Should the Celtics Stop Staggering the Jay's w/ Brian Robb Celtics Beat
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for MassLive. Brian joins the program to give us the 35,000 ft view of the Celtics 7-2 start, what has him excited about the offense, and some positive surrounding the In-Season Tournament. Twitter: @BrianTRobb
7:13 Celtics are ahead of schedule on both ends
15:26 Mazzulla needs to keep faith in Hauser
25:00 Best non-Tatum lineups
31:30 Chemistry looks positive
7:13 Celtics are ahead of schedule on both ends
15:26 Mazzulla needs to keep faith in Hauser
25:00 Best non-Tatum lineups
31:30 Chemistry looks positive
Transcript
00:00 I mean, I think there is a lot of experimentation now with Portingis and Drew in the fold.
00:05 And I don't think they've settled on the perfect plan for that.
00:10 And I do think there's a point, Koffin, that you're getting to here is like, especially
00:16 when we get to bigger games in the playoffs, obviously, like what is the best course of
00:21 attack there of like maximizing those two together and like playing off of each other.
00:26 But when you have four stars, I know Derek White may be considered a star by the end
00:32 of the season if he keeps up some of these numbers, we'll see like we'll say four and
00:35 a half there, whatever.
00:36 Like you want to to help change the deck there.
00:40 Like maybe we're just going to see a lot of like Jalen Portingis and Drew Holiday lineups.
00:45 And because Tatum has shown himself capable of carrying that bench unit with the plus
00:50 minuses for years to come.
00:51 Like the sample size is there.
00:53 It's like, OK, Tatum is a great passer.
00:55 Tatum is a great shooter.
00:56 Put some shooters around him without Horford.
00:59 He's going to be fine.
01:00 He's going to take the crap out of other second units.
01:01 If that's if you're winning games with that, I have no problem with that.
01:04 If they're if the like which it has, by and large, been fine the last few for you this
01:09 year.
01:10 Celtics Beat is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNX
01:17 Media Network.
01:19 What's up, everybody?
01:20 Welcome in.
01:21 New edition of Celtics Beat.
01:22 Welcome, everybody, to what is obviously your favorite Celtics podcast or or you're just
01:29 such a huge fan of the winning plays podcast, also part of the CLNX Media Network, that
01:35 you cannot get enough of Brian Robb and you simply want him wherever you can find him.
01:40 And we have him here.
01:41 So either way, whichever it is, column A, column B, we're happy to have you here.
01:46 We're happy to have you here, B-Rob.
01:48 How are you, buddy?
01:49 How you been?
01:50 I'm good, man.
01:51 I don't know if you guys might have missed the update on winning plays now.
01:54 It has turned into Still Potable.
01:55 I'm teaming up with myself and J. King and Sam Packard.
01:59 We're doing a daily Celtics podcast now that just started in the last couple of weeks.
02:03 So I did not know that.
02:04 Yeah, it's under the radar.
02:06 We didn't do anything too big with it yet, but it's yeah.
02:09 If you want to check it out, you can check in the winning plays feed for it.
02:13 But then we're also going daily on Patreon.
02:15 So go to Patreon.com/StillPotable.
02:16 You can get us five days a week often.
02:21 So you get Celtics B in the weekend and get Still Potable the rest of the week for your
02:25 full Celtics fill.
02:26 So are you I'm getting in the weeds now.
02:28 Are you still part of CLNS or you?
02:31 Yeah, that's the plan.
02:32 Yeah.
02:33 Yeah.
02:34 OK, good.
02:35 Good.
02:36 All right.
02:37 Make sure that we still have ample supply of Celtics podcasts under the CLNS media umbrella.
02:41 We're hopeful to be that.
02:42 That's the we're figuring it out now, but that's that's hopefully where we'll end up.
02:46 Good.
02:47 Glad to hear it.
02:48 And well, this is see, I don't really know why it's actually sort of ass backwards when
02:53 you think about it, because we will, you know, we'll be Rob.
02:58 We'll have God, I don't know.
03:00 You name it like any number of people that seem to have Celtics podcasts that will come
03:04 on this show.
03:05 Like Barrett has his with the ringer, like people that are frequent contributors to the
03:09 program.
03:10 Gary Washburn, also part of CLNS.
03:11 He's got the A-List podcast.
03:13 We have charade on a bunch of Bobby Manning, you know, Garden Report guys.
03:17 That's for whatever reason.
03:19 Corrales, who's obviously not part of CLNS, but he's got the lockdown podcast and then
03:24 J King or Jam, those guys who, you know, have had their various incarnations of podcasts
03:31 over the years.
03:32 We don't really have those guys.
03:34 And it's there's there's no like reason for it.
03:37 We like them.
03:38 They're good guys.
03:39 We get along well.
03:40 We just try to mix them into the rotation, especially if if King and Jam are coming over
03:44 to CLNS.
03:45 Yeah, I mean, we got we got to roll up the red carpet, the welcome wagon, so to speak,
03:49 for those those gentlemen.
03:51 It's always nice sharing the space with everybody.
03:53 But, you know, everybody knows the those those three individuals help make up what is an
03:58 excellent job of people that cover this team, whether it's people, you know, boots on the
04:02 ground, you know, at, you know, at TD Garden on the road with them, you know, going daily
04:07 like Corrales does or whether it's, you know, trying to be a little quirky and funny, like
04:11 my man, Sam, the jam Packard.
04:13 He's just one of my favorite followers of all time.
04:15 And J King brings a little bit of both.
04:17 So it's like, you know, it's it's between that and everybody at CLNS, we got everybody
04:21 covered.
04:22 I mean, is it what do you think about the plethora of I didn't mention Forsberg?
04:26 That's another one, too.
04:27 He comes on all the time.
04:28 There are options that you have for just quality content revolving around this team is really
04:33 unbelievable.
04:34 I don't think any other team outside of the Lakers has just the amount of content crew
04:40 that the Southerners have.
04:41 I mean, I mean, literally our entire network is like dedicated to it.
04:44 So it's pretty, pretty impressive.
04:45 I think the Lakers are up there.
04:47 The Warriors are up there for sure.
04:48 But in terms of like just craving content from a certain individualistic basketball
04:53 team, Southerners are way up there for sure.
04:56 Content kings, baby content king.
04:58 Then again, those jerks don't have us on their podcast.
05:01 So I guess we probably shouldn't be right.
05:04 You know, with what Evan just mentioned, B-Rob, it is interesting.
05:07 Do you ever think about the fact that, you know, you can have all of these?
05:11 I mean, Jesus, like we could probably name a dozen Celtics podcast just among people
05:15 that we know, never mind all of the ones that exist from people that we don't know or don't
05:21 work with that obviously have decided to just launch their own Celtics.
05:24 Pause there.
05:25 I mean, really, if you want to discover all of them, just like search Drew Carter's name,
05:30 because he popped on all of them when he got the job to supplant or succeed Mike Gorman,
05:37 obviously.
05:38 But the it's like, do you ever think about the fact that, man, like if this team blew,
05:43 if this team wasn't where it is in its chase for banner 18, if it just like if this was
05:49 there, the Patriots, if it was, no, it'd be great.
05:53 Sure.
05:54 But I mean, I'm thinking like if if it was like 2014, you know, where where they were,
06:01 Brad, you know, had just gotten the job, you know, he's a year in at that point anyway.
06:06 And, you know, they're coming off a 25 win season.
06:09 Basically it was it was one Celtics at seven launched on the sports.
06:12 You're right.
06:13 You know, can those are great shows.
06:14 I mean, I think it's to get to your point of question, I think we're at like this.
06:19 I think it's a lot of it.
06:20 Obviously the team being good certainly helps.
06:23 But like I also think it's a very and I think a lot of NBA fan bases are like this, just
06:28 a very committed fan base in general.
06:30 And a lot of like smart fans, a lot of passionate fans back now, obviously, and also back when
06:36 they were, you know, Brad Stevens was just starting and they were starting to jumpstart
06:40 the rebuild 10 years ago during the Celtics at seven days.
06:43 So it's like I think you're seeing, you know, the evolution of it as through time.
06:48 But there's certainly I think it's I think speaks more just the fact that there is a
06:53 very large passion fan base all over the country and the world, obviously, and the people were
06:59 trying to feed them with seven to start.
07:03 And you know, the last couple of games have been wildly entertaining, a ton of fun, obviously,
07:09 blowout win of the Raptors wasn't so good for a parlay that I had built.
07:13 Blowouts never are in gambling.
07:15 The the Nets game that that in season tournament game, I don't know why I put in quote fingers,
07:20 it is the in season tournament.
07:21 Even I probably put in quote fingers because I just don't care.
07:25 But we'll get to that.
07:26 Coming off a couple of narrow losses, the overtime defeat to the Timberwolves and then
07:30 falling in Philadelphia as well.
07:33 People were starting to, you know, raise the the the red flags.
07:38 So all this there's this issue with the bench or obviously ball movement, which I actually
07:42 do think is an issue or, you know, what a minute's look like when Tatum is on the bench
07:46 and how the lack of production looks at that point.
07:52 There are all sorts of different things, obviously, but at seven and two right now.
07:58 What are your big takeaways?
07:59 Are you surprised by anything that you've seen with this new look group since we're
08:03 catching up with you here for the first time since the season began?
08:06 Yeah, I mean, I think they're honestly.
08:11 Quite a schedule in terms of how they look right now on both ends of the floor.
08:14 To be honest, they had a couple blips there on the road against good teams in Minnesota
08:19 and Philly.
08:20 So it's easy this past week.
08:22 There's obviously a lot of attention on that.
08:25 But you look at how they play in those games, how they shot in those games.
08:30 And it's like, all right, they shot like 30 percent.
08:32 They still were had a chance to win both of those games.
08:35 So that's a situation, I guess, more of the Minnesota one than the Philly one.
08:38 But to me.
08:40 Their third in defensive rating, third and offensive rating right now.
08:45 And you talk to these guys in the locker room and they're just telling us, yeah, like we
08:48 are just like we have so much more room to grow right now, like our chemistry is going
08:52 to be so much better.
08:53 So there's been rough spots here or there.
08:57 But the Porzingis fit, I think, has been tremendous.
08:59 I think Drew Holiday, the sacrifice in terms of doing whatever the team needs on any given
09:04 night has been very good as well.
09:06 Knowing what how is it a player?
09:08 That's not a big surprise, but all things considered, comparing to what the where the
09:12 rest of the East is, comparing to where new splash additions are like in Milwaukee and
09:17 the Clippers of Harden and Lillard, like there's a lot to like in terms of where this team
09:21 is right now, I think.
09:22 I don't have to agree with that, Kaufman.
09:25 It's just really been even even like we're talking about like the end of games, just
09:30 process stuff, which you text me during games and you're just in ecstasy.
09:34 Well, for the most part, yeah.
09:36 I mean, how could you not be there winning by 30 points a game every other game?
09:40 It's just outrageous.
09:41 And, you know, there's some, you know, again, at the end of games against, you know, against
09:45 Minnesota, especially against the Sixers as well.
09:48 There's some process stuff that needs to be ironed out and worked out.
09:51 And I think if you have concern about that, it's OK.
09:55 I think it's fair to be concerned because it looks like it normally does for the past
09:59 couple of years.
10:01 You know, the Tatum on off splits.
10:04 This has been a problem.
10:05 This is now the third straight year of this problem where the Celtics take Tatum's on
10:08 the floor.
10:09 They're unbelievable.
10:10 He's off the floor and they kind of crater.
10:11 This is like the third straight year of that.
10:12 So, you know, these are things that we've seen have been problems.
10:15 The idea being that bring in some new new fresh blood with the Porzingis and how it
10:20 is going to help fix that.
10:21 And we you know, I think people need to give them some time to figure that out.
10:25 But when it looks good, baby, it looks good, man.
10:27 I mean, the Porzingis thing is just revolutionary only because.
10:34 They hunt mismatches now, like like it's it's really fun to watch this team hunt like that.
10:39 It's it's gone from a team that, you know, relied on the perimeter a lot, you know, attacking
10:45 the rim a lot, you know, for kick out threes and all that stuff.
10:49 This team instead just hunts.
10:50 If they have any size advantage, they just go after it.
10:52 And I think it's awesome.
10:53 They do it quickly.
10:54 Porzingis has been just fun to watch him pick on smaller guys.
10:58 Tatum's got people in torture chamber.
11:01 The offense, when it's really clicking, is unbelievable.
11:04 And defensively, they're way, way further along.
11:07 I would expect to considering they have so many new pieces and faces in that in that
11:11 core five.
11:12 Again, seven and two, two losses to really good teams.
11:16 I love Minnesota and Philly's been really great.
11:18 So you can't again, could they be perfect?
11:20 Sure.
11:21 But you know what?
11:22 I feel positive.
11:25 So going forward here, I guess, you know, let's I don't want to turn this thing negative.
11:30 I think the positives are overwhelming.
11:32 We could sit here and recite all of them.
11:34 But why not be a little bit constructive?
11:36 Obviously, be robbed at seven and two.
11:38 And you know, some interesting tests coming up.
11:42 You know, you got the Knicks again, who are not a bad team.
11:45 They're not a great team.
11:46 They're kind of middle of the pack.
11:47 Obviously, this game is on Monday might very well be tonight.
11:51 If you're listening to this on Monday morning, we're recording here on a Sunday at Philadelphia
11:56 at Toronto.
11:57 These are games that are happening before next weekend anyway.
12:01 So it's kind of a busy week and obviously a road trip coming up here.
12:04 The four gamer that includes stops in Memphis and Charlotte.
12:07 What are some of the things that you think this team has to work on to sort of alleviate
12:13 any concerns that people do have right now that are within their control?
12:18 You can always worry about injuries and things like that.
12:20 But things that are within their control.
12:22 Where do you fall on that?
12:23 Yeah, I think you can say like hilarious.
12:27 The bench situation is something that's worth keeping a close eye on.
12:32 And we know like, paint Pritchard's had a rough start in a nice game Friday.
12:37 But by and large, he's been down out where Ford's shooting has been off a little bit
12:41 as well to start the year.
12:43 So how much of that you want to say?
12:45 It's like a 10 game sample size little slump to start versus like, all right, are these
12:49 areas that you know, do they need more firepower up the bench eventually, if you know, looking
12:54 ahead to potential auditions there, but then you look at you know, guys like Sam Houser,
12:59 I think has been, you know, played great.
13:02 He's been the most consistent guy there right now, which I think is huge to have one of
13:05 those good.
13:06 But, you know, you go down like nine through 15.
13:10 And it's kind of been trick or treating for that stuff.
13:12 And so that, to me, that's like, not a huge deal at this point, since it's early and everyone's
13:17 healthy.
13:18 But I do think part of the equation here is trying to plan for, okay, injuries are going
13:23 to happen, like, there's injury prone players still on this roster, or guys that you just
13:27 want to rest regardless.
13:29 And do we have all our, you know, holes filled on that front.
13:33 And so trying to figure that out, figure out more of what these guys can do at the bottom
13:38 of the roster, in the next couple months before those decisions are made, I think is a certainly
13:42 a big part of the equation there since early on, a lot of them haven't, you know, such
13:46 a guy like reset.
13:49 You know, Lamar Stevens has only gotten a couple chances, but by and large, I think
13:52 the benches is underwhelmed as a whole.
13:55 House is the one that I, you know, I expect Peyton Pritchard to rebound, he, you know,
14:01 shooters got to shoot, obviously, he's going to find his rhythm, it's going to happen.
14:04 He's as we talked about plenty in the offseason, he's playing 20 minutes a game, I wouldn't
14:08 be surprised that number climbs a little bit, even he stays in that 20 to 25 window with
14:13 regularity, especially, you know, when inevitably guards miss time, Derek White, miss time with
14:17 the birth of a child.
14:18 And, you know, guys are going to miss time for whatever personal reasons or injuries.
14:22 And so it's only going to up potential Peyton minutes.
14:25 But how's the one that I just I spent so much time, B-Rob, any listeners of the show?
14:32 No, I spent so much time last year talking about how, man, when you lost to the Warriors,
14:38 you really could have used a guy like Hauser off the bench.
14:40 I mean, he could have potentially shot you out of some of those situations where the
14:44 offense was stagnant and fine.
14:46 He's a rookie.
14:47 He didn't really play during the regular season, didn't get that opportunity.
14:51 You just sort of accept that.
14:53 But last year was the opportunity to play him enough so that when the playoffs rolled
14:59 around, he wasn't cold, he wasn't lacking confidence.
15:03 He wasn't afraid of the moment, whatever it may be.
15:07 And he could go out there and at least potentially be that guy.
15:10 He could give you the opportunity to be that guy.
15:12 And I don't know if this is going from coach to coach to coach, if it was, you know, Joe
15:17 didn't really trust him or just whatever.
15:20 He was not part of the rotation come the playoffs.
15:23 It just didn't happen.
15:24 And they really could have used him when they were eliminated by Miami.
15:28 So now he's playing and he's shooting.
15:30 Well, he has a little bit of a slow start, but he's shooting almost 50 percent, 45 percent
15:34 from three.
15:35 He's playing about 20 minutes a game.
15:36 He's averaging about 10 points.
15:38 You would think he's a fixture in the rotation simply because they lack depth as compared
15:43 to last year.
15:44 They're much more top heavy than they were in previous seasons.
15:46 And that's fine.
15:47 That's good.
15:48 It's a different type of roster construction.
15:49 They're trying something that is more in line with what the rest of the league does.
15:53 And I like it.
15:54 I'm good with it.
15:55 But can I believe that Hauser is going to play when they actually need him versus now
16:01 we're just going to have a six man rotation?
16:03 You know, if we've got all our guys and Hauser, you're not part of it.
16:07 Yeah, it's fast.
16:08 It's a fascinating question, because I feel like Hauser played this well to start last
16:13 year, too, in the regular season.
16:15 And then, you know, he kind of had a blip midway through the season.
16:18 And I think his trajectory last year kind of was like the rest of the team were like
16:21 they came out great.
16:23 And then it was like, you know, they didn't build on anything in the second half of the
16:27 year.
16:28 And that kind of obviously showed itself in the playoffs in terms of, you know, some bad
16:33 losses, some really tough situations, and then the Miami situation where we have to
16:37 rehash.
16:38 But yeah, I think it's a huge question.
16:39 I'll be like, can when push comes to shove, is he going to be able to be able to play
16:45 10 or 15 minutes off the bench in the playoffs?
16:48 Like maybe not every game, but like enough to the point where he can a hit the shots
16:53 he needs to.
16:54 And he played 15 games in last year's playoffs.
16:56 I'm looking at now, but the only average seven minutes in those games.
16:58 So like a lot of those were just like garbage time appearances.
17:02 And I think Duncan Robinson or even a little bit better than that.
17:06 Exactly.
17:07 Like, and the theory is, I mean, in year three, as he grows into it, the hope is like, yes,
17:09 because it's like, he is the perfect part to have around a Jason Tatum in terms of like,
17:15 he stays in his lane.
17:16 He doesn't take dumb shots.
17:17 He doesn't turn over the ball and he hits threes.
17:20 So that's the guy you want to make teams think twice about double teaming Jason Tatum or
17:25 just think twice about giving more attention to person as opposed to whatever there.
17:29 So whether he can earn Joe Musula's trust here over the course of the next couple of
17:35 months.
17:36 And I think it's gonna be huge because if not, then that's certainly an area you're
17:40 gonna have to be like, all right, do we have to get someone better that we trust at the
17:43 trade deadline in this kind of, you know, three, four ish type role off the bench if
17:49 we don't think Hauser's a guy wouldn't push comes to shove.
17:52 If you look at some of his splits from last year, too, I pulled it up and it's like, yeah,
17:56 he started the year on fire in October, 56% from three, three a game.
18:03 He only really had a diff in the middle of December and January.
18:08 It was 28%, 28% from three in December, 31% from three in January.
18:13 Then it finished off February 49% on five attempts a game of March 42.6 or 43.
18:22 And then April 43% on 8.8 attempts a game.
18:26 That's just four games in April.
18:27 So it doesn't really mean a lot like he, he, I mean, he, I think it's just about consistency
18:35 for him.
18:36 If he can stay consistent.
18:37 I mean, obviously they're going to be shooting woes throughout the year.
18:40 It's just a, it's a game of variants, but like he isn't a tremendous shooter.
18:44 And if he's given the opportunity to play with these guys, he's going to have wide open
18:50 looks all the time.
18:52 I mean all the time.
18:53 And as an open three point shooter, he's very good.
18:56 I think Missoula is going to have to, you know, and maybe it's a little bit pandering
19:00 to other guys on the roster last year.
19:02 You go, you gotta play smart, you gotta play grant or like whatever.
19:04 I don't know.
19:05 I'm not inside the wall.
19:06 It was crowded.
19:07 It was crowded rotation last year for such a low playoffs.
19:09 I think he, I think it's interesting Kaufman.
19:11 I thought it was interesting, you know, first couple of games.
19:13 I think it's still very, it seems like Hauser's role is pretty set in stone right now.
19:19 I mean, you know, the first couple of games, he was one of the first guys off the bench.
19:23 He is solidified in that top, top eight, top seven.
19:27 So at this point I would say, you know, he's going to be a guy that's going to be relying
19:31 on throughout the year for him.
19:33 It's just going to be a matter of being consistent and trying to make sure that he gets, you
19:37 know, the, the process is good, whether the shot's going or not, you know, that's going
19:40 to come to go, but the process being good, can he, can, can that be consistent through
19:43 82 games?
19:44 Cause he's going to have plenty of opportunity, right?
19:46 He's got to come in between the, the Stevens's and the presets and the Hauser's and the,
19:52 you know, we'll see what happens to Jordan Walsh down in Maine.
19:55 There are minutes to be played on the wing because they have two absolute stud wing guys
19:58 that can't play 48 minutes a game.
20:01 There's going to be opportunities for these guys to play.
20:03 Hauser is by far the leader in the clubhouse for the most reliable wing player they have.
20:08 And it's just about him, you know, just staying consistent in the year three, you know, he's,
20:12 he's had some ups, he's had some downs, but it's going to be about, you know, staying
20:15 level.
20:16 You know, Missoula doesn't pull the plug on him too early.
20:19 Like he has in the past.
20:20 I think it's going to be all right.
20:21 It's his, I'll say this though, Kaufman, his role is going to be vitally important for
20:26 the reasons you discussed, you know, that he's going to make life easier for everybody
20:30 in an ideal world, right?
20:32 Offensively, at least.
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21:10 B-Rob, we, something that Evan and I have been texting about with our buddy Seth, who
21:19 comes on from time to time, I think you've met him or at least talked to him before,
21:23 is, is we alluded to before the Jason Tatum on off splits and you know why it is, and
21:30 this is not a Joe thing specifically, this happened with, he made it happen with Brad
21:34 as, as these guys have, you know, grown into the players they are now, but especially now
21:40 why there's this insistence to stagger the Jays and play them just not as frequently
21:48 together and, and how much more dominant, how much better a team they are, which is
21:52 not rocket science when both the Jays Tatum and Brown are on the floor together, you know,
21:57 like Seth says along Jalen and poor Zingas with Tatum on the, what's this, the net rating
22:05 of plus 28 Jalen and poor Zingas with Tatum off minus seven.
22:12 Yeah.
22:13 The three of them on the floor together is insane.
22:15 When Tatum's not there, it's not nearly as good.
22:18 So I know you're not going to play him 48 minutes a game.
22:20 You're not going to play him 40 minutes a game.
22:21 This isn't, you know, the, the Jordan era or something like that, but you would think
22:26 there could be a little bit more overlap between these guys beyond obviously starting minutes
22:32 than we're seeing right now.
22:34 It seems like they're just perfectly comfortable to have a mix of the starters with a guy or
22:38 two off the bench and have Tatum with an entire bench unit at times, just because obviously
22:43 he's capable of carrying that.
22:45 And that's great.
22:46 He's a superstar.
22:47 He's an MVP candidate, but are they necessarily not that I know better than Joe, but I'm,
22:52 I'm a, I'm a consumer and I'm, and I'm, I'm, I'm within my right to question, are they
23:01 at their, at their best?
23:03 Are they, are they, you know, coaching their smartest in terms of the way they're working
23:07 these rotations right now?
23:11 I mean, I think there is a lot of experimentation now with poor thing.
23:15 It's injured her in the fold.
23:16 And I don't think, you know, they've settled on the, the perfect, you know, plan for that.
23:21 And I do think there's a point cop and that you're, you're, I think you're getting to
23:25 here is like when, especially when we get to bigger games and the playoffs, obviously
23:30 like what is the best course of attack there of like maximizing those two together and
23:35 like playing off each other.
23:37 But when you have, and you know, four stars, I don't know, Derek White may be considered
23:42 a star by the end of the season.
23:43 If he keeps up some of these numbers, we'll see, like, we'll say, you know, four and a
23:46 half there, whatever.
23:47 Like you want to, to, to help change the deck there.
23:51 Like maybe we're just going to see a lot of like Jalen Porzingis and Drew holiday lineups.
23:56 And because, cause Tatum has shown himself capable of with that, carrying that bench
24:00 unit with the plus minuses for years to come.
24:02 Like the sample size is there.
24:04 It's like, okay.
24:05 Tim is a great passer.
24:06 Tim's a great shooter.
24:07 Put some shooters around him without Horford.
24:10 He's going to be fine.
24:11 He's going to take the crap out of other second units.
24:12 If that's, if you're winning games with that, I have no problem with that.
24:15 If there, if the, like, which it has by and large been fine the last few, previous year,
24:21 where if things start to go right there, or just like that combination with Brown and
24:26 Porzingis doesn't get better, then yeah, I think you have to look at it being like, okay,
24:31 how do we have to tinker with this more?
24:32 How can we better, you know, maximize Tatum's minutes and maybe get him bring the best set
24:38 of Jalen more, if that's like, ultimately what we want to be a priority for this, you
24:41 know, to get to a title, like we need that.
24:45 So that's, to me, that's going to be a lot of experimentation all year, but I'll be curious.
24:49 I think that is something for, you know, if you're a soccer fan, that's definitely worth
24:52 watching to see how that kind of plays out, because I think there is still a lot unsettled
24:56 there in terms of what, what's the best, you know, lineups on any given night and even
25:01 from quarter to quarter.
25:02 Yeah, I'm, I'm trying to find a lineup.
25:06 I was just going through it really quickly to try and find a lineup.
25:09 What happened?
25:10 Like, what's the best, because Seth has, has voted out the, just play the Jays together
25:14 all the time and stop trying to stagger them.
25:17 Can they survive with a poor Zingas holiday, white Hauser and X, you know, Al Horford,
25:24 what does that lineup look like?
25:25 And they find, can they survive in those minutes?
25:26 Were they weak?
25:27 Were they strong?
25:28 I mean, that, that team can spread the floor.
25:30 No question.
25:31 You know, can holiday white and poor Zingas put together enough playmaking and offensive
25:37 like creation to keep that line of flow?
25:39 Because obviously you could space the floor with five out.
25:42 Horford obviously space, the three point line, poor Zingas is outrageous.
25:46 But you know, the, the, I guess the, the shot creation is the only question there could
25:52 between white poor Zingas and holiday.
25:54 Could you get enough on the offensive side of the ball defensively?
25:58 I mean, obviously you're not going to always win every minute of every game, but can you
26:02 stay afloat?
26:03 Can you keep it close?
26:04 Like, that's the thing Denver tried to figure out last year.
26:07 It's like, okay, the Yokage minutes were killing teams.
26:10 The non-Yokage minutes, it's not great.
26:13 So how do we, how do we shorten the gap a little bit by bringing those non-Yokage minutes
26:18 closer to the Yokage minutes?
26:20 Because once they solve that problem, everybody's dead.
26:23 So can the Celtics figure out a way to do the same thing and maybe experimenting with
26:29 both of them off trying to figure out a five that works with, you know, surrounding the
26:34 three stars quote unquote that they have.
26:37 That's a question Missoula has got to answer by the end of the year.
26:39 And it's, and again, the on-off stuff with Tatum has been a problem for three, this is
26:43 now the third straight year of this problem.
26:45 So at some point we got to, there's got to be some sort of, and this is why the regular
26:51 season is important.
26:52 They're going to experiment a little bit, but there's got to be an answer to this question.
26:54 Otherwise, if it's not on the roster right now, they got to figure out who that guy's
26:57 going to be come February.
26:58 Yeah, without a doubt.
26:59 But you're, I think it's a good point.
27:02 I mean, like we, I don't think we've seen much of the Drew Porzingis, no Jay, no Jalen
27:07 like minutes period.
27:08 Sure.
27:09 They've played together at Spurs, but I feel like we, that's why we haven't seen much of,
27:12 and I do think, yeah, like if maybe if Tatum, I think in the past it made a lot more sense
27:17 to stagger Jalen and Jason because that's, you needed that shot creation with the bench
27:22 unit just based on what you had town-wise.
27:25 Now with this team with Holiday and White developing and Porzingis here, you may not
27:29 necessarily need that.
27:30 And if Jalen plays that much better with Tatum, then maybe you just roll with that and have,
27:36 see what Porzingis and Drew and Holiday and company can do as your primary other, you
27:41 know, bench unit.
27:43 I feel like there hasn't been, maybe I'm wrong about this and maybe it's just, I'm not listening
27:47 or reading the right stuff.
27:48 I feel like, you know, like people are writing articles, you know, I saw one from Washburn
27:52 earlier today about how everyone is, is cohesively fixated on Pantera 18 and like winning his
28:01 first, all of that, like, obviously.
28:03 But I'm, I'm wondering because you're so much closer to it than Evan and I are.
28:07 I mean, you're there, you're in the locker room, you're there every day at practice games,
28:11 all of that, just culture, right?
28:14 Like what, what is, what does this look like?
28:16 Clearly it's good.
28:17 So I'm not, I'm not like digging for something negative.
28:19 I'm just wondering, you know, how it compares with Porzingis in, Holiday in versus the Williams
28:27 and Smart out, you know, what's the feel around the room and just this group versus what it
28:31 was last year.
28:34 I think it's been, you know, it's surpassed my expectations so far in terms of like, you
28:38 think those are two, you know, big personalities that everyone loves in the locker room and
28:43 Marcus and Grant.
28:45 But I guess what's impressed me so far is like the Porzingis buy-in is like even far
28:51 better.
28:52 I didn't like, you know, it's tough.
28:53 Porzingis is a track record in his career.
28:55 He's had bad ups and downs and he's never considered me first guy, but certainly not
28:59 someone you know for, for his passing or like sacrifice, whatever.
29:04 But he's ever since he got here, he's really saying all the right stuff on that front and
29:08 his play on the court actually is backing it up to where it's like, it's the one thing
29:11 like, yeah, like it's fine.
29:12 I don't care if I get five or 10 shots one night, if I'm like, you know, let other guys
29:16 eat if you will, or whatever the best matchup is.
29:19 But he's kind of been leaning into that and leaning into, you know, Hey, like, yeah, it's
29:23 a rough loss, but we're going to learn from this.
29:25 Like this is, I'm like, you know, embracing the law stuff.
29:28 It's like, okay, like this is, I mean, who knows?
29:30 It's three weeks in, we'll see what we look like.
29:32 And you know, the middle of a playoff series on this stuff, but like, that's the stuff
29:37 for this to work.
29:38 You need that from him and drew holiday.
29:39 There was there a never question like, like what are you going like teammate of the year,
29:42 like three times.
29:43 Like, I don't think anyone is surprised that he's able to come in here and like give them
29:46 whatever they want.
29:48 But Porzingis to me, it was the guy like, okay, is he going to actually like, you know,
29:52 sacrifice himself for the state of the team and like do the, you know, the dirty work,
29:56 if you will, with screening and all that stuff.
29:57 And it seems like he is so far.
29:59 And so that, that just raises this team to low.
30:01 And then I think that has helped behind the scenes locker room wise being like, okay,
30:05 everyone's bought in here.
30:06 Everyone's on the same page.
30:08 Like you don't have to worry about that part of it.
30:11 And that is, I think, translating into the start they've had so far.
30:14 Often look at this man.
30:15 He has not stopped smiling.
30:17 So Boston, this is after this is with Abby chin after the game against the rafters.
30:23 This has been permanently on his face since he got to Boston.
30:27 He has looked like this every day.
30:30 I think B-Robs are on the money here.
30:33 Getting Porzingis to buy in for minute one has been a huge lift for this team in terms
30:38 of keeping the focus on the right thing.
30:40 He's come in, he's like, we're, you know, and I think he said it really well, like after
30:44 this particular one against the Raptors, like, obviously we're not going to, you know, things
30:47 are, aren't going to be as easy as they've been for us.
30:50 Like this is important for us to understand, like, yeah, we had some bad games, we can
30:54 overcome those bad games and look great pretty quickly.
30:57 And he's just all of the stuff that you hear from him, from everybody on this team, it's,
31:02 if you're looking for focus, they've all said the right stuff ever since drew holiday got
31:08 there.
31:09 And it's, it's really awesome to just hear everybody talk about, yup, you know, this
31:12 is one of 82.
31:14 We're going to keep building and building and building until we get to the playoffs.
31:16 And like these games are, are, you know, good tests for us, you know, whether it's, they,
31:22 they win by 50 or they win by two or they lose on the road, but they're learning lessons.
31:27 The building blocks are there.
31:28 It's been, again, I think probably significantly less effortless start to the season than last
31:35 year was in the year prior.
31:36 This has been awesome.
31:38 A bigger picture thing for you, be Rob, while we've got you a few more minutes, you know,
31:43 I believe this in-season tournament is underway.
31:45 Obviously people saw the new Jersey's, the new courts across the league, the, I mean,
31:52 nobody like when I say nobody, I don't mean people like yourself.
31:55 I mean, the average fan, I don't think has a clue how this works in terms of the, like
32:01 the, the standings and playing toward the in-season championship.
32:04 And you know, I, I sincerely hope that whichever team wins this freaking thing, there's a banner
32:11 and a, and a champagne bath and a, a bender for a week.
32:15 Yeah.
32:16 Like if we're going to pretend this is a thing, let's really make it a thing.
32:19 Let's give guys, you know, medals if they're not going to get rings, but I mean, let's
32:23 really play it up.
32:24 I see there are a whole bunch of people, whole bunch of just, I won't name names, but there
32:29 are people out there on social media that are talking about the, you know, praising
32:35 Adam silver for innovation.
32:37 And if you don't create their blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, there's, there's another
32:41 expression to be Rob, which is if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
32:45 I don't care.
32:47 I don't think I'm even in the minority among people that don't care.
32:52 I think the players themselves really don't care because even the individual amount of
32:58 money that they get, if they win the thing, these guys, most of them anyway, certainly
33:03 top half of rosters make so much money that this is chump change.
33:09 This is not, you know, motivating to, you know, they're going to alter their load management.
33:14 They're, they're going to play through something.
33:17 They're like, we got to win this in season banner.
33:20 And it's, I'm not trying to be like Debbie downer about the thing.
33:23 I just think, I don't know.
33:25 It's basketball doesn't need to be soccer.
33:27 I'm glad it works for international soccer.
33:29 That's wonderful.
33:30 The NBA doesn't need it.
33:32 You know, we don't need to just create new things to drum up more in season interest
33:37 when you don't have, I even seen, correct me if I'm wrong, please let me know if there's
33:43 anyone within the Celtics that have spoken about this and I just missed it.
33:48 I haven't seen anyone take on the role of like league ambassador talking about how great
33:53 this is and how needed something like this was and how much fun it is.
33:58 And this is a cool little wrinkle and you know, we, we can't wait to compete for this
34:03 thing.
34:04 And that I've, the only interviews I've seen are players who are asked about it and them
34:09 saying, yeah, I honestly, I don't even really get it or know how it works.
34:14 So if that's what the players are saying, how are the fans or media like yourself supposed
34:21 to feel about this thing?
34:22 Yeah, the, I think that's been by like, so the one guy who has been like a little more
34:28 excited about the rest is Porzingis because he has that European background of being like,
34:31 okay, I've seen this in soccer fan.
34:34 Like he's seen this over there.
34:35 So he, he, you know, he's not going nuts over it, but he, when we talked to him about it
34:39 last week, he was a little bit being like, oh yeah, this is, I think it's going to work.
34:42 Like we'll see how it goes, but I think people get excited about it.
34:45 But yeah, to your point, the, especially like the pool play games, like no one, no one knows
34:49 different.
34:50 Like the court is different obviously, but that's, that's the only thing that like fans
34:54 will see differently.
34:55 The players won't be turning on anymore.
34:57 When we get to the knockout round, that's the part where I will be curious to see if
35:02 we just see an extra level at that point when there's like, okay, it's simple at this point
35:07 you win, you go on.
35:08 And if you win three games, you're the title winner and you get to go to Vegas to celebrate
35:13 that.
35:14 I think that's, that's when they're hopefully banging on some real buzz coming through from,
35:20 and obviously from a real interest, from a player perspective, in terms of intensity,
35:23 in terms of emotion.
35:27 And yeah, Hey, if you're, if you're paying Pritchard or Sam Hauser, like that's 25, 30%
35:32 of your salary if you win the tournament.
35:34 So if you get to that week, like those guys are going to be getting after it.
35:38 He's got a fat new contract now.
35:40 He does too.
35:41 But for this year, I think he's only making a couple million dollars or whatever.
35:44 So the back in the roster and for as much as these guys, you know, like the Tatum and
35:49 the Browns of the world, they don't, you know, this is a drop in the bucket for them.
35:52 Like who's to say like, you know, that's a bunch of money that they can, you know, give
35:56 away to other staffers of the team and stuff like that.
35:58 So they're going to be, I think there'll be, I'm curious to see, but I think there'll be
36:02 pretty good buy-in from teams that have that kind of like a culture of knowing, like, you
36:07 know, they're trying to win something bigger.
36:09 They know this isn't going to matter any of the big picture, but this is, Hey, this is
36:12 some reps for when it really counts, you know, five or six months down the line.
36:16 So from that standpoint, like I agree, like you don't necessarily need it, but like when
36:21 you're going against the NFL and the dog days of the regular season, like, Hey, whatever,
36:25 like see what happens.
36:26 Maybe there'll be a complete flop, but maybe it'll be, get some, some buzz for a week and
36:30 they'll like that too.
36:31 See, that's something I would like to see and it probably won't happen.
36:34 And I'm not even saying that in a judgmental way.
36:36 I just, it's human nature, right?
36:40 Like you get a fat check for 500 grand, you're going to keep it.
36:42 But I, you know, that would be like, that's good PR.
36:46 That would be great for the league, for teams, for players.
36:49 If you know, let's just say for the sake of playing this out, because this is this show,
36:54 it is what it is.
36:55 The Celtics go on, they win this tournament.
36:57 All these guys get this money Tatum Brown.
36:59 They certainly don't need it.
37:00 Tatum is about to get, you know, he already has more money than he will ever know what
37:04 to do with.
37:05 And he's about to get a new contract.
37:07 That's going to pay him that much more, obviously Brown, you know, $300 million man.
37:11 Like let's see the, these players get this money and, and you know, they, they throw
37:17 a couple million dollars toward Heather Walker's fund.
37:21 You know what I mean?
37:22 Like that, like that, that would be really interesting.
37:25 That would be really good PR.
37:27 That would be really good for the league of, okay, but this isn't just money that's going
37:31 in, you know, more money to the superstars pockets, the rich getting richer, all of that.
37:36 Now it's now it's being distributed, like you said, given, given to staffers in a form
37:40 or another it's, it's, it's just, it's used differently than we ever hear about.
37:45 And I'm not saying anyone is going to pressure anybody to, to do something like that.
37:49 But that to me would be compelling.
37:52 It'd be cool.
37:53 Whether it's charity, whether it's like, give us a little, those people like whatever, like
37:57 staffers, et cetera, like that.
37:59 I mean, I hope that becomes, you know, part of the equation here for whatever team wins.
38:03 Like that'd be a cool, like you said, like compelling, like obviously a good story.
38:09 And but yeah, like, we'll see, again, we will see how this plays out.
38:12 It'll be fast.
38:13 Like, again, I think if it's, you get some Cinderella, you get some like Detroit Pistons
38:18 or some other like rebuilding team that makes a run to the, like the Vegas like that.
38:22 I think you get the, you'll get the March Madness NCA component of it and be like, oh,
38:27 that's, that's fun.
38:28 But yeah, beyond that, if it's, if it's just boring teams and same old story, then I don't
38:34 think it's going to create much buzz.
38:39 And anything to add before we let B-Rob go back to dad duty?
38:42 I think I'll just, I'll piggyback off of B-Rob very quickly.
38:47 This stage, people aren't going to care as we get to the knockout stage, it'll become
38:50 way more interesting.
38:51 I think he's dead on about that.
38:53 I think nobody cares right now because these games are like whatever.
38:55 And then switch for the C's like their group isn't spectacular.
38:58 Exactly.
38:59 There's no good games in there.
39:01 Yeah.
39:02 Like it's going to be whatever.
39:03 But when they start to be like, if this is going to, if this is going to make it to Vegas,
39:07 I'm going to be pissed.
39:08 I'll tell you that right now.
39:09 I'm going to be so pissed because look, you want to win the first one.
39:14 Come on.
39:15 I'll be, I'll be into it once like when these games really, really, really count.
39:19 Like I'm going to be, I'll be all, one thing I don't, maybe we can do this after B-Rob's
39:23 gone, but I disagree with like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
39:27 Something's clearly broke and at least trying to do something, but we'll maybe hold that
39:30 for when B-Rob's gone.
39:32 Yeah, we'll do that at some, but we'll look, I would like to care as, as this thing develops
39:40 in a new something like this.
39:42 There's clearly a problem with the NBA regular season.
39:45 You have to do something.
39:46 You can't just be like rolling it out there for the, the kajillionth time, 76 years now
39:52 or whatever the NBA is now.
39:53 I don't have a problem with it.
39:54 I mean, the problem with the regular season comes down to things like load management
39:58 and yeah, but they're not going to like not play games.
40:00 I have to get in scratch three seconds before the game actually starts screwing up my DFS
40:05 lineups.
40:06 These are the things that, that I care about.
40:08 I don't, I don't think like regular season games are allowed to just be regular season
40:12 games.
40:13 We don't need to make them any different.
40:15 You know, but the rest of the rest stuff is bad.
40:19 And Tatum said it, Tatum's like, you know, kids that go come see me on a Monday night
40:23 in Charlotte, I need to play for them because they buy my, that's not this in season tournament
40:30 nonsense.
40:31 Well, they get trying to try to make the more in season, more value.
40:35 I, again, I will at least give them credit for trying to do something.
40:38 Okay.
40:39 They can't, you cannot continue down this path.
40:42 You have to do something.
40:44 Is this going to work?
40:45 I don't know, but at least they're trying something.
40:49 You can catch me, Rob on a, I mean, do we, do we call it the anything is potable podcast
40:53 now or is still potable, still potable, potable, right.
40:58 Why do they keep changing their name?
40:59 Why do they keep getting the rebrand?
41:01 So yeah, they, they've the they moved on from the athletic and they were not able to keep
41:06 that exact name.
41:08 So they, they pivoted.
41:09 Yeah.
41:10 Right.
41:11 I mean, that's, that is what it is.
41:12 But now it's, it's not anything about it's still potable P O D E A B L E still potable.
41:17 So yeah, I'll be yep.
41:19 So if you want to check that out for your daily phone weekdays, check us out there.
41:23 And obviously thanks as always for having me on boys and good to catch up always.
41:28 No, we really enjoy it.
41:29 Check out all of B Rob's great work over at mass live, as well as the still potable podcast
41:34 daily with King and jam, who clearly we need to have on the show at some point in time.
41:39 We're going to be back with you.
41:40 If not next weekend, then even sooner.
41:43 That's that's that's me say my alarm saying, all right, hurry up.
41:46 Show's over.
41:47 Okay.
41:48 Thanks to heaven.
41:49 Thanks to be Rob.
41:50 I am Adam rate review.
41:51 Most importantly, subscribe to the show.
41:52 We greatly enjoy it and appreciate it.
41:55 And we will talk to you again next week.