The NBA's 2024 trade deadline now perhaps better measured in hours than in days. And knowing what the range of possibilities that exists for the Boston Celtics to choose from to make moves to bolster their roster for a push to the 2024 NBA Finals is a good place to start.
What can the Celtics do to get better? Which moves are more likely, and which make little sense? Who are the likely targets, and which ones might surprise us? More importantly, what is off the table for Boston's front office, and which trade targets should the Celtics be pursuing?
To get our bearings for what should be an impactful if comparatively quiet trade deadline for Boston, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with "How Bout Them Celtics!" cohost Jack Simone to talk ourselves through his recent trade deadline primer for Celtics Blog.
We also touch on the news, recent games, Marcus Smart's return, Joel Embiid's knee, and a ton more, so be sure to tune in.
What can the Celtics do to get better? Which moves are more likely, and which make little sense? Who are the likely targets, and which ones might surprise us? More importantly, what is off the table for Boston's front office, and which trade targets should the Celtics be pursuing?
To get our bearings for what should be an impactful if comparatively quiet trade deadline for Boston, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with "How Bout Them Celtics!" cohost Jack Simone to talk ourselves through his recent trade deadline primer for Celtics Blog.
We also touch on the news, recent games, Marcus Smart's return, Joel Embiid's knee, and a ton more, so be sure to tune in.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:09 All righty, welcome to the Celtics Lab podcast brought to you by FanDuel,
00:12 the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:15 I'm Cameron Tepes-Tapai.
00:16 I'm joined by Alex Goldberg and Dr. Justin Quinn.
00:19 It is Monday, February 5th,
00:22 which means we are a few days from the NBA trade deadline.
00:25 It's 5.35 in the afternoon on the East Coast,
00:28 which means that's as current as we can be with all trade rumors and insight,
00:33 which is to say that at any moment, things could change.
00:37 We might as well welcome in our guests before they do.
00:39 You know them, you love them from Celtics blog from,
00:42 how about them, Celtics, Jack Simone.
00:43 Jack, welcome back to Celtics Lab.
00:46 Thank you for having me.
00:47 Your intros are always too kind, Cam.
00:50 I'm just me and I'm getting, you know them, you love them.
00:53 It's like I'm coming out of a rock concert here.
00:55 Let me try it again.
00:56 Okay.
00:57 All right. We're talking to someone named Jack.
00:59 There it is. Thank you.
01:01 Thank you.
01:02 Well, it doesn't even matter how nice the intros were because
01:06 this is the trade deadline and we got to give the people what they want.
01:09 They're here for the slop,
01:11 they're not here for us.
01:12 Before we get into the slop, Alex, Justin, how are you?
01:16 Doing okay. Definitely interested to see how
01:21 slop week manifests itself is going to be on my mind.
01:25 I think there's a lot of stuff flying around out there.
01:30 The thing that stands out to me that's probably
01:33 the silliest storyline is Zach Levine hearing that he was being
01:36 floated to Detroit and then immediately declaring himself out for the season.
01:40 That was a good time.
01:42 But yeah, I know I'm gearing up,
01:44 I'm ready to see some trades and react to them accordingly.
01:50 To that point, I'm starting to wonder how much more often we're going to
01:54 hear about an agency approving a surgery for a player in the future,
02:00 considering they seem to have been involved in that process.
02:03 But apart from that, pretty good.
02:05 Yeah. Thank God we don't cover the bulls.
02:08 Well, Jack, you cover the bulls.
02:09 Justin, sometimes we cover the bulls, but I digress.
02:13 We are indeed in the lab portion of
02:15 the program and going to talk about the NBA trade deadline.
02:18 Before we do that,
02:19 we're going to talk about the news and a big part of
02:21 the news is Marcus Smart returning to Boston.
02:23 Let us for a moment humanize how difficult it is to be traded in the NBA.
02:29 That we're talking about people's livelihoods and their families.
02:32 If we're being flip or fun,
02:35 we recognize that there's something very serious underneath the surface.
02:40 Zach Levine, heal up, buddy.
02:43 Let's talk about the news. Jack,
02:45 you can start because you're at this Marcus Smart game.
02:48 The game sucks. We can talk about it if we want,
02:50 but just you're in-house for Marcus Smart's return.
02:53 What were some of your highlights,
02:54 some of your takeaways, favorite moments? Go.
02:57 Yeah. It was awesome.
02:59 The tribute video was great.
03:00 Seeing Jason Tatum and the rest of the Celtics bench stand up on their feet and wave to the crowd.
03:04 Like, yeah, give this guy everything.
03:06 Show him all the love you can.
03:08 I thought that was awesome.
03:10 Hearing Marcus Smart talk so candidly before the game was super fun as
03:14 well about how he'd been in Boston for effectively a decade.
03:19 They saw him grow up. He gave everything.
03:22 He went through so many ups and downs in the cities.
03:24 It was just super fun. I mean, for me,
03:26 I grew up like a baseball guy and so I didn't start following the Celtics until middle school.
03:31 At that point, it was post-KG for me.
03:34 Marcus Smart was really like the first,
03:36 this is a Celtic, this is what it is.
03:38 He's growing up watching the Celtics.
03:40 He was always my favorite player.
03:42 To see him come back,
03:43 it was just a really cool moment.
03:46 It seemed like everyone in the building enjoyed it,
03:48 all the chants throughout the night.
03:49 It was just a super fun night,
03:50 even though, like you said, the game was pretty nothing.
03:53 I don't even think I watched the first half.
03:56 Dibs on Hero Among Us, but otherwise, Justin,
03:59 what was your takeaway or favorite moment from the night?
04:02 I don't know how you can see that video tribute and not be moved by it.
04:08 The crowd response, the memories being shared by everybody,
04:12 even like Mike Gorman tearing up for the tribute video.
04:17 It was definitely an experience and there was a game.
04:20 If you could believe there was a game going on also,
04:23 it was not particularly memorable.
04:26 I was doing more writing than watching in the second half,
04:29 but it was a great experience overall.
04:33 Alex, what about you?
04:35 My big takeaway is that I don't want Marcus Smart to retire as a Memphis Grizzly.
04:41 This guy's contract is up in two years.
04:44 I don't know what the free agency market is going to look like then,
04:47 and I know that the Celtics are probably not going to have a lot of cap space,
04:51 but I just really would like them to bring him back at some point in his career.
04:56 I just think that he clearly has a significant bond to the city
05:01 in a pretty meaningful way.
05:03 I think that was true both in the moment of the video presentation
05:08 and all of that in the game itself,
05:09 but also in the kind of lead up and post game.
05:13 And this can segue nicely into your sequence about this, Cam,
05:16 but Marcus Smart means a great deal more to Boston
05:21 than just his capacity as a Celtic,
05:25 and he meant a great deal there as well.
05:28 And I guess I feel like it was bittersweet kind of watching that
05:33 and thinking about that and knowing that he is not on the team
05:38 and it will likely be pretty difficult to reacquire him in the near future.
05:42 But you never say never.
05:45 And those guys, the guys who are there all really like him.
05:49 I think Derek White, Jason Tatum, even Jalen Brown,
05:53 who I think has openly copped to there being some tension between the two of them.
06:00 Like all of those guys know how much Smart means to the city
06:04 and means to this iteration of the team.
06:07 Horford, I think, was really eloquent in his press conference afterwards.
06:13 He's a huge part of kind of this era of the team,
06:17 even though he is not currently on the team.
06:19 And I just I would really like to see him play on the garden floor
06:24 for the green guys again.
06:26 That's just me.
06:26 Yeah, they're not going to retire his number
06:31 for anyone who thinks that that's going to happen.
06:33 And the reason for that is that the standard is quite high,
06:38 the barrier of entry to get your number retired,
06:41 even though the Celtics have a lot of numbers retired,
06:43 is pretty ginormous.
06:44 I can't think of a Boston athlete in the 21st century
06:49 who is so deeply beloved without having a ring
06:53 or an all-star game to back it up.
06:55 Like all of that love he earned,
06:57 and he didn't get the boost of winning a title or anything like that.
07:01 Jack knows I find the hero among us award at every game.
07:06 I just like find it very moving.
07:07 Often I cry a little bit
07:10 because I just think it's a really nice thing.
07:12 For people who don't know, I'm sure most people do,
07:16 the Celtics since 1997 have once again honored
07:20 someone in the community who is a "hero among us,"
07:23 an outstanding citizen.
07:24 And it's everything from like,
07:26 "Hey, this kid pulled over because a car was on fire
07:29 and he pulled out someone from a burning car."
07:31 Or like they donated a bunch of books to a library.
07:34 Marcus Smart being a hero among us
07:37 is just like worlds colliding of what is nice about basketball.
07:42 Sports are kind of dumb, like let's be honest.
07:46 But the way that Marcus Smart positively impacted
07:51 the Boston community runs so deep.
07:53 You know, it's not like he did the things that all the players do.
07:59 They're charitable people.
08:00 The NBA is a charitable organization.
08:02 The ways that he went out of his way to make individuals felt
08:06 or to make systematic impacts is just titanic.
08:10 I was talking about a danger car who was at the game.
08:12 I bet if Marcus Smart was a teacher or sold insurance
08:18 or was a janitor, he would be just as charitable.
08:21 Like I just suspect that's in his bones.
08:23 So I was quite moved by the tribute video.
08:27 Obviously it was pretty badass,
08:28 but the "hero among us" thing was,
08:31 there was no lip service whatsoever.
08:33 It was a thousand percent earned and it was just very wonderful.
08:38 It would have been nice if we got a title in Boston
08:41 or an all-star game or whatever.
08:42 But like what he did for a decade is
08:45 there's so many people to thank, to line up to thank him.
08:50 So it was really real.
08:51 Alex?
08:51 Just really quickly, one other thing to that point.
08:55 Marcus Smart means a lot to the Boston community.
08:58 And I think we've explored that in a number of different ways.
09:02 But one thing that I'm thinking about now is also that,
09:06 hey, potential other NBA free agents and/or trade candidates,
09:11 are you interested in potentially going to a team
09:14 where even if you get traded at some point
09:17 midway through your career,
09:18 or even if you have to leave during free agency for cap reasons,
09:22 if you ball out every night and try your absolute hardest
09:26 to win over the home crowd,
09:29 boy, do we have a team for you.
09:32 I mean, I really think there's so much slander
09:35 that goes on around the Boston Celtics
09:38 doing free agents dirty or doing players dirty
09:42 or being a bad career move for X, Y, and Z.
09:48 And I think some of that is probably earned,
09:50 at least from the previous regime.
09:52 Danny Ainge definitely treated players as disposable.
09:57 And I think ultimately the NBA is a business.
10:00 Players should expect to get moved from their teams
10:04 at some point unless they are a franchise level superstar
10:08 in all likelihood.
10:09 But at the same time,
10:11 the reception that Marcus Smart got last night
10:16 from a team that he's no longer on,
10:20 from the fans of a team that he's no longer on,
10:22 was significant and meaningful.
10:26 And it just makes me think like,
10:27 listen, if you're an NBA free agent
10:30 or if you're a player who is looking to get traded
10:34 to their next team away from whatever situation they're in,
10:37 if you really believe in yourself
10:40 as someone who can make a night-to-night impact on winning
10:44 and can really contribute to a championship level team
10:49 or a playoff level team,
10:50 Boston should be one of the very top teams on your list,
10:55 regardless of whether you're going to be a long-term fit
10:58 or not, because man, if you play hard for this team,
11:02 these fans are going to absolutely love you,
11:05 whether you are on the team,
11:07 whether you just got traded,
11:09 whether you've been removed for years,
11:11 like this stuff really matters.
11:14 And I think there is something to the idea that like,
11:17 playing for the Celtics is and should be considered
11:21 a big deal.
11:24 - Yeah, I think it is.
11:24 I mean, it's smart to both of your points.
11:27 You know, fans will hear it when they loved what I was doing.
11:32 They also let me hear it against the Lakers
11:36 when they were losing against the Lakers
11:39 and maybe they deserve to be booed.
11:40 I think that Marcus also said,
11:45 hey, I expect it to be traded.
11:47 Alex, to your point, this is a business
11:49 and it was just, he wanted a heads up, which is fair.
11:52 Jack, another little takeaway from this game,
11:55 Jordan Walsh, rookie Jordan Walsh scored his first hoop.
11:59 We all saw it was coming,
12:02 there's eight minutes left in the game.
12:03 What do you remember from the moment?
12:05 And like, since then, some of the commentary
12:08 would have been some of the nice things
12:09 about Jordan Walsh getting his first basket.
12:11 - Yeah, I mean, on a night where Marcus Smart
12:14 was getting the loudest cheers from the crowd,
12:16 Jordan Walsh got a giant pop from a TD card
12:19 and when he cut back door
12:21 and got a dunk for his first NBA points,
12:23 it seems like Boston fans
12:24 have really rallied around Jordan Walsh.
12:26 Like I was talking to Bobby Kowrzycki
12:27 about it earlier today
12:29 and it's kind of like interesting
12:32 because J.D. Davidson didn't necessarily get it.
12:34 You didn't see it as much with some other rookies,
12:36 but like these guys love Jordan Walsh.
12:38 Boston loves Jordan Walsh
12:40 and I feel like a big part of it was
12:42 Smart left this summer in the trade
12:44 and then you get this guy who is all about
12:48 playing hard, all about, you know,
12:51 hard-nosed basketball, being tough,
12:53 being gritty on defense.
12:54 They're like, "All right, well,
12:55 if we're losing Marcus Smart,
12:57 at least we can rally around this guy
12:58 who plays in a similar fashion."
12:59 And obviously Jordan Walsh isn't ready
13:02 to play regular minutes at the NBA level yet,
13:04 but he's playing really well in Maine.
13:06 Got in, got his first bucket, crowd pop.
13:09 John Corrales was talking about it all post-game.
13:11 Asked Joe Mazzullo about it.
13:12 He said he didn't try to press.
13:13 He didn't try to get a ton of points.
13:15 He didn't try to score in bunches.
13:16 He wasn't chucking up threes.
13:17 He was just playing the right way the whole time.
13:19 And I think that speaks to how he's maturing
13:22 and how he's trying to do whatever he can
13:24 to win and make an impact.
13:25 And it was Brad Stevens' first draft pick.
13:29 And I feel like it means something
13:31 that they invested a longer-term contract
13:34 into this guy.
13:35 And so to see the fans rally around
13:37 his first points was super cool.
13:39 And I don't know if he'll, you know,
13:41 play big minutes next season even,
13:43 but it seems like they like him for the future,
13:44 which is nice.
13:45 I wouldn't be surprised if he's on the team
13:47 as a product of calf math.
13:50 But I also do think he's got the bona fides.
13:52 I mean, he's got the body.
13:54 He seems like he's got the mentality.
13:56 I'm rooting for him.
13:57 - Happy Super Bowl to all who celebrate.
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14:35 - A few quick tidbits of news,
14:38 and I'm gonna go off script here actually for one of them,
14:40 and then we'll talk about the trade deadline.
14:43 Since we last talked,
14:45 unless I'm having a huge brain fart,
14:47 Jalen Brown was named an All-Star reserve.
14:49 Derek White and Chris Tapps-Porzingis were not.
14:53 However, Julius Randall has a dislocated shoulder.
14:57 He is expected to need an injury replacement.
15:00 And Joel Embiid,
15:01 I think I speak for all four of us when we say
15:04 I hope that dude heals up and heals up the right way
15:07 because basketball's a better place
15:09 when he and the Sixers are good.
15:11 Maybe not great if you're a Celtics fan,
15:12 but you want them to be good.
15:13 So we're hoping for a speedy recovery for Mr. Embiid,
15:18 but he will not be in the All-Star game.
15:20 So I have a two-part question.
15:22 And Jackie, you're the guest, you get to go first.
15:25 Part one, who's gonna replace Joel Embiid
15:28 in the starting lineup?
15:29 Part two, do any other Celtics make it as a injury reserve?
15:37 And those are, for people who don't know,
15:39 picked by the commissioner.
15:41 Supposedly, he just goes by who was next on the list.
15:44 I think there's some gamesmanship,
15:45 but that's me editorializing.
15:47 So Jack, who's the starter?
15:49 I actually have no idea what my answer would be,
15:51 so good luck.
15:52 And do any Celtics make the final cut go?
15:55 I think Jalen ends up starting.
15:58 I think it'll be him or Bam.
15:59 I think those are the two obvious options.
16:00 Maybe it goes to Bam.
16:02 Actually, realistically, maybe if he chooses,
16:05 I don't know who makes the decision of who starts.
16:07 If it's Adam Silver, though,
16:08 it would make sense for him to be like,
16:10 "All right, if I pick a Celtic as one of these two replacements,
16:13 I'll just have Bam start,
16:14 and then the Celtics can come off the bench."
16:15 But if not, we'll have Jalen start as some sort of,
16:18 "Oh, you didn't get another one, but here you go."
16:21 Which, realistically, being a starter doesn't matter at all.
16:24 That's not on the basketball reference page.
16:26 It's not tracked.
16:26 No one's gonna remember it in X amount of years.
16:28 But it would be pretty cool,
16:30 because Jalen Brown's probably not gonna have a chance
16:32 to start the All-Star Game ever
16:33 with Tatum, Embiid, and Giannis in the Eastern Conference.
16:35 As far as the reserves,
16:38 I think Trae Young definitely gets into one of them.
16:40 I don't know, regardless.
16:42 I personally would rather Derek White make it.
16:46 I think he deserves a little more consistency.
16:48 However, realistically,
16:49 if you're gonna have Trae Young as one of them,
16:51 you should probably get a frontcourt player in there
16:52 if you wanna sort of balance it out,
16:54 if that matters to Adam Silver.
16:55 And I think it'd be Christoph Przegis.
16:57 I think the Celtics deserve another one.
16:59 So if I had to guess,
17:00 if I had to choose what I think will happen,
17:03 Trae Young, KP, JB moves into the starting lineup.
17:07 Maybe Bam. Don't know.
17:08 However, I would like to see D. White get it over KP.
17:11 But I think Trae Young's pretty much a lock.
17:14 - Alex, anything you disagree with?
17:16 - I am a little worried that neither of the two
17:20 Celtics reserve options are going to make the All-Star
17:23 as the injury replacement.
17:24 One, because I think Trae Young
17:27 is definitely going to make it.
17:28 Adam Silver gets to pick,
17:30 and Adam Silver likes highlights,
17:31 and Trae Young is a highlights guy.
17:33 So I do think he's going to get one of those spots.
17:37 I do think the other spot is going to go
17:39 to a front court player.
17:40 And I think Christoph Przegis has been better
17:44 than this player when he has been on the court.
17:46 But Miles Turner is from Indiana,
17:50 and the All-Star game is also in Indiana.
17:53 And Adam Silver loves rewarding people
17:56 who host the All-Star game.
17:59 So I think that regardless of the fact that
18:01 objectively Christoph Przegis has been a significantly
18:04 more impactful player for his respective team,
18:08 I do think that they are going to get one hometown
18:11 All-Star injury replacement in Miles Turner.
18:13 As for the starting lineup,
18:16 I think I largely agree with Jack.
18:18 It's either going to be Jalen or Bam.
18:21 I would lean Jalen just because I feel like the,
18:25 in this case, it will be a little bit more determined
18:29 by things like fan vote.
18:30 And Jalen was winning in the fan vote
18:33 last I checked over Bam.
18:35 I think Silver will probably lean
18:38 a little bit more towards that.
18:39 But for the injury replacement,
18:42 I would not be surprised if neither of the two Celtics
18:46 under consideration made it.
18:47 - Dr. Ben.
18:49 - I actually don't have too much to add
18:53 to those two very good perspectives.
18:57 So what I will say is a question,
19:00 which I'm going to pose to you guys,
19:03 because the obvious solution for all of this debate
19:05 would be to expand the number of spots
19:09 to reflect the current roster size in the league.
19:12 But do you think that they're going to do that
19:14 considering all the free press they get
19:16 from us debating all this crap?
19:17 - Yeah, we could still debate who was the guy.
19:21 - True, true.
19:23 But maybe it was the hoop collective.
19:27 They talked about when expansion comes,
19:28 they'll have to.
19:31 So I liked the year that it was D Wade and Dirk
19:36 as like the honorary elders.
19:38 It would be kind of hard to institute that every season,
19:40 but I'd be okay with that.
19:41 I don't think that there's like a real need to,
19:47 because you want to see guys like have to play
19:49 a certain number of minutes, but I'd be curious.
19:54 Speaking of gamesmanship
19:58 and like how you make this the best television product,
20:01 I guess maybe Bam starts.
20:03 Here are my three starters, perhaps in order.
20:06 Jalen Brown, I think he deserves it.
20:07 He almost won the fan vote outright.
20:09 Bam, because then you get a starter in there.
20:12 Maxi as a tip to the Philadelphia 76ers
20:17 who lost a starter.
20:18 Silver is going to pick the following
20:20 two injury replacement players
20:21 because he is a shrewd businessman,
20:23 which he picked up from his friend, Jared Kushner,
20:29 evil goblin human, Jared Kushner.
20:31 Trae Young, because the kids love Trae Young
20:35 and this is a game for teenagers.
20:37 And Scotty Barnes, because if you squint at the voting,
20:43 you can make a case and you get all of Canada.
20:46 And we all know it's all about that sweet,
20:49 sweet Canada TV money.
20:51 So congratulations, Scotty Barnes.
20:54 You could be named an all-star starter any day now.
20:56 Okay. In terms of news, I talked about the Embiid thing.
21:01 Anyone need to weigh in on that?
21:03 It walks and quacks a lot like Robert Williams,
21:08 I'll tell you that much.
21:09 So to that point, I am the rare Celtics fan
21:14 that really likes Joel Embiid and wants him to succeed.
21:19 I know there's a few of us on this call as well,
21:21 but I have definitely been an Embiid fan for a minute.
21:26 I just, I really like the, you know,
21:30 I like when the league has talent
21:32 and I like when the best players play
21:34 and the league is better when Embiid does play.
21:37 And so to that end, Philadelphia front office,
21:41 please do not screw around here.
21:43 Shut Joel Embiid down for the season.
21:45 I do not want to see that guy come back
21:49 on an 80% leg and hurt himself or degrade that knee further.
21:54 I don't want to see his career go the way of Robert Williams,
21:57 where he has to miss, you know, full seasons every other year.
22:01 I feel like a huge part of Embiid's ability
22:06 and incredible basketball strengths and all of that
22:10 is reliant on his ability to move,
22:13 his ability, his high level footwork,
22:15 all of that stuff, like his legs take a lot of stress.
22:19 And so to that end, newsflash to the Philadelphia 76ers,
22:25 you are not winning the title this year.
22:27 Whether you are bringing in Embiid back or not,
22:30 you are not winning the title
22:31 because if you bring in Embiid back,
22:33 he's going to be maybe at best 80%.
22:35 You're going to get bounced in the first or second round.
22:38 I'm just telling you like it is.
22:39 Shut Embiid down for the year.
22:42 Do not screw around with this injury.
22:44 Get some draft stuff.
22:46 Make your free agent moves.
22:47 Make your trade moves.
22:48 You know, I still think they should be active around the deadline.
22:52 I think there's a lot of ways that they can improve their team.
22:55 But let Maxie cook, you know, give Paul Reid some run.
22:59 Do whatever it is that you got to do.
23:01 Do not screw around with Joel Embiid's leg.
23:04 Shut him down for the year.
23:06 Stop beating around the bush.
23:07 - Well said.
23:10 I think I agree with you.
23:14 And I hope that the Sixers play it prudently
23:19 because to your point,
23:21 there's nothing for them this spring
23:23 that is worth rushing back for, I don't think.
23:25 Let's do this.
23:27 I want to talk about Grant Williams
23:28 and I want to talk about Malcolm Brogdon,
23:29 but I'm going to do that later
23:30 because I want to get into the trade stuff.
23:32 And let's start with the people who are actually
23:35 possibly coming to the Celtics rather than former Celtics.
23:37 So let's hop into the Celtics lab.
23:39 We'll return to that line item later.
23:42 Um, Jack, well, actually, Justin, what does FOTP mean?
23:47 - Friend of the Pod.
23:51 - Oh, Jack, Friend of the Pod, Friend of the Cam.
23:55 You had 15 wonderful options that the Celtics could target.
24:00 Some more likely than others that we're going to run through.
24:05 But first, Dr. Quinn,
24:07 I'm going to have you give us a little orientation.
24:10 Basically, what is and isn't permissible pie in the sky look
24:14 and what, based on reporting, do we think Boston is looking for?
24:18 - I'm not sure I understand the question.
24:20 - Just bring everyone up to speed.
24:23 What are the FAQs about this trade deadline for the Celtics?
24:27 - Well, really, the basics are just that the new CBA
24:33 is doing what it's supposed to for teams
24:35 like the Boston Celtics,
24:36 who was created to make life a miserable hell
24:38 for at the trade deadline.
24:40 And in any kind of team building situation,
24:42 meaning that if they want to make any trades currently,
24:46 even with the still fairly relaxed rules being what they are,
24:50 they're either going to have to move one of their core players
24:52 or they're going to be fairly limited to what they can do
24:55 in terms of combining salaries
24:57 and improving the end of the bench.
25:00 Without doing that, they have a traded player exception
25:03 for $6.2 million.
25:04 They can go above it to up to 250,000 in terms of salary.
25:09 I don't know why they have that weird wiggle room thing.
25:11 Just tell me what the stupid number is.
25:14 But they're not going to make any big moves
25:18 unless something very strange happens.
25:21 So realistically, what we are looking at here
25:24 is someone probably making $9 million-ish or less,
25:28 depending on if they want to involve Peyton Pritchard,
25:33 who is what they call poison-pilled.
25:36 And the short version of that is the money you send out for him
25:41 will count more than what you get back
25:42 as a means to complicate things
25:46 for teams trying to use those salaries in team building
25:49 for reasons we don't need to get into.
25:51 So the shortest version is don't expect any big moves.
25:55 It's going to be end of bench to maybe,
25:57 maybe a rotation player who could make an appearance
26:00 in the postseason,
26:01 but that's the absolute maximum we're probably going to see.
26:05 - Yeah, and that last bit was probably the most important.
26:09 Is if you want to get on the trade machine and go nuts,
26:11 unless you can find a player that makes
26:16 between like less than six or like pushing $9 million,
26:20 you're going to have to say goodbye to Derek White
26:22 or Al Horford, which we don't think is going to happen.
26:25 Although at times I thought might happen.
26:28 So Jack, you have a big old list of guys
26:34 that may be in play here for the Celtics.
26:38 We're going to gamify it and we'll run through these
26:41 and we'll say like, oh, we like that.
26:43 We dislike that, whatever, but I'll let you go first.
26:45 Give us, maybe pick two or three names from your list
26:48 that you think are the most intriguing
26:50 or Celtics fans should know about
26:52 or just are worth mentioning off the jump.
26:54 - Yeah, so I actually ranked them.
26:57 I think there's 29 names technically on the list,
26:59 but I ranked them from realistic
27:02 to please stop suggesting this option.
27:04 And so the realistic ones, there were only four
27:09 and these are options to fill the 15th roster spot.
27:12 So some could be buyout, some could be just other means,
27:15 but the four quote unquote realistic options that I posed
27:19 and to be perfectly clear, I think it is more,
27:22 if you looked at odds, the odds of the Celtics
27:25 doing nothing would be greater than doing anything
27:27 in my opinion, but for what it's worth,
27:29 the four realistic options I had were John Conchar,
27:32 Andre Drummond, Torrey Craig,
27:33 and just elevating Nami Ishkeda to the 15th roster spot.
27:36 So I think those are probably the best bets.
27:39 John Conchar, there's been a ton of smoke around it.
27:41 The Grizzlies are going very nowhere, very fast.
27:44 And he's under contract for $6 million
27:47 for each of the next three seasons.
27:48 So if the Celtics wanted to take him into the TPE this year,
27:50 they would have a trade chip to use in future trades
27:53 down the line when the CBA gets more restrictive.
27:56 Andre Drummond, I'm not the hugest fan of,
27:59 but they have been really rough on the glass lately.
28:02 And so if you really want to bring in another guy
28:05 who you could throw in there,
28:06 who is probably better than Kada at this point,
28:08 wouldn't complain.
28:09 I was talking to again, Bobby Kowryski earlier today,
28:11 and I was like, it's one of those things
28:12 where if I woke up tomorrow and saw they traded
28:14 for Andre Drummond, I'd be like, oh, whatever.
28:16 That's fine. Cool.
28:16 Like I wouldn't complain.
28:17 It's just like, yeah, he's Andre Drummond.
28:19 Torrey Craig has been out for most of the year
28:21 with an injury, but he's coming back very soon.
28:23 At his best, Torrey Craig would probably be a really good fit
28:27 on this team in terms of a three and D forward.
28:29 Right now, it's another Andre Drummond where it's like,
28:31 sure, I guess he'll be fine on the end of the bench.
28:33 And then Nimi Ishkeda is what he is.
28:35 An elevating image of that standard spot would be cool.
28:38 So those are the four ones that I think
28:39 are most realistic.
28:40 The one that is far less realistic,
28:42 but probably the best, coolest options
28:44 where Celtics fans would go nuts is Alex Caruso.
28:47 But I just, I don't see it happening in a million years,
28:50 unfortunately, even though he's dope.
28:52 - Yeah, I'm not allowing that to sit
28:56 in the realistic category.
28:59 And I'm gonna ask that we stay on.
29:00 - I'm close.
29:01 Yeah, just quick note on Caruso,
29:04 you almost certainly have to trade Peyton Pritchard
29:08 to make that work, just both from salary
29:10 and also just from a team building standpoint.
29:13 And while I think that would be,
29:15 Alex Caruso is a better player than Peyton Pritchard,
29:19 like a full stop.
29:20 And I think he would be a better,
29:22 he would be a better player in that roster.
29:25 But I strongly believe that the Bulls
29:30 are going to get a better offer for Alex Caruso
29:33 than Peyton Pritchard
29:34 and what will likely be a very late first round pick.
29:37 So I'm not betting on that one.
29:39 - Yeah, that's a good point.
29:42 Even for a guy like Andre Drummond,
29:43 there are probably teams that are more desperate
29:46 than the Boston Celtics this week.
29:48 So Boston needs to be able to welcome in a player's salary
29:54 and beat the field in terms of offers.
29:56 So even if you can talk yourself into like,
29:59 "Oh, Alex Caruso should be on the Celtics team."
30:02 You're also talking yourself into
30:04 28 other teams beat that offer.
30:06 And that feels unlikely to the point
30:09 that he's not in our realistic category.
30:11 - Also, my dream candidate is Sadiq Bey,
30:16 but teams need to realistically have the playing time,
30:19 the fit, everything goes smoothly.
30:21 So they're additive and not subtracting
30:23 from the team chemistry, playing time,
30:26 all that good fitness that needs to happen.
30:28 So I'm probably not going to get my ideal player for Boston
30:33 just because of the dynamics that are involved.
30:35 But I actually like the Jon Conchar idea,
30:38 not just because of the rebounding
30:41 and the theoretical, if not very manifest,
30:44 this season three point shot,
30:45 but his salary goes up to 6.5 million
30:48 for the next three seasons,
30:50 which would be a very useful trade chip
30:52 should you want to combine salaries in the future.
30:54 Oh, you won't be able to combine salaries.
30:56 It'll be a very useful trade chip in the future
30:59 if you need to get multiple players back.
31:00 How about that?
31:01 Okay, I hate this new CBA, man.
31:03 I really hate it.
31:04 - I think everyone hates it.
31:06 It's like a perfect to good compromise
31:08 leaves everyone unhappy,
31:10 but it might also just be a bad compromise.
31:12 I think the Jon Conchar piece of,
31:14 it is a nice player for the season
31:17 and then also a useful trade chip for a team
31:19 that has painted itself into a corner,
31:22 so to speak, is interesting.
31:25 And I wouldn't be surprised
31:26 if Brad Stevens is thinking that far in advance
31:29 that realistically they're not gonna trade
31:31 for a guy that changes their odds this season
31:34 unless there's a massive injury or two,
31:36 but they could bring in a guy
31:39 or shed a salary or something
31:41 that sets them up for next season
31:43 and the next move.
31:44 Such was the case of the draft
31:46 where Brad Stevens walked away
31:47 with Jordan Walsh in like 20 second round picks,
31:51 or rather Mike Zarin did that
31:52 before being really accurate.
31:54 Okay, we've got our notes in front of us.
31:57 Anyone have a realistic name
31:59 that we should discuss a little bit longer?
32:03 I think we kind of yada yada the Otto Porter thing.
32:05 That dude's got real experience,
32:07 just solid three and D.
32:10 I mean, he's not gonna change your life,
32:12 but in a pinch,
32:14 if Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown
32:16 walks into foul trouble,
32:17 he's like a solid guy to slot in the wing
32:20 or even at the four.
32:21 So I'd consider finding ways
32:25 to add Otto Porter to your team.
32:26 Anyone else from this realistic bucket
32:30 before we start daydreaming a little bit?
32:31 Alex?
32:32 I have a realistic bucket guy
32:34 that I think the Celtics have
32:36 kind of gotten some buzz around.
32:38 I'm not sure that his current team
32:40 would necessarily be super interested in moving him,
32:43 but I also don't get the sense
32:44 that he's somebody they would be
32:47 like desperate to hold on to.
32:48 Reggie Bullock, who the Celtics
32:51 have been linked to a little bit in previous,
32:54 you know, I think like a couple of months ago,
32:57 kind of during the early part of the season.
32:59 Obviously he ultimately got dealt to Houston
33:02 and the Celtics did not take him back
33:04 in the Grant Williams trade,
33:06 choosing instead to open up that TPE.
33:09 But Reggie Bullock fits in the TPE.
33:12 He would be very cheap to acquire.
33:14 The Celtics would likely only have to send out
33:17 one or two maybe of their minimum guys.
33:19 They attach, you know,
33:21 a couple second round picks to Houston.
33:23 To send to Houston.
33:25 I guess I don't really see
33:27 why Houston would turn that down
33:31 unless they got a better offer.
33:33 But it strikes me that like,
33:35 I don't feel like people are like foaming at the mouth
33:37 for Reggie Bullock right now.
33:39 It feels like he could be a good compromise.
33:42 You know, I don't think he would play
33:45 super heavy minutes for this team,
33:46 but mostly just as a body in case
33:48 somebody at the four, the three, four position missed time
33:53 or in case they want to, you know,
33:55 maybe potentially more defensively sound look
33:58 than Hauser in the playoffs.
34:00 Or if they just want to go with a full spaced floor
34:04 and just have, you know, only shooters out there
34:07 and still have a little bit of size.
34:09 To me, Reggie Bullock feels like a guy
34:11 who they could get for not much,
34:13 probably about the level of player that is realistic.
34:16 And I think there's a reasonable chance
34:20 that that could happen.
34:21 - Cool, I like that.
34:24 With respect to Zvi,
34:25 that feels like an upgrade over a guy like Zvi.
34:28 Dr. Quinn?
34:29 - The only guys that we haven't really spoken about
34:34 that I think would be realistic
34:35 or not only unrealistic fairly recently,
34:38 but actually illegal.
34:39 And that would be two of the guys
34:42 that got sent out in the trade that brought,
34:44 I think it was Christophs Brzingis to the Celtics.
34:47 Both Mike Mascala and Danilo Gallinari
34:51 are both very interesting options via buyout or trade.
34:55 In the case of Mascala,
34:56 they're not going to add that much to what Boston can do.
35:00 But I mean, in the case of Gallo,
35:02 that would be, you know, a nice little story.
35:05 Good for team chemistry, presumably.
35:07 And you can probably get you some three-point shooting,
35:10 if not too much in the way of defense.
35:12 Mascala is not going to even sniff the post-season,
35:16 but they could probably use a little bit more shooting,
35:20 a little bit more big man help,
35:21 that doesn't do something that one of the teams,
35:24 shall we say, I don't want to call them up and coming,
35:27 but Nimi Ishkeda looks like he's someone
35:30 they should try to hang on to.
35:31 So someone who doesn't replicate what he does
35:33 in the vein of an Andre Drummond,
35:35 who I think, don't kill me, Alex,
35:37 would be a great addition.
35:38 But if they do see that they don't want to duplicate
35:42 a skill set per se,
35:43 even if it's a vastly higher level of that skill set,
35:47 I could see that happening too.
35:48 - All right, let's daydream a little bit.
35:52 We don't need to be bound by realism so much.
35:57 And look, there's a reason that Brad Stevens has his job
35:59 and we have ours,
36:00 is perhaps he's got something up his sleeve
36:03 that we wouldn't consider or we wouldn't dare to dream.
36:05 So Jack, dare to dream.
36:07 What's a guy, maybe in our notes,
36:09 or that you've got here on this list
36:13 that you think is worth a look,
36:17 or even if it's a little sticky to make the math work
36:20 is worth mentioning.
36:21 - Yeah, so it feels like we covered all the people
36:24 who would be somewhat realistic.
36:27 I don't, it's kind of like,
36:30 I listed it under borderline realistic for me,
36:33 because when Bobby Marks brought it up,
36:34 he said, "I don't think New Orleans would do it."
36:36 I like Najee Marshall.
36:37 I think he's fine.
36:38 I think he gives you a little bit more of that scrappiness
36:41 that you lost with Grant and/or Marcus.
36:43 Not that you necessarily need that on the team,
36:46 in terms of every contender needs a guy
36:49 who will start a fight.
36:50 I don't buy into that thing.
36:52 I just think it's a bit overrated,
36:53 but I do think it'd be useful to have another guy
36:55 at the wing position who can defend
36:57 and who is a little bit more versatile.
36:58 I don't know if New Orleans would do it.
36:59 He's playing like 18 minutes a night for them
37:01 and he's played in like 40 games.
37:02 So he is a consistent face in their rotation.
37:04 So if anything, you'd probably have to overpay
37:07 for what Najee Marshall, the name, the guy is worth.
37:10 So at that point, it's like, eh, maybe not.
37:12 Past that, I like the Jazz guys,
37:16 but I don't think the Jazz are going to trade.
37:18 And so I think that's why it falls under the Dream category,
37:20 because I don't think they're going to be available.
37:21 And I'm not even talking Kelly Olenek,
37:23 which would be close to impossible to make the math work,
37:26 which is just not going to happen.
37:27 I'm talking like Cristan and Simone Fontecchio,
37:30 which I really don't want them to trade for Fontecchio,
37:33 because he pronounces his first name wrong,
37:35 because it's spelled the same as my last name.
37:37 But he says it differently than I say my last name,
37:39 which is Simone.
37:40 And so I would just get really angry
37:41 that everyone would start calling me Simone,
37:43 which would be inevitable.
37:45 However, I do think he'd be an okay fit.
37:47 He's probably a bit too close to Sam Pouser
37:49 to make it make too much sense.
37:50 But Cristan, in terms of if you need offense,
37:53 you put in Peyton Pritchard.
37:54 If you need defense, you put in Cristan.
37:56 Cristan, who has shot low volume,
37:58 but 40% on his low volume threes over the last two seasons.
38:01 I'm big Cristan guy, local guy,
38:04 obviously went to Providence,
38:05 and they took Jalen Brown over him,
38:07 which was the correct choice.
38:07 But would be a cool full circle moment.
38:09 So those are the guys that I'm looking at,
38:11 they're like, probably not going to happen.
38:13 But yeah, I think that'd be pretty cool.
38:14 - I've eaten a lot of crow on Peyton Pritchard this season.
38:22 I mean, he's been playing really well.
38:26 I would like the Cristan upgrade.
38:29 I kind of like how gnarly he is on defense.
38:32 Dr. Quinn and then Alex,
38:34 any other daydreams you got out there?
38:36 - So I will push back very gently on an unrealistic player,
38:41 who I think based on the current record
38:44 and likelihood of a trade,
38:46 if they do not pull off a trade to salvage their season,
38:49 which I don't think a trade can salvage their season.
38:52 The Golden State Warriors might actually think
38:55 about letting go of Dario Saric,
38:57 if you want to overpay for him.
38:59 And I think they should,
39:00 if that does become a possibility, which it may not.
39:03 - Who signed Alex Williams?
39:07 - Sorry, you froze a little bit.
39:13 What's up?
39:13 We good?
39:14 - I just paused time to enjoy the Dario Saric banter.
39:20 - Ah, okay.
39:21 Gotcha.
39:22 Yeah, I mean, so there's a guy on here that I think
39:25 is almost certainly not going to end up in green,
39:29 in Jalen Smith.
39:30 He would be a good fit in a lot of ways.
39:32 I just, I feel like it's very unrealistic
39:35 that Indy would trade him to an Eastern Conference rival.
39:38 I think they know that that guy is good.
39:41 And I also feel like,
39:43 yeah, the cap's gonna get a little tight,
39:45 but he's a good player.
39:46 He gives them meaningful run in their rotation.
39:49 I would be very surprised if they dealt him.
39:52 You know, we mentioned it before,
39:54 Kelly Olenek would be lovely on this team,
39:56 but it really doesn't feel like that's possible.
39:59 There's so many different moving parts
40:00 that would have to happen.
40:01 And again, I think we've run into the Alex Caruso issue
40:05 of somebody else is gonna pay more for Kelly Olenek
40:08 than Boston is.
40:09 I feel pretty confident about that.
40:12 As far as the Washington guys go,
40:16 you know, Washington could be a fire sale at any moment.
40:20 I could, you know, Tyus Jones is a good player,
40:22 and I think he will help a team.
40:24 But Boston, to me, first off,
40:27 I feel like they don't have a good shot at getting him.
40:31 He's gonna be, I think, one of the players
40:34 that generates the most buzz around this deadline.
40:37 And also, I'm not sure that we would be using him
40:42 in his best role.
40:42 He's a starting point guard.
40:44 I don't know that he would necessarily like,
40:45 love coming off the bench,
40:47 even if it would be for a contender.
40:49 Those are a few of the options.
40:51 But to me, it feels like, you know,
40:54 I have always been, kind of,
40:57 since we learned about the new CBA,
40:58 I have always believed that if Boston is going to make
41:02 any moves at the deadline,
41:03 they are probably going to be quite small in nature.
41:06 But Brad Stevens plays these things
41:09 pretty close to the vest.
41:10 So if there is anything that we know
41:13 about this trade deadline,
41:15 it's that Andre Drummond, Kelly Olenek,
41:17 and DeLon Wright will not be Boston Celtics
41:20 because Brad Stevens would never leak that information.
41:23 - I bet Andre Drummond leaked that information.
41:26 (laughing)
41:28 It is silly season.
41:30 Be safe on the internet.
41:31 Take everything with a grain of salt.
41:33 Let's do this.
41:36 Justin, you're gonna remind me
41:38 the maximum salary a player can make right now
41:43 that Boston could later pick up by way of the buyout market.
41:46 It's 12.1 million, 12.5 million.
41:50 So it's possible that Boston sends fee
41:55 or Lamar Stevens out,
41:56 leaves a roster spot open or something like that.
41:59 Are they partially,
42:02 we've still got some partial guarantees out there, right?
42:04 - No, fully guarantee was January 10th.
42:07 So anybody who had a partial guarantee
42:10 is not fully guaranteed.
42:11 - So they have 15 roster spots?
42:13 - No, they have 14 with one open.
42:15 - And Kate is the one.
42:17 Okay, so if they leave one open
42:18 or they make another one,
42:19 you can get on the trade machine
42:23 and look for guys who make 12.5 million.
42:26 Asked about that in the future.
42:33 Until then, if my internet allows,
42:37 we are going to, my internet is unstable.
42:40 Thank you, Zoom.
42:40 I think I'm aware.
42:41 We're gonna wrap things up with one last question,
42:45 which is, which team do you think
42:49 is going to make the most noise
42:52 either buying or selling this trade deadline?
42:54 So it could be, oh, Justin's ready.
42:58 I was gonna stall so you guys could think of your answers,
43:01 but Justin, take it away.
43:02 - This is a hot take.
43:04 There's a very, very tiny part of me that believes it
43:07 only because I could see Doc Rivers
43:09 getting this out of them.
43:11 But Grant Williams does end up,
43:14 a Milwaukee buck and it works.
43:16 And they actually get pretty deep in the post-season.
43:19 Whereas I think now they're looking at a pretty early exit.
43:22 I'm saying this is a hot take.
43:24 So just take that with a very large mountain of salt,
43:28 but it could happen.
43:29 - I mean, what have the bucks got to lose?
43:34 I don't know.
43:34 I love Buddy Gortys.
43:36 And that is a rumored, yeah.
43:39 They do, yeah, they do scent
43:42 or finesses for that matter.
43:44 - Wow, talk to Quinn, great.
43:47 Paul, okay, Jack, you get to go last
43:49 'cause you're the guest.
43:50 Alex, what team do you think is making noise
43:53 as a buyer or seller of this trade deadline?
43:55 And I didn't talk about the Malcolm Brogdon thing.
43:56 He says he wants to stay in Portland.
43:58 I don't know.
43:59 - This one's gonna hurt for you, JQ.
44:02 So apologies in advance.
44:04 But I strongly believe that regardless of whether Joel Embiid
44:08 is healthy or not, Philly is going to get active
44:11 at this trade deadline.
44:13 In large part, because I don't particularly think
44:17 that the upcoming free agent class
44:18 is going to have a lot of marquee names
44:20 that they can go after.
44:22 And they have a lot of cap space
44:24 that they're going to need to burn.
44:25 So I am betting that they are going to try pretty hard
44:29 to trade for a player that they will then attempt
44:31 to re-sign with that cap space.
44:33 JQ, you know where I'm going with this.
44:36 DeJounte Murray feels like he's already wearing blue
44:39 and red at this point to me.
44:42 Just seems like a very logical trade candidate
44:45 for the Sixers, regardless of whether Embiid is healthy
44:48 or not for the rest of this year.
44:50 Backcourt fit with Maxie.
44:52 I froze.
44:52 I totally froze, didn't I?
44:54 - No, you're good.
44:55 - That's really upsetting.
44:56 - Alex, you're here.
44:57 - Is it his internet?
45:00 Is it not my internet?
45:01 - No, he's freezing.
45:03 But he made a point.
45:03 - It's both of our internets.
45:05 Both of them are bad.
45:06 Optimum, please, I'm begging you.
45:10 Anything better than this.
45:11 - No, but I do think DeJounte Murray,
45:14 the salaries are there for Philly.
45:16 They can burn the picks necessary to make that happen.
45:19 My nightmare is them getting Murray and Bogdanovich back.
45:24 That would be very, very hard for me personally.
45:27 But I definitely feel like DeJounte Murray to the Sixers
45:33 has got some real smoke to it at this point.
45:35 - A sports book that is not FanDuel,
45:39 so I'm not gonna name check them.
45:41 Consistently has had Bogdan Bogdanovich tied to the Celtics.
45:46 They have all season long been the team
45:48 with the best odds to land Bogdanovich.
45:50 We don't understand where this line is coming from
45:53 because the math doesn't work, but they have kept it.
45:56 They've changed other lines.
45:57 Boyan Bogdanovich was tied to the Celtics.
45:59 Now they're not.
46:00 I don't understand it.
46:01 But Alex, the Sixers are not even a listed team
46:04 for odds for Bogdan Bogdanovich.
46:07 So if you just pulled that out of your butt,
46:09 good job out of you.
46:11 The team that I, for the sake of basketball,
46:15 hope gets feisty are the New York Knickerbockers.
46:19 The Knicks are good.
46:21 I love it.
46:21 I'm so interested in what they're capable of.
46:24 Jaylen Brunson is not good enough to do it alone.
46:26 Julius Fidel is not good enough to be the second Fidel.
46:30 But there is magic in New York right now.
46:33 And I'm so excited to see what that looks like.
46:36 Jack, what do you think?
46:39 - Kim, you stole my whole flow.
46:41 Word for word, bar for bar.
46:43 I was going Knicks.
46:44 You just took it right out from under me.
46:46 - You can have the Nets.
46:47 Can I interest you in the Nets?
46:48 - No, I don't want the Nets.
46:50 I wanted the Knicks.
46:50 I was gonna say, and I do have like a flip around for it.
46:54 I think everyone's looking at the teams
46:57 that haven't done anything yet.
46:58 When they should be looking at the teams
46:59 that have done stuff already in the Knicks and the Pacers.
47:01 I think those guys have the pieces to continue adding.
47:04 I think they have the picks to continue adding.
47:07 And I think they have the success to want to continue adding,
47:11 especially considering in the case of the Pacers,
47:14 they're not getting anybody in free agency.
47:15 No one's going to Indy.
47:16 Like you gotta make a trade if you wanna improve that roster,
47:18 which is what they did with Siakam.
47:19 Gotta extend him now.
47:21 But you have Buddy Heald's expiring contract.
47:23 He's a fine player.
47:24 Like if they keep him, I don't think they're in a rush
47:26 to trade him necessarily.
47:28 They could just resign him this summer.
47:29 But you do risk losing him for nothing
47:30 in realistically as sad or whatever it may sound.
47:34 He's probably one of the better free agents
47:35 that's gonna be out there this summer
47:36 'cause it's not a very good class.
47:37 And so trading his salary and other stuff
47:40 for whatever upgrade they can find.
47:42 I don't hate DeShante Murray for them overpaying
47:45 for one of these defensive-minded guards
47:46 in Caruso or Murray or whatever to help improve that.
47:50 I don't hate getting some extra wing help
47:52 in a Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O'Neal,
47:54 or whatever else is out there.
47:55 I don't even hate saying, "Hey, Philly,"
47:57 which I agree with Alex.
47:59 I think Philly will end up buying rather than selling.
48:01 But if Philly, for whatever stupid reason,
48:03 decides we're gonna sell,
48:05 we're gonna reset, to buy Harris.
48:07 One of these big contracts, like Harris and Barnes.
48:09 One of these forwards could help Indy.
48:11 And also I'll just say, for all the smoke around,
48:13 "Oh, Caruso, oh, DeRozan," my prediction,
48:16 I don't think the Bulls make a single trade at the deadline.
48:18 I think they're going to be clueless
48:21 and completely waste everything like they have been
48:23 for the past three years.
48:24 And it's gonna give me nothing to write about.
48:26 So that's what I think the Bulls will do at the deadline.
48:28 - I love that.
48:31 All right.
48:31 You can catch Jack on Celtics blog.
48:34 You can check Jack out at How 'Bout Them Celtics.
48:38 The podcast, they do pregame, they do postgame.
48:41 If ever you need content before or after a game,
48:43 check it out.
48:44 And you can check them out at Bulls Wire,
48:45 writing about the sad, pathetic Chicago Bulls.
48:47 And the Spurs, and Spurs Wire.
48:49 The Spurs who we somehow didn't talk about at all,
48:52 but have a chance to get a little feisty here.
48:56 Anyways, this episode of the Celtics.podcast
48:59 was brought to you by FanDuel,
49:00 the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.
49:04 Before the internet cuts out again,
49:06 I'm just gonna say like and subscribe.
49:07 Thanks on behalf of Alex.
49:09 Check out his band, Divine Sweater.
49:10 Thanks on behalf of Dr. Justin Quinn.
49:13 Check out the Celtics Wire.
49:14 Thanks on behalf of Jack Simone.
49:16 Again, Celtics blog and How 'Bout Them Celtics podcast.
49:19 And if I haven't lagged yet,
49:22 we will catch you next week with,
49:24 well, who knows what to talk about.
49:26 Hopefully some sort of trade.
49:28 Until then, adios and au revoir.
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