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Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
TRADE SEASON OPENS: Boston Celtics BUYERS or SELLERS? C's BEST approach
00:38:39
Boston Celtics weigh cautious buy vs. bold moves as trade season heats up—can Brad Stevens maximize this “toe the line” window without mortgaging future assets? Keith Smith of Spotrac joins John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal to break down the impact of Anfernee Simons’ contract, exploring package scenarios and salary cap strategies to spark roster upgrades. The conversation spotlights Jayson Tatum’s upcoming return, Jaylen Brown’s untouchable status, and how Simons' long-term fit echoes the transformative Derrick White trade from years past. Key topics include which contracts the Celtics are likely to move, the strategic use of the Kristaps Porziņģis trade exception, and how Boston could become a pivotal third team in multi-team superstar trades this season. Insight on the true value of players like Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, plus specific trade targets like Ivica Zubac, rounds out this comprehensive analysis. Don’t miss the inside scoop on Boston’s playoff ambitions and ...
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- [00:02]
John Corralis
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Locked On Podcast Network Announcer
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- [01:09]
John Corralis
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- [01:47]
Keith Smith
Huh?
- [01:48]
John Corralis
Yup, yup, yup. Be town be ever ready. It's the seeds. Who else could it be? What they going to say now screaming like J.T. corralis we kept the madness every game, every practice prime time Depp and D White on the sideline Ren and J's how we started raising ban is how we finish locked on Celtics pot Home of the winners. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast network. It is your team every day. Your team is the Boston Celtics and we're talking about them every Monday through Friday plus bonus podcasts when they play on the weekends. And there will be plenty of weekend games this week, next week. So we're going to be going for like two weeks straight. So make sure.
- [02:27]
Keith Smith
You're subscribed.
- [02:28]
John Corralis
Wherever you get your podcast, watch the Show. It's on YouTube. Get into the comment section and share your thoughts with everydayers like you people who are with me every Monday through Friday and on these weekends. If you're new to the show, I am John Corralis, beat writer for Boston Sports Journal. I've been covering the team for about 20 years, doing this podcast for about 10, and I've written a couple of books about the team as well. Today's show is brought to you by fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel to place your NFL Live bets all season long. What a crazy live betting the Patriots game was. That's who Patriots, Bills was a crazy one. But we'll get to that later. That's a whole other thing. Today we're talking about trade season. It's December 15th. It's officially trade season. And there's only one person that you got to talk to when December 15th rolls around, and that's Keith Smith of spot Track. Keith, how are you doing, my friend?
- [03:22]
Keith Smith
I am doing really well. I am, you know, things are going good. Like you said, it's. Trade season opens unofficially on the 15th. It's. It's funny because I had somebody reach out and they're like, is that like a real thing? And I was like, it kind of is like it, it's. It's just that's when the. Most of the guys are getting traded over the summer. I think it's 82 players this year that, that signed over the summertime can be traded. So I was like that. That's. We call it early trade season unofficial open. You know, most things pick up late January, early February, as we get closer to the February 5th deadline. Yeah, exactly.
- [03:58]
John Corralis
Well, because. Because these restrictions open. Like we. Everybody loves to talk about a trade every, every day. Right. That's the most popular topic in the NBA. But this is where, like when we look at the. The spot track trade machine, I always have to turn the restrictions off. And now I don't have to turn those restrictions off as much because guys.
- [04:19]
Keith Smith
Can be trading close.
- [04:21]
John Corralis
Yeah. Now. Now we're starting to be like, okay, now. Okay, good. So later on we'll get to what the Celtics realistic approach will be. We'll talk about the Celtics assets. But let's just start at the beginning here because where the Celtics are, it's funny, they just came off of this big crazy stretch where they be, you know, 15 and nine and third seed and all that stuff. Then they lose to the Bucks in a very kind of humbling way. And it does, I think, reopen the question. Buy or sell or stand pat. I guess that's a third option here. But the. The momentum was for, like, hey, maybe the Celtics should be buyers. Maybe the Celtics should try to start packaging things and try to make their run now because Tatum looks like he's coming back and the. The team looks good and. And why not go for it now? The east is so, like, wide open. So where do you fall on that?
- [05:20]
Keith Smith
Yeah, it almost feels like we've had kind of two Celtics seasons, and in the first third or so of the season here, where the beginning part was like, okay, they're not going to be very good. And then the long win streak happens, and it's like, all right, I'm ready to buy in on these guys. I think this is. They're a little bit better than I thought they were going to be. I thought they'd be right around 500, you know, a few games above. Maybe there'll be a few games better than that. And I think what you can do if you're the Celtics is I think you're a cautious buyer. And what I mean by that is you don't. You're not making the all in trade, right? There's no Giannis trade to be made for the Celtics. It's just way. Just. It's just not happening. We can just leave it there, just put that one away. But there's a miles and miles of players in between Giannis and good, helpful players that could be traded that Boston could get. And I think for them is they can get into that position where I think they could still accomplish the goal of get cheaper this year, meaning save some money that could potentially maybe even get all the way out of the tax. We'll see about 12 million over the tax line, but get all the way out of the tax, potentially, which would start helping towards cutting down on the repeater tax while still adding a helpful player because, let's face it, they've got Anthony Simons. I know we're going to get into this deeper, but big contract that could be moved. That's not going to kill your rotation. He's been good for the Celtics, but he's not like they're. You're not going to be like, oh, no, we lost San Francis Simons, the season is over. Like, I think they could get into a position where you. You do something like that, save a little bit of money and get better Kind of, you know, plugging a hole somewhere else on the team and move forward. But here's my key thing. If you're doing that, I don't want this to be an addition. That is we're adding just for the rest of this year. It's got to be somebody who can fit. As the team moves forward, it grows kind of like the Derrick White trade of a few years where Derrick White was a guy. Okay, we're getting Derrick White and then Derrick White can be on the team for the next several years moving forward. That's the kind of addition I think you need to focus on.
- [07:32]
John Corralis
So the. It's almost like buy and sell in a way because you can do a lot with the, The Simons contract, which I think. I think there's a separate Simons discussion to be. To be had where, you know, he's. His value is clearly not at 20. Was he 27 million?
- [07:54]
Keith Smith
Yeah. 27.7.
- [07:56]
John Corralis
Yeah. So his value is not at that. He's not a 27 million dollar player right now. Maybe he can play his way back into that, but he's not doing it this season. So there's a lot of where do you go from here with him? And if you can move him. Let's just look at the. That concept of what would it look like to move Simons to save money? Like, how would you see, like a mechanism of that kind of trade?
- [08:26]
Keith Smith
Yeah. So there's a couple ways you can do it. Right. You can do almost the step down approach, like what the Celtics did in getting Simons, which was he makes just a little bit less than Drew Holiday. So you work with a team where they've got a guy who makes 22 million or so, and that's how you do it. You just kind of continue to step down. Now, I don't know that that's going to be big enough to do anything. Just the numbers that everybody needs to kind of know here are. Celtics are 12.1 million over the luxury tax. They're 4 million over the first apron. Being over the first apron at this point doesn't really matter for them. There's some restrictions that come with that, but they're not overly meaningful. They're nothing that you should be too worried about. Getting under the second apron was obviously, I mean, it's not breaking news here because Brad Stevens said it himself. It was one of the things they had to do and that was something that they were going to accomplish. Getting out of the tax would be a nice bonus. But I don't get the sense from anybody that I've talked to close to the team that anyone has said, you got to get out of the tax this year. That has to happen. It doesn't seem like that is a must. So it seems more like a. If we can, we will. So with Simon's like one that I. So the nice thing about having our own trade machine on spot track, we could pull data for what trades people are making. And no, I'm not looking at what. What trades is John Corrales making? We don't have that level of data, but we have who are the teams and the players involved.
- [09:53]
John Corralis
Good. It would be very stupid trades if you found what I was looking at. Yeah, my fake trades. Trust me.
- [10:01]
Keith Smith
It's funny because I tell people all the time, like, like, if you looked at mine, be like, I thought this guy knew the salary cap. Why does so many of his trades fail initially? So, but it's. But one of the things when you, when you pulled Boston data, specifically, a very popular trade, just a straight up trade that is very popular is Anthony Simons for Terrence Mann with the Nets, because you would use man in his contract. He comes over to Boston and that basically gets the Celtics out of the luxury tax. And I think a lot of people look at it as, that's pretty. Man's not the score that Simons is. But that's a helpful, you know, wing ball handler type player who could help in the rotation. And I know for me personally, the thing I like about man is he's got a couple more years under contract. So whether that's. You're getting him because you like him and he can be a helpful rotation guy when Tatum is back and the team is more whole. Or if you say, well, that's 15 million we can now use in a trade next year when we're ready to build things back up and we're not probably dealing with apron restrictions and all the other things, we can move forward. So that's. That's a very popular one. That's. And that's just an example of a deal that you.
- [11:13]
John Corralis
That works. That works because the Celtics can take him into the Porzingis exception.
- [11:19]
Keith Smith
You could do it that way. But it also works just because they're taking back less money. And the Nets would essentially be the only time you can combine things that aren't actual player salaries are cap space. In a player salary, the Nets are still sitting on 15 million in cap space. Man makes about 15 million. So you put together what's that going to be about 12 ish. 12, 13 million of cap space plus man's 15 million. That gets you to Simon's salary that comes in. And the Celtics would, they'd create a big $12 million trade exception and again get themselves out from underneath the luxury tax entirely. And that's just an example of one. One move. I don't think it's going to be a one move thing. I think it's probably going to be more of a couple of moves if they want to go that direction, but I think that could be the way this goes.
- [12:08]
John Corralis
All right, so let's, let's. Okay. I like where we are here. It's a kind of in between. You want to add to the team, but you're not. I think everybody agrees here. We, you don't want to just be like, okay, this is the, this is the time to go for it. So you're, you're going all in on something. So like you said, there's no Giannis trade here because that would involve. You have to trade Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum. Right.
- [12:35]
Keith Smith
So so many players that your team left would be Jalen Brown, an injured Jason Tatum, Giannis, you and me, and then there we go.
- [12:44]
John Corralis
So, so that, that's why. That's not realistic.
- [12:46]
Keith Smith
Yeah.
- [12:47]
John Corralis
And so there are other trades to be made which we can continue as we look at the Celtics assets, what can they truly send out, what makes sense? Because that's the next step in what's Brad Stevens going to do and how, how, how do you kind of toe the line? Because I really think there's a lot of toeing the line here. You gotta, how do you maximize this little opportunity and how do you not be like, you know, the Clippers, where some other team owns your first round pick? Something's gone horribly wrong and you're sitting there like, oh no, what do we do here? You know, or the Pelicans. We'll do that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by Wayfair. The holidays show up faster than we expect. Christmas is 10 days away. If you're still putting together gifts, last minute decor, I mean, I'm just shocked by how quickly it came. If you're getting your home ready for guests, Wayfair has you covered. 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So please do that at FanDuel. A game moves fast and so can you. Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. You already live your team every day. Now take it up to the next level and go ad free. Join the everydayer club and get locked on Celtics with no interruptions, members only, discord access and more. All for just $5 a month or $50 a year. Just head on over to lockdownceltics.supercast.com lockdown Celtics.supercast.com to get signed up and if we're on your Spotify wrapped tag the lockdown podcast network and you can get a month free. So check it out over at lockedonceltics.super cast.com all right, let's get back to the discussion here with Keith Smith from Spot Track and the Celtics assets. They obviously have the players, right? The, the, any, any one of these guys can be traded theoretically. But beyond that they have all of their picks. They have the Porzingis exception. They have a George Yang exception. They have, they have. Except they can bring in salary if they want. They, we talked about them getting under the tax but if something happens and it's like a no brainer deal like they have, they have the opportunity to bring in. They just bring in a 22 million dollar player for nothing. If, if they, if they want they have to send something out. Right. Like how does that work with the exception?
- [17:53]
Keith Smith
Yeah. So you, they, even though they're using an exception, you still run into potential hard cap issues. Right now they're not hard capped at any of because all they've done is moves to step down their salary. So nothing is hard capped them. But if you do a trade where you take back more money than you send out, you would still run in. Even if you use an exception, you would still run into a potential hard cap issue with the first apron. So it's not quite as simple as just bring in a 22 million dollar player, but having that tool allows you to do an unbalanced trade if you want to. I, I firmly believe they're not going back into the second apron. They didn't do what they did to get out of second apron world to just jump right back in. It's a like I, I've grown fond of saying the second apron is like Las Vegas. It's fun to visit for a little while but it gets painful if you stay too long and then you don't turn around and go right back. Right. Like you, you're, you're. But once you leave, you're good for your year and then you go home. So then you come back a year later. So maybe that's where they go. But I think for now we're in a spot with the Celtics where, yeah, they have the ability to do some stuff. And again, like we said at the Open, there's nothing I've been told that they are operating under. You must cut salary, you must get under the tax. There's been nothing said about that. And we know in years past that has been very much a thing where it's, hey, we're not a title contender. If you want to spend when we are, we will. But if we're not a title contender, let's try to get out. But we haven't seen it get to that point yet. So.
- [19:28]
John Corralis
And I think part of that is the understanding that Jason Tatum is coming back.
- [19:34]
Keith Smith
Yeah.
- [19:34]
John Corralis
And coming back this year, coming back next year. I, I've said it on the podcast before. I expect him to be back this season, but I'm, I am treating that as essentially a preseason to next year. And if it becomes more than that, then great. But I'm not looking at him as being a. Okay. All of a sudden the Celtics are a rocket ship and Tatum coming back takes them to the next stratosphere. And I don't think that's the, the way they should be approaching trade season here. I, I don't think it's a. Jason Tatum is back. Let's make, let's make this, this run, this move. But I think with these assets, like they don't. They own all of their picks.
- [20:19]
Keith Smith
Right.
- [20:19]
John Corralis
They don't owe anything. Right. 29.
- [20:24]
Keith Smith
They have the swap with the spurs in 29.
- [20:27]
John Corralis
Yeah.
- [20:27]
Keith Smith
So. And that's top one protected. But anything else they go. But who knows where both of those teams will be like. I mean at this point, let's, let's just in. In pretty dark pencil almost think say the spurs and Thunder are going to be pretty good every year. So who knows if they are even in a position to swap, then they owe the 29 pick from the Drew Holiday acquisition.
- [20:49]
John Corralis
So.
- [20:49]
Keith Smith
But they had, they said here's the easy way to put it. They have two tradable picks. They have. They could trade the 26 or 27 and then they could trade the 30 or the 31. That's the kind of easiest way to put it. Gotcha.
- [21:03]
John Corralis
So that gives Them leeway because you can also do swaps in those other years, which is a system that I think needs to change. But that's a whole separate. Okay, so the Celtics have exceptions. They have tradable players, I don't think, aside from Jalen Brown, Derrick White, sort of. But I think even in the certain situation that he might be reluctantly tradable. But that would take, I think a. It has to be like, oh my God, you. Yes, of course. You have to get this guy. So I think only Jalen would be the, the untouchable one. And there are other guys who are to varying degrees tradable. Not tradable, but they also don't have. They have Sam Houser and Peyton Pritchard. They don't have a ton of like those mid range.
- [21:58]
Keith Smith
Yeah.
- [21:58]
John Corralis
Stackable contracts either. So I think, correct me if I'm wrong, what this just means is there's. I don't think the Celtics are going out there making a one for one deal.
- [22:10]
Keith Smith
Right.
- [22:10]
John Corralis
Like, do you see. Like you, you mentioned the one before with Terence Mann, but I don't even see that as something like that. Like why, why would they do that? Why would, why would Brooklyn do that? I. I don't know. Brooklyn, I feel like they're, they're positioned to do more than that kind of trade. So I just don't see the Celtics as, hey, we got this guy. We've got Simons, we've got picks, we've got exceptions. You've got that guy. We're talking one on one. Does that make sense to you?
- [22:47]
Keith Smith
Yeah, I'm with you on that. I think a straight up one for one trade is extremely unlikely. The Simons for man one is almost one where you have the conversation and then you say, hey, if it's 2:30 on deadline day and we're still kind of sitting in these spots, then maybe we pick up the phone. Because if you're the Natsu, all right, that takes 15 and a half million off our books for next year. If you're the Celtics, all right, we get a useful player. Who then that's 15 and a half million we have to trade. Simons is coming off the books anyway. Let's do this. And if you're Boston, you're, If you're, if you're. Put it this way. If you call the Nets today, the Nets are like, yeah, sure, give us one of those first round picks to eat the 12 million and salary difference. If you're the Celtics, you're like, no, thank you. So then maybe you come back and it's like, hey, 12 million. Can you, can you eat that for two seconds? Like are you willing to do that? And then you'll wear. Or hey, we're taking 15 and a half off your books for next year that you probably don't want because you're trying to clear out. Still continue to clear more salary. Now you do hit a point of like, all right, how much cap space do the nets need? Because they're probably not building this thing up very quickly. So. But yeah, but a straight one for one trade. Unless it's like something small like we're moving Xavier Tillman in a deal for another guy. That's a minimum. And that's. Yeah, you know, we, you need a big. We need a small guard. Let's just do a swap here. But those ones I take out of the picture. So yeah, a straight one for one trade. No, very unlikely there. I think it's more likely you see some kind of package move with this.
- [24:22]
John Corralis
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- [25:28]
Keith Smith
Locked on.
- [25:29]
Locked On Podcast Network Announcer
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- [26:07]
John Corralis
Thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Make your second listen Locked on NBA and Locked on NBA game night. They're both on the same feed. Game night is seven days a week covering every game in the association. I handle Wednesdays with Jake Madison. This Wednesday is going to be one game, the NBA cup championship game. So catch me and Jake reacting to that. Subscribe that is seven days a week and Locked on NBA. They host in the afternoons. They cover the big topics there. So check it out. It's all in the same feed. Wherever you found Locked on Celtics.
- [26:38]
Keith Smith
And I'm glad you mentioned the Tatum thing because right at I got excited too, during the win streak and I was like, maybe add Jason Tatum to this. But a couple things. Jason, I firmly believe he's going to play at some point this year. I had said even if they were hopelessly out of it. Right. They're in the lottery and we're at the end of March. If Jason Tatum is cleared, let him do what Paul George did, what Brandon Clark did. Get back on the floor just for a handful of games. All right, now I've done it now. I'm not doing that again in the fall at training camp. Right. I'm just, I've done it. It's over and done with. And now we start start fresh when the real thing starts next season.
- [27:20]
John Corralis
I'm gonna, I'm gonna insert the Michael Scott, thank you so.
- [27:25]
Keith Smith
Right. And then my other thing is, though, I've also said, all right, now they're clearly better than that. Right? We're they're going to be a postseason team, whether it's in the playing tournament or in the playoffs. One way or another, they're going to be there. So then it becomes all right. Well, certainly. And I don't know how many more cleared the team. Tatum, everybody who reports on the team needs to make it. He will not be rushed back. And I don't care if you think anything earlier than one year to the date of the injury is rushing him back. If they all say he's cleared tomorrow, he can play tomorrow. It's not going to happen. But it will be. Whenever they say he's cleared, he feels like he's ready. That's when it'll be. Whenever that date is, who knows? We have no no concept. I see all these people yo report he's gonna play in January. We don't. Nobody knows Right. No. No one has any idea. But I kind of look at it as, all right, you get Jason Tatum back. Add this. Whatever you get from him is just a bonus for the rest of this year. If he's back and he's Jason Tatum, well, that's a really nice, big bonus that you weren't expecting, and in you, everybody's happy, and you run off as, hey, maybe we could really be dangerous if he gets back. He's like, yeah, he's this diminished version of Jason Tatum who's playing his way back into shape and rhythm and all that stuff. Okay, that's still probably better than 99.9 of guys coming off the bench in the NBA. So I'm, you know, that's kind of where I'm at with Jason Tatum. I don't think you make any decisions on, hey, we're gonna have Tatum or not have Tatum this season. That's more of a. That's why I like the idea of get somebody who can either help you or help you via being a contract and a trade for next season. Because next season you're. I'm envisioning this team has Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard, and whatever else they add to it, then it's now. Now we're moving forward.
- [29:18]
John Corralis
So let's look at this approach, because I think where I have settled on this, I've kind of been here all season long. The Celtics are, I think, best positioned to be the third or fourth team in on a superstar trade where Simons and his $27 million, 27/million are. You know, that that's packaged with someone else to go to Milwaukee, and Giannis goes to a team and they can say, well, look, we've picked up Simons, we picked up this other guy. That team doesn't have to send out 50 something million dollars. There's. You tell me if. If this is even feasible. I think there's. First of all, I think that the second apron and the rules have made 3, 4, 5 team deals more of the norm than ever. Like, yeah. I used to say to anybody who sent me a fake trade once they put four teams in, I was like, I don't care.
- [30:18]
Keith Smith
No. Yes. He's not looking at it.
- [30:20]
John Corralis
Not even bothering. Yeah.
- [30:22]
Keith Smith
Two teams is hard enough. Every team you add, it's like adding 100 is the way it's always explained to me.
- [30:28]
John Corralis
But now, because of the rules, I think three and 14 trades, that's kind of how it almost has to be.
- [30:35]
Keith Smith
Yeah.
- [30:36]
John Corralis
So am I, like, anywhere close with this? Where Simon's 27 and change million dollars can be a big help to somebody trying to match a super max 50, 60 million dollar salary. And the Celtics in exchange simply ask for the best big. Making whatever little money available in this deal. And the example I've been using is John Moran gets traded, Simons goes out, and the Celtics end up landing Santel Dama in the deal. Like that type of kind of scenario. Do you think that's feasible? Is there anything, anything to that? Please validate my opinions.
- [31:19]
Keith Smith
I, no, I, I think it's, I think it's reasonable to think they jump in, especially if it's, hey, we could kind of siphon off a little value here because, you know, it's coming our way. What they, what, what I want to be clear on is the Celtics can offer matching salary for another team. Like if the other team is trying to get Giannis's 54 million, they still need to send out whatever matches on 54 million because you still got to fit Giannis into your team. At the end of the day, they can't say, hey, well the Celtics gave you 27 and we're going to give you 27 and that equals out. You still took on $27 million, which nobody can do. So. So that's the part where it gets a little wonky. But to your point of a third team in, fourth team in, in a trade, yeah, they could jump in and part of that is they can offer up a contract where it is again, hey, well, you know, let's say it's, let's say it's the, the Bucks in the Hawks. And the Bucks are like, yeah, you know, we really don't want to take back. I'm trying to. Because they don't want to do poor Zingus because that's weird because he was already with Boston. But like, you're like the Bucks in this Spurs. Let's just do the Bucks and the Spurs. We don't really want to take back Harrison Barnes contract because it doesn't do anything for us or, you know, whatever Kelly Olynux deal. The Celtics could say, hey, we can jump in there, you take Simons and we'll take that money instead, because that money actually doesn't. We don't care about having that money on our books. That's how they can kind of jump in. Whether that's using Simons, using Hauser. Only reason I keep bringing those guys up, I have nothing against the two players. I think people have been far too harsh on both of them this season. You know, the ones who nobody's ever good enough. But it's. I think it is. So you got that part. But I think there's also the ability to kind of use that trade exception like you said. You could use that in a way where it is, hey, we're going to bring in some money via the trade exception and do it that way. There are definitely options here, especially again if they're not working under any kind of mandate of you must get below the tax line like then, then that, that really opens things up. But I am going to become a broken record just momentarily. But get something that is helpful beyond this season because you're not that close to be adding win. Now this is not the last couple of years where go get that one guy that can put you over the top or the one guy who can be a really important depth player as you chase a title or anything like that. They're not that close to doing anything that it's like, all right, yeah, now it's time to go add that player.
- [34:01]
John Corralis
It's not Anthony Davis.
- [34:03]
Keith Smith
Yeah, those big ones, I just, yeah, those are just two. Like they're just too far fetched for me because again anybody, if you get much over 40 million, you're really talking about, we gotta, you gotta either it's Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum or gut the team. And it's not gonna be Brown or Tatum. And gutting the team just doesn't make sense. Like they're like, especially with the uncertainty around Tatum, not even beyond this year. I mean I'm, don't get me wrong, I'm as excited as the next person that Jayson Tatum looks what he looks like already in these videos they keep releasing. And I think Jason Tatum is going to be fine. I don't think the Achilles injury is an injury that kills guys careers anymore. I think the guys play, I mean Kevin Durant, look how good he still is. And his happened when he was even older than Tatum. So I think we're just in a spot where it is. Yeah, it's, it's just there is still that uncertainty. But. And I, I mean I don't think you can win a team with just two stars, three stars in a whole bunch of, you know, minimum players now. I think you need 100 games of depth to win the NBA title. Now you got to get through the regular season and then through the playoffs. And part how you do that is you have enough depth that in the regular season you can rest some of your star guys and get by because your other guys are good. Enough to. That you don't completely fall off the cliff when you do it.
- [35:23]
John Corralis
Well, let's end on this. Is there. Have you settled on the most realistic. What's the most realistic thing the Celtics can do? Have you looked into something that you have that you like right now?
- [35:36]
Keith Smith
Yeah, I mean I kind of mentioned the Simons for man, because I don't hate it. I don't. It's. I'm not, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be jumping up and down and going crazy if they do that. I wouldn't. I also would not recommend anybody runs out and buys their Terrence Mann Celtics jersey if that happens because I don't know that he'd be here beyond the rest of this season. But that's, that's the kind of frame the player. I'm like person one million to say this. Elita Zubac is somebody I would be, I would be testing the Clippers on where are you going? Like, what are you doing? Like, what is your plan here? Because if the Clippers are like, yeah, we just, we're going to start the process of really tearing this thing down. Clippers are going to have a hard reset either this summer or next summer. It's one or the other. And one of those summers they're going to have 100 million-plus in cap space. And that's where it really becomes all right. If you're starting the process earlier, hey, we're happy to get Zubotch now. If I was running the Clippers, I'd be like, zubotch is still good enough, young enough and on a good enough contract, he's the guy we'll keep. Not that he's like you franchise building block, but he's just a nice player who's always going to help you. But if I'm Boston, that's the guy. If you start talking about him willing to trade a first round pick and maybe a swap in another year plus some salary, that's the kind of player I'd be targeting. Would be somebody like Kavitza Zubac.
- [36:56]
John Corralis
I mean that's the name that's, that's like the dream. So we'll see. We'll see if like if Brad's gonna.
- [37:02]
Keith Smith
Want Nick Vuchevic or like and like that doesn't doing none of those guys are better enough than what they're getting out of the Mia Skada that I would like at that point. Just roll what you have. I'd rather have K to get all these important minutes. So then you find out, like, you know, when we are in big games late in the season, is he good enough for us? Like, that's the question I think the team would like to answer. Because now all of a sudden, imagine if you were finishing out this year and rolling into next year and you're like, hey, actually Namia skate is okay, and we're fine with him as our starting center. Now imagine the play you have because you're paying your starting center 3 million bucks. Like, that's a whole different world. That's like landing on a late first round draft pick. So. And then I'll just say this. The other nice thing for the Celtics they have. Even though they don't have big contracts, they're not restricted from aggregating together contracts like they were the last couple years when they're up over the second apron. So they're in a position where if something pops up and it's like an $8 million player, all right, well, then you can do Baylor Shireman and, you know, you could put together a couple of Baylor Shiren, Xavier Tillman, Chris Boucher, because you can stack those contracts up and go get somebody in season. You can't do that in the summertime. Can't stack minimums together. Even though a couple of those guys aren't minimums. But. But you. They would be able to do that. The one guy, it's weird we didn't talk about him in the Untouchables because he certainly shouldn't be. I think Jordan Walsh is. Somebody would be like, all right, if I'm not. He's. He's not just a salary throw in anymore. He's way beyond that with how well he's played this year.
- [38:34]
John Corralis
It's so funny that he's, like, in that discussion.
- [38:37]
Keith Smith
I don't even understand. It is the most remarkable one. It. This team has won championships. This team had Gordon Hayward's leg snap in half an opening night. I said this to someone the other day. Jordan Walsh going from somebody who is like, this dude is running out the string to now being this, like, incredible starter where opposing coaches are regularly like, yeah, I didn't realize he was that good. Like, it's one of the more remarkable things.
- [39:03]
John Corralis
It's incredible. It is incredible. Shout out to him, man, for getting to that level.
- [39:08]
Keith Smith
Awesome.
- [39:09]
John Corralis
All right, well, look, spot track's the place to go for all this stuff. The spot track trade machine is the trade machine. Like, do not use anybody else's, because they'll just be like, oh, yeah, this works. You're like, then you go to Spotify. Like actually no it doesn't, you know. So the spot track trade machine is the one to go to Appreciate. It's a place to go for all of your salary cap. The way you got it all laid out is perfect. Keith, appreciate you as always. Obviously everybody knows that Keith is is the guy when it comes to all this stuff and that's why I always bring him on. Talk about this. Keith, thank you so much.
- [39:48]
Keith Smith
I appreciate it. I hope you have me back on to break down what happened when they do some stuff that'll be.
- [39:53]
John Corralis
Absolutely, absolutely man. Absolutely. And I do want to thank everybody. Great conversation here. Thank everybody for, for listening, for watching. If you are an everydayer and you want to be part of the everydayer club, you can go to lockdown celtics.supercast.com Sign up. You get $5 a month, $50 for the year. If we're on your Spotify wrapped then tag us. Tag the Lockdown Podcast network on social media. They will give you a month off. They'll send you a code so do that if you want to be on that. This the Everyday Club gets you ad free audio for Lockdown Celtics. It gets you an invite to the Members only locked on every day or Discord Server exclusive access to national bonus shows. Members Only Lockdown Merch store all of that stuff. So go check that out now. I would love it if you 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. This is a vacation with Chase Sapphire Reserve, the butler who knows your name. This is the robe, the view, the steam from your morning coffee. This is the complimentary breakfast on the balcony. The beach with no one else on it. This is the Edit a collection of handpicked luxury hotels you can access with Chase Sapphire Reserve and a $500 edit credit. That gets you closer to all of it. Chase Sapphire Reserve now even more rewarding. Learn more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by.
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