Can the Celtics Be Trusted as Contenders? With Bob Ryan | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

Can the Celtics Be Trusted as Contenders? With Bob Ryan | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

he’s back and we’re very excited it’s great timing to have the legend Bob Ryan with us how do you like to be introduced now Bob oh I I decided I declared myself the gloe Boston Globe columus and Meritus since I I officially retired from full-time Duty in August of 2012 after the London Olympics but I have you know I still do things and and uh I still Rite for the globe every other week but usually and so I I declared myself to be the globe columnist a Meritus well this always means a lot to me so I always appreciate the time I want to start with somebody that I imagine you appreciate as much as I do and that’s watching yic watching him in the second half against Minnesota coming back from this 2 uh when you watch him how does it make you feel you know it’s funny we had had a discussion with people yesterday uh I was saying did you see that passy through the other night when he tipped the rebound to himself and then one motion through that 70 de foot touchdown pass for the for the sneak away layup no other Center makes that play no nobody makes that play um it’s it’s and the game the game just is natural and easy for him he makes it look easy he moves at his own pace nobody disturbs him I know that Timber Wills allegedly bothered him for two games so that that’s all over now and uh uh he the game he’s like I likened him to the great jazz pianist AR patum who who the piano was so easy for him that he had to embellish things out of control just to amuse himself I think jokic sometimes amuses himself bir used to do that you know bir near the end of his career he started shooting left-handed shots just for the hell of it and and including in clutch situations uh very few people that’s called mastering the game well jokic has mastered the game okay I’m glad you brought up bird um because I guess I don’t know I was going to bring it up some way but since we already did let’s get into it there’s a resistance to jic which I find at times frustrating other times comical um but I understand it like there’s hey this guy who’s out of shape this Serbian and he’s going to win all these MVPs and you know who knows he’s going to have to kind of win a couple more rings to like truly go down and Legend status historically because that’s kind of how we keep track of all this stuff but why do you think so many current players former players whether it was sha the other right telling him to his face like hey I thought SGA was the MVP you know there’s just a lot of guys that I’ve seen over the last course of the last years part of it was the embiid arguments where so many people wanted mbid to have the MVP what do you think of of the resistance to what joic has been to this game the last few years two different topics here the the MVP thing that’s a legitimate argument and I would have you know like last year I remember this us uh you know lobbying for for in in 2022 23 and and this year I know what a year that GIS Alexander had and has had and he deserves heavy consideration this is a matter of tough calls the MVP thing so that’s one discussion and I understand anybody objecting him winning it because they had a better candidate there were several good candidates and certainly SGA was one of them okay but in general terms you you hit upon it you know he doesn’t look the part that that the you know some puracy including you know he doesn’t he’s not ripped you know he’s not you know he he he is what he is he’s a basketball player they just can’t get that through their head that you know athletic ISM quote is supposed to be you know the the the god jumping and running and and and you know and and touching the top of the backboard and and all that stuff no he’s a basketball player and and they don’t not a lot of people understand that you don’t have to be the greatest athlete in the world if you have to master this particular game and some of the best athletes aren’t very smart or good basketball players because they just aren’t I mean he doesn’t fit a mold that people have decided is necessary I guess that’s my only possible I have the international part of it if I were an American player you know you’d be like okay well wait a minute what’s what’s happening here and I think it’s it’s just I don’t know it feels it feels like this guy can’t possibly like it’s it’s a visual thing I think we’re also incredibly Visual and that’s where I think you know embiid loses out or excuse me embiid wins some of the arguments when we were talking about MVP look I voted for MVP for embiid uh last year because I just thought yeah when it comes down to MVP doesn’t necessarily mean it’s it’s who the best player is if it’s close enough maybe it’s a tiebreaker all that kind of stuff and I’m still not 100% sure I made the right vote because I’ve never thought embiid was actually better than joic um as a player but that’s not as your point in the beginning of this that’s not what the MVP is always about but I think we are all far more visual with the confirmation that we need you know whether it’s certain quarterbacks where we’ll watch quarterbacks and just go oh he’s got a huge arm he can make all the throws so visually it’s so appealing and then you’ll see somebody else like a brock pie where you go okay but he maybe he’s just better at playing the position maybe he’s just a better football player than all these higher draft picks that have these massive arms and I think that’s kind of what happens with joic is he’s the quarterback that doesn’t kill it at his pro day he’s the quarterback that like doesn’t have all the throws and then you realize like hey how come that guy wins all the time or how come I always trust him more on third down than all these other guys with the big arm and I think that’s always been the problem for him and maybe certainly with some people that are still fighting it but I I mean if it were a matter of you know who who excels at the drills you know we this football’s Learn Basketball yeah he wouldn’t win but let’s start the game throw the ball out let’s go line up let’s play let’s see who can play basketball and he’s a consumate basketball player he he he he and then so that’s that without possessing the raw athleticism of other guys in you know in in in the league and or historically how excited because I want to stay in the west here uh ant ants made me excited in a way that I I don’t I don’t let myself get as excited as I get for aunt and you know this Series has turned who knows of Minnesota get game six at home I there’s no way I’d pick him on the road now in game seven against Denver I think yok just kind of figured this whole thing out which is part of his greatness but with ant I let my mind go places where I don’t let it go how often does that happen for you because you’ve seen everything oh yeah sure well you know you’re inevitably it’s about who does he remind you of cor is at any time in history in any sport right who’s a remind you of if if that’s part of the deal not that’s certainly the way I think you know just for openers and then when you get into that one you have to say no it doesn’t mean I think he’s better or as good as the other guy but it reminds me of a guy okay I I’m on record it’s documented it’s out there that I said on a podcast and I tweeted X excuse me S within a certain 24-hour period roughly two and a half three weeks ago that and the ex said I’m not saying he’s he’s Michael Jordan I’m not saying he’s ever gonna be Michael Jordan but there was a Michael Jordan Swagger to Edward’s game I picked the word swagger I could have said element I could have said uh reme reminders me of you know and I’m sticking with it he and if you’re talking to a young now here in May of of 2024 and trying to explain uh what Michael Jordan was like because they never saw him well I say take Anthony Edwards and Ratchet it up a latch or so and you got that’s what I’m talking about there’s there are Jordan elements to his game and and and and he’s the right you know starting with the size and the body shape and and the range of skill but there are certain EDG a certain you know something J that that that Jordan brought over and above the Raw and I think Edwards has that yeah and we’ll see I mean he’s got a lot of stuff to do but Oh’s 20 he’s only 22 people he’s been around four years remember the world we’re living in he’s a 22 year old fouryear veteran that’s the world we’re living in Larry bir turned 23 in December 7th 1969 his 23rd birthday 79 excuse me so he was a rookie he was 23 and this kid is his four This Guy’s in his fourth year and he’s 22 he’s hardly uncommon that’s the nature of the beast in the NBA St anything that surpris you about Dallas and Oklahoma City um Dallas I there were an interesting X Factor for me entering the playoffs they ended up the season out of off the radar screen playing very well nobody was talking about them playing I don’t know how I discovered oh yeah they’re playing pretty well they were you know and I wondered whether they would be a factor at all and then early on you know I’m I certainly have a healthy respect for what case C is and what with the given the youth Factor you know that they have and and so um but I’m Dallas you know um they they seem to be top heavy because of the the Reliance on donic and and are Irving but they are getting you know surprising contributions uh and and from other people now and they’re I’m a little surprised um that they’re making as as good a show of it as they are and and uh uh so yeah that that one thing I’m a little surprised but that and that’s a very competitive Series where would you have doic do you have him right behind yic do you have people ahead of donic at this point well you know it’s I’d say he’s there the similarities of the way they go about their business uh you know with the with the playing at their pace and nobody nobody gets them off their disturbs their equilibrium at all uh as a rule um donic he’s he’s he’s a tremendous passer he really is he’s a he’s a he’s everything I said about jokic about the the fact that he’s a basketball player without being an overtly Superior athlete is applicable to him too he just happens to be a few inches shorter than jokic but uh they’re very similar and and he’s a top five player at the least that’s that’s for sure and okay so this is this is the lead up here because as I’ve watched Boston this year as I know you have closely we know the resume we know the stats I was in the building last night for game five and it was like a classic Celtics win in these playoffs because you go okay well they should blow this team out you’re like okay wait is this going to be a game and then when it matters they clearly separate and they move on in five is how many teams would you pick let’s let’s keep Minnesota alive let’s keep Oklahoma City alive here as I smash it on my lamp to the side let’s keep all four teams alive which teams would you pick Boston against in the finals if they were to get that far I everybody but Denver anybody but Denver I mean Denver to me they they have to prove themselves that they have that they could beat Denver when it matters that that Denver who has proven that they can Master the the two-minute drill Boston has not proven that they have people worried here about that what a weird playoffs they have they haven’t had a competitive game they they they they they run away or or or they got blown out you know the second game two here uh by 24 I forget what the winning spread was in the in the Miami loss but but basically they won extraord number of games by 20 points but they have people worried here uh Denver has proven that you know it it they can negotiate those last two minutes and do the right thing at both ends of the floor uh we have an open question with Boston there’s a there’s a weariness here uh so some people have profound even skepticism because we have an unfolding history here going back to that Golden State Series where they you know were up and and didn’t get the job done and then last year with Miami was with unsettling to say the least when you know and uh because after what they fall first they fall down 03 and then they lay an egg at home in game seven I mean a bad game uh so they don’t have everyone’s full confidence and they haven’t earned it I’m count me among them I respect the talent they are the most talented raw talent I can’t believe there isn’t a general manager in the league who wouldn’t gleefully trade his entire roster for Boston’s roster and hand him over to his coach and say okay here they are go ahead M you know take them how could they have the best one to five they got the smartest backward not only now I I may have ever seen together with the holiday and the white they’re like two professors out there and um they’ve got they’re the best team won the five six seven eight right down to 10 with Tillman talent but Talent is a start and they have not proven to go back to the the astronaut thing the right stuff that we don’t know that they have the right stuff we know Denver has proven that it has the right stuff but I still think that the talent can overwhelm anybody but Denver okay so that’s interesting you’d pick him against Dallas you’d pick him against OKC you’d pick him against Minnesota I part of me feels like Minnesota Denver is the NBA Finals um I’ve heard that that theory is out there I can understand that yeah I don’t know it’s a lot that’s that’s pretty that’s uh that’s a bold one because you never know I mean the way Dallas is defended here and you’d like to think that they’d at least have options I think I think jokic would destroy OKC in a playoff series I just don’t know what they would do I think Chad would would want to take the summer off after that I mean they could have Jaylen Williams go in there and try to flop Jaylen Williams too a bunch of times but like flopping against joic over seven games like it’s that’s not a strategy there and then against you know Boston I just saw you know the Boston Denver the second matchup you know Denver got him at home um meaning in Boston because that’s kind of how we’re we’re talking locally yeah right and then Tatum has the three in the second game in Denver where it’s like man if he had hit that they may have pulled that off after an awful shooting night from three so you can kind of talk yourself into stuff but I just feel like when you’ve watched enough you know that there’s a gap there’s just a gap between the Tatum Jaylen Brown closing options versus joic and then Murray running around off of him there’s no comparison there’s no comparison in what I would trust more out of the two scenarios well I mean I I will agree with you I already stated that the Denver’s got the right stuff and the Celtics have to prove that they do but I don’t think uh it doesn’t mean sooner or later they may have the Breakthrough you know maybe the Breakthrough is coming but we’d like it’s so funny how Ryan that because people here are dying for a close game just to see you know the to see what they what they do we we haven’t had any opportunity for them to see if they do possess the right stuff anymore you know it’s it’s a hilarious every game is decided at the latest like three minutes ago you know and and then you right you would just find how they they tease people and then they finally put it together in the end and and and win by 15 but it really didn’t feel like they W by 15 so who would you rather have for a game game seven Tatum or Brunson huh uh well Brunson right now that that would have been an unimaginable question you know a year ago and I’m a big I’m a member of the fan club going back to Villanova but I must say he’s overachieved but in my mind much more than I ever dreamed um that’s an interesting one um you know I mean I I I I don’t want to see I think Jason I think we’re hard on Jason who’s he’s a he’s trapped he’s he’s in a an environment in Boston where there’s too many historical comparisons you know starting with you know Russell and hchi and bird and and and cowens and and Etc and U he he has to enter into that that discussion uh I haven’t answered your question yet at 610 you know with a range of skill uh I mean no I’m not gonna I I’ll give him a shot I’ll take I’ll take him just because I’m I’m taking a 610 guy over the 62 guy yeah come playoffs I’d rather have the size but you brought up something with Tatum because I I can’t I can’t come up with the answer yet on this one where it’s like is it is it more difficult on Tatum being in Boston or is it basically the challenges of any player that’s kind of in that six to 12 range because every single fanbase looks at their best player and if he’s not joic Luca SGA right now you know Giannis is still in this group for me you know I I think he he deserves to be mentioned with those four yeah and maybe ant’s creeping along and then you know Tatum’s kind of in that group but look you know I it’s maybe even dismissive of Tatum to already have ant ahead of him after this being really the only time you know look I I think ant going into next year I would rank him higher than Tatum but Tatum’s in that next Group which is an amazing group to be in it’s a great group to be in but you know sometimes this stuff is so simple you’re like okay who’s still alive okay well it’s the team that has two of the top 15 and their one guy is one of the top five and that’s just how this game works and so I don’t know if it’s a Boston specific thing with Tatum having the ghosts of the past haunting him or just the reality of as great as he is if he’s not one of those guys there’s just going to be limitations on what he is and what the team can do I don’t think that his situation is exclusive to Boston but I think it is very much uh heavy it is for real though that there’s I think there’s more pressure on him here than there would be out of context anywhere else uh because of the history and and the expectations and the the te’s you know the the range of skill the te’s that fact that he does possess you know a great technical skill um so yeah but I do think the the inference uh it’s not exclusive there are other places but I really think it I’ve come more and more to think that that uh he’s got a burden to carry here that isn’t fair but that’s just the way it is he’s playing he’s in Boston I don’t think this kind of pressure would exert exist if you were billing a blank maybe maybe New York but or LA but other than that no not at all did you hate teams when you were covering the Celtics during during the the Heyday of it all um I the the Rivalry with the Knicks in the early 70s was very passionate and very visceral for a lot of us uh and yet it was really a mixed but feeling you know how I let me let me the answer is I think probably the Knicks that and that resented we felt that uh you know rules Reed uh set too many moving picks and thought that the busher was too rough and and all that I me tell you a funny story Tommy hunson one day said to John hav John this is in practice he said John the next time Bradley puts two hands on your hips and holds you I want you to take the basketball and smash it into his face to which hav replied but Hawk that was his nickname among the the Boston Community H H doesn’t bother me at all I just had to throw that one in there thinking of those Nick days um you know the 76ers with I didn’t hate him but uh oh I’ll tell you a guy I did hate I this is me Bob Ryan you know I don’t know and I it was a running joke with my friends on Like Larry white side and my colleague that I covered many games with Nick Weatherspoon drove me crazy the spoon and it it it drove me he drove me absolutely crazy I hat it I hated Elvin Hayes I hated Elvin Hayes uh I I I hate Dwight Howard but that’s later um I think I once said that if if I were playing for my life tonight and I’d rather play four on five than have Dwight palard as my center and a big game but um anyway um individuals more than old teams okay so yeah there were there were people but I’m waai I I those days are gone but I did I love that Dwight was the last one and then you then you mellowed out the reason I bring it up though is because I there was such and we’ve talked about this before too there was a real connection when you were on the daily beat and part of that was like building those relationships and whether it’s the 70s Celtics cuz I kind of known some of the Nick stuff where I felt like even some of the people on the coverage like the players would ended up not liking the other guys from the other City’s media and I I’d heard that first with the New York stuff I don’t know if it was the same thing with the Lakers stuff in the 80s but now that would seem absurd from coverage of one City’s team and then the other media just not liking each other but there seemed to be more of a connection probably because the relationships with the players coaches and front offices were just deep and more consistent than they are now totally different world I can’t imagine the world that they live in I’m I’m we we lived in a totally different world I’ll give you an example though of of camaraderie uh when um April 20th 1986 U Michael Jordan erupted for 63 points in that double overtime game which was his true coming out party even though it was the end of his second year but that was the that’s where he he completely showed the world what we’re looking for um s won that game double overtime as you know and that game started at like one o’clock I think on a Sunday and I had so much writing to do we all had so much writing to do because we had the opportunity because it was a Sunday afternoon and and and then the papers wanted Reams a copy and basically when I say we I’d say at least six or eight of us Boston and Chicago we all went out to dinner after the game together in Boston and and and said wow what what we just saw you know and and and uh so that’s the flip side we went out and and and we were a bonding thing you know that we we all loved the game and and and we knew we had just seen something spec historic and spectacular so uh that’s an example I had good relationship with the Nick press in those days I good I so I didn’t I I had no mortal enemies there at all but uh in my time but uh but it was a different world and we did have strong personal relationships with with players and coaches that I doubt exist anymore there was a reason I wanted to ask you about this because you know we started the Pod today talking about the games and then there’s a pattern of when the teams eliminated it’s happened with Phoenix it’s happened with LA I think the Clippers one was before they were actually eliminated but then we had the Cleveland obituary piece with three writers from the athletic that are all really plugged in and this thing was ready to go as soon as they were eliminated it wasn’t Days Later was just okay we’re going to hit send on this thing the the the clock’s at zero and I read it I enjoy it I feel like there is perspective but I also can’t help myself from thinking that it feels a little unfair to just go okay this team that like so many other teams has their struggles we just going to air it all out I don’t think that’s necessarily new I remember back in the days like as soon as the Red Sox would trade somebody the globe would just unload on the guy you know as soon as he was traded because then people were willing to not necessarily go on the record but share more with you what do you think is right in what we deserve to know versus like all the extra stuff that you knew that you’re like you know but I’m not going to share this because it just doesn’t feel right well and developing the relationship with the players and and and over time you’re I I never thought about this until three or four years ago and when I speak into groups and if you’re covering a beat and whether it’s a professional beat or a major college beat you’re a salesperson and this the commodity you’re selling is you and you are selling yourself to the players to the coaching staff to the administrators uh GM and basketball and in college the the player the coach and and the athletic director theoretically and and you’re developing credibility over time and and you do that by your personal interactions things you say and do and the things you show them you know and and and and and you know the the Curiosity you have about everything and you’re the way you write and and and you’re not writing and I don’t believe in the the concept of objectivity or subjectivity it’s fairness that you’re striving for and and you have to be willing to criticize and and and and we want to take it when they when when there’s a push back but if you’re and your honest in your heart you know you’re fair you know then you can live with that um so um where we going oh oh yeah so I I strove to to develop these relationships over over time based on on on on that approach I don’t know what else to say and uh well I actually forgot the question no you you did answer it though um but I I guess to be more specific like say there’s somebody on the team that’s just the wrong guy yeah and the players don’t like him but let’s say contractually like okay go ahead the key when you’re spending all this downtime you know not formal time not with a notebook out you know not with a state recorder out is showing over time you know what’s repeatable and printable and and and reportable and not reportable you have to you have to have an instinct for that and you have to have a common sense for that they don’t have to say okay Bob this is all off the Record you they you just know by inference and definition when it is and when it isn’t and and you better be right but you know if you’re good enough you are right that’s that’s what it that’s where we’re going with this yeah they they have to know you have to know the sure I knew personal things you know that that weren’t relevant to the world but but there were even some judgments about other players and stuff that you know and and sometimes what you would do is you would take something under advisement and you could use it down the road but not right now not in the context of the of the issue that’s going on but down the road you know you can you might be able to make an illusion that you you knew this certain thing or you know this this and and drop it in you have to know how to you know play your cards in that regard this is all part of being good beat person and and uh and and you know you want to earn trust and and and credibility and uh and it’s it’s a job and and and it’s an OJT because there’s no there’s no manual there’s no I was 23 when I started and they handed me the team to cover two days after they hired me full-time as having been an intern and and then having been away and in the Army and I had no preparation no no hadn’t seen an exhibition game hadn’t met the new coach Tom Hinson I had to do everything from scratch day one starting with a two-point game in my first game I covered and I mean it but you know that that was thrown into the deep end of the pool believe me and and and then learn how to swim okay so when you said using it down the road I think that’s really smart because I mean look I’ve never been a reporter I’ve been lucky enough in 20 plus years of being around the league and all the draft stuff to get to know a lot of people okay and some have become friends and we just all love basketball so you know when you’re just bullshitting and I I don’t have the pressure on me of reporter even as I’ve age I’ve gone like you know what like this is really the rewards and all that information you know there may be opinions where I’ll be like I don’t know if that’ll happen or whatever right but I’m I’m not and never have been never aspired to be it’s a brutal brutal tough job it’s even tougher now than it’s ever been before in all honesty but the access to information is what we’re still all excited about so when you think of like something down the road that’s kind of what these pieces are so I’d ask you like would did you ever make a judgment at some point in your career and I’m sure the answer is yes so maybe I’d asked for the story the example of hey every player is just down on this coach and I heard it after game 20 but I I I took it easy and then I heard it from a different guy and it kind of matched what he said and then you ended up kind of knowing that maybe the players were telling you hoping you would use a massive platform like the globe to question or add validity to their questions to maybe stir things up like how would you play that if there’s an example well yeah that’s a good question um you know I I don’t know had that specific I’m as you said I thought about a famous like incident for me and you know with with with a player uh willing against the Hinson and I never used it and people wouldn’t and uh but and and I didn’t bu you know that okay that that would have been I think it would have shocked the world at the time you know and and um so I really would I would believe so yeah I mean that that that he would have player would have said this at the time so can I just interrupt because I’m not gonna ask the players’s name because like I I knew that it was you know going back historically and whatever and then when I was covering them and I got to know him a little bit like there were some really tough years for Tommy as the head coach so you’re basically holding this bus of information especially with the way information moved back then that if you were like you know what I probably could use this but it’s going to destroy Tommy Hinson if this is in this story in the globe like that was what you’re deciding to do that day and you decide not to do it it was no yeah I I just also I thought about it in terms of uh I gotta give that player a break I mean uh you know I got I I don’t want to betray that confidence necessarily right here for this it’s you know I and you know I didn’t want to put him on the defensive I wasn’t as much worried about protecting Hinson as I was about protecting a player in a sense if the word protect is what word talking about yeah these are I I wasn’t ready for it that night you know it was quick judgment it was wow you know it was came out of you know they just lost a game on the road and that that that was a trigger but it was uh it it was funny yeah no these are things you and the whole hson thing with me you know that that had had a big EB and flow and and and and had a crash and and wound up with me and him we we were on the outs uh and I in 1976 in the finals to the point where I stayed a famous story right here I stayed at Paul westfall’s house when we went to Phoenix games three four and six rather than in at the hotel with the team and uh I wasn’t around Hanson at all and U now we patched it up in the end and for 40 years until we passed a couple years ago we were quite friendly but but on the dayto day it it it broke down back then so you’re still picking the Celtics against anybody but Denver if they make it to the NBA finals yeah I mean I’m i’ been you know I’d be a little worried about Minnesota particularly you know I mean uh for sure and and uh you know as far as East is concerned I I am believe me I am shouting to the world what an amazing thing the Knicks are doing that that they’ve lost all these people and they’re still hanging in there and you mentioned a guy one reason why they are of course it’s Brunson is the primary reason frankly but uh they should be able to beat the Knicks regardless I would think or assuming it will be the Nick and it looks like it will be and uh and as far as I think they could handle me I I just think it’s Denver I think they would be able to combat Minnesota or OKC for sure or or Dallas uh if it’s Dallas but I like them I just no they’re they’re tal they’re good and you know people it’s it’s just so funny they have to apologize for winning by 20 because they’re not showing they know how to win by two that’s an odd circumstance I don’t know if this we’ve ever encountered this have you I never encountered this before this this is one of the strangest stories in teams th at all but I have my doubts I doubt you have a right to have a doubt I have my doubt too I’m not giving them my full endorsement I’m giving you know I when they throw the ball up if it is against Denver on an opening night in Boston uh I will pick Denver until you know the Celtics prove they can beat him and when it matters but I’m just saying it’s they have the talent it was never been a once I at it what you know what what a brilliant offseason Brad Stevens had and and that that and I was a little bit skeptical about the reason being I hadn’t seen him in a long time who watches right I remember him in New York standing in the corner shooting jump shots and and and and acting six3 and and then he goes to Dallas and I don’t know what Happ I didn’t know I’ve now heard but what happened in Dallas now he goes to Washington who watches the Wizards I mean now he he scored 23 points a game last year and he posted up much much more regularly than he ever had but who knew I didn’t even know now you know I I see what he’s capable of so um that’s with with him that they are a whole team with him they can beat you in any which way now my big question I said before the playoffs before he even got hurt which was not you know which was predictable was Will Joe Missoula take advantage of his weapon and use him the right way and and and and know that when it’s time to go to plan B and stop chucking the threes and and and and use him as a low poost weapon and and we haven’t had an opportunity to see if that’s going to happen yet I thought porzingis was great with Washington I liked the trade I didn’t like the extension but I think the only way to get the trade done considering he had the option was to give him the extension um because we know the deal with him but when Minnesota was up 20 on Denver and I have a hard time believing they’re going to be able to get two against Denver but I was thinking about the perimeter Defenders against the Jays in the finals like if it were Minnesota and Boston I’m like h i don’t and Minnesota’s offense you know concerns me and now we’re starting to see it again ant’s not getting enough help same thing has happened to SJ and OKC the rest of the guys just aren’t giving him enough help Boston should be able to have a second and third score to give Tatum enough help the way they’re designed and with their spacing but I think those first two game and you know again it’s not very likely now at this point but if there were a Minnesota Boston finals with these groups I think that would have been a weird like wakeup call for the Jays maybe the first game maybe the the second game where you would just go hey this is going to be this is going to be a little different than Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland yeah so uh Hey thank you so much for the time enjoy the rest of the playoffs I always love catching up man your time from the moment we met and how passionate you still are about sports it’s uh it’s just a joy to see all right so thanks all right for me too byebye oh

Ryen Russillo is joined by legendary Boston sportswriter Bob Ryan to talk about Nikola Jokic’s impressive postseason, comparisons made between him Larry Bird, and why he isn’t accepted by all of his peers as the best player in the game. They then talk about the Boston Celtics, who have yet to inspire real confidence as a contender—despite easily making it to the Eastern Conference finals this year.

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