Mystery Moves, Jayson Tatum's Return, and Al Horford Reunion? | Boston Celtics Mailbag

Summary

Locked On Celtics: Mystery Moves, Jayson Tatum’s Return, and Al Horford Reunion?

Boston Celtics Mailbag — January 26, 2026
Host: John Karalis, Boston Sports Journal
Podcast: Locked On Celtics, Locked On Podcast Network

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Episode Overview

In this mailbag episode, John Karalis fields listener questions about potential mystery moves by the Celtics before the trade deadline, the impact and timeline of Jayson Tatum’s impending return, whether Tatum should be deployed at center, and thoughts on a possible Al Horford return. He shares tactical analysis, candid opinions on player development, and inside perspectives from years covering the team, while mixing in some humor and relatable Boston sports commentary.

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Main Topics & Key Insights

1. Mystery Big Man Moves and the Celtics’ Trade Strategy

[01:12 – 06:32]

• Listener Question from Joe: Are there “mystery” bigs who might fit Boston, particularly via deals we haven’t heard about?
• John’s Perspective:
  • The Celtics are more likely to find a big man by getting involved as a third or fourth team in a larger, multi-team deal, rather than a simple one-for-one trade.

    “The way the CBA forces teams to get third and fourth teams involved in big trades, the Celtics might be better suited to get involved that way and get their big that way.” – John Karalis [02:31]

  • Name-drops Santi Aldama as a type to watch if, e.g., the Grizzlies make moves around Ja Morant, though stresses he has "no reporting" on Aldama's availability.
  • Emphasizes that Boston might ultimately “stand pat” unless an unexpected opportunity presents itself, noting cost/benefit under the new CBA.

2. NBA Defensive Adjustments & the Celtics’ Response

[06:33 – 12:03]

• Listener Question from NJ: Teams have been more physical with Boston at the point of attack (hand checks, physicality). How should the Celtics adapt?
• John’s Tactical Breakdown:
  • Celtics need to answer physicality with their own—“playing harder with more effort.”
  • Advocates for quicker offensive actions: ghost screens, slip screens, short rolls, and rapid ball movement to exploit over-aggressive defenses.

    “You have to combat [physical defense] with your own physical play. ... Quick decisions, quick actions, starting with ghost screens, slip screens, quick things… Get off the ball quickly.” – John Karalis [07:15]

  • Draws examples from players like Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, who screen and roll quickly instead of waiting for slower developing plays.

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3. Jayson Tatum’s Return: Progress, Impact, and Fit

[12:04 – 21:37]

A. Tatum’s Rehab Timeline

• Listener Question from Zach: How long will each step of Tatum’s return take?
• Key Points:
  • Tatum’s return involves multiple phases: strengthening, scripted small group work, large group work, 5-on-5 (scripted then unscripted) scrimmaging.
  • Timeline is highly variable, hinging on medical imaging, soreness, and physical response.

    “How long does that take? We don’t know… I hate to be wishy-washy on this, but the return timeline for guys going through these steps, there’s no set thing.” – John Karalis [13:37]

  • Suggests a Super Bowl Sunday return (February 8) would be “one of the greatest sports Sundays of all time,” but tempering expectations for a March return is more realistic.

    “If Jason Tatum came back, look, he hurt it against the Knicks, coming back against the Knicks at home...that would be such a perfect game.” – John Karalis [14:28]

B. Can Tatum Learn by Watching Jalen Brown’s Attacking Style?

• Listener Question from Chase: Has watching Jalen helped Tatum’s approach, especially regarding rim attacks?
• John's Take:
  • Not sure Tatum "learns" directly from Jalen, but sees value in seeing how the league and defenses respond to varied styles.
  • Jalen’s midrange and rim attacks work because he’s improved those skills; Tatum’s midrange has “historically been bad,” should stick to rim or three-pointers.

    “I think Jason’s going to come out and just play his game, play his normal game.” – John Karalis [17:05]

  • Recommends Tatum adopt a “little more urgency… [and] attacking mindset,” but expects him to remain true to his own style.

C. Should Tatum Play the Five (Center) Upon Return?

• Listener Question from Ted: Is Tatum at the five a good idea to boost the team?
• Key Points:
  • John has long advocated for Tatum as a “small-ball five” in theory but finds it rarely works as effectively in practice.
  • Strength, rebounding, and switchability are assets, but regular minutes at center not ideal due to physical demands and matchups.

    “He’s a great rebounder…he can switch onto fives…But I don’t think him just playing the five is the way to go…not on a 48-minute or 36-minute basis.” – John Karalis [19:25]

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4. The Al Horford Question: Replacements and Fairytales

[23:59 – 32:23]

A. Is Luka Garza a “Poor Man’s Al Horford”?

• Listener Question from Chris: Has Garza filled the void Horford left?
• John’s Evaluation:
  • Sees “some similarities”—energy, above-the-break threes, screens—but Garza lacks Horford’s defensive versatility or volume shooting.
  • Ultimately, “checks off enough boxes to fill some of the void,” surprising many with his impact this year.

    “I don’t look at Luka and think, oh, that’s an Al Horford light. But, okay, you know what Chris? I will allow it.” – John Karalis [25:28]

B. Al Horford Reunion?

• Listener Questions from Ryan and Jonas: Could Horford be bought out by the Warriors and return, or be acquired in a three-team trade?
• John’s Take:
  • Buyout is possible, “if he wanted it.” Would Boston want him back? On a minimum? “I wouldn’t rule it out…Could it happen? Yeah, why not?”

    “Personally, I would love to have him back just so I can ask [Al], do you think there's an Al Horford curse?” – John Karalis [29:44]

  • Trade scenario (e.g., as a piece in a Kuming a deal) less likely due to salary mechanics and Celtics' current roster needs—but he wouldn’t mind it for leadership and playoff depth.

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5. Lighter Mailbag Fun: Snowstorm “French Toast” Stockpiling

[32:25 – 34:12]

• Listener Andrew: Why do New Englanders stock up on milk, bread, and eggs before snowstorms?
• John’s Amused Response:
  • Admits he doesn’t get it—“If the power goes out, you’re screwed because it’s all perishable stuff.”
  • Suggests water, canned goods, or breakfast bars make more sense.

    “I don’t know the answer, Andrew…People just do it now because they think they should.” – John Karalis [33:12]

  • Encourages more silly questions for future episodes.

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Notable Quotes

• On Celtics’ trade strategy:
  “Look for big names that are potentially getting traded and look for centers on those teams that could be rerouted to Boston.” [04:42]
• On responding to physical defenses:
  “Just get off the ball quickly…and make a play. Run your actions off of that. … You’ve got to be fast, but you also have to be able to handle that physicality.” [08:56]
• On Tatum’s mindset:
  “I think if Tatum’s learning anything from this season, I don’t think it’s necessarily learning it from Jalen…It's understanding where the league is and how defenses play…” [16:47]
• On Al Horford possibly returning:
  “Him being back here and having another championship run would be great. He’s always a plus in the locker room. The guys love him. … But to be realistic, I don’t expect him to come back, but let’s hold out hope.” [31:37]

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Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------- |-----------:| | Intro & Episode Setup | 01:12 | | Celtics Trade/Big Man Rumors | 01:12–06:32| | Responding to Handsy Defense | 06:33–12:03| | Jayson Tatum Rehab Timeline | 12:04–16:12| | Tatum Learning from Jalen Brown | 16:13–18:44| | Tatum as a Small-Ball Center | 18:45–21:37| | Luka Garza as Horford’s Replacement | 23:59–26:24| | Al Horford Buyout/Trade Scenarios | 26:25–31:55| | Snowstorm French Toast Question | 32:25–34:12|

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Overall Tone and Takeaways

John Karalis delivers the Mailbag with accessible, conversational expertise, blending clear-eyed analysis (“I think the Celtics probably stand pat”), inside reporting, and humor. He welcomes both hard-nosed X’s-and-O’s and light-hearted lifestyle questions while maintaining the pulse of Boston sports fandom. If you’re looking for trade deadline insights, injury projections, and a sense of Celtics clubhouse culture, this episode is essential listening.

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Transcript

[John Corrales]

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[John Corrales]

Lockdown Celtics Podcast Mailbag questions about mystery bigs in Boston's future, handling handsy defense and Jason Tatum's return locked on Celtics pot. Home of the winner, baby. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics Podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Where does your team every day? Your team's the Boston Celtics. I talk about them Monday through Friday, bonus podcast when they play on weekends, so subscribe. Shows free available Everywhere. It's on YouTube so make sure you're watching. If you prefer to watch your podcast, join me. I'm John Corrales. If you're new to the show, I'm a beat writer covering The Celtics for SI Celtics on SI page. I've been covering the team for about 20 years doing this podcast for 10 and I've written a couple of books about the team. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. It's the last call for football on FanDuel. If you're a new customer, you bet just five bucks and you get $200 in bonus bets if you win. It's a mailbag episode. And I mentioned this on yesterday's bonus podcast. Frankly, not a lot of people listen to that because it was a loss. It was the Patriots. It was. I understand why people didn't want to listen to that stuff, but mailbags? Not only am I doing mailbags here, I will do mailbag questions on the Celtics on SI page because I don't get a ton of like, I don't get to answer all of the questions here. I'm using the Celtics on SI page to answer more of your mailbag questions. So questions come in@john corrales.com mailbag john corrales.com mailbag if I don't get to it here, there's a better chance that I'm going to get to it on Celtics on si. So go to that page, follow my links on social media, and I will get to your question very likely here or there. So it's just an easy way because it's free now, because I'm not behind a paywall. It's a way for me to do that mailbag and make sure it's available for everybody to see without having to pay. Okay, so now that we're there, later on we'll get to questions about Al Horford, Luca Garza as an Al Horford substitute. The whole second segment is going to be about Jason Tatum, Jason Tatum's return. But let's start with a question about a potential mystery big from Joe who says, I feel like I've seen a lot of rumors about the Celtics and big man. If I've learned anything from Brad, nothing. None of those players will be on the Celtics. Of the players we haven't heard about, are there any big men that you think could possibly be available and be a good fit? So I think the thing to watch for in that regard is the Celtics getting in on a bigger trade. I've been saying this before, and I think this is an underrated part of Celtics trade talk. We hear a lot of rumors the Celtics may be aggressive. The Celtics are looking to add to their team. They're being their buyers and blah blah, blah. And that's fine. But I think the, the way the CBA forces teams to get third and fourth teams involved in big trades, the Celtics might be better suited to get involved that way and get their big that way. So I mentioned his name before and I have no reporting that suggests that I, that this name is even available. But if John Morant gets moved, if this is, you know, like he's the biggest name with the big salary to move to another team. I'm looking at is Santi Aldama going to be available and he's at a, a reasonable price. He's at, he's a good age. He hits three pointers at a okay clip. And I, I think for what the Celtics would be giving up, getting involved in a, in a bigger deal would be I think, I think Asante Aldama type would be the place to go. So it was 18 million this year, 18 and a half million, 17 million next year, and then a team option for 17 million at 25 years old and a guy who can hit a couple of three pointers, a guy that can, you know, play a little bit of defense. Is it the sexiest name? No. But he's also a guy who can give you good minutes, give you that stretch ability. And I just, I'm not saying that that's my number one target, but I'm watching the Celtics try to navigate this trade market. I don't know that they're going to make a one for one trade. I feel like they're going to have to get involved in a multi team trade. And so I'm just trying to read which of these teams is going to have which of these teams has a move to make and a center that the Celtics could potentially use. And if the Celtics are going to get involved and use Anthony Simon's contract, let's say, is there a big, is there a way to get a big back and maybe, who knows, you're not giving up assets in this regard so you can keep your other players and you're getting a big back that can help the team. So that, that's kind of where, where I am. I honestly, I still think that the Celtics probably stand pat more than anything, so. But if you want to look for mystery names, if you want to look for names that we haven't thought about, look for big names that are potentially getting traded and look for centers on those teams that could be rerouted to Boston for helping that trade happen. The next question comes in from NJ who says scowl, talks about the league now adjusting to the Celtics offense by being more physical and handsy at the point of attack. Miami game looked like that was the case until the fourth quarter when the season increased their intensity. How can the Celtics respond to this new adjustment? Or is it a matter of playing the same but harder and with more effort? Honestly, I do think playing harder with more effort. The hands in this, the physical play, you have to combat that with your own physical play. You have to be able to absorb that sometimes. And I think quick decisions, quick actions, starting with like ghost screens, slip screens, quick things, or just, even if it's just a regular screen, it's. It's a screen where you get out of it really quickly. Mimi's done a good job of this. Luca Garza does a good job of this, getting in and out of the screen. You're not even, you're not even really screening, but you've, you've done the job. So get out of it. A lot more short rolls where the physicality at the point of attack, yeah, that's fine, but you're just making a quick decision. So you're not waiting for a whole long roll down the lane to develop. You're just, you're getting out of the play quickly. So Neemi comes up and sets a screen for Jalen. They kind of blitz and try to be handsy and physical. Short roll it, even if it's up high, even if it's up, you're doing it at the logo and you short roll Nene into like above the free throw line. That's fine. He can take a dribble. That's okay. Guys can move, guys can cut, but that's where you combat that physicality. Just get off the ball quickly and maybe they'll say, you'll say, hey, well, that's exactly what the other team wants to do. But if you, if you force the two on one and now the rest of the guys are playing four on three, that you have the advantage. So take it. If, if Jalen's going to be the one that gets blitzed, if they're trying to be handsy and physical with him. Short roll Nemi, short roll Garza, and make a play. Run your actions off of that short rolls into dribble handoffs, into, you know, kicks, pin down screens that draw a shooter up so you can, you can come up with quick plays that create advantages when the other team's being physical. So you just got to be, you got to be fast, but you have to also be able to handle that physical. You got to play hard. You got to. You also have to be physical and just again, be quick, be quick with the ball. We're going to come back. Three questions, all about Jason Tatum's return. Him playing center, him, him watching Jalen and learning something, and him playing a position he doesn't usually play. All when I come back Today show is brought to you by FanDuel. It's the last call for football on FanDuel. One final Sunday, one last kickoff, the final chance to get in on the action before the NFL season officially comes to a close. This is Super Bowl 60 with your new England Patriots. Assuming some of you are Patriots fans, I'm excited. And FanDuel is 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, riding with the underdog, or building one last same game parlay, this is the game everyone's been waiting for. And this is where predictions turn into plays, stats turn into storylines, and every snap feels bigger. It's the perfect way to cap off the season and make the super bowl even more exciting. 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[John Corrales]

Thank you for making lockdown Celtics your first listen every day NBA Trade Trade Deadline is basically here and we want to give you a few a free month of our new everyday club to help you get ready. If you need a group chat to keep up with the chaos, join ours. The everyday club gets you access to a group chat on Discord just for Celtics fans, plus national chats where you can hang out with fans from across the league. You also get ad free versions of the show and if you sign up by the trade deadline on February 5th, you can use the code deadline to get your first month free. Check it out at lockdownceltics.supercast.com Locked on Celtics supercast.com Back to the mailbag, which again can be found@john corralis.com mailbag that's where you send your questions in john corralis.com mailbag I will be answering them here and also on the Celtics on SI page at Sports Illustrated. So one of those two places will have your answers. So check that out. Zach, these are all now for the next 10 minutes. These are all Jason Tatum questions Zach says. How long do you think each phase of Jason Tatum's on court return steps that Brad mentioned will it take? I thought the possibility of returning just before All Star break and Then also to give an extra week to possibly help figure things out for an actual game. So Brad laid out over a. It was a month ago. He laid out the. The Jason Tatum kind of timeline of the. The. It starts with strength strengthening, and then you go from strengthening to scripted small groups and then scripted big groups and then sp. Unscripted. No, scripted five on five, and then unscripted five on five. So there are a lot of different elements to Jason coming back. And we just saw in Detroit a workout where it looked like scripted small group. And so there's at least two or three other phases that he has to pass before coming back. Now, how long does each one of those take? That's. There's no way to put a timeline on that. It depends on Jason. How do you get through all of these? Do you get through. How much soreness do you have at the next step? How does the imaging look? How does your Achilles look after each one of these workouts? I'm sure there are a series of MRIs being taken on a regular basis to look at. Where's the inflammation? Where's the. Is. Is there anything happening? Is there any hot spot? Is there any. Anything to maybe suggest. Okay, take a second. Let it breathe. So that stuff, we don't know. How long does that take? We don't know because the first two steps could take a week, and then the next step could take a month. And so it. I hate to be wishy washy on this, but the return timeline for guys going through these steps, there's no set thing. We know that coming back from an Achilles can happen in eight to nine months, especially with the surgery that Tatum got. So we're at eight months. And I know Jason Tatum's dad was, you know, making the rounds on media, and he was saying nine months. So that's. That's coming up in, you know, a couple of weeks. So, in fact, I think Super Bowl Sunday might be nine months. So. And that's an afternoon game against the New York Knicks, by the way. I'm just saying, if he's ready, that would be such a perfect game for Jason to come back. If Jason Tatum came back. Look, he heard it against the Knicks, coming back against the Knicks at home. He wants to happen at home. And Jason would love to share the spotlight on a Super Bowl Sunday. To be like, this is going so well, so big. This is so big that you have to talk about my return. And it's. I'm as big as the Super Bowl. Like, that's, you know, I don't care what you say. A player, if you're, if you want to, like, stroke your ego at all and have, have it be like, Patriots win the super bowl and Jason Tam is back. I mean, that would be one of the greatest sports Sundays of all time. But anyway, I don't know that that's going to happen. I've been saying March may, maybe not, maybe he doesn't come back, maybe doesn't come back this season. I think he does. I think it's, he's clearly pushing to come back this season, but when, honestly, it just depends on his body and when it feels good and he's got to go through all the unscripted stuff and scrimmages and that, that's going to be, that's going to be the tough part because there's undoubtedly going to be soreness when all of that happens and they're going to be super, super careful. So, yeah, it's, it's all of those steps are going to take time and he has to clear them all physically, mentally, and be ready. Chase asks watching Jalen during the indie home game relentlessly attack the basket made me think of Tatum and the controversy around his driving consistency. Do you think Tatum can learn from watching Jalen for most of the season? I don't know about learn. He may, he may, he may say, hey, look, getting, getting to the rim. You know, there's something to getting to the rim. There's something to getting to the mid range. I don't know if I want Tatum in the mid range. Historically, he's been kind of bad in the mid range. He's been better going all the way to the rim or taking a three. So. But then again, Jalen hasn't exactly been great in the mid range for the entirety of his career. He's, he's been okay, but he's never been good enough. Where I'm like, yeah, he should be taking those. And then this year I'm like, yeah, fine, take those. Because this year he's, he's shooting them well. Tatum has just never been a mid range guy. His, his numbers in the mid range have been horrible. If he can get them good, then sure. But, but I, I think this question's about attacking the basket. I think that Tatum should just play his game. And I think if Tatum is learning anything from this season, I don't think it's necessarily learning it from Jalen. Like, oh, Jalen is teaching me a lot. I think it's understanding where the league is and that how defenses play and Seeing, yes, seeing Jalen attack. And, and it does give him some guidance of, okay, Jalen's doing this, Jalen's doing that and that, that is definitely guidance. So I'm not saying he's learning nothing, but I don't think that he's going to come out and say I'm gonna play like Jalen Brown. So I think, I think Jason's gonna come out and just play his game, play his normal game. But I definitely think that playing with a little bit more urgency, a little bit more, a little bit more of an attacking mindset, a little less of a settling, a little less of a step back kind of, you know, 12 step back threes. It's not 12 step back threes, but you know what I mean? So I think the game is evolving anyway. I do think, yes, Jalen is showing him some of the spots where he can attack more, but I think Jason's going to be Jason and that's. That, that's going to be his focus. One more Jalen, I mean one more Jason question comes from Ted. What are your thoughts about JT playing the five upon his return? Imagine his explosiveness and quickness laterally. Might take a while to return to elite level, yet his size, strength and skills at the rim have me envisioning an automatic upgrade addition to Keda and Garza at this stage in his comeback. I can also see a Kevin Love type player with his rebound shooting and iq. So I understand what you're saying. In fact, I have advocated for Jason to play the five a lot, but I think Jason is theoretically a good small ball 5. But in practice I haven't seen a, I haven't seen him being real effective in that role. He's a great rebounder. He's the Celtics best rebounder. He's, he's strong and he can switch onto fives, have no problem with that. But I don't think him just playing the five is the way to, the way to go. I think him, I think, I think he's just going to play the wing. I think defensively he's going to play more of a three or a four and that's it. I just think him always playing the five, he's not good at it on a 48 minute or 36 minute basis. I don't, I don't see him matching up well against like a lot of the other centers that are out there. So yeah, in, in certain situations when you want to switch everything and they're, you know, then absolutely on a regular basis with him. As the starting center or as your regular? No, I, I don't think that's. That's the way to go. All right, we're going to come back. Sticking with the centers. Luca Garza as Al Horford. What about the actual Al Horford? We'll do that and answer a question about the snow when I come back. Today's show is brought to you by Game Time. There's nothing like being in an NBA arena. The crowd, the energy, the moment. Getting tickets, though, that part hasn't always been so simple. But that's why Game Time has become a go to app for scoring tickets fast without the hassle. 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[John Corrales]

Hey, thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen. Every day. It's the number one Celtics podcast on the planet. It's the number one sports podcast network on the planet. So thank you so much for your second listen. Locked on Patriots Locked on Seahawks. Two great podcasts covering the two super bowl teams. So as a Patriots guy myself, Patriots fan, I'M excited be making lockdown Patriots in, you know, putting them in my rotation for sure. So make sure you check that out, man. I know not everybody here is a Patriots fan. I know there's people who are like, I can't believe you're Patriot. Like, of course I'm a Boston guy. I am a Boston guy. So I'm all Boston that it's incredible. Just side note, side note, Drake May in his second year, Mike Vrabel taking them to a Super Bowl. That's incredible. Now the Seahawks look pretty good, so I don't know how that's going to go, but listen to both of those podcasts leading up to the Super Bowl. It's going to be pretty great. All right, let's wrap up the mailbag again. John corrales.com mailbag is where you submit your questions. I will be answering them here on a regular basis, but also at the Celtics on a side page at on Sports Illustrated. So make sure you go to both. Follow me on that page. That's where all my Celtics coverage is. All my written Celtics coverage. So Celtics on si, that page at Sports Illustrated and I will include mailbags@john corrales.com mailbag let's rip through the rest of these. Chris says Call me crazy, but I think Luca Garza has been a poor man's Al Horford this season. Energy off the bench, deadly three pointers above the break and a beast on the offensive glass. Once I noticed the similarities, I can't unsee it seems like he fills that role. Al left, left. Al left open when he left. Chris, you're crazy. No, I'm kidding. You know, I can see it. I can see a little bit of it now. Garza isn't the defensive player that Al Horford was for the Celtics. Al could still switch onto perimeter guys and still be okay, but he'll go out there, block a shot or two. He had that one big one against Brooklyn that was a lot of fun. He obviously the three point shooting is it's not at the volume that Al has. You know, Al has taken a ton of threes for the Celtics over his time here, so it's not at that same volume, but he's hitting them. I get it. Good screens. Yep. Al Horford set great screens. Most of them were legal, but. And he hits the boards. Offensive boards. Yeah. Like I can see. He, he fills enough of that void. I don't look at Luca and think, oh, that's an Al Horford light. But okay, you know what, Chris? I will. I will allow it. I think that's. That's fine. That's a fine. They are not the same player at all as far as stylistically. But he, when you're talking about boxes to check off, he checks off enough of the boxes to reasonably fill some of the void that Horford left. And I think he's filling more of the void than any of us thought. And that's been great for the Celtics. Ryan and Jonas both have a same question. Ryan says now that the warriors season has lost any real hope of contention, is is it actually possible for Al Horford to accept the buyout from the warriors and resign with the Celtics for the stretch run? Would he or would they? And Jonas says, Al Horford, let's be third in a Kaminga trade. Who says no? So first of all, I just want to kind of address what Ryan said about now. The, the warriors have lost any real hope of contention. I would contend that any hope that they had before was false and that shouldn't have been part of like they, I understand that's why Al went, but did anybody really think the warriors were going to contend? So couple of different scenarios here. Both of them involve Al coming back to Boston. Ryan. Ryan's is more realistic because it's a buyout and because Al left as a free agent, they, and he only signed there for. Where is he? 5.6 million, 5.7 million. Taxpayer mid level. The, you know, a buyout is not out of the question. If he wanted it, if he wanted it, I'm sure they would say, you know, look, if he, if he wanted it, then sure. Would Boston want him back? Maybe, you know, on a minimum. I, I wouldn't rule it out. If, if he got bought out by the warriors and the Celtics could bring him in on a minimum, that could add some depth for sure. And we know how he plays. We know he plays well with Jalen and Jason. I, I would absolutely not expect it. But could it happen? Yeah, why not? We. It could happen. As far as being the third in a Kaminga trade, I. It depends on where Kaminga goes. And the problem with the a Kaminga deal is, you know, look, at 22 and a half million dollars, it's. You can, you can make a Kaminga deal happen with a team without needing another team involved. Like, it's not such a big salary that you need another team involved. So I don't know that you need to have a third team if you do. I don't know that getting Al Horford back at 5 million is how the Celtics really would want to go. But again, if adding Al Horford to the team is not. Not a bad thing at all. And personally, I would love to have him back just so I can ask them the question. Be like, you left twice, dude, and both times blew up in your face. Do you think there's an Al Horford curse? You know what I mean? Like, Al went to Philly. None of it's his fault. Al went to Philly, and, you know, that, that. That didn't work. That fit with. With Joel Embiid was not great. Mostly Joel Embiid's fault. Going to the warriors, that's been an up and down kind of mess. And this, you know, it's not his fault that Jimmy Butler, you know, tore his acl, but there they are, and he came back to Boston and be like, hey, another. Another time that you left and just came back. Like, I don't know how many times you can go and come back and go and come back, but I would love to see it. I. I love Al Horford. I think he. Him being back here and having another championship run would be great. He's always a plus in the locker room. The guys love him. So that's. That would always be a plus. So. But to be. To be realistic, I don't expect him to come back, but let's hold out hope. Why not? And finally, Andrew says, why does everybody stock up on French toast ingredients before a snowstorm? Obviously, it's. Most of you are listening from a place where it snowed, and if you're in New England, snowed a lot. I went out there after the Patriots game and shoveled a driveway that I had at least a foot and a half of snow. It was still snowing, but I had to get rid of a lot of it just in case it got wet and froze. So I got to go back out there and snow twice. You know, it's a lot of snow when you got to go out and shovel twice. So why do people stock up on milk and bread and eggs? I don't know. I don't know if you're getting snowed in. If the power goes out, you're screwed because it's all perishable stuff. I mean, bread is bread. You can, you know that. That'll last you for a little while. But why wouldn't you stock up on, like, cans of soup and, you know, I don't know, like, breakfast bars and all that stuff? I don't know, this rush for milk and bread and eggs. I don't know where it comes from. I don't know why it happens. I don't know why. That's the thing. I think people just do it now because they think they should. But you can drink something else, man. Stock up on water. Stock up on like canned goods. Stock up on things that you can eat where if the power goes out and you're stuck and you're snowed in, that you can still, you know, you can still like open up a can or a box and eat it. Right? It's Preparedness 101. I don't know. I don't get it. I don't know the answer there, Andrew. All right. Silly questions in the third segment are always encouraged. Silly questions. Questions about me, questions about whatever. I don't care. I'll. I'll always be open to answering a silly question at the very end. Because why not? Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Again, questions can come in@john corrales.com mailbag it's the only way I take questions, so. Johncarales.com mailbag get your questions in. I'll answer them here at a regular basis. In the off season, it's Mailbag Mondays because it's nice, it's alliterative. And this is the Monday show, so it's a mailbag Monday too. And again, because I don't get a chance to answer all of the questions all of the time, I will start answering them on the Celtics on SI page at Sports Illustrated. So go check it out there as well. Check out all my coverage there now. Thank you. I want I hope that you will now 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.

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