Amari Williams DESERVES More NBA Minutes | Small Ball PLAN for Boston Celtics

Amari Williams DESERVES More NBA Minutes | Small Ball PLAN for Boston Celtics

More from the win over the Pistons, Amari Williams, Ugo Gonzalez, and how to unleash that small lineup. Plus, I’ll dip into the mailbag for questions about Jason Tatum’s potential return right now on the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Uh-huh. Y ready to see. Who else could it be? What they going to say now? Screaming like JT coral. We kept the madness every game, every practice. Prime time Devin D White on the sideline rece how we started raising business how we finish locked on Celtics home of the winners there. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Where does your team every day? Your team is the Boston Celtics and I’ll talk about them every Monday through Friday. A bonus podcast when they play on the weekends like Saturday night, tomorrow night, whenever you’re listening to this potentially uh in Minnesota, bonus podcast after that. So subscribe. The show gets dropped directly to your device. It’s on YouTube. It’s everywhere. It’s free. Get into the comment section. Join me, John Cares, if you’re new. I’m the beatw writer for Boston Sports Journal. I’ve been doing this podcast for 10 years, covering the team for 20. I’ve written a couple of books about the team as well. Today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. New customers, you get five bucks. Uh you bet five bucks. If it wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head over to fanduel.com to get started. Uh in the second and third segments, I’ll be opening up the mailbag for this uh Friday post Thanksgiving. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, hope you had a nice one. If you don’t, hope you had a good Thursday. Uh this podcast, you know, a lot of people from outside the United States, people inside the United States who decide not to celebrate. It’s all good. Whichever way you want to go, it’s fine with me. So, uh, but thanks for being here, uh, for just being an everyday. Thanks for being an everyday, joining me every Monday through Friday. I do appreciate that. You’re you’re the best. You make this show the number one Celtics podcast on the planet. So, second segment will be mostly Jason Tatum and his potential return. Questions about that. The third segment, I’m gonna yell at somebody for a question about shooting slumps. Uh, that uh I don’t yell at people. I don’t yell at people who ask questions, but there’s one coming later on. Uh, but let’s start with some thoughts, just leftover thoughts because I I said after the game, uh, I was podcasting yesterday from the garden. If you were watching that wondering what that brick background was, it looks like I was in some, you know, I was kidnapped or something. That was like one of the side back rooms of the TD garden. And I just said, look, I I I had to podcast from there because that wind was so big. I had to get the show up as soon as possible. So, uh, just some extra thoughts here from from that that game. I want to start with Amari Williams, who was, you know, not so bad, and I I kind of glossed over him a little bit in in yesterday’s show, but he is interesting. Uh, I thought he had a couple of nice plays that I didn’t highlight. the one screen for Jaylen that turned into the Daniel Ty Marson Gortat kind of snake down the the lane and screen screen a guy off kind of box him out. That play was really nice. Um he had, you know, a nice pass to Baylor Sherman who missed the shot, but just a a great left hand post like out of the post crosscourt kind of high opposite. Uh that was that was really good. Uh, I thought he [Music] I don’t know if he was chasing block shots necessarily. I don’t want to make him sound like Hassan Whiteside, but I think he kind of was was a little out of position after he went for the block. I had no no problems with some of the blocks that he attempted to go for, but then he just turned and looked and instead of attempting the, you know, block shot, then you turn and box that guy out and especially against the Pistons, you you don’t want to give up the offensive rebounds. And there were three instances of block attempts where he didn’t he just kind of turned and looked and kind of got pushed around. So definite stuff that you can look at at film and say the where you are, the block shots, uh what attempts you should be going for, what attempts you should leave alone, what you should be doing afterwards. Um there was a play late in the game where Jaylen Brown got stuck and he he was kind of he he was definitely stuck and Amari could have just come across the lane and been an outlet. You got to learn when to do that stuff. But overall, I thought uh the the the stuff we saw from Amari Williams was was good. And I thought that he he has earned another look somewhere along the way. And maybe it’s now with with Kada out, but maybe it’s maybe it’s even if Kada comes back, maybe he’s earned a little bit of a look. Sure, you want to come back if whenever Kada’s back, you want to start Kada. Obviously, you start Kada, but do you bring Amari off the bench? Do you do you bring him in third? Um, I I’m curious to see how they attack this because I think some of those things are worth giving him NBA looks. like how to play with a superstar player is is important because he’s going to be a supporting cast member and I don’t know what his ceiling is going to be but on this team he’s going to be have he’s going to have to deal with supporting cast and uh if he’s going to play alongside Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum on a regular basis if that’s what if if he can ascend to that then getting him some reps with Jaylen Brown will be beneficial so get him, get him a few more looks. You then you can send him down to the G-League to work on it. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with and and maybe what you do is you send him back to the G-League now, get him some reps to deal with some of the lessons. You know, you you take the clips from this game, you you show him, okay, these are the things you need to work on. Go to Maine, work on those things. Let’s see some improvement there. Then we bring you back. This is kind of like the Ugo Gonzalez plan that I was looking at from the beginning of the season. Now, Ugo ends up being better than that and the the Celtics like him. So, uh he’s probably not going to play in Maine. If he does, it’ll be a one-off game here or there, but uh but for Amari, that that plan could certainly apply to him. And I think that there’s merit now from seeing him working on the NBA level. Get him a game here, game or two here. Send him back to Maine. Work on that stuff. Show some improvement. Come back. Let’s see how you how you now do that against NBA competition. Screw up a little bit. Take take those lessons back down to Maine and kind of bounce back and forth and really work on your game. I think that would be a really good plan for him. Uh, the other thing is going small where I liked I think I like the mix of going with Luca Garza who wasn’t as bad as I initially thought. I think he was okay, but it it wasn’t it wasn’t that bad when I watched the game again, but you go with Amari as a shot blocker and, you know, a rim protector and, you know, he had a couple of blocks for sure that that were really nice. uh including one that sparked that play in the second quarter where Baylor Shyman was diving for the loose ball and he flipped it behind his back and Minot got blocked but then it was Jordan Walsh who got fouled and kind of Garden kind of like lit up a little bit. They started, you know, it’s a good play when the Garden starts chanting, you know, let’s go Celtics just on their own. No prompt from the scoreboard, no nothing. So, uh I liked that. I liked Amari there. but also then mixing in the small ball miner at center stuff. That is a great little curveball. So maybe it’s not Amari, you you go with Nimi when he’s back and fully healthy, but maybe instead of Garza, depending on the matchup, it depends on the matchup, but maybe instead of Garza, you throw the small ball in there a little bit more and it just becomes a complete change of pace. I always love comparing it to fast ball pitcher, you know, junk ball pitcher, you know, and if you can kind of mix it up and you keep batters off guard, like, you know, your your fast ball pitcher is your starter, your junk ball pitcher is your middle reliever, then you throw another fast ball pitcher in there and then a junk ball pitcher after, you know what I mean? Like you get that back and forth and it’s hard for a team to kind of keep up with that. Maybe the Celtics have stumbled onto two distinct styles of play that they can unleash in the same game. You don’t have to stay big. You don’t have to do that. Maybe some games it’s working and you have to really um read the game and understand like you have to adjust like you can go in there with a plan and then the game starts and you say, “Oh, okay. We’re going to we’re going to change the plan.” But it’s something to watch. I think there’s something to that. So, um I I’m just watching for that. A couple other points that I want to make. Um Ugo Gonzalez, his six minutes were defensively I thought they were really good. I I love his defensive acumen. He competes really really hard. He knows where to be. I love Ugo Gonzalez. I think he is a he is a star in the making. at least not like I mean not not like a Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown but I think he’s I can see him becoming like a Derrick White level star and and if that’s where you if that’s what you get out of Ugo Gonzalez then sign me up you know maybe maybe he’s better than that I don’t I’m not I’m not look I’m done putting ceilings on guys so I don’t know what Ugo is going to become but I think he has he has the potential to become you know a Derek White in a few years and you know at least at least that type. So, uh I thought that was good. And then the last thing I wanted to say, I I I mentioned this at the end of the podcast yesterday. I’ll bring up the foul at the end on Cade Cunningham. Stephanie White, who is the coach of the Indiana Fever, former coach of the Connecticut Sun and former Indiana Fever player, uh she made the point and a couple other guys, you know, made points. I think uh Scal made a point. uh similarly uh after the game where when you’re fouling, okay, you don’t want to foul when somebody’s facing the rim, okay? But you’re going to at half court, you don’t do you don’t just do it, you know, at half court and be like, “Ah, here’s the foul.” Cuz Kade had the ball up in his hands and as soon as he felt it, he came and he was able to gather. She said you do it on the downward dribble. Like you could be up next to him and you know, hands up and as soon as he dribbles, then you foul him because he’s he’s it’s not he’s not able to gather the ball, that’s when you do it. So if you’re going to foul when somebody’s facing the rim in a situation where he could gather, you do it when he can’t gather. When he’s when he’s dribbling down on that downward dribble. I remember Marcus Smart talking about when he would go for that cobra strike dive, you know, he he knew exactly the rhythm, the cadence, and when to strike and when, you know, when to go for that dive. Same concept. So, I do think I do think that foul was correctly called. Um, I do think that he was gathering and, you know, Celtics got, you know, a little lucky that Cade had that miss, but Kade also had a turnover. You know, the Celtics had great defense a couple possessions before where Kade turned it over. That was an incredible defensive play, but that’s that’s a very teachable moment. Foul on the downward dribble is a super smart way to put it, and that’s how guys should be taught and I think are taught, but they either forgot in that moment or what, but that that has to be reinforced. Uh otherwise you get what happened there and you get three free throws on a halfcourt, you know, heave. So just I just wanted to throw that out there. Okay, mailbag questions are coming up next. We’re going to start off with three questions on Jason Tatum’s potential return. I’ll get to that when I come back. Today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. Well, the NBA is back. You can get in on the action at FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. If you missed the start of the game, you can still get in if you want to ride the hot hand at the end. FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, even, you know, especially when your team is making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. When you sign up, they’ll ask you to set a limit. Set your budget. The tool is right there when you sign up. Please use that. 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Mailbag questions which can be submitted to johncorales.comag. johncurales.combag to submit your questions. Like Peter who says, “I hope people have given you enough credit for predicting JT’s return this season. Everyone else has been surprisingly shocked by the concept, but I’ve been convinced he’s hitting the court in February or March due to your discussions. My question is, have you been getting credit? And are you still thinking post Allstar break? Listen, I know that I’ve been banging this drum for a long time that I 100% believe that Jason Tatum is coming back this season. I think he should come back this season. I don’t think the Celtics win loss record matters at all. I don’t care if they are good or bad. It’s not about that. I’ve been saying from the beginning and I still think All-Star breakish, you know, all-star breakish. So, I’ve been saying March probably still March, but if he’s been looking good, I haven’t seen all aspects of his rehab, but seen him at the practice facility. He’s out there shooting and doing his things. He looks okay. I don’t know how much longer he has, but we’re getting into December now. So, December, January, February, you know, three months, all-star breaks in two and a half, it’s not out of the question that you bring him back. And I think if if if he’s ready to go, and again, let me be 100% clear to everybody, you’re not rushing him. Do not rush him when he is cleared by every doctor, every trainer, every coach, every shaman, every, you know, whatever day trader, every taxi driver, anybody that wants to chime in. Uh, go to every expert out there, which the Celtics already, I know they’re going to do. Once he is cleared, then he will be able to play. My take is that will all happen in about two and a half to three months, which is right in line with when a player can come back. And I think he should. When he does, I’m sure the people who know that I’ve been saying it will say that I’ve been saying it. But I don’t care about getting credit for that. I think that it’s just good for him, good for the Celtics to get him back. If it’s before the All-Star break, great, because then you give him a couple of days, you know, give him a little time, give him a break to recover, and then you come back from the All-Star break and he can get a couple of games in. Whole point is get him back to playing. Let him take as many days off after a game to shake off the soreness. shake off the rust. Let him figure out what what do I need to do to be Jason Tatum again? Have I lost the step? Have I lost any explosiveness? Have I gained anything? Have I whatever whatever it is, come back February, March, April, take th those lessons into the summer and come back next season as Jason Tatum. I do not want the first NBA basketball that Jason Tatum plays to be the beginning of next season. Next season is a real season. This season is whatever. I don’t care where they end up this season. I don’t care. I do care where they end up next season. Why would anybody want that to be the first basketball that Jason Tatum plays in the NBA? get that done here February, March, April. Get him back. Get his sea legs back. You know, it’s get 15 minutes a game, 20 minutes a game, whatever it is. It’s not about anything besides getting him feeling back to normal. Plus, hey, run run run some actions with Josh May not, run some actions with Luca Garza, run some actions with whomever, Ulo Gonzalez so he can figure some things out with these guys and then he can take that into the summer and those guys can take that into the summer and Brad Stevens can take that into the summer and be like, “Okay, Jason Tatum loves playing with this guy, hates playing with that guy.” If that ends up being the case, get that stuff done now so then in the summer you have better information to make your trades and build a team around Tatum and Brown. It just makes sense. So that’s my take on Jason Tatum. Um, and so if I get credit, then I get credit. Uh, Casey asks, uh, do guys ever ramp up in the G-League before coming back to an NBA game? Would Tatum ever play in Maine? Casey, thanks for the question. Uh, the it’s a yes and no. No, I don’t think he will ever play a game in Maine. Although, hey, why not? Why not? They do it in baseball all the time. Guys get assigned to AAA. Pitchers make rehab starts in AAA. Why don’t basketball players do that? Uh, I mean, I think some of it might be like you don’t want to expose Tatum to lesser competition in a situation where you could get hurt u just by guys being overzealous trying to make a name for themselves against Jason Tatum. So, but but we saw it with LeBron. We’re seeing it with some other guys. I forget who just got assigned to the GLeague team, but Jason Tatum will be assigned to the main Celtics, I’m positive, at some point. But what will end up happening is it’ll be an off day. The main Celtics will get on a bus and drive to the Celtics practice facility. Tatum will put on a main jersey and practice with those guys to get a full practice. On a day where the Celtics aren’t practicing, he’ll go get a full scrimmage with those guys. And then he will be recalled. But really what’s happening is the guys from Maine are coming down to Boston. They’ll practice with him and then they will go back to Maine. Jason Tatum will do everything exactly the way he ever he always does except he will wear pot potentially a main practice jersey which I hope he does and I hope we get that picture. Uh so that I think is where it goes. But I I would love for I would love for guys to get more rehab assignments in Maine or in the G-League. Uh let’s wrap up the J the Jason stuff here with Bo who says do you think a dream scenario the in a dream scenario the Celtics could be a six seed and get Tatum back and go on a playoff run that there is a universe there is definitely a universe where Tatum comes back he plays well and the Celtics just kind of throw him in there for 20 25 minutes a game and he just becomes kind of like a highlevel for lack of a better term highle role player. You’re not asking him to I don’t even know. Maybe you don’t even start him in that situ situation. Maybe he just gets some, you know, situational run. Uh it’s not out of the question. If he comes back in February and feels good and April comes around and the Celtics are in that playoff run, playoff hunt and they want to make a run and Tatum is healthy enough to do it. Yeah, you he could do it. He could be part of a a playoff run for sure. I do not think it’s realistic to say that Jason Tatum will come back and be Jason Tatum and lead the Celtics on a deep run. I don’t I do not expect that. And I’m not put I would never put that kind of pressure on Jason. I would not be surprised that if Tatum comes back and plays well, the Celtics do everything the same way and Tatum just kind of fills in some gaps and and plays kind of a a a little bit of a different role as he’s coming back. And you under no circumstances ramp him up for a playoff run and have him play 40 minutes. Under no circumstances do I think that’s going to be the way this goes. I think it’s going to be 20 25 minutes, get him back up to speed, and then whatever. But that it’s it’s not out of the question to say that coincides with, hey, he feels good. He’s playing well, and instead of Jordan Walsh, you have Jason Tatum, and he plays the exact same type of minutes. So, where that gets them, I don’t know, but I can’t rule it out. All right. When we come back, I’m going to yell at somebody about a question about um shooting slumps and Jaylen Brown’s turnovers. That is coming up next. Today’s show is brought to you by Door Dash. When somebody drops 50, you better be on Door Dash and you better have Dash Pass because you’re going to get yourself a deal and the ultimate fan bag potentially. It’s something they call the Bagdrop. Door Dash is the official on demand delivery platform of the NBA and they’re celebrating the season with the Bagdrop. When an NBA player scores 50, which we’ve seen a few times already, you’ll get 50% off your next order on Dash Pass the day after it happens. You got to use the promo code NBA50 to get that. 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He will give you all you need to know. Ads, drops, trades, everything. If you’re serious about winning your fantasy league, you need Josh Lloyd in the Lockdown Fantasy Basketball Podcast. It’s on the number one sports podcast network on the planet in the universe. the Lockdown Podcast Network. Find it where you found this podcast. Back to the mailbag where questions can be submitted at johncarales.combag. Uh John asks, “Hi John, why is there such a stark difference between fouls called on shooters and on layups? Should there be more protect the shooter applied to layups?” Uh, I understand that chase down blocks are highlights, but currently players are basically allowed to wipe out the offensive player during or shortly after a block as long as they get a hand on the ball first. So, okay, it’s I understand where this is coming from because a guy goes up for a layup, you get blocked from behind, and then you get trucked and you get sent into the stansion or the first row photographer. And it’s very easy to say, well, why is that less dangerous to somebody who lands on someone’s foot? And I think part of it is that guys go into those situations preparing themselves for a fall. Um, the deck has been cleared for them to fall. Uh, I haven’t actually seen a, you know, guys like they put the paddings on the stansion. Uh, I haven’t seen anybody hit that and be out for three weeks. Uh it’s there are obviously some freak freak accidents that have happened like uh like Sean Livingston and you know there but that’s been like freak weird kind of scenario think generally speaking and especially since they put the lanes for guys to there’s not as many photogs on the baseline so they’ve they’ve kind of eliminated that. I I I think I think guys understand that there there’s you’re preparing for to get hit. You’re preparing for that. So sliding under somebody’s foot when you’ve jumped is actually a a very dangerous play because they’ve got nowhere to go. um you’ve jumped, you got a guy sliding his foot under like Zaza did, and you land on that foot, you’re turning your ankle almost every time. So, there is just a higher risk for injury. There really is a higher risk for injury. I can’t I can’t think of that many guys who have gotten hit on the layup and gotten hurt, but I have seen a lot of guys on landing spots uh get hurt and turn an ankle. So, I do think that’s a more dangerous play. So, I don’t think you I don’t think anybody wants protect the shooter, apply the lamp because all you’re all that asks for is open layups. You’re basically saying, well, you can’t you can’t challenge any of the layups anymore. And so, I I don’t I don’t think that’s going to happen. So, I I I get where you’re coming from. I see I see those plays all the time, but the landing ones are actually more dangerous. Paul. Paul, I’m sorry for what’s about to happen, but the question is phrased as such um that you may expect. Here’s the question. Why do you always say quote his shot will come? As far as I see it, they get paid to put the damn ball in the hoop. That’s like saying a surgeon’s steady hands will come. Enough excuses. Also, glossing over Jaylen’s eight turnovers was unhelpful. Superstars just don’t do that. Okay, Paul, I think it’s the tone of the question that makes me want to yell at you. So, here, let’s start. Let’s work backwards. Jaylen Brown had eight turnovers recently. Superstars just don’t do that, Paul says. Okay. Uh, Nicole Joic this season, former MVP, has had nine turnovers in a game this season. Also had eight. Also had six and five. Shay Gildas Alexander did not have it this season, but last season uh he did. He hasn’t had one this season, but he had eight last season. A couple games with six and with five. Kate Cunningham in the MVP conversation had uh eight has had eight turnovers in a game. Jiannis Antenno has had seven turnovers in a game this season. And I haven’t gone back to check anywhere else. Yes, superstars do do that. It happens. Guys turn the ball over. When you have the ball in your hands a lot, they turn the ball over. Now, also, yeah, Jaylen Brown has had some rough turnover games. No doubt about that. He has had a few games in his career where when he’s turning the ball over, he really turns the ball over. And they don’t look good. They are not they are not turnovers very often that make you go, “Ah, well, you know, he threw the ball out of bounds. He was being aggressive.” Like, he has those for sure, but also he he has some bad turnover games. No doubt about that. I’m not gonna argue that he doesn’t have some bad turnover games, but to say superstars just don’t do that is absolutely patently false. Superstars do do that. It happens to superstars. Frankly, it happens to superstars more than it happens to anybody else because they’re the ones with the ball in their hand so much that they can turn the ball over eight times. That’s not going to happen. You know who’s not going to turn the ball over eight times? Ugo Gonzalez. Because he doesn’t have eight turnovers. He doesn’t play enough to get eight turnovers, right? Luca Garz is not going to turn over the ball eight times. He’s going to get benched before he has an opportunity to turn the ball turn the ball over eight times. You know how good you have to be to turn the ball over eight times? You have to be a damn good player to turn the ball over four or five times and still be in the game so you can turn the ball over three more times. That’s how good you have to be. So get it out of your head that superstars don’t do this or that. Superstars screw up all the time. It’s that they are in the game as much as they are that allows them to have these types of numbers. Are you gonna bench Nicola Joic after a four turnover, five turnover game? No. So, he has a bad game, a bad turnover game. He’s going to get 7, eight, and nine. He’ll do it again because he’s going to be out there 35 to 40 minutes and he’s going to have that opportunity. So, get that in your head. The other one is why do you always say his shot will come? Comparing it to a surgeon’s steady hands is so disingenuous. A surgeon’s job is to have steady hands and to be precise every time. That’s the expectation. Shooters in the NBA are expected to shoot and miss half the time. And sometimes those stretches happen. There is not a player who shoots regularly that doesn’t go through a shooting slump. Every one of them goes through a slump. Now, we’re going to say this may apply to Derek White. So, let’s go to Derek White. Why do I say his shot will come? Because I’ve seen him go through slumps before. I’m going to go back to January of last season, right? January 2025, where in 14 games he shot 32.8%. You know what he did in February? 46.4%. His shot will come. The next one was 35%. And then in April in five games, 42%. So he shot 38.4%. Which is above average, which is good. It’s not Steph Curry, but it’s good. He’s a good shooter. If he’s going through a slump, his shot will come. in that January he had let’s go through let’s see two of 11 o of six o of five one of seven two of seven those five of 16 those are all consecutive games a two of four of 12 one of three then all of a sudden four of 10 4 of 10 three of six five of nine six of 12 his shot showed up if you are a terrible shooter I won’t say his shot will come but if you’re a good shooter if you have a history of hitting shots, then I’m going to say his shot will come. Yeah, his job is to make baskets. And in some games, he’s going to make a lot of them. And in some games, he’s going to make none of them or very few of them. And that’s going to apply to all the good players. Every good player has bad shooting nights. Again, Shay Gilders Alexander, the MVP, has had bad shooting nights, but his job is to put the ball in the basket, and sometimes he doesn’t. They’re got Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, they’ve all had rough shooting nights and slumps, rough shooting stretches. But we forget about those guys because when we go back in history, we think back and we say, “Man, this guy was awesome.” And we forget all the bad stuff. But these guys, for some reason, they’re held to this this stand. Just I just want these guys held to a normal standard. That’s it. The normal standard is yes, make shots and you’re supposed to make shots and an extended 15 16 game slump. That’s not good. That’s bad. And I’ll say it’s bad. But I will also say his shot will come. And guess what happened against Detroit? His shot showed up in a big big way. That’s how basketball works. That’s how basketball works. And I have no problem with people getting frustrated, but my problem is always when people treat the game or treat these athletes like like they’re not first of all not human or that there isn’t some like there there’s they’re not based in reality. No one. Why would you ever expect someone to never have a slump? Every player goes through slumps. You have to let these guys work through it. And the guys who have proven to be good shooters, his shot will come just like Sam Hower, his shot will. Payton Pritchards did. Pritchard will go through another slump. Everybody will go through another slump. Steph Curry goes through slumps. Happens all the time. I didn’t even go check what what Steph Curry’s turnovers were. In fact, you know what? I’m going to wrap up the show by just looking. Let’s just go. I haven’t even seen what his turnovers are, but I’m going to go call him up right now since I’m here and see how many turnovers has he had in some of these games this season. He has a seven, a five, a five, a five, a four, a four. So, he’s had some some rough turn. He’s had a seven turnover game. Uh, let’s go to last season. See how many turnovers he’s had. Oh, he had an eight turnover game last season. Seven, six, six, five, five5. So, Steph Curry, not a superstar. because that’s once you turn it over eight times, you’re not a superstar. Superstars just don’t do that. Mailbag questions come into johncaris.combag. If you’re nice in the question, I’m nice to you. But if you’re if you’re if you’re phrasing the question like that, you’ll get an a response in kind. But feel free to submit your questions and I will answer as many of them as I can. you got to be in every day or you got to listen to me every Monday through Friday because there are definitely people who submit questions like maybe a week ago and I have answered those questions organically over the course of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or whenever I do a podcast. So, it’s if you’ve submitted a question and you’re wondering why I haven’t answered it yet, it’s entirely possible you I I answered it in a qu in a podcast that you’ve missed without even me knowing that that was a question. So, got to make sure you’re listening Monday through Friday. I got a bonus podcast coming up Saturday after the Timberwolves game. So, make sure you’re subscribed, watch the show on YouTube, get into the comments section there, share your thoughts, and then share the podcast. Tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, it’s your team every day.

Boston Celtics celebrate a hard-fought win over the Detroit Pistons, shining a spotlight on Amari Williams’ promising performance and the tactical possibilities of unleashing a dynamic small-ball lineup. Can Williams carve out a bigger role with his shot-blocking ability, even as Neemias Queta recovers? John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal weighs the benefits of G League assignments for player development, putting Hugo Gonzalez next to Derrick White as a rising star whose defensive acumen could reshape the Celtics’ future.

The mailbag heats up with fans questioning Jayson Tatum’s potential return and the strategic impact it could have as the season progresses. Topics include the timing of Tatum’s comeback, the pros and cons of rehabbing in Maine, Jaylen Brown’s turnover concerns, and the psychology behind NBA shooting slumps. Debates abound: Should superstars be immune from criticism over turnovers? Will the Celtics maximize their roster flexibility and set themselves up for a deep playoff push?

1:30 Celtics-Pistons Win Recap
2:50 Amari Williams & Hugo Gonzalez Analysis
9:10 Small Lineup Strategies
13:03 Jayson Tatum’s Return Timeline
19:39 Tatum G League Ramp-up?
25:50 Shooting Slumps & Turnovers Rant

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