The Harsh Truth About the 2025 Boston Celtics

The Harsh Truth About the 2025 Boston Celtics

Well, we avoided some embarrassment. Not that we were invited, but we avoided some embarrassment. Joe, no mercy. Oh, I love that. Joe Mazoula. This I mean, this dude is certifiable. And I say that in the most flattering way possible. I love him. I would give Joe Missoula a lifetime contract to at the very least be affiliated in some way with the Boston Celtics. If you don’t want to hand a a head coach a lifetime deal, I I get that. I mean, that’s that’s a hell of a commitment. But ambassador, front office member, dude who just hypes you up in in in the right ways. He had a the So, the annual media I’ve played in this game, not this game, but these games. The annual media game happens sometimes more than once a year. Media against media. Get out on the parade. this case it wasn’t the parkquet it was the practice facility the hourback center but have a good time just hoop it up a little bit nobody you know like if if some writers play well who have some maybe some p not at your level like college experience but maybe some some good high school exper like good on you Joe Moula broke the news to these media members just prior to this game after the scrum said uh yeah by the way you’re not playing against each other you’re playing against the goas so it was Joe and a bunch of the assistants and all the college guys Junior Phil Prey like 57 to4 that was the final score and look every one of these people who was on the other side of this because of the era that we live in now they all either write or they’ve got podcasts or they do interviews like everybody is given their dissertation on this game some were maybe a little embarrassed Others have said like one of the best moments of my life. This was incredible. I was ding up Joe Mazula. I mean even if I did participate in this game, which by the way, like I might have sent it the other way. Might have lost 57 to2. I might have cost the team a basket. It would have been a blast. I would have had a lot of fun. I don’t think this is a common thing that happens across the NBA. Not that you hear about because this thing made all sorts of waves on social media. I love that Joe did this and I think he’s just a nut. I do too. I love that he did it. Um, I love that these guys get a little perspective, you know what I mean? Like, all right, you don’t have to be as harsh, you know what I’m saying, to these NBA players and realize that their job is hard because you see Yeah. coaches of guys who didn’t really make the NBA, right? Maybe they had a little short stint in the league or something like that. Yours were removed from that, right? Go out and smack you 57 to four. So, what do you think the NBA players, how good they are at basketball? So when you want to write that nugget or when you know I want to come on here and say oh my god Pton Pritch you can’t go 141 you can’t do that you know I can have a little bit more perspective from that you know from seeing it firsthand. Well, you remember a few years back when we’re kind of getting off the rails here. We won’t spend long on this, but you remember a few years back Brian Scalabbrini, who obviously is, you know, popular analyst for the team and and is certainly like now viewed as more of a a media member, but obviously played in the NBA for a long time. And he was generally like I mean, he was a contributor off the bench. He obviously was not a star. I don’t think star in college, not in the NBA. And I I don’t think Scal would be offended by me saying that. you know, he he would admit as much as well other than during that, you know, postgame after winning the championship where he said like in 10 years I’ll tell my kids I was the MVP or whatever the quote was. But Scal only a few years back there was that competition inspired by one of the radio shows in town where SC like average Joe’s off the street in some cases former college players could challenge Scout to play a game of one-on-one thinking like I could beat Scout like he hasn’t played in years. He looks out of shape. No problem. This is easy. And Scout like I don’t think he allowed a point. He was literally just shutting guys out oneonone like 110 110 110. like, yeah, I mean, you don’t need to if you were a star in college. Yeah, certainly you’re going to wipe the floor with media members who were not. But I I think you’re right. It does just add a layer of perspective and and there’s there’s a humbling component to it, right? As Scal says, he’s closer to LeBron James than we are to him, which is it’s fair. It’s fair. Listen, you make the NBA, whether you’re a superstar or the 12th dude, you’re in the 99th percentile. Yep. So, pretty incredible. But, uh, listen, Scout will not be playing for the Boston Celtics this year. And any of those media That’s right. Uh, and hopefully Jason Tatum will, and we’ve talked about this, whether or not we believe he’s going to, and now you’ve got some questions, at least again, in the moment, in Jaylen Brown, but let’s just for the sake of it presume full health for Brown. Yeah. And let’s say Tatum makes an appearance sometime in the second half of the season. He’s not like coming back in three weeks. Yeah. What are your expectations for this team? If you had to, if I put it in Vegas terms, 40 and a half is the overunder. Is this a 41 plus win team? I was going to say 40, you know. So, below 500. Yeah. after especially after watching them up close and seeing it throughout preseason. Um I just I think there’s a lot of question marks still about this team and their identity and from night to night who they’re going to be, you know, and when you have that um there is going to be times where you take risk and they work, right? And there’s going to be times where you take risk and they don’t work. And there are going to be the games where the Celtics get up quick in the first quarter and we go, “Okay, here we go. the shots were throwing up threes and they’re going in and all this other stuff and then the offensive rebounding issues settle in and the uh the turnovers settle in and the you know Jaylen Brown tweaks his toe and he’s he’s out for a quarter right now as we’re wrapping them up and and a lack of depth, right? So those things are going to happen and you know um there’s going to be stretches where they play some really tough games like we even talked about the the first nine or so games and how tough there’s going to be and they’re going to be times where they lose games straight which we haven’t really had here in Boston in a while, right? There’s going to be a time in this season where they lose three games straight. That’ll probably happen. We haven’t seen that much over the last couple years. How will they respond? We don’t know. That’s what’s going to be be the the unknown throughout this entire year. We’re going to figure out there’s going to be bright points. Five in a row. Oh my god, we’re here. We’re back. There’s going to be low points. That’s what the Boston Celtics are in 2025. So, I think this team is above 500. So, I’m going at least a couple wins better than you are. 40 42 41. Yeah. I mean, I I just think I think we’re in the same ballpark, though. I could see 42. Like, I’m not against that. Yeah. Like, do I see them winning 50? I I think the only way that happens is if your key guys, brown and white, don’t miss any extended period of time. They’re playing basically every game, say for, you know, the occasional tweak or load management or whatever. And Jason Tatum comes back in, let’s say, February. Yeah. And looks pretty close to what he was pretty instantly. Right. At that point in time, I could say, “Sure, you’re a 50 plus win team.” Because I I think we’ve discussed it. You know, all these previews that you’ve been doing with various people that have been on the program, the East is wide open. It’s wide open. So, again, if you might be talking me in a higher, you know, I don’t know, like 45. That’s where I kind of imagine. But here’s the difference. I’m a little low on them right now after watching these last two present. I just presented a a thing to you where it’s like this needs to break right and this needs to break right and this you know it’s like so many times going into this season in previewing the Bruins season which obviously is a weekend change underway we’ve had all these conversations about margin of error and how thin it is. The Celtics in previous years as a bonafide championship contender if not favorite have had wide or wider than most margins of error. That’s not the case this year, right? Very thin margin of error. So, I’m talking like I’m not saying you’re wrong. Yeah. I mean, there are plenty of people that think this team could be be a 30- win team that could be a lottery team. Yeah. I happen to think they are a playoff team, not a playin team that makes the playoffs, a playoff team, top six seed in the Eastern Conference. I And I and I’m okay with that. I think here’s the thing though, we might be in a situation with how stacked that Western Conference is, right? and how lowly this Easter conference is where 40 wins does give you a six seed. Like we could be headed there, you know, like 41 42 is the team like the only teams that have a plus 500 record are could be the top five teams in the East and everybody else could be just trying to struggle to get in there. We could be there. So, uh, this is one of those situations where, you know, it might, like I said, it could I could see it being 43 and I wouldn’t be upset in them being a six seed. This isn’t me putting a seating on it. You asked me about wins and like just based off of what I’ve seen and their ability to do winning make winning plays consistently play after play night after night. I mean like we haven’t had a guy who played well throughout the preseason. You know what I’m saying? Just like every single game they played in, they played well. Like and that’s four games. M. So if we can’t get that in a preseason where we got you just played well for four straight games, Josh might not. Ugo Gonzalez. Yeah. But like we’re not talking about 30 points out of them playing well. We’re talking about fan favorites. We’re talking about go buy their jersey, right? We’re talking about getting the rebound here and making an extra pass there, diving on the floor there, getting the dunk there. That’s not going to It wins you games, but that’s not going to be like the oh that was the reason we won. You know what I mean? type of situation. So, we need a Jaylen Brown to be every night. We need a Derek White to be a every night. We need a Peyton Pritchard. Somebody in that starting lineup has to be a hey, we penciling them in for 25 and five. You know what I mean? And like if we’re not going to get that out of these guys, then it’s a little concerning. Who’s the biggest X factor on that roster? See, and like if you asked me this question last week, it would have been a different answer. But today, man, I think it’s it comes down to Kada. I think it’s the front court. Wow. I really do. I think like especially after seeing the re like rebounding means so much in basketball. Like getting extra possessions, especially the way guys do shoot, even not just the Celtics, but like the league is upticking threes, guys are making threes. League average is like 37%. Right. And that’s the best time to shoot it. You’ve been around these basketball teams. Everybody knows that. Like the best time to shoot a three is on the offensive rebound. So it’s like rebound, kick, cash. How many times have we seen Sam Hower hit that shot? Peyton Pritchard hit that shot. Derek White hit that shot because it’s a great shot and it’s the easiest one to take. You’re in rhythm, the defense is scrambling, you’re wide open, and you knock it down. So, if you’re giving up those opportunities to teams over and over and over again and Kada is not in there doing his job, being physical, getting rebounds, being able to get out to the three-point line and actually guard guards when he’s getting switched out and people are because you have a Peyton Pritchard out there, you have uh Anthony Simons out there who inevitably at some point will let somebody pass them. And even Jaylen Brown when he’s taking his rest and letting guys go by him, like you have to be able to switch out and guard guard. So Kada defense and rebounding are the most vital thing for this team success this year. I would agree that Kada is huge for this team. I’m going to I think Anthony Simons is my biggest factor and and I think there are I feel like your six man of the year. No, I mean but not even in that way like that’s sort of that’s one end of the spectrum, right? Like I I I present it I guess in in a couple of different ways in in terms of Simons being just such a big again factor because on the one hand if he’s really good Yes. and the Celtics are playing well and winning games and saying all right maybe this guy got hurt for that team. This guy like all of a sudden the East is looking more wide open. Tatum’s getting closer to returning. Maybe our ceiling is higher this year than we thought it was. and Simons could be a piece of it. Then if he’s playing great, we don’t want to deal him and he’s certainly helping us to win. So you extend them or you find a deal for him or something. We’re just thinking about this season, okay? You know, whereas if he sucks, okay, if he sucks, odds are the entire second unit stinks. So everything after your start, your top five is bad. And then at that point, in some ways, I think you’re more likely to deal him. Not like there’s the two ends, right? You could either if he’s playing well, you could attempt to get something like the sell high. Yes. And I don’t even know what you’d get. Nothing great obviously. But if he’s playing poorly, I think you could still offload him for one of these teams that just wants to absorb the expiring contract, absorb the salary, and might give you a second for him or something like that. So your return, man, your return is better if he’s playing well, but it doesn’t guarantee you trade him. I think if he’s playing poorly, it actually does improve the chances of trading him just because some other team will want to take the contract. Yeah. But it it that all that all just comes down to the the overall point of if you’re playing well and have a good record and you’re winning games and the bench is productive, I think he’s a big part of it. And if you’re not, like if he’s not, you’re not. I think those are pretty linked. Yeah. I think what we’re saying is though, it’s more what you value. You know what I mean? like what you value. I feel like as far as this team success, especially when you’re talking about like when Tatum comes back, like I don’t need Simons to play well when Tatum comes back. You know what I mean? For this team to be successful. If Tatum is Don’t you? I do. I think about how many guys I need Kada. Think about that. Think about how many guys you had on that roster last year that are gone that were impactful. Orzingis, Horford, Cornet in varying degrees obviously, but it wasn’t just Tatum. Like you needed those games. I’m not saying every night, but you needed those games that Porzingis was great or that Pritchard was great. You got fewer of those guys this year. Yeah, but that’s what I’m saying. The the Kada playing great too is also what I was talking about what he did in this game. It was putting the ball on the deck, making a you know, making a a fading shot a little bit here and there. They still almost gave it away, right? You’re right. But I’m just saying, imagine if we didn’t have that, right? Like we had the night where Derek White was the perimeter is going to get taken care of by somebody. Imagine Simon played well. Maybe it doesn’t come down to the wire. The perimeter is going to get taken care of by somebody, right? Sure. Even Buché, you know, is going to hit some threes here and there. You’re going to have Derek White. You’re going to have Sam Hower, who didn’t play last night. You’re going to have uh uh Jaylen Brown. You’re going to have Peyton Pritchard. Somebody’s going to take care of that for you. If he doesn’t play well as a big man, who can come in and give you the physicality at that level to shore up the rebounding and shore up the back end and block shots? Garza is not doing it. Who else who else on the roster can even do that? Nobody. Bassie available, right? So that’s my point. If if Anthony doesn’t show up, yeah, they got five other options of guys that could go in there and play that role and do some of those things and and make up for it, right? You do need the 20 points because we lost it from Tatum, right? And he’s not going to get up to 20. We don’t think they don’t have a they don’t have a lot of I didn’t feel this way last year. Obviously, you do not on this current roster have a lot of even potential 20 point guys in a game. No, you don’t. No, I mean obviously Brown, White, Simons, Pritchard after that after that we don’t. You trust Hower to get there. How many guys are going to have to be out for Sam Hower to have 20 plus points? A lot. And they’re going to lose a lot. It’s 100%. But I’m just saying, you just name three other guys that I know I can can go get 30. Yeah. You know what I mean? Maybe 40. Mhm. Who else on this team, Adam, can go block a shot, get a rebound, be physical, be physical. All right. Have you seen that? You had me until that. I mean, like I I just I four blocks. We’re not seeing a four block game out of Buché. We’re not. Yeah. Yeah. I And I I’m the one You’re the 100 guy. I’m the 100 guy who wants to see him do it. We’re not going to see that. Right. So, it’s I think you know personally that that’s the most important. Now, you know, we’ve been talking about this for a while. I know we got some other things to move on to. Most important thing that I want to ask you, what about this Boston Celtics team? Should we be rooting for like should we be rooting for a five seed realistically? Like, is that the best for their future in this in this season? or should we actually be rooting for this team to tank a little bit and go out there and get another point guard if Anthony Simons is going to be here and go get Darren Peterson or you know get a forward who can help mitigate some of those aging elements of a Jaylen Brown and a JT and get a you know AJ Debonta like should the Boston Celtics be trying to tank this year or should they really be trying to win? What should we be rooting for for the Boston Celtics? We should be rooting for the asset. We should be rooting for losses. We should be rooting for this team to wind up in the lottery. You know, have some growth and development for guys that are going to be part of your plans going forward. And I’m not talking about guys who you already know who they are. Brown, White, Pritchard, Hower. I’m talking about Ugo. I’m talking about Minot who I’d love to keep around for a while. High energy guy even to some degree maybe even a Bouchet but less him because I think for what he is he’s a proven NBA commodity at this point. Some of these younger guys developmentally you know you need an answer on Walsh. You need an answer on on Shyman. You need to find out whether these guys are going to be a part of the program going we might. We might. You need to know though over this is a development season. Even if the organization does not want to view it that way, does not want to acknowledge that, that is the purpose of this season. It is not be competitive, be fun, make the playoffs, win a round, announce that you’re still here, even without Jason Tatum. Maybe he comes back, everything breaks perfectly in the world, you’re a contender. Oh my god, fire up the duck boats. We got a date with Denver coming up in the spring. Like that sounds fun. It’s not likely. Okay. It’s not likely. Now, I as a fan, as a consumer, as a follower, as someone who’s going to be watching this team nightly, I don’t want to root for losses. I that like that’s no fun. But what’s the best avenue toward building toward Banner 19 as soon as sitting here a year from now having this conversation with you and talking about what the roster looks like or however long it takes. It’s assets. It It is assets. You know, Danny A had to go through some uncomfortable times here in Boston in accumulating assets. And obviously, some things didn’t work out, some things couldn’t have possibly worked out better. But Brad Stevens in in his regime as POBO, as president of basketball operations, has never had a high draft pick. The team’s always been competitive. He’s never been positioned to. And that doesn’t even mean, by the way, that the Celtics use it. They may just trade it and acquire a really good player somewhere else. Here, you take the asset. We’re going to take your star player that wants out, whatever it may be. But having the asset is just such a huge part of the equation that it’s not what I want to root for, it’s what we should be rooting for. Hey, you might be right. I personally agree. I’ve already shared my thoughts. I wish this team w were to tank a little bit. You know what I mean? The way I see it is just like when Steph Curry went down and the Warriors went up and got James Wiseman, that was a huge addition for their team. They didn’t develop him correctly. I’ll give you an example of when they did a team did do it correctly. What about the Spurs going David David Robinson goes down. You have Tim Dun. They laid an egg for one year and got him Tim Duncan and they got him a dynasty. So yeah, should have wound up here, but that’s beside that’s besides the point. So, you know, I but I you know, I will obviously be personally rooting for this team to win every game. Yeah. But if it starts to slide a little bit, I might be banging the drum of like, hey, let’s go lose. Well, it’s just it’s it’s all it’s all gravy ultimately. Y Celtics win, cool. That’s fun. They lose, it doesn’t matter. You’re not right now in the contender conversation. No.

Is it time for the Celtics to think long-term instead of chasing wins? Adam and Ountae debate whether Boston should tank for future assets, which players need to step up without Jayson Tatum, and why this season might be about development more than contention. They also break down the team’s biggest X-factors and what could define a make-or-break year in the East. Plus, the guys react to Joe Mazzulla’s hilarious domination of the media in a scrimmage that ended 57–4.

Catch it all on Hold My Banner with Adam Kaufman & Ountae Campbell. Click here for the full episode: https://youtu.be/nNGpNx6GKsM

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