Are the Celtics Better Off Shutting Down Jayson Tatum For The Season?

Are the Celtics Better Off Shutting Down Jayson Tatum For The Season?

For one, this is like maybe the third time I haven’t said I’m not playing this season. Okay. He was kind of looking at us sideways when we So, right. The most important thing is a full recovery being not rushing. Yeah. Don’t rush back at all. Don’t do that. But also, I I don’t go to rehab six days a week for nothing. Okay. But with that being said, with being a part of the organization and the Celtics, there is a standard that we that we play to that we uphold regardless of, you know, who we have in the lineup, who’s on the team, who’s not. There’s a sense of pride that we have when we put that uniform on. And we always are competing to win a championship. Um, and that standard will not change. What’s up everybody? Welcome in. This is Hold My Banner. Ante Campbell, Adam Kaufman. We’re hanging out with you talking nothing but Celtics over the course of the next hour and we will get into of course our team previews. Been doing those for weeks here on the program. Look at some of the contenders in the Eastern Conference. Could the Celtics be one of those? It’d be nice, right? What are we talking about Banner 19? That would be ideal. But look, story of the week is the guy that we just heard from, Jason Tatum, who was uh he he did the car wash. He talked to everybody. Everybody on a national level. Jason Tatum was having conversations that of course with him on First Take ESPN. It’s been 19 weeks since Jason Tatum ruptured that Achilles. Kind of crazy actually that it’s been that long. An ente the playoff loss to the Knicks back in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. It’s been mostly in the Boston area rehabbing it. But as he has said to multiple people, you know, gets drafted in New York, injures himself in New York, has the surgery in New York. Life’s kind of in New York right now. What’ you make of what he said in and what was really the first media tour for Tatum post injury? Yeah. I mean, he did the media tour in New York as well, right? Running around New York getting that done. Um, you know what I took from that is that this dude is going to do what he can to lead this team from afar. He’s going to talk the talk and walk the walk and do the things that he needs to do because it will give the team hope. Right? If you say Jason Tatum, I’m done for the year. It’s like the how we look at the Pacers and we talked about the Pacers last episode and it’s like, all right, this year is kind of a a wash for you guys because you know that your star is already gone for a year and you’re going to fight a little bit, but realistically teams are going to try to take their chances and take their licks at you when they get them, right? When you see that Pacers logo lined up on your on your schedule, you’re going to say, “Oh, yeah. I remember when they were Yeah. when I remember when they were talking smack to us during the playoffs and they were going to do this and they were going to do that and blah blah blah. Well, the Boston Celtics have 18 championships. Way more than everybody else in the NBA. We won’t talk about that team over there in the purple and gold, but way more than everybody else. Not trying to count Minneapolis anyway. It’s that’s not they do that when it’s convenient for them. Please, the Lakers and the Celtics, they’re not at the same level when it comes to that stuff. But, you know, to your point, when it comes to Tatum, I I think he’s he’s making it a point to say all of the right things when it comes to, look, I’m not saying I’m coming back this year, right? I’m also not saying I’m not playing this year. And that’s the big difference between what you’re talking about with Indiana where they have already ruled out Tyrese Hallebert. They know this is a lost season for the Celtics. And this is a Tatum thing. It’s not an organizational thing. to the credit of Brad Stevens, Joe Missoula, all these guys, they’ve said nothing about this. They are completely unwilling to put a timet on it. So for Tatum, it’s it’s trying to keep this thing alive. Whether it’s for him personally, maybe just to have something to chase rather than kind of resting on the laurels of, well, I know I’m not going to play this year. I don’t need to, you know, pedal to the metal, be as kind of uh crazed about this as possible versus having, and he said it, he said, I’m not I’m not going to tell you what I’m thinking. You know, close family, friends, they know, but I have a date in mind, right? Like there’s a date on the calendar, and people are speculating out, well, it’s March 4th. And people, they’re thinking March 4th at home against Charlotte, belated birthday present. His birthday’s the 3rd. It’s going to be the fourth. That’s when he returns. And he did say as much as he said was that I’m going to return at home in Boston in front of the fans whenever it happens. It’s going to be a home game. Now, does he already know the schedule for next week? Because that that that says to me, well, if you open up on the road, buddy, that must be this coming season that you’re coming back. I do think a he wants to come back and he’s pressing to come back. But you look through history here, the fastest, I’m sure you dug into this, the fastest an NBA player has ever returned from ruptured Achilles was, do you know? No. Tell Wesley Matthews. Okay. Back in 2015, 7 and 1/2 months. Yep. He returned in the fall after a March injury. Now, Tatum, let’s do the math here, folks. He ruptured the Achilles May 12th, 2025, underwent surgery the following day. Eight months on would be mid January. Yep. That would be mid if he was looking to, you know, beat science, right? It would be mid January that Jason Tatum could return from that injury. Now he’s been back on the court, he’s been working out, he’s rehabbing six days a week, all this stuff. But I guess ultimately what I’m wondering, what everybody’s wondering, right, what we’re all trying to come up with opinions on is do you buy it? Like, do you think we see Jason Tatum this year? Oh man, I I can’t say that I don’t buy it. Um, do I say that I like it? I don’t I don’t love it to be honest with you. And the reason that I don’t love it is because Jason Tatum is a psycho. Joe Missoula is a psycho. More um the entire Boston Celtics fan base is psychotic as well in a good way. It depends. And I’m Look, I’m one of you. I am one of you. We’re not It’s not always a good thing. And the thing about it is with that comes expectations and pressure. And the first week or the first month, it’s oh my god, thank you for Jason Tatum coming back, right? And then when it’s how it looked for Klay Thompson, shaky, you know what I mean? At times, how it looked for Kevin Durant when he came back early on. Shaky at times. Then it’s, well, Jason Tatum rushed back and he should have worked on his game and D, right? And how does that play into what he does, right? Cuz we know that he wants to win. We know that he wants to do the things that he wants to do for the Boston Celtics. He talked about wanting to come home and give back to the fans. He wants to be that great of a player. So, he’s going to put a pressure on himself to be working out two or three times in the gym every day. He’s going to put pressure on himself to make shots. He’s going to call out his boys and say, “Hey man, come and midnight after a game, before a game, all this other stuff.” And what could that mean for himself? Because we have seen those players who have come back from Achilles tear and then do it again. You know what I’m saying? And I don’t want to see that for him. So, I’m hoping that when he says being 100% is the key for him, that he really and truly means that. But don’t you think I mean at a certain point like with the Patriots, we’ve had this conversation around Christian Gonzalez lately. Same thing except you know you’re talking about an allp pro corner second team versus arguably a top five player in the NBA. Celtics and it’s new ownership now too like you know Bill Chisman company. Bill, hop on the show sometime. We want to talk to you. This group has to maintain its investment and Tatum, you know, you hate to kind of bottom line the thing and and look at people, humans this way, but he’s an investment, you know, for the organization. And so even if he was feeling great, good, I’m ready, let’s go. They’re not going to do it unless the team doctors and everybody on the medical side says, “All right, you are at no risk of a setback.” And remember, setbacks do happen along the way just in rehab in general as well. So even before he gets on the floor, just consider that possibility. But even if everything goes swimmingly through the rehab and he comes back, they’re not going to put him out there until they are convinced. Doesn’t matter how he feels, until they are convinced he’s 110%. But you mentioned Kevin Durant. I’m glad you did because I dug into some some of his numbers earlier because Kevin Durant is the is the poster child for coming back from the rutard achilles. But the thing that we don’t talk about enough, it’s acknowledged, but we don’t talk about it enough is Tatum is what, 27 years old. He’s just entering the prime of his career in NBA years. Kevin Durant when he ruptured the Achilles during the finals for the Warriors before obviously he joined the Nets and he missed that whole first year with the Brooklyn Nets. He was 32 years old coming back from that injury. He’s played five years since. Now he has been an all-star all five of those years, right? second team allNNBA twice, twice top 10 in the MVP vote. He has been excellent. He’s averaged 28.7 rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes per game. The shooting percentages overall from three, from two, free throw percentage, everything, they’ve actually gone up here over the last five compared to the first 12 years of his career when he, you know, pre-ruptured Achilles. What’s interesting though is two-point tries are up. Y free throw attempts are down in the last five. Some of that does come with age, but some of it also is, and he’s highlighted this, and he said he’s talked to Tatum, to Damen Lillard, to guys that have suffered this injury. They’re always calling him for advice, right? He has had to change his game. Yeah. He’s become less explosive. He’s more of a mid-range shooter. He’s not attacking the rim the same way. When Tatum comes back, and again, you got to highlight the age. He’s just 27, be 28, that kind of thing. But when Tatum comes back, is he going to be the same player? Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of the things that you’re talking about with Kevin Durant is a good thing to spotlight. And would you ask me if KD was the same player that he was in OKC? I would say yes the same caliber of player but as you so well devolved into the numbers the ways the way it looks is a little bit different than what it looked in the OKC days or the Warrior days or whatever you want to call it, right? I think the same exact thing here with Jason Tatum and I said that immediately. Are we going to be seeing Tatum dunk on LeBron in game seven of Eastern Conference Finals to try to extend his team to the finals? No, we’re not going to see that Jason Tatum anymore. I think that one’s gone. But I mean, this dude is 6’8. He was already starting to lean into more of a mid-range shooter, more of a three-point shot chucker at times, shot tucker. Um, and he’s kind of gotten into more of a a facilitator role with this Boston Celtics team as they started to lose traditional point guards over the time of his uh tenure here in Boston. So, what I would like to see from Jason Tatum and what I believe I can see from Jason Tatum is that he will be a top 10 NBA player again after this injury. Now, it won’t look the same, but it still will be at the same caliber of player. That’s what I believe at least. So, sorry Bill, sorry Brad, sorry Joe. A’s in charge right now. Let me just paint a picture. Okay, paint it. Mid-March. Yep. Jason Tatum is deemed medically cleared to return to basketball. Yep. You at that point in time, the Boston Celtics are playoff mix. What’s our record? Talk to me. I don’t know about the number, but let’s say you’re fifth, six seed, but you’re real close mathematically to the playin tournament. Those, you know, seven to 10. You’re just you’re you’re a team that you’re not a lottery team. You know, it’s not a tanking situation, but you’re certainly not a contender. And there are going to be people out there say Jason Tatum’s coming back. Why the hell aren’t we a contender all of a sudden? This is a top five top 10 player in the world. Yes. But again, you fear what could come with returning potentially too soon if it’s deemed too soon. So ultimately the question here is if he’s able to come back and it’s mid-March, you got three weeks, a month left in the regular season. Do you want Tatum out there at all or are you just saying look we we’ve got what we’ve got. It’s going to go how it goes. Maybe we win around Jason full year. Just relax. We’ll see you in the fall. Or all right, you know, we’ll we’ll bring you in, but man, playoff games are they’re too important. like they’re not too important, you can’t help us, but too important. They’re they’re too high high intensity and and just high stress and you haven’t played that caliber of basketball in a while. We don’t want to put that on you. Sure, we’ll use you for a couple weeks in the in the regular season, this, you know, kind of playoff push sort of thing. Yeah. But we’re not going to use you then because it’s just putting too much stress on on the leg and all of that. Yeah. Is that how you would handle it or do you say if you’re eligible to go, you’re eligible to go. You’re full go. So, let me put it to you this way, Adam. When I was in college, my junior regular junior year of college, I missed the first five games due to due to an injury or whatever, and I was, you know, brought back into the fold with the team after missing time. My first time being at the University of Texas, El Paso, right? So, my first year being around these teammates, a lot of guys that I’ve never heard of before, seen before, have played any basketball before, right, with are on the team. Now, Jason Tatum will be kind of going into a similar situation because this Boston Celtics team looks a lot different. It sure does than the one that he played for the last time he played the game and will so especially during that timeline that you’re talking about after the trade deadline. What will happen with the Anthony Simons? What will happen with a Jaylen Brown? would have paid to put would have Sam Ver all of the questions right and then you have these guys who are on the one-year deals the Luca Garzas the Josh Min what what will they be what will their contributions be right Chris Bush what will his contribution be I want to be able to see what these guys are with the best player on the team now I wasn’t the best player on the team at the time I can tell you that listen I was a starter do the do the old Brian Scalabbrini like in 10 years I’m going to tell my kids I was finals MVP P, you could do the same thing. People aren’t looking up the stats. I wasn’t the best player on the team. I was just a starter, another guy on the team. But having Jason Tatum there and seeing what he looks like in those rotations with the Luca Garzo, with the Chris Bush, with the Josh Josh, with maybe Anthony Simons, if they want to try to see if they can bring him back or extend him or whatever they want to do with that contract. I want to know what that looks like with a full year of Jason Tatum. So, I need to get a just a taste. just a little taste of it. Okay. During the end of the regular season, if he’s available, y and then in the playoffs, I think the entire time if we do get Jason Tatum back for this year, he should be on a minutes restriction. So, if he is on a minutes restriction and I can get a little view of what that possibility can look like for us in 2627, I’m all in. So, like you said, I mean, it’s not a contender. team’s not actively tanking either. Just to sort of remind people where they’re at, you know, and and I think the ownership change has played into this and avoiding the second apron and all of that hell. They’re as we sit here right now, they’re only four million bucks on top of the first apron. They could dip below that if they wanted to in theory depending on any potential moves. But, you know, you’ve Drew Holidayiday and Chris Porzingis and Al Horford and Luke Cornett and you know, guys, key rotation players last year, they were all gone. You mentioned obviously a lot of the new names, but it’s not just this year because independent of what happens with Tatum, I think most people would agree even if you get Jason Tatum back at some point this year and he’s available to you in the playoffs, you’re still in all likelihood not a contender. And that’s simply because one, he’s coming off the injury and two, the rest of the roster around it isn’t a contending roster, right? And so you start to think ahead to all right, what’s 26 27 look like? guys that are currently, not to say moves couldn’t be made, but guys that are currently on the books, Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derek White, uh Sam Hower, Pton Pritchard, Luca Garza. Then you have Anthony Simons if he’s still here at that point as an unrestricted free agent. So is Xavier Tilman. So is Chris Boucher. Club options for a couple of young guys, Baylor Shyman, Jordan Walsh as well. And because this is not, you got to remind yourself like we all like to get excited around the start of free agency and everything, but this isn’t Al Horford, this isn’t Gordon Hayward, this isn’t, you know, they don’t have money, right? They they can’t go out and they don’t with the way the cap is structured and everything and the way they’re built. If they want to modify and change on the fly and improve their team, they’re going to have to do that largely via trade or hitting on some of these young guys, these draft picks and and you know, like the Thunder of late, like your young guys got to grow and and and be good. You know, you need a Jaylen Williams to kind of come out of nowhere type of situation. And so to that end, you know, as as as we look ahead, what’s what do you think Boston’s priority is? Is internally Jason Tatum’s status, even the most important question to them or as you kind of alluded to, is it actually it’s not about the championship, it’s not about the lottery, it’s about seeing what we have on this roster that can help us with banner 19, right? I think that’s exactly what their priority is. is they want to figure out what they can do this year that can help them in position for the years to come because we like we said this year is fickle. There’s a lot of things out there in the west that are going on. The Rockets are doing what they’re doing. The Thunder, the Nuggets, there’s a couple of teams over there that really want to win the championship, you know what I mean? And have a really good chance at doing so. With the Boston Celtics, this year is kind of a tossup. They’re not even sure who they are going to be. They’re not sure if they’re going to be a top 10 team in the East or a bottom 15 six, you know what I mean? At the bottom five of the of the East, the bottom six. They have no idea who they’re going to be. So, this year they’re trying to figure out what they have for next year. And that should be their their main focus. My main focus for the Boston Celtics this year is I think they should be bad. And I’ve said it before, I hate deliberately deliberately ML cars walking through that door. I hate NBA purgatory. That’s what I call it. When you’re good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to win the NBA championship, it’s the worst. You don’t want to be that perennial 78 seed that you can be. It’s the you’re the Pacers. No offense to the Pacers. They made it to the NBA finals last year. I don’t think anybody thought that they were going to win that. They took them to seven. They surprised all of us, but they’re the team every single year that we know we can line up and say, “Oh, yeah, that’s a playoff team.” But are they actually going to win the NBA championship? No. You do not want to be that team if you’re the Boston Celtics. So, I would love to see them get into the lottery, especially with what we just saw occur for the Dallas Mavericks for them going all the way from the 10th pick or whatever 14th pick that they had all the way up to one to go get a generational talent in Cooper Flag. Maybe with some help, the 1.2% chance or whatever of getting Cooper flag Nico Harrison, this was the plan all along. And look, please, the NBA has done a lot of bad things to the Boston Celtics. I think it would be the first time in a very long time when they thought they were going to get Tim Duncan and they didn’t get him. Now they have an opportunity to go get a kid from Massachusetts or a kid a point guard their future point guard in Darren Peterson from Kansas. You know, shout out to AJ Deansa and play in Boston Celtics Green for the first time. The Boston Celtics can get their hometown guy and everyone’s happy. For years, we have spent time, all of us who love to watch Rudon talk about the Celtics. It’s, you know, prior to Banner 18, it was all the can Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown coexist. Yep. Do they need their own teams? And I was one of the ones, you know, beating my fists on the table say like, give them a chance. Like these guys have shown they can win together. like it’s it’s going to h I felt the banner 18 two years ago was so special to me because I I just felt vindicated like see I told you I told you it could happen you wouldn’t listen I told you but here’s the thing now Tatum is out indefinitely again maybe he misses the whole year maybe he misses several months whatever he is out for an extended period of time a time like we have never seen before because he is historically so durable it is now all due respect Eric White Jaylen Brown’s team. Yeah. And so now we’re going to see what Jaylen Brown number one night looks like, provided he can stay healthy, obviously. And so, you know, do we believe that like I mean, how much pressure falls upon Brown to lift this team to a place that exceeds people’s expectations? Yeah. And he’s is he up for it? Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of pressure on Jaylen Brown, obviously, to show that he’s a 1A. Everyone’s been questioning whether he could be that 1A. And the only time that we really got to see him without Jason Tatum was last year in game five and six or five of that fin of that um appearance against the Knicks and then when he was a rookie. That’s the only times that we’ve seen him in an NBA jersey without Jason Tatana, right? Which I feel like is not a fair assessment. This year he’s coming in hopefully healthy in the training camp. I’ve seen him jumping off walls and flying around the country and doing all different types of things. So he looks healthy. He’s over at the Walk of Fame with Bill Nye. There you go. So, he looks healthy. So, hopefully he’s healthy and he comes in and he has the right mindset. Now, I know ESPN has been talking about, you know, rankings and ratings and putting him around where they think that he should be and all this other stuff, and we’re going to get into that after the break. So, I don’t want to spoil too much about what I think Jaylen Brown is going to do or what he should be doing this year, but I think we’re in for a good year out of this guy. I think the guy that is in some ways under scrutiny is not the right word, but I think any Celtics fan, true Celtics fan, not just the casual viewer that pops on from time to time. Oh, how’s it going? Oh, they won tonight. Cool. No, the people that really care. I I think there are a lot of people that want to see what we get out of Joe Missoula this year. Yes. Now, Missoula has multiple years left on his contract. He had multiple years left on his contract even before he signed the extension. So, he is not going anywhere. Brad Stevens loves him. He loves Brad. They’re on the same page. When changes like this happen, you think like Mike Malone in Denver. Yeah. When when changes like that happen, it’s because at a certain point, either one, you are vastly underachieving, or two, your front office and your coach are clashing. Yep. These two things are not happening. And even if the Celtics win, heaven forbid, 15 games this year, Joe’s not going anywhere because it’s not going to be viewed as on Joe because there’s no Tatum, right? Still, I think this is an opportunity, a to I don’t know, kind of he doesn’t have to reinvent himself, per se, but he needs to think outside the box and experiment and have some fun and not just be, you know, the the three-point killer whale offense that we’ve been watching for the last couple of years because now with so much personnel turnover plus being absentatum, they’re just not built that way anymore. So this is I I I think I mean Joe seems to be the kind of guy I don’t know him personally but he seems to be the kind of guy that that revels in these challenges that gets excited about these moments that fantasizes about this opportunity. Well you’re up Joe like it’s it’s showtime. So how do you think the Celtics wind up playing differently this year under Missoula? That’s a good question. I think this team one is going to lean into their defensive identity. I think he’s gonna he doesn’t have the personnel. We know that like as you just said, he doesn’t have the personnel. But I think this team is going to give you energy and effort every single night. I think what we saw from that last game or the second to last game, the game where the Luke Cornet game as many many like to call it, the last game that the Celtics played in TD Garden last year, they played inspired. They played with energy. They played with effort. They played with the Boston Celtics pride, the Boston way, the right way, whatever you want to say it is. They did all of those things in that game, right? because they went out there, like you said, Jaylen Brown reinvented himself a little bit and, you know, played a full game, rebounding, defense, making shots, facilitating, whatever you needed. I think you’re going to get that night in and night out from this Boston Celtics team. And they’re going to play inspired for their psychotic head coach that we talked about a little bit earlier. And from there, you’re going to get a team that doesn’t shoot the three as much as we have come to see just because we don’t have the stretch fives that you’ve had of late with the Boston Celtics or any bigs at all other than Buchet. Sorry. I It’s true. This is the worst. There are G-League teams that have better front courts than what the Boston Celtics have entering this year. I won’t say that. I like Buché. I love Buché. You know what I’m saying? I think that he can come in here and do a lot of good things, but you know, Adam, that is your opinion. But look, when we come back, we’re going to talk about this ESPN top 100 list that we have from the Boston Celtics player, Peyton Pritchard, uh, Derek White, Jaylen Brown. Did they all get snubbed a little bit or disrespected? We’re going to talk about it when we come back here on Hold My Banner. Nessa Nation, we are back on hold my banner. You see the tweet on your screen. ESPN put out the second part of the top 100 players list. Have Jaylen Brown 19th in the NBA. Derek White 26th. You know, I pulled up the list, and uh you know, starts obviously goes in descending order. So, it starts right away at 50. Oh, Chris Porzingis. Oh, wait a minute. He’s a Hawk, but he’s ranked 50th in case you’re curious. The movement though with no Jason Tatum seemingly for the whole year at least for now he’s not on the list we know that much Jaylen Brown has actually dropped yeartoear from 14 to 19 while Derek White has climbed from 39 to 26 I want to get to White but first with Brown I think intuitively most people would say well there’s no Jason Tatum so Jaylen if you wanted to call him a 1B well he’s a 1A now so how exactly in the scope of the top 100 ESPN. Did he go down in the rankings by losing Jason Tatum? Doesn’t that mean more shots, more points, more opportunity, more minutes, all this stuff? How did you interpret it? I projected it as they were looking towards the future, which is this list, them projecting by at the end of the season who’s going to be where. And I think they are saying what a lot of people are saying is that the Boston Celtics are not going to be a very good basketball team. And because they think that the the narrative surrounding Jaylen Brown will be a little bit lower than what we expect here in Boston. Good play or bad team? Good play or bad team. Now, is he better than Jimmy Butler right now today? I think so. Is he better than Palo Ban Carol right now today? I would say so as well. Yeah. Two guys that are in front of him 1817. Devin Booker 16. Don Mitchell 15. Anthony Davis 14. 100%. Give you the 14 to 19 where he was. A lot of guys who didn’t win. Yeah, a lot of guys who have been, you know, one, two, blah, blah, blah, on teams that we thought pegged as contenders, whatever you want to call it, and didn’t get it done. But guess who did get it done? Jaylen Brown. You know what I mean? He always shows up. Like your good old trusty friend that comes up to your door every day, knocking, asking your mom if you can come ride bikes. He always shows up. You know what I’m saying? So, I love the fact that they’re pegging Jaylen Brown as 19 because you know what I love about Jaylen Brown is he’s petty. He’s petty just like me a little bit and he takes notes and he says, “Oh, ESPN, you want to say that I’m the 19th best player in the league when I have this long list of accolades? Great. Guess what I’m going to do to you? I’m going to come in and hopefully average 26, seven a game and get eight rebounds a game and six assists a game and oh, look at that. Jaylen Brown is in top 10 NBA MVP finalist award at the end of the year and I’m like wow look at this dude. You told me that he was the 19th best and there’s not not 10 dudes who are better than this kid. He might hang on to some stuff a little too long. I’m not sure he still needs to after being the highest paid player in the NBA briefly. He doesn’t need to still hang on to Yeah, but the fans booed me on draft night. Like you’re right. All right, you’ve won a championship. People love you. Relax. Just a just a smidge there. The Derek White thing though. Yes, I think is interesting. I think is predictable and I think is accurate, which is him rising from 39 to 26. Now, you could take this and say, what is that? You know, what what what should we read into that from in terms of him growing as a player and his personal development and all of those things, maybe you view it differently. The way that I look at it very simply is if you have watched a moment of Celtics basketball when either Tatum or Brown were out and White elevated to become the number two, you saw that the responsibility increased exponentially. Yes. All of a sudden Derek White like he’s he’s elevated. He’s become your second scoring option generally speaking. So, the fact that he has climbed in the rankings, you know, to just outside of the top 25 makes perfect sense to me. He should I don’t know that he will, but he should average 20 points a games this year. Yes, I I agree. I think that he should be in the all-star conversation by the time we get to January when that happens or February when that happens. Um, my thing is I think we need to slow down just a tad. Just a tad on the Derek White thing. He’s going to talk about this on his podcast. I I love Derek White and I hope that he talks about it on the podcast. I hope that he comes and joins us. Yeah, we’ll we’ll crossromote White and always hop on with us. Man, here’s the thing about Derek White. High level high level high level role player. Like you said, elevates in those moments. But just like with Peyton Pritchard, everyone’s real quiet when he has the nights where he’s freaking one for 17, you know what I mean? Everyone’s real quiet when he has six points, you know, and no one says anything about it, and that’s great. But if you’re talking about a top 25 guy in the in this league with the talent that we have spread around this league right now, like those dudes are I’m at least getting double figures every single night. Yeah, Derek White has to do that. We’ve seen him shy away and go away for quarters, halves, games. weeks, sometimes even a month at the at some point earlier in this season. Yeah. Last year there was a month where I was like, “All right, Derek White, like we we got Tato, we got Brown, we got KP commercials. We need you to back on the court, but we need we need you hooping.” Luckily, you got five, six, seven dudes at the time who are fringe allstar level players, right? But this year, they don’t have it. He can’t hide anymore, right? So, I just want to slow down a little bit on the Derrick White push. I hope that he can be a fringe all-star guy. I believe that he could be that guy, but you know, when we’re getting in the top 25 NBA players, I think we’re doing a little too much. A guy who is not yet in the top 25, give it time, our pal Pton Pritchard. He has, however, cracked the top 100 for the first time in his career. Obviously ESPN has watched some highlight reels of these, you know, Pro Ram Pritchard games where he’s putting up 80 plus points on the gym. Bunch of just, you know, against bunch of people that that play like me basically. He’s killing it. He’s out there killing it. So Pritchard, you know, during the championship year a couple years ago, all those last second heaves and the buzzer beaters and all that like I used to refer to Pritchard as, you know, like a special NFL special teams player. like you come in just just for a certain purpose. Obviously last year we saw him really emerge into a more pivotal role, sixman of the year and you know a consistent contributor, leader of the second unit, all of these things. Is it right, you know, for for him to now be viewed as a top 100 player in the NBA and and honestly, have we even scratched the surface of what his ceiling is? Yeah, I I think it’s definitely a good thing that he’s a top 100 player and I think it is right to put him in that list because he’s earned it. He’s snatched it. He’s taken it. Whatever adjective you want to describe or verb that you want to take to use to describe what Peyton Pritchard has done over the last two or three years in a Boston Celtics jersey. He has been phenomenal. Look, Peyton Pritchard has not hit his ceiling yet. We’re going to see what his ceiling is this year when he’s starting point guard for the Boston Celtics. We’re going to see you convinced of that. I I’m I’m convinced. I don’t think that’s a lock. You don’t think that’s a lock? No. I think that it’s going to be one of those things that I’ve told George I think last episode or maybe two episodes ago, we talked about it and I said, you know, at the beginning of the season, that’s a lock. He will be the starter. I think as the es and flows of the Peyton Pritchard experience goes, because there are going to be the nights where he is going to go out there and he has to play the Cleveland Cavaliers, the guard 6, seven Lonzo ball. And you’re taking it the other way. I don’t think it’s a knock on Pritchard so much as Joe really likes him running the second unit. Yeah. Providing that spark plug Eddie House microwave offense off the bench. Yeah, but who’s to say Anthony Simons can’t be that same guy? He’s He might be a better scorer than Peyton Pritchard is. I mean, I’ve seen him do it in starting minutes, you know what I mean, before. Once again, good player, bad team. You get no defense out of him, though. You do get no defense out of him. But with Pritchard, you get the effort and the energy on the defensive end, but there’s still the deficiencies. Guys are shooting over him. The strength, people are putting them in the pick and rolls. Everybody’s switching. You know, this Boston Celtics team is going to switch as much as possible, too. And when he’s switching on the wings like a Paulo Beno or, you know, the other premier wings in this Eastern Conference, it’s going to get a little scary out there on that island. I’m just being honest with you. So, there is going to be the deficiencies that happen there. How much can Peyton Pritchard really play on a night in night in bas night in night out basis for this Boston Celtics team especially with a coach who’s defensively minded like a Joe Missoula? Do we think the rankings are a good barometer for for Boston’s performance and what’s going to happen this year or do you think it’s just kind of highlighting three good players and not necessarily acknowledging the team’s overall promise? I think we are getting a little bit of a good barometer. I will say I feel like this list is disrespecting cuz once again it’s a projection of what they think is going to happen during this season of who Anthony Simons is as far as we talked about you talked about the deficiencies on defense but him playing in this Joe Missoula system he one of the best pick and roll guards in the league. I mean, the way he reads pick and rolls, the way he can facilitate. I know he didn’t facilitate that well with Well, look where he was, right? With the Portland Trailblazers, but they didn’t really have the offensive firepower. Defensively, that team is on its way. Offensively, they’re still trying to make some strides, right, with this Boston Celtics team. Having a Jaylen Brown, having a Derek White beside him, having a Sam Hower, even a Peyton Pritchard. Maybe at times we’ll see lineups with that together. he will be able to kick and make those dudes better players, but the the way he can shoot it and the the things that he can do, it’s a lot like what you saw of a young Damen Lillard out there in Portland. So, I do think that this is a guy that we’ll look at at the end of the year as a top 100 guy. Um, but yes, the Boston Celtics do have some work to do, which this list obviously highlighted. Let me quickly read you ESPN’s top 10 reverse order starting at 10 for those of you at home. Jaylen Brunson obviously of the Knicks. Kevin Durant now a Houston rocket. Rocket if anybody missed that. LeBron James still in the top 10. Guy’s going to play forever. Steph Curry at number seven. Anthony Edwards at six. Now you’re top five. Yeah. Victor Webmanyama. Jiannis Intento. He’s got nothing around him. Yeah. Luca Donuch reminder a Laker. Shay Gildris Alexander the former reigning MVP and champion. And then still the best in the world in my mind as well, Nicole Joic of the Denver Nuggets. My question for you is if we were sitting here talking about a healthy Jason Tatum, this injury back in in May never happens. Well, where’s he slot in? Four. Four. Four. I think he’s the fourth best player in the NBA right now. I don’t I don’t think anybody should be questioning that. If he was healthy, that’s where he was going into the MVP conversation. That’s who he is. That’s who he’s always been. Is he better than Aay? Is he better than a Jokic? Is he better than a Luca Donic? Well, night to night, any of these guys can be better than the other ones. Exactly. But overall, overall, I think he’s the third best player. I fourth best player. I would not put Luca in the top three conversation. Just this is once again a projected list. what they think is going to happen with LeBron, you know, maybe sunsetting after this year or whatever, maybe Luca taking over the reigns, maybe the Lakers leaning a little bit more into Luca, which they hadn’t done obviously in a short season for him being a Los Angeles Lakers last year. Um, but I think it goes, SGA, Giannis, then Jason Tatum. That I think that’s the pecking order. But once again, I think SCA is a product of his of his environment. I don’t know if he’s necessarily better than Tatum. That’s really kind of where the conversation starts. Is Tatum the second best, third best, fourth best? He’s in that range, but no lower than four. Top five player. Yes. Good enough for me. I’ll take it. Boston Celtics have uh made a change this coming season. It’s not just for their roster where they’ve made several. They have uh sent out a video, tweeted a video of their new city edition jerseys. You can see the video on your screen right there. Pictures, all of it. One thing that is glaringly obvious here to all of us that are watching, sitting, hold my banner, no green. There’s no green in this jersey, Aante. And if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time the Celtics have ever in their history had a jersey that does not have any green in it whatsoever. How do you feel about it? Cuz I the the reactions have been I think more positive than not. Yes. Other than some of the even Travis on his way out the door earlier around here is going no green in this. How is there no green on this jersey? How do you feel about this jersey? Would you be happy wearing this out on the floor? Okay, let me say this before I tell you how I feel. All right, I have to ingrain you into the whole My Banner family. So, Travis, George, Casey, Adam Pellerin, they’ve all been on the show as host. They’ve all been a part of what I like to call wicket or kick it. And it’s where we always make fun of NBA fashion. And Travis and I always, you can imagine the jokes that me and him have together. Um, and we rate how we feel about outfits, jerseys, whatever time to time. So, this is a little tiny microcosm of what Wicked or Kick It will be like. So, we usually show the jersey. So, I’ll show the jersey one more time for the people at home who want to see it. Here’s the jersey. And you’re asking me how I feel about it. Now, Adam, I absolutely love these jerseys. This has to be the best city edition jersey since Nike’s taking over for the Boston Celtics. I would agree with that. This has no green, which I do not personally like. I wish they did have, you know, they have the black striping on the side or the piping on the side. You can barely see it, but um I would love to see just a little splash of green with that piping instead, right? That would be a little bit better. But the reason that I do really like this jersey is because you say it’s the Jaylen Brown team. It’s a Jaylen Brown year, but this kind of look like Colorado jerseys. Colorado Buffs jersey. So they’re walking through that door. We’re we’re leading them with a little Derek White jersey. I love it. So I’m I I will give you a wicked rating out of this. And then I’ll tell you that I think these are probably like a 8.9 out of 10 for me. On the wicked scale. On the wicked scale. All right. I mean I’ll this is where I talk out of both sides of my mouth here. If I am just evaluating the jersey like any other jersey, then I will say sure, nothing wrong with your ranking. It’s a It’s a nice jersey. It’s a crisp, smooth, classy jersey. It’s clean. Looks good. Yeah. I also think it’s wholly unnecessary. Yes. And I And I think capitalism, Adam. Capitalism. You got to have a new jersey every year. Freaking money grabs from the league and these organizations and like this because Yeah. People will buy them cuz it’s a nice jersey. You’re going to see these in the stands. You’re going to see these hanging at the pro shop. If you’re going to custom people are going to put their own damn names on the back of these things. No, just it’s it’s not an ugly jersey. It is an unnecessary jersey. It does not need to exist. White, green. That’s I don’t even need I don’t need the black one. White, green, that’s it. Tradition. You don’t need alt jerseys and city connect jerseys and all city edition and all the like No, I don’t I don’t need it. I just don’t need it. Again, looks nice. clean jersey. I just I’ll put my money elsewhere. You know what I’ll do with my money? I’ll get a white or a green one. That’s what I’ll do. I don’t need to own that. Oh man, Adam Kaufman. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re not we’re not done. We’re not done here on Hold My Banner Destination. Go nowhere. We’re going to come on back. We’re going to get into some previews across the Eastern Conference. the team that everyone in their mother says they’re is going to win, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the one that nobody says is going to win despite it having the talent, the Philadelphia Sixers. We’ll be back. Back on hold my banner and you see the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team everyone thinks will win the East Days until more celebrations. 29 let them know if you’re a stickler for accuracy. You see the time stamp? It’s actually 27 days now. It’s okay. That’s all right. Back with Dante Adams. So, the Cavs, they have the second best title odds in the NBA at plus 650. Trails the champion Thunder plus 220 ahead well ahead of the Knicks at plus 950. And then the Magic in the East at 18 to1. Overunder for this team. 56 and a half wins. Now, as we know, this is a Cavaliers team that fell in the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the second straight year after going 64-8, two wins shy of their franchise record. You out there listening, LeBron? Now, eighth most points in NBA history. They were an offensive juggernaut last year. Swept the Heat easily, effortlessly in the first round. Then they lose to the Pacers, who, as we know, make it all the way to the NBA finals. Mhm. Uh Don Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, all allstars. Jared Allen, consistent contributor. First full season now for DeAndre Hunter. Evan Mobley, defensive player of the year last season coming off a career year. Kenny Atkinson, he was the coach of the year last year. Some movement up and down the lineup, which we’ll get into a little bit, but what is your outlook for this team running it back off of what we saw last year? Um, I mean, it’s there’s the loose. I believe they have the most continuity that you want. They went and filled some of the holes that they had last year. I think that uh Ty Derum was a good guy for them last year. Obviously second and six man of the year votes, but once you got to the playoffs, a lot like Peyton Pritchard, you couldn’t play him because of the defensive deficiencies that you brought up with Peyton Pritchard. Um here’s the thing. This team has their coach. They have the star. They have the second star. They have the role players. But can they stay healthy? Which is the question. And can they not fizzle out? Because last year everyone was like, “Oh, they’re going to do it. They’re they’re finally here. They’re there. And then they fizzled out. I look at them like how I look at the Milwaukee Brewers in the MLB playoffs this year.” Like, “Yeah, you’re one of the better teams in baseball right now. You’re hot and you’re winning and you’re doing all these things now. Prove it. Now prove it. Exactly. So with the Cleveland Cavaliers, we can talk all day about whether Evan Moley is going to be an all-star and if Donovan Mitchell is ready to carry a team and if Darius Garland can finally stay healthy even though he’s not going to be healthy to start the start the season. If Lonzo Ball is a good addition and all these other questions. But my biggest question is can you finally get to the finals? And I just Finals finals or East Finals? No, finals. That’s the That’s the floor for them. Like, they should be looking at their team and say, “It’s finals or nothing. We have to get there. And if we get there, we’re cool. If we’re not, blow it up.” Something has to change because doing this year in and year out. And being the team that’s good enough to, like you said, make it to the second round of the playoffs and not make it to the Eastern Conference final and get waxed in the seven game series. and oh the lights are too bright for Jared Allen and oh Donovan Mitchell needs help and blah blah. I’m tired of hearing about that. You finally got the coach. You told me it was a coach two years ago. You get Kenny Ason. Now he’s been there. He didn’t do anything different in the playoffs. Can he get this team to the heights that they want to reach? Can they do the things with before LeBron James and when LeBron James was here? I’m tired of all of it, Adam. I’m pissed, as you can see, because I want this team to do what they say they’re going to do and go out there and be a true contender. Get out of purgatory. Listen, this year’s Celtics without Jason Tatum could make it to the second round of the playoffs, right? You if if you’re built the way the Cavs are built, and I know like you said, early injuries, Darius Garland’s recovering from toe surgery. Max Drew, he had foot surgery. He’s going to miss the first month. Lonzo Ball can never stay healthy, but he’s on this team now. I mean, what is ultimately what does blowing it up look like? You know, you got to point fingers at somebody. Is it Donovan Mitchell? Is you know, you point at the best Usually you’re pointing at the coach if it doesn’t work out or you’re pointing at the best player if it doesn’t work out. And like you said, and I agree with you. I think they’ve got the coach. So, is it the player? Right. I here’s what I know about this current NBA scape that we live in. Unless you have the center who’s generational in Nicola Joic, the point guard who’s generational in Steph Curry, guards and bigs help, but they don’t win you championships. Yeah, you need a top five small forward in the league to go and do it. Jason, Jason Tatum. And even when you look back to last year and you say, “Okay, yeah, Shay Shay won it. He’s, you know, he was the finals MVP and all this other stuff.” They don’t get there without Jaylen W without u yeah Jaylen Williams, right? They don’t get there without him. Him putting up those 40point performances throughout the playoffs for them. He was really the guy that was the engine that kept them moving. When he played well, they won. When he didn’t play well, they were just average. You know what I’m saying? So, I I would say yeah, get rid of Donovan Mitchell. And the reason that I would say yes for Donovan Mitchell is only because he is older than Evan Moley. Evan Mobley looks like he’s finally ascending to be a perennial all-star. Maybe one day in MVP conversations. You need that kind of versatile guy who can get guard out on the perimeter, shoot it out on the perimeter, but also bang with the bigs. Now, take that Donov Mitchell money and find your way to go get a top wing in this league. If you can do that, the the Cavaliers ceiling is as high as they want it to be. Well, if Joel Embiid’s waiting for us to put some respect on his name, he’s probably watching the wrong show. But we’re going to come back. We’re going to talk about the Philadelphia 76ers. Are they contenders? They’d like us to believe so, but can they stay healthy? We’ll be back on Hold My Banner. Back on Hold My Banner. What What is this? This the Sixers classic edition camcorder content. Look, let’s get to the stuff that matters. Krypto uh Sixers have the sixth best odds to win the East on at 15 to1. That’s behind the Cavaliers, the Knicks, the Magic, the Hawks, the Pistons, over under 42 and a half wins, which is perfectly mediocre. We’re talking about a team that maybe could go over 500, which sounds nuts when you think about Joel Embiid and Paul George and Tyrese Maxi and you know Kyle Lowry and uh Kelly Jared McCain, VJ Edgecomb, maybe Quentyn Grimes. How do they find a way to disappoint people this year? Uh by Embiid not playing back to backs because I think they have the most backtobacks in the league cuz the league Adam Silver was like we hate you. Yeah. How much for the There’s no MVP recognition there. You’re out. Yeah, you only miss so many games, Joel. And you know what can make them happy is they have to be healthy, right? Obviously, Embiid is Embiid. I’ve given up on him being healthy. I think you’ve given up. Philly has given up on him being healthy. If he can give you 40 games, great. Tyresese Maxi has to stay healthy. Jared McCain was on fire before he had a season injury injury last year. And Paul George has to stay healthy enough to be a meaningful player in this league. Can he be 51 million? No, he’s not going to be that guy. But can he play at a 25 million level at least? That would be great. If they can get those things, they can have some flashy plays. They have the athleticism to make some flashy plays. They have the talent. They have the spark. And then they can be a team that sits around the six or seven seed. And the Philly can say, “Hey, we’re going to go beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in round one.” And they won’t. and then we can all go home. Everybody, does that sound fair? Everybody’s whining about Kawhi Leonard and his no-show job. Joel Embiid’s had a no-show job for years in Philadelphia and still will. Still will. Still will. No, you’re right. Look, they’ve got the talent. It’s just nobody believes this team has the ability to stay healthy across the board. Joel Embiid missed what 63 games last year. Paul George 41, Maxi 30. Right. Goodness gracious. Anyway, throughout this off season, I know training camp for the Celtics begins on Monday, it’s coming. You know, we’re going to hear from ownership later. There’s a a lot of good actual real news and best shape of our life season is upon us in the NBA season is coming. This has been a lot of fun. We’re just getting started here. Yeah, we are. I can’t wait to see you for the rest of the month. That’s right. Let’s do it. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Nessen Nation, check us out. Obviously 100 p.m. Eastern, full hour. It’s a blast. Lot more coming your way. Fonte Campbell, Adam Kaufman. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes and you out there. We’ll see you. Peace.

Jayson Tatum is out indefinitely, but should he even return this season if the Celtics stay in the hunt? Adam and Ountae break down the risks of a comeback, what his absence means for the team’s identity, and whether Boston is quietly heading toward a reset. They also react to ESPN’s Top 100 rankings, including Jaylen Brown’s drop, Derrick White’s rise, and Payton Pritchard’s surprising leap. Plus, first impressions of the Celtics’ new City Edition jersey and full previews of the Cavaliers and 76ers as the East takes shape.

All that and more on this week’s episode of Hold My Banner, hosted by Adam Kaufman & Ountae Campbell.

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00:00 Should Jayson Tatum Return To The Celtics This Season?
25:37 Celtics In ESPN’s NBA Rank Top 100
42:30 NBA Preview – Central Division – Cleveland Cavaliers
48:36 NBA Preview – Atlantic Division – Philadelphia 76ers