
In this new mailbag episode, Nikola Vučević’s arrival sparks questions about his fit with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, while Brad Stevens eyes a new ball handler to shore up guard depth. John Karalis explores how these moves could impact the Celtics’ championship ceiling and why the team’s front office remains the envy of the NBA. Mailbag rapid fire covers expansion draft scenarios, Locked On Celtics’ unmatched entertainment value, and revealing insights into the evolving NBA landscape. From free agency targets and the salary cap situation to the league's increasing excitement and viewership, John Karalis breaks down what Celtics fans need to watch this summer.
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Got bonus podcasts on weekends when they play bonus podcasts some afternoons now we're just pumping out the content here on Locked on, so make sure you're subscribed. You can watch the show on YouTube. The show's available everywhere podcasts exists. And yeah, just enjoy it however you want. If you're new to the show, my name is John Corralis. I am a beat writer covering it for Covering the Celtics for Sports Illustrated Celtics on Si. And I've been doing this job version of it for about 20 years. This podcast for 10. So I talk about the Celtics. I've talked a lot about the Celtics. Today's show is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on. You get $20 off your first purchase of tickets. All right. Later on we'll get into some I like answering the fun kind of like personal type questions. At the end, we'll get into my lessons in the media, things I've learned about me, about myself. Interesting question. We'll get into free agency this summer, potential expansion draft and how entertaining these Celtics are. Those are. Oh geez, I spelled entertaining wrong. Hold on. All right, that's better. And we'll start here with from Keegan. First of all, I'll start by letting you know that questions can come in@johncarales.com mailbag johncoralis.com mailbag I did also post a mailbag on Celtics on SI. So if you go to the if you just search Celtics on si, you can get to the the mailbag. And let me just pull it up right here. Real quick. Questions from Adam Stuart, Kendell Russ and Michelle. If you ask questions, you can read the answers over at Celtics on Si. All right, let's get to Keegan here. Who asks, will Vuch become to Brown what White is to Tatum, or am I looking for something that isn't there? He goes on to express the connection between Jalen Brown and Christops Porzingis and the connection between Jason Tatum and Derrick White and that they'll question. The other question is, am I looking for something that isn't there? No, you're not. There is. There is something there in these. In these connections. I don't know if V is going to be the, you know, any particular kind of connection, and you never know, right, because things develop at their own, you know, on their own. So I don't know that Vuch is going to be here long enough this season to kind of have that connection. I think he's just going to go out there and try to set good picks and pop and make the right play and just be that. That connection for everybody. But, you know, sometimes certain guys play well with certain players and. And we have to watch that develop. So I don't know if Vuch will be that to Brown or if he will be that to Tatum. I've said this before, but I'll repeat it here. I think part of him coming off the bench is kind of a slow integration of voce. The other thing is you don't want to take away something from a player like Nimiuskeda, who has worked hard and earned it and isn't. You know, you don't. You don't want to just say, oh, well, this guy's better than you, and you're gonna. We're putting you on the bench. You don't want to do that either. And then the other part is, I do think Tatum is gonna need someone to clear some space in the lane. Jalen can get to the rim. Jalen's better driver than Tatum. I think Tatum. Tatum is obviously a good. Is good at driving. I think just that's more Jalen's game in general. Tatum is more of the, you know, stop, turn, fade, even though that. That's also Jalen's game, too. But Jalen is. I think Jalen can operate in traffic a little bit better than Jason can. So I just think that getting someone out of Jason's way is more helpful. Just a little bit more helpful. So I think that Cato will come in. I mean, that V will be part of the bench and be paired with Tatum a little bit more. And will move into the starting lineup when Tatum moves into the starting lineup. And maybe that, that connects him to Tatum a little bit more than it does to Brown. But we'll have to wait and see. It's an interesting question. It's going to be an interesting dynamic to. To see develop. I. I've said this before also, I like the connection between and. And Peyton Pritchard. I. So I, I do see the. How certain guys have certain connections that work. This one we don't know yet. All right, let's get to Doug, who asks any word on who the Celtics are going to sign for those last spots they're required to fill? No, not yet. First we've got to see who ends up on the. On the market. But we do know that Brad Stevens has laid out the plan which one of them will be a ball handler, Someone who can handle the basketball. And because right now you only have Derek White and Peyton Pritchard as your primary ball handlers, obviously Jalen initiates a decent amount of the offense and Jason will initiate a fair amount of the offense, but you still need ball handlers. You know, when, when the pressure ramps up. I don't want in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. I don't want it to just be Jalen and Jason initiating all the offense. I want to have a point guard. I want to have those guys starting off the ball and catching the ball on the move. I've said this for years, though, and it does, it does drive me crazy sometimes when the entire fourth quarter offense is just Jalen and Jason bringing the ball up and it becomes like, oh, pick and roll, find the mismatch, go one on one against the mismatch. I don't think it has to be like that all the time. I get why it is like that, but I think you can expand that. There's no reason for the ball not to be in Derrick White's hands. He's one of your best fourth quarter performers. One of the best fourth quarter performers in the league. So get. Get the ball into his hands and have Brown and Tatum working off ball to catch the ball on the move. We've seen that these plays where it's like a pin down in the corner, guy comes up out of the corner, catches the ball. It can flow into a handoff with. With Keita, it can flow into a pick and roll with Keda or this Point Vucovic, it can. It can flow into a lot of different things. I want to see more of that when it matters the most. So they. Those Are the, the, the. They have the ball handlers there, but they, they do need another one just in case they rebalance the roster because they didn't have any, any kind of like real bigs they could go to in case a. One of them went down. We've seen Keda kind of like he turned his, he had a right ankle issue and then he kind of turned his left ankle. I'm glad this is the All Star break because that's going to allow him to get healthy. But they, they now have a little bit of depth there that you can kind of count on. Vuch, Keita Garza, that, that's decent depth there. They don't have depth at point guard, so they're going to need a point guard, whoever that is. I don't know who's available yet or, or who will be available. That, that's still to be determined. There's plenty of time here for buyouts and stuff like that to, to happen. So I don't know who specifically, but one of those spots will go to a ball handler. Another spot will go to somebody who is just kind of there. Brad laid it out. He said we're not going to bring in somebody who, you know, we're going to bring in somebody who's cool with not playing that. And that's. It's been a familiar refrain from him in past trade deadline buyout types of situations. The guy who is just happy to be here, they, they need one of those. They've traded away a couple of guys. Well, I wouldn't say both of them are just happy to be here, but anyway, that's, that's the scenario. A ball handler and just a veteran may not play, but could in a pinch. Blake Griffin, ish kind of depth piece. So we'll find out, we'll find out more specifics as guys start to get cut, we'll come back, we'll talk about how entertaining this team is. We'll talk about free agency and how entertaining the league is, all of that stuff when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by fanduel. It's now the Winter Games. And if you're anything like me, you're locking in for the events. I love watching. I like the Olympics. I'm a big Olympics guy. I like watching the skiing and the, the, the curling and all of that stuff has been great. The speed skating is going to be super cool. And you know, the drama of these games is great to, to follow along on FanDuel because you can, you can bet on things like metal counts and find your angle on sports you care about the most. It gives you a lot of ways to stay connected to the action niche events like the the biathlon, the skiing and shooting. What what a wild sport that was. I love these. Just combine. Let's combine three things and call that a thing. And that's your sport. FanDuel keeps the entire Olympic existence engaging from start to finish. The Winter Games are on then there's no better way to follow them than FanDuel. Now FanDuel will ask you when you log in to set a limit, set a budget. Do that so you can gamble responsibly. Whatever you can afford to lose now do that over at fanduel. Play your game. Today's show is also brought to you by Indeed. Hiring is a pain and you shouldn't just let that let you settle for someone who's willing to take the job. You need someone who fits. You need somebody who's right who's going to help your business forward. Indeed Sponsors job Sponsored Jobs is the move because instead of hoping that right person just stumbles across your post. Indeed helps you match with quality candidates by boosting your job listing to the people who fit your specific criteria like skills, certification, and location. If I'm hiring, which I've done before, it's finding someone who can help, is not it. You need someone that has experience. It's just like putting a team together. I'm talking about the Celtics putting a team together. You're not just gonna be like, oh, I hope a point guard comes along. You want somebody that can do specific things. I need a Big. They went and looked for a Big that had specific skills so you can do the similar thing with your job. Indeed Sponsor Job helps you target exactly the type of person you need. You're spending less energy sorting through mismatches, so it saves time. And with sponsor Jobs, the candidates who actually fit are the ones who see the posts. So in the minute that I've talked to you, companies like yours have made 27 hires already on Indeed according to Indeed Data Worldwide. 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All right, let's get back to the mailbag. And those mailbag questions can come in@john corrales.com mailbag if I'm not answering them here, if I'm not answering them on YouTube because I'll have some bonus. I'll have some bonus content and they'll, they'll be on the Celtics on SI page at SI.com so go check those out there. Make sure. Just checking out. Could be anywhere. Johncarales.com mailbag I want to get to as many of your questions and answers, so that's, I'm just putting them on all my platforms. All right. Edward says P.I. bye. Bye. Trade deadline. Can we now embrace how incredibly entertaining this Celtics team is? Inferno was fun, but Vuch makes so much more sense for us going forward. We're lucky to have a connected front office and staff, so I make no predictions, he says, but this group really has no ceiling. So. Okay, lots of points here in this question. Comment by Edward and let's just start with this. This Celtics team is entertaining. It is a fun team that generally works hard. I, I don't see too many lapses. I don't see guys being, you know, the tired, hey, you know, we've, we've been there before. We're, you know, we're gonna just cash this in and, and lose. You know, it's funny, Jalen put up like on social media comparing this year to last year. I think it's a little bit of a disingenuous comparison. Just because the last year's team didn't. I don't, I don't think they, they came with it every night. They had lapses. They had the, ah, well, we just, that we don't, we ain't got it tonight. So we're gonna, It's a loss. It's okay. It's a loss. It doesn't matter. This year's team, the regular season matters so much more to them, and so they went for it. And that's great. That's. They are overachieving. I think Last year's team in the regular season was still a little bit on the underachieving side just because they didn't think that they had to do all of the things that they had to do. It's championship hangover. That's the hard thing for a team like that. Especially when you have Porzingis who's, you know, a little bit, you know, banged up. You have Drew Holiday, who's older. Just guys that, that understand the grind. You're like, ah, we're not, we're just not going to go all out. So that, that loss or that win over Brooklyn where Ugo hits the game tying shot and they're all like, that win probably doesn't happen last year. So this is, this is a great, entertaining team that is, you know, you, you can be proud of them. I think it's just a team that you can be proud of. So I, I am not a fan of the transactional stuff. The. It's funny, I, I really am the opposite of I think what a lot of people like to listen to and watch, which makes it tough. And I guess this is like, this is kind of sort of half answering a question that's coming up later because I don't care. I don't get all worked up about the transactional stuff. Okay, here's a trade, here's a signing. This is great. I care more about the stuff that's on the floor. And so I think the, the entertainment value of this team, it's, it's definitely better. I think that's a better thing to focus on. So there you go, Edward P. Like P E A P says I heard your podcast that the Celtics have successfully cleared their salary restrictions so they can get a new player. Maybe not a superstar, but a solid player type. Is it too early to suggest some names that you think would fit into the Celtics system? So let me just one point on, on that I may have given some wrong numbers as far as what the salary, what the Celtics salaries totaled up to because I was looking at a list that didn't include Jason Tatum's number. So they, I, I think the number I gave was somewhere in like the one 110, 120. It's like really like, I think it's like 175 that the salary is going to be. But my overall point remains the same. The money that they had, they have to spend all the, Every other point that I made is still correct. So if you listen to that other, that other podcast like Pete did and said, okay, wow, they can do all these things. You, you can, but the numbers are a little bit, just a tiny bit tighter than I said before. So I apologize for that. So I don't know again, specifically what, what names are going to be out there because we don't know who's going to be, who's going to resign, who's not going to resign, which restricted free agents aren't going to get offers. So right now I don't think it's, it's appropriate to say they should target this player, that player, because not only that, we don't know exactly who, what kind of player they're going to be looking for. But I wanted to answer the question because we are, we are kind of depending on Milwaukee and Memphis and some of these other teams, maybe Utah to make some moves. And The Celtics have two tools to use. One of them is a 27.7 million dollar traded player exception. They can absorb a contract there. The other is their full mid level exception and that's going to be at 15, $15.1 million. The way free agency has I think started to shake out is the cap teams are going to make their pitches and try to get their players. The, after that, the, the teams with cap space, I should say are going to make their pitches and try to get their players. Teams like the Celtics that are over the cap and can use a full mid level, they're going to be targeting guys that maybe could take more, that could make more in some situations. But hey, Instead of taking 18 to 20, take 15 from us and go try to win a championship because we've got Jason Tatum, so they're going to be in the market to try to sign some of those guys. But if they can get in somehow on one of these trades this summer and, and bring in a guy who makes less than $27.7 million, then what? One, what the trade does impacts what the signing is going to be and vice versa. So it, some of it also depends on what, what does Vuch look like with Tatum? How does Vuch's summer because he's a free agent, how does that go? What are, what are the offers for him from other teams? What the Celtics do with their roster combined with what the other teams do in trades, combined with what some other teams do with their cap sheets. It's going to throw a lot of different names out there. So I don't want to get into specifics yet, but obviously as that we get closer to that, we're going to, we're going to see some more specifics. Come out and we're going to see what the Celtics plan is a little bit more closely. So that's when we'll get into specifics and we'll, we'll definitely do plenty of podcasting on that, but I just wanted to at least lay out the, the landscape for that. All right, we're going to come back, we'll talk about the entertainment value of the NBA expansion draft and a couple of questions about me. All right, sure. Why not? We'll do that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by Game Time. Download that Game Time app because there's nothing like being in an NBA arena and the Celtics have an upcoming west coast trip. So if you're in one of those cities and you're like, hey, I haven't been, I haven't seen the Celtics in a while, or maybe I've never seen the Celtics, open up the Game Time app and see if maybe you can get some of these tickets, especially last minute. I've used Game Time plenty. If I want to go to a game like every once in a while, I'll just say, hey, Providence College is playing not the best season in the world, but I'm 10 minutes from Providence College and I'll just open up the Game Time app and go to one of those games. So very simple. Open it up. When you open up the app, the numbers you see the price is going to be the price you pay. No surprise fees or anything like that. You'll see the view from your seat. So if you're not familiar with the arena and you're like, what does section 114 mean? Well, the app will show you what section 114 means so you can go see, maybe you like the view, maybe you don't. You can pick the section and use their zone deals. GameTime will pick the seats for you and you can save some money that way. So it's great for last minute tickets. Everything's quick, intuitive, stress free. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. That's L o C K e D o n locked on for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. And remember, if you're using the web, it's game time.co not.com 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. Thank you for being in every day and joining me every Monday through Friday. And for the bonus podcast now, why not join the everyday Club? If you haven't already, you can check it out. You get access to ad free audio for Lockdown Celtics compatible with Apple Podcast, Spotify and every other major podcast app. You have the locked on Everydayer Club Discord server, which includes a Celtics group chat and group chat for the NBA as well. So check it out. Lockdown celtics.supercast.com lockdown celtics.supercast.Com I'll drop a link in the show notes as well. Let's get back to these questions here. We'll wrap it up Rapid fire here. Jay asks, I'd like your thoughts on NBA games. Overall, NBA viewership has been up this season, a change from a declining trend a few years back. Do you think the games in general were more fun and exciting to watch? And if so, what aspect? Or is it just the temporary effect brought by the new TV contract deals? Huh? Think the last part of that has something to do with it? Ratings are up because there's a lot more NBC. Even though it's tough to find some of these games, I still can't even get it straight. The games on prime tonight, are they in Peacock Tonight? So it's, it's a little confusing. But there are more games on NBC. There are more games coming on abc. So it's, I think the marketing pushing those has been strong and that's leading to some of the viewership. But listen, I obviously like NBA basketball. I think it's fun and I think most teams, even the ones that are tanking, have some exciting young players. It's not always great, but I do like this style of basketball. I think it's a nice kind of uptempo, but it has a mix of some of the individual performances. Maybe I'm the wrong person to ask because I am generally entertained by NBA basketball, so. But I do, I think this product is good. I'm not turned off by the three pointers. I'm not even turned off by the tanking. Like I understand it happens. And, and so that's that I think is where I differ from people. But I, I do think the, the speed of the game is good. The skill of the game is off the charts and the, the three point shooting, even that is like just a bunch of like mini home runs. So I, I do like it. Okay. Andrew says, I just found the spot track has an incredible expansion draft feature. Although I was a little surprised to see that Hauser, Sherman and Keda are listed as protected players while Walsh, Amari, Williams are available. Is that what you have predicted or does Keith Smith have some explaining to do? Keith always has some explaining to do. No, can I be honest with you here? I haven't used the, the expansion draft feature. You know why? Because it's not happening this summer. And so I don't want to be too serious here. But, and I see a lot of people like, oh, I wonder who they would protect. Fun conversation for sure. But I, I don't, I never really cared to participate in that because it was like, well, even if they vote this summer to expand, they're not doing an expansion draft this summer. Even if they say we're expanding, we're going to Seattle and Las Vegas. That still hasn't, the bidding process hasn't happened. Like, we haven't gotten that close to the, the process of an expansion draft. Like expansion draft won't happen for maybe another couple of years. So I'm not, I don't, I'm sorry, Andrew, I'm not saying this to you. I'm saying it in general because I see a lot of like people hear expansion, they go, oh my God, I wonder what would happen in expansion draft. I, I don't, I don't care to get into it because maybe I would leave Shireman off, but maybe, maybe in two years I keep them on and I don't know who's going to be here in two years. So you know, you could get to a point where that's where you, you pull the. Well, I'm not going to protect, I'm not going to protect Jaylen Brown at 32 or 33 and $70 million contract, $60 million contract because these, these expansion teams aren't going to, we don't think they're going to go take him. So there's no reason to protect him. And that's the game you want to play then, but you're not going to play. Obviously right now you protect Jaylen Brown, but in two years, do you still? Probably, but maybe not does. I don't know. I, you just don't know who the Celtics have. And, and so I, I, I don't want to make it sound bad, but I, I get too Much other stuff going on to waste mental energy on this exercise. Not. I'm sorry, Andrew, I'm not saying this to you, but I'm. I'm so focused on this season that I can't bring myself to that place. And this brings me very nicely into this question from Will, who says, what is something that you've learned about yourself over the years while working in the media and podcasting? What's your favorite part of what you do and what is something you dislike the most? And so this is the thing I've learned about myself. If something doesn't make sense to me, I just am out. I don't care. I'm. So when the expansion draft stuff is going on, my reaction is like, why are you people doing this? Why is this a thing? Why do you people care about who would be protected on this year's roster? Because that. It's literally not going to happen this year. And I get it. It's like barroom conversation. There's a piece of my brain that says, john, these people are just having fun. Will you relax? And. But the dominant part of my brain is like, no, I can't relax about this because it's. It doesn't make any sense to me. And so I just. I don't even pay attention to it. I. I don't want to say I've become less fun. I am getting older, and so I think things get less fun as you get older. I do consider myself a fun person. Doing this podcast by myself. It just. I don't have, like, you can tell. I know you can tell the difference between me doing this podcast by myself and me. When I do this podcast with Tom or with another guest, I know you can tell there's a piece of my personality that comes out that's just me and the guys and me, you know, busting chops and having fun with my friends and not having somebody to play off of that all the time does kind of like, make. It's like this version of me and there's another version of me, and I think there's. There's value to both. But what I do here is so much more explaining and so much more. So much more like nuts and bolts and trying to get people to. To understand certain things. That. That is like, the core of my personality. I love explaining things. I love. I. I hate being misunderstood. I hate not being understood. I don't care if you like me or not. But not understanding my point drives me nuts. Not understanding why I'm making a point. The. You know One of my biggest peeves is when I. I can look at something bad that's happening and say, well, I understand why that happened. I understand why this bad thing or why this person did this bad thing. I understand why this person had this negative reaction. And people hear that and go, why are you. Why do you condone that? Or why are. How do you know? Understanding the process of bad things happening doesn't mean I condone it. In fact, I think it's the opposite. When I understand something bad that's happening on a basketball court, why somebody made bad decisions, say, yeah, I can understand why that happened. That you try to get into the head of somebody. So when you understand why that happens, you can say, I know how to make that not happen. You know what I mean? That, to me is that's how my brain works. So this is one of the things I've learned about myself over the years. There's so. And there's so much bad that's happened, especially when I think about, like, my background in news. I. I've seen so much. I've seen the worst of humanity. I've seen the best of humanity. I've seen it in so many different very serious and very frivolous scenarios. I've learned so much about human psychology that I think it has made me a little bit more serious about how I approach things. And I try very hard not to take myself seriously. I do not take myself seriously at all. The fact in all, honestly, I'm talking to you, but I'm also. If you take a step back, I'm also. I've got just a camera in front of me. I got a dog sleeping over here. I got a dog sleeping over there. It's got a couple of lights and my computer. And if anybody just were to walk in and watch me, they're just. I'm just talking to nobody in a. You know, in my office, but I'm not in my head. I'm talking to you. Like, I. You and I are having a conversation right now. That's how. That's how I do this job. And that is actually my favorite part of what I do, is that I get to have a conversation with you through this. And, like, I truly, honestly feel like I'm talking to you in my head. I'm talking to you. I see a light, I see a lens, but really what I'm seeing is kind of like a face, and I do enjoy that. The favorite thing. My favorite thing that happens is I've had parents with a child, you know, especially Young daughters who come up and say, you know, we. We have listened to you on the way to school. Like, I. I forget. I apologize. I forget names so easily. But I had a father and his daughter come say hi very recently, within the past week or so. And saying like, we. We in car rides or just listening to you and all that stuff, listen, it fills my heart with joy because I think about somewhere down the road, a speech at a wedding, 10, 15 years from now, whenever, of. Remember when we would listen to podcasts on the way to school. And like, I just picture that happening and I'll never know that it happens. But knowing that it's possible that there's a connection there, that a father and a daughter, a mother, a mother and a son, a f. You know, like the. These deep connections, formed friends, family, everything that involve in some form my podcast that people can talk about and agree or disagree or be like, oh, Corralis made a good point, or Corralis sucked today, or whatever it was. If that becomes any form of bond between two people, then, you know, I. I'll die happy like that. That. That is my absolute favorite part of this job. No doubt. No question. Nothing else even comes close. I don't care about meeting famous people. I don't care about any of that stuff. I see famous people all the time. I don't give a damn. Unless it's Kevin McHale or Larry Bird, in that case, I'll fanboy. But everyone else, I don't give a damn who you are. It's just, you know, famous people are around me all the time. Whatever those connections between especially parents and children, when they say, we listen to your podcast and we talk about it and we bond over it, that. I always want to cry. I always want to cry because just the people that I've. I've had that with already. Just, I've done. I've done it. I've. Like, I have. I am a successful person. That has given me joy, and that's it. So what I dislike the most is. Okay, what I dislike the most are the games I have to play to try to trick the algorithm into finding my stuff. That's. That's the stuff that I. Is what I absolutely hate the most is that no matter how good my podcast is or how good anything I've written is if the algorithm has decided for some reason not to push it out, then the algorithm has decided. And if I have a bad day, an off day, I'm tired, my brain just isn't working as fluidly or whatever and for some reason I, I nail a headline and it flies. And, and maybe that's the day that people look at my podcast and go, oh, well, I don't understand why people are watching this. And that kind of sucks. The. We're slaves to the algorithm and I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. Cannot stand it. And that's it. That's what I hate the most. Final question from Clayton. Hey, John, when will you live stream a game so we can see the game with you and hear your analysis in real time? I believe it'd be awesome content for your fans and yeah, I think it would be awesome content for me. How do I do that? This is, this is the most 50 year old moment I've ever had in my life. Anybody who's still listening at the 40 minute mark and knows how to, for me to do that, I think I've seen it. I think I've seen, I'll, I'll research it, but maybe when they come back, maybe, you know, on one of these west coast trips, you know, with my job now at si, I have a little bit more time during the game. So, yeah, I, I'm happy to live stream and watch a game with you guys. I mean, that'd be, that'd be cool. So I'll figure out how to do that. And it would have to be a road game because, you know, if I'm not at the road game, if I'm not there, I'm watching from home and we can do that. I can't do it during a home game because I'll be watching live. I don't know if I'm even allowed to at the arena. But yeah, we'll do it. We'll figure it out. If somebody wants to tell me how to do it, tell me. I'll try to research it too, but that's it. All right. Mailbag questions, John corrales.com mailbag johncorellis.com mailbag I'm way over time here. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Make sure you're following me on YouTube, especially because tons of bonus content comes out. Shorts and bonus podcasts and all that stuff. It's everywhere, tons of content. So make sure you're, you're subscribed everywhere and then share 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. The winner games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events you only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the Winter Games on FanDuel just makes sense. From medal counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports you care about most, FanDuel gives you more ways to stay connected to the action. The drama of curling matches that start slow and somehow get intense fast. Hockey games that feel different right from opening Face Off. The Winter Games are on, and there's no better way to follow them than with FanDuel. FanDuel play your game how do you make chicken nuggets like 7,000% better short? You let Taco Bell make them long. Start with all white meat chicken nuggets nuggets, bread them in crunchy tortilla chips and serve them with Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch. Yup, that's Hidden Valley Ranch mixed with Taco Bell Diablo Sauce. It's exactly what it sounds like and somehow even better. Simple math Spicy results Crispy chicken nuggets from Taco Bell, a brand new classic at participating US Taco Bell locations for a limited time only while supplies last. Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast network. Thank you for being here because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love while getting something awesome in return, check out the Everydayer Club. You get ad free episodes of your favorite Locked on show, access to a members only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. 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Episode: Can Nikola Vucevic and Jaylen Brown ELEVATE the Celtics? | Mailbag Questions Answered
Date: February 13, 2026
Host: John Karalis (Boston Sports Journal)
In this engaging mailbag episode, John Karalis tackles listener questions centered on the Boston Celtics’ team dynamics, recent personnel moves, and the broader appeal of the current NBA landscape. Highlights include deep dives into the potential impact of Nikola Vucevic and his possible synergy with star Jaylen Brown, insight into the Celtics’ roster construction and free agency strategies, and discussions about what makes these Celtics so entertaining. John closes with introspection about his career in media and a peek into future podcasting plans.
Timestamps: [04:50 - 11:30]
“I think Cato [Keda] will come in... V will be part of the bench and be paired with Tatum a little bit more... Maybe that connects him to Tatum a little bit more than it does to Brown. But we’ll have to wait and see. It’s an interesting dynamic.” — John Karalis [10:32]
Timestamps: [11:45 - 17:48]
“There's no reason for the ball not to be in Derrick White’s hands. He’s one of your best fourth quarter performers, one of the best fourth quarter performers in the league.” — John Karalis [15:07]
Timestamps: [20:05 - 27:10]
Timestamps: [27:35 - 33:55]
Timestamps: [34:00 - 40:30]
Timestamps: [40:40 - 48:38]
“The favorite thing that happens is I've had parents with a child... come up and say, you know, we have listened to you on the way to school... If that becomes any form of bond between two people, then, you know, I'll die happy.” — John Karalis [46:05]
Timestamps: [48:45 - End]
| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------|---------------| | Vucevic & Brown connection | 04:50–11:30 | | Roster spots & point guard depth | 11:45–17:48 | | Celtics’ entertainment value | 20:05–27:10 | | Cap space, trades, free agency | 27:35–33:55 | | NBA as a product, expansion | 34:00–40:30 | | John’s reflections on the media | 40:40–48:38 | | Prospects of live-streaming games | 48:45–end |
This episode offers a comprehensive, thoughtful snapshot of the state of the Celtics post-trade deadline—from evaluating player fit and the importance of team chemistry to the excitement of the franchise’s current play. John Karalis delivers candid insider insight as both analyst and storyteller, making the podcast a must-listen for Celtics fans seeking more than just scores and highlights.