Boston Celtics’ Trade Deadline EXPLAINED | Why Brad Stevens Moved Players For Nothing

Summary

Locked On Celtics – Boston Celtics’ Trade Deadline EXPLAINED | Why Brad Stevens Moved Players For Nothing

February 6, 2026
Host: John Karalis
Guest: Tom Westerholm

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Episode Overview

In this episode, John Karalis is joined by Tom Westerholm to break down the Boston Celtics’ surprising 2026 NBA Trade Deadline moves. The main focus is on why the Celtics traded away Chris Boucher, Josh Minot, and Xavier Tillman for apparently "nothing," and the financial and strategic rationale behind those decisions. The conversation unpacks fan reactions, the Red Sox effect on local sentiment, Brad Stevens’ approach, the integration of new acquisition Nikola Vucevic, and the bigger picture regarding the roster heading into the offseason.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recap of Trade Deadline Moves (01:12-04:43)

• Three Players Out, No Major Returns:
  The Celtics traded Chris Boucher, Josh Minot, and Xavier Tillman (all depth pieces who weren’t playing meaningful minutes). The only addition was two-way player John Tanji—a move both hosts find largely inconsequential for the main roster.

• "You owe John Tanji an apology when you said nobody came in today."
  – Tom (02:39)

• The Boucher Situation:
  Boucher was a salary dump to Utah, which was expected. “He played nine games. The final memory is Russell Westbrook wanting to knock his block off for making a buzzer beating three in a blowout.” – John (03:55)

2. Josh Minot’s Departure & Locker Room Dynamics (04:43-07:16)

• Josh Minot Traded to Brooklyn:
  After starting games early in the season and even winning a few for the Celtics, Minot fell out of the rotation, leading to speculation about his focus and fit.

• Locker Room Insight:
  “My impression… maybe Josh doesn’t have the focus… a little cat chasing the laser pointer. And I think that might be part of what’s holding him back.” – John (08:42)

• Celtics "University" Approach:
  Jalen Brown’s comments about a teaching-oriented culture in film sessions hinted at Minot’s lack of focus: “He’s like, you know, sometimes you just gotta make sure everybody’s involved... like, wake up, Josh.” – John (07:50)

3. The Luxury Tax Maneuver & Its Motivation (09:26-11:01)

• Trades to Slip Under the Tax:
  The Tillman move happened at the wire, allowing the Celtics to fall under the luxury tax threshold. John explains the NBA’s trade deadline logistics regarding phone calls and timing ("It’s like being on hold to dispute a charge with your credit card." – John, 09:28).

• Fan Frustration: “Red Sox Effect”
  A vocal segment of the fanbase is upset, seeing cost-cutting as a Red Sox-esque move. “The Red Sox are to blame. You turn around and the Celtics… trade a guy for nothing. Trade a guy for nothing. Trade a guy for nothing… luxury tax savings.” – John (12:41)

4. Explaining the Front Office Logic (15:40–19:14)

• Brad Stevens’ Calculated Approach:
  Tom and John stress that this is not a sign of cheap ownership or a fire sale, but a calculated financial and roster move. The flexibility gained will help in the offseason and future trades.

  • "I suppose you got to wait and see how they treat the offseason. I think that this is a temporary thing. It makes, it makes good fiscal sense. And that's not what people want to hear." – John (15:35)
  • "This will have big ripple effects into the offseason… there are going to be a lot of options… as a result of these moves." – Tom (15:49)

• Key Distinction From the Red Sox:
  “If this was the Red Sox, then it would be Peyton Pritchard who would’ve gone for nothing because he makes $10 million… we’re talking about emptying value. That’s not what this was.” – John (21:39)

• Trust in Brad Stevens:
  Both hosts admit a high level of trust in Brad Stevens’ track record.
  “Brad Stevens is so good at this, to the point that I feel like I can’t say critical things about the moves that he makes because they’re probably right.” – Tom (18:05)

5. Roster Outlook and Integration of Vucevic (26:49–34:00)

• Nikola Vucevic’s Impact:
  Vucevic is set to debut for the Celtics, potentially in a Horford-esque role. The hosts debate whether he’ll start or come off the bench.
  “Do you think Vuch starts? …I don’t see a scenario where he starts off the bench.” – John (27:27)
  “My thought process was if he comes off the bench, now you’ve got him and Pritchard just getting buckets…” – Tom (27:33)

• Staggering Superstars:
  With Jason Tatum’s return, staggering Tatum and Brown maximizes on-court firepower, echoing the benefits Anthony Simons previously provided.

• Offense-First Philosophy:
  The team is offense-first by necessity: “Their defense has been middle of the pack. So making the offense a little bit better and hoping the defense can just be good enough… I get it." – John (33:01)

• Flexibility for Future Moves:
  “You have a traded player exception and you have Vuch under contract, so you can trade him and others if you need to.” – John (34:00)

• Developmental Wins:
  Two-way players like Amari Williams have seized the opportunity and may be elevated, replacing unused roster spots with contributors.

6. Big Picture: It’s a "Gap Year" or "Bottle Episode" (36:34-38:00)

• Season Framed as a Bottle Episode:
  “This season is Abed pointing to everybody and going, bottle episode. Bottle, bottle episode.” – Tom (36:34)
  The hosts agree that this campaign is somewhat self-contained amid longer-term strategic maneuvering.

• Not the Red Sox; Brad is Still All-In:
  “Brad Stevens is not here to save Bill Chisel money. That's not what he's trying to do. He is trying to help the Celtics win another championship as soon as possible.” – Tom (36:54)

• If the Plan Fails:
  “If this blows up in his face, then great. We have an opportunity to finally, you know, it's like, finally, Brad…” – John (37:37)
  Both stress Stevens’ willingness to quickly pivot off mistakes.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the lack of incoming players:
  “By 'nobody,' I mean nobody to fill an open roster spot.” – John (03:22)

• On Josh Minot’s exit:
  “It just kind of felt like maybe Josh doesn't have the focus… a little too like, oh, look at that red dot. A little cat chasing the laser pointer.” – John (08:42)

• Red Sox comparison:
  “I want to stress, these are not the Red Sox. There is a reason to do it this way.” – John (14:31)

• Trusting Brad Stevens:
  “Brad Stevens is so good at this, to the point that I feel like I can't really say critical things about the moves that he makes because they're probably right.” – Tom (18:05)

• On fan desire for action:
  “People want to hear and see new guys coming in. They want to see, like, alright, you’re going to make trades, I want to see some new guys.” – Tom (15:40)

• Framing the season:
  “This is always the… capsule episode of a series… the gang does something completely isolated and not part of the overall storyline.” – John (36:04)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:12 – Kickoff of trade deadline discussion
• 02:40 – Boucher, Minot, and Tillman exit (order and rationale)
• 08:41 – Locker room insight into Josh Minot's focus
• 09:28 – Trade timing and how teams "beat" the deadline
• 12:41 – The "Red Sox effect" on Celtics fans’ reaction
• 15:35 – Why the Celtics cut salary and what it means for the future
• 18:05 – Roster, ripple effect, and why Brad Stevens is trusted
• 21:39 – Distinguishing this front office from Red Sox-style cost-cutting
• 26:49 – Integrating Vucevic, role debates
• 34:00 – Offseason flexibility, traded player exception explained
• 36:34 – "Bottle episode" analogy for current Celtics season
• 37:37 – What happens if the plan backfires

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Summary

This episode offers a clear, nuanced explanation of the Celtics’ 2026 trade deadline maneuvers. Rather than a sign of penny-pinching ownership, John and Tom frame the string of "for nothing" trades as smart roster management—using little-played assets to duck the luxury tax and build flexibility for the offseason and beyond. While fans may lament the lack of incoming talent, the hosts stress patience and trust in Brad Stevens’ vision, highlighting his track record of quick pivots and successful roster construction. Ultimately, the Celtics’ core is unchanged and the addition of Vucevic opens new tactical doors, with the possibility of bolder moves this summer. The tone is realistic but optimistic, asking fans to see this as a calculated "gap year" on the path to the next championship window.

Transcript

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Right.

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[John Corrales]

Now on the Locked On Celtics podcast, the weird trade deadline. Three guys out, nobody back. And what does that all mean? Hey, welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here in the Lockdown podcast network. It is your team every day. Your team is the Boston Celtics and I talk about them every Monday through Friday. I'll have a bonus podcast for you because Friday night there is a game Celtics in Miami might be the Nicole Vucevich debut.

[Tom Westerholm]

We'll see.

[John Corrales]

So make sure you're subscribed. Watch the show on YouTube. Subscribe there as well and join me if you're new to the show. I'm John Corrales. I'm a beat writer. I'm covering the team for Sports illustrated Celtics on SI. I've been doing a version of the Shop for 20 years, this podcast for 10, and I've written a couple books about the team. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Super Bowl Sunday is here, and it's the last call for football. If you bet five bucks and you're a new customer, you will get 200 in bonus bets if you win. So check it out at FanDuel. Celtics made three trades on deadline day in addition to the Anthony Simons trade. So four in all this week and a lot of confusion throughout the day. A lot of discussion online about what this means. And so we are here to talk through it and figure it out. And I say we because it's Tom Westerholm, everybody.

[Tom Westerholm]

What's up? I. I do think that you owe John Tanji an apology when you said that nobody came in today.

[John Corrales]

Oh, that's true. Two way player John Tanji, who. I apologize. I've never heard of this person.

[Tom Westerholm]

Okay, like, good. Because I've never heard of this guy.

[John Corrales]

Not know who this person is, but I look forward to figuring it out. But he's a two way player, so by nobody.

[Tom Westerholm]

Omaha. What's wrong with me? I'm sorry.

[John Corrales]

Omaha. So, okay.

[Tom Westerholm]

Apologies to my mid. My Midwest brother.

[John Corrales]

Well, not. He's not a rostered player. He's not a guaranteed. So there's no, there's nobody coming back. Dot, dot, dot. To fill one of the open roster spots. Yes. So let's just, let's just start at the top because I wrote these on the list on YouTube there on. In chronological order because the first thing was the expected thing. Chris Boucher, salary dump. Teams are interested in maybe adding him. So fine. Good luck. Goodbye. It didn't work out here at all. He played nine games. The final memory of Chris Boucher in Boston is, you know, Russell Westbrook wanting to knock his block off for making a buzzer beating three in a blowout and then just kind of hashing it out of mid court, like, oh, okay, that was nice.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. But then chill about it. Yeah, it was nice. That was good.

[John Corrales]

It was like, I'm gonna kill you and ah, now I can't stay mad at you. And I don't know why we never. I'll never get a chance to ask him. Yeah. So, yeah. So no surprise. No surprise there. And then. No.

[Tom Westerholm]

And I just to add to no surprise to that, it's not only was Boucher the most likely to go, Utah was the most likely to be a trade partner with the Celtics at this trade deadline. So it was like they just knocked off one and two right away. And then we're like, all right, let's move on to the real stuff.

[John Corrales]

And you know, silly me, I sat there and I was like, okay, Celtics are probably done because they got, they, they moved Simons, they got Vucevich. Okay, we can talk about that a little bit more later. Boucher, salary dump. They save a little bit in taxes. They weren't really. Didn't matter if they were getting under the tax line, but okay. So I thought they were done. And then, oh, Josh Minot gets traded. Oh, interesting. Okay. Josh had fallen out of the rotation. He played seven minutes against the Houston Rockets and did not look good at All. And so Josh off to Brooklyn, nobody in return, and another open spot. And I thought, oh, interesting. And that's where the. The talk of trying to save some tax money. Now, I just want to say, on a personal level, I'm sad to see Josh might not go. Josh and I had a little back and forth on a regular basis, but I kind of felt like something might have been happening because every time Josh and I interacted, it was definitely like, busting each other on, you know, he would. He would say something about me. He'd be like, no one. Like you. You work for where. Or no one's reading you or whatever. And I would make a joke about him, and it was always like a. Kind of playful maybe. Maybe he actually hated me. I don't know. But at my end was playful. He might not actually like the media, but we had. We had a good back and forth going on. And then the last time I saw him at the ground, like, hey, Josh, what's up? And he was just like, oh, chilling, man. And then he walked off. I'm like, that was an oddly normal interaction between us. What happened? And I guess he might have realized that his time in Boston was coming to an end. So it's nuts that he started.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

A bunch of games early in the season. He won the Celtics a couple of games.

[Tom Westerholm]

He is.

[John Corrales]

He was part of the early kind of success. Early turnaround. Tom, we did a podcast.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yes.

[John Corrales]

About him being too expensive to keep.

[Tom Westerholm]

Ryan Bernardoni was like, I think we have to extend this guy now because he's going to get too expensive. And, like, Ryan's very, very smart.

[John Corrales]

Like.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like this.

[John Corrales]

This.

[Tom Westerholm]

It was a real conversation to be had about Josh Minot getting a. An extension.

[John Corrales]

Nope, nope, nope. That was probably an overreaction.

[Tom Westerholm]

I guess so, man. It's wild, right? Because it's, you know, like you said, like, he. He was playing really well. He goes to. Out of the rotation. And Brad just. Or Brad, sorry, Joe just replaces him with guys who are very similar in terms of sort of build. Build. And then just kept replacing him over and over. There were just so many good players of that variety. And it does seem like something must have happened. Something like. Or like Joe just didn't. Joe didn't always really like him. It was. It was odd.

[John Corrales]

I always go back to the first time Jalen Brown talked about Celtics University, quote, unquote, Celtics University. It's been kind of like an underlying theme that film sessions are like study sessions, and it's a lot. A lot of teaching, and it's not a lot of yelling, which normally a film session, you pop on the film, be like, hey, you suck. Don't do this anymore, do this. And. And now it's more like teaching. What did you see here? This is what you should be seeing. And so on and so forth. So Jalen was explaining that and he's like, you know, something along the lines, I'm going to paraphrase. He's like, yeah, you know, sometimes you just got to make sure that, you know, everybody is involved and you, like, as an aside, he's like, you know, like, wake up, Josh. You know, like, that felt very specific to say wake up, Josh, because you don't just say, God forbid a guy.

[Tom Westerholm]

Have a late night.

[John Corrales]

Come on. Right? So my impression from that, and it was right around the time where Josh was falling out of the rotation. It just kind of felt like maybe Josh doesn't have the, the focus. He's. He's a fun loving guy. He loves basketball. I think he might be a little too like, oh, look at that red dot. A little cat chasing the laser pointer. And I think that might be part of what's holding him back. So, so anyway, so goodbye, Josh. And then it was like, well, their tax bill is down to $5 million. They're only 1.7 over the tax and you didn't hear anything. And Tillman comes in and like at the last I was done, it was past 3 o'. Clock.

[Tom Westerholm]

Long after the last second, I was.

[John Corrales]

Like, and now here's the thing that people need to understand. You don't even have to have, you don't even have to tell the league about the trade at. By 3 o', clock, you just have to be on the phone with the league and there's a, there's a trade call and there's only so many people in the league. It's. It's like being on hold to dispute a charge with your credit card. You know what I mean? It's like you are 10th in line. Your approximate wait time is.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Corrales]

So you can actually call up the Charlotte Hornets and say, hey, will you take Tillman? And they'd be like, yeah, like we're just gonna hop on the call right now. Yeah, and let's work it out, like on the phone with, on one side with the league and on the other side, like, okay, we're gonna do. So this. You want three and a half million. All right, fine. So as long as you're on the phone with the league, the trade, it still counts as being by the deadline. And so Tillman moves. And here we are, Tom, under the luxury tax. And there's a segment of Celtics fandom that is not happy about this. And I think, honestly, the Boston Red Sox are to blame.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Corrales]

Red Sox are to blame. You know what? It's a good place to take a break, come back and explain why the Boston Red Sox are to blame for people being mad about three guys who didn't play.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Getting traded away to save a few bucks. That's coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by DoorDash. The season's heating up. Oh, it's heating up all right. And doordash has a way to keep fans in their bag all season long. Whether you're watching for the highlights, whether you're watching for the tunnel fits, whether you're watching your favorite player, Doordash makes the entire season more fun. I have doordash people coming up to my door all the time thanks to the 16 year old who just decides one I want, I want this. And he has to have it right away. So now when he wants to be in his bag, doordash can take care of things. Snacks, gear, watch, party vibes. Absolutely on point. Where if your team is stressing you out, like right now, some people we're about to talk about. Doordash becomes your postgame therapy, your post trade deadline therapy. If you just need a dessert right away, which is what the 16 year old is often doing, the late night interviews hit and suddenly you need chips at midnight. Doordash built exactly for that. And if the group chat says pull up, you can show prepared. You can even get yourself a phone charger for the friend who's always at 2%. So from tip off to overtime, stay in your bag and order doordash. Get snacks, drinks, gear, whatever you want through the season delivered right to your door. Doordash in your bag all season long. Today's show is also brought to you by Quo. It's a new year, new systems, and this is the time of year where business owners take a look at the messier part of how things work and say, there's gotta be a better way. And there is. Streamlining your communications is one of the best ways that you can upgrade your business. That's why today's show is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q U O. It's a smarter way to run your business communications. When your team is reachable, organized and communicating in one place, you're not just working cleaner, you're creating more opportunities to connect with customers. I've said this before. I do just lose it when I'm on the phone and one person tells me one thing and another person tells me another thing and they're not really on the same page. Your whole team with Quo can share and call, call and text from one shared business number. Nothing gets missed. You see the whole conversation thread, which makes replies faster, more personal and more accurate. It all works from your phone or your computer, so you can keep your existing number. And Quo's smart AI tools automatically log, call, summarize conversations, highlight the next steps so no details slip through the cracks. It's no surprise Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2, trusted by more than 90,000 businesses. From solo operators into growing teams. Make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try quo for free plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.comlockdown MBA. That's quo.comlockdown MBA quo. No missed calls, no missed customers. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen. Every day you want to join the everydayer club, now's the time. If you need a group chat to keep up with all this chaos, we've got it on Discord just for Celtics fans. Plus national chats. You can hang out with fans from across the league. We've got an ad free version of the show which is available on all major podcasting platforms. If you sign up between now and February 9th, you can use the clothes the code Vucevich to get a free month. That's code Vucevich, the new guy Vucevich. So I'll drop a link in the show notes, but it'[e-mail] use the code VUCEVICH. You get a free month on at the everyday club if you sign up by February 9th. All right, Tom. The Red Sox suck at doing business. They're cheap. They trade away good players and don't get anything in return. And, you know, people are not happy about that. And then you turn around and the Celtics, you look at the Celtics and you say, okay, save me from this madness. And then it's trade a guy for nothing. Trade a guy for nothing. Trade a guy for nothing. And like, hey, guys, luxury tax savings. And they're like, oh, we're. Oh, great, great, great. So. So now. So now it's John Henry saves a bunch of money, and here comes Bill Chisholm and we got to save this guy a bunch of money. No way. That seems to be kind of like the. That was like my 98.5 radio impression. I think that's going to be the, the tone of a lot of the callers. I want to stress, these are not the Red Sox. There is a reason, There is a reason to do it this way. I didn't expect it. I didn't expect to go this, this hard. I don't know about you, but I didn't expect them to go this hard to get under the tax. I suppose you got to wait and see how they treat the off season. I think that this is a temporary thing. It makes, it makes it's good fiscal sense. And that's not what people want to hear.

[Tom Westerholm]

Well, right, because what people want to. People want to hear and see guys, new guys coming in. They want to see, like, all right, you're going to make trades. I want to see some new guys. Right?

[John Corrales]

Yes.

[Tom Westerholm]

And that, the thing is that, like, this does down the line give you the opportunity to bring in new guys. It like this, this will have big ripple effects into the off season that could bring in genuine talent. Right? Like, if, if Vucevich doesn't work out, it's gonna be okay. Like, there's gonna be money there that you can then go get somebody who does work out. Like, there is going. There are going to be a lot of options here as a result of these moves. I think you're on to something, though. I mean, it, it is like, if you're not somebody who's super locked in, if you're not somebody who's paying attention to everybody, you know, every dip and dive and every, every little tiny thing that happens, then it does kind of look like the Celtics just gave people away. Especially when you take into account what happened in the off season, right, where Drew Holiday is now gone and for what? For, you know, now. Okay, so you, you turned Drew Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Cornett into Nicola Vucevich. Like, what a bummer, right? Like, I do. Like, fair enough. If that's how you feel. Like.

[John Corrales]

I get that.

[Tom Westerholm]

I do get that. But it doesn't, it doesn't take into account what's coming up down the road. It doesn't take into account the Celtics current reality, which is that their best player, I guess depending on how you feel about Jalen Brown at this point in the season, like their, their other, their other superstar is yet to take the court this season. He has now kind of publicly said, I don't know for sure if I am coming back this season. And you know, you do have to kind of deal with that reality as a franchise. But I think it's really important to note that the Celtics are well aware of this moment that they have with two super duper stars. This opportunity to try to win championships with two guys who have won a championship and who have been with their franchise since the literal beginning. Like, they know what they have. They know that next season they need to be really competitive, and it. There will not be. This is not the same. Such a different ownership group. They're not going to be giving away mookie bets. Right? That's not.

[John Corrales]

That's right.

[Tom Westerholm]

That's not going to happen. So if you're worried about that, rest assured, one, that won't happen. Two, Brad Stevens really wants to win. And three, I don't know how to say this without sounding like super green teamy, but, like, Brad Stevens is so good at this, to the point that I feel like I can't really say critical things about the moves that he makes because they're probably right. You know, Same thing with Missoula. At this point, I swear, like, I, you know, it's true. It's starting to get to a point where it's like he does something weird and then you're like, well, it's probably gonna work. So, like, what am I supposed. Oh, what is he doing starting Ron Harper Jr. And then like, well, I guess. Yeah, I guess that worked too. Fair enough.

[John Corrales]

Right? Right.

[Tom Westerholm]

You're. You're pretty.

[John Corrales]

Oh, you're telling me you're putting Ron Harper Jr. A two way guy and he's gonna guard KD. Oh, God. Let me just. Let me just go bet against the Celtics. Let me open up my app. Houston by a million. Houston by million. Oh. Oh, it worked all right. You know, I mean, like, yeah, my budget is.

[Tom Westerholm]

My budget is, you know, a thousand dollars on rent. My budget is a hundred dollars on utilities. My budget is $10,000 a month betting against Joe Missoula. Can somebody fix my budget? What's going on?

[John Corrales]

It is true. It is true. And listen, there's nothing sexy about what the Celtics did here. It's unfortunate that that's. This is how we have to frame the trade discussion. I'm not thrilled about it either. But the smart. The smart thing to do. Look, Xavier Tillman was not playing, right? Josh Minot was not playing. Chris Boucher never played. And so who cares who sits in those three seats? Who cares? And now, oh, by the way, one of those guys is Amari Williams, who has shown recently that he has some potential. Now you've Taken a you a two way guy and elevated him. That's really good that you feel like you can elevate him and maybe he can do something for this team. I expect Ron Harper Jr. To be upgraded now. They're going to play a little game and this is part of the other stuff. You have a couple of weeks to fill these roster spots and they're going to take all two weeks of it. They're going to like, it's going to be like 3, 2, 1. We have signed Ron Harper Williams to a multi year deal and that's fine. This is how they're going to stay under the luxury tax. Okay, fine. But Ron Harper just helped them win a game.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And has had decent contributions recently. So you've replaced guys who never played with guys who have recently played and contributed contributed to winning. So that seems fine. Right. All the other guys that have contributed to the Celtics being this good, except for Anthony Simons are still here and you've replaced him with Vucevich who is still a good player. Now a different player and certainly defensively has his, his issues but unlocks something different on offense. So we'll have to see how that helps. But that's, that's not a, a, it's not a downgrade. It's something different. We'll, we'll wait to see if it's a downgrade or an upgrade. But everyone else that's here, Jalen Brown, Derrick White, Peyton Pritchard, mishked Sam Houser, Luca Garza, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Schierman, those guys are still here. If this was the Red Sox then it would be Peyton Pritchard who would have gone for nothing because he makes $10 million and that would have gotten them so far under that that they like oh yeah, we could, whatever. So the bottom line to me here is it's, yeah, it's smart. It's smart money. It, it's not, it's not a sign.

[Tom Westerholm]

Of.

[John Corrales]

Future like being cheap. It's just hey you know what? We have this kind of weird ability to thread this needle with three guys who don't play going out a couple guys who are on two way contracts who have helped us. We can kind of upgrade them. And there's just enough money here where you can stay under the tax and hey get a tax payment from the taxpayers in the league. So I know it's not my money. It's not. But this is how teams operate. And I want to speak on how teams operate.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, yeah. If the Celtics, if the Celtics were the Red Sox, what they actually would have done is they would have traded like Jalen for Brandon Miller, you know, like, like send out your superstar and bring in somebody who it's like, hey, you could be anything. He could be a Jalen Brown.

[John Corrales]

You never know.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like, maybe this guy becomes Jalen Brown.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, that's, that's right. That's right. That, that's more, more how the, the Red Sox would operate. So it's different. So let's, let's look at this. Let's, in totality where the Celtics are, we'll throw in this Vucevic deal, who, you know, he's about to make his debut, it seems like on Friday night. We'll talk about that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel Football Sunday. That's it. End of the end of the season with just some game, just some game between the Patriots and the Seahawks, you want to get in on the action. It's Super Bowl 60. FanDuel's making sure you're right in the middle of it with a special offer just in time for the biggest game of the year, whether you're backing the favorite, which is the Seahawks, whether you're being smart and riding with the underdog, which is the Patriots. Go Patriots. Building one last same game parlay. This is the same, this is the game everybody's been waiting for. So whether your predictions, you know, whatever your predictions are, whatever the stats are, you can have some fun because it's a big deal. Everybody's going to be paying attention. And, and it's the perfect way to cap off the season and make the super bowl even more exciting. From kickoff to final whistle. If you're a new customer and you want to start now at FanDuel, it's a good time because you can just bet five bucks if you're a new customer. If you win, you get $200 in bonus bets. So give it a shot, make it count. After the super bowl football season is over. So it's the last call for football and FanDuel, the an official sportsbook partner of Super Bowl 60. You can. When you sign up, it'll tell you to set a limit, set a budget. It will ask you, you should do it so you can set your limit, gamble responsibly, whatever your disposable income is, that's what you should set. And FanDuel will help you stay within that. So do that. Check it out. FanDuel.com to get started.

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[John Corrales]

Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day in the number one Celtics podcast on the planet. Also on the number one sports podcast network on the planet. Since we're talking about the super bowl, we got locked on NFL locked on Patriots, locked on Seahawks. Anything, anything NFL. If you're a fan of one of the other teams, your team is covered too. If you want to get an inside look, you want to see what the, the Jazz are thinking with all of this locked on Jazz, you know, whatever, whatever NBA team locked on NBA. I do locked on NBA game night. So plenty of options. Whatever you want, it's all here on the network. You can find them all in the same place wherever you found this podcast. So, Tom, in the end, once we get past I think some of the, the confusion or whatever negativity, in the end, the Celtics have basically the same roster. They have to integrate. Now. Nicola Vucevich, who seems to be excited about being on a good team, he now has a chance to play not in a play in game. He, he actually gets to get ready for a playoff series, which is huge for him.

[Jennifer]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Not. He's not on the, on the ninth seed. It's gonna be interesting to see. I do think that this signals an impending return for Jason Tatum because it just opened things up. I, I don't know. Maybe they still do this deal if Jason wasn't coming back. But there's, I think him in this Horford role. Vucevich in this Horford type role, pick and pop. Opening things up does have the potential to kind of unlock some things. Do you think Vuch starts? I think. I don't. I don't see a scenario where he starts off the bench.

[Tom Westerholm]

You don't think so?

[John Corrales]

I don't. I don't know. I don't think so.

[Tom Westerholm]

I don't know.

[John Corrales]

I see.

[Tom Westerholm]

I was thinking about that. Am I? My thought process was if he comes off the bench, now you've got him and Pritchard just getting buckets off the bench and you've got Keda, you know, who's been great in that starting role. Like, I mean, he's, he's elevated that starting group quite a lot all season. Like, I I kind of like the idea of him coming off the bench. It's funny because it's not because I think, you know, Kate is like, a significantly better player necessarily. It's just that, hey, that's worked so far. And I do think that the potential of Pritchard and Vucevich and then honestly too, like, whichever. If Tatum does come back, whichever of Tatum and Brown kind of gets some of those, like, split up second unit minutes, like Pritchard, Vucevich, Tatum or Brown, it would do some damage, right? Like, that would. That would hurt somebody.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I. I feel like starting Vuch makes sense, obviously. I mean, he's a starter. Maybe you bring him off the bench at first to kind of get them used to things. It does make sense to have him on the bench and you, like, have. Have a coach sit next to him, be like, okay, this is. We said this, and this is what should be happening, and this is what you're seeing and all that. But the guy's been in the league for a long time. He's seen it all. You know, it's not like I'm on the bench and they're like, okay, this is what this means. They're explaining some of the language. They. Each team kind of speaks its own language a little bit, but you can just. I'm sure once that deal was agreed upon, they call them up and they were like, here. Here's an email PDF of everything that we call our things.

[Tom Westerholm]

Here's the curriculum for Celtics University. You've already got your bachelor's, so this is your certificate, and then you'll be all right.

[John Corrales]

That's right. So. So I think with Kada and Pritchard have worked well together.

[Tom Westerholm]

Y. That's true.

[John Corrales]

And so he. I think that combination works. And Pritchard's ability to just kind of. His ball handling just creates. He can create for himself. You never see Pritchard lose the ball even in the middle of the paint. He just. But Jalen will sometimes more often. He will lose it more often. And I think if you have a center that can pop, you just declutter that lane a little bit. So Jalen can.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure.

[John Corrales]

Drive and have just a little less resistance rather than having Keda lurking in the dunker spot.

[Tom Westerholm]

On the other hand, right, like, if you've got him lurking in the dunker spot, it does put a little.

[John Corrales]

Put it.

[Tom Westerholm]

Put some vertical pressure on you. Right. To have which. And like, Jalen's done so well at creating that space. I don't know. I think, honestly, either way, you're gonna be. Either way. This is, this is a nice new weapon. And like, I'm saying this, of course, as somebody who is livid to see Anthony Simons out the door, obviously.

[John Corrales]

You know what? I forgot to even just ask if you were okay.

[Tom Westerholm]

I appreciate that. I. Listen, I, I, I have long ago accepted that a lot of my favorite basketball stuff doesn't actually lead to winning as much as I would like it to. I actually think that's where some of these. I, I think that's where some of these, like, eye test guys get a little confused because it's like, I get it. I, I want to see the aesthetic guys do really cool stuff. Like, that's, I love that. But also, I think you have to accept that it. Sometimes you just need these super efficient stuff if you're trying to win basketball games. Yeah. Brad Stevens is not here to. He's not bringing in players to entertain me. He's bringing in players to win games. I think that's messed up, and I think that he should do more entertaining of me. But if he, if it's his job to try to win games, I do get the. I, I'm cutting against everything I said on social media, but I do get it. I get why they did all this stuff. I just think it stinks.

[John Corrales]

I know. I know it. That's the thing. There's. There's fun basketball.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And then there's winning basketball, which is also fun.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yes.

[John Corrales]

For sure. Not always fun in the same way, because fun basketball can be like, look at what Lamelo ball is doing. You know, you're like, wow, man. That's. I come out of that game. I came out of that game. Now, this is before Charlotte Hornets got like, really, you know, turn things around. But yeah, even just peak Lamello is like, wow, man. I just, I just spent two hours watching this dude do the craziest stuff.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

And I am smiling and I. They lost by those teams were with.

[Tom Westerholm]

The ball brothers in high school. You came out of those just feeling refreshed.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like, oh, that was.

[John Corrales]

This is you.

[Tom Westerholm]

That was fun.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. But also, if your team is built, you're like, the whole point of it is winning. Right. So it's not. But I, I still, I still feel like Simons could have been part of a winning team, but I do too.

[Tom Westerholm]

I do too.

[John Corrales]

Part of why you make this kind of move to rebalance the roster with Jason coming back. Now you stagger Jalen and Jason because obviously you start them together, but one of them goes to the bench at the six minute mark and then comes back for the other and you stagger them for so many minutes and so one of them's always on the floor and you kind of get the same thing that you got with Anthony Simons. But now you also have this big. Who can do a couple of things offensively that really open you up. And the Celtics are an offense, first team, even though they'll say we hang our heads, our hats on defense. And even though against Houston they were absolutely a monster defensive team and that was the best defense I've seen this group play all season long. They're the first or second ranked offense in the league. Their defense has been middle of the pack. So making the offense a little bit better and hoping the defense can just be good enough, like, yeah, I, I get it, I get it. So. But I think maybe you made the best point on, on this podcast, which is rare, and it just hurts my soul to admit that it wasn't my point to make. So I'm going to compose myself for a second here. The, the point is it doesn't matter. It kind of doesn't matter if it works or not, because you have a traded player exception and you have Vuchi under contract, so you can trade him and others if you need to. You can find a trade partner for him. And really, you didn't get fleece because you just gave up Anthony Simons. And, you know, I don't want to be flippant about, you know, now he's gone and it's just Anthony Simons, but you can move, you can move on easily if you need to, and you have the traded player exception. So there are multiple ways to kind of adjust out of this, and I think that that's the biggest thing to take out of it, this trade deadline. My final kind of assessment, I think, is they got rid of a bunch of the guys that aren't playing. They turned a player that was here that you got him for Drew Holiday. You were dumping Drew Holiday anyway. You got him. Hey, congratulations, he won the Celtics a few games and now you kind of rebalance the roster there. You're giving yourself a chance. You want to see what it looks like. And if it doesn't work, you at least cleaned up some of the guys that don't play. You've elevated some of the guys, some, some already good developmental successes. And you enter the market this summer with, you know, an open checkbook possibilities, a Giannis trade that you could probably get in on, a potential jaw trade that you can get in on. There's lots of movement that's going to be happening this July. So there. This is by no means the end. It's just this is how this season is going to go, which, by the way, gap year. You know what I mean? Like, this is. This is always the. Like I said in one of my recent podcasts, the capsule episode of a series, this is the self contained. Not necessarily. It's just the gang does something completely isolated and not part of the overall storyline. And that. That in right now, that makes all of this just fine.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. This season is Abed pointing to everybody and going, bottle episode. Bottle, bottle episode. Bottle episode. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for sure. And I think. I think the. The only other thing I would say too, is to people who are like, really worried that the Celtics are doing a Red Sox thing here is like, it is the biggest difference, right, Is that, yes, like, like Brad Stevens is not here to save Bill Chisel money. That's not what he's trying to do. He is trying to help the Celtics win another championship as soon as possible. And I think that's the biggest distinction to make. It's just. That is what Brad is trying to do and might not always look exactly the way you hope it will look, but I promise you, that is what Brad is trying to do right now. And you know, this is. This is like, it comes down to like, do you trust Brad Stevens? And like, I got again, I hate to be this green teamy kind of guy, but, like, he has given us.

[John Corrales]

No, I wouldn't to doubt him at this point.

[Tom Westerholm]

Here we are.

[John Corrales]

If this blows up in his face, then great. We have an opportunity to finally, you know, it's like, finally, Brad, oh, my God, this guy. Everything he's done is. Everything he's done has either worked or he's quickly pivoted off of it.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

He doesn't. He does not compound mistakes and be like, well, this was my decision and I'm going to double down on my decision to make it work and that start like you see so many teams do. He's like, ooh, Chris Boucher. Didn't work. All right, see you, Chris. Sorry. You know, that's just how it. How it goes. This didn't work. No. Move on. Bye.

[Tom Westerholm]

It is very funny that he's this good and one of his first moves was acquiring Ennis Canter.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. Oh, God, that's true. But got away from. Got off him quickly.

[Tom Westerholm]

Got away from him quickly.

[John Corrales]

Got off him quickly for sure. All right, well, Tom, thank you. As Always appreciate you, man. I do appreciate you, Tom Westerholm and I appreciate you listening, watching however you're consuming this podcast, I really do. Thank you. I hope this makes sense. I know it's not like the the exact way the trade deadline you'd hoped it would go, but it's the way it's gone and ultimately it's good. So thank you. Share your thoughts in the comments section. Would really like to see them, hear them all of that stuff and then I would love it if you shared the podcast. Go ahead and tell everybody that they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It's your team every day.

[Jake (State Farm Announcer)]

This is Jake from Lock Dawn. When the game's on the line, the best know when to pass. Because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your State Farm agent comes in. Whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability and eligibility vary by state.

[Jennifer]

Hey everyone. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over there at Indeed. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you know the show is way better now than it used to be.

[John Corrales]

We why?

[Jennifer]

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[Jennifer (advertisement voice)]

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[John Corrales]

With the times.

[Jennifer (advertisement voice)]

You're playing the loot. Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right?

[Tom Westerholm]

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