• last year
Sam and Jack are back with another Boston Celtics podcast. In this one, they talk about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown's role in the Celtics' offense, a potential lesson the Celtics can learn from the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Celtics' tough upcoming stretch of games. Plus, they talk about the Lakers hanging a banner for their In-Season Tournament win, Shams Charania of The Athletic's NBA rumors reporting, and Stephen A. Smith's comments on Zion Williamson. Let us know your thoughts, and as always, thanks for listening to How 'Bout Them Celtics!

Podcast Twitter: @HowBoutThemCs
Sam's Twitter: @SamLaFranceNBA
Jack's Twitter: @JackSimoneNBA

0:00 Intro
1:28 Inpopnito winner
2:46 Deadline passed to retrade Celtics TPE targets
8:36 Joe Mazzulla on Celtics offense
16:14 Celtics next eight games
22:15 Should Celtics learn from Lakers?
29:57 Email check-in
43:49 Lakers roasted for IST banner
47:42 NBA standings check-in
50:02 Stephen A. Smith puts Zion Williamson on blast
54:57 Shams news dump
01:03:06 Shohei Ohtani contract is nuts
01:06:03 The Rat List
01:16:055 Outro

#celtics #bostonceltics #celticsnews #celticsrumors #celticstraderumors #celticspodcast #celticspod #nbapodcast #nba #bostoncelticsnews #howboutthemceltics #neemiasqueta #alhorford #dalanobanton #jaysontatum #jaylenbrown #derrickwhite #kristapsporzingis #jrueholiday #samhauser #lukekornet #paytonpritchard #lamarstevens #oshaebrissett #svimykhailiuk #jddavison #nathanknight #jordanwalsh #lakers #losangeleslakers #lebronjames #inseasontournament
Transcript
00:00:00 These guys are ridiculous.
00:00:02 These guys are ridiculous.
00:00:07 Now, how about them damn Celtics?
00:00:10 And we are back with another episode of How 'Bout Them Celtics.
00:00:13 Sam and I are here recording on Monday, December 11th.
00:00:15 Both of us, or at least I know I am, exhausted because we got back this morning.
00:00:20 We're at home.
00:00:21 From a trip. We are home from Vegas.
00:00:23 We took a red eye in last night.
00:00:25 Our trip, what did it leave it like 1030-ish Vegas time?
00:00:30 Got it at 6am.
00:00:31 So it's like 1am.
00:00:32 Yeah, got it at 6am Boston time.
00:00:36 It was actually a really quick flight.
00:00:37 Like it was an hour and 40 minutes shorter than the flight there in general.
00:00:43 Just because of the way the wind goes.
00:00:44 And then it was 20 minutes early for what it was scheduled to be.
00:00:47 So it was a pretty quick flight.
00:00:48 I slept for most of it.
00:00:49 Or not most of it, but I slept for a little bit of it.
00:00:52 I was calm for most of it is what I meant to say.
00:00:55 Turbulence at the end was around when I was falling asleep, so it wasn't as bad.
00:00:59 But it was fine. It was fine.
00:01:02 Vegas was fun.
00:01:03 I'm sure we'll talk about it more on the Rad List.
00:01:05 But yeah, we're back.
00:01:07 We both slept.
00:01:09 I slept a lot today, and so my sleep schedule is going to be pretty messed up.
00:01:11 But that's alright.
00:01:13 We're back finally on the East Coast.
00:01:16 You got to get back to normal of just being up all night.
00:01:21 Some of the stuff you guys were up really crazy.
00:01:24 We were. We were having a good time.
00:01:26 That's what you do in Vegas.
00:01:28 Anyways, let's go over to InPopNido.
00:01:30 See who's winning some popcorn today.
00:01:33 Last time it was Nathan, which I did respond to you today, I believe.
00:01:38 Or whatever. That's the wrong background.
00:01:40 So make sure to check the YouTube comments.
00:01:43 Send us an email, hptcpod@gmail.com.
00:01:46 But do you have a new wheel for today?
00:01:48 See who is going to be winning some popcorn.
00:01:51 RJ, who won his popcorn a few weeks ago,
00:01:55 said he finally cashed in the prize in order to mix ranch, kettle corn, pistachio, and cinnamon toast.
00:02:01 Meanwhile, bomb.com777 will be cashing in their prize.
00:02:07 About time.
00:02:09 RJ, very excited about his order.
00:02:12 I can tell you whoever wins will end up enjoying it.
00:02:16 The product is great. You can get sweet, salty, spicy, all kinds.
00:02:22 All kinds of different flavors.
00:02:24 And all of them hit.
00:02:26 Especially with Christmas around the corner.
00:02:28 They got some seasonal stuff.
00:02:29 Gingerbread. I believe they have a peppermint.
00:02:32 Go nuts.
00:02:34 Yeah, RJ got ranch, kettle corn, pistachio, cinnamon toast, and it's all good.
00:02:38 Bomb.com, who has been commenting forever.
00:02:40 Make sure to send us an email, hptcpod@gmail.com.
00:02:43 We'll get you hooked up with some InPopNido.
00:02:45 Now we can talk Celtics.
00:02:48 First thing we got is a bit of a weird one.
00:02:51 It's going to take some explaining.
00:02:52 This is brought to light, I believe, from Ben DuPont's Celtics blog.
00:02:58 But it's just a deadline.
00:02:59 So whenever we talk about trades, we talk about, oh, if the Celtics want to trade somebody at the deadline that makes more than the TPE.
00:03:10 Because they have the Grant Williams TPE, which is a little bit more than $6 million.
00:03:13 They could trade for somebody who makes $6 million and then flip them, combined with other salaries, at the deadline for more money.
00:03:19 That is no longer possible.
00:03:21 The deadline is now past, or the metaphorical deadline.
00:03:25 Basically, there is not going to be two months between now and the trade deadline for the 60-day recently traded rule for the Celtics to trade for somebody and then flip that person with other salaries.
00:03:36 So the Celtics can no longer, let's just say, Precious Achua. They can't trade for Precious Achua and then trade him again at the deadline with Lamar Stephens and Delano Banton and get a $10 million player.
00:03:47 Because Precious Achua will not be tradable with other players by the time the trade deadline comes around.
00:03:52 Now the Celtics' only means of trades are trading players on the roster combined together or using that TPE to get somebody worth roughly $6 million or less.
00:04:02 So, I mean, it just wipes away some trade possibilities we've talked about.
00:04:06 Most notably, Alex Caruso trade probably even more unlikely now.
00:04:10 Yep. All Alex Caruso hopes have been crushed.
00:04:15 Stomped out. It's not happening.
00:04:18 It wasn't happening before, but now it's really not happening.
00:04:21 And any of the fun "hey, they might trade for this guy" talks are all dead.
00:04:27 We can't do any of that leading up to the trade deadline unless they decide they really hate somebody and want to get rid of them.
00:04:33 But for the most part, it's just not going to happen.
00:04:36 The only way they really could do that is if they traded Al Horford, which would be mind-blowing, I think, to everybody.
00:04:42 They'd be like, "Oh my god, I can't believe they did that."
00:04:44 But this is just another example of the TPE remains stupid.
00:04:49 It sucks.
00:04:51 Anytime there is a traded player exception, everyone just talks about, "Oh, they could get this guy for free. They could get that guy for free."
00:04:58 But it turns out they never get anybody for free except for Evan Fornia that one time.
00:05:02 And they should have just traded for Reggie Bullock back in the summer when they created this TPE.
00:05:09 Because once he was traded to the Spurs, he was waived.
00:05:13 And then it was rumored that once Bullock was waived, the Celtics were in on going to get him.
00:05:18 They were interested.
00:05:20 He ended up going to the Rockets.
00:05:22 But you could have just got him for free.
00:05:24 You could have just got him in the grant trade.
00:05:26 You could have had that salary slot still alive.
00:05:29 And instead, you coughed it up, made it so you cannot make any in-season trades, really, without doing the gymnastics that you would have had to do with the TPE.
00:05:40 And the deadline has already passed, so you can't do it.
00:05:43 They just wasted the cap slot.
00:05:46 I hated that they did it at the time.
00:05:48 We've seen moments this year, especially with guys being hurt, that Grant Williams may have had some sort of role on this team.
00:05:55 Because it sounds like everyone's like, "Hey, they should get a Grant Williams type to come off the bench."
00:05:59 Because Hauser's great, but they could use a bigger body to defend the bigger guys and shoot threes.
00:06:06 And to your credit, you kind of never backed off that one.
00:06:10 And after they got poor Zingas, I was like, "I don't know if they really need Grant. He's not going to have a lot of minutes behind him in Al Horford."
00:06:16 Which, he still might not have been a healthy rotation, but as of now, you cannot just give up free cap slots.
00:06:27 I can't believe they did it. Could have had a guy helping your rotation.
00:06:31 Yeah, it is what it is. I'm not too upset about it.
00:06:35 The Reggie Bullock thing, I mean, I stand that they should have just re-signed Grant, brought him back.
00:06:40 I thought he was a good fit.
00:06:42 But we always say, "Not my money." And it's not, so I'm always going to be on the side of paying.
00:06:48 You understand, wanting to conserve.
00:06:51 At the same time, if they had re-signed that, who knows if they would have been as gung-ho to trade for a guy like Drew Holiday, who they'd have to extend.
00:06:57 So I'm not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of what they're thinking, financially speaking.
00:07:03 It's clear that they're willing to spend more than they have been ever at this point, because they understand it's a title team.
00:07:10 And if we're going to nitpick and pick at straws, I'd rather them spend on extending Derek White and Drew Holiday than keeping a Reggie Bullock or something.
00:07:19 So it would have been nice. Again, not my money, so I'd say just do both.
00:07:23 However, if they're going to pick and choose and they're saying, I mean, money's not infinite.
00:07:29 They're rich and they're obscenely rich, but they're not Steve Ballmer.
00:07:33 They're not Warriors ownership group.
00:07:36 So you understand it to a point, and if it was a matter of, let's keep Grant or let's keep looking for a bigger fish, Drew Holiday was a pretty big fish.
00:07:44 And so you take that. I'm happy with extending him and Derek White, which knock on wood, they better fucking do.
00:07:50 Well, even then, they could have traded Grant and the Julius, Drew Holiday trade.
00:07:56 I don't know if they could have, because he would have been recently signed.
00:07:59 Maybe. Yeah, no, no, I think that's correct, because at the time we talked about it.
00:08:05 But still, that's a cap slot they could have to make moves.
00:08:08 And if you're serious about winning a title, then you pay for it, especially this year, because you can kind of get in before they start really wrapping you up in those CBA restrictions.
00:08:19 This doesn't make any sense. I think it was lame.
00:08:21 And it's just an easy way to keep a cap slot open.
00:08:24 Instead, we had that weird month of like, hey, trade for a T.P. guy, then flip him later.
00:08:29 And now it's dead. So there you go.
00:08:32 The Grant saga has wrapped that it has.
00:08:36 Next thing we got is an article or comes from an article from J. King of the Athletic and still talking about the Celtics offense.
00:08:43 This quote from Joe Mazzola for Jalen Jason, there was a point where Jason didn't score in the first quarter and Jalen had taken like three shots and he couldn't tell because they were doing other stuff.
00:08:52 Those guys are defined by one thing. But in reality, to me, that to me is success because they allowed their teammates and their teammates took the pressure off them.
00:09:01 And they facilitated. That is what it's going to take for us to be great.
00:09:04 It's the balance. There's going to be nights where they're going to be amazing.
00:09:07 There's going to be nights where we got to play like we did tonight.
00:09:10 The more we can be connected and trustworthy on that, it's super important.
00:09:14 But I thought that was great by both of them to be facilitators.
00:09:16 And it shows because they empowered the rest of the guys.
00:09:19 We're all connected. And I agree with it.
00:09:22 And we talked about this in the Jalen video, talking about how the ESPN post that graphic of him not having any assists.
00:09:28 But in reality, he was good. He was passing the ball. His teammates were missing shots.
00:09:33 Jason Tandem struggled shooting the ball lately, but he's still putting up rebounds.
00:09:36 He's still passing pretty well. Turnovers are becoming a problem a little bit as of late.
00:09:40 But he goes through slumps. It is what it is. Every player goes through slumps.
00:09:44 But I do like in general the way those two have been playing this year.
00:09:47 I've been a big fan of the way Jalen's handled himself.
00:09:49 And despite his recent struggles, I think Tandem has been good too.
00:09:52 Yeah, I think the Celtics are truly at their best when it doesn't have to be those guys.
00:09:57 I put on the sheet after the quotes, I said this is what makes this year's Celtics team special.
00:10:03 They don't need Tatum and Brown necessarily to be the guys every single night.
00:10:07 They just need them to provide stability at the given moments during the game where things might get a little bit tension.
00:10:12 You need to be able to rely on those guys to make the correct play.
00:10:15 Whether that is to initiate, take shots, and really try and expose the defense by making them work.
00:10:22 Or just by deferring to the hot hand.
00:10:25 You saw on Friday night against the Knicks, it was Derek White.
00:10:29 They set Derek White up to succeed quite well.
00:10:31 He got a lot of looks from deep. Ten threes, made six of them.
00:10:35 And he made four of six of his attempts from inside the arc.
00:10:38 So by just ever so slightly taking a back seat, you allow for Derek White to pop off for 30.
00:10:46 Give the opposing team maybe not an unexpected outburst, but not the one that they were looking for.
00:10:53 They didn't game plan for Derek White to have 30.
00:10:56 They game planned, "Okay, don't let Tatum get downhill. Don't let him get to his spots.
00:11:01 Make him work. Make him take those tough threes."
00:11:03 Or Jalen, "Oh, make him play out of control. Make him try and go left."
00:11:07 You know, all the things that we've heard people talk about in the past that teams will try and do to make him uncomfortable.
00:11:12 You can do all those things, but Derek White's waiting. Porzingis is waiting.
00:11:16 Al Horford has been waiting. He was good against the Knicks.
00:11:19 And Drew Holiday has been solid as of late, too.
00:11:22 So having six reliable figures on your team to help support the remainder of the players couldn't be more important.
00:11:33 This whole team has discussed sacrifice so early into the season, and everybody seems to be on board.
00:11:39 Everyone wants to take the necessary steps to help win a championship.
00:11:44 And part of that is going to be Tatum Brown maybe taking a back seat once in a while, taking less shots, deferring to the hot hand.
00:11:51 And if that happens, the Celtics should be unstoppable because those two guys are so good.
00:11:56 And then you have the supporting cast firing off, too. You couldn't ask for much more.
00:12:01 I agree. I'm just curious how it rocks in the playoffs because I think it's a different brand of basketball at that point.
00:12:08 And while I do think the team might be at their best right now when those two are facilitating,
00:12:12 you also don't want to see it get to the point where they're not aggressive enough.
00:12:15 And Jalen Brown talked about that, and I think he has been aggressive,
00:12:18 and he's been turning the aggressiveness into playmaking.
00:12:21 But once you get into the postseason, you want to see those guys attacking.
00:12:24 And again, it's about the balance. It's about if you don't have it that night when you are attacking,
00:12:29 kick it out and find your all-star plethora of teammates.
00:12:33 But once you get to the postseason, you really want those two to be leading the charge, especially in the scoring column.
00:12:39 So I'm curious to see what it's like when they get there.
00:12:43 Even though I say that, it's still my opinion. I hope they keep the same mentality of team-first basketball.
00:12:49 That's not what I'm saying, but it is going to be weird to see if the approach changes
00:12:54 or if the 2Js are more aggressive looking to score once the playoffs come around.
00:12:59 Because it does turn into not necessarily more iso-ball, but more star-heavy offense for everybody in the postseason.
00:13:07 No, you have a point. I think those two guys should still be, at least Tatum, maybe not Brown.
00:13:13 Maybe you go to Porzingis over Brown at times in your game plan.
00:13:17 But those two should always be heavily involved in the offense.
00:13:21 They should be the guys. They've proven that they can make shots in big games like that.
00:13:25 They've been able to score big in big moments. Tatum doing it in Game 6 and Game 7 before.
00:13:33 Brown has had his explosions in the playoffs.
00:13:37 But there have also been games in the past where those guys have deferred to the other guys.
00:13:43 And it's worked out really well. Grant Williams' Game 7 against Milwaukee is a prime example.
00:13:48 There have been games where Marcus Smart has been a major factor.
00:13:51 The Game 6 against Philly last year in particular, he was great.
00:13:54 He was really the reason they were in striking distance when Tatum decided he all of a sudden remembered how to play basketball.
00:14:00 We've seen Al Horford turn up in games like that too.
00:14:03 And the fact that they can rely on six different guys at the top of their rotation to turn it on,
00:14:11 step up, and be the maybe number one option at times, it's great.
00:14:17 Obviously you don't want Al Horford being the one you're like, "Okay, give him the ball and get out of the way."
00:14:21 But to know that he's so comfortable in his role where he's going to make the defense pay if they overcompensate on Tatum and Brown,
00:14:29 it's such a luxury to have.
00:14:31 And I think if you play into what the defense gives you, you can't go wrong.
00:14:37 It shouldn't be, "Okay, Tatum and Brown are going to take 10 shots today and Derek White's going to get 23."
00:14:43 It should just be like, "Okay, the defense is really, really making things difficult on Tatum, but Drew Holiday has been left wide open.
00:14:51 He's going to get a couple extra looks instead of Tatum forcing difficult shots in tough moments."
00:14:56 There's the malleability of this team that's going to make them so much more dangerous, which we've said in years past,
00:15:03 but it feels a little bit different now with Porzingis and Drew Holiday in the mix in particular,
00:15:08 plus Derek White stepping up in numerous games so far in the 21 games they've played.
00:15:13 I love Derek White. I started smiling when you said Derek White. He's so good.
00:15:19 But yeah, we'll see what happens with the offensive playoffs.
00:15:22 I think the offense has been great this year.
00:15:24 Well, let me rephrase. I think it has been great when all the starters have been healthy this year,
00:15:29 and I think they've taken a couple lumps when they've had one or two guys out, figuring that out.
00:15:35 Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America's number one sports book.
00:15:42 Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 money bet.
00:15:48 That's $150. Your team wins.
00:15:52 If you've been thinking about joining FanDuel, there's no better time to get in on the action at NFL.
00:15:57 The app is so easy to use. There's a wide range of betting options, including you get spreads,
00:16:01 you get your player props, you get over-unders and more.
00:16:04 So visit FanDuel.com/Boston and kick off the NFL season.
00:16:09 FanDuel, official partner of the NFL.
00:16:14 Speaking of taking lumps, Celtics next eight games are tough.
00:16:19 They're ahead of their schedule. This is dropping this podcast on Tuesday, December 12th,
00:16:23 which they play the Cavaliers tonight.
00:16:26 They have Cavaliers, Cavaliers, Magic, Magic, Warriors all at home, and then a road trip, Clippers, Lakers, Kings.
00:16:34 Those are eight games against teams that are all playoff teams.
00:16:39 The Warriors and Clippers have struggled, but there are teams built to be playoff teams that should be playoff teams for the end of the year.
00:16:45 It's a big stretch for the Celtics, and I see you put on the show, Sam, what record would you be satisfied with?
00:16:50 And I was thinking about it while you're talking.
00:16:53 I think satisfied and expecting are different words.
00:16:56 Don't piss me off here.
00:16:58 Obviously you want them to win every game.
00:17:01 I think they should probably go like, what is this? How many games is this?
00:17:04 Isn't this 90? Am I crazy?
00:17:07 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
00:17:10 I think they should go six and two.
00:17:15 I could see them going five and three.
00:17:19 And anything less than that is complete, like, disaster or disappointment.
00:17:24 My logic here, I'll explain my logic.
00:17:27 I think Cleveland, Cleveland, Orlando, Orlando, they should go three and one.
00:17:30 I think they should beat Cleveland twice and go one and one against Orlando, you know, because Orlando is a good team and they struggle with them.
00:17:36 I think at worst they could drop one to Cleveland and drop one to Orlando.
00:17:40 I think they should beat the Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, or beat the Warriors and Clippers, and then I think they could go one and one against the Kings.
00:17:46 So that's where I got five and three, but should go six and two.
00:17:49 So of all of these teams, Orlando and Golden State have been the only two that really have given them a hard time.
00:18:02 Cleveland last year, I think, took three out of four, actually, so I should stop talking.
00:18:07 But this year it's a little different.
00:18:08 Cleveland's kind of got some guys in the injury report, as you listen to this for tonight's game.
00:18:14 And they also haven't been that great this season.
00:18:16 Orlando, we saw him beat the piss out of the Celtics in the in-season tournament, made things very difficult for the final game, had the Celtics run out the score in Chicago.
00:18:25 It was a major talking point.
00:18:28 I think it's plausible that they lose one of the Orlando games.
00:18:31 The Celtics have won all ten of their home games so far.
00:18:35 I'd like them to keep it up.
00:18:37 I'd like them to continue to win home games.
00:18:39 I don't think there's any reason they can't beat Cleveland twice and Orlando twice.
00:18:43 I think Orlando's for real.
00:18:44 It's not me saying that they shouldn't beat Orlan--or they lose to Orlando, the sky is falling, but you're in a position where you've shown you're for real at home.
00:18:52 Keep it up. Impress us. Earn our respect.
00:18:55 Protect the parquet, even if you paint it a stupid green for those in-season games.
00:19:00 But the Warriors are a team that also has played the Celtics kind of tough.
00:19:04 They split last year.
00:19:06 The first real bad loss of last season was the game at Chase Center where the Celtics got absolutely mauled by the Warriors.
00:19:13 They were the best team in the NBA going into that game.
00:19:16 The Celtics were rolling everyone.
00:19:17 They'd just beaten Phoenix by 50.
00:19:19 Then they go into the Warriors game and just get mauled.
00:19:25 Al Horford gets exposed and dropped coverage.
00:19:28 Actually, I think Al Horford didn't play that day. I'm sorry.
00:19:30 Blake Griffin got killed and dropped coverage.
00:19:32 And they just--it was a disaster game.
00:19:34 Now, the Clippers are a dumpster fire.
00:19:36 You should be able to beat the Clippers, even though they have a lot of star power.
00:19:39 And they do have the ability to kind of gel together and sneak up on you.
00:19:45 If that makes sense, they just beat the Nuggets at full strength after the Nuggets went in there with Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan and beat the piss out of the Clippers.
00:19:53 You have to beat the Lakers.
00:19:55 You did the double on the Lakers last year.
00:19:58 It's Christmas Day.
00:19:59 Be fucking for real, okay?
00:20:01 This is the biggest game of the season so far.
00:20:04 You have to win.
00:20:06 If you go 7-1 but your one loss is against the Lakers, I'm upset.
00:20:11 If you go 6-2 and you beat the Lakers, you get a pass.
00:20:15 And they've also beaten the piss out of the Kings for as long as I can remember.
00:20:20 They swept them last year, and I think they swept them the year before, too.
00:20:24 Yeah, I mean, outside of the Warriors thing, which I think they should beat this Warriors team.
00:20:29 This Warriors team is not the same Warriors team it's been in the past two years.
00:20:32 Very true. Very true.
00:20:33 I think the logic stands.
00:20:34 Like, your logic tracks with my logic.
00:20:39 I think the Magic could be 1-1.
00:20:41 I think Cleveland could be 1-1 just because Cleveland's played them pretty well over the past few years.
00:20:45 I think they should beat Cleveland twice, but Cleveland's a good enough team where I'm like –
00:20:49 I'm not saying I would be 1-1 fine, but I wouldn't shock me.
00:20:55 And then I think the Lakers and Kings are good teams.
00:20:57 I agree with you. You've got to beat the Lakers on Christmas.
00:21:00 Come on.
00:21:01 Are you serious?
00:21:02 But I think those two are two good teams.
00:21:04 So I wasn't looking at it as a Christmas game.
00:21:06 I was looking at it as which team should they beat.
00:21:08 So that's why I said 5-3 should be the worst case scenario, and that's even not very good.
00:21:13 But 6-2 I think is like – all right, 6-2 is probably where they'll be at.
00:21:17 I think you're going to get a chance for a nice early playoff feel against Cleveland and Orlando
00:21:21 because you're going to have two games at home.
00:21:24 And I don't know why it just clicked in my head that I was like, oh, that could be a real thing you have to deal with,
00:21:30 maybe playing both these teams in the playoffs this year as you try and go for 18.
00:21:33 So get ready to try and actually protect the parquet when it's springtime instead of saying, oh, yeah,
00:21:40 you want an appetizer? It's on the house.
00:21:43 Here's your steak dinner cooked up. Enjoy your stay.
00:21:47 They made us sweat so much last year. It's terrible.
00:21:52 Yeah. No, I think 6-2 is where I'm going to sit at.
00:21:55 Are you 7-1?
00:22:00 7-1, I think they should win all of them.
00:22:04 But if you go – if you beat the Lakers, I'll allow 6-2 and I won't give you too hard of a time.
00:22:11 Okay. Sure. Fair enough. Fair enough.
00:22:14 All right. Next thing we got here, you put this on.
00:22:18 Explain your thought process with what this is.
00:22:20 What is this Celtics-Lakers thing?
00:22:22 So we were watching the in-season tournament final in Vegas.
00:22:27 And it was a game that from my point of view, it felt like the Lakers had complete control of the entire time.
00:22:34 I never felt like the Pacers were giving them any kind of run for their money.
00:22:38 Even when they stormed back, it felt a little bit like false hope.
00:22:43 The Lakers just seemed firmly in control.
00:22:45 They went, I think, through almost three quarters without making a single three.
00:22:51 The Reddit post was posted in the Celtics community by user GottaPNow2.
00:22:57 And it reads, "The Celtics should take a cue from the Lakers.
00:23:00 The Lakers relentlessly tacked the paint against the Pacers tonight."
00:23:04 This was posted on Saturday.
00:23:06 "They only shot 13 three-pointers but over 30 free throws. Dominant on the boards.
00:23:11 The Celtics are way too dependent on the three and need to establish a consistent rim attack mentality.
00:23:16 Thoughts? Why does it work for them but not the Celtics?"
00:23:22 Because I think the correct response to this is just like, the teams are built different.
00:23:28 The Celtics don't have a ton of massive size where, I mean, Anthony Davis turned up in that game.
00:23:33 He was almost having a 40-20 and he had 39-20 to finish the game.
00:23:38 And he had his fingerprints all over it.
00:23:41 Miles Turner fouled out of the game.
00:23:44 So they really didn't have much of an answer for Davis when Turner had to be on the bench
00:23:48 because he was in foul trouble then eventually fouled out.
00:23:52 And I just don't think the Celtics play that way.
00:23:55 Now, the reason why I wanted to talk about it from a Celtics perspective
00:24:01 is with the amount of, "Hey, they need to shoot more threes,"
00:24:05 which is probably true for the Celtics roster that they have, the way the team is constructed.
00:24:10 I think it's probably what works best.
00:24:12 But it does prove that in today's NBA you can win a big game while not having to heavily rely on that.
00:24:19 And you can also heavily control the game and have a vice grip on how it seems like it's going to end.
00:24:27 That is exactly where I was going to go.
00:24:30 Point one.
00:24:32 Should the Celtics have done something like this against the Pacers? Probably.
00:24:35 The reason, Pacers suck.
00:24:38 The Pacers are just not a good defensive team.
00:24:40 They're not-- they don't suck.
00:24:42 Suck on defense. Objectively terrible on defense.
00:24:44 Which is why it was frustrating that they blew the game they did, the way they did.
00:24:48 Correct. And the reason for that, because they missed all their open threes.
00:24:52 It's not like they were missing contested threes.
00:24:54 I'm not saying that was the only issue, but offensively, in terms of the reason the Celtics couldn't score,
00:24:59 it was 80% because they couldn't hit their own open shots.
00:25:03 There were problems on top of that.
00:25:05 They couldn't defend the Pacers. That was a problem.
00:25:07 Turn the ball over sometimes. That was a problem.
00:25:09 But 80% of their offensive problems, in terms of scoring the basketball, they missed all their shots.
00:25:14 The Pacers weren't playing great defense. They just missed.
00:25:17 Should they have attacked them more? Yes.
00:25:19 And that is why I think in that specific scenario, they should learn from the Lakers, I suppose.
00:25:24 However, grand scheme, Celtics have the sixth best offense in the league.
00:25:29 The Lakers have the 22nd best offense in the league.
00:25:33 It only works to a point, in very niche scenarios.
00:25:37 And it worked against the Pacers team because they have a guy like Anthony Davis,
00:25:41 who popped off that night, who dominated, and the Pacers didn't have an answer.
00:25:44 They have a guy like LeBron James, who's able to run through the Pacers defense,
00:25:48 but doesn't give much resistance.
00:25:49 Austin Reeves was cooking them because the Pacers couldn't throw perimeter defense at anything.
00:25:53 And that's how the Lakers team is built.
00:25:55 Grand scheme, that is much easier to stop and slow down than the way the Celtics offense is built.
00:26:04 Because the Celtics offense is diversified more.
00:26:08 And to be clear, the Lakers shot 13 threes because they were cooking in the paint.
00:26:13 They don't not shoot threes because they're so good at cooking in the paint.
00:26:16 They don't shoot threes because they suck at shooting threes.
00:26:18 This isn't a "Oh, we know what we're good at, we're not going to do that."
00:26:21 They just can't shoot threes.
00:26:23 Which is a good thing for them in that one specific scenario.
00:26:27 But their three-point shooting is on par with the Raptors, Grizzlies, Blazers, and Pistons this year.
00:26:32 Congrats!
00:26:33 That's not something I want to take a page out of.
00:26:36 I'm not trying to diminish the Lakers in season tournament, but good for them.
00:26:39 Go ahead.
00:26:40 By all means.
00:26:42 If the Celtics had won it, I think it's lame that people are saying, "Oh, f*ck, this doesn't matter anyways."
00:26:49 Whatever.
00:26:50 Oh, he did have 40 points. My bad.
00:26:53 Yeah, but I'm not eager for the Celtics to replicate the Lakers' offensive style.
00:27:00 I'll put it that way.
00:27:01 I think their offensive style is idealized.
00:27:03 I think it fits what they're doing, and I think it is much better overall.
00:27:07 Could they diversify their offense a little bit when things aren't working?
00:27:10 Sure, that's not what I'm saying, but I think taking a page out of the Lakers' book grand scheme is a bit too reactionary.
00:27:18 I'll put it that way.
00:27:19 That's why I wanted to talk about it, because I think the question is valid.
00:27:24 And I think a lot of people that don't shoot as many threes would gravitate towards that.
00:27:30 I was interested in it, because I was watching the game, and I was like, "Wow, it's weird that they don't have a three, and it's past halftime.
00:27:37 They haven't made a three, and they've been in firm control of this game."
00:27:41 Now, while you were talking, I thought to myself, "Huh.
00:27:45 I wonder if the Lakers also did a much better job defending the Pacers, because truthfully, it felt like the Pacers couldn't buy a basket."
00:27:57 I think they got kind of fortunate.
00:27:59 There were a lot of misses from guys on the Pacers, but they only allowed five less points than the Celtics did.
00:28:06 I think what the Lakers did better was completely shut down Tyree Salabird.
00:28:15 They said, "You're not beating us, brother."
00:28:19 They threw a double at him every time he touched the ball, which made it harder for him to make reads.
00:28:22 The reason you can't double Yoko is because he's so tall, and he can just fucking go like this.
00:28:27 Halberdon's 6'5", so you throw a double at him, and you just fucking go like this, and there's only so much the guy can do.
00:28:31 I think that's where they did better.
00:28:33 As far as the three-point shooting, you can win games not shooting as many threes, but it's just a matter of personnel.
00:28:39 The Magic shoot the fewest threes in the league, but they're an elite defense, and they have guys who attack the paint better.
00:28:45 Franz Wagner, Paolo Bancarell are better attacking than they are shooting.
00:28:48 The Lakers shoot the second-least threes, but they have LeBron and AD.
00:28:51 The Nuggets are 25th, but they have fucking Jokic.
00:28:54 The Sixers are-
00:28:56 The Nuggets are also kind of built to shoot threes, though.
00:28:58 They should be higher than 25th, and I think that's why their record is a little bit below par on what they'd expected.
00:29:04 Just to your point.
00:29:06 Sure, but you have Jokic, too, and then 24 and 23 is Timberwolves, Sixers, who have double bigs and then Embiid.
00:29:11 However, you can also win by shooting a million.
00:29:14 The Mavericks have a three-point shooting heavy team, and they're good, and they shoot the most.
00:29:17 Celtics are second. Kings are third.
00:29:19 Warriors have struggled a little bit, but they've always shot the most threes, and they've always been one of the best teams in the league.
00:29:24 I think there are ways to be good at both.
00:29:28 It's just a matter of finding the balance and how you build your roster, and that's how the Lakers are built.
00:29:33 That said, there's also something to be said at the fact that the Lakers have the 22nd-best offense in the league.
00:29:38 So, I'm not eager to copy the Lakers' defensive style, because I also don't think it's sustainable to shoot whatever they shot in the paint.
00:29:49 That's just not going to happen every game, because you're not going to play the Pacers every game.
00:29:53 So, that's where I'm at on that.
00:29:56 Okay, should we go to the email?
00:29:59 Get ready for emails. You pop the emails, I'll pull up the background.
00:30:02 Thank you, sir. Let's see who had what to say.
00:30:06 I think we have a few from RJ and a few from, or at least one from Nate.
00:30:12 Let's see. Email here.
00:30:14 RJ, what's poppin'?
00:30:17 Third quarter, good Celtics and bad Celtics.
00:30:21 Morning, guys. I was re-watching the Knicks game right before seeing the Sunday morning pod,
00:30:24 so I had fresh reminders of the good Celtics, who added seven points to their lead in under two minutes,
00:30:27 as well as the bad Celtics, who let the Knicks cut nine points off the lead in a similar two-minute span.
00:30:32 Here are the play-by-play summaries of the first two segments.
00:30:35 First, the good Celtics stretch, as we see there.
00:30:38 Knicks get a couple of twos, but Celtics win at Missoula, Massachusetts, and they convert.
00:30:42 Bad Celtics included a sampler of their "greatest hits," missing four shots in the restricted zone,
00:30:47 losing a rebound because they tried to volleyball it rather than secure it, and getting disconnected from shooters.
00:30:51 I think Al drilling the three to close out the quarter was much a more reassuring sign,
00:30:55 because it represents a change in how they are responding to their opponent going on a run.
00:30:58 Against Indiana, they couldn't gather themselves, and the run got worse.
00:31:01 Friday night, they kept their composure to execute and got a great look at the buzzer.
00:31:04 Again, can they replicate this as they go forward? I think they will,
00:31:07 because they're getting more comfortable with each other on the floor, and as a result, gaining confidence
00:31:10 and trusting in the beautiful basketball.
00:31:13 This coming week will be interesting, with Al setting out two games for load management.
00:31:16 I still hope the Celtics will stay on beating at home, but I hope they wear the white jerseys,
00:31:19 just to be on the safe side. Sam, UL, RJ.
00:31:22 Yeah, we talked about these, I think.
00:31:25 I was fine, sucked that they did let up the run, but happy with the way they responded.
00:31:29 I think that's where I landed on it.
00:31:31 I think for the most part, the response has been the difference maker this season.
00:31:35 It feels like they've done a much better job, right from the beginning, in handling clutch games.
00:31:41 The season opener against the Knicks, they looked like they were going to blow it.
00:31:45 Instead, they buckle down, fight out the win, and we're all like, "Okay, maybe this is a little bit different."
00:31:52 Then, last Monday, it was really discouraging when they lost the Pacers,
00:31:56 because we were all like, "Oh, they figured it out. They know how to close games."
00:32:01 Then they didn't, in a really, really big spot.
00:32:04 So that was pretty discouraging to see, but good on them for coming out against the Knicks
00:32:08 and kind of fending off the run again. 3-0 against the Knicks now, by the way.
00:32:13 Yeah, we take that.
00:32:16 Update. Of their, what, they have a four-game home stretch right now?
00:32:21 Yes. Five.
00:32:24 Five. What's the fifth?
00:32:26 Technically, if you count the Knicks, it's six.
00:32:29 Warriors in Golden State.
00:32:31 It is?
00:32:32 Yeah, that's what I just saw.
00:32:34 Oh, that makes sense. I don't know why the hell it was listed that way when I saw it. My bad.
00:32:38 You're good. Of the three, three home whites.
00:32:43 Okay. Good.
00:32:45 One black jersey. They're wearing the black one at home.
00:32:48 Breaking.
00:32:49 So, there. That's what we got. So, not bad.
00:32:51 It should always be the white jerseys.
00:32:54 And then they are wearing the City Edition in Warriors at Warriors,
00:33:00 because the Warriors are wearing their City Edition, the black ones.
00:33:03 Disgusting. Just wear the green jerseys, damn it.
00:33:06 All right. Next email, again, from RJ.
00:33:08 What's poppin'?
00:33:09 Who was the IST for?
00:33:10 Hey guys, let's have a Celtics take this time.
00:33:12 Now that the in-season tournament is wrapped up, let's ask ourselves,
00:33:14 who was it created for and was it worth it for the league?
00:33:16 We've all heard the chatter about getting new fans to sample the NBA game,
00:33:19 along with making fans pay attention to pre-Christmas games.
00:33:22 Vote if the domestic market was purely coincidental.
00:33:25 The foreign-born players referenced how it reminded them of European Football League charities.
00:33:28 The specialty courts were said to alert casual fans that they were "special games."
00:33:32 These things make more marketing sense if the IST was about boosting viewership outside of North America,
00:33:37 especially at the cost of "essentially" one-off courts.
00:33:40 They would be a great way to grab the eye of non-English-speaking audiences.
00:33:44 Even the Vegas location for the Cup Final makes it out-of-country friendly in November.
00:33:48 Except it was f*cking freezing there.
00:33:50 To fairly passive NBA fans, the IST felt more like a cross between college basketball,
00:33:55 holiday tourneys, and mid-level bowl games.
00:33:57 Great if your team is involved in a big "who cares" if you don't have any stake in the outcome.
00:34:00 I'm the office hoops junkie and no one in my workplace was saying anything about how they were going to catch an IST game.
00:34:06 The Warriors, sure, but they are the local team.
00:34:08 Besides, most of the casual fan chatter was about Draymond's chokehold.
00:34:13 I'd be very curious to see how the IST played in Europe, Asia, and other hoop-friendly foreign markets.
00:34:18 I doubt the NBA will make those numbers public.
00:34:20 Anyways, enough about my musing about Adam Silver as the new head NBA Hydra.
00:34:27 Have a great day and be well, RJ.
00:34:30 I'll say this. I saw something on Twitter saying that the in-season tournament failed,
00:34:34 it didn't draw the audience they wanted, blah blah blah.
00:34:37 And then I saw someone respond and say, "Listen, regardless, the worst case scenario here is
00:34:44 all of the people who already watch the NBA like it more."
00:34:48 Like, that's literally what it was in my opinion.
00:34:50 All the people who already watched, like, you'd be hard-pressed to find a person who actually hated it,
00:34:54 and if they did hate it, it was just more games.
00:34:57 Everybody who's actually into basketball that I've talked to and that you've talked to,
00:35:00 because I know we both like it, loved it, because it was sick.
00:35:03 It was fun.
00:35:04 It was so fun to watch this.
00:35:06 And I hope it got other people interested.
00:35:11 The only drawback I can think of is, while it could have, you know, the overseas fan maybe make them more interested,
00:35:16 it's very hard to explain if you're already an NBA fan
00:35:21 and you're not, like, a hardcore NBA fan.
00:35:25 Right? Like, I've tried to explain it to my dad, and he's like, "What the fuck's going on?"
00:35:29 And so, it's not a difficult premise for those who understand it.
00:35:36 Like, I don't think it's that crazy, but for someone who is so used to the NBA being the way it is
00:35:41 and not invested enough to keep up with all the changes,
00:35:44 I can understand why it's a little like, "Eww, what's going on here?"
00:35:47 But I think it's a huge win.
00:35:50 I never thought it was hard to understand, and I think everybody that didn't understand it just didn't care enough to look.
00:35:55 Because it's very simple.
00:35:57 Well, this is what I'm saying, though.
00:35:59 You are somebody who always pays attention to the NBA, who is heavily invested in always understanding the NBA.
00:36:04 Someone who just watches the NBA, you know, twice a week,
00:36:07 they're not going to put the investment into reading the rules and understanding.
00:36:10 So, they're just like, "Oh, you know, what is this? What is happening?"
00:36:12 And then they're like, "Oh, whatever. I'll just watch the game."
00:36:15 I guess. I don't know.
00:36:17 It's not that hard to figure out. Just look it up.
00:36:19 It's not hard. It's not hard.
00:36:21 I think it was successful. I mean, I thought it was fun.
00:36:24 I think it added some juice to these games.
00:36:26 You saw the crowd in Indiana. They cared.
00:36:28 Gave you real basketball in December, in November.
00:36:33 I thought the Bulls win was one of the most fun games of the season, where they're just running the score up.
00:36:37 And other players hated that part.
00:36:39 Don't care. Cry more. Cry more.
00:36:42 Sorry, you have to play to try and win.
00:36:47 Alright. Next email again from RJ.
00:36:50 What's poppin'? Magic8ball says,
00:36:52 "Afternoon guys. Let's break out the crystal ball, shall we?
00:36:54 And look at the week ahead."
00:36:56 This is exactly what we just did.
00:36:59 "Not that I'm going to predict game outcomes.
00:37:01 I want the season to stay unbeaten at home.
00:37:03 But the hot takes that various pundits and Patriots fans will toss off,
00:37:06 depending on how these results come in."
00:37:08 "Celtics win all four games."
00:37:10 He's talking about the upcoming home stretch.
00:37:12 "Win all four games by comfortable margins.
00:37:14 People say, 'Book your tickets to the finals. Sign everyone to extensions.'
00:37:16 Brad's a genius. Of course, Sean Grandy will probably throw in that,
00:37:19 'Well, we all thought they were going to beat the Warriors after going up 2-1.'"
00:37:22 We sure did.
00:37:24 I can't... Alright, we're stopping right now.
00:37:27 The "Grandy hate" from RJ doesn't make any sense.
00:37:30 Because he's right!
00:37:32 The things he calls the team on, they're bullshit.
00:37:35 They should have won the finals when they were up 2-1.
00:37:38 There's nothing wrong with him saying that.
00:37:40 Hold them accountable.
00:37:42 When they're about to maybe, like, blow a lead,
00:37:44 and he's like, 'Hey, they might blow a lead,'
00:37:46 it's because we spent four seasons, five seasons, watching them blow leads.
00:37:50 That's why he says it.
00:37:52 Because he's seen it happen.
00:37:54 Next outcome.
00:37:59 "If the Celtics sweep Orlando and split with Cleveland."
00:38:01 "Okay, we knew they weren't going 4-1-0, but they're coming together nicely.
00:38:05 Glad they showed they could counter Orlando.
00:38:08 RKP makes a difference to get the magic.
00:38:10 Grandy probably gushes endlessly about Donovan Mitchell."
00:38:13 "If the Celtics sweep the Cavs and split with Orlando."
00:38:16 "See the above, but some fans are still worried about Orlando."
00:38:19 "Grandy, doom and gloom, blah blah blah."
00:38:21 "Celtics 1-1 against both."
00:38:23 "Celtics need to find more big man depth if either of those losses are on Al's rest night."
00:38:27 "It's Jalen's fault if he commits more than two turnovers in either loss."
00:38:31 "Celtics split but drop both to Cleveland."
00:38:33 "Celtics need more big man depth but louder."
00:38:35 "Grandy echoes and says it's Jalen's fault."
00:38:38 "Celtics split but are swept by Orlando and go 1-3."
00:38:42 "Or lose all four."
00:38:43 "Boston Sports radio callers can be heard as far away as Andromeda Galaxy."
00:38:47 "Screaming for trades and firings."
00:38:48 "Along with blaming anti-Celtic conspiracies."
00:38:51 "Sam takes the baseball bat to everyone who suggests the Celtics need Zach Levine."
00:38:54 "Grandy sounds strangely content."
00:38:56 "All kidding aside, I do think the Celtics have a good chance of going 4-0."
00:38:59 "Because they don't have to travel."
00:39:00 "If the Celtics win Tuesday's game against Cleveland."
00:39:03 "I'll be curious to see if they sit him on Thursday."
00:39:05 "So he's fresh for both games against the Magic."
00:39:08 "Happy Sunday and be well."
00:39:09 "RJ."
00:39:11 Yeah.
00:39:12 I think all's possible.
00:39:13 We just talked about these games.
00:39:15 Alright.
00:39:16 What's poppin'?
00:39:17 RJ, get serious for a minute.
00:39:19 "Evening guys."
00:39:20 "This one's been sitting in my head for a while."
00:39:22 "And the end of the IST kind of jostled it loose."
00:39:24 "I hope you'll indulge me."
00:39:25 "The league has spent a very large amount of time and money and effort."
00:39:30 "To try to make people care about NBA basketball in November and early December."
00:39:33 "They thought this was a good enough thing to go from 0 to the inaugural NBA Cup."
00:39:38 "In relative short order."
00:39:39 "Meanwhile, it's been over 10 years since former Celtics center Jason Collins."
00:39:43 "Came out as the first active NBA player."
00:39:45 "In the intervening decade has been joined by nobody."
00:39:48 "And to be honest, all of male sports team cultures in the US embraces casual homophobia."
00:39:54 "By the pros and at which level."
00:39:55 "Singling out the NBA for change because it's seemingly been more willing to move forward."
00:39:59 "Than any other on human rights matters."
00:40:01 "Also, the Celtics have been better than other parts of the league."
00:40:05 "From drafting Chuck Cooper to listening to their female staffers regarding Udoka."
00:40:08 "So maybe they can step forward in this front too."
00:40:10 "NBA wants to be inviting and inclusive to all talented players around the world."
00:40:13 "That's a good thing."
00:40:14 "I just wonder how many talented kids don't pick up a basketball."
00:40:16 "Because they get the message that their kid wouldn't come to the court."
00:40:20 "Time for the association to care on this front."
00:40:22 "I don't know if you have any thoughts on this."
00:40:25 "My thing is, I think the NBA has been better at this than anybody."
00:40:29 "I think it also largely depends."
00:40:31 "I think the Celtics would be very good at it."
00:40:33 "I think, you know, you look at New York teams."
00:40:35 "I think it just depends on the area of the country, unfortunately."
00:40:39 "That's my thoughts on it."
00:40:41 "Jason Collins, obviously, the 10 years ago."
00:40:44 "I think it's only a matter of time before we see another NBA player come out as gay."
00:40:51 "But I don't think it's because they feel scared to do so."
00:40:55 "At least in my opinion."
00:40:57 "I don't know, it's just the NBA hasn't felt like the league that would suppress that."
00:41:01 "Like football players, yeah."
00:41:03 "Even though there have been some football players."
00:41:05 "I think that and baseball, it might be more difficult."
00:41:07 "But I feel like basketball is a league where people should be comfortable and would be comfortable to do that."
00:41:12 "But then again, I don't think we are the right people to comment on this."
00:41:15 "Because we don't really know the ins and outs of the NBA culture."
00:41:19 "But I mean, I have no problem."
00:41:21 "Like, I don't know. I don't know what there is to say on that though."
00:41:24 "Yeah, I mean, I don't really know too much about it."
00:41:27 "I know the Celtics do a Pride Night every season."
00:41:30 "It's a big event. They promote it on social media."
00:41:32 "They try and be inclusive in the events they do that night."
00:41:36 "The promotion of it, trying to invite everyone to come enjoy the game."
00:41:40 "So I think that's a step in the right direction."
00:41:42 "I don't know what you can really do to have more gay players in the league."
00:41:49 "It's good that Jason Collins felt comfortable to be himself."
00:41:53 "And come out and be and speak of that."
00:41:56 "But if there just aren't, then there's not."
00:41:58 "But I don't know."
00:42:00 "I mean, I really can't speak too much on it."
00:42:03 "Yeah, I mean, you also just don't want to out players."
00:42:06 "They have to be comfortable doing it for them."
00:42:08 "And I think all we can do is make sure that they are that."
00:42:13 "And maybe there are and they just don't want it to be known that they are."
00:42:16 "And maybe, you know, if there are in that case, then the teams are probably doing a fine job of making them comfortable and feeling alright."
00:42:22 "Because we haven't heard anything otherwise about it."
00:42:24 "I don't know. I think it's only a matter of time, but we shall see."
00:42:28 Alright, next, or final email I should say.
00:42:31 From Nate Bock, "Jason and Travis get into hilarious pros and cons of living at home as an adult."
00:42:36 I watched this so we wouldn't have to end the pod because it's a little bit of a longer clip.
00:42:39 I watched some of it.
00:42:40 "What's poppin fellas? Just thought I'd share this video from New Heights to share with you guys."
00:42:43 I'm not judging anybody, just adding more to the topic.
00:42:45 Basically, this is Travis and Jason Kelsey talking about the Giants quarterback, Tommy DeVito, who still lives at home with his parents.
00:42:53 So this is Nate Bock...
00:42:54 W him.
00:42:55 Following up, Jason and Travis go, "Come on bro, you're this old, move out of your house, blah blah blah."
00:43:03 But they also make the important clarification, which I wanted to go on here.
00:43:06 He's rich. Tommy DeVito also makes a lot of money.
00:43:10 How much does he make? I know he's not a ton, but he makes 2.7 million dollars.
00:43:16 Yeah, okay, he could move.
00:43:18 He should maybe move out.
00:43:21 But one, if he's comfortable living at home, it's fine.
00:43:23 And two, it's also very different for normal people who have to worry about paying rent.
00:43:30 Like, this guy would be fine paying rent, so I guess you can make a different argument for him.
00:43:34 But like, I don't know about you Sam, I'm not trying to talk about your expenses, but I certainly don't make 2.7 million dollars.
00:43:39 No, I do not. Unfortunately, I don't.
00:43:42 I might feel I'm worth that, but you know, not everyone agrees, so you settle for what you settle for.
00:43:48 And then Ratlis from Nate. "Ratlis, I can't stand that LeBron and the Lakers won the first IST, and of course they hang in a banner of vomit.
00:43:56 And now I'm even more mad that he's for losing.
00:43:58 I purposely avoided ESPN and other outlets so I don't have to listen to all the garbage about how great LeBron and the Lakers are.
00:44:02 And in addition to this, I have to listen to the Lakers fans in my life tell me the Lakers have more banners than the Celtics now.
00:44:07 UGH. Respectfully, Nate Boss."
00:44:09 We're going to talk about this a little bit later in the show, but one, they don't.
00:44:13 Good transition.
00:44:14 And two, yeah, we can rock with this here.
00:44:16 Um, I, the Lakers don't have more banners than the Celtics, first of all.
00:44:22 They don't. They just objectively don't.
00:44:24 Um, they have more ISTs than the Celtics.
00:44:28 They have more in-season tournament wins than anybody now, because they won the first one.
00:44:32 They have more in-season tournament victories than anybody in the league, including the Celtics.
00:44:35 More finals wins? No, they don't.
00:44:39 This does, it is a different thing, and I don't think it should be put off as a lesser thing or a different thing.
00:44:45 It's just different.
00:44:46 It's a cool new thing that NBA did that we were both a fan of, that they just so happened to win, which sucks for Celtics people.
00:44:51 But it doesn't count towards the same thing.
00:44:54 And as far as the banner, I saw a lot of people upset about it.
00:44:58 Whatever. Like, who cares?
00:45:00 That's always my main thing.
00:45:02 I wouldn't care if the Celtics did it.
00:45:03 I don't think it should be the same banner as the other thing, but if they hung a different thing, I don't care.
00:45:08 They won something, hang something, it's fine.
00:45:10 Like, good for them, they won.
00:45:12 That's my thing.
00:45:13 So, one, it is very sad the Lakers won this.
00:45:19 It's terrible that LeBron got to win it.
00:45:21 Did it feel a little bit, you know, premeditated, maybe a little bit?
00:45:26 Mickey Mouse group to start, hope against the Suns in LA.
00:45:30 They trot Fat Zion out there, and then, you know, get a lot of free throws, as we talked about earlier in the finals.
00:45:39 So it does feel all a little bit Mickey Mouse.
00:45:41 But I'll say this, a lot of people online making fun of the Lakers for hanging a banner for this.
00:45:47 It's like, it's lame at this point.
00:45:54 Like, I don't know, stop making fun of them.
00:45:56 They won.
00:45:57 I hate the Lakers.
00:45:58 I hate LeBron as much as everybody.
00:46:00 Also, add the context of the banner.
00:46:02 They're not hanging a banner for every IST they win.
00:46:04 Yeah, no, no, I'm not done yet.
00:46:05 Oh, okay, okay, go ahead, yeah.
00:46:07 They're doing it the correct way, too.
00:46:09 The Celtics won, this is what I would want the Celtics to do.
00:46:11 I think there should be a separate banner that is a singular banner for all of your in-season tournament wins ever.
00:46:20 And you just add a new date to it every time you win.
00:46:23 I don't think there's anything wrong with this.
00:46:26 I think any team that would have won would have done it this way.
00:46:29 Maybe other teams would actually just hang, like, an actual banner.
00:46:32 Like, there are teams that have division titles hanging in their arena, which is kind of sad.
00:46:37 That's embarrassing.
00:46:38 If the Celtics won, this is what I would expect them to do.
00:46:42 It would look different than the championship banners.
00:46:44 It would probably be small.
00:46:46 And they would just add the dates to it.
00:46:48 I think it would be kind of cool.
00:46:49 Or maybe they add, like, a trophy with the date in it.
00:46:52 I don't know.
00:46:54 But what I will say is I'm kind of--like, it was really weird.
00:46:57 Everyone was like, "Oh, this is so lame. They're hanging a banner. Why?"
00:47:00 Like, they won.
00:47:01 I don't think they're going to--now, if they have a parade, if they have a parade, then you can make fun of them.
00:47:06 But I don't think they should get made fun of for having, like, a banner for this because I think any team--
00:47:12 They'll probably have a banner night.
00:47:16 I think that's the closest thing they'll have is the banner night where they hang it in front of the fans.
00:47:20 They're like, "Yeah, look at this."
00:47:21 I mean, you won it.
00:47:22 I assume that's the extent, but--
00:47:24 They won it.
00:47:25 Fine.
00:47:26 Whatever.
00:47:27 They can do what they want.
00:47:28 It's not what you wanted to see, but it's what happened.
00:47:32 And again, no shock, and of course, big circle jerk for LeBron.
00:47:38 Yeah, it is what it is.
00:47:39 I don't really care.
00:47:41 That's my stance.
00:47:42 All right, let's check in with the rest of the NBA standings as we do on every podcast.
00:47:46 See where teams are at.
00:47:47 See if the Pistons have won.
00:47:48 Spoiler alert, no, they have not.
00:47:51 See if the Pistons have won.
00:47:54 Did the Pistons win is actually--we should have a "Did the Pistons win" background.
00:47:58 No, they have not, the answer.
00:48:00 19 in a row.
00:48:02 Wizards have lost four in a row.
00:48:03 Spurs have also not won.
00:48:04 They've lost 16 in a row.
00:48:06 Top of the West is just winning except for the Nuggets, six for the Wolves, one for the Thunder,
00:48:10 two for the Mavs, three for the Lakers, one for the Kings, and three losses in a row for the Nuggets,
00:48:14 who are 5-5 in their last 10 games.
00:48:17 Clippers and Rockets are picking it up, winning 3-2, respectively.
00:48:20 Warriors still struggling a little bit.
00:48:22 Jazz as well struggling.
00:48:25 Meanwhile, in the East, Celtics, Magic, Bucks top the East at 16-5, then 15-7, 15-7.
00:48:31 Sixers, Pacers, Cavs, 2-3-3 in terms of win streaks in a row.
00:48:35 Nets also picking it up lately.
00:48:37 Three in a row, they're 12-9 now.
00:48:38 Knicks have lost two, also 12-9 on par with the Nets.
00:48:41 And then the Heat, who were hot for a little while, they're now 4-6 in the last 10 games,
00:48:46 moving to 12-10.
00:48:47 Meanwhile, the Hawks and the Raptors have both lost three in a row, both struggling,
00:48:51 both now below 500.
00:48:53 The Hawks, however, snapping their streak of constantly being 500, because now they
00:48:57 are three games under.
00:48:58 Good for them, they beat their addiction.
00:49:01 Respect to them.
00:49:02 And meanwhile, the Bulls have won four games in a row.
00:49:08 Zach LaVine curse has been lifted a little bit.
00:49:11 It does wonders when you get to take the tumor out of your team.
00:49:14 I'll tell you that.
00:49:16 Evidently so.
00:49:17 Sitting out with foot inflammation.
00:49:20 I beat foot inflammation in a week.
00:49:23 All you gotta do is roll a baseball on it.
00:49:25 This is the most "we're trading you soon, don't get hurt" I've ever seen.
00:49:30 It's gotta be it.
00:49:32 I think unfortunately since the last time we did a show, there haven't been any games.
00:49:36 So we don't have anything new to report.
00:49:38 Games.
00:49:39 Excuse me, yeah, games going on right now, but that's about it.
00:49:43 Alright, next thing we have is...
00:49:47 Oh my god, stop.
00:49:49 Sorry, so I don't know what this glitch is,
00:49:52 but whenever I click something in a Google Doc or in whatever platform we use,
00:49:57 stuff just starts deleting.
00:49:59 I don't know if there's a button stuck on my keyboard or something.
00:50:02 I just had to panic attack.
00:50:03 Next thing we have is Stephen A. Smith talking about Zion Williamson.
00:50:06 He was on the show.
00:50:08 He put him on blast today.
00:50:10 Is this on the Maxwell pod?
00:50:13 I'm not sure.
00:50:14 I thought this was just on the Stephen A. Smith show.
00:50:16 It might have been.
00:50:17 I know he went on with Joe Sway.
00:50:19 I'm not sure.
00:50:22 But he said, "I'm not exaggerating.
00:50:24 I'm quoting people.
00:50:25 You got chefs in New Orleans who love him.
00:50:27 They're looking for him.
00:50:28 Every chef there wants to meet him.
00:50:29 The word out on Zion is that he'll eat the table."
00:50:34 I was about to say poor guy Zion, but like this dude.
00:50:37 No, I don't feel bad for Zion.
00:50:39 I'm glad you didn't come out here as like, poor guy, like, you know, blah, blah.
00:50:45 I mean, here, this is my thing.
00:50:47 I always stand on the fact that it sucks when players get slewed.
00:50:50 But at this point, brother, just fucking get in shape, dude.
00:50:54 Like, you're paid millions of dollars to get in shape and be healthy, and you can't fucking do it consistently.
00:51:00 Does it suck to have people talking shit about you everywhere?
00:51:04 Yes.
00:51:05 Do I feel bad for him a little bit?
00:51:06 I guess.
00:51:07 But you're doing it to yourself.
00:51:08 Well, here's what I think.
00:51:13 Zion shouldn't be treated any differently than any other fat person who has to deal with people making fun of them.
00:51:18 A lot of times, fat people have to deal with that.
00:51:22 No, no, no, no, Tech, no, no, no.
00:51:23 Don't make fun of fat people for being fat.
00:51:25 I'm not saying make fun of fat people.
00:51:27 I'm saying people that are overweight deal with people making fun of them.
00:51:30 I'm not saying it's okay.
00:51:31 Yeah, but that is okay.
00:51:32 I'm saying that Zion, Zion, just because he's a celebrity, you can't be like poor guy because you have to do that for everybody.
00:51:39 Okay, no, no, no.
00:51:41 This isn't me saying go out there and make fun of fat people.
00:51:43 That's not what I'm saying.
00:51:45 Yes, but I think the general message is don't make fun of fat people.
00:51:49 But I don't think what is happening here is making fun of fat people.
00:51:52 I think it's slewing someone for not getting in shape when you're paid a million dollars.
00:51:57 That's not even an exaggeration, millions of dollars to be in shape.
00:52:01 To put it clear, I don't think you should make fun of somebody for being fat.
00:52:05 I don't think that should be a thing.
00:52:07 I think I can understand this because it is like maybe the phrasing of it.
00:52:13 Like this is just Stephen A. Smith phrasing saying, oh, the chef's like that is like TV, whatever.
00:52:17 He's doing his job.
00:52:18 Yes, he's being entertaining.
00:52:20 I think criticizing Zion for not getting in shape is valid.
00:52:24 Completely justified.
00:52:25 Yeah.
00:52:26 He's getting, like you said, paid millions of dollars to literally not be fat.
00:52:32 Like his job is to be in shape so he can play basketball and help the Pelicans win basketball games.
00:52:38 He just got an extension to be in shape, to be healthy, to be on the floor.
00:52:43 No reason why he should get a pass for this.
00:52:47 I'm sorry.
00:52:48 Just have self-control.
00:52:50 You have all of the assets in the world to help you to be in shape.
00:52:54 These NBA players have personal chefs, dietitians, personal trainers, everybody mapping out the easiest way for their body to be in the best condition it can be to go out there and compete for these teams.
00:53:07 There's absolutely no excuse.
00:53:09 Not everybody has access to that stuff.
00:53:11 He has the luxury of actually having every tool he needs to get into shape, which isn't the case for everybody, to your point earlier.
00:53:19 But, with him, it's literally his job.
00:53:24 I just can't deal with the poor guy.
00:53:28 Not poor guy.
00:53:29 He's done everything he can to--I mean, we talked about this on Saturday.
00:53:34 The trainer came out and was like, "Yeah, this man's not for real."
00:53:38 The team is paying him a contract extension.
00:53:42 All we've heard from Zion, or around Zion, is he doesn't want to play there.
00:53:47 This is probably his way of halfway forcing his way out of town.
00:53:51 It's all terrible.
00:53:53 Every single time we get something about Zion, I just can't--
00:53:58 One, I don't think NBA players can literally recover from being fat.
00:54:02 I think it's a real thing.
00:54:04 And he clearly hasn't because he's still dealing with this.
00:54:09 He's overweight.
00:54:10 He can't get on the court.
00:54:11 And he's not able to help the Pelicans compete.
00:54:14 It just doesn't happen.
00:54:15 Guys don't lose weight in the NBA--or gain weight and then lose it
00:54:19 and then get back to normal.
00:54:20 It doesn't really happen unless you're James Harden.
00:54:22 I think you can.
00:54:23 I don't think it's an issue of can you physically overcome being overweight.
00:54:27 I just don't think it's the mentality that he wants to,
00:54:29 which is a problem when you're being paid that much money to be on the court.
00:54:32 I'm not saying it's not a problem.
00:54:33 Well, that's part of why this is a trend.
00:54:35 I feel like if you're in the league and you are getting overweight,
00:54:38 there's a reason why.
00:54:39 If you're not able to keep yourself in shape to compete,
00:54:41 there's a reason why because you don't have the mentality.
00:54:43 You don't care enough.
00:54:45 Of course not.
00:54:46 That's part of the reason why you don't see a lot of--you never see anybody
00:54:49 beat being fat.
00:54:51 It's the most career-ending injury in the NBA.
00:54:54 You get fat, it's over.
00:54:57 All right.
00:54:58 Next thing we got is something from Shams Charania of The Athletic,
00:55:01 which is a news dump.
00:55:02 He just put out an article with a bunch of trade stuff, a bunch of news,
00:55:05 and we're going to pick through it and go over some of the bigger ones.
00:55:08 First one, Lakers and Sixers, potentially interesting.
00:55:12 Levine said they're expected suitors for Levine,
00:55:14 but operating from positions of patience and due diligence.
00:55:17 Bulls have found their stride over the past X amount of games
00:55:20 and are just one game out of a play-in tournament spot.
00:55:24 The Athletic's Sam Amick recently reported that Derosen's preferred trade
00:55:27 destinations are the Knicks and the Heat.
00:55:29 If he also ends up being dealt--if I'm the Sixers, no, thank you.
00:55:33 If I'm the Lakers, maybe you understand it a little bit,
00:55:36 get a little bit better offensive creation so you can cover it with the defense
00:55:39 and the interior scoring.
00:55:41 But if I'm the Sixers, definitely not.
00:55:43 And the Lakers, maybe.
00:55:44 I don't know.
00:55:45 Zach Levine's--meh.
00:55:46 Just thanks for the good news, Shams.
00:55:49 Just the two teams I hate the most looking to blow up and bring in a losing player.
00:55:57 It's fantastic to see.
00:55:59 Sixers, do it.
00:56:00 You know, you're probably like a peg behind the Celtics.
00:56:03 You need somebody to get you over the hump.
00:56:05 Go get Zach Levine.
00:56:06 He can do super cool dunks.
00:56:09 I like it.
00:56:10 I like the promotion for that.
00:56:12 Other things from Shams, I should say.
00:56:15 Hawks and Pacers looking to swing deals with the Raptors.
00:56:18 Teams such as the Hawks and the Kings--Hawks, Kings, and Pacers expected
00:56:22 suitors for Siakam or Anobe, but believe Siakam appears to be the
00:56:26 likelier player to be dealt, according to Shams.
00:56:30 Hawks held intense conversations with the Raptors around Siakam's deal.
00:56:33 Offseason, Pacers and Kings have both checked in and engaged at different
00:56:37 points for the Kings.
00:56:38 A better start to the season than a year ago.
00:56:40 12-8 versus 11-9 provides confidence that they can grow internally rather
00:56:45 than compete for the expected costs of Siakam and Anobe.
00:56:50 I'd like either of these players for any of these three teams.
00:56:53 My favorite one-to-one fit would probably be Anobe with the Pacers.
00:56:57 My favorite Siakam fit is a weird--it would probably be the Kings.
00:57:04 But yeah.
00:57:06 He feels a bit redundant next to Sabonis to me.
00:57:09 He doesn't have the same size, but he's not--
00:57:11 I'll take it back. Pacers is better. Pacers is better.
00:57:14 I just don't know if Siakam really has a great fit around the league right now.
00:57:20 Not to say he sucks or he's a bad player or anything.
00:57:22 It's just like he's not the kind of guy you think of and you're like,
00:57:25 "Damn, that brings the team to a new level."
00:57:29 While Anobe hasn't got the all-star recognition throughout his career,
00:57:33 he does have more of a skill set that you can put into a Pacers or a Kings.
00:57:37 You're like, "Oh, wow. Now you have that to deal with,"
00:57:40 on top of Halliburton or De'Aaron Fox and Sabonis
00:57:44 and all of the weapons in Sacramento.
00:57:47 I almost think--now that I'm thinking about it--
00:57:50 I almost think having Siakam could be better for the Pacers
00:57:53 because they don't really have another guy on that team
00:57:56 who can create for himself.
00:57:58 I think Anobe can, but I think Siakam is the better offensive creator
00:58:03 in terms of being able to make plays for others
00:58:05 as well as finding his own shot.
00:58:07 It might not be the traditional 3 and D that you might associate
00:58:09 with a guy next to Halliburton, but it's not like they have Halliburton
00:58:12 and then another secondary scoring option and then a bunch of shooters
00:58:15 so they just need more shooters.
00:58:16 They don't really have a secondary scoring option.
00:58:18 They have guys who can score, but you don't think of Myles Turner
00:58:21 or Bruce Brown or Buddy Heald as secondary scoring options.
00:58:25 If you get Siakam in there, one, he can run the pick and roll
00:58:28 pretty well with Halliburton, but more importantly,
00:58:30 I think he can take the pressure or some pressure off of Halliburton
00:58:34 because if Siakam was in that game against the Lakers,
00:58:37 they can't just double Halliburton every play because you have a guy
00:58:39 like Siakam who can also do damage.
00:58:41 I don't think he's perfect, but we've seen him average
00:58:43 like 25, 8, and 5 for the past--
00:58:45 - He's a good defender. - --20 years.
00:58:47 Plus, he's a good defender.
00:58:48 Plus, like you said about the redundancy with Sabonis,
00:58:51 Myles Turner can shoot 3s.
00:58:52 So if you have a guy like Siakam who is comfortable defending the perimeter
00:58:56 but can also--needs to be in the post on offense,
00:58:59 that fits well with Turner who defends the paint on defense
00:59:02 but can stretch the floor on offense.
00:59:04 Actually, I'm talking myself into the Siakam to Indy thing right here.
00:59:08 Plus, you have the T.J. McConnell contract,
00:59:12 another contract's in there to get up there.
00:59:14 If they want Jairus Walker, you throw him in there.
00:59:16 You have some picks. I don't know.
00:59:17 I might be in on Siakam to Indy now that I'm thinking about it.
00:59:19 I think he can help them take a step.
00:59:22 Sure.
00:59:24 Gut Indy's bench.
00:59:26 You know, I'm interested to see anybody play ball with Masayu Jiri
00:59:30 because that man does not want to give up an inch.
00:59:32 And respect! That's how I'd want my GM to be.
00:59:35 I think--not that this is going to be super different,
00:59:38 but I think the difference maker in this scenario
00:59:40 could be Siakam's contracts up.
00:59:42 So he's gone after the season if they don't figure something out.
00:59:46 And so what they would have to give up,
00:59:48 they'd have to give up Buddy Heald in a trade,
00:59:50 which could hurt their spacing.
00:59:51 But you still have Aaron Neesmith who you could bump up and give him.
00:59:54 Jordan O'War is just sitting on the bench doing nothing.
00:59:56 He's proven to be a good shooter when he's played.
00:59:59 I'm looking at--excuse me--the trade maker here.
01:00:02 It would have to be something like Heald, McConnell, Jairus Walker, and picks.
01:00:07 And maybe they ask for another guy like--
01:00:10 they'll probably ask for Andrew Demhard if I'm the Pacers.
01:00:13 I'm not doing that.
01:00:14 I say we'll give you Heald, Jairus Walker, McConnell,
01:00:17 and maybe a Ben Shepard or Jordan O'War if you really want them,
01:00:21 like another mid-tier, potentially okay shooting wing.
01:00:25 And then we'll give you a first-run pick or two.
01:00:27 And that's where I draw the line.
01:00:28 And even that's a lot for Siakam.
01:00:30 But I think the issue with Indy is--let's call it spade to spade here--
01:00:34 no one's signing in Indy.
01:00:36 You're not getting anybody unless you're wildly overpaying
01:00:38 like you paid Bruce Brown.
01:00:40 So you've got to pay for stars if you're Indy.
01:00:43 You've got to make risky trades,
01:00:44 which the Halliburton trade was objectively risky, right?
01:00:47 Everyone kind of knew he was a good player,
01:00:49 but it's hard to predict he'd be this good.
01:00:51 I mean, at the time of the trade, it was like Pacers murdered.
01:00:55 Yeah, but you've got to take big swings if you're Indy,
01:00:59 and I wouldn't hate that.
01:01:00 Last shams thing is that PJ Tucker might be upset with the Clippers,
01:01:06 or he is upset.
01:01:07 PJ Tucker has expressed frustration about his current situation
01:01:09 with the Clippers,
01:01:10 and both sides are discussing ways to resolve a role for him there
01:01:12 or elsewhere, according to league sources.
01:01:14 Multiple contending teams are monitoring the Tucker situation in L.A.
01:01:19 Thoughts?
01:01:20 I love when reports is monitoring, because that means nothing.
01:01:26 PJ Tucker is averaging a whopping 1.3 points and 2.9 rebounds this season
01:01:30 while shooting 31% from deep.
01:01:33 He has played 16 minutes, 13, 22, then 6 and 8 in his last two games,
01:01:39 and he hasn't played in a minute.
01:01:41 I don't know if he's hurt or just not playing,
01:01:42 but he's picked up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 DNPs in a row,
01:01:46 and the Clippers are 4 and 1 in those games.
01:01:49 PJ Tucker's just out there to hurt people.
01:01:51 He's said in the playoffs, it's the same thing.
01:01:54 He's really not giving you an edge anymore.
01:01:56 He's not able to make threes.
01:01:58 He's a free guy to help off on the offensive end.
01:02:02 That's just the facts.
01:02:03 I mean, if you're shooting 31% from three of your PJ Tucker,
01:02:07 what's the point of putting you out there?
01:02:09 That's like your only offensive function.
01:02:11 Tyloo has replaced PJ Tucker with Kobe Brown in the rotation,
01:02:16 and Kobe Brown has gone 4 and 1 in those games.
01:02:20 He's not starting, but he's getting the minutes PJ Tucker normally would have.
01:02:23 He's the rookie, and he's playing well.
01:02:26 He's a 6-7 power forward.
01:02:28 I don't know who he's trading for PJ Tucker at this point.
01:02:30 He's making $10 million.
01:02:31 He's probably a buyout guy.
01:02:33 That's what I think.
01:02:34 Yeah.
01:02:35 I suppose.
01:02:36 Does he have one or two years left on his contract?
01:02:38 There's only one.
01:02:39 He is under contract for this year and a player option for next year.
01:02:45 So he's picking that shit up.
01:02:47 He's 11 million this year, 11.5 next year.
01:02:51 So he's taking that shit.
01:02:53 All right.
01:02:54 Last thing before we go to the rat list, we'll bump.
01:02:58 So ESPN did all star predictions.
01:03:00 We'll bump that for when we do our own.
01:03:02 The last thing I want to talk about briefly is all star predictions.
01:03:05 Fuck that last thing before we get on the right list here.
01:03:08 So show how Tony, did you see the new details about his contract?
01:03:12 Yes.
01:03:13 So if you don't know, show, hey, there's only actually having the Dodgers pay him $2 million a season for the next 10 years.
01:03:21 And I think the rest of it is like banked or whatever.
01:03:23 So just get the rest of his life.
01:03:25 Yeah.
01:03:26 Right.
01:03:27 Yeah.
01:03:28 Which means $680 million is deferred to the like after his contract.
01:03:33 I mean, that's not bad.
01:03:35 That's fucking insane, though, that's allowed.
01:03:37 Like, that's nuts.
01:03:38 Imagine, like, for context, imagine the I'm going to make it the Lakers just so you can be mad at it.
01:03:45 No, it would be the way that it is.
01:03:47 You're absolutely right.
01:03:48 Let's say the Lakers got LeBron James signed him for $300 million, right?
01:03:52 Signed him for 300 mil, which they did something like that, whatever it was.
01:03:56 However, for the five years, he only makes a million dollars a year, and the other 295 is deferred for the end of it.
01:04:04 And then they did the same thing with Paul George, and then they did the same thing with Kawhi.
01:04:09 And then they could just get everybody.
01:04:11 They could literally have every answer for you guys.
01:04:14 Anyway, it still happens.
01:04:16 The difference between Gabe Vincent free versus Kawhi Leonard free is like, don't say that's the same thing.
01:04:22 Well, basketball is different than baseball in that respect too because there's a lot more individual responsibility in baseball where it's like you're up there at bat as many times as everybody else in your team, no matter what.
01:04:34 You're still playing your position in the field.
01:04:36 There's no this guy gets this many bats because he's the best player.
01:04:40 I know what you mean.
01:04:41 It wouldn't be fair if you could just stack teams like that.
01:04:43 Which means this is also not fair.
01:04:45 I'm just saying it's crazy that they're allowed to do that.
01:04:47 We've seen super teams fail in the past.
01:04:49 It's baseball.
01:04:50 There's no salary cap.
01:04:51 The rich teams get to pay the rich players.
01:04:54 And it's kind of good for baseball because the brands, listen, it's good because the brands get to consistently be relevant.
01:05:04 You don't have a lot of times where it's just like, oh, the Yankees suck forever.
01:05:11 The Dodgers suck forever.
01:05:12 Like your faces of the league, if you're Adam Silver or the Fox baseball questions up both Manfred.
01:05:20 Those guys, I mean, listen, David Stern was like, if I could pick the NBA finals to be the Lakers against the Lakers, they want their big market teams to be the best teams.
01:05:28 Is it fair to the other teams in the league?
01:05:30 No, but if you're in the commissioner's office, it's what you want.
01:05:33 So, I mean, I don't know if it's necessarily good for all the other teams, but yeah, it's good for like four teams.
01:05:40 I think it's lame as hell.
01:05:42 I think it's stupid.
01:05:43 And I mean, this is coming from a person who likes the Red Sox, who has fucking fuckhead John Henry.
01:05:50 So I understand, but whatever.
01:05:52 I think it's whack and I would suck if that was.
01:05:56 I don't know how much I support the Red Sox anymore, to be honest with you.
01:05:59 It's tough to be part of the ownership.
01:06:01 All right, let's get into the rat list here.
01:06:05 I assume we'll talk a little bit about Vegas, but we have plenty of stuff.
01:06:07 Do you want to start off here?
01:06:08 Do you have anything?
01:06:09 Rat list, the Vegas air.
01:06:10 I lost my voice.
01:06:11 Yeah, Sunday.
01:06:13 I could barely talk.
01:06:15 I'm still kind of recovering.
01:06:17 But as soon as I got out of the plane today, I'll tell you what, being in the regular New England weather that was wet, there was moist.
01:06:25 I instantly felt better.
01:06:26 I mean, I would not have been able to do this show yesterday.
01:06:30 If you listen to Saturday's show again, the three minutes we talked about the final of the in-season tournament, I had nothing.
01:06:36 Like, I could barely speak.
01:06:37 So rat list to that, because not having a voice is no fun, especially when you like to talk like this.
01:06:43 I agree.
01:06:45 I agree.
01:06:46 I think what I want to rat list rat list.
01:06:49 I was going to rat list the flight.
01:06:52 The flight wasn't actually that bad.
01:06:53 Neither of the flights were that bad.
01:06:55 Airport was fine.
01:06:56 Rat list security going back to Vegas.
01:06:59 They made it.
01:07:00 It was very quick, but it was just random.
01:07:02 So I walk up to security.
01:07:04 Sam puts the stuff and they go, no, don't take anything out of your bag.
01:07:07 You're good.
01:07:08 Right.
01:07:08 And so Sam puts the stuff through whatever.
01:07:10 And then the dude just walks away.
01:07:11 And so I'm like, all right, I'll go to a different line.
01:07:14 Then we get over to the other line.
01:07:15 They're like, no, yeah, you have to take all your stuff out.
01:07:17 So then I had to take all my shit out.
01:07:18 And then we all get through.
01:07:20 It takes a minute.
01:07:21 And then we get past security.
01:07:22 And then only for Sam to realize, oh, wait, I did have to take my shit out.
01:07:25 They're going to run my stuff.
01:07:26 It's not for me to realize.
01:07:27 It's for them to be like, hey, he's got a microphone in there.
01:07:30 Make sure it's a microphone.
01:07:32 I'll tell you what is the security not very thorough.
01:07:34 They didn't even ask for a boarding pass.
01:07:36 They were like, all right, ID, go ahead.
01:07:39 I guess not a lot of people pulling up to the airport at 10 p.m.
01:07:42 But still like.
01:07:43 Well, they didn't check mine on the way there.
01:07:45 Like Boston, that whenever time I got there, they didn't check my boarding pass either.
01:07:49 So I don't know.
01:07:50 We're supposed to.
01:07:51 Probably.
01:07:54 Security is not like the department.
01:07:56 I want to be taking shortcuts.
01:08:00 Also, Rattlers, the Las Vegas monorail, bad product.
01:08:04 Just not good.
01:08:05 I'd probably need that.
01:08:07 They don't run frequently enough.
01:08:08 So the trains just not it's too packed for you to get on.
01:08:12 If you don't get on the opposite, like either end, you're screwed.
01:08:15 You're not getting on the train.
01:08:17 And now you need to.
01:08:18 So.
01:08:20 Lame, bad.
01:08:22 Oh, all right.
01:08:26 If you smoke cigarettes.
01:08:28 Fuck you.
01:08:30 Fuck you.
01:08:31 Right.
01:08:32 I almost forgot about this.
01:08:33 I'm glad you remembered.
01:08:34 I did, too.
01:08:35 I did, too.
01:08:36 So Sam and I and Matt and Devin, who were on the trip with sat in the sports book all day on Sunday, watching football, hanging out, mostly because we had to check out of our room.
01:08:44 We had nowhere else to go, but it was whatever.
01:08:45 It's fun.
01:08:46 Fun day.
01:08:47 However.
01:08:49 It is you're allowed to smoke in casinos.
01:08:51 Is that just in Vegas?
01:08:52 Is that in general?
01:08:53 You can smoke just about everywhere.
01:08:55 A lot of places have designated non smoking sections, though.
01:08:59 Good.
01:09:00 Fine.
01:09:01 But sportsbook was not one of that.
01:09:02 And so we got to sign seats.
01:09:04 We couldn't move seats.
01:09:05 The two fuck heads in front of us chain smoking the entire time going right in my face, right in Matt's face, right in Devin's hand.
01:09:14 What awful, terrible experience.
01:09:17 It was awful.
01:09:18 Fuck off.
01:09:19 It's so lame.
01:09:20 And I understand allowed to smoke in casinos.
01:09:23 Right.
01:09:24 I went into that space into this casino.
01:09:27 I should understand.
01:09:28 I have to deal with a little bit of smoke.
01:09:30 The issue was we could not move from that spot.
01:09:33 We are in a sports.
01:09:34 We bought seats.
01:09:35 We like we are in a confined space, like a small room or not small, but like a compact room.
01:09:41 And you're just chain smoking.
01:09:43 Fuck you.
01:09:45 Go fuck yourself.
01:09:46 I piss me off.
01:09:47 What a loser.
01:09:48 Oh, man.
01:09:50 Fuck that guy.
01:09:52 The best is you would light up.
01:09:54 You'd see him light up.
01:09:56 You knew it was coming.
01:09:58 Such a fucking bomb.
01:10:00 It's scumbag smoking.
01:10:02 Agree.
01:10:03 Agree.
01:10:04 Agree.
01:10:05 Fuck.
01:10:06 What I didn't realize this.
01:10:08 So they pay a show you a tiny $2 million every year for the next 10 years and then $68 million every year for the 10 years after that.
01:10:16 Pretty good deal for show.
01:10:18 Hey, he's chilling.
01:10:21 He's all set.
01:10:22 What else you got?
01:10:24 Um.
01:10:26 Let's say rat list Vegas restaurants all around, especially, you know what?
01:10:31 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
01:10:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:10:34 Yeah.
01:10:35 Rat list, buddy.
01:10:36 The fucking cake boss.
01:10:38 Fuck buddy.
01:10:39 The cake boss.
01:10:40 Buddy, the cake boss has a restaurant in Vegas.
01:10:42 It's like a food truck, but it's inside one of the casinos.
01:10:45 Now you go to the you know, you go to the window in your.
01:10:50 And.
01:10:53 You can get chicken sandwiches, you can get he looks like a rat.
01:10:56 You can get chicken sandwiches, you can get wings, you can get fries.
01:11:02 So Jack and I each get a chicken sandwich, which, by the way, does not come with fries.
01:11:07 We also decide to order a order of wings and split it.
01:11:13 Now, we put in the order and the guy is ringing us up and on the screen, you can see the prices and the items that he's ringing us up for.
01:11:21 So you see chicken sandwich, chicken sandwich, and you see wings in parentheses.
01:11:26 It says six pieces for fifteen dollars.
01:11:29 You get six wings.
01:11:31 I can eat thirty six wings.
01:11:33 I can eat seventy five dollars worth of wings.
01:11:37 Maybe more.
01:11:38 No, no, no.
01:11:39 Six times fifteen is ninety.
01:11:40 Ninety dollars worth of wings.
01:11:42 That should be criminal.
01:11:43 That guy needs to be thrown in jail.
01:11:47 And it wasn't even like amazing.
01:11:48 Like it was fine food.
01:11:49 Fine.
01:11:51 Bad.
01:11:52 In and out.
01:11:53 That was a value meal.
01:11:55 I was going to say.
01:11:56 Entire trip.
01:11:57 The only thing that wasn't double digits.
01:12:01 I agree.
01:12:03 I think what else happened in Vegas that would be rat list.
01:12:07 The smoking.
01:12:08 The air was terrible.
01:12:09 My lips are still killing me.
01:12:11 I still got my fucking chapstick that I paid ten dollars for.
01:12:15 OK.
01:12:16 All right.
01:12:17 Let's do it.
01:12:18 Let's do rat list court quickly.
01:12:21 I want you to tell me who the rat is.
01:12:22 Right.
01:12:23 I guess it just depends on what mood you're in.
01:12:25 So me and Devin, who is Sam's friend who went to Vegas with, stayed up playing blackjack
01:12:30 on Saturday evening slash morning.
01:12:33 Sorry, I had to cough.
01:12:36 We stayed up.
01:12:37 We started.
01:12:38 We got to the table we were at.
01:12:40 So we walked around to different casinos, found places, played a little.
01:12:44 You went to bed what time?
01:12:46 You know, when you went to bed, I went up to bed at like twelve thirty Pacific.
01:12:50 OK.
01:12:51 After I was bent over and fucked for an entire day by the dealers in Las Vegas.
01:12:57 So Sam was not happy with blackjack.
01:12:58 So Devin was on a table when Sam went up.
01:13:00 I was watching for like 30 minutes.
01:13:02 And then by the time I sat down at the table with Devin, it was like one.
01:13:08 We played blackjack until six a.m.
01:13:10 Five hours straight, at least of blackjack.
01:13:13 Right.
01:13:14 Because we were playing before that, too.
01:13:17 So I think you might even gone to bed before that we were playing blackjack for around
01:13:21 six hours in a row.
01:13:22 Went to sleep at six a.m.
01:13:26 For about two hours of that, we were at a table with this kid around my age, 24, I think
01:13:34 23, and his dad from Minnesota in the Vikings game there.
01:13:39 They're nice.
01:13:40 They're fun.
01:13:41 But they were abhorrently drunk.
01:13:43 Right.
01:13:44 As you are.
01:13:45 The son was more aware, knew how to play than his father.
01:13:49 Dad.
01:13:50 Just not with it, just not with it at all.
01:13:53 He left to go to the bathroom million times.
01:13:55 He was stumbling.
01:13:56 He always forgot to put his chips in the dealers like, go, go, go.
01:13:58 And he was just like, if I win, you win.
01:14:00 He did hand her a chip and she'd go, you didn't win, but I'll take the tip.
01:14:03 Like he didn't know what was going on.
01:14:05 Right.
01:14:06 And I thought it was funny, but you could see it.
01:14:08 But then about two hours in.
01:14:11 So it was me and Devin on one end, these two at the other, an open seat in the middle.
01:14:14 A woman came up, she played for a little bit.
01:14:16 She left another person or whatever.
01:14:17 This guy comes in, puts in a ton of money on blackjack, right?
01:14:20 He's like 500 bucks, whatever.
01:14:23 You can see he is, for lack of a better term, a grumpy old man is just what he is.
01:14:29 Right.
01:14:30 It's fine.
01:14:31 So he's not talking.
01:14:32 These guys are handing out fist bumps the whole night, reaching across the fist bump.
01:14:36 This guy was not about it.
01:14:37 He was mad.
01:14:38 He was getting upset at them.
01:14:40 I personally was fine with the drunk people because they were funny.
01:14:44 They were nice to me.
01:14:45 They were cool.
01:14:46 It was good vibes, right?
01:14:47 We were fine.
01:14:48 There was chill.
01:14:49 It was entertaining.
01:14:50 They're tipping the dealer.
01:14:51 The dealer was like, whatever, whatever with their shit.
01:14:52 This guy was grumpy.
01:14:53 Blah, blah, blah.
01:14:54 Bringing the vibes down.
01:14:55 On the one hand, I understand the grumpiness because these guys were being obnoxious.
01:15:01 On the other hand, you're in Vegas.
01:15:04 Don't be such a loser.
01:15:06 If you're an old man, you see that, just leave the table.
01:15:09 Don't be like, "Ugh," about it.
01:15:11 So I ask you, what would your Rattless be?
01:15:13 Because my Rattless is the grumpy old man who killed the vibes.
01:15:16 But I could also understand why the Rattless would be the two drunk people.
01:15:19 Rattless is the drunks.
01:15:21 You can't fuck around at the blackjack table and play incorrectly because it's fucking annoying.
01:15:26 No, no, they were playing correctly for what it's worth.
01:15:28 The son knew what he was doing, and he was telling his dad the correct thing to do every time.
01:15:32 So they were playing correctly.
01:15:33 Well, it's a little bit less of a rat, but I don't know.
01:15:35 I find drunk people more annoying than just somebody that's being quiet.
01:15:40 The guy who was quiet was also betting big.
01:15:43 I can see why he wasn't exactly thrilled.
01:15:46 Sure, but I mean, it was also 2.30 a.m. at that point.
01:15:51 I wasn't there.
01:15:52 He could have just gone to another table.
01:15:54 I don't know.
01:15:55 That's why I asked Rattless Court because I understand both sides.
01:15:57 Regardless, I made money that night.
01:15:59 I had a good time.
01:16:00 I was happy with the blackjack.
01:16:01 I was.
01:16:02 I've learned Devin is a master of blackjack.
01:16:04 He was raking it in.
01:16:05 He himself a week that he did shout out.
01:16:09 Devin, happy birthday, Devin.
01:16:11 I don't know if I have much else.
01:16:13 Yeah, I think that's it.
01:16:16 I thought I had something.
01:16:18 I think, oh, Rattless, speaking of no fries diner place, who went to at the airport?
01:16:23 No fries.
01:16:24 Oh, I was in a Rattless then.
01:16:25 Yeah, serve me a burger with no fries.
01:16:27 Fuck you.
01:16:28 Go.
01:16:29 I mean, I got a salad, but I was disappointed for the team.
01:16:31 Yeah, it was some bullshit.
01:16:33 All right.
01:16:34 Well, listen, they had no chicken sandwich on the menu.
01:16:36 I would have got a chicken sandwich, but they didn't have any.
01:16:38 So I just said, I'll have a salad.
01:16:40 Yeah, I agree.
01:16:41 Good salad.
01:16:42 That it was good for you.
01:16:44 I'm happy for that.
01:16:46 It was.
01:16:47 I was.
01:16:48 I'm using Rattless fucking Google Docs for deleting all my shit when I click.
01:16:52 Fuck off.
01:16:53 All right, I'm done.
01:16:54 We can wrap here.
01:16:55 Thank you all for tuning in.
01:16:56 We appreciate you.
01:16:57 Make sure to subscribe to how about themselves.
01:16:59 Let me know in the comments what you think of the new thumbnails testing stuff out, seeing
01:17:03 if stuff hits in.
01:17:04 You know, it did work the first time.
01:17:06 More viewership on the latest pod.
01:17:08 So thanks for tuning in.
01:17:09 Make sure to subscribe.
01:17:10 Check us out on social.
01:17:11 The good stuff and leave us a review on Apple and a rating on Spotify.
01:17:14 Thanks for tuning in.
01:17:15 We appreciate it.
01:17:16 I'll take it out.
01:17:17 Thank you very much for listening or watching.
01:17:21 If you're watching here on YouTube, make sure you subscribe to the page.
01:17:25 Hit the like button, leave a comment, say something nice.
01:17:27 If you the notification bell, you'll get every single one of our videos, whether it's a pod
01:17:32 recap, breakdown or anything else we do, maybe trade rumors and the 30 minute before every
01:17:40 game pregame streams a notification right to your phone to tell you it's live.
01:17:46 You can also find us on Spotify and Apple.
01:17:49 Hit the follow button there to have every single pod and every single game recap right
01:17:55 into your feed.
01:17:56 The audio versions you can find us on social that how about them sees that Twitter, Instagram,
01:18:03 Tik Tok, Facebook is just the name of the podcast.
01:18:06 You can find our pregame streams there as well as on YouTube.
01:18:11 You can also reach out to us.
01:18:13 We're HPTC pod at gmail.com for any emails you can get them and we will put them up on
01:18:20 the what's popping and respond.
01:18:21 You can follow Jack on Twitter at Jack's money being follow me at Sam LaFrance and be it's
01:18:26 a friend.
01:18:27 Jack.
01:18:45 (upbeat music)
01:18:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Recommended

1:23:47
I
Up next
Cooper Flagg Wants to Play for Celtics + C's Looking to Add | How 'Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:34:19
Celtics Provide Kristaps Porzingis Injury Update | How 'Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:06:25
Celtics CHOKE Close Game vs. Hornets | How 'Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
34:05
Kristaps Porzingis Helps Celtics Dominate Thunder | How 'Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:57:28
Did the Heat Play Dirty Against Celtics in Game 1? | How 'Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:19:34
Brad Stevens on Celtics Offseason + Blockbuster C’s Mock Trades | How ‘Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
52:40
Celtics Hit 60-Win Milestone | First to the Floor
CLNS Media Sports Network
2:13:08
Celtics 2024 NBA Draft Guide w/ Tyler Rucker of No Ceilings | How 'Bout Them Celtics
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:03:27
Previewing Celtics vs Cavs Round 2 | First to the Floor
CLNS Media Sports Network
31:54
Can Philly COMPETE with Celtics w/ Sixers Writer Keith Pompey | Cedric Maxwell Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:02:16
Celtics All-Star Recap (w/ Drew Carter) | First to the Floor
CLNS Media Sports Network
56:31
Ranking the NBA Finals Storylines for the Boston Celtics | w/ Noa Dalzell | First to the Floor
CLNS Media Sports Network
45:15
Celtics Flex in Clutch Time w/ Seth Landman | Celtics Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
56:13
The Celtics are the best preseason team in the NBA - LIVE Q&A on You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell
CLNS Media Sports Network
19:24
Playoff Pressure for Jayson Tatum, Celtics + Mike Gorman Tribute | Cedric Maxwell Boston Celtics Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
38:43
Behind-the-scenes from Celtics Banner Night | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:10:53
Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat Round 1 Preview (w/ Dan Greenberg) | First to Floor
CLNS Media Sports Network
51:42
Celtics Won't Change DNA Under Mazzulla w/ Sean Grande | Celtics Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:00:42
Predicting how many Boston Celtics will be East NBA All-Stars with Chris Forsberg | Celtics Lab
CLNS Media Sports Network
27:55
Do the Mavs Have Any Chance to Win the NBA FInals Now? | Garden Report
CLNS Media Sports Network
50:55
The SECRET to the Celtics 21-5 start | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell
CLNS Media Sports Network
16:02
Kevin O’Connor: What Went Wrong for Celtics in Game 4 BLOWOUT vs Mavs | Garden Report
CLNS Media Sports Network
35:04
Breaking down Boston's season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers with Ky Carlin | Celtics Lab
CLNS Media Sports Network
53:05
The ever-rising stock of Tatum & Brown | First to the Floor
CLNS Media Sports Network
25:08
Celtics Bulls Was an All-Time Jayson Tatum Performance | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell
CLNS Media Sports Network