Celtics Regular Season Predictions | First to the Floor - video Dailymotion

CLNS Media Sports Network

How will the first week of the Celtics' season shape up? Which Celtic players are vying for NBA regular season awards? Plus, finalizing the Celtics' roster, checking in on rivals via the Schadenfreude Report, and announcing the winner of our 5 Star Walshy campaign.  Plus, introducing a new segment: Lizard Brain Takes.

Transcript

00:00:00 [Music]

00:00:14 Who is going to be first to the floor here?

00:00:16 And it was Marcus Short as he usually is.

00:00:19 [Music]

00:00:22 That's not the first time we've seen a superstar in plain white sacrifice a body.

00:00:27 [Music]

00:00:34 Welcome in to another episode of First to the Floor.

00:00:37 Ben Vallis here. Thank you for joining us.

00:00:38 Hope you're doing well alongside me.

00:00:40 Fresh off his honeymoon. Hot take, Jake Eisenberg.

00:00:43 Jake, how's it going, man? Welcome back. How was the honeymoon?

00:00:46 Thank you, sir. I am good. I still need to shave fully.

00:00:50 But, mate, you know, best three weeks of my life potentially in the running.

00:00:56 Bachelor party, honeymoon, wedding. It's awesome. Awesome.

00:01:01 Love it.

00:01:02 Yeah. I mean, besides the last hour of my trip where I got bitten by a dog in Bali,

00:01:12 which has led to me needing to get rabies vaccines for the past three or four days.

00:01:18 Jesus.

00:01:21 Outside of that, literally the perfect three weeks.

00:01:24 But that's life, right? You know, you just got just one little...

00:01:28 I didn't want to come back, Ben. Outside of the Celtics season, I didn't want to come back.

00:01:31 But then this dog bit me and I had potentially had rabies.

00:01:35 And I was like, you know what? I think this is a sign. Celtic season is coming.

00:01:40 We could have posted you up somewhere in Bali there to keep the show rolling for overseas.

00:01:44 It could happen.

00:01:45 Yeah, sure. I'm sure that's in the budget.

00:01:48 Yeah. We'll give you the... I was going to say the Celtics Reddit podcast credit card.

00:01:52 The first to the floor credit card next time you travel. You can expense that one.

00:01:55 Yes.

00:01:56 All right. Well, it's so good to have you back, man. And there's so much to get to tonight.

00:01:59 We've got some minor roster changes to get to.

00:02:02 The Schadenfreude Report, regular season, awards, predictions, a brand new segment called

00:02:07 Lizard Brain Takes.

00:02:09 And we're announcing the winner of our five star Walshie competition towards the end of the show.

00:02:14 And we'll wrap up with predictions for week one of the regular season, which is right around the corner.

00:02:19 Thank God. It has been a long off season.

00:02:23 And now even this little mini drought between the end of preseason.

00:02:26 We had a five day drought. During preseason, I just can't wait for like consistent, constant games.

00:02:31 They gave us a little, you know, taster.

00:02:35 It's like giving a drug addict just like not quite enough to get fully high.

00:02:39 And it's just like, I need it. I need it. I had a taste.

00:02:42 I got 17 minutes of Jason Tatum and Porzingis picking rolls.

00:02:46 I need 30. Give me 30 minutes.

00:02:48 Yes, please. Now I should call this out for anyone who's watching live on YouTube.

00:02:52 I've got this little sweat rag here. It is so hot up in my attic.

00:02:56 I'm getting it renovated. It will be a cooler space for me to record.

00:02:59 But it's the middle of the almost summer day here in Australia.

00:03:02 The sun is beating down, but the show must go on.

00:03:05 That's why I look like a little damsel in distress here with my little handkerchief.

00:03:08 Anyway, Jake, let's start with the roster changes.

00:03:11 Wendon Gabriel was waived. Did this come as a surprise to you?

00:03:15 I was a little bit surprised.

00:03:19 I thought they might take the approach of going with three backup bigs

00:03:24 and seeing which one fits, which one works the best.

00:03:27 Similar to how they did the Noah Von Lay, Cabangeli was around.

00:03:31 They had a bunch of guys, and then they kind of let them go as Blake Griffin emerged

00:03:36 as our third big man.

00:03:39 I really liked Gabriel at the Lakers. I think it's kind of unfair.

00:03:43 He didn't really get a real shot to play with the starters

00:03:47 or some of the guys that he would actually be playing with,

00:03:49 where I thought that's going to be the place where he's able to show what he can do.

00:03:53 That was true of everybody on the end of the bench.

00:03:55 No one really got extended minutes with the main guys,

00:03:57 which I think has made it quite difficult to evaluate who's been good

00:04:00 and who you actually want to get minutes.

00:04:02 But I kind of liked Gabriel at the Lakers.

00:04:04 I didn't take too much away from the preseason games.

00:04:08 Honestly, I thought Preset or Banton may have been the ones to go.

00:04:13 Just because the position that we kind of need right now

00:04:16 is that third big, to me, is the main need.

00:04:21 To me, Preset and Banton, they just feel too embedded in the team.

00:04:26 Do you think there's anything to that?

00:04:28 I know we haven't seen ultra convincing showings from either of them, really.

00:04:34 They've had both of them at strong showings, particularly Banton,

00:04:36 but they just somehow, I guess due to that lack of depth beyond the top six or seven,

00:04:41 they feel somewhat embedded in the team, even culturally speaking, to some degree.

00:04:45 Is there anything to that?

00:04:46 Preset definitely does.

00:04:47 He feels like he's a Celtic already.

00:04:49 He's painting the nails with the clovers,

00:04:51 and he's in some of the social media stuff that's coming out.

00:04:55 He's got the vlog, obviously, which I know I've seen you commenting all over the place.

00:04:58 We have to keep Preset for the vlogs.

00:05:01 We need the insights.

00:05:03 Can't argue with that.

00:05:04 And then Banton clearly is someone that they either like or want to like.

00:05:09 He's gotten so much more run than I thought he would,

00:05:12 and I think that's because they really wanted to see if there's anything there,

00:05:15 because you just can't find what he does, in theory, many places.

00:05:22 The 6'9" guy that can actually play some point guard, there just isn't many of those guys.

00:05:26 He has the tools.

00:05:27 I don't really feel like he's--

00:05:29 I wouldn't feel super comfortable with him playing 15 minutes a night right now,

00:05:32 I don't think, but I do believe that they believe that they would like to unlock

00:05:37 what he does potentially have, because if they are able to develop him just a little bit,

00:05:41 I think that there's a big payoff, and there is upside there.

00:05:44 Who knows if we actually get it, but it's quite obvious to me

00:05:47 that they like what he could potentially turn into.

00:05:50 Yeah, absolutely. I fully agree.

00:05:51 And with the case of Wenya and Gabriel, he was on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal,

00:05:55 so there's no cap hit or anything there.

00:05:57 It's just a simple cut and wave.

00:06:00 Per Celtics blog--well, first of all, per Celtics blog,

00:06:03 they used Namias Keita as the comparison here,

00:06:06 and that Gabriel didn't capitalize on his on-court opportunities like Namias Keita did.

00:06:11 Keita was +13.7 during his time on the court,

00:06:15 and he had some time with the starters as well,

00:06:17 while Gabriel was a -1.3.

00:06:19 Maybe this goes back to what you were saying, Jake, like it's unfair.

00:06:22 He didn't get time with advanced players, and therefore, how can you cite plus/minus?

00:06:26 But when you start to pick apart the stats,

00:06:29 it's difficult to make the case for Wenya and Gabriel in this case.

00:06:32 Yeah, for me, I feel comfortable and confident with some of the backup wing stuff.

00:06:37 So for me, I don't have any concerns with the roster at all,

00:06:41 like as an actual macro--from a macro perspective, this is the best roster in the NBA.

00:06:46 But if I had to rank my concerns, it's the big man spot.

00:06:51 It's the loop coordinate. It's the Keita.

00:06:53 That's why I would have liked to take one more shot on a guy

00:06:56 that played like 1,000 minutes for the Lakers last season,

00:06:59 who I base a lot of my opinions, especially when we actually get to see them play for the Celtics,

00:07:03 on how that fan base feels about them.

00:07:05 And Lakers fans enjoyed Wenya and Gabriel,

00:07:08 so I thought that it would have made sense to just take that spray-and-pray approach to the big man spot.

00:07:14 But I'm not turning into a Wenya and Gabriel stan.

00:07:18 I'm not going to die on this Wenya and Gabriel heel anytime soon.

00:07:21 Yeah, well, I mean, especially over the--well, maybe you can help me out here

00:07:25 with exactly what the salary cap implications would have been.

00:07:29 But if we were to sign Gabriel on a minimum deal,

00:07:32 where obviously we're committing a roster spot to him, we're committing some salary to him,

00:07:36 there's potentially some repeated tax fallout as well.

00:07:40 So I guess as much as you're saying you like Gabriel,

00:07:43 do you prefer that we're not committing that money to him

00:07:46 and leaving a roster spot open for potentially, shall I say, Blake Griffin?

00:07:50 Yes, Blake Griffin or Jack White, recently cut from the Thunder today.

00:07:54 That is someone I would love, Brad Seay,

00:07:56 and kind of feels this little need that we're talking about as a versatile, switchy, kind of big man,

00:08:02 kind of gives him something a little bit different in the front court.

00:08:05 But no, I would like to keep a roster spot open too.

00:08:07 I would just let go one of Banton, Brissett, or Sfee,

00:08:11 even though those guys have kind of looked--all right, we have Sfee over--

00:08:16 like, Hauser is just a better Sfee to me.

00:08:18 Lamar Stevens is a better Brissett.

00:08:20 And so I would have let one of those two go, maybe.

00:08:23 But I just--whatever Brad does, I'm going to assume was the correct decision at this point.

00:08:28 It's gospel, absolutely.

00:08:29 So Lamar Stevens, speaking of, was not waived.

00:08:32 My guy, your guy.

00:08:33 Yeah, please.

00:08:34 I mean, I've been singing his praises off a mountain since day one,

00:08:37 which was not many days ago, but still singing the tune from the top of the hill.

00:08:41 Not waived and therefore potentially in line for one of those roster spots.

00:08:46 Do you like the--I guess the lack of move here, Jake, in keeping Lamar Stevens around?

00:08:50 Yeah.

00:08:51 I was not on the show to voice how much I liked Lamar Stevens as much as you did, I think.

00:08:56 But from the beginning, I tweeted he's who I believed was going to get that ninth or tenth man spot

00:09:02 out of all these guys.

00:09:04 He started those 25 games for the Cavs.

00:09:08 Again, I'm honestly trying not to read too much into the preseason performances

00:09:12 of these end of bench guys because you don't really--that's just like their roles are going to be different,

00:09:17 their jobs are going to be complete--like so much easier when they're playing around

00:09:22 the starters and the top eight.

00:09:26 I like what Lamar Stevens does.

00:09:27 I think that he fits what the team and Joe is trying to do on the defensive end.

00:09:33 Like he's a really tough, gritty, aggressive defender.

00:09:37 And like, you know, we saw the 20 steals against the Hornets in the preseason game.

00:09:40 There's a clear focus.

00:09:42 JJ Redick podcast that Mazzola was on, he talked about how they didn't force turnovers last year.

00:09:46 It's a clear focus.

00:09:47 Lamar Stevens is that type of guy that gets--like he's kind of like a defensive playmaker,

00:09:52 can block some shots, he can guard up, he can switch onto smaller guys.

00:09:57 I really like him.

00:09:58 I really like Lamar Stevens, especially on defense.

00:10:02 Offensively, look, can't shoot, but he offensive rebounds.

00:10:08 He can get to some spots and hit some tough fadeaways.

00:10:11 Like we don't really need him to be good at offense, honestly.

00:10:14 And I kind of like this small ball five look that he gives us.

00:10:17 Just like athleticism everywhere.

00:10:19 Totally.

00:10:20 And he has that one go-to offensive move out of the corner.

00:10:23 He sort of dribbles, I guess not baseline, the opposite, like towards center court.

00:10:28 And has that sort of pull up just inside of the free throw line, mid-range jumper as well.

00:10:32 And he's like--I think there's been like maybe four or five attempts of that,

00:10:35 but he's extremely money on those looks.

00:10:37 So Lamar Stevens' island is very much under construction.

00:10:40 If you do a flyover at the moment, you look down, it's still tractors and excavators

00:10:44 clearing plots of land.

00:10:45 But the biggest one belongs to me.

00:10:47 There's plenty of plots available for everyone who wants to invest.

00:10:50 Ben is sweating on that island just as much as he is right now,

00:10:53 just building bungalows for Lamar Stevens.

00:10:56 It's a tropical paradise.

00:10:57 Everyone's welcome.

00:10:59 All right.

00:11:00 So the Celtics then currently at 14 players.

00:11:02 So the Jays, KP, Derek, Drew, Al, PP, Hauser, Lamar Stevens, it seems,

00:11:08 Luke Cornett, Zafima Hyluck, O'Shea Brissett, Delano Banton, and Walshie,

00:11:13 Jordan Walsh.

00:11:14 That leaves a roster spot open.

00:11:16 We'll just be quick here because there's like endless speculation to be done

00:11:19 on that final spot.

00:11:20 But do you think that it's going to leave it open and just get into the season

00:11:23 and see where they're at?

00:11:24 As much as I would love them to sign our fellow Australian, Jack White,

00:11:28 I do think it makes a lot more sense to just wait and see how they play.

00:11:33 Is there a need?

00:11:34 Like is that big man spot actually an issue?

00:11:38 Is the wing depth actually an issue?

00:11:40 Or does someone just kind of become available that they didn't think was going

00:11:44 to become available?

00:11:45 Yeah, I think that's what I would do, and I think that's what Brad's going to do.

00:11:48 But Jack White, top of that list.

00:11:51 Yeah, I know Kenny Hussle, he didn't quite shake free there.

00:11:55 But someone good for the Thunder was going to shake free.

00:11:58 They just have so many players.

00:11:59 And unfortunately it was Jack White, who I thought they gave a guaranteed

00:12:03 contract to.

00:12:04 I haven't actually looked into that yet.

00:12:06 But I think they'll just leave it open.

00:12:08 Jack White on the team, like I've never had any luck emailing Celtics PR.

00:12:13 Thanks, Celtics fan.

00:12:15 The way I'm sweating, I'll be first to the floor.

00:12:17 Absolutely.

00:12:18 I've never had any luck getting in touch with Celtics PR.

00:12:20 But imagine if there's an Aussie on the team.

00:12:22 We would be the obvious show to come on.

00:12:25 Am I wrong?

00:12:26 And we missed the Bainsey era, unfortunately, with this podcast,

00:12:29 for the most part.

00:12:30 So bring on Jack White, I'm all for that.

00:12:32 One other roster move that was made.

00:12:34 Nathan Knight, our Knight in shining armor, signed to a two-way contract.

00:12:42 He spent the preseason with the Knicks and the previous two seasons

00:12:46 with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

00:12:48 He actually had career highs against the Celtics in December 2021,

00:12:51 where he dropped 20 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes.

00:12:54 Jake, it's no longer a coincidence, right?

00:12:57 No.

00:12:58 Brad is recruiting guys who have had single instances,

00:13:01 flashes in the pan, if you will, of dominating the Celtics.

00:13:04 It's no longer a coincidence.

00:13:06 Well, he learned from the best.

00:13:07 He saw Doc Rivers doing it for years.

00:13:10 And Doc Rivers, just a flawless coach, flawless GM.

00:13:14 I don't know.

00:13:15 It is very interesting that he's done that.

00:13:18 But our good friend Eric Weiss, who will be joining the podcast

00:13:21 sometime soon as well, I saw him tweet out his support of Nathan Knight.

00:13:26 I remember that Timberwolves game very vividly.

00:13:29 It was like around Christmas time.

00:13:31 I was away, beach, Airbnb, had a couple beers,

00:13:34 and it was like one of the worst losses.

00:13:37 It was the COVID year, I think, where it was just so many players

00:13:43 rotating in and out, which is why Nathan Knight was actually playing.

00:13:47 I remember texting my dad being like,

00:13:48 "I don't know why everybody's freaking out.

00:13:49 I'm not sure if it's because I've just relaxed on holiday

00:13:52 and I've had a couple beers, but it doesn't seem like that bad of a loss."

00:13:55 And my dad replied being like, "No, it's definitely the beers.

00:13:58 That was a horrific, horrific loss."

00:14:02 I remember it well.

00:14:03 Yeah, Nathan Knight.

00:14:06 Two-way, right?

00:14:07 Yeah, two-way.

00:14:09 He's a power forward/center, 26 years old, 6'10", 253 pounds

00:14:13 for all the Dimensions nerds out there.

00:14:15 Probably won't see a lot of time, if any, with the team,

00:14:19 but I guess just some big man depth/insurance for the Celtics there.

00:14:23 Well, they know Cater's not going to be spending too much time in Maine,

00:14:25 so they knew they needed to bring in another big man.

00:14:27 That's right.

00:14:28 It's all about the Maine big man depth, clearly.

00:14:31 All right, we're going to take a very quick break to hear from our sponsor,

00:14:34 and we'll be right back with some NBA Overs discussion.

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00:15:04 Shout-out to FanDuel.

00:15:05 Shout-out to CLNS for presenting this show.

00:15:07 We love them dearly.

00:15:08 Jake, you have constructed, according to our rank sheet here,

00:15:11 the ultimate NBA Overs parlay.

00:15:13 Take it away, sir.

00:15:15 Yeah, this is the put the house on it, par-overs parlay.

00:15:20 Please don't do that.

00:15:21 Thankfully, I don't have a house to put on, so that's good.

00:15:25 So these are all-overs.

00:15:27 I haven't written down the actual, like, win totals because I forgot.

00:15:30 I'm realizing right now.

00:15:31 But all-overs, parlay these all together.

00:15:34 Hawks over, I believe it's 42.5.

00:15:38 Celtics over 54.5.

00:15:40 Heat over 44.5.

00:15:42 Thunder over 44.5.

00:15:44 I'm remembering them now off the top of my head.

00:15:46 Magic over 36.5 and maybe 37.5.

00:15:50 And then Paces over 38.5.

00:15:53 That comes to plus $4,562, which I believe you put $10 on that,

00:16:00 and that's $450.

00:16:02 Clearly, nothing could go wrong there.

00:16:05 But those are, like, of the teams that I went through and looked at,

00:16:08 those are the six I felt the most confident in going over.

00:16:13 I can come -- yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

00:16:15 Any of those jump out at you as not hitting.

00:16:20 Yeah, maybe the Thunder.

00:16:22 Like, I just think there's a lot of hype around the Thunder.

00:16:25 Like, they're very young.

00:16:27 The West is very deep.

00:16:28 There's a lot of competition.

00:16:30 There's a lot of reliance on, like, potential and, you know,

00:16:36 that team continuing to come together and to stay on their trajectory.

00:16:41 I think maybe I'm going to regret this take,

00:16:44 but I think maybe they're a little bit overrated.

00:16:46 So I would maybe hesitate on the Thunder over.

00:16:48 Hawks as well, just because I just don't believe in them as a franchise.

00:16:52 But I'm still going to put money on this responsibly, of course.

00:16:56 You've convinced me, because I love a good parlay.

00:16:59 I'm a multi, as we call it here in Australia, always good fun,

00:17:02 and a good way to keep track of things as the season progresses.

00:17:05 Yes, I'd like to think that I was, like, first on the Thunder,

00:17:09 are going to be really good next season,

00:17:11 because I bet them on FanDuel to win the West at 71 to 1,

00:17:16 and they're all the way down to 26 to 1 at this point,

00:17:19 because the hype train -- clearly my bet moved the markets over the summer.

00:17:24 So that's what's happened there.

00:17:26 I'm kind of a believer, especially regular season-wise,

00:17:29 I think that they try really hard every day,

00:17:32 which cannot be said for pretty much every team, really.

00:17:36 Every game, they're just like balls to the wall.

00:17:39 So that bodes well for their over.

00:17:41 And then Quinn Snyder, I think that a full season of him

00:17:44 could actually get the Hawks.

00:17:45 Not to be -- they're very good.

00:17:46 He's got it winning, like, 44 games.

00:17:48 Yeah, that's true. Not a bad point.

00:17:50 Let's get to the Schadenfreude Report.

00:17:52 [Music]

00:18:08 Jake is back, which means his segment,

00:18:11 our favorite segment on this podcast, the Schadenfreude Report, is back.

00:18:15 Jake, what Schadenfreude have you amassed

00:18:17 in your time away on your honeymoon there?

00:18:19 The pettiness, you know, even when enjoying such bliss,

00:18:22 I have time for my enemies to spare.

00:18:26 I think we're taking a break from Six's Schadenfreude

00:18:28 just because there's only so much time in the day,

00:18:31 in the week, in the year to allocate Six's Schadenfreude.

00:18:35 If they show any signs of life and then they get knocked back down again,

00:18:38 maybe we'll revisit, but we'll save that for another day.

00:18:42 Terry starts quitting out of the blue, like, late at night, our time.

00:18:49 And I know I messaged the chat being like,

00:18:52 "This is good for the Celtics.

00:18:54 I'm hoping it's not like a personal issue."

00:18:56 So I'm going to wait, obviously, to add it to the Schadenfreude Report.

00:19:01 But it's pretty much been reported that the reason that Terry starts quit

00:19:06 is because Adrian Griffin out of practice was trying to get the coaches together

00:19:11 and Terry starts talking to another player and kind of ignoring Adrian Griffin,

00:19:16 I guess is what Griffin took it as.

00:19:18 And then Griffin yelled at Stotts to join the coaches.

00:19:21 You know, a decade veteran head coach, 14 years as an assistant, Terry Stotts.

00:19:28 My guess is this was bubbling and this was like the final straw for Stotts.

00:19:33 Like, he wasn't getting the respect that he thought he deserved

00:19:35 from a first-year head coach in Adrian Griffin.

00:19:38 And he was like, "You know what? I'm so rich.

00:19:40 I've been coaching the Blazers for a decade.

00:19:43 I don't need this, bro."

00:19:45 And he was out of there.

00:19:47 And--

00:19:48 Good for him.

00:19:49 Yeah, get out of there.

00:19:51 Who needs this dame, Giannis, pick and roll potential championship?

00:19:55 The key now is Brad's got to bring him in.

00:19:59 That's the next step to completing this little circle.

00:20:02 But for Bucks fans, I saw various amounts of cope.

00:20:08 There was--we don't really need--

00:20:11 how hard is it to coach a dame, Giannis, offense?

00:20:14 But do not be mistaken.

00:20:16 You can find so many tweets, so many articles about how important

00:20:20 and how Terry Stotts being there is one of the more underrated moves

00:20:25 or pieces of the offseason.

00:20:27 And to punctuate that point, we have heard from the man himself,

00:20:32 Damian Lillard, on how important Terry Stotts was,

00:20:35 obviously, prior to his departure.

00:20:37 I think the fact that Terry is here, you know, Terry--

00:20:41 I played for Terry for nine years, and a lot of the things that we run is,

00:20:45 you know, he's controlling that offense, so it's all familiar.

00:20:49 A lot of times, you know, guys are asking me questions,

00:20:52 like when we talking about plays because I'm familiar with a lot of this stuff.

00:20:56 So I think it helps that it's a new staff, and, you know,

00:21:00 the guy who's in charge of the offense is the guy who I played for for nine years.

00:21:05 Well, that's no longer a thing.

00:21:08 It's not a good thing that they've lost Jim Wright.

00:21:12 No, and, you know, it's no, you know, Emei Yudoka culture shakeup

00:21:17 two days before training camp or whatever it was, but it's something.

00:21:21 And when we're looking for little grooves to fill and find advantages

00:21:26 against other teams, and that can extend to off-the-court stuff,

00:21:30 like cultural things, behind-the-scenes stuff, staffing issues,

00:21:34 that's what we're looking for to have hope, right?

00:21:37 As far as how far the Celtics can go, and especially against their closest rivals,

00:21:41 like the Milwaukee Schmucks, as someone called out in the comments here.

00:21:45 Excellent work from Dave D.

00:21:47 Thank you, Dave D.

00:21:48 So, you know, it's not like a key loss for them, really, I don't think,

00:21:53 but you highlighted there with that video clip, Jake,

00:21:57 that there is a prior relationship between Stotts and Damian Lillard,

00:22:02 and that could affect them at least as they, you know,

00:22:06 get off the mark here early in the season.

00:22:08 It might take them a little bit longer to maybe find their groove as a team.

00:22:11 So I like it as far as, you know, how it bodes for the Celtics,

00:22:14 especially getting out ahead early in terms of our regular season record.

00:22:17 Yeah, and I think that's actually the point, Ben,

00:22:19 is all signs are kind of pointing, I think, to a potential slow start for the Bucs.

00:22:25 And the Bucs and Grizzlies played a preseason game.

00:22:30 The Bucs finally had Dame Yiannis Drew.

00:22:33 Oh, wow.

00:22:34 Freudian slip there.

00:22:35 Dame Yiannis Middleton and Lopez finally together for the first time against--

00:22:44 I'm not sure if it was his first preseason game,

00:22:46 was the first preseason game I watched of Marcus Smart

00:22:49 with him wearing the Memphis Grizzlies uniform, which--

00:22:53 Eye bleach.

00:22:54 Tough, tough.

00:22:57 That's going to hurt when it's a real Celtics-Grizzlies game.

00:23:01 November 20th, I believe, Monday, our time.

00:23:05 But so Marcus Smart won, was excellent in that game,

00:23:08 which I love to see, and has kind of solidified my--

00:23:11 I don't think Drew Holliday's that much better than Marcus Smart.

00:23:15 But we are here.

00:23:18 There's nothing we can do about all of that now.

00:23:20 But the Bucs did just not look good.

00:23:22 The Grizzlies didn't have John Morant, obviously.

00:23:23 They didn't have Stephen Adams,

00:23:26 as was just announced today he's out for the season,

00:23:28 which is a bummer for Smart.

00:23:29 I wanted him to go as deep into the playoffs as possible.

00:23:32 I think they're going to really struggle without Adams and now Jaya.

00:23:35 But the Bucs really struggled on offense.

00:23:38 They looked disjointed.

00:23:40 The defense was a massive issue.

00:23:43 They could not contain--Smart was--the maestro was back.

00:23:47 He was picking them apart.

00:23:49 It was beautiful to see, but it also hurt me at the same time.

00:23:53 But as you said, it looks like a team that's very new

00:23:56 and has a rookie head coach

00:23:58 and is implementing a completely new offensive system

00:24:01 compared to what they've run for pretty much the entirety of this Yarners era.

00:24:06 So the Celtics need to capitalize if there's a slow start.

00:24:11 Seeding doesn't really matter anymore, I don't think.

00:24:13 I think this team's proving they can win on the road.

00:24:15 But you know what's nice?

00:24:16 Being able to rest your players throughout the season,

00:24:18 especially as you get towards the end, when you have these cushions.

00:24:21 Gotta take advantage.

00:24:23 And when you have the chemistry already,

00:24:25 like this comment here in the chat from Michael Spitzer,

00:24:27 "How hard is it to understand that you need the ball in Dame's hands?

00:24:31 Unserious organization."

00:24:33 Yes, I completely--

00:24:35 That was my first reaction as well to watching,

00:24:38 admittedly, just the highlights of their preseason so far.

00:24:41 But on the other hand, Yarners is one of the best players ever,

00:24:45 at least alive right now playing in the league.

00:24:48 You can understand the approach of wanting to use Dame's gravity

00:24:51 to pull defenses away from Yarners and open up more opportunities for Yarners.

00:24:55 So I think they'll figure it out.

00:24:57 I think they'll figure out a balanced approach

00:24:59 where both of them are the focal point of attack offensively.

00:25:04 But at the moment, it seems like they're just in those early stages

00:25:07 of figuring it out and yet to develop that chemistry

00:25:09 that we've fortunately seen from the Celtics early on in the preseason here.

00:25:13 Man, boy have we ever--

00:25:15 It's quite a contrast, honestly, to see how seamless it has looked

00:25:19 for the Celtics versus what I've seen from the Pucks right now.

00:25:23 Yes, and thank fuck that is the case.

00:25:26 Are we not due?

00:25:28 Do you remember the last stacked roster we had?

00:25:30 The Kyrie, A-wood back from injury, where it was like

00:25:33 we're playing the Hornets in the preseason.

00:25:35 I think we went one and four or whatever it was.

00:25:37 We were like, "Uh-oh, what's going on here?"

00:25:39 And now we've got this stacked team again and lo and behold,

00:25:42 they just look good.

00:25:43 Isn't that just pleasant?

00:25:45 Isn't that just a nice reality to just live in?

00:25:48 The vibes are immaculate to start the season.

00:25:53 And just-- I'm not even going to say what I was going to say.

00:25:56 Don't even say it. We know what you're thinking.

00:25:58 What other shot in front have you got for us, Jake?

00:26:01 Yes, so this is an alleged one.

00:26:04 So Nick Nurse has been accused of having a burner account

00:26:08 that goes back to his time with the Raptors.

00:26:11 And man, people on Twitter, man, I don't know how they find this stuff

00:26:14 and they put these things together.

00:26:16 But again, I want to make sure I reiterate this is alleged.

00:26:19 But I have three tweets here from the alleged Nick Nurse burner account.

00:26:25 Let's make sure I get this up correctly. Hang on.

00:26:28 Here we go.

00:26:29 And we can all relate to this.

00:26:31 Which is the burner account?

00:26:33 So the burner account is @mikeleonards1347

00:26:37 and his profile picture is just the NBA logo

00:26:42 like flat on a hardwood like someone's taken a photo of it.

00:26:46 It's terrible.

00:26:48 So someone on Twitter has tweeted,

00:26:50 "Even in preseason, it's so sweet to beat Coach Nick Nurse

00:26:53 while he freaks out on the sideline."

00:26:55 Which, I mean, Celtics fans, I mean, we know this all too well.

00:26:59 I'm never going to get over how annoying he was in that bubble playoff series.

00:27:04 And now he replies to that--

00:27:05 or allegedly Nick Nurse replies to that saying,

00:27:08 "A coach that is just trying to win is a problem?"

00:27:12 Where did I say that it's a problem?

00:27:14 He's goofy and I enjoy beating him. Ha ha.

00:27:17 But yet he's a better coach than you will ever be.

00:27:20 Wow. Easy Nick Nurse.

00:27:23 Which is a very weird comment for a random person to be defending Nick Nurse

00:27:29 at this point in the preseason.

00:27:32 Next we have, "If the Raptors didn't want things to be different,

00:27:35 they wouldn't have fired Nick Nurse.

00:27:37 How Darko's world may impact Gary Trent Jr. and Malachi Flynn.

00:27:41 Mike Leonard's 1347," allegedly Nick Nurse, replies,

00:27:45 "Two unfixable players."

00:27:47 Ooh. Yikes.

00:27:49 Who has these wild takes about Malachi Flynn and Gary Trent Jr.

00:27:54 other than their ex-head coach?

00:27:56 It's hard to say for sure.

00:27:59 And the last one-- there's a lot. I just pulled three that I enjoyed.

00:28:03 Someone tweeted, "It's preseason, but the Raptors had 30 assists

00:28:06 on 39 made field goals tonight.

00:28:08 They only hit 30-plus assists in 9 games all of last season,

00:28:11 including preseason."

00:28:13 Someone replies, "Nick Nurse and Fred were the problem."

00:28:16 Allegedly Nick Nurse replies, "No, they weren't.

00:28:18 It was management not getting a good enough roster."

00:28:22 It's either Nick Nurse or someone that really, really loves Nick Nurse.

00:28:26 Those are the only two options.

00:28:28 Yeah, I mean, you've convinced me, Jake.

00:28:30 I see no reality other than it absolutely being Nick Nurse.

00:28:34 So that's just an interesting little ingredient,

00:28:38 spice added to the pot as we jump into the regular season here.

00:28:41 I was going to say, I started this by saying we don't have any 6s

00:28:44 Schadenfreude, but I guess this is technically 6s Schadenfreude, right?

00:28:47 Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's carried on.

00:28:49 Obviously. Like, what is-- this team, man, they cannot go, what,

00:28:53 two years without a GM or a coach having a burner scandal?

00:28:56 Embarrassing.

00:28:58 That photo as well of the half-court NBA logo,

00:29:01 clearly taken in the bubble.

00:29:04 And who was one of the very few people in the bubble?

00:29:07 Nick Nurse.

00:29:08 Yes, I think Nick Nurse was allowed to have a phone in the bubble.

00:29:10 Could have easily used that phone to take a picture of the logo on the court.

00:29:14 This is just science, man.

00:29:17 Well, there's no doubt in my mind.

00:29:19 What else we got, Jake? Schadenfreude-wise.

00:29:21 I think it's a good time to just reflect on the rest of the Eastern Conference.

00:29:27 We've buried it, we've put a fair bit of dirt on our enemies

00:29:30 throughout the offseason, wherever possible, essentially.

00:29:33 Is there anyone in the Eastern Conference that you are scared of outside the Bucs?

00:29:37 Are you even scared of the Bucs?

00:29:40 Yeah, I think long-term, the Bucs are the team that I'm most worried about

00:29:43 because, like I said, I do think they'll figure it out.

00:29:46 And if we get into a series with the Bucs,

00:29:49 they've got the best player in that series, without question.

00:29:52 So that terrifies me a little bit.

00:29:54 Yeah, I know, we've probably won.

00:29:56 I mean, you're right.

00:29:58 Objectively, I am right.

00:30:00 But does he have very exploitable vulnerabilities in his game

00:30:04 throughout the course of a playoff series

00:30:06 in terms of being able to back off and form a wall around Giannis?

00:30:09 Yes, but we don't have enough time to unpack that.

00:30:12 Objectively speaking, he is the best player, yes.

00:30:15 And possibly top two players in the league.

00:30:17 In fact, almost certainly.

00:30:19 So the Bucs, they absolutely scare me.

00:30:21 The Heat remains to be seen, right?

00:30:23 Because Heat culture, as much as we love to shit on it here,

00:30:26 particularly in the Chardon-Freudia report

00:30:28 and with those dogshit jerseys that they put out recently,

00:30:30 Heat culture is still a thing,

00:30:32 and I'm just a little bit wary of how Heat culture permeates

00:30:36 through this new, I guess, refined roster, for lack of a better term.

00:30:40 And they still have their guys.

00:30:42 They've still got Jimmy Buckets, they've still got Bam.

00:30:45 Not worried about Kyle Lowry.

00:30:47 So, you know, I am worried about what they can do to us.

00:30:50 I guess, as opposed to last year,

00:30:52 not necessarily over the course of a playoff series,

00:30:55 but more during the regular season on a particular game,

00:30:59 what can they bring to us that we don't have time

00:31:02 to develop a scheme against?

00:31:04 That worries me.

00:31:05 Beyond that, though, looking down some of the best,

00:31:08 quote-unquote, "best teams" in the East,

00:31:10 like the Cavs, maybe, the Knicks, maybe.

00:31:13 I think the Knicks might have one of the more ferocious defences

00:31:16 that might trouble us a little bit.

00:31:18 But, yeah, it's not particularly terrifying,

00:31:20 looking down the Eastern Conference teams.

00:31:22 - What do you think? - No. No. It's not at all.

00:31:24 And I think that's the point, is that this Eastern Conference is...

00:31:27 Partly it feels like that because of how good the Celtics are right now.

00:31:31 Like, if we had not made some of the changes again,

00:31:34 I think we might feel a little bit differently.

00:31:36 But right now, I mean, I'm really trying to hold myself back

00:31:39 from getting over my skis

00:31:41 and how confident I feel about the Celtics

00:31:43 because I kind of think that Brad may have done it.

00:31:47 I think that he may have done the thing.

00:31:49 And we're going to just be, like, a team that...

00:31:52 Like, it finally happened.

00:31:54 Like, the team has showed flashes of being, like, 21-5,

00:31:59 you know, world beaters at times.

00:32:01 But there's always been, like, that little... that next level.

00:32:04 And I have this feeling that we may...

00:32:06 But I'm not saying that.

00:32:07 I'm just saying that I'm holding back from saying that, obviously.

00:32:10 But the rest of the Eastern Conference is just not that good.

00:32:13 But if you're going to rank who I'm most scared to play in the playoffs,

00:32:16 it's boxing and heat.

00:32:17 Like, with a bullet, it's the heat.

00:32:19 If we play them in the playoffs again, I'm going to be shitting my pants.

00:32:23 - Yeah, totally. - And, like, who knows?

00:32:25 Maybe we'll just sweep them finally,

00:32:27 as we should have, really, in the past two years.

00:32:30 But it's just devil magic.

00:32:33 Yeah, and we just need some luck.

00:32:35 Like, any team to come away with a championship

00:32:37 they do so with luck on their side, always.

00:32:39 And health is a huge factor, and for health in particular.

00:32:42 But, you know, I get the health of other teams, and chemistry,

00:32:46 and the way that, you know, we probably need, like,

00:32:49 a person in rotation spot 8 and 9 to pop a little bit.

00:32:52 Like, we do need some luck in that sense still.

00:32:55 But I agree that, like, Brad's done it in the sense

00:32:57 that he's done everything that he can.

00:32:59 Like, he's put everything on the table,

00:33:01 and now things just need to sort of fall into place from there.

00:33:04 We need to be able to do that.

00:33:06 We need to be able to sort of fall into place from there.

00:33:08 We need the ghost of Red Auerbach.

00:33:10 We need the leprechaun in the building.

00:33:12 We need those things to get us over the line.

00:33:14 But we're better poised than we have been since 2008 or 2009, I think.

00:33:17 So that's exciting.

00:33:19 We should move on to our predictions for end of regular season awards

00:33:22 and what Celtics might be vying for a position

00:33:25 with these regular season awards, Jake.

00:33:28 So who do you think might be--

00:33:30 I might spoil this one a little bit--

00:33:32 but who might come away with the MVP

00:33:34 who plays for the Boston Celtics?

00:33:36 I think there is someone on the Celtics that could potentially win.

00:33:40 Luca has been top three in MVP odds for, like, his whole career.

00:33:44 I don't know how he keeps getting into that conversation

00:33:47 because to win the MVP, really, he's going to need to be, like,

00:33:50 a top three seed, which I don't see for the Mavs.

00:33:53 But Pilota's model must want to bet on Luca,

00:33:55 which is why his odds are always up there.

00:33:57 But Tatum at three, I do think he can win this award.

00:34:01 The way that he avoids--

00:34:03 the way that he actually wins it as opposed to being just, like,

00:34:06 you know, in the tier two of candidates,

00:34:09 avoids whatever stretch it is,

00:34:11 if it's the beginning of the season, the middle of the season,

00:34:14 where he just misses every single--

00:34:17 like, where he shoots, like, 18% from three.

00:34:19 Yeah.

00:34:21 Can he do enough--

00:34:23 like, everyone's going to go through a slump shooting-wise,

00:34:26 but do we see those nights where he kind of goes the other way

00:34:29 and leans into, like, "I'm trying to fix my shot tonight,

00:34:32 so I'm shooting 12 threes, but I'm going two for 12"?

00:34:35 I think we've seen signs of him looking for other ways

00:34:38 to impact the game offensively,

00:34:40 and it looks like it's coming from the post,

00:34:42 which I haven't been on the podcast yet,

00:34:45 to say thank you to Sam Cassell, to the Passport Gods,

00:34:50 to whoever has finally made the post-up game for Jason Tatum a focus

00:34:55 because I think that is how he's going to be able to avoid

00:34:58 some of those nights where he is three for 16 or four for 18

00:35:03 because he can get to the line more, he can get in the post,

00:35:05 he can get seven or eight assists out of the post.

00:35:09 That, I think, is how he gets into that MVP conversation.

00:35:13 He needs to cut-- because everyone's going to have stinkers--

00:35:16 can he cut his stinkers in half?

00:35:18 That would be, I think, how he gets into, like,

00:35:20 actual tier one MVP candidate consideration.

00:35:24 Yeah, so all of that I fully agree,

00:35:26 but the defensive side of the ball as well.

00:35:28 I think he might be, if not the best defensive player on the team,

00:35:31 the most versatile defensive player on the team,

00:35:34 especially now with Marcus Smart.

00:35:35 I think he's the most switchable player.

00:35:37 He can defend almost all positions.

00:35:40 Maybe he sort of suffers a little bit defending the five there,

00:35:43 but ultimately he's the best defensive player on the team all in all, I think,

00:35:48 and obviously the best two-way player on the team,

00:35:51 if not the entire league.

00:35:53 If he executes out of those post-ups, three to five looks per game,

00:35:56 hopefully more, because he's clearly capable of executing

00:35:59 on all of the opportunities that are presented to him

00:36:01 out of those post-up looks.

00:36:02 That's been very sexy so far.

00:36:05 Yes, sir.

00:36:06 Keeps doing what he's doing defensively.

00:36:08 If he packages those things together and is consistent with it,

00:36:11 kind of like you said, Jake, I think he will be vying for MVP

00:36:14 and certainly another All-NBA First Team spot as well.

00:36:17 Deepoy, who do you think on the Celtics might be vying

00:36:19 for Defensive Player of the Year?

00:36:22 I don't think anyone on the team can actually win Deepoy.

00:36:26 I know Marcus Smart got it a couple of years ago.

00:36:29 I guess I'll ask you this.

00:36:30 Do you think the Celtics defense is going to be better than last year?

00:36:33 Worse? The same?

00:36:35 Maybe, yes, like in a different way.

00:36:39 Like the weak point is clearly Paul Zingas, right?

00:36:42 And we've seen him defend and drop with varying levels of success.

00:36:47 And I think as the preseason went on, he clearly got better

00:36:51 at positioning himself in drop defense.

00:36:53 And we know from last year, his stats as a drop defender

00:36:58 are actually surprisingly good.

00:36:59 So I sort of expect that to continue to trend upwards

00:37:02 as the season progresses.

00:37:04 But the main thing I noticed from watching our team in the preseason

00:37:07 was the chaos created by both Drew Holiday and Derek White

00:37:11 as defensive guards.

00:37:13 They were just absolutely creating mayhem out there.

00:37:16 And you add the full court, like the 2-1-2 press

00:37:20 that we're occasionally running as well.

00:37:21 And they were making life so, so difficult for our opposition.

00:37:25 And it kind of just frees the Jays and Paul Zingas up to kind of,

00:37:28 I don't want to say relax a little bit, but just lean more into

00:37:31 their offensive domination a little bit while all the gritty work

00:37:34 is done by Drew and Derek White.

00:37:36 So there's definitely potential for the defense to be better,

00:37:40 but it hinges so much on Paul Zingas that I'm not willing

00:37:43 to make that claim just yet.

00:37:45 Yeah, I think so as well.

00:37:47 I just love that they're leaning into this different identity

00:37:50 because I think on paper the defensive personnel is pretty much

00:37:54 the same to me, especially in the regular season when talking

00:37:57 about defensive player of the year.

00:37:59 Marcus definitely slipped regular season-wise.

00:38:02 He was really good in the playoffs.

00:38:03 Drew was one of the best defenders in the league last season

00:38:07 in the regular season.

00:38:09 So I think you replace him with Marcus regular season-wise.

00:38:12 But I guess if you assume Paul Zingas plays 55, 60, 65 games

00:38:19 compared to what Rob played, maybe the overall defense

00:38:22 is slightly better.

00:38:23 They were the second-best defense in the league.

00:38:25 Just never felt like it last year.

00:38:28 Personnel-wise, I don't see how they're going to be better.

00:38:30 But what I'm really liking so far is the approach being different

00:38:33 because it didn't make sense last season for us to not generate

00:38:36 turnovers because you have Marcus, you have Derek,

00:38:39 you have Jalen and Jason, these guys that are all long,

00:38:41 that are mostly all really high IQ defenders and are really good

00:38:47 at getting hands in passing lanes.

00:38:49 So if they do that and that works, that's where I can see the defense

00:38:52 actually being better than last year.

00:38:55 But as far as winning Deepway goes, I'm not sure I see it for anyone

00:39:00 because everyone's going to be stealing points from each other.

00:39:03 Yeah.

00:39:04 Well, per FanDuel, Drew Holliday plus 2,500 for Defensive

00:39:07 Player of the Year, Jason Tatum plus 12,000, which is spicy.

00:39:14 Am I wrong?

00:39:15 Is that 120 to 1?

00:39:17 I believe so.

00:39:18 Yeah.

00:39:19 I struggle because the formatting of the betting logic is different

00:39:21 in Australia, but I know that's worth wagering on responsibly,

00:39:25 of course, via FanDuel.

00:39:27 Shout-out our sponsor FanDuel and CLNS.

00:39:29 Yeah, that's interesting.

00:39:30 I would have thought he would have shorter odds than that

00:39:32 given his defensive prowess, but interesting.

00:39:36 Six Man of the Year.

00:39:38 Really, it's like it's Horford or nobody as far as the Celtics are concerned?

00:39:42 This is what's interesting.

00:39:43 What's interesting is I went to go find the Horford

00:39:46 Six Man of the Year odds on FanDuel, and they're not there.

00:39:50 Drew Holliday and Derek White are there at Drew Holliday's 19 to 1

00:39:58 plus 1,900, Derek White's plus 2,300.

00:40:01 So I really want them to add Al Horford because I want to be able to bet

00:40:07 on him at a million to 1 because I like the idea of that starting five

00:40:14 being Derek, Drew, Jalen, Jason, Puzzingers.

00:40:18 It does sound like-- I mean, Joe's basically saying they're going to change

00:40:21 the starting lineup every single night.

00:40:24 I don't know.

00:40:25 To me, for the teams that it makes sense to start double-pig against,

00:40:29 you do that.

00:40:30 The Milwaukees, the Clevelands, the Phillies where you want to have

00:40:33 Puzzingers in the roaming role off PJ Tucker like we did with Rob.

00:40:37 The teams that have clear double-pig lineups where the matchup makes sense,

00:40:40 that's where Horford starts.

00:40:42 And then maybe you alternate who comes off the bench between Derek and Drew

00:40:45 to make the sacrifice equal amongst those guys.

00:40:49 But to me, it makes perfect sense to have Horford come off the bench

00:40:52 for the majority of the season where you can get his minutes down to 26, 25, 24.

00:40:57 And how excited did Al Horford look to come off the bench?

00:41:00 So I feel like he's just juvenation.

00:41:04 It's the definition of.

00:41:06 Absolutely.

00:41:07 A bit of hustle out there.

00:41:08 Yeah.

00:41:09 I mean, I think hopefully Horford, yeah, maybe he's in with a chance

00:41:12 if we're consistent with our starting lineup.

00:41:15 It sounds like from what you're saying, what Joe's saying,

00:41:17 we may not be.

00:41:18 And people shudder at that, but if you can do that successfully,

00:41:22 shuffling the starting lineup that is, then it's a sign of buy-in

00:41:26 from top to bottom, or at least your top six or seven players.

00:41:29 So it's actually, if done well and successfully, a sign of success.

00:41:32 So I think we've got to at least allow that a chance as far as shuffling

00:41:37 the lineup per match-ups or based on match-ups, like you said there, Jake.

00:41:40 I think hopefully with Horford's case, if he does consistently come off the bench,

00:41:43 hopefully he'll have the luxury of missing too many games.

00:41:47 Hopefully things go so well that we can rest him enough such that

00:41:51 he technically doesn't even really qualify for Sixth Man of the Year

00:41:54 because we just haven't seen him enough, and we've done so to preserve him

00:41:56 for the playoffs.

00:41:57 Yeah, he did play 63 games last year he played, and I think you technically

00:42:02 need 65 in order to qualify.

00:42:06 Yeah, if that's the reason he doesn't win, and everybody's like,

00:42:08 "Al Horford was kind of the best Sixth Man of the Year, but he doesn't win

00:42:11 because he only played 59 games, all due to rest reasons,"

00:42:16 I'll hang up.

00:42:17 I'll get my own Al Horford Sixth Man of the Year trophy and send it to him.

00:42:20 Yeah, I'll stitch something together, a little banner,

00:42:23 a little first-to-the-floor emblem on the bottom, mail it to him.

00:42:25 If anyone has Al Horford's address, just chuck it in the comments here.

00:42:28 Yes, please.

00:42:29 Coach of the Year, is Joey Mazz in with a shot, or will the pool of talent

00:42:34 hurt him because the expectations are too high?

00:42:38 The Celtics are going to be so good, but man, even me saying it,

00:42:43 I don't want to jinx this so much, but I really do believe in this team

00:42:46 being like, "60 wins, good."

00:42:49 Maybe they don't get there because of rest and things like that,

00:42:52 but I really think this team is that good.

00:42:55 So someone has to win the awards, and Tatum might not win the MVP or whatever,

00:43:03 but I do think if Joe Mazzola is able to bring this group together,

00:43:08 incorporate Porzingis, incorporate Drew Holiday, get the buy-in of Drew,

00:43:13 Derek, Al to rotate this Sixth Man of the Year role,

00:43:17 then there's going to be the feature article that comes out from,

00:43:22 I don't know, Ramona Shelbourne who's talking about how Joe Mazzola's gotten

00:43:26 Rondo and Paul Pierce and Jonas Jarebko to come back into the facility.

00:43:33 Please. That would be very vindicating for me personally.

00:43:37 Sorry, continue.

00:43:39 Can we get Jonas Jarebko back, please?

00:43:42 That's who the guys want to hear from.

00:43:44 But to rebuild this, how much have we wanted and we've seen online

00:43:49 about how much people want to get the old Celtics back in the building,

00:43:53 and Joe being the guy to do it, get Rondo back in?

00:43:57 How many times have we been like, "We need a better point guard.

00:43:59 Can we get Rondo in to either play or coach?"

00:44:02 Well, here he is talking about how he wants a nine-day contract

00:44:05 and just running one-on-one drills with Pritchard and Jordan Walsh and this stuff.

00:44:09 There's going to be that feature article.

00:44:11 If the Celtics are playing well, that's going to come out.

00:44:14 I do think, especially when you contrast it to how people love narratives,

00:44:19 you contrast it to where we were with Joe Mazzola at the end of the playoff run

00:44:23 last year.

00:44:24 If he comes in and we're running these presses, we've got a zone look.

00:44:27 The Celtics are forcing the most turnovers in the league this year.

00:44:30 That was an emphasis because they didn't do that last year.

00:44:34 These are all the little things that Joe Mazzola implemented.

00:44:37 They did not have the chance to implement because he got thrown into the fire

00:44:40 two weeks before the season started.

00:44:43 This actually might be the one I can actually see happening more than any

00:44:45 of the other ones.

00:44:47 Yes, you're selling me on it.

00:44:49 If they're just as good as they should be, then it would be difficult not to

00:44:54 award him that because if they're as good as they should be, then they should be

00:44:57 really, really, really fucking good, basically.

00:45:00 Yes, and don't forget we're going to have the--

00:45:04 I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I think the overall coaching

00:45:08 bump is going to be real.

00:45:10 Just Joe being year two and then having Cassell, Charles Lee, all these guys.

00:45:15 Terry Stotts.

00:45:16 Terry Stotts, that's right.

00:45:20 Excellent call.

00:45:21 Will having those guys take away from his candidacy or does the overall coaching

00:45:29 acumen of a team just get assigned to one guy or is there going to be some

00:45:34 bullshit narrative where it's like, "Actually, it's because of--

00:45:37 it's because of Cassell and Charles Lee," which I don't really care if we're

00:45:42 having to have that conversation about the coaching being so good that they're

00:45:47 trying to take credit away, but I do think that it's possible that Joe wins it.

00:45:51 Yes, you know if Joe gets it, he's going to attribute it to everyone on his

00:45:54 staff anyway, so I'm completely okay with that.

00:45:57 Executive of the year.

00:45:59 Yes, yes, yes.

00:46:00 Brad Stevens.

00:46:01 Can we just take a moment to recap the off-season that was very quickly?

00:46:06 Let me know if I'm missing anything here because I did this on the fly earlier

00:46:09 today while I was on an exercise bike.

00:46:11 So essentially, trades Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon and Time Lord and two

00:46:16 picks, one of which was not ours, it belonged to the Warriors, for Drew Holiday

00:46:21 and Chris Tapp's Porzingis.

00:46:23 Amazing, amazing talent acquisition.

00:46:25 Signs Peyton Pritchard to a four-year, seven-point-something-per-year contract.

00:46:30 Max's Jalen Brown extends Porzingis.

00:46:33 I don't know if the coaching hires count, I think it's more of a Joe thing,

00:46:36 but you've got to imagine that he had his hand in the cookie jar to some degree.

00:46:41 Is Namias Keita something maybe?

00:46:44 Do you add that to the executive of the year resume?

00:46:46 Have I missed anything there, Jake, and do you think he'll win?

00:46:49 I mean, draft night.

00:46:51 How did he break the record for most second-round picks accumulated in one night?

00:46:57 Jordan Walsh.

00:46:59 I'm just going to say that he was all summer league team.

00:47:02 I don't know if he was or not, but in my heart, he definitely was all summer league

00:47:06 first team.

00:47:07 I subscribe to that.

00:47:08 Yeah, he looks like he kind of hit on that pick.

00:47:12 If the Porzingis thing-- again, if this works, I think I do wonder if the players

00:47:17 are going to all split votes amongst-- that it's going to end up being either Brad

00:47:23 or Joe that end up getting the credit.

00:47:25 Because I feel like even when Brad was doing an awesome job, we oscillated

00:47:29 between Brad's the best coach that's ever coached before.

00:47:35 I know Chris Maddox has the famous tweet.

00:47:37 It's like, "How many picks does-- if you're doing a fantasy draft, what pick

00:47:42 does Brad Stevens go?"

00:47:43 And he had Brad in the top five.

00:47:46 It was like LeBron, Steph, and Brad over Giannis.

00:47:49 I forget what it was, but it was something outrageous-- or maybe not so outrageous,

00:47:54 but then the next year it was the players' fault or whatever.

00:47:57 So it always is interesting to see who gets the credit or the blame depending

00:48:02 on the season.

00:48:03 But I don't know.

00:48:04 I can see a lot of the credit going towards Brad and Joe as far as the awards

00:48:10 voting stuff goes.

00:48:12 Well, who else is vying for it at this point?

00:48:14 Who else has even come close to putting together-- and the transformation

00:48:19 from last year to this year, who else has come as close as Brad Stevens?

00:48:23 I think James Jones for the Suns will be in consideration if that works.

00:48:29 Often these are like two-year awards.

00:48:31 He'll get credit for the KD plus the Bradley Beal trade.

00:48:34 And then if Dame and Giannis are amazing, that's maybe something that works.

00:48:40 I don't know.

00:48:41 Chris Paul juvenation?

00:48:42 I don't know.

00:48:43 That's not really enough to really move the needle on an award like this.

00:48:46 I'm sure with George's Niang and Max Drew, so they move the needle enough

00:48:51 to get Kirby Altman, the drunk driver, an award.

00:48:57 I don't know.

00:48:58 I'm assuming that will probably disqualify him actually now that I've mentioned it.

00:49:01 Yeah, yeah.

00:49:02 Maybe.

00:49:03 Lakers have a decent--

00:49:04 True.

00:49:05 They do well.

00:49:06 Like, Reece Hein, Reeves in a good spot.

00:49:08 Maybe they flip D-Lo for someone.

00:49:11 But yeah, Brad's in as good a spot as anybody to win that award.

00:49:16 Spurs could just get it just for drafting Webby.

00:49:18 It's like, out of the luck.

00:49:19 You are amazing.

00:49:20 You win all the awards.

00:49:21 Congratulations.

00:49:22 And for decades of success.

00:49:24 Yeah, absolutely fair.

00:49:26 But also, I mean, you and me could be running the Spurs now.

00:49:30 That's true.

00:49:31 Yeah, easily done.

00:49:32 Most improved player, I don't think we have anything here.

00:49:35 I think the Jays are too good.

00:49:36 Drew and Porzingis are too good.

00:49:38 Real ball knowers know that Derek White is too good also.

00:49:41 And I don't think Peyton Pritchard--

00:49:44 He'll be the team's most improved player.

00:49:46 I think that's a luck.

00:49:48 I don't think he's going to be seen enough by voters around the league

00:49:53 to actually get the award himself.

00:49:55 No, he's not.

00:49:56 I did see his odds.

00:49:57 I think it was like 60 to 1 or 600 to 1 or something.

00:50:00 Yeah, that seems low.

00:50:02 Something like that.

00:50:04 I am excited for the Peyton Pritchard explosion because I think--

00:50:07 PP explosion.

00:50:09 Sorry.

00:50:10 That's my fault.

00:50:11 I apologize.

00:50:12 No, that's my fault.

00:50:13 I should have gone.

00:50:14 That's on me.

00:50:15 I should have been first for that one.

00:50:18 I think that if the PP is good,

00:50:21 that there are a few things that are going to make the collective NBA intelligentsia

00:50:26 more upset, like non-Celtics fans.

00:50:30 Because we've been talking about how Pritchard's actually good for a while.

00:50:33 People are like, "He's good."

00:50:35 And everyone's like, "No, he's just a little white boy from Boston.

00:50:37 Everybody thinks he's good because of that."

00:50:39 But it's like, no, we believe that he's actually good.

00:50:41 If he comes out and actually does what we think he can do,

00:50:45 it's going to make so many people annoyed, which is going to make me happy.

00:50:48 Oh, yeah.

00:50:49 Yeah, utmost joy.

00:50:50 Really good comment from Jesse in the chat here.

00:50:52 He says, "If ESPN has white out of the top 100,

00:50:55 I would think he can be a contention for MIP,"

00:50:57 which is a really interesting point.

00:51:00 All-stars, Jason Tatum, Locke.

00:51:03 And is this where we see the talent pool again?

00:51:06 This is the problem.

00:51:07 It's been the key theme in the preseason and training camp so far.

00:51:11 Is the sacrifice such that guys are sacrificing potential all-star points at this point?

00:51:16 Yeah, I think this is the question is,

00:51:19 who's most likely to be the second all-star?

00:51:22 Because I think it's probably Porzingis.

00:51:26 And I really--Jalen's the obvious choice, right?

00:51:30 But I have a feeling that Porzingis is going to get his way in here

00:51:34 just because I think he's going to be so efficient.

00:51:37 His life's just going to be so easy.

00:51:39 And he's going to have such an obvious impact on the Celtics' offense

00:51:43 that people are going to ascribe a lot of that credit to him.

00:51:47 So it's going to be all--who knows?

00:51:49 Maybe we're going to be like the Atlanta Hawks

00:51:51 where we have three or four all-stars.

00:51:53 Keep going, Jake.

00:51:56 Can Derek White make--can we have a starting five of Celtics' all-stars?

00:52:02 If Derek White makes the all-star team, he will win all-star MVP

00:52:06 because he'll be hustling around all the way through the game.

00:52:09 But that's not going to happen.

00:52:11 I think Porzingis--Tatum, yes, definitely.

00:52:14 He's by far the biggest beneficiary of all the moves, as he should be.

00:52:18 Everything should be centered around him.

00:52:20 We talked about the post-up opportunities.

00:52:22 We talked about his size, bigger, faster, stronger, etc.

00:52:25 Porzingis might be the exception to the idea of,

00:52:28 well, sacrifices are going to have to be made

00:52:30 because he's just going to be so fucking open all season

00:52:34 that if he can just hit shots and then defend semi-decently and drop there

00:52:39 and our defensive rating--or ranking, rather--remains top five-ish,

00:52:43 I think he'll be vying for an all-star spot as well.

00:52:46 He was getting all-star buzz last year.

00:52:49 Not from a lot of people because the Wizards weren't winning a lot of games,

00:52:53 but that's how good he was last year.

00:52:55 I think he's going to be so involved.

00:52:57 We talk about sacrifice, but the thing with Porzingis sacrificing,

00:53:01 maybe he's not going to get as many throw-him-the-ball touches, potentially.

00:53:05 He's involved in every action.

00:53:07 Anytime it breaks down, he's reset, and we run a pick-and-roll,

00:53:11 pick-and-pop, or get him on the mid-roll as well.

00:53:14 He's just this three-layered approach to his offense

00:53:17 where I think he's just naturally going to be very heavily involved, obviously.

00:53:21 I do worry that Jalen will be upset if he doesn't make the all-star game,

00:53:28 and Porzingis does, but that's what the $300 million is for.

00:53:31 That's right. That's what the money's for, to quote Don Draper.

00:53:34 All-NBA spots. Tatum, again, sorry to jump to that, but obvious.

00:53:39 Maybe this is where, again, Jalen starts to get angered a little bit.

00:53:44 There's no way he can make All-NBA, right, given the bevy of talent around him?

00:53:48 No, and now it's positionless.

00:53:50 Now it's not two guards, two forwards, one big man.

00:53:54 Jalen kind of made it in part because he was a forward,

00:53:58 and the forward pool was like LeBron was injured, KD was injured.

00:54:03 A lot of these guys might be injured again,

00:54:05 but there was a lot of injuries to that position,

00:54:07 and Jalen was the beneficiary of that a little bit.

00:54:10 Obviously, he was awesome and deserved to be in with a shot anyway,

00:54:14 but if you're now allowing eight guards and five big men,

00:54:20 it's just all of a sudden--

00:54:22 Sabonis probably would have made All-NBA last year.

00:54:26 Did he even? Guys like Bam, Sabonis, these fringe big men that--

00:54:31 because Embiid and Jokic always get two of the big man All-NBA spots,

00:54:35 and there's only one more, but now probably there's going to be one or two,

00:54:39 maybe more than usual, so some guys are going to start to get squeezed.

00:54:43 I would be very surprised if there's a second All-NBA Celtic.

00:54:49 Yes, fully agree. Championship, that's the goal for the next one to six years,

00:54:53 according to Wick there, so I subscribe to that also.

00:54:57 All right, that was fun.

00:54:58 We are going to move on to a new segment, a semi-reoccurring segment

00:55:02 that we are going to call Lizard Brain Take.

00:55:04 There's a lizard in my brain!

00:55:06 I'm not going to call that intro, but that's all we've got for now.

00:55:08 So a Lizard Brain Take, Jake.

00:55:10 So what is a Lizard Brain Take?

00:55:13 Essentially, it's where we deactivate the civilized, developed, evolved parts

00:55:19 of our brain and allow our reptilian brain, our reactionary brain,

00:55:24 our primal brain, if you will, to focus on the Celtics.

00:55:28 So with that said, Jake, what is your Lizard Brain Celtic Take?

00:55:33 Yes, look, I felt like the old guy on the podcast once.

00:55:37 You and Spoonie talking about Lizard Brain Takes, and I had to Google.

00:55:40 I went to Urban Dictionary for the Lizard Brain definition

00:55:43 just to make sure I was correct, and it was like, you know,

00:55:46 you get so high that you just stop worrying about what your thoughts

00:55:49 actually sound like, which I cannot confirm or deny has happened to me before.

00:55:56 But I'll go with mine.

00:55:58 And we talked a lot about sacrifice.

00:56:02 One guy that probably isn't going to have to sacrifice too much

00:56:05 as far as his role and starting position goes, Jalen Brown.

00:56:10 Could we bring Jalen Brown off the bench?

00:56:14 Could Jalen Brown be the Sixth Man of the Year?

00:56:17 Sixth Man of the Year, the Sixth Man role is all about buckets.

00:56:21 Jalen Brown, you sub Tate amount, he gets his early sub, you know,

00:56:26 and in comes Jalen Brown, still surrounded by Derek, Drew, Al, and Porzingis,

00:56:31 and everybody's job is just feed Jalen in the best possible spots,

00:56:36 and he can just gun.

00:56:37 He's just getting them up, pull-ups, getting downhill, coming off screens.

00:56:40 He's just gunning, gunning, which we know he loves to do.

00:56:45 And then the starting five all of a sudden has all of our five best decision makers

00:56:48 and our five best defenders.

00:56:51 The fact that we can say that Jalen Brown is our sixth best defender

00:56:54 is not a slight to Jalen Brown.

00:56:56 He's a good defender, maybe not as good as his reputation,

00:56:59 but I think that his versatility, all those things, Jalen's our sixth best defender,

00:57:04 and I think it's pretty obvious that he's our sixth best decision maker

00:57:08 with the ball in his hands.

00:57:09 So you have these guys come in and then Jalen just boom, body blow, 3-3, JB, 4-3.

00:57:19 It's the perfect lizard brain take because there's some fundamental logic to it, right?

00:57:25 Like everything that you're saying, you make a good point,

00:57:28 and then it's only once you start to add logic and evolve civilized brain to it

00:57:33 that you start to rule out why that could be the case.

00:57:36 The obvious point there is Jalen Brown's contract, his tenure with the team.

00:57:40 You just wouldn't do it.

00:57:42 But all logic aside, all non-reptilian brain thought power aside, it makes sense.

00:57:50 People in the comments, let us know your thoughts.

00:57:52 It's not going to happen, but it's the perfect lizard brain take.

00:57:55 I'm all for it.

00:57:57 Maybe it's something we see with a 33-year-old Jalen Brown one day,

00:58:02 like that maybe becomes kind of like the Lou Williams of hopefully the Celtics still

00:58:05 or whatever team he's on.

00:58:07 That could be interesting.

00:58:08 That's a great lizard brain take.

00:58:09 Love the debut take of this segment.

00:58:12 I have a take.

00:58:14 There's one remaining roster spot on the Celtics.

00:58:18 Is it not now time?

00:58:21 And remember, this is a lizard brain take.

00:58:22 Do not take this out of context.

00:58:24 You can't clip any of these, right, because they'll be taken out of context.

00:58:26 This is limited to the podcast.

00:58:28 It's a podcast exclusive.

00:58:30 We've got one roster spot left.

00:58:32 Is it not now time to bring back Isaiah Thomas?

00:58:36 Like, we're going to win a championship.

00:58:39 Bring him along for the ride.

00:58:41 Give him what he deserves.

00:58:43 Give him -- you can sign into a vet minimum.

00:58:45 He's not signing anywhere else.

00:58:47 We've got the open roster spot.

00:58:49 We can always cut him, which actually would be devastatingly brutal to cut him again

00:58:54 or to get rid of him again.

00:58:56 But I feel like we're giving him what he deserves to bring him along for this ride.

00:59:02 And he can just kind of do his thing and get the ring and, you know, again, lizard brain.

00:59:08 Look, look, look.

00:59:12 Like, right now we are kind of thin at, like, another legitimate, like, point guard, guard, ball handler guy.

00:59:22 Isaiah Thomas, I'm sure he can still handle the ball.

00:59:27 He looks -- him and Peyton Pritchard shared the court together this summer at the Toronto Ball Don't Stop Pro-Am.

00:59:37 I want to say yes so badly because, like, that was maybe my favorite Celtics season of all time.

00:59:43 The king and the fourth.

00:59:44 Is it time to bring him back?

00:59:46 Look, lizard brain.

00:59:48 Yeah, obviously.

00:59:49 And it would be devastating if he saw the court at all in any sort of relevant part of any game.

00:59:54 I could admit that as part of my lizard brain thought process.

00:59:58 But I don't know.

01:00:00 I just feel like we can't bring Marcus Smart along.

01:00:02 We can't bring Jonas Drebko along, although technically I think we could.

01:00:06 But we could definitely bring Isaiah Thomas along for the ride and give that man a championship ring for the Celtics.

01:00:12 Look, just got to brief him.

01:00:14 Hey, if you want your NBA contract, he, to me, he looks quite clear that he would play any role,

01:00:18 which would also involve not playing at all.

01:00:21 So I do think that he would be totally comfortable not playing unless there was, like, an emergency injury situation.

01:00:26 But also, can you imagine?

01:00:28 We're up 30 against the Hornets, probably, at home.

01:00:32 It's IT time.

01:00:37 It's tapping the watch.

01:00:39 It's Gino time.

01:00:40 He hits a step back three.

01:00:42 Pshhh.

01:00:44 PP explosions everywhere, dude.

01:00:46 Oh, yeah, me at the front of that line, absolutely.

01:00:50 In the middle of that circle, Jack.

01:00:52 Look, it's not going to happen.

01:00:54 We need to keep that roster spot open.

01:00:56 But look, this is what lizard brain takes are all about.

01:00:59 It's from the emotional epicenter of your brain.

01:01:01 So folks in the chat, folks listening later, let us know what you thought of those lizard brain takes.

01:01:05 And more importantly, let us know what your lizard brain takes are, because we will definitely use them on a future podcast.

01:01:10 Now we're almost ready to wrap up here.

01:01:12 Before we go, though, we do want to announce the winner of our now very long-running 5-star Walshie campaign,

01:01:19 where if you left a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts for us to help us with the algorithm there,

01:01:25 you would go into the running to win your very own Walshie jersey.

01:01:30 Not Welsh jersey, your very own Walshie jersey.

01:01:32 Likely the only one in the world.

01:01:34 Who knows?

01:01:35 Maybe we have inspired a few punters around the globe at this point, Jake.

01:01:38 But the way to truly randomize who would win this competition,

01:01:44 difficult to sort of aggregate all of the reviews and ratings that were very generously left across different

01:01:51 Geo iTunes stores or Apple Podcasts stores around the world, and thank you to everyone who went to.

01:01:56 I got my wife to review all of them.

01:01:59 She could not care less about the Celtics or this podcast.

01:02:02 She is completely unbiased when it comes to picking a winner.

01:02:05 She read through them all and she made this selection.

01:02:09 And we're very happy to announce that the winner is @TristaKaboom, son of @atrius on Twitter.

01:02:15 They said, "The Kevin McHale of Celtics podcasts.

01:02:18 Not flashy or trying to dominate the court with empty stats.

01:02:21 This show is consistently going to show up and get it done at a championship level.

01:02:25 The three hosts, Ben, Wayne, and Jake, all add something to the show and fit together super well."

01:02:30 Shout out to Jackson and Joe, who are also a huge part of the show.

01:02:32 "They all share a sense of fun and positivity, free from trash reactionary takes," which,

01:02:37 if you look at the last segment, is just no longer true.

01:02:40 Also, "Spoonies articles often covered in the show are some of the best Celtics content out there."

01:02:45 Love it.

01:02:46 So thank you to @TristaKaboom.

01:02:49 Thank you to my wife for combing through all of those reviews, and thank you to everyone who entered.

01:02:54 And son of @atrius, @TristaKaboom, we will get in touch with you and get you your Walshie jersey in the mail pronto.

01:03:01 And you call it Jake.

01:03:03 Legend. No, look, everyone that wrote a review, I just really appreciate it.

01:03:07 And reading nice words is always appreciated.

01:03:11 Thankfully, we don't get too many haters out there.

01:03:16 But yeah, look, we appreciate everybody that's listening every single day, every single episode, and every review.

01:03:23 But I'm going to be jealous of that Walshie jersey.

01:03:26 And I'm going to--

01:03:27 Might have to get it mass produced.

01:03:29 Might have to.

01:03:31 I wonder if it's because it's a Walshie, can we put it on the Thirst of the Floor merch store that's coming?

01:03:37 Probably not.

01:03:38 Yeah, we'll definitely have to look into that.

01:03:40 That's a really good idea.

01:03:42 All right, let's wrap up with this.

01:03:43 Week 1 is right around the corner.

01:03:45 Wednesday night, 7pm at New York.

01:03:48 Celtics are -2.5 favourites in that game.

01:03:51 Friday night, 7.30pm at home versus Miami, the home debut.

01:03:54 Going to see your old foes, the Miami Heat there.

01:03:59 And then Monday night, 7pm at Washington against the Wizards there.

01:04:01 Jake, 3-0?

01:04:03 Or what?

01:04:04 What are your predictions for the upcoming week, the first week of the regular season?

01:04:06 Man, I am so excited for opening night.

01:04:08 So I was thinking about the Knicks game, and then I realised, like, I was thinking about the Blazingas.

01:04:13 This is a revenge game for the big Zingog.

01:04:16 My dad was in New York when the Mavericks came to play the Knicks.

01:04:22 It was one of the first times Pusingas came back to New York after leaving.

01:04:27 And we've been to Boston when we saw the Nets play the Celtics, obviously.

01:04:34 So we've heard the Kyrie boos, and it was on another level.

01:04:38 The vitriol that the Knicks fans showed towards Pusingas was really intense.

01:04:44 I guarantee that he remembers that.

01:04:47 I guarantee that he is ready to go opening night, Madison Square Garden.

01:04:53 I think it's going to be awesome that night.

01:04:56 It's hard for me to bet against the Celtics on any of these games.

01:05:00 Because I know they'll be up for the Heat game for some revenge.

01:05:03 The Wizards suck.

01:05:04 But I can see something weird happening with the Knicks game, just because it feels like that always happens with the Knicks.

01:05:11 It was Evan Fournier two years ago, or whatever it was.

01:05:14 Give me 2-1.

01:05:17 I'll take 3-0, baby.

01:05:20 It's going to be hard, all these prediction segments.

01:05:23 We will do them once a week on the pod.

01:05:25 The Celtics are going to be gambling favorites in pretty much every matchup all season.

01:05:30 And then for us, as admittedly extremely biased Celtics fans, how can we not ban also choose them to win every single game?

01:05:37 So obviously not going to go 82-0.

01:05:39 But I'll warn you, if you are a responsible gambler out there, take everything that we're saying in this segment with a grain of salt.

01:05:46 You mentioned the revenge aspect of that Knicks game, the opening night there, Jake.

01:05:51 Two years ago, we lost in overtime to Evan Fournier and the New York Knicks.

01:05:57 So that should be on the forefront.

01:05:59 It's certainly on the forefront of my mind.

01:06:00 It should be on the forefront of all Celtic players' minds going into that one as well, to avenge that point.

01:06:07 It was a ridiculous game.

01:06:09 And Kemba Walker and then Bing Bong and all that bullshit.

01:06:12 God.

01:06:13 The Knicks have been giving us trouble for a couple of years now.

01:06:18 I think they went 3-1 against us last season alone.

01:06:22 So we should have a healthy respect for them.

01:06:25 I really hope we don't even have to worry about that this season.

01:06:29 Can we not worry about that this year?

01:06:31 Surely the Celtics care about this game tomorrow, right?

01:06:34 I'm guessing opening night we're not going to have to worry about that aspect.

01:06:38 But I would like for this season to have a bit more consistency in what we can expect on a night-to-night basis,

01:06:45 even if they did win 57 games.

01:06:47 Yeah.

01:06:48 And Jason Tatum, the Bright Lights, Madison Square Garden, opening night, first game of his MVP season.

01:06:54 It's going to be fun to watch.

01:06:56 All right.

01:06:57 That is going to do it for this one.

01:06:58 Thanks so much for joining us.

01:06:59 We've got a lot coming up in the next week.

01:07:01 We're firing up our Playback Room, playback.tv/firsttothefloor for Celtics opening night, Wednesday night versus the Knicks.

01:07:07 But we're also going to do playback for the NBA opening night, which is Lakers Nuggets on Tuesday night at 7.30pm.

01:07:14 We've also got live podcasts Thursday night and next Tuesday night, potentially with two very special guests.

01:07:20 Just waiting on confirmation there.

01:07:22 So make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel for those.

01:07:24 Jake, love your work, mate.

01:07:26 Until next time, go Celtics.

01:07:27 I love the Celtics!

01:07:30 [Music]

Celtics Regular Season Predictions | First to the Floor

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