he's there, and you're like, damn, you know, this. This dude is, like, in it.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

So now you got Chris Boucher kind of, like, in your pocket.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And as I forget who it was that said it might have been Simons, who's like, when. When. You know this guy actually cares about you personally, the stuff that he says to you in practice doesn't matter because you. You know, where it's coming from is, hey, I want to win. You know, this mf. Like, curse, you know, whatever. Like the. The dress down, whatever. That's not. Because he has a thing against you. Right. Which. You know what? It's. It's ego. Right? And for Joe, like, a. A lack of ego or less ego than some other coaches who might be like, hey, man, I. Here I am. I'm your coach. I'm in charge, blah, blah, blah. And they don't take that time to make that connection or the right connection. And you get that. What does this guy have against me, man? What's. Why is he. Why is he on me? When Joe is on you, after. After practice, he will, like, put his arm around you, be like, I love you. You know, I love you, but you got to be better, you know? And you're like, okay, it's coming from a straight basketball place. And when it comes to a straight basketball place, you can accept it and you can work on what you need to work on. And that. That, to me, just sums it all up. And, okay, you want to get into some X's and O's and criticize Joe. This really is at the heart of why Joe has had, if we're being honest, a ton of success has already won a championship. And, you know, if it wasn't for some injuries, who knows how that Nick series would have gone? If Christoph Brazingis was not sick, who knows how that Nick series would have gone, Right? So it's. That's the. The secret to his success. Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

And, you know, maybe common sense Isn't the right word, maybe. I. I think what. What it is to. What it looks like to me is. Is more of, like, almost like a sense of clarity, you know, Like, a clarity in. In how to communicate with people. Yeah, But. But also, like, a clarity in, like. In, like, who he is and what's important to him. And then, like, that clarity is so. Is so strong for Missoula that it then shows up. Then it shows up as super.

[John Corrales]

Just. Just.

[Tom Westerholm]

Just very real, you know, like, very authentic to the other, to the people who. Who it impacts. Right. So. So when Joe Missoula is. Is saying, like, okay, we need to be killer whales, it doesn't come across as coach speak. It doesn't come across as, like, a bit. It just comes across as something that, like, you know, Joe really, like, thought and was like, yeah, you know, this. This is. I think this is who we got to be, you know, or when. Yeah, if he. Again, if he attends Chris Boucher's baptism, it doesn't come across as a coach trying to, like, win points with his. With. With his new player or, like, you know, it doesn't even really come across as, like, a guy, like, necessarily, like, trying to make an impact. It. It sounds more like a guy who's like, oh, I'm this guy's coach. Like, this guy's important to me. We're about to have a very important relationship. It's. It's this level of clarity of, like, okay, well, I should be here. This is. This is something that, like, I should attend, and I want to attend, and I. You know, I'm gonna be there. Like, yeah, it feels like. Yeah, it feels like a sense of clarity, more so of just knowing who he is, who he wants to be, what he wants to do, and how he wants to have a relationship with these players.

[John Corrales]

It's also what allows him to put together a starting lineup of five guys when there are probably eight that think they should be starters. And, you know, when. When one of them has been a starter and says, oh, okay, I'm not gonna be, it allows him to kind of be like, hey, look, basketball only. So I think we have all, like, if you pay close attention to a lot of the stuff that's out there, I think we know what the starting lineup is going to be. It's not what I said, but we'll tell you what it looks like when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL season is here. Baseball playoffs are going on, and right now, if you're a new customer, you can bet $5, that's it, $5 as your first bet. And if you win, you get 300 in bonus bets. So that's it. Pick a bet, put down five bucks. If it hits you, unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So you can do something like build the same game parlay where you can take whichever quarterback, running back, wide receiver and be like touchdown passes, rushing yards, touchdown receptions. Or if you want to wait till the game starts and do live lines and be like, oh, this team's out to a big lead. Let me see what the live line is. I'm gonna, I think they're gonna lose that. And you can do that. So whatever you want to have some extra fun with a game, you can do that on FanDuel. Sign [e-mail] when you do that, you're going to get a pop up that says budgeting. Set your budget, set your limit, do that. Set whatever your disposable income is, whatever you can afford to lose. Then you're gambling responsibly. If you hit a little bit of a skid, you're not falling out of control. You know, when you get, when you get paid again, you get a little extra disposable income, you're back at it. So have some fun [e-mail] Download the FanDuel app today and get started.

[Tom Westerholm]

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[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen. Every day you can make your second listen Lockdown NBA if you'd like, I host Lockdown NBA Game Night on Wednesdays with Jake Madison. During the season, Locked on NBA Game Nights, a seven day a week podcast that covers all the games in the association. Then the afternoon Monday through Friday Locked On NBA show covers the biggest storylines. So you have that covered as well. All right, Tom, as I said, this is like sleuthing. You look at the videos, you look at all the videos that are put out There, close up. Okay, who's wearing the green reversible jersey? Green and white. Who's in green? Those are your first unit guys. Who's in white? Those are your reserves. Now, it's not the starting lineup that I thought it was going to be, or I was thinking it should be, but it appears from the videos that it's Peyton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jalen Brown, Sam Hauser and Nami Escada. And Joe was very effusive in his praise of Sam Houser on 98. 5, the sports hub, which lends a little extra credence because you mentioned that Sam is what, 32 and 8 as a starter. So, you know, put that out there. Talked about how much he's a, he is a two way player and he makes team. You know, his efficiency numbers, his, his on off numbers are really good. So what do you think of that potential? So when, when we see Wednesday night, what is it? Memphis, the first preseason game, that being the starting lineup, it's, it's, it's a.

[Tom Westerholm]

Weird starting lineup, man. Like, it's, I mean, that's my, my first thought is just like, okay, so you're gonna be running, but you got Ada out there. And it's not like Hauser's like particularly speedy. I mean, you know, he's useful in transition. He's fast enough to, you know, to be a transition player and kind of, you know, space the floor in transition. But you don't think to yourself, like, you know, you don't think to yourself of Sam Houser as a get the ball and go guy, right? Like, you know, that, that's one of the things that we've, you know, that we've talked about is like, okay, you know, get it and go. Like, get out, get out, get out. Go, go, go. So, you know, I mean, there's obviously a million ways around that. It's, it's just an odd lineup. I, I don't know, it'll be, it's probably fine. I, I, you know, I, I still kind of stand by my take that. Like, you know, I mean, we'll see if I'm right. I, I still kind of think that Anthony Simons just, I think he's gonna be, I think he's a little too good to be on the bench, but we'll put that that's better here or there, you know, and you know, we've talk like, if you're coming in with the second unit, you have more opportunities to score. That could be beneficial. I think the, the thing that I know The. The thing that I note the most about this lineup is that no matter what it was going to be, it was always going to look weird. It was always going to be an odd grouping because this is an odd group of players.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

So this is the odd grouping that we settled on. Like. All right, fine. Fair enough.

[John Corrales]

Sure.

[Tom Westerholm]

See how it goes.

[John Corrales]

And it might be situational. It could be that, you know, different guys get different. Different opportunities. And. And maybe you. Maybe Pritchard isn't comfortable as a starter, you know, and. And that goes away. Maybe Hauser's not comfortable as a starter, and that goes away. So, you know, you have to give it a shot and see, Hower and Pritchard have been. Have been here. Pritchard was the sixth man of the year. You can make the argument like he has earned this. And you know what? Yeah, right. It goes back to the Joe pressing the right buttons and all that stuff. You start the season, we're not really worried about championship or anything like that. Right, right. Even though Joe has said we're setting up a championship habit or whatever. However he's putting it. Sure. Championship process. That's what he said. Like, okay, fine, that. That's your way of saying we're not competing, but we want to, like, we want to work like we would be competing. Okay, that's great. That's all fine. So the message with this starting lineup seems to be you've been here, you've put in the work, you have earned this opportunity. And so Sam and Peyton, you're the guys. You're the guys that we're going to go with. We're not going to have you, you know, sit here and think, hey, man, I put in all this work and here's my chance to start. And starting is still important to a lot of NBA players. No matter what they say, there's a little extra something. You hear your name, you know, you know, Eddie Palladino is. Is screaming your name, and you see your face in the jumbotron, and that's all fun. So if you're Joe, you say, okay, you guys have earned this. If in, you know, by Thanksgiving, the record isn't exactly where you think it should be, and the on off numbers make certain other lineups more like. Make more sense. Then Joe can go to. I'm just going to say Hauser.

[Tom Westerholm]

Sure.

[John Corrales]

Joe can go to Sam and be like, you know what the on off numbers with this group or, you know, the numbers with this group are better. And so we're going to move you back to the bench. And this is going to be the other group that we go with because it has the numbers have borne out this result. And, you know, because Joe has these relationships with these guys, you can do that. So I think, I think just because it's the starting lineup or, or it seems to be the starting lineup.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

There's no reason to think that by November, December, January, like by the All Star break, you know, we might be doing podcasts on how many different starting lineups the Celtics have.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

You know.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah, I, I, I think that's, like, plausible to the point of being likely. Yeah. Because again, there's so many weird iterations of this team. There's just so many weird different looks that you can have that. It's like they're all strange. So there's no way to hammer down one. You know, there's no way to say, like, this is for sure the best group. I don't know what the best group is. Nobody. You can't tell yet. So, yeah, we're gonna have to figure out where Jason Tatum fits back in.

[John Corrales]

So, you know, at some point. Yeah, like, you know, Christmas.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. Like November 3rd, it sounds like.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I, you know, listen, just as an aside, I've been saying March. I've revised that to February. Yeah, I think February, Sunday, February 8th, against the, the Knicks. I'm like, oh, that's such a juicy date. It's such a perfect date. But now I'm like, I'm starting to look at the January schedule. Starting to feel January. Ish. Yeah. Like, just see what that schedule might look like. So. Yeah, but, yeah, like that, that's, I can't wait to do the. Should Jason Tatum start or come off.

[Tom Westerholm]

The bench Podcast more starting lineup podcasts. We're gonna have a lot of chatter this year.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, but, you know, like, going back to the Sam Houser thing. Just real quick, I, I went back and looked at his media day, and, you know, he talked about the, let's see here. I might be in situations like a ball screen or a second side action where I'm handling and I have to make the right decision, or it's a pass, a shot, whatever it may be. I'm excited for that. I've been working on things like that this summer a lot, just in case that's the spot I'm put in. And that's, that's an important thing. Like, he acknowledges, I, I think the Celtics offense is just going to be very. When we talk about pace, I don't even know that they're going to be a big transition team. You can be a good pace team.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, that's true.

[John Corrales]

Without transition.

[Tom Westerholm]

That's definitely true. Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And so the second side, that's where I think Sam Houser is going to have to like show something and the, the work that he's doing is going to be important because you, you bring the ball up, you start your offense at 18 on the shot clock, you start on the right side, boom, boom, boom. Pick, pick, pick. Nothing, nothing. Ball swings around to the other side. And like the bigs, I think the bigs are gonna have to be in incredible shape. The bigs are gonna be like screaming. Yeah, I think you're, I think we're gonna see Celtics big set, like eight screens of possession. It's just gonna be over and over and over again until somebody frees up. And that means everybody else is gonna have to put the ball on the floor. So obviously Pritchard is, is used to that. Derek, Jalen, but you know, Simons, obviously you can do Sam, Baylor, Shireman, you know, if it's Jordan Walsh out there, he's gonna have to do it. All of these guys are going to have to. At some point, if you're on the wing, you're gonna have the ball in your hand. You're gonna have to make a decision because if the, if the offense runs the way it's supposed to, it's going to be heavy side to side, multiple attacks and, and if you can't run a pick and roll and make a good decision, you're not going to play. And that, that might be the place where Hauser is, His role is determined. Can you be the pick and roll ball handler? We know you can be the shooter, catch and shoot and pull up and all that stuff. Can you be a pick and roll ball handler and make the right pass and then cut, relocate and be a spot up guy again? It's. If you're not used to moving, you're gonna have trouble in this offense. It's. I'm not saying he's going to be Steph Curry out there, you know, or the old Ray Allen plays, but you're gonna have to be doing multiple things. The days of just being a spot up guy spacer, maybe you deck it as you attack a closeout. That's not what this offense is going to be. You gotta, you gotta do a lot more. That, that's gonna be the most interesting part of things for like guys like Hauser and the other guys. Charman and those guys.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. Get a nice before picture you know, because. Because you're after picture. You might. You might be looking pretty shredded by the.

[John Corrales]

I know after.

[Tom Westerholm]

After all this, all this work you're about to put in, it's gonna be.

[John Corrales]

You know, it's gonna be a fun. Like, I want. I want a team weigh in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because what. What's the collective weight on opening night? Yeah, what's the collective weight when the season ends and I bet you Everybody loses like 10 pounds, you know, so that's.

[Tom Westerholm]

I mean, they should trade for Anthony Davis. He. Apparently, he needs to. Apparently.

[John Corrales]

Oh, but he loses that easy.

[Tom Westerholm]

He loses it every year.

[John Corrales]

Every year.

[Tom Westerholm]

Every year. This is what you do every year.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Yeah. Another. Another big win for Nico Harrison.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like simply cannot stop winning.

[John Corrales]

Cannot stop winning. Fortune favors the bold, Tom.

[Tom Westerholm]

It does. Sure.

[John Corrales]

All right.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. Apparently it does. He got Cooper flags, so.

[John Corrales]

I mean.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, apparently fortune really does.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. All right, we're done. See you, Tom.

[Tom Westerholm]

I appreciate you.

[John Corrales]

Always appreciate you, Tom. I always appreciate you listening, watching, doing whatever you do while you're listening or watching. Walking the dog, driving to work, in the shower, at the gym, at work. I'm not going to tell anybody, you know, just do what you got to do. But always be doing the podcast. Listen to the podcast, watch the podcast. Share your thoughts in the comment section on YouTube. That's the place to go to share your thoughts on the podcast. Are we right? Are we wrong? Disagree with us, agree with us, shower praise upon us. Whatever you want to do, especially that last part. But do it in the comment section and then I would love it if you shared the podcast. And tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network's your team every day. A Sapphire reserve story from Ella Langley.

[Tom Westerholm]

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[John Corrales]

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