Celtics' Preseason GOOD and BAD | Did Josh Minott WIN a rotation spot?

Summary

Locked On Celtics – Celtics' Preseason GOOD and BAD | Did Josh Minott WIN a rotation spot?

Host: John Karalis
Guest: Tom Westerholm
Date: October 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, John Karalis and Tom Westerholm break down the highs and lows from the Boston Celtics’ preseason. They take a close look at who stood out (notably Josh Minott), discuss the team’s biggest concerns (namely turnovers and rebounding), and share insights into player roles, chemistry, and the state of the rotation as the regular season approaches.

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Media vs. Coaches Game: The “Competitive” Debate

Timestamps: 01:23–16:11

• Recap of the Celtics Coaches vs. Media Game:
  • John shares tales of soreness and frustration from the media team’s paltry 4-point outing ("I was mad at myself...If we get to 10 points...but 57-4 was...random people texting me out of nowhere." — John, 03:15).
  • Tom and John discuss Joe Mazzulla’s hyper-competitive approach and how it extends beyond the court, citing his full-court press and postgame attitude.
  • On media competitiveness:

    “Do you really think that beat reporting is not competitive? That is an unbelievably competitive environment…”
    — Tom Westerholm, 06:02

  • Joe Mazzulla’s “test people’s mettle” mentality is dissected: John explains it’s less about bullying and more about testing one’s love for the game.
  • Notable quote:

    “When you’re that competitive, you’re like, yeah, you love it, but...are you willing to die for this?”
    — John Karalis, 13:02

  • The coaches stuck around postgame, mingled and encouraged the media team, demonstrating some camaraderie.
  • Both hosts agree: Mazzulla left with a new respect for the media’s competitiveness, even if it required 57-4 to get there.
  • Tom’s critique:

    “I feel like the fact that he needed that to understand how much reporters love the game of basketball...kind of lazy. And I didn’t like it because I...got defensive.”
    — Tom Westerholm, 15:22

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Preseason Positives

Timestamps: 18:20–28:35

Josh Minott’s Breakout Preseason

• Josh Minott was a clear preseason standout.

  • John takes a “victory lap” for highlighting Minott ("I think Minott is going to be The Ron Harper Jr. – step on up, you’re getting a start." — 19:33).
  • Praised for versatility, athleticism, and fit (“He accentuates Tatum and Brown, gets them a rest...he just wants to stick.” — John, 21:29).
  • Tom echoes: Minott’s skills plug real holes from last season ("Just having that...do everything, at his athleticism, at his size, at his length...versatility there that the Celtics are going to really need," 19:57).

• Notable quote:

  “I love his shin tattoos…the ‘now and later’ thing. I just, I think that’s really important in the life of a professional athlete.”
  — Tom Westerholm, 22:22

The Bigs: Garza, Tillman, Keita, Boucher

• Discussion of unique strengths among the four bigs.
  • Each has limitations, but their varied skill sets allow for matchup-based rotation.
  • John: "No one big’s…going to rise to our starting center...It’s going to be such a mix and match." (24:55)
  • Tom stresses self-awareness: accepting role changes game by game key for bigs’ collective success.

    “Can these guys all just kind of like, say, like, okay, I accept that I will play a lot against this team and I might sit the bench a lot against this team.”
    — Tom Westerholm, 25:45

Other Rapid-Fire Positives

• Hugo Gonzalez:
  • Both hosts are high on his long-term potential (“He’s gonna be good. Not this year necessarily, but he’s gonna be good.” — John, 27:07).
• Derrick White:
  • Admired as the “perfect basketball player;” more shot volume will be “awesome.”
• Peyton Pritchard:
  • Noted for aggressive rebounding and hustle.
• Overall team character:
  • Tom: “This team is competitive...preseason made me more confident they reach their ceiling this year.” (27:51)

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Preseason Negatives and Concerns

Timestamps: 30:15–39:27

Turnovers & Rebounding

• Both major pain points throughout preseason.
  • Some improvement in defensive rebounding against the Raptors (70% D-rebound rate), but general consistency lacking.
  • Tom’s tongue-in-cheek logic: More turnovers mean fewer defensive rebound opportunities ("If you do more turnovers...maybe your percentage goes up." — 31:09).
  • Xavier Tillman’s candid solution:

    “We’re looking at the film and there’s too many of us just standing and watching.” (31:26)

  • Turnover problems may improve with regular lineups but highlighted as a season-long battle ("If they turn it over...that's going to be the difference..." — Tom, 32:20).
  • John: Defensive rebounding must at least be league-average, with strong offensive rebounding to offset weaknesses.

Disappointing Individual Preseason Runs

• Baylor Scheierman:
  • Labeled a “negative” — rough summer league and preseason, now a question mark for the rotation.

    “He had a bad preseason.” — John Karalis, 32:14

• Jordan Walsh:
  • Light mention as a negative; not enough impact to stay in rotation conversation.

Anthony Simons (“Simon’s” Segment)

• Anthony Simons showed flashes but underwhelmed as a primary creator.
  • Tom felt Simon’s role as lone primary ballhandler exposed him ("I didn’t always think that he did very well." — 32:23).
  • Wants to see Simons attack at three levels, play faster, and show greater on-ball maturity ("I want to see him play faster...he can be such a dangerous weapon on this team," 36:40).
  • Defense still a concern; John wishes he had a veteran like Jrue Holiday to help him learn screen navigation.
  • Key summary:

    “Anthony is a big old incomplete. And I’m with you. I wish there was a little bit more that we saw.”
    — John Karalis, 38:37

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Key Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media-Competitiveness:

  "You want to kick everyone's butt so bad all the time...if I had a story, right?...I immediately start sweating..."
  — Tom Westerholm, 06:02

• On Joe Mazzulla's Coaching Style:

  "He wants to test people’s mettle. He is, you know, in a lot of ways he does have that warrior mentality...he likes to test people."
  — John Karalis, 07:49

• On Minott's Attitude:

  "I like where my feet are at...grounded, present mentality. That's really important."
  — Tom Westerholm, 22:43

• On Big Man Rotation:

  "Every big is unique. It’s going to be mix and match all year. But that might actually be a silver lining."
  — John Karalis, 24:55

• On Turnovers:

  “The turnovers are the bigger problem...that’s your own fault. A lot of it is your own fault.”
  — John Karalis, 33:43

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Segment Timestamps (Highlights)

• Media Game / Mazzulla’s Media Philosophy: 01:23–16:11
• Preseason Positives (Minott, Bigs, etc.): 18:20–28:35
• Preseason Negatives (Turnovers, Rebounding, Player Struggles): 30:15–39:27
• Anthony Simons Analysis: 32:20, 35:48–38:37

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Summary Takeaways

• Josh Minott looks like a major preseason winner; he brings needed flexibility, defense, and youthful energy — already generating contract extension chatter.
• Boston’s big men are varied and situational, not standout stars, but can cover by committee provided roles are clearly understood and accepted.
• Turnovers and rebounding remain the two most glaring issues, albeit ones that may improve as the regular rotation solidifies.
• Anthony Simons flashed as a shooter but did not elevate as a creator or defender — leaving questions about his upside and fit to start the year.
• Derrick White, Peyton Pritchard, and Hugo Gonzalez all brought encouraging signs, and the team’s overall competitiveness is viewed as a strong positive.
• The coaching staff — and media — left preseason games with a refreshed understanding of each other’s love for basketball...and who needs more practice breaking the press.

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Transcript

[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

Getting into positives and negatives now that the preseason is over. A positive Josh Minot A negative Anthony Simons it's all right now on the Lockdown Celtics Podcast. Huh?

Be ever ready. It's the seas. Who else could it be? What they gonna say now screaming like J.T. corralis recap the madness every game, every practice, Crime time. Depp and D. White on the sideline. Rennie J. How we started raising Ben is how we finish LOC on Celtics pod. Home of the winners, baby.

Hey there. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics Podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network where it is your team every day. Your team is the Boston Celtics. I talk about them every Monday through Friday, plus bonus podcasts on the weekends when they play games on Fridays or Saturdays. So make sure you're subscribed. The show is free. It's Everywhere. It's on YouTube. Get into the comment section. Share your thoughts with the everydayers, the people who are here Monday through Friday with me, John Corrales. I'm a beat writer for Boston Sports Journal. I've written a couple books about the team. I've been covering the team for about 20 years, so I've been around for a while. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now. New customers can bet just five bucks, and if your bet wins, you'll get 300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. Preseason has ended mercifully. We are going through positives and negatives in this show later on. Some of the negatives, obviously, turnovers, rebounds, little something about Anthony Simons and a couple of other people. The positives, we like Josh Minot and, you know, a few other things. And when I say we, I mean me and Tom Wester. Home, everybody.

[Tom Westerholm]

Good to be back.

[John Corrales]

It's good to be back.

[Tom Westerholm]

It's good to be back.

[John Corrales]

How you feeling? I'm good, man.

[Tom Westerholm]

How. How are you feeling?

[John Corrales]

I am.

[Tom Westerholm]

Mentally, emotionally, how are you feeling?

[John Corrales]

Okay. In that order. I think I'm in. I feel the best physically. Okay. Mentally, it's like just the overall, my over mentality. I'm still a little angry. I was a little angry emotionally, like the. In the. Yeah, I'm like, a little like. But, like, angry in a competitive way. Like, angry that we only scored four points. Still angry about that. I spent too much time, pretty game yesterday talking about potential press breaks and how we would break the press next time, so. And I was mad at myself because I was like, look, man, we had a Division 1 women's basketball player out there. We had, you know, me. I had a couple of former college basketball players. Why didn't we call a timeout and just lean on our experience and set up a press break and get a couple of. Just get a couple of shots up? Because if we get to 10 points, I don't think people. I don't think it goes as crazy. You know, 5,000, 710 is like, aha. But 57, 4 was like, you know, I got random people texting me out of nowhere, calling me out of nowhere. Yeah. So that's tough, man. Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Can I tell you, I am. I'm. I'm. My physical pain.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Just so people understand what kind of basketball I played. Normally when you play ball, you get sore, like in your lateral movements, muscles, your adductors, your abductors, because you haven't done a defensive slide in forever. None of that soreness because I didn't do any defensive slides. I am sore in my quads, which has never happened to me before. You know why? Because I was running up the court and then I had to stop myself on a dime where your quads come in when you're running foot. And then I turn around and I just stop myself because I, it was so the constant stopping and starting. Basically, I wore out my brakes. That's, I was just running up and down the floor so much. That's the type of soreness. So that tells you a little bit about how that game went.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

[John Corrales]

I mean, you get something to say.

[Tom Westerholm]

Okay, all right, all right. I got, like, I got a little bit, I got, I got, I got a couple takes I can fire off about this. I actually, So I watched Missoula's press conference where he addressed this right, with you guys, and he, and it felt like he was sort of what? It almost felt like he was sort of trying to walk some things back. I don't know. I, I, I, I, I, I posted the other day that, that I, I felt like I'm very tired of the coach owns reporter shtick. Like, and then.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

The game felt like an extension of that, right? And then he gave his, his, like, press conference where he was like, well, you know, like, you know, we come from a competitive environment, and, and I, I had some, like, I understood kind of like what he was trying to say, I think. And I still don't think he gets a lot of things. Like, I think that he's, like, pretty off base on several aspects. Like, first, I thought it was funny. I think, first and foremost, right, he said that, like, when he comes in there, right, he's coming from a competitive environment, and you guys are just doing your jobs. And it's like, my brother, do you really think that beat reporting is not competitive? That is one of the most. That is an unbelievably competitive environment. Like, every single story that you write, you are sweating. And like, you, and like, you're collegial with everybody. You're friendly with a lot of people, right? When you're a beat writer, friends with some, for sure, right? Like, you are friends, friendly, collegial. Like, everybody's like, you know, pretty polite. At the worst, everybody's polite with each other, right? But you want to kick everyone's butt so bad all the time. It's like, you know, even the people that you are friends with, even the people that you are friendly with. You want. Like, I want to, like, if I have a story, if I had a story, right? And I saw J. King talking to somebody who was in my story, I immediately start sweating like, that. MF better not be getting. I have, I will be so mad if he does. Right?

[John Corrales]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

It is an unbelievably competitive environment. And it just showed me that like, Joe doesn't get media, like, and, and most people who are covered by the media don't get media. But it was just such a, such a tone deaf thing to say to me where I was like, nah, dude, you don't get it. It is hyper competitive. It's a lot of former athletes who then got into this because they themselves are very competitive people and yeah, they just weren't blessed with the skills to continue on in the sport.

[John Corrales]

Well, that's true. All of that is 100% true. I will say that. I don't know, I am giving him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he anticipated the, you know, the tweet, the Taylor Snow tweet where the last shot goes in and it pans to the scoreboard and it gets out and it gets viral. He, I don't think he ever said, hey, set this up. We're going to publicly embarrass these folks. I do think that Joe, in his way and he, he likes to test people. It goes back to the reporter that was doing a story on him and Joe was in the cold time. He's like, well, if you're going to do this interview, you got to get in the cold tub with me. He wants to test people's metal. He is, you know, in a lot of ways he does have that warrior mentality like that, that kind of like, you know, kill or be killed. If I, I need to know, what are you? What are you? And so I think the, like, it is abjectly stupid to full court press us, right? Like the best or second best player on the team is me, 52 years old and hadn't played basketball in a year and a comfortable £40 over my playing weight. So like I, you mean to tell.

[Tom Westerholm]

Me that a bunch of former NBA and D1 players who train with NBA players every day make that difficult on you guys? Is that, that's what you mean to tell me so?

[John Corrales]

It is, it is, it is like the silliest thing in the world to be like, we're going to press you, we're going to trap you, we're going to, going to turn you over every time. Like, if we're just going to go out there and play some basketball and have some fun, then I mean, come on. But Joe, I feel like, needed to see. It's like, what are you made of? And I do think that he was legitimately, like impressed by the fact that we were like, you know, it's like it's like a Rocky movie where, you know, you just get knocked down, you're bloody, you brew and you just get up, you're like, come on, come on. And. And he, he respects that. I think if we play again. I don't know if we're going to play again like this. Coaches against the media, maybe we'll mix it up and have a little bit more fun, competitive type of game. But he. He came out of it, like, he legitimately came out of it, you know, going like, okay, like, these, these folks do actually love the game. And I had a. I, I'm not gonna. I'm not going to reveal the details of, like, the private conversation.

[Tom Westerholm]

Of course, of course.

[John Corrales]

But, like, I, I did want to make the point, like, Joe, you understand, like, just what you just said, and this is nothing. I'm not speaking on a turn here. I love basketball for a variety of reasons, and in a very personal way. I just, I never had the fast twitch fibers. I played at a higher level than a lot of people. But I mean, the difference between my level. It's like the scalabrini. Like, I'm closer to LeBron than you are to me. Like, I, I'm like the, the you are to me. Like, I, I'm not like, there's a. Where those guys are. Is like, him closer to LeBron. I'm nowhere near that. So. But I still love the game. I'm actually going to stop. I'm not saying so that this is my way. This is my way of being part of the NBA, you know, and that was.

[Tom Westerholm]

I want to say too, like, that was the other thing that I just, like, rubbed me the wrong way of, like, him being like, well, I really started to understand how much you guys love the game. It's like, oh, really? Like, all these people who, like, who, like these underpaid over or the underpaid, overworked reporters who, like, half of them show up to the game because, like, you know, like. Because you get to go to TD Garden a couple times a week and it's like, you're not. You're not paid anything. Who are like, just trying to break in to like.

[John Corrales]

Sure.

[Tom Westerholm]

Breaking like, you needed this to tell you that they love the game. Yes, he did.

[John Corrales]

He did actually. Like, that's. This is the language that he speaks.

[Tom Westerholm]

He thinks about things enough that he shouldn't need that. Like.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I don't know. That's all I'm. I am. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because. Because of a couple of things because he didn't just come out, spank us and then leave. They came out, they spanked us. Everybody stuck around. They were encouraging us in the media versus media game that we did play afterwards.

[Tom Westerholm]

Sure, yeah.

[John Corrales]

Two 12 minute halves that we played against each other. And that sucked because we're all exhausted. But yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I came down, I took a shot, and he was like, oh, you got the three for two. You know, you missed the two for what? Like, he's like kind of coaching. So they stuck around. So it wasn't just, we're here to embarrass you and then we're going to walk off laughing and, you know, pat each other in the back. Everybody stuck around. People they were encouraging. After the game was over, we hung around for like 20 minutes. We all kind of like joked around. And, you know, I told, I told Joe that I wanted to elbow him, and he got a kick out of that. And like, it's, it's one thing to say, hey, we, we know you love the game and all that stuff, but, like, how much do you love the game? And like, maybe, maybe I get it. And I know you get it because you played too.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

When you're that competitive, you're like, yeah, you love it, but are you willing? Like, it's like, are you willing to die for this? You know, but like, he, he needed to see that. Like, it didn't matter if it was 57 to 4. We were still out there trying to contest. We're still trying to. It was exhausted and it looked terrible. But, like, when I missed a shot, I was pissed at myself. I was, I threw a towel at Joe. Like, I threw it. Like, I, I was, you know, I was visibly upset about certain things were happening. He needed to see that to be like, oh, right. They're just, you know, it's different. It's different. So I, I do think that there's a level of respect and I know the segment's going along. I will say this how I know Joe actually kind of got it. I decided I wanted to bust his chops. So there was Jack Simone asked the question the other day that set him off.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

He was like, I answered this question.

[Tom Westerholm]

It felt like the start of all of this. It felt like, what made him go like, right, destroy these guys? Yeah.

[John Corrales]

So he went to all of that stuff and this, it pissed him off. So I was like, all right, Joe, you got the best of us on your turf. Pregame media, this is my house. So I asked literally the same question, almost verbatim yeah. And Joe. I was expecting Joe to like, flip me off, to be like, ah, next question. Like, okay, I get it. Good one, John. He actually sat there and answered it thoughtfully. I was like, did he not realize that it's the same question and that I'm busting his chops? Like, I'm, this is my way of, like, throwing a little jab at him. He, he blew right past it. Maybe he was just disarming me or whatever, but, like, he gave it a thoughtful answer. He took the stage down. So he's sitting at our level. He's not sitting above us anymore. I don't know. I think, I think for all of the craziness and everything you said is legit, I think that, I think he comes out of it like, you know what? I have a much deeper understanding of these folks and the difference between what the media is and what we are is, is basically just physical talent, you know? Because I tell you what, if Jalen Brown wasn't as athletic and awesome as he was, if he had my genetics and I had his, I'd be sitting there being pissed at him and he'd be the one asking me questions because he loves the game so much and he'd want to be involved.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. And I know we gotta get to it, but I, I, I respect all that about Joe. And honestly, this is like, all I wanted to say about this was that I feel like the fact that he needed that to understand how much reporters love the game of basketball, to me is like, it, it kind of lazy. And I didn't like it because I just, I, I, I, I got defensive.

[John Corrales]

You're not alone.

[Tom Westerholm]

Of course reporters love the game. They love the game. That's why they do this. Yeah, that's, that was, that was the thing.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. You're not alone. There are plenty of people who, who, who feel the same way.

[Tom Westerholm]

I think there are a lot of people who took it too far. I think there are a lot of people he's like, he's bullying, he's all this stuff. It's like he needs to understand that, like, reporters love the game too. He's not, he doesn't have, he doesn't have a stranglehold on loving the game of basketball. A lot of people who do.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I'm still.

[Tom Westerholm]

Now he gets that. I guess so. You know, win, win.

[John Corrales]

Next, next time, Next time. We're scoring more buckets, though. I want, I want, I want that again. All right, we're going to talk about preseason when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by our good friends over at Wayfair. It is just about entertaining season holiday entertainment, which means people over for Thanksgiving. Maybe you can still get some autumn stuff that you want to put up. Christmas is around the corner. If you celebrate that, there are plenty of holidays and plenty of ways to decorate. Wayfair is going to help you refresh your house. Maybe a guest room. Maybe you know, different rooms in the house that you need to get holiday ready. Wayfair makes it easy to personalize your home for the holidays with a huge selection for every style and budget. I'm a big Wayfair shopper. I have plenty of stuff from Wayfair. I can confirm that whatever you're willing to spend there is something kind of cool there for you to be able to whether you're decorating a four bedroom house or a one bedroom apartment or a studio somewhere, you can get that at Wayfair. So I have a room upstairs. Our son is up there playing video games in this room. He sits there, he sprawled out on the couch. It's all from Wayfair. It looks cool, he's comfortable. So we love it. Very easy to find styles that fit in your budget. Delivery is fast and free, which is a lifesaver right now. And you know, just get yourself ready for the family rush of people get organized, refreshed, ready for the holidays. For way less, head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's Wayfair W A Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style, every home.

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[John Corrales]

Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Go check out Lockdown Fantasy Basketball. Lockdown Fantasy Basketball hosted by Josh Lloyd. He is the goat when it comes to basketball podcasting. He's going to get you ready for your fantasy basketball season. He's going to help you win your league. He's like a cheat code, so check him out wherever you got this podcast listening or watching on YouTube. All right, Tom Westerholm. Actual basketball by competent players all the way around. Theoretically, where it was played. Let's get through. We'll spend positives in this segment, negatives in the next segment. First name on our list is Josh Minot. And, like, I think that's a great place to start. I'm. I'm just like, this is my. I'm already taking a victory lap on Josh Minot because he was the. He was the guy I did my preseason feature on. And it's because I'm like, all right, here's a guy who thinks he's got a chance. He's got all the tools, and he comes out in these games. I think he was. He might have been, aside from Derrick White, the most consistent Celtic out there. I like the way he plays. I like what he's going to bring to this team. I can even see him getting us. I think everybody on this team's gonna get a spot start at some point. But. But I think. I think Minot is going to be The Ron Harper Jr.

[Tom Westerholm]

Step on up. You're getting a start.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, right, Right. I like Mina. I just like what he brings with. With those. That length that I, I. It's. I think that's a. That's a hit for Brad Stevens.

[Tom Westerholm]

Big hit. Yeah. I. I think, you know, we touched on this earlier in the preseason, but I think with Minot, you're looking at a guy that the Celtics really could have used, like, last year. Like, just a guy who, like.

[John Corrales]

Which is exactly what Jalen Brown said.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

We could have used this guy the past couple years.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I. I think that. I think just having that, you know, again, there's something we talked about, but I think just having that level of, like, do everything, you know, at his athleticism, at his size, at his length, I. I just think there's a. There's a versatility there that the Celtics are really going to need this season. Right? Like, this is a year where, like, versatility is just going to be so valuable because there's going to be holes on the roster. Right. Like, so if you can take a guy and plug him in. In other areas or even just kind of, like, have him cover up holes that are. That are, you know, around, like, I think that's going to be really big. And then I think the other thing about Minot that's. That's just so crucial is, like, the Celtics don't want to have a bunch of guys who. They're then going to have to move on from, you know, who can't help them in the future. Right. Like when everybody's healthy and they start to try to get really competitive again. If you can find a couple of guys this season who can, who can really help you this season and then can take important but still backup roles going forward. If Minot can be that guy. And it seems like, you know, early returns are, you know, hopeful in that regard because I, I think I don't see any reason that he couldn't still get minutes, you know, when, when Tatum's back. And if this team's a competitive still, like, if, if, if Minot can be one of those guys that, that you can kind of. That can help you bridge this season to next season and, and really start to get competitive again. Yeah. Like you said, that's a, that's a big win for, for Brad.

[John Corrales]

Yeah. The focus is guys who can accentuate Taylor and Brown. That's it. The. He accentuates Tatum and Brown gets them a rest. He. I like him. He's young and he's, he's anxious enough where I think he, he would stick around on a multi year contract at good money.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

You know, and that's like, he just wants to stick. He. So Brad can come in at some point this season, be like, hey, three years, three years, $10 million, you know, and you know, whatever. 11, 12, 3 or 3 million a year, 4 million a year. And he'd be like, yes, absolutely. Because he's, he said before the scene he's like on his way out of the league practically. I don't know if that was really the case, but he's, you know, he was kind of like low on chances, so.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, I think.

[Tom Westerholm]

And I also, I also love his, I love his shin tattoos. Like the now and later thing. I like it, you know, the. Well, you can do the work now or you can do it later. Like, I, I love that. And then I, I also like in that same interview where he was like talking about, like. Yeah. I think he used the phrase like, like, I like where my feet are at. I just, I don't know. That kind of like.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Grounded sort of present mentality. I just, I think that's, I just, I think that's really important in a, in the life of a professional athlete. Like, imagine how easy it would be to just get your feet swept out from under you in like, it's like really focusing on where your feet are at. I love that.

[John Corrales]

Yeah, that's good. Luca Garza. Let's, let's get to Luca Garza. And actually, I. I kind of want to. I think I want to talk about all the bigs.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah.

[John Corrales]

Same time with this. Because what I see is four very distinctly talented bigs. So Garza. Absolutely. Good preseason. I thought the Raptors. This last Raptors game was an indication of, like, I think sometimes he's gonna have, you know, a game where he's leaning a little bit. He gets a little too leany with his. His picks. He's gotta. He's gonna learn from Al Horford how to just, you know, wish Al was around to teach him how to. How to, you know, get away with that a little bit. But every once in a while, he's gonna have a game where the refs are like, nah, it's too much. You know, and he'll legitimately be able to say, I got away with that yesterday or two days ago. Yeah. And they're gonna be like, no, you're not getting away with it today. And he's gonna have to adjust. But, yeah. So I agree. We both.

[Tom Westerholm]

Which is always funny because you can see the difference, too. Like, it's like. It's like. You can kind of see and be like, I think they're gonna call that one. And then they do. Yeah, but. But it's the margins. It's margins.

[John Corrales]

Like, it's like, yeah, the line just kind of is like this way. And you're like, okay, that's good, that's bad. You know, so slight. Yeah, but, you know. Yeah, so he's. He's good at what he does. But Tillman, we saw. We saw kind of like the best of Tillman against Toronto. We saw the best of Keita against Toronto. We did. We've seen pretty good. Chris Boucher, I think. I don't think the bigs are. I still don't think the bigs are very good, you know? You know, because there's no one big that's going to be like, oh, well, this guy's going to rise to our starting center. Even if Keda plays well for a few games, I don't think he's rising to be like, oh, you can play him in any situation.

[Tom Westerholm]

Right.

[John Corrales]

You're gonna have to play kata in certain spots. Then he's gonna have to sit. Boucher's gonna have to start, or Garza, or there's going to be. It's going to be such a mix and match. But I actually think that they're all just good enough where it's not always going to work, but you can maybe get away with okay, today the combination is Garza and Keda. And that's just going to be the mix. And you sprinkle in a little Boucher here and there and, you know, Tillman doesn't play and the next game, Tillman is the first guy off the bench and, and Kate is not going to play. And that's just going to be how they go. But because these guys are also unique in their skill sets, I think Joe might actually, might be like a little silver lining that you can kind of mix and match and have them kind of be okay.

[Tom Westerholm]

I agree. I think that the big thing for this season with the bigs is going to be like, they need to have enough self awareness to know what their strengths and weaknesses are. So that on nights where Joe is like, listen, this is a Tillman night, this is a Garza night, this is a K tonight. This isn't like, you know, okay, this is a, let's say, you know, this is a. This is a Tillman and K tonight. You know, Boucher needs to have like the self awareness to be like, like, okay, it's not my night tonight, but it will be tomorrow. And that's okay. Like, I think that self awareness is going to be really important because I, I think you're right. I think there's enough varied talent in these bigs to be okay a lot of nights. Maybe most nights. Honestly, I mean, like, you know, a healthy Joel Embiid, you got nothing for him. But like, that's not gonna be what you run into a lot of the time. Right? And I mean, it might not be something you run into when you play the Philadelphia 76ers, quite honestly. But, you know, but, but I think that's going to be the big thing is just. Can these guys all just kind of like, say, like, okay, I, I accept that I will play a lot against this team and I might sit the bench a lot against this team.

[John Corrales]

Quick, rapid fire positives. Just because I want to mention the positives. I've talked about Hugo Gonzalez. Yeah. I, I just really like him. I really like him.

[Tom Westerholm]

He's gonna be good.

[John Corrales]

I think, I think he's gonna be good. Not this year necessarily, but he's gonna be good. Derek White, I agree with that. Is like, yeah, Derrick White to me is like a perfect basketball player. Like, do nothing, change nothing. He'll have his like, cold shooting nights. But like, yeah, the only thing I.

[Tom Westerholm]

Would say, not change nothing. I love that he's getting more volume. This is gonna be awesome. This is gonna be a lot of Fun.

[John Corrales]

I think I'm, I'm so excited. I'm literally excited for Derrick White season. Yeah. Peyton Pritchard. I just gotta, I mentioned this Peyton Pritchard. I was impressed with his rebounding. Paxian. He was getting in there, buddy. He was boxing out, he was getting low and pushing like, I'm like, yeah, buddy, get out there and, and do your thing. He, he was really working hard. So I gotta shout out, yeah, just.

[Tom Westerholm]

Real quick, my quick rapid fire one. This team is competitive. Like that's what we talked about before, you know, like they're, yeah, over, over here. Yeah, they're competitive. They're, they're tough. I, I, I don't think that they're gonna be, you know, like, I, I don't, this didn't change where I think their ceiling is, but I, it did. I think seeing this preseason made me think, you know, I'm a little bit more confident that they reach their ceiling this year. They're gonna play hard. They're gonna, they've got talent, they've got, once they work out who works with who and, and, and, and what situations everybody plays in. And you know, who accentuates Jalen and Derek the best? Like, I think there's, I think there's, there's some, so there's some there, there, you know, this is gonna be a decent team.

[John Corrales]

Come back with the negatives, the turnovers, the rebounding, some Anthony Simon's thoughts when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Go over to FanDuel.com, sign up new customers. You get 300 in bonus bets. If that first five dollar bet wins, you just gotta bet five bucks. Pick a bet, put down five bucks if it hits. 300 bucks unlocked in bonus bets. You can use those across the app. So you want to build a parlay, you want to try some player props. Maybe you want to go on Drake May. Touchdowns a little over under there. Live lines are always fun. You can, you know, football's here, basketball's here. So watching a game can be a little more exciting when you got a little something riding on the action. So if you're a casual fan, if you're diving deep into those stats, FanDuel makes the game of day experience a lot better. Set your limits, set your budget. Once you sign in, it tells you, do you want to set your budget? You say yes, whatever it is that you can afford to lose, just in case you hit a little bit of a cold streak, that's your budget. Set that if you Hit it. Okay. Come back in a couple of weeks. You can try again [e-mail] Download the app now and get started.

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[John Corrales]

Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Go check out Lockdown NBA. Make that your second listen. Second and third listen, because you've got Locked on NBA game night on that feedback, which is seven days a week covering every game in the NBA. Locked on NBA in the afternoons, debate show style, talking about all the big stories in the league. So go check that out wherever you listen to or watch this podcast. All right, let's get into the negatives, Tom. Turnovers and rebounding. Pick one. They both sucked pretty bad.

[Tom Westerholm]

Pretty bad.

[John Corrales]

I do want to give credit. 70 defensive rebounding, possession percentage against the Raptors. I don't think the Raptors were crashing hard, but credit where credit's due. We talked about they were like 63, 65, 70 D rebound percentage. If that's, if that's where they are over the course of the season, I'll live with it.

[Tom Westerholm]

But, well, listen, if you, if you do more turnovers, you're going to give up more breakaways, which is going to lead to more baskets for the other team, which is going to leave fewer opportunities for defensive rebounds. So maybe your percentage goes up, you know.

[John Corrales]

Okay, fair enough. Tom. Jeez.

[Tom Westerholm]

I talked about both of them. There you go.

[John Corrales]

Where can I put Tom's name in the negatives? No, but for real, though, it's the rebounding. They. They absolutely have to focus. And it's funny, Tillman was talking at practice and we're like, so what do you do to. To fix the rebound? He's like, honestly, box out. We're looking at the film and there's too many of us just standing and watching. So hopefully the preseason has been the message of, okay, boys, you gotta get in there and you gotta box out. Everybody has to box out and then you can go run.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, I think that stuff's that stuff's positive.

[John Corrales]

Right.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like, it's, like it's good that they're aware of this stuff. I think turnovers will. I think they'll improve a bit when they play, like, actual lineups. Right. Like, you know, I mean, Shireman did not cover himself in glory this preseason. Right.

[John Corrales]

Like, that's a negative. Yeah, that's a negative. That was. He had a bad preseason.

[Tom Westerholm]

He did, yeah.

[John Corrales]

Coming off a bad summer league, I'm not happy about that.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, for sure. I, you know, I think. Yeah, so, I mean, I think the Celtics will. Will have guys on the floor. I mean, I thought it was interesting to test Simon's. This kind of starts to get into where, you know, I thought it was interesting to kind of test Simons at the end of. Of yesterday's game and say, like, okay, you. You be the primary ball handler, like, see if you can handle it. And I, you know, I didn't always think that he did very well. And so, I mean, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Pritchard and Derrick White and I think that's. Those guys have got to be on it as far as. As ball handling because like, like they, they can't be the ones turning it over. If they turn it over, I think that's going to be the difference. You know, like a three or four turnover game for either of those guys, I think, is where you start to have like a 17 or 18 turnover game instead of a, you know, a 13 or 14. Right. Like they've really got to take care of the ball. So I think that's, you know, it's one of those ones where it's. It's almost nitpicky because it's like, well, there's gonna. Not nitpicky, but like this team's gonna have problems. Right. There's gonna be things that are wrong with this team. Turnovers and rebounds are just kind of them and it's like they're gonna spend the whole season fighting that.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

Like we talked about, I think last time, the level to which they mitigate those issues will really have a big impact on how they do this season.

[John Corrales]

The turnovers are the bigger problem, actually, because that's your own. That's your own fault. Right. A lot of it is your own fault. You weren't going up against the most stout defenses. Although Jalen did make a good point that those first three games against like second third unit guys, those guys are real try hards out there and they're putting a lot of Pressure on you. So yeah, you got turned over a lot. You're probably not going to face that level of pressure. But also get used to that because now teams see that and go, oh, okay, we're going to pressure these guys and maybe we'll get a few turnovers. So every negative can be a positive. Every positive can be a negative.

[Tom Westerholm]

Right?

[John Corrales]

You know, so the negative of turning the ball over is why did you turn the ball over? Okay, let's fix that. The rebounding is going to be a problem. But like, yeah, like you just brought up, we've talked about it before. Get that to if, if 70% is where they land, that will be fine because that'll be middle of the pack and they are, you put this in the positives, a good offensive rebounding team. So go out there and grab as many offensive rebounds as you give up. Okay? Negate that. Boom. Done. Now win the turnover battle. Play with pace, win the margins, shot attempts, your free throw attempts. Now you're going to give yourself a chance to win a lot of these games. That, that could just come down to some cold shooting or some hot shooting on the other side. You know, you're going to have some variables in there, but if you can just say the defensive rebounding is here, our offensive rebounding is also here. Fine, we'll live with that. Because there'll be enough games where the, you get a few more offensive rebounds and you give up a few, few, like a few less defensive rebounds and, or, or you, you miss a few less defensive rebounds and you know, you, it's all about just not putting yourself in such a hole that you have no chance of winning that game. So for sure. Okay, Simons, you touched on it a little bit. You're the Simons guy. Will you tell me why he's a negative?

[Tom Westerholm]

Well, like, listen, I, I mean, I think that there were a lot of positives from Simons. I mean, look, the shot's so pretty, right? Like, it's just like gorgeous shot. Like, I mean, sure, having that three point shooting is going to be really helpful. I think the three things that I would like to see a little bit more, I want to see him be a more of a three level scorer, right? Because I think he, I think he can do it, you know, I mean, we've seen him do it a little bit better than I think we saw in the preseason during, you know, at times. I think some of that will help with lineups. Specific lineups can help him with that for sure. I was, I, I didn't Love that. When he was, I. I was kind of anticipating him being a little bit more capable as the. The lone primary ball handler. I thought that that was a role that he could probably play. That didn't look particularly good yesterday. So that's, you know, another small negative there. And, you know, I, I, I want to see him play a little faster, you know.

[John Corrales]

Yeah.

[Tom Westerholm]

And, I mean, some of that is, like, the ball handling stuff, right? Like, some of that is, like, you know, but. But I just, I want to see him play faster. I think that if he plays fast, he can be such a dangerous weapon on this team. And I, you know, I didn't necessarily see enough of that during the preseason. So those are the three things I want to see. None of them, all of them fixable. All of them could be, you know, fine with a little bit more, you know, comfort in the system, all that stuff. I thought, you know, we didn't see him really get targeted much. I didn't think. We didn't really. There was nobody who could necessarily target him, but who they played. So that's, you know, a tba, sure. TBD kind of situation. But, yeah. So, I mean, I, I just want to. I want to. I spent a lot of time really gassing up and Freddy Simon, so I want to temper it just a smidge based on preseason. I thought he was. I thought he was good as a shooter, but there's a lot of stuff that I would like to see him get better at here.

[John Corrales]

I agree with all of that stuff. I, I would. You know, I wrote on Boston Sports Journal that I, I just wish, Man, I wish Drew was around. I know they got traded for each other, but I wish Drew was around to show him how to navigate a screen. Because for all of Anthony's, you know, trying, and I've seen some trying on defense, he gets hit with a screen, and it's just, like, sticks to it, and you're like, oh, okay, I'm gonna go over it. And you're like, all right, well, now you're three steps behind the play. Or, like, he just needs to understand how to position himself, how to get around it, you know, dip a shoulder, you know, get low. You know, the. Marcus Smart, like, Marcus Smart used to, like, almost scrape his elbows on the floor trying to get around some screens. So he needs to learn some of that. And I think if he can learn some of that, he'll. He'll be passable defensively. But I appreciate that he's giving a little more effort, and, you know, we'll See, we'll see how it goes. But, yep, I think Anthony is a big old incomplete. And I'm with you. I wish it was a little bit more complete. I wish there was a little bit more that we saw. But six weeks or seven weeks or whatever, eight weeks, you know, the official camp, my. You know, plus the unofficial camp, it's not enough time to break some of the habits that he's had for his whole career. And so you wish. You wish there were. You wish it was, but it's not, so. All right. I think that does it. I don't know if there's any other. We talk about Baylor. He's. He's, you know, Jordan Walsh, you know, is in the negative, but it's not. Not enough to be like, yeah, but I am disappointed in. In Shireman a little bit. There's still time, but, you know, it's a little disappointing. I thought he was going to get a. Be a rotation guy and he's. He doesn't look like a rotation.

[Tom Westerholm]

I think he's right. Yeah. I don't think he's ready. No.

[John Corrales]

So. All right, well, that's the preseason next week. We're back. Celtics will start practicing again next week, and then regular season is here.

[Tom Westerholm]

A real basketball game.

[John Corrales]

Real basketball games. We'll see. We'll see what the Sixers are. They might not have Paul. We already know they might not have Paul, George. I don't know if they're gonna have. So who knows? I'm talking about them potentially going 0 and 7 to start the season. Like. No, they're gonna get like the. Another G League team. They're going to get the Delaware Blue Coats.

[Tom Westerholm]

Yeah, the preseason actually really prepared them for game one season, which is a team without any of its best players.

[John Corrales]

Tyrese Maxi in the blue Coats. Let's go. All right, Tom. Appreciate you, man.

[Tom Westerholm]

Appreciate you.

[John Corrales]

And I do appreciate all of you listening, watching, making this your first listen every day. Thanks for hanging with us through some of the. The preamble still media game leftovers that still listen. I'm still getting calls, I'm still getting texts. It's still out there. But hey, whatever, it's cool. Thank you do appreciate it and thank you for listening. Thank you for watching and I would love it if you shared the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Here on the Lockdown podcast network is your team every day.

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