The Boston Celtics Are Officially In Unfamiliar Territory

The Boston Celtics Are Officially In Unfamiliar Territory

What is up fellow hikos? I’m Dan Valley coming at you with our second to last 2025 2026 NBA season look ahead. We are at long last on to the Boston Celtics which means I get to be joined by Bobby Manning covers the team for CLNS. Be sure to check out the Garden Report. They go live after every Celtics game. Good stuff over there. Follow him on the socials machine. Real Bob Manning spelled exactly as it sounds. It’s also in our YouTube link and our podcast description. Bobby, you’re back for year three. I appreciate you doing this for a third consecutive year. How the heck are you doing? Good. Yeah, you said year three. I’m like, wait, this is year six for me covering the team on the ground here, I want to say, or six of the garden report as we’ve been doing it. Um, for sure. So, you know, time’s flown here a little bit, which is which is crazy. But, um, this team’s in an interesting spot. Gap year, transition year, whatever you want to call it. Um, it’s going to be interesting how it all plays out roster-wise. How competitive are they? Does Tatum come back? I think this team for being pretty mediocre on paper actually could be intriguing to follow week to week just based on how I don’t want to say erratic, but this could be a year where they’re all over the place a little bit. Really good first stretch, really bad first stretch. Oh, you know, Tatum’s on the court. Is he almost here? like there’s going to be a lot of storylines around the team as the as the year progresses. And look, the Eastern Conference is nothing if not forgiving to the middle class. So, that’s something to factor in. You mentioned Tatums. Let’s just start there. The right Achilles injury, the vibes feel really good right now with the videos they’ve been posting. There’s the report that he wants to play this season and the Celtics haven’t ruled it out. Um, do you expect him at this point, just given all the noise we’ve heard around it and the videos that are being posted, to now see him play this season? And do you ultimately think that you’re not a doctor, so I’m not going to ask you if it’s the right call, but do you think there’s value in will you get that mental hurdle of having to come back out of the way so next season when the stakes in theory are higher, it’s maybe just not as as much pressure? Yeah, if if I had to guess now, I think we will see some amount of him by the end of the year. Now, the timing’s tough because as you start to count out the months here, and I think his dad said like 8 to 9 months, ESPN when it first happened, and um the timing of the surgery and the techniques they’re using now, particularly Ali, who performed the surgery, um is known to do the speed bridge technique, which brings guys back a little earlier. I I think he’s in a great position to come back sooner than most guys. And I even look at, you know, some of the players coming back from it now, Drew Smith, um Isaiah Jackson, as well as James Wiseman. um they’re all, you know, full go in these preseason games. So, could they have been playing even a month earlier than this um on their timelines? I don’t know. But, uh for Tatum, I think the timing around March, April is going to be interesting because where’s this team at this point? At that point, are they trying to gear up for a playoff push? um is it so tight to the end of the season where bringing him back and trying to fit him into things is awkward or doesn’t make a ton of sense. I think there’s a lot of factors like that at play that are going to determine whether we actually do see him this year. But physically, I think he’s going to be in a really good place by February, March, April even. And let’s say it is April. Two weeks as you mentioned there of getting comfortable, getting his feet under him, gaining his confidence back in live action. Let’s say the team is out of it at that point. That could be good for him going into the following year. So, if I had to guess right now, I do think we’ll see some amount of him this year. Do you think it is less likely that if they still have something to play for that he would come back just to then throw him back into that scenario where what if they are really going after the six seed? Yeah, it’s interesting and I I ask that question a lot because I’m not sure if that’s actually a factor, but you can understand, right? Let’s say he’s ready to go and the playoffs are starting. I I don’t think it’s easy to just jump into action for a playoff game if that’s what it’s going to be. Um and similar if there’s just a couple games left. Is it worth it at that point or do you just want to take extra time off the court and doing whatever you can in non-game action to ramp up for next year? Um I think that’ll be a small factor. The biggest one’s obviously is he cleared and and you know allowed to go there. Um and that seems feasible by the time the season ends there. So, um, if he intends to play this year, they’re open to it and the doctors clear him, that it might be as simple as that. And whether they’re in the mix or not, the, you know, might not matter at all. But I do think it could be awkward if they figure something out, are in the playoff mix there, and you’re trying to fit him in because it’s not going to be full go Tatum right away. Like, it’s going to be a minutes limit and maybe off the bench or some diminished version of him. So, uh, can you address those two things at the same time? Trying to fit him back in while trying to, uh, enter the playoffs at full speed ahead. And obviously, it’d be better to have him for a playoff run if that’s feasible than not. U,, but, you know, I think the thinking is you’re usually not yourself until well over a year after this thing. And if we’re counting out 11 months, that’s the end of the regular season. Um, so the timing is going to be tight against the playoffs, which I think is going to be the um difficult factor here, but does that even matter or are they just going to say go ahead when you’re ready? Um, I could see either either direction being the case there. But this stuff’s so hard to determine cuz you see him flying up and down and dunking and all that and it’s exciting, but how much does it actually mean at this point? I don’t know. because, you know, from what I hear, that’s that’s stuff you’re theoretically able to do at this point in the recovery five months out. So, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet that makes you say, “All right, he’s coming back. This is going to be the quickest recovery ever.” I think he’s on track, which is good. Um, but I don’t think he’s swooping in to save this season by any means here. Whatever happens, that’s not going to be the case. He does seem like the type of sicko that would want to see, okay, what’s the quickest return from an Achilles injury and not and that’s good, right? Because it means he’s putting everything into this process he possibly can. And let’s say like this is like a carrot that you know him returning this year is what’s motivating him to get in there every day, give it his all and take every step as seriously as possible. and then let’s say it doesn’t work out, you still did all that work for the following year and put yourself in the position to succeed next year. Um, but this clearly is motivating him. He’s sending that signal with interviews and posts and everything else that I’m still here. I’m going to be back. And the worry there is that he pushes too hard. And I think that’s something they’re probably going to have to manage. Uh cuz like you said, he’s relentless. I don’t think he is a guy who wants to hold back at all, but with these kind of recoveries, you might have to here and there and you might have to say, “All right, this season isn’t smart. Let’s let’s wait for next year.” And that’s going to be difficult for him if that time comes. But he has also stressed, you know, we’re not going to come back any sooner than when I’m absolutely ready here. So, you hope that that’s the case with him. you hope there are no setbacks because obviously the big thing everyone wants to see is this team being back in position for 2027. Um he’s going to miss most if not all of this year regardless of when he comes back. So um does that make this year a wash? Are they better than expected? Is it a tank year? Whatever happens, it’s not going to be a championship contending year this this season. So you want to be back in that position the following year. and his recovery is the biggest factor in that as they’ve said. That’s a perfect segue into the question I want to ask you about what your read was of how they navigated the off seasonason. Do you look at it as they were really trying to steer into people want to call it a gak beer, a tankier, or was it just a a cheaper form of relevance in the Eastern Conference? Yeah, they definitely had financial reasons to do what they did. Um, the second apron gets talked about a lot and I get it. They got below that line with the Porzingis move. I think you can look at the Porzingis trade financially and as a basketball move and say, “All right, is he going to be healthy, consistent, and effective moving forward?” And if the answer is no, maybe it doesn’t make sense to have him on your books in a year where you’re not trying to contend um at 30 million or wherever he was floating around at that point. So, I get some of these moves. I think Simons was good value for Holiday. I think Holiday getting off three years there was an excellent move at this stage of his career and some of the decline you started to see from him there. A pick initially. I know they didn’t end up with a contract as part Yeah. as part of that deal. I was I was actually floored because I love Drew, but like that contract was just not viewed favorably around the league. So yeah, that was a trade that you could have justified for it was financial, but you also probably could have justified it for basketball reasons, too. Yeah. So, the two trades I think made sense, especially, let’s say you had to get off some money this off season. Like, those might have been the the two ways to do it. Certainly, you didn’t want to trade Brown or White if you didn’t have to. Um, so they did that. Then, you know, you lose Al, you start to hear when that that’s going to happen. And obviously, it didn’t happen till later. And it that one’s tough for me cuz it’s like, all right, 2 million on a minimum, two, three million versus five, six million. Like, you ended up getting like you you couldn’t match that. Like, it hurt that much to try to keep Alan. Now, I’m sure he had his own um factors there in including continuing to contend for a championship. I know that was written about and I wrote about as well as a major factor and starting out in Golden State as he’s going to. I don’t know if that would have been certain here. So, there were definitely other reasons aside from the money that he left, but that was tough for me because if you’re trying to keep the ship afloat, develop young guys, have some stability, or even just be back next year, like I don’t think this is necessarily Al’s last year. It was tough to see him go, especially when you don’t have a ton at center remaining. We can get to that in a minute. But the one that killed me is Luke. And you know, I’ve reported that, you know, they try to do a structure of like five years at the minimum to get him to 20 million. Um, they made a pretty competitive offer there, I think, cuz when you look at, you know, he got 40 millionish from San Antonio, but only about like 23 was guaranteed. Um, so I think in his case, you know, is it the ability to win in San Antonio? He grew up close to there, so maybe that was a factor as well, playing with Wanyama and having a bigger role himself too, I’m sure was appealing. Um, so I think there were other factors there for him as well aside from the money. But that one to me was the killer cuz he was ascending like Al in his career. These other guys are later in their careers. To me, Cornet was still ascending at a position where you’re completely uncertain into the future now. And you spent all those years developing him. He was a big locker room piece for this team as well. I loved them. So, maybe I’m a little biased here, but I thought losing Cornet was a killer for this team. And you look at what he’s doing this preseason already in San Antonio. The alley chemistry with WBY. Yeah. Yeah. Playing pick and roll with Webby and defensively he’s just excellent. Um, that was a tough loss. I think there’s a case he could actually be the guy they missed the most out of the four guys they lost. I thought actually those two moves that you have the Al Horford like him leaving and the cornet signing were the two that kind of telegraphed oh they’re it it was like purely out this whole offseason was financially driven. So now you look at it and they’re 12.1 million away from ducking the tax to me. Now, the expectation would be now the repeater clock that they would pay a repeater tax this year that they’re going to duck that number, but I would have probably guessed that they did it before entering training camp, which they did not, which is also a little confusing because it gets harder to shave that kind of money off during the the regular season. So, what are your just expectations there just based off everything they’ve already done? Do you expect them to try and work to duck the tax or or might they make it a resultsbased thing where oh, if we’re better than expected, like we will just stomach the the bill this year? Well, it was interesting on one of the preseason broadcasts, their cap guy, Mike Xarin, was on there and he he almost like spilled the beans. It sounded like like, you know, we had to get below the second apron and, you know, we’re going to get below the first, something to that effect. And they’re a little over the first right now. That apron doesn’t matter as much to me. Like, there’s no like draft pick penalties for being over that one. You can’t do signing trades and a couple other things that, you know, the mid level next summer. I’m sure you want, but that one to me isn’t like you have to get below the first apron. The tax is the question. and they’re still like 12 13 over. Um Simons was the big conversation there all summer. Can you move off him and you know get below that line completely there? But for whatever reason there either weren’t suitors for you know you’re talking 28 million there. It’s a pretty hefty contract. Uh along with just the positional need around the league point guard is overloaded on pretty much every roster. There aren’t a lot of teams that are trying to win that need a point guard. Um, and I said all along if you’re looking across the league who needs Simons, it’s actually the Celtics. So, you know, with Tatum out and and the guard depth they lost, like they actually need him more than any other team. So, I’m glad they kept him. It was a mixed bag in the preseason. You know, even the finale yesterday was pretty rough as we record this here against Toronto, but they’re working hard on the defense. He’s exceptional as a scorer. the the Cavs preseason game on uh Friday or Sunday rather was was excellent. Um just him at his best stepping back, drilling threes, being a threat on that end. So, he’s super talented and still relatively young. If you can pay a little bit of tax this year and ownership’s willing to do that to just keep some of the roster intact and he’ll obviously go to free agency next summer. Let’s say you can keep them at half the cost cuz I think that’s what free agency is doing is squeezing guys to that level financially. Um, I don’t know how much money they’ll be out there for him this off seasonason unless he just goes off this year, which, you know, tip your h hat hat if that’s the case. Or maybe you move him closer to the deadline if that’s where things are going. But I’m glad they didn’t just try to dump him or attach picks to him to send him to Brooklyn or whatever the move would have been there because there clearly wasn’t great value for him out there. And so, I think it’s a no-brainer to take him into the year and see what he can do. This is a good fit for him. They shoot a lot of threes. It’s a great defensive system coaching wise to get a guy to play better on that end. Um, and I think they’re hopeful that in this environment, especially without a lot of attention on him, right, Jaylen, Derek, Payton, those guys are going to get a lot of the defensive attention. Um, I could see him succeeding this year. So, he’s one of the actual few things I think fans can latch on to this year and be excited about is, um, this guy having the motivation to have a contract year. And one way or another, I think you’re going to benefit from that if it happens. I think the other thing too, just looking at their payroll, is that it’s less prohibitive to just be into the tax now in general. It’s when you start, as you said, getting into the aprons where there’s the draft pick penalties or the the transaction restrictions. It’s just money. I think like the 30 million tax bill right now, we think like that, but it’s not it’s not our money. And so ownership tends to think differently. Um, the other thing with Simons too is that so it seems like he’s going to come off the bench for them and some of the lineups that I saw him in during the preseason. I I would just say not a lot of ton of like other ball handling around him, which in theory could then make his job tougher. Have you gotten any more of a sense for how you think they’re going to deploy him or what players you want to see him maybe tethered to to to optimize like what he’s doing? Yeah, I mean I think even unrelated to Simons, they got to find some ways to generate rim protection this year and that’s going to be challenging. You lost Cornet and Porzingis was great at that. They had so much of it last year that now you’re like all right, you know, Kada is a decent rim protector. It seems like he’s going to start here. I think Joe signaled that yesterday. Um Chris Buchet can help with uh you know some of the weak side stuff as well as Josh Minard who I think is intriguing on this team deeper down the roster is one of the you know minimum pickups they had. So um I think when you look at the second unit right now it’s going to be tough if he is there you know Minot will be out there but it’s if he’s playing with Garza I think that’s a guy who struggled defensively in the preseason for them. Um you know you you’re not looking at a ton of defensive pieces around him into second units there. So, they’re going to have to get creative with how they do it. There’s a big debate in Celtics land. Do you start Pritchard? Do you start Simons? Pritchard obviously thrived as a six-man a year ago. Um, I think he’s earned the right to start for this team just where he is, you know, standing wise at this point. But, there is a case whether you’re doing it actually changing the lineup down the line or just doing it in rotation. And there’s certainly going to be subbing guys in and out like crazy as we saw during the preseason here. getting the different combinations that are going to help him out defensively, playing next to White, um playing with rim protection behind him. I think that’s all going to be important there. But, uh it comes down to his efforts because teams are going to go after him. He fouled a lot in the preseason. Um he had four in the Toronto game. Um I think he was like close to six in the other one. So, he’s a work in progress still at this point in his career and he’s super talented. They’re going to coach him tough. um he’s gonna have to improve on these things if he wants to take the next step in his career at this point ahead of free agency here. And I think he’s definitely motivated to do that. So, uh they’re gonna have to get creative with the way they run their lineups this this year. And um seeing how often they sub guys in and out of those preseason games. I don’t know if it’ll be as rapid fire as it was um in training camp, but they’re definitely, you know, whoever starts these games, you know, on opening night and beyond here, I don’t think it’s going to matter a ton because four minutes in, it’s going to be another group in and, you know, from there just mixing and matching throughout these games. I don’t think the starting lineup’s going to matter much for this team at all. The Celtics are among the teams, among the many teams that have talked about playing faster this year. I know Joe Missoula has pushed back against some of the pace stuff, but like even when you just look at the average offensive possession time last year, Boston was in the bottom three. So like they do have room to speed things up. So I guess where do you land on that? And two, do you buy that like that’s going to be sort of like playing noticeably faster is going to be a core part of their identity. Maybe in part to try and paper over the fact that they don’t have they’re down one superstar offensive talent. So you don’t necessarily want to go up against set defenses as often. Yeah, they want to get into the actions earlier and they talked about that last year, too. It didn’t work. Um, and it was funny to even hear Pritchard at one of the practices here at camp just essentially be like, you know, it was it was Tatum. You know, you’re going to play Tatum’s way when he’s available. And that’s what we did. And it worked. We won a title. But, you know, Jaylen wants to play faster. Pritchard has always wanted to play fast. Simons is a fast athletic player. And they have a bunch of guys they’ve added who can fit that play style now, too. Even their bigs can get up and down the floor a little bit. So, you know, you hear them talk about it. Every team talks about in camp want to play faster. Do they actually do it? And they did. You know, they got up to 106 possessions that through the four preseason games there that was tied for sixth or even as high as like third if you just, you know, teams that are in the 106 range there. So, they were in the, you know, top half of teams effectively in pace. And you mentioned it, they got down to like 29th of the season over the last two months. They were last. And then they in that Knicks series, they were down like a 91 pace. It it was ridiculous how slow and and plotting they got into that playoff loss there. So that was one of the first things Brad talked about over the offseason is we have to address that. Um how they balance that against turnovers is going to be interesting because they turned it over a lot this preseason. There were some aberrations with like the you know try out guys in these games giving it away. So that number might be a little deceiving, but they did turn it over a lot um even into the starting lineup uh you know minutes there. So ball control is definitely going to be a question. Um these guys who have been more secondary contributors. Um Pritchard Brown, you know, alongside Tatum are going to get the full brunt of defensive pressure this year. Um, so I think that’s another reason to play fast is to avoid some of the traps and double teams and stuff the teams are going to throw at them to try to slow them in the half court. Um, it could be a struggle at times for this team in the half court. There’s not as much shooting as a year ago. There’s not as much playmaking, especially in some of these second units. So their approach, you know, offensively it’s going to have to be fast. And then even defensively, they’re going to take more risks. They’re going to try to go for steals and do things that they haven’t done the last couple years here. There’s been a bottom five team. uh through Missoula’s tenure forcing turnovers. Um you could see them in the top half of the league in that department now this year too because they just have to do it. There’s certain things they don’t have now as a team that they’re going to have to make up for in other ways. And one other thing I’ve loved from them this preseason is their offensive rebounding. Like they’re not going to be a great defensive rebounding team, but if they’re getting second chance opportunities on the other end, and they’re very good at it the way they coach it, um that can counteract that a little bit. I think this team, and you know, we can talk about Joe for a minute here if we want to. I think they’re going to benefit from his coaching and the way he finds little advantages and just how attentive he is to stuff, the system he’s built here. I think that’s going to add more wins to this team’s total than people give credit for. Like, just watching these preseason games, it’s a lot of guys, like just a lot of players who, you know, you don’t know much about. Are these even NBA guys? But like the threes are going up and they’re on the glass and like they’re defending, you know, aggressively as a team and they they’re just smart. They’re a smart team. They’re well coached and they might play better than the sum of their parts here cuz I you just look at the roster and the players that are on it and it’s not super impressive when you look at it, but you actually watch these pre, you know, they put up 120 in one game, they put up 130 in another game. They didn’t face a lot of competition, but like the machine just seemed to kind of keep rolling no matter who was in there. And um I don’t think you know if you didn’t watch this team super closely over the last couple years they had a stacked roster but they would win games where like Hower and Pritchard and Cornet would start. Um so I think that might continue even with a even less talented roster than that this year. The Missoula point is interesting because I think a lot of coaches can feel reinvigorated when they don’t necessarily have to tailor everything they’re doing around one or two players and then it’s mostly the players that they get to futz and fiddle with or the players adapt to how they want to play. And so like do you see any other like the Celtics have become known for their three-point volume, but are there any more like interesting wrinkles you could see rolled out by Joe Mazula in what is basically whatever they’re trying to do this season? It’s going to be more experimental than years past for sure. Yeah, for sure. They’ve wanted to get into some fullcourt pressure um you know like Indiana did last year. I think that’s the trend that’s going to start showing around the league. Uh I think they’re willing to foul a little more. This is a team that hasn’t fouled at all essentially under Missoula. Um, so I think they’re willing, especially in in a situation where they start to see more things going uncalled around the league, maybe being willing to give up an extra foul or two here to try to get away with it. I think that’s a conversation they’ve had in camp here. Um, the three-point volume still going to be there. I mean, that’s just who they are. I think for this team with Hower, Pritchard, Simons, it actually makes sense to still get a lot up. And you know, the last preseason game, Jaylen goes down and Derek White shot 17 threes and scored 33 points. So, you know, it drives fans crazy sometimes. Their three-point total is 50 60 a game sometimes, but it actually does suit their roster decently. Even, you know, Kate has tinkered with a three-point shot this off season and Garza can shoot it. I I feel good about him out there. Um, this is a roster that I think actually benefits again from shooting a lot of threes. So, I think they’re going to lean into that harder pace, a more aggressive defensive approach to try to force turnovers. Um, they they just look for every advantage they can find there. And for Joe, it’s it’s like the four battles, the the free throw battle, um the rebounding battle, the turnover battle, as well as the shot total battle. And like that’s pretty much what he stresses every night to try to win games. Like if we do two or three of these things, we’re probably going to win. And even on the more talented rosters, that’s how they would get by and gain even more of an advantage. So, I’m a I’m a Joe guy. Like, we have our uh we butt heads in the presser sometimes and even on the court in this media game, but like to me, he’s a smart, innovative coach and he’s gotten a lot out of this team. Like, they haven’t won 50 60 games every year under him just because they’ve been the most talented team in the league. Like, they have scratched for every advantage they can find. So, I feel good about him going in this year, but um they do need to find talent too out there and that’s going to be the work in progress as they try to develop this team. Do you have anything you’re monitoring or expecting when it comes to seeing Derek White and assuming he’s healthy after the hamstring snafu Jaylen Brown scaling up in Tatum’s absence? And I honestly think I though this sounds weird, White’s the more interesting one to me there because a lot of people just assume that because he’s been more of a tertiary offensive like he scores a bunch of points sometimes, but he’s been more of like a secondary offensive player for them that he’s the one who could be impacted the most adversely. But when you look at like the level of difficulty on his shots or what can happen when he gets up a lot of shots or the way that he’s just able to move, I’m actually sort of fascinated to see. I think he’s gonna be a lot better this season than people nationally might expect without Tatum there, without Drew there, without Porzingis, and now Horford there. Yeah, just look at the box score from from the finale there, the the preseason slate. 3396 and four blocks. Like, if he’s doing something close to that every night, regardless of how this team’s doing, people around the league are going to look up and be like, whoa, you know, Derek White’s maybe even an all-star this year. what he’s doing statistically like that’s the kind of weight he might have to shoulder especially if Jaylen’s going to miss some time here and I think he inevitably will at certain parts parts of the schedule as well. Um he’s going to be the guy they have a tough decision on and Jaylen into the future as well just because of the contract. But I think there’s a more limited market for Jaylen because of that deal he’s on. Derek’s on this great contract. every single team in the league not only needs a guy like that, but can perfectly fit him in and benefit from it immediately. Like I know the talk almost instantly when Fred Van Fleet went down in Houston was imagine Derek White in that position. Can they go get White? Listen, teams called them over the off season. Nobody blew them away with an offer. Like I think the thinking was like male Bridges type offer could maybe get get Boston off white here. But let’s say the desperation of some other teams around the league increases and Boston, you know, doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere fast here. If they do get offered like five first and a good young player for White, it’s going to be hard if they’re in a bad position to completely swat that away and say, “No way, we’re not trading him.” Cuz like you’re going to see him ascend to a different level this year. I think, you know, I’m in full agreement with you on that. But by the time this team get back gets back to championship level, is he still like a major part of of what they’re doing there? That’s what they’re going to have to ask themselves this season cuz how does this team get better into the future? You know, are they drafting high next year? They don’t have other picks into the future. In fact, they owe picks to other teams over the next couple years here. Um they’re not going to be signing free agents or even doing signing trades necessarily next summer. So, how do you how do you start to set this team up for long-term success here? Maybe your vision is just pay for it, keep white, brown, tatum around, and just figure it out around them. I think that’s a perfectly fine plan, but you’re going to have to find some other pieces this year. Um, feel good about J Jason coming back or where Jaylen’s at into the future here to really think you can just run this thing back. Um, White’s gonna continue to be a difficult decision for them because I’m almost certain as this year goes on and teams suffer injuries or try to buy, they’re just going to be knocking the door over trying to get this guy from Boston cuz there’s an argument. This is the best complimentary player in the league. Like that’s the level he’s reached on both ends of the floor here. And um, he looks like the final piece to a championship team right now. And so is there a is there a number you can get to? Is there an offer you can get to as an opposing team that makes Boston say, “All right, we’ll take five first and this, you know, really intriguing young player here.” Whatever that offer looks like, I think that’s going to be something to watch this year. Maybe it doesn’t happen this season, but next off season, where are you at? Where’s he at? Um, I think that’s going to continue to be a conversation here. But in the meantime, I’m going to appreciate getting to watch this guy any amount of games that we’re able to here because he is just awesome. He he really is. Yeah. I mean, even thinking about that type of a transaction, if an offer comes on the table, does that imply that like, oh, this isn’t just going to be a gap year? Like, they’re looking at this as like a multi-year return to the level that they were at. It might have to be, right? Like, I don’t know how you get better next summer if you’re them. Like, you’ll have a mid-level maybe. Could that get you like a decent big? I don’t know. Um, you don’t have a ton of trade assets unless some of these young guys start to ascend. um you don’t have a ton of draft capital and your pick, let’s say they are sixth, seventh in the East this year, it’s the middle of the middle of the draft and you’re not getting a ton there. Like Tatum will be back, Brown will be back, you know, White, whoever else. Is that enough to contend for a championship next year? I don’t know. You did allude to this a little bit before, but do you expect Jaylen Brown and Derk White to be on some sort of a loose maintenance program? kind of a loaded question because we don’t have any update as we’re recording this on the Jaylen Brown hamstring injury, but like do they look at these if they are trying to be back to that level semi soon with those two guys? They could look at this as especially given how banged up Jaylen Brown was last year, they could look at this as an opportunity to not lighten their workload when they’re on the floor, but certainly lighten the number of games that they have to play in. Yeah, I think that’s going to be an interesting balance between the coaching staff that I think wants to go full speed ahead this year, I’m sure, and the front office that’s probably looking more longterm. So, um, those are the kind of things that I think will be interesting as this year goes on here and we start to see where they’re at. Um, because it’ll be easier to push them further if they’re playing great. It’ll probably become more challenging conversation if they’re banged up and the team’s not playing great as this year progresses here. So, I don’t have a great read on how that’s going to go so far. I think we’ll get some indication of it right now with this Jaylen situation cuz um he exited the game with a hamstring which can linger and you don’t want to rush back from. So are they super careful with him and hold him out for the first couple weeks here as things get going? Um I think that’ll say a lot about how they’re going to handle even tweaks or minor injuries if that’s what this ends up being here. And obviously you hope that’s the case. It was was a killer after everything they went through this preseason and some of the developments they had that your next best player ends up going down in the final preseason game here. So, um we’ll see how that pans out with a week to go until the regular season here. But, um you know, trades rebuild versus reload for the following year. I think just from you know what I’ve garnered from the front office here so far is that it’s just wait and see what opportunities are out there. How’s this season going? um just make decisions as they come. I don’t think this this team has a firm idea a a you know fullyfledged outlook for how they’re going to handle the next couple years here as they try to get back into it. It’s it’s going to be a lot of monitoring and assessing things as as they come along here. And listen, credit to them. I think they found an underrated nice backup big in Garza for the minimum here. I think might not on a two-year deal with a secondyear team option just given the the financial assets that they had to work with this summer. They found some interesting guys here and even Ugo Gonzalez, you know, with the what 28th, 29th, 30th pick in the first round already shown to be a heady defender and showing a few flashy moves offensively and looking like for his age, a guy who could step in and contribute pretty quickly. um maybe compared to what you would have thought. I think those already look pretty good on this on this front office. And we’ll see what that that actually looks like when the games get going here, but there were some guys lower on this roster that I thought had had solid preeasons, and I’m interested to see where where they end up fitting in here because that’s that’s the goal of this season, right? Which one of these guys who are playing right now can actually help us out when we’re trying to win again. If you can find even one uh through the course of the schedule here, I think that’s a big win. Well, let’s actually let’s go there then. So, starting with Yugo Gonzalez, given just their der of sort of proven wing depth now, which is just such a bizarre thing to say about the Celtics, quite frankly, is there a chance that that allows him to like get shots with like the actual big club this year, or do you think that this is mostly going to be like a main season for him? Yeah, I thought it was going to be a main season for him until we started to see some promising returns to this preseason slate here. And Walsh had a rough, you know, preseason in that positional group. Charman had a awful preseason. Um, unfortunately, yeah, that did not go the way you want to see it with him. So, I think those open the door for Ugo, who just played poised, and I thought his summer league was erratic, rushed, and he looked raw, and that’s where you said, “All right, this is probably a main season for him.” Um, but he’s made improvements. I think a lot of guys were in the gym throughout the summer and try to nail down uh the system as well as what they’re going to do uh skill-wise this year. and you know, he he pulled out this spin move to the basket in the Toronto game and uh played a little point earlier in the preseason as well. He’s a pretty versatile guy, almost like a like gadget player, like can he screen a little bit? Can he handle a little bit? It looks like he can shoot a little bit. Um he might just be a guy that they throw out there for energy and to affect the game in different areas because he’s a big body. He’s long. He’s tall. Um he’s a pro and he’s got an NBA physique already it looks like. come and comes from that Real Madrid system where uh he was there for a couple years being a pro already. I think that gives him even though he’s 1920, a little bit of a different outlook than the average rookie coming out of, uh, you know, one year at college or wherever they’re, you know, playing that off year now. So, um, I’m intrigued by him. I’m not saying he’s going to be everyday part of this rotation, but I do lean toward, especially if he capitalizes this on the couple weeks uh that teams have before the G-League opens up. Um he could stick around on this roster. Why not? There’ll be injuries. There’ll be uh guys with ups and downs. I think it makes a lot more sense for him to be in Boston if there is opportunity to play than to be in Maine where you might not benefit as much from the lower level of competition that you’re going against. So, um, they’ve used Maine well with with some guys over the last couple years here, but this might be an all hands- on deck season for the pro club. Who sort of intrigues you the most for this year? I know Baylor Sherman had a really bad preseason, but there’s also Josh May not Jordan Walsh, that sort of whole crew. Is there just like someone in particular you’re you’re monitoring most closely? Yeah, I think Baut’s interesting because he gives them stuff they need. Rebounding. Um the rim protection from him just given his length and athleticism I think is going to be vital uh to trying to get stops at the rim, protect the basket the way they have the last couple years here. Well, um now he’s going to have to shoot. Uh he’s going to have to figure out some way to fit in offensively consistently. The shot looks pretty bad. Um and that’s I think what killed him in Minnesota to start his career was his inability to fit in as a shooter just anywhere offensively. But you know, he’s put the ball on the floor and attacked some closeouts this preseason. He hit a three at one point and is just so active on the offensive glass that I think he’s going to be a guy um Missoula leans on pretty regularly off the bench. And you know, I’ll say this, I think Chris Bucher showed well enough to maybe start over Sam Hower and a double. You’re on the right podcast, sir. We are Chris Buchet fanatics over I loved watching him this preseason and I loved meeting him, hearing from him. You can tell he’s just been around poised old veteran who’s won a championship like he’s just level. um you know already impressing some advice on younger guys and just seems to be a guy that Missoula can lean on for good minutes and that closing stretch against Toronto it’s like a block then you know this bounce pass to White for a cutting layup and you know he can shoot threes you know he can defend inside and out too. Um, this is a guy I don’t know if he’s their starting center, but he’s going to be in that front court dynamic the whole way through here. And, um, it still blows my mind that they got him late in the summer for the minimum the way they did there. Cuz, um, out of all the players right now, you would have said like, oh man, you you would have liked to have had this guy on the championship teams. I know Jaylen said it about May not um, but I actually feel that way about Buché. Like having him in the mix the last couple years when they were trying to go for the title, I think would have been awesome. Um, but I’m glad he’s here now and I think he’s going to help them out a lot this year. I think also if he’s able if you’re playing him and if you’re able to get some minutes from Luca Garza, does that help out having a like a floor spacing option at the five, does that help out Josh Min and his offense make it easier to play him? Yeah, for sure. They’ll play different combinations. again like the pace they’re going to be playing at this year and just the small gap in skill between let’s say like five and six on the roster and even like 8 9 10 11 here. You’re just going to see a lot of guys and Joe Joe pointed to that as well before the last preseason game here is they could go to a deeper rotation than usual. I think Tilman’s another guy. He hit the game winner against uh Toronto in that one. He showed to be healthy, um, effective, and, uh, he’s probably their best defender at the five4 overall, and he he’s a guy a year ago you wondered if he’d even be back with how, uh, physically limited and ineffectively he played last season. So, it’s it’s been a pleasant surprise to see him out there doing what he’s doing uh, this camp. Lost 12 pounds, got the knee right. So, he’s part of that dynamic, too, I’d say. So, they have, you know, four guys in there. Two of them can play the four if they want to go bigger. Um, who can just give them minutes there. And obviously, you’d like to see one guy excel and separate himself, and that’s Kada, uh, who I think has the most potential at that spot. But, if it is center by committee, uh, you’re you’re going to see a lot of all four of those guys as they just try to play the matchup game and, uh, see who’s playing well on any given night. Again, maybe this team starts the same five every night, but they’re going to be going in different directions fast. And certainly the closing lineup is going to be more interesting with this group than than who actually starts these games on any given night. What are you looking specifically to see from Kada this year since it seems like Joe Missoula is clearly very invested in him? Yeah, I just want to see him be able to stay in these games and play consistently. Like to me for the coaching staff, it’s like you know what this year is. I know you want to be tough on him, but he’s going to have some highs and lows. You just got to let him play through it this year. Let him learn from that. um and and play through highs and lows to get to the other side cuz I think the other side for him is a guy who can uh be a threat around the rim off the roll, be a better rim protector, and just be a presence out there. And I think we’ve seen that from him already in his careers that he can just fill out space in that lane, set good screens. Um, I don’t know if he’s actually gonna capitalize on this three-pointer that he’s been teasing here, but it’s intriguing to even see him uh showing that in the Euro basket run there. I mean, I don’t know how much of the Euro stuff you watched over the summer, but this is a guy who’s the best player. This is a guy who’s the best player on his national team and powered them through some really tough games. like they went against Shenun and Turkey and and Porzingis and Latvia and even had uh Jokic in their group and you know he was battling with those guys and and ended up getting them onto the uh Portugal onto the knockout stage there and doing it with some big numbers. So I think they’re wary of the fact that some days he’s great and some days he’s just not the same and you see that with him. Um so I don’t think they want to just give him this pass of saying like all right you’re the starting center here you go you’re good to go. It’s it’s you’re not going to lose it. I think they want him to have that sense that, oh, if I don’t show up on any given night, I might lose this job. But in all reality, he’s the guy with the potential more than anyone else to be part of this team in that next iteration of uh you know, the championship contenders there. And he’s been around long enough, he knows the system well enough, I think, to take this job and run with it. And it’s on him. I hope he does because so much of it’s just going to be playing with consistent energy, being in the right positions defensively, and finding ways to get guys open on offense and and obviously get all the offensive rebounds he can out there, which is the strength of his game. So, I’m excited to see what this year brings from him. I mentioned it earlier, like who can you find this year to carry on to the next championship contending version of this team? And I think the best candidate for that is Kada cuz you know they’ll probably add some center depth to this team going forward. But he’s going to be here. I think he has one more year on his contract beyond this. And maybe they can come to some kind of extension too if he plays well this year. So um he’s one of the big stories to watch this year with this group obviously going from fourth string center last year to probably the starter on this group. When you look at sort of the you keep saying center by committee is a perfect way to describe it. What do you think just of the collection of players is their biggest weakness? Is it kind of the defensive rebounding when you look at the body types that they have out there? Yeah, as well as the rim protection. Um I don’t despite his pedigree, you know, he’s one of the all-time leading like college shot blockers. I don’t feel like Kada gives them consistent um protection inside just positionally. Um you know, and he’s going to have to guard centers a lot this year just straight up. So, I don’t know how much help defense he can actually give them in there just the way that they’re going to align this year. Um, so I think that’s going to be the question. Like Tilman’s a little shorter. Garz is not much of a rim protector either. Even Buché, he’s, you know, slimmer and isn’t a guy you ideally want to be playing at the five necessarily. So, they’re going to have to manufacture that. They’ve been one of the best teams at deterring rim shots um going back for, you know, pretty much the entirety of Missoula’s coaching tenure so far here. And that’s going to be harder to do this year. Like even that last preseason game was like a layup line at times for Toronto. So, you know, yes, it’s rebounding, it’s ri protection, even on the perimeter, they have some weaknesses defensively this year. And I have few doubts about this team continuing to score the ball with the personnel that they have. I think this is a top 10 offense, but they might be fighting to stay out of the bottom 10 defensively this year. And that could swing how this season goes. Like if it’s a disaster defensively, you’re probably talking about the worst versions of the season. If they can find a way to be middle of the pack and capable on that end, you’re probably seeing one of the better uh you know, outcomes that this team can have here. So, uh it’s going to be constant problem solving at that end cuz again, I like the offensive personnel they have here. Just think of the guys that went out the door defensively though. Holiday Porzingis reached a high level on that end. Horford’s been like their rock on that side of the ball for years. Um, even Cornet, heady, smart, defensive anchor. Um, you lost four of like the hundred best defenders in the league this off season and that’s tough to make up for. Does the center group have any strengths though that you glom on to rebounding offensively? I think like that’s funny. That’s so funny. Just on defense, the concern is rebounding on offense. Yeah, it’s weird, right? Like I don’t know how that works out, but like just the angles they play at, how aggressively they crash, taking advantage of other teams who maybe aren’t defending as well. Like they’ve done a good job with that for a while. Um and it showed in the preseason. Again, I don’t have a number in front of me here, but I think they were probably one of the better offensive rebounding groups uh in the preseason here. So um that is weird how that works out, but I actually do think that’s going to be the strength of that group. Kate is great there. Um, you know, May not I think is going to be impactful. Yeah, they were ninth in offensive rebounding in the preseason. Defensive rebounding they were 22nd. So there you go. I think that group when you look at Buché may not’s not the center but he’s in there. And then even having Kada maybe they’ll be like sneaky at swatting shots on the perimeter. They got we defensively they’ve got some weaknesses defensively on the perimeter. Maybe that’ll be a hidden strength of that group. Bush is going to be great. Yeah, when when they were putting him at the floor this preseason Yeah, I I love how he guards the perimeter and I hope that they can keep him there. He even said he doesn’t like playing as center as much. Um, so keeping him on the four side of things there I think will be important and that’s why it’s crucial that Kade is a rock there and Garza gives them something so they can keep Buché over at the four. And you know, I thought when they went to double big in the preseason finale there, the rebounding defensively got a little better obviously. So, I I don’t love sending Sam Hower to the bench. I mean, he’s a guy we didn’t even mention here, but he’s he’s excellent all around now. Maybe even has another level he can reach this year. But just what they need on both ends of the floor right now. It probably is important for them to have two bigs on the floor. And, you know, bring it back to Tatum, that in itself is like a massive rebounding defensive loss. I think everyone thinks of the offense you lose with Tatum, but they might lose even more from what he brought them on on the defensive side of the the floor. So, um, Buché is not Tatum, but he’s at least a similar size guy who can shoot and rebound and and do similar things at that position. So, I’m hoping that he ends up getting that job. Of course, the the starting lineup in the preseason finale was White, Pritchard, Brown, Buché, and Kada. And if they’re all healthy, I would predict that’ll be the starting lineup on opening night against Embiid and and Philly there. I meant to ask this earlier. What is an expanded I don’t want to say role because he played 28 plus minutes a game last year, but like what does a scaled up version of Payton Pritchard now look like on this team? Is there something specifically you’re watching for? I I I just want it to be big. Like I think this could be a massive season for him here potentially cuz every time he’s played an uptick in minutes. I feel like we see this higher level version of him. Not to you know my co-host Noah thinks he has all all you know um allstar potential. I don’t necessarily see that. But I think he can be close like he could be in that conversation if he’s playing a lot of minutes and doing a lot of things for this team. Um, he’s the guy more than anyone I’m interested to see how he handles the extra defensive attention because I think he’s mostly played in free space off Brown Tatum and others these last couple years here. Last year was a breakout season for him off the bench. Now he’ll be starting. Now he’ll be getting those double teams and pressure from opponents. So how does it look for him? Um, when you look in his career when he’s played 30 to 40 minutes, so extra opportunity, he’s averaged 174 and five, you know, which is pretty good. like if that’s the season he’s going to have here, I think he’ll take that when he’s played 40 plus, which obviously were some like, you know, garbage games at the end of the year, but he’s put out 29, 10, and seven in those spots. So, this is a guy who if you give him a little more opportunity and shots and just responsibility, has taken it and and run with it. So, I think there is a world where he has the most surprising season on this roster in terms of how much better he he is than the year previously. So, um, I think that’s what you’re hoping for. I’m not going to use the I word and say Isaiah here, but I think there are some elements of like Isaiah slowly ramped up toward that level of opportunity that allowed him to become the all-star he did by the end of his Boston tenure. I don’t think that’s going to happen for Pritchard here, but it might be something reminiscent of that where where he just continues to get more and more responsibility and does more and more with it and then you look up and it’s like, whoa, look at what Pton Pritchard’s doing. So, um, he had a massive offseason. He always does, working out and doing some of these drills and stuff and, um, this, you know, the ways he improves himself year in and year out, I’m excited about. And, um, I think he’s one of the big big strengths of this roster this year, um, going in is that you have this two guard who’s this level of a shooter, this versatile, and, uh, this ever improving. I’m super He might be what I’m more excited about this year than anything else, cuz you saw what he did last year. Now it’s like, can you take that to another level? And I think he can. He’s number two on my list behind just seeing Derek White on this team because I think that I think the defensive attention he’s going to be fine with because he can do more stuff in a crowded lane that I think people give him credit for, like getting defenders on his hip. I think the scoring opportunities in transition or assist opportunities will always be there with the way that he fights for for rebounds. I hadn’t considered could he become an all-star, but in my mind I had it just wouldn’t shock me if we looked up this year and Pton Pritchard’s averaging 20 points, six assists, and like six rebounds or something, which would probably be numbers that would get you in that conversation. It’s not unlike we’ve seen with Derek White in the past. Yeah, for sure. And those two will be balancing each other a little bit. It was interesting in camp cuz like you could you could have this conversation with all three of them including Brown like what more can they do this year with Tatum out? How high of a level could any of those guys reach to? And I think each of them could have made that the conversation in camp. Jaylen in particular who has talked throughout his career about how he’s had to sacrifice how he’s been in Tatum’s shadow a little bit and how he’s had to make it work for this team to win. And he went the other way like maybe I’ll just focus on defense a little more this year. I’m going to focus on getting some guys involved. it’s not going to be about me um this season. And I thought that was interesting to hear on media day from him. Pritchard similarly was like if I need to come off the bench for this team, I’ll do it. Uh and you heard similar things from White who even said like when I’ve put too much pressure on myself in the past to do more in these spots where it looks like that’s the expectation. I actually haven’t done well with that. So I’m still willing to play off the ball. I’m still willing to just fit in and be a piece rather than have this expectation that I’m going to be scoring more and doing more. And fortunately for him, that just happened naturally for him in the preseason. I mean, when you pull up the stats here, it’s it’s kind of crazy what he did. Um, you know, especially in that last game. Um, but really through the entire preseason slate, he just looked excellent. I think you could come away from these four games here and say like, I mean, White was the story of the preseason. 22 points a game, uh, 11 three-point attempts per game, only came in at 30%, but that should be higher into the regular season. six rebounds, seven assists, and only 1.7 turnovers per game alongside the three blocks. And he’s obviously one of the best shot blockers at that position in the league. So, yeah. Um, you are well within the right to be most excited about Derek White. Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter/lightning round portion of the podcast? Yes, sir. We’ve talked a lot about the weaknesses, but what is the single biggest weakness to you looking at this roster right now? probably defensive rebounding. What is the single biggest strength of the roster? Probably three-point shooting. And is there something about this team that you think is kind of flying under the radar that deserves more attention overall? Like I said earlier, the coaching. I think this team’s going to coach its ass off. like Joe, the staff, how they manage this roster and get the best out of them, I think is actually going to be one of the bigger stories around them after it went under the radar a little bit the last couple years. Okay. So, if I’m asking you to build a 10-man rotation, who are your five starters and who do you think end up being the five most used reserves? Uh, yeah, like I said, White, Pritchard, Brown, Buché, Kada to start. Off the bench, I’d say Simons, Garza, May not um at least right now. Hint of Gonzalez and don’t want to leave anybody out there, but did I say Hower? Uh I think you had him in the starting lineup, did you not? No, no, no. I had Buché and and Kada. So bench would be Garza, Hower, May not Simons, and let’s go Ugo. Uh, I fave seeing more of Gonzalez. This team more than most. I feel like this is very matchup dependent or maybe it’s vibes dependent on how Joe Mula is feeling that day. But what do you think will be their most used crunch time lineup? Um, it’s definitely going to be one big. So, let’s say Buché, Pritchard, White, Brown, and Hower. That is a lot of I love that lineup. I think that’s I’d be curious what the defense looks like, but I might say that about every single lineup you throw out there. Yeah, I was tempted to say Simons, maybe three guards, but they can only go so small this season, right? Is there a weirdo whackadoodle lineup you want to see Joe Mazula try this year? Probably the three guards. Yeah. White, Pard, Simons’s out there together, you know, throwing Hower and Mushe and it’s like, whoa, there’s just shooting everywhere here. They can get to some lineups this year that are just going to have ridiculous amounts of shooting. And can they make up for the defensive and rebounding deficiencies that come with that? Um, that’s when you really start to talk about this team being um an elite shooting group. And a lot of that’s going to be Jaylen. Like Jaylen’s going to be more physical, going to be more of a rebounding force, got to be more of a defensive stopper this year to make this whole thing work. So that’s another reason I’m excited to see him enter this year with that approach cuz he almost had he’s their star, but he almost has to be their glue guy, too, to just make all this work. And that’s what Tatum did in the number one role for this group. Before I ask you to make a couple of predictions, is there anything else about this team we haven’t talked about that you think needs to be discussed? Um, no, nothing about this team specifically. I’m trying to see if we missed a play. Like I said, I think Hower is worthy of a mention. He’s he’s sort of just viewed as Hower sometimes, like he’s just going to be who he is. But he has been super steady these last handful of years here. And just like White, just like uh, you know, Jaylen and even Pritchard, there’s going to be a lot of demand around the league for a guy like that. um and how much can they counteract that by having a good season and uh positioning themselves for the future with what they have here. Um that’s another way they could potentially shed salary here along the way is is Hower potentially going out the door, but you really don’t want to do that if you don’t have to here because I think he is one of their bigger strengths um and more uh certain players going into this year in terms of what he’s going to give you. And can he even do a little bit more? I think that’s an underrated thing too. um play making off the dribble and attacking closeouts. Defensively, he’s come such a long way. Uh I don’t think he gets enough appreciation from Celtics fans just how good he’s become since he started here. Moving him would be weird just because he doesn’t get you out of the tax and so then it’s oh, we still have to move another player and their payroll is already kind of just like topheavy where it feels like the floor sort of falls out. The Nyang trade might have saved him like that. getting off Nang the way they did might have like those were two guys who are making about the same money doing the same thing. So I thought that was an important move a nice bailout probably from Utah that they were able to get off that for nothing. So how many games do you have this team winning and where do you think they land just kind of in the grander scheme of the East? So I have them at 45 which is where like that ESPN projection was more or less. A lot of that’s health like this could go lower if they’re not healthy. If Jaylen’s out to start the year, like we mentioned, like you’re already taking a hit there. I I imagine. So, you know, if I if we were doing like an over under thing, I actually would go under cuz I think there’s more scenarios that can happen for this team that come below expectations rather than like a million things happening that push them to 50 plus wins um here other than just teams capsizing in the East. Certainly that’s happened already with some of the injuries that have taken place around the conference already, but I think 45 is fair. Um, that puts you around seven based off last year standings. And if you win another game or two, steal a game here or there. Um, you are in that 60 conversation with a handful of other teams here. I had Miami there before the preseason. I’m a little lower on them now. I’m probably getting a little higher on Milwaukee as I start to think more and more about what that might look like. And um, Kmpo did it for you. And then, you know, Indiana like I I felt great about their ability to sustain this Hallebertton thing just based off Carile’s coaching and um the way they played through having him and others missing in the past. But then McConnell goes down. I I don’t love that for them. And the center situation there is somewhat suspect as well, just like in Boston. So, I am a little lower on them now as well. Um I love Detroit still. I love Atlanta, what they did. And um Orlando to me is going to have a the biggest jump of anyone in the East, but I don’t think there’s anything as long as they’re fully healthy stopping Boston from coming in at six, maybe seven. So, and I mean, look, even as we’re recording this, because you made this point before we hopped on about the East just being like this maze of murkiness. The Pistons just lost Jaden Ivy for at least four weeks. Um, so it’s crazy what’s going on. Like every day someone’s losing someone and the Celtics sustained that right up until that Jaylen thing yesterday as we record this. So, I mean, they went from having the fewest injuries aside from Tatum of a lot of these middleling teams to suddenly having the biggest uh here potentially of all the middleling teams, but you know, poking around today. Early indications I’m hearing there is that there’s not a massive amount of concern about um the Jaylen injury, but we obviously won’t know until practice tomorrow. So, we’ll see what happens there. I will admit I their overunder when we did it was 41 and a half and I just went under because I’m convinced this team is just not going to like go after it. Um I don’t even know if it’s I feel like they’re going to be worse than expected. I just don’t think that’s the priority this year. I think it’s getting back there next year. And maybe I’ll just be flat out wrong especially if so many teams end up dealing with injuries and they’re relatively healthy. Which brings me to my next question. Let’s remove Jason Tatum from the equation. Is there like one of the better teams, prospective playoff teams in the East that you still feel like Boston is an interesting matchup for? I I was thinking about this the other day just because of where they might finish. But Cleveland to me, like let’s say it is Boston, Cleveland, round one, that’s been a tough matchup for the Cavs, even going back to their series a couple years ago. Cavs haven’t been super healthy in the late stages of their playoff runs through this whole Mitchell era. And I feel like the Celtics have played them well and let’s say Tatum is back in the mix then like you could be in a interesting situation come playoff time where the Celtics are like seven or eight and they’re going up against like the Knicks who you know I have a lot of respect for where the Knicks are at roster-wise right now. But let’s say it’s the Cavs or even the Magic who the Celtics beat round one a year ago in five. You might have a weird playoff series there where it’s like, “All right, Magic Cavs, whoever that is, was better all year long, but now it’s like that Celtics team that’s always here and always seems to win and has Brown and Tatum intact and is hitting their stride going into the playoffs.” I think that could be one of the more interesting outcomes to the season if that’s where they end up because all of a sudden like you might have one of those series where it’s like all right you would think the Magic and Cavs are favorites here but a lot of people actually going to be picking the Celtics because of where they are you know at this point in the season and what they’ve done in the playoffs before. So that would be the ideal scenario for them I think is going up against one of those higherend teams that’s not the Knicks. I’m still taking the Knicks out of the East. Um, as I continue to think about it here, it’s where I just went by default. And the more and more I see how Brown’s handling the early stages of their camp and the roster they have, which I like a lot, um, I think this might be the year they actually capitalize and get to the finals right now. Like, I love what they have. Um, even that run they went on last year was snake bitten a little bit and um, the East Finals were tough with the, you know, some injuries and other things that went on, but um, new coach, fresh voice, couple nice depth additions there, including Yaboo, who I love. I I I still lean New York in this conference and obviously based off how it went last uh, spring, wouldn’t love a Celtics Knicks matchup round one. This was great, Bobby. I’m now higher on the Celtics than I was when we started, which happens all the time, which means that your insight was awesome and is already me making me rethink predictions I already made. But before I let you go, can you just let our listeners know, audience know where they can find you and all the great work that you do? Yeah, cnsmedia.com. Um, the Garn Report, as you said off the top, we go live after every Celtics game and it’s a fun time, great insight as well as laughs. Um, CNNs media for all of our video content as the year goes on. Then you can read me occasionally on bostonportsjournal.com as well as Celticsblog.com too. So keep pretty busy over here until year six and I’m excited to get going. And now do you have an agent in case anyone wants to sign you to a 10day after that scrimmage against the Celtics coaching staff? Well, I didn’t score so I don’t think I’ll be on the radar. It’ll be the two people who actually did I think who get the looks there. But man, that was awesome. Um, even just getting a shoot on that floor was pretty cool to start the day and then to play on the court would have been cool and then to actually play against that staff and some guys who like you know these weren’t NBA players by and large other than Phil Prey but you know these are you know it’s a Jefferson we all watched him on Duke and um you know Deshawn Butler Missou from the West Virginia teams and um these were some highlevel players and the level they reached that day maybe going like 80 90% hard. I can’t even imagine what the NBA intensity is like. Um, this was great, Bobby. Thank you so much. And as you know by now, I will be pastoring you again in the future. Well, do man. and I appreciate you having me and uh anytime time. [Music]

Dan is joined by Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) from CLNS Media for a deep dive into the Boston Celtics. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GARDEN REPORT HERE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiaiWR9jpzonifgOXZSxvONUW3TPbyBJn. CHAPTERS BELOW.

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CHAPTERS⤵️
0:00- INTRO
1:38 – The Jayson Tatum timeline
7:54 – Celtics direction this season
13:39 – Anfernee Simons’ fit
18:09 – Will the Celtics play faster?
21:27 – Impact of Joe Mazzulla
25:09 – Derrick White and Jaylen Brown scaling up
33:04 – Will Hugo Gonzalez play?
35:32 – Josh Minnott is an x-factor
39:14 – Continued development of Neemias Queta
42:15 – Biggest strengths and weaknesses at center
48:51 – Is a leap coming for Payton Pritchard?
51:43 – Strengths and weaknesses, under the radar storylines
52:35 – Top-10 rotation
53:23 – Go-to crunch-time unit
54:06 – Wackadoodle lineups we want to see
54:56 – Importance of Sam Hauser
56:36 – PREDICTIONS

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