The unsung heroes from the Celtics championship run w/ Jon Dalzell | You Got Boston - video Dailymotion

CLNS Media Sports Network

Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell reflects on the 2024 NBA Championship with a very special guest - her dad and former professional basketball player Jon Dalzell. We talk about who the unsung hero was on the journey to Banner 18, when we realized this was a title-winning team, and what running it back will look like next year -- and more. Plus, Jon shares his thoughts on when it became apparent the Celtics were going to win the championship, and the role that players like Sam Hauser and Derrick White played in that journey.   CLNS Media is Powered by:   Prize Picks - PrizePicks.com/CLNS  Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100!   Gametime - https://gametime.co  Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.  Elevate your style game on and off the course with the PXG Spring Summer 2024 collection. Head over to https://PXG.com/GARDENREPORT and save 10% on all apparel.  Nutrafol Men! Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com/MEN and enter the promo code GARDEN!   With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Go to https://HelloFresh.com/CLNSFREE and use code CLNSFREE for FREE breakfast for life! One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That’s free breakfast for life at HelloFresh.com/CLNSFREE with code CLNSFREE!  Visit https://factormeals.com/NEWSFEED50 to get 50% off your first box! Factor is America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.  Right now, you can get 10% off your first purchase by going to https://ArenaClub.com/HOOPS. Wow, that’s a crazy offer.10% off a $400 Slab Pack, that’s $40 right there!  #celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics ---------------------------------------------------  For More Celtics Content:    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmp3kivpOg3lzoJC7yV7VjQ?sub_confirmations=1    For More Patriots Content  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1  ******************************************************* Check out over 200 podcasts from CLNS Media here: https://clnsmedia.com/ *********************************************************  Come Chill With Us on Social Media:    Celtics Twitter - https://twitter.com/CelticsCLNS  Patriots Twitter- https://twitter.com/patriotsclns  Twitter Main- - https://twitter.com/clnsmedia   Celtics Instagram - https://instagram.com/celticsCLNS  Main Instagram - https://instagram.com/clnsmedia  Facebook- https://facebook.com/clnsmedia

Transcript

00:00What's up, everyone? This is Noah Dalzell, and I'm here for an episode of You Got Boston,

00:27and we are officially in the dead part of the offseason. So we don't even have summer

00:31league anymore. We don't have Olympic basketball. Offseason is pretty much wrapped up. I think

00:36the one roster spot the Celtics have is going to be left as is. So we're going to start

00:41doing some more guests over the next couple of weeks. And I thought no better place than

00:45to start than to bring my dad on, who is responsible for getting me into basketball, as much as

00:49I hate to admit it. So I have him here, and we're going to talk. This is going to be a

00:54recap episode of the Celtics' championship team. So rather than talking about current

00:59events and current news, because there's really not that much, and I, for the life of me,

01:03cannot talk about Tatum and the Olympic DNPs anymore. I've talked about that way more than

01:07I probably should have even done. So we're going to go back to what's really important

01:10here, which was the journey to banner 18 that I think really did get kind of glossed over

01:15because there was so much action right after the Celtics won the title. And my dad, for

01:20those of you that don't know, and I know many of you do know this, he played basketball

01:23overseas for, what, 15 years? And so he understands basketball really well. So he's not just

01:30spewing random opinions. You can feel free to disagree with his opinions, and I often

01:35do. But we're bringing him here to kind of give his perspective on what made this team

01:41so successful. My dad also coached me growing up. So pretty much everything I know was just

01:46kind of a watered-down version of what my dad taught me. So if you agree with my opinions,

01:50you'll probably agree with his. So with that, I'll pass it over to you. And you can tell

01:54us a little bit about yourself and maybe how you got involved in basketball, because I

01:59feel like I tell that story all the time. And technically, you should start with your

02:02story.

02:03Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me to the show, Nunn, and especially since

02:07there's really nothing going on and you couldn't really find anything else to do right now.

02:10It's really a dead time. So I'm happy to be on your show. Well, basketball, for me, as

02:19it was for you, I saw one of your podcasts and you were talking about your growing up

02:23in a kind of basketball-crazy family. In my family, you multiply that times five when

02:29I was growing up, because my dad was a basketball player. He grew up playing basketball in New

02:36York City, played high school basketball. He was actually the leading scorer in New

02:40York City in like 1939 or something like that. He averaged eight points a game, and that

02:47was the leading scorer in New York. So you can imagine the type of basketball they were

02:50playing back in the day, but he loved basketball. He played basketball for the Marines when

02:55he served in the military. And then his first born, my oldest brother, George, was a great

03:03basketball player, better than I. He was an All-American in college, played at Colgate

03:08University. You know most of that history. And then he went overseas to play basketball.

03:14When I was just a little kid, he was 15 years older than I was. So you can imagine when

03:17he was like 23, I was eight years old, and he was traveling the world playing for like

03:22a American national team sponsored by Gillette, by Pepsi, a few different teams. And that's

03:31when I decided I wanted to be a basketball player. I just thought that was the coolest

03:37thing. And I literally, even at the age of like five, six, when he started doing that,

03:41that's when I decided I wanted to be a great basketball player, and I want to travel the

03:45world, and I want to do exactly what he was doing. It's kind of like the looking up to

03:49your older brother type thing, but I meant it. And I never stopped dreaming of doing

03:55that. And incredibly enough, I actually had the opportunity to actually live out my dream

04:00and play overseas, and that's how it started. But with regards to basketball itself as a

04:07game, I just remember just shooting the ball into the basket and thinking that it was like

04:12one of the coolest things ever. And just being able to throw a ball like from a distance

04:18into a little tiny hoop, I just thought it was kind of amazing. And I just, every time

04:22I did it, I couldn't believe that you could actually do it. And then you get so good at

04:25it that you can repeat it over and over again, and it becomes kind of a fascination that

04:30really never went away. I think it compares to no other sport. I think that, you know,

04:35watching like what Steph Curry did the other night, I don't think that compares to anything

04:39that anybody could do on any playing field on any kind of other sport. So I just think

04:44it's an amazing game, and I was addicted to it from the beginning. Like I said, I grew

04:49up in a family that when I was a little kid, my father, if I brought home a kid from, you

04:54know, a new kid from school, it was a friend of mine, and I'd bring him home, my father

04:57would basically target him with questions about what he's doing. Is he good in school?

05:03And the last question was, are you a basketball player? And the kid said, no, I don't really

05:07like basketball. That meant, you know, my father would kind of cross him off the list

05:11because basketball was so important. I don't know what it was about the game, but it was

05:15just such an important thing in our childhood and growing up. But it was just a love that

05:21I've never lost, and I have it until today. So there was two things I thought when you

05:27were talking. One was that I also had, when I saw kind of your career and how many

05:31countries you got to go to and visit, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool if I could

05:35travel around and play basketball? But I, unfortunately, wasn't good enough. So I get

05:39to travel around and watch basketball, which is equally, almost as good. So I'm not complaining.

05:44And the other thing I was thinking was that I do feel like people that are listening to

05:47a Celtics podcast in mid-August probably relate to at least some of what you said about just

05:52the beauty of the game, because we have a lot of people that listen to Celtics podcasts

05:57during the playoffs and during training camp and throughout the year. But anyone that's

06:01listening right now probably feels a little bit crazy about the sport to still want your

06:06analysis this late in the year. So I want to talk a little bit about the championship team,

06:11because a lot of people know this past year was my first year actually covering the Celtics. But

06:17for many years now, I feel like we have had phone calls where I'll call you after a game

06:22so we can discuss what happened in the game and whose fault it was that the game was blown or

06:27what stood out, if there was unsung heroes. And there's been obviously a ton of discussion around

06:32this Celtics team and a lot of credit given to a whole bunch of people from the front office,

06:37to the coaching staff, to individual players and the performances that they were able to put

06:42together. And I'm curious from your standpoint, as someone who's not in media, who's someone who's

06:45just kind of an enthusiast for the sport and who's watched a whole lot of basketball, obviously,

06:50and watched almost every game this year, who do you think was kind of like an unsung hero

06:54throughout the playoff run, maybe didn't get as much credit as they deserved?

06:59That's a great question. I think that you're unsung until people are singing about you.

07:06And I think Derek White is probably the epitome of the unsung hero, but he's kind of been crowned

07:10as an unsung hero. So the kind of word is out on him. And then he ends up joining the Olympic team

07:15and being a key part of that team. So he is an unsung hero. But I think when you really look

07:23deeply into a team like the Celtics, I think somebody like Sam Hauser is really an unsung

07:28hero. And he's somebody that I particularly watch really carefully. And you and I have talked about

07:34it a lot. I mean, he's an amazing player. And not because he's just a super talented guy. It's just

07:40he just is a player that, you know, he plays both ends of the court. He's not the most extraordinary

07:46offensive player. He's an extraordinary shooter. And maybe that's why I kind of relate to him more

07:51than maybe some other players, because I was always a shooter and I was limited to other

07:56things. But I just kind of perfected the option of being a great shooter. But one thing about a

08:03shooter and I watch him play and I don't know when he started doing this, maybe early back in his

08:09career. I don't know that much about his high school and college career. I know he's a great

08:13college player. But one thing about being a shooter is that when you're a shooter, you know,

08:17if you want to stay on the court, you better become a good defensive player because shooting

08:20comes and goes as we as we see all the time. Even the great shooter like Steph Curry was

08:25struggling, you know, for multiple games there in the Olympics. Everybody was thinking, like,

08:28how can he be shooting like that? Because that's the life of a shooter. That's the way it goes.

08:33And you knew it wouldn't last long. I remember you talking about it in your podcast that everyone

08:37you know, that's jumping on this on this wagon of, you know, what happened to Steph Curry? Steph

08:42Curry is not he'll come back and he came back, you know, big time. People really counted out

08:46Steph Curry. It was kind of wild. Yeah, well, I mean, it's really interesting. I think it was

08:50really, really fascinating. I think that, you know, watching that was one of the things that's

08:55a huge adjustment is the basketball. As you know, I always shoot with an international ball and it's

09:00very, very different than the American ball. And also the distance of the three point shot was

09:05totally throwing him out of whack. I'm sure it's just a huge adjustment. The muscle memory of

09:11standing behind the line and looking down and actually being like four feet shorter is something

09:16that really throws you off. But of course, he recovered from that. But again, somebody like

09:21Sam Houser, to me, when you go back and you watch the games like you and I have watched them,

09:26he does the little things all the time. He makes those little plays. I mean, let's face it,

09:31a lot of basketball came a lot of basketball games come down to, you know, two or three plays,

09:37four or five points, six, seven points. And those little plays that may not get into the highlight

09:43film are just the ones that make the difference. And he makes those different plays all the time.

09:48It's getting a hand up on a shooter when you probably didn't even have to make that effort.

09:53Coming from behind on a defensive play where he missed a shot, but it's always the first one back.

09:58I think a la Derek White, which is what he always does every time he misses or makes a bad play,

10:04tries to make up for it on the next series. I've seen him do that so many times.

10:09But those are the guys that they they set the tone for really the rest of the team,

10:14even though they're not stars. I think that they when someone on the bench is watching what

10:18Houser is doing and they're going into the game or even one of the stars is sitting out watching

10:23him do what he does, it has an effect on you because you start thinking like, I got to do

10:28that, too. I got to be part of that. I can't I can't be missing a shot and then, you know,

10:32jogging back and letting my man score a basket. Now I have double jeopardy on that.

10:37I got to get back and do the same thing. And I think that even though it may not have been

10:40pointed out so much, I truly think that he's the type of player, among others,

10:45Pritchard doing what he does. And, you know, all these guys coming off the bench just with

10:49super energy every night and giving 100 percent that whole that whole bench.

10:57What do you call it? The stay ready group that they call it. I mean, that whole stay ready group

11:01is an inspiration for the entire team and everybody, everybody in the NBA. I think every

11:06team in the NBA would love to duplicate that. That's not easy to do to get a bunch of guys

11:11that don't play hardly at all to say, you know what, you're going to play five minutes tonight,

11:14but you're going to give 100 percent when you get in there. Very difficult to do. Almost impossible.

11:19And, you know, the coach did it. Joe did it. Right. And he got guys to buy into that idea

11:25and told them something that, you know, it's really interesting because I know that you told

11:30me a lot. I got a lot of inside information during the season, which was really cool for me.

11:36But he kept like really spending time with those guys and talking to them and really valuing them,

11:41whereas on other teams, those guys kind of go to the wayside. And he told those guys,

11:45you are valuable to this team. You are valuable to this team. You have to be ready. You're going

11:50to you're going to make the difference. Right. That's that's the kind of stuff you were telling

11:53me. And we would literally see at the beginning of every practice like he or the end of every

11:57practice, he'd make his rounds and spend five minutes with J.D. Davidson, who's not even

12:01eligible to play in the playoffs. Like just kind of showing the investment in individual players

12:05was something that I think he didn't do the first year as much. And I think that that summer when

12:08he was able to go back and reflect on that first year, that was one of the big things that he

12:12wanted to change. Yeah. And I mean, and look what happened at the end. Look how it paid off for

12:17these guys. Right. Because they got a championship ring, which every guy in the league would kill to

12:22get. And they're all being rewarded with positions on the team, contracts, financial things, signing

12:29this big contract. That's not by accident that he got that contract. We were just talking about

12:33that the other night. It's not by accident that somebody signed him. A guy barely played,

12:37only played really most of the time. I think if I'm correct, he played pretty much when the game

12:42was over. He'd get in, you know, not not a lot of valuable minutes. However, he was part of that

12:49stay ready group with a good attitude, with the winning kind of mentality. And teams looked at

12:55that and they said, listen, this guy, this guy has been raised in the in the right place. We're

12:59going to take him. And I guarantee I'm sure that he's going to have a great, great season and

13:03probably a great career coming out, you know, coming off the Celtics. And all those guys,

13:08you know, Cornette was again, I know that he was offered, you know, a good contract,

13:13but decided to stay in with the Celtics organization. All these guys, they were all

13:17rewarded for what they did, each and every one of them. So he he developed a culture of,

13:24you know, be part of this team, buy into it, do do your job, you know, really give 100 percent

13:30and you will all be rewarded. And it worked. And yeah, and I think that's a part that people

13:36sometimes like overlook. So one of my frustrations, I think, with the way the team was discussed and

13:41how it will probably continue to be discussed is that it gets boiled down to like this was a super

13:45team. This was a very talented team. And I actually don't think that it was the talent

13:50that was what stood out about this group. Like they didn't have depth at every position. They

13:55didn't really have any major like roster weaknesses. So I guess in that sense, like

13:58the roster construction was good. You had good guards, you had good bigs, you had good forwards,

14:02you had shooters, you kind of had everything you needed. But if you just look at talent,

14:07like this team is not that different from the 2022 team that lost in the finals. I mean,

14:12it was mostly a non-factor in the playoffs. You played a little bit in the finals, but

14:16you could pretty much say, you know, they they did that without him for the most part.

14:20And then the big swap was Marcus Smart for Drew Holliday. And and, you know, I'm a huge Marcus

14:24Smart fan, but I do think that was an upgrade based on how Drew Holliday performed throughout

14:29the playoffs. But for the most part, I think it was less about you have so much talent on this

14:33team compared to everyone else. And it was more about you have a system that everyone is completely

14:37bought into and everybody knows the role and everybody's willing to play that role.

14:41And there were a lot of other teams like the Phoenix Suns. You know, they're a very talented

14:45team. They have, we see right now, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, like two of the best players in the

14:49world. And they did, they got nowhere. And if you go down, up and down NBA rosters, like it's not

14:55unusual to have a very talented team. It's unusual to have a very talented team that pans out exactly

15:00how it should on paper. And I think people sometimes forget that, like the examples of

15:04when it doesn't work out stand out. But the examples of when it does work out, it's kind of

15:08just like, oh, this is a super team. Like I always thought that the Kevin Durant Warriors were,

15:13you know, discredited a little bit because it was like, obviously the Warriors were already

15:17so good. Kevin Durant so good. Like they had, it was a cakewalk. To me, the fact that they were

15:21able to figure that out, to figure out like, how do we make this work despite having so much talent

15:26on this team and keep everybody happy with their shot attempts to keep everybody engaged. Like

15:30I think that was super underrated. And a lot of times just because we see a lot of, like all

15:34stars and accolades, like it becomes, I mean, even the Lakers, like you have Anthony Davis and LeBron,

15:38you know, watching them, like why was this team not any better? But they just couldn't figure out

15:42their system and the other guys couldn't buy into the roles that they had to play. So I think that,

15:48you know, maybe as time goes on, people will have more of a chance to reflect on this team and

15:52that'll be more of the takeaway. I was a little bit bummed by how the summer played out just

15:57because I think that the discourse ended up centering around like the Jalen Brown Olympics

16:01now, but then the Jason Tatum DNP Olympic stuff. And it just like, I feel like we didn't really

16:06have as much time to reflect and relish in like what we just saw, which was a historically dominant

16:11team. And so that's why I think over the next few weeks, we'll take the chance, you know, on this

16:16show to be able to kind of go back and review various moments and just kind of reflect on what

16:21worked because the reality is that they're bringing the same team back. And Brad Stevens has talked

16:25quite a bit about this, but just because you're bringing the same team back doesn't mean you're

16:29going to have the same experience because now everybody has had that championship ring under

16:33their belt. So we'll talk more about that in a moment, but first we will hear very briefly from

16:38our friends over at GameTime. I love going to MLB games during the summer, love going to concerts,

16:43games, sporting events, and there's no better way to get tickets to all of those events than the

16:48GameTime app. GameTime is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, which makes

16:52getting tickets faster and easier. Prices on the GameTab actually go down the closer it gets the

16:57first pitch. You can download the GameTime app, you can see any event that you search and put the

17:01location in where you're based, see upcoming concerts, sporting events, whatnot, and get the

17:06best deals, best prices guaranteed. So take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with GameTime,

17:12download the GameTime app, create an account and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.

17:17On top of the fact that it's already a really good deal, download the app, terms apply,

17:21redeem the code CLNS for $20 off, download GameTime today, last minute tickets, lowest price

17:26guaranteed. PrizePix is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active

17:32members. PrizePix is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps

17:37on PrizePix, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player

17:42stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and

17:46become part of the PrizePix community today. You can now win up to 100 times your money on PrizePix

17:52with as little as four correct picks. With PrizePix, you could turn $10 into $1,000 while watching

17:58Team USA rack up the gold medal of the summer. You can make a PrizePix lineup of players across

18:02basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, and more in as little as 60 seconds. Just pick more or less on

18:08two to six player stat productions and you're locked in. So personally, I'm excited to watch

18:14Team USA compete in these next few games. So download the PrizePix app today and use code

18:18CLNS for a first deposit matchup to $100. That's code CLNS on PrizePix

18:24for a deposit matchup to $100. Pick more, pick less, it's that easy.

18:34So the other thing I wanted to, you know, talk to you about was about was there a moment in time

18:38during the season or during the playoffs when you realize like this is actually going to be a

18:42championship team? Because one of the things that I found interesting was obviously this was my first

18:47year covering the team, but it wasn't my first year closely following the team. And I feel like

18:52it was pretty apparent to me all year that this team had a really, really good chance to win the

18:56championship. And generally speaking, and I'm not specifically talking about the Boston media, but

19:01just the media in general had this feeling of like, we've already seen this team before. We've

19:06already seen that they have really good regular seasons and then the playoffs come along and they

19:10never get it done. And I always thought that was a unfair because they had, it wasn't like they

19:15flame out of the first round every year. Like they've come really close a couple of times.

19:19And so that on its own, I think sometimes can be held against you. Whereas it should be

19:23celebrated that you're a 23 year old superstar and you're leading your team for the finals. But

19:28that was one thing. And then the other, I think people just didn't believe that the regular season

19:32dominance was going to transfer over because they still had issues with crunch time. Like that was

19:37always the discourse, you know, in a closed game, you don't trust the scene, you trust whoever

19:41they're playing against. And what ended up being really interesting with this roster was that not

19:45only did the regular season dominance perfectly translate over, I mean, they were as dominant in

19:50the playoffs, literally lost. I think it was three games, the entire playoffs. But besides for that,

19:56they didn't have any issues in crunch time. Like they actually were the best crunch time team,

20:01like from all the wins against Indiana and the Eastern conference finals that I think people now

20:06view that series was not competitive. Every single one of those games came down to the last few

20:10minutes and Jalen Brown in particular was huge in those games. But they totally just, you know,

20:15went against the narrative that a lot of people had for them. And I know that you believed in

20:19this team from the beginning, or not from the beginning, but when we talked about this team,

20:22you believed in them. And I'm curious if there was a moment in time where you were like, okay,

20:25I'm willing to say, I think this team is going to win the championship, even though obviously

20:29in this era of Celtics basketball, we haven't seen that. Yeah, I believe in the team right

20:35from the outset of the season. And just, I'll give you an example that, and I think Brad Stevens,

20:40and he's certainly not an unsung hero, because I think everybody recognizes the guy is a genius.

20:45And what he was able to do over the last several years is certainly, he pretty much outsmarted the

20:52rest of the NBA. But like signing Peyton Pritchard to an extended contract before the season, when he

20:59really hadn't proven himself, at least not to the fans, was things that I feel like were

21:05solidifying that team, and kind of building a real foundation that was going to be a great NBA team.

21:12And then I think the time that I really became convinced that they were going to be a championship

21:16team was when I was actually at the Garden. And as you learned by going to all your games this

21:22year, which I unfortunately wasn't able to go as many times as you, but it's the dynamic of being

21:27at a game, which is why it's so beautiful to be there, is you see things that you don't see on TV,

21:32which is like the bench. And I saw the vibe on the bench, which you talk about a lot, and you

21:38actually were pretty clever and, you know, doing all those videos and showing all the reactions

21:42and stuff, all that cool stuff that everybody is probably familiar with. That was what really

21:49convinced me that this team was different. Just the way that they were really, it was like watching,

21:54it was more like a college team, the way that guys were reacting to each other's successes,

22:00guys coming, you know, off the court with everybody jumping up and really, you know,

22:04showing support for whatever they had done. Guys coming off the bench for several minutes, then

22:08coming back out to just like a group, welcoming them back to the bench. And that stuff is

22:15real. That's not, like, that's the kind of stuff that maybe people don't notice, maybe people

22:20don't value, or maybe people don't think that it's really worth anything. I come from the world

22:24of, I know what, and I believe in the team concept of basketball and the power of what you can do

22:30when you really bring a bunch of guys together. And it's something that is just, you can't

22:37put a price tag on it. And, you know, I saw that, I witnessed it, and then I saw the way that the team

22:44was playing. I saw that the way they bought into this whole system of, you know, basically just

22:48sharing, you know, sharing the ball, who's ever got the hot hand, that type of thing.

22:53I became convinced, and I said it to you several times, if these guys don't win the championship,

22:58then I don't know what's going on anymore in basketball. I was really convinced that par,

23:03you know, some injuries, that this team would go all the way. And, I mean, they pretty

23:10much did it seamlessly, which was, you know, kind of surprising that they didn't really, weren't

23:16really challenged, at least, you know, as a record. But again, the team is a special team,

23:25and you can see it. And, you know, another thing that's interesting to me is I don't look at this

23:29as a star-studded team, even though there's a lot of accolades and, you know, NBA, you know,

23:35first team and all that. I don't really look at them as a bunch of stars. I look at them as a

23:39bunch of really, really great basketball players who figured it out. And they kind of cracked the

23:47code on what it is to win. And once you crack that code, you just know that you can do it. And I

23:54can only imagine, I wish I could be a fly on the wall in the locker room, like, before a game,

23:59that, you know, hearing things that none of us will ever probably hear. But those guys went into

24:04those games knowing they were going to win. They knew they were going to win this championship.

24:08They knew that they were going to do this. I don't think that there was any doubt in their minds.

24:12And that's something that's really, really difficult to create. You know, it's really,

24:15really tough. So it was just a special, special group. Yeah, I think that's right. And I think

24:21that when we, you know, obviously we get, we get certain versions of their actual perspectives when

24:27we ask them questions in the media. But there was a level of confidence that never really wavered.

24:32And I think Jalen Brown was the one player who, after losses, was always the most visibly

24:36frustrated. Like, after, there was a regular season loss where they were up by 20 to Cleveland

24:41in the fourth quarter, and they blew that lead and they lost. And Jalen Brown was really, you know,

24:46upset afterwards about it and said, you know, it's unacceptable and all that. But by the time

24:50the playoffs were coming, rolling along, like, even when things weren't going well, like that,

24:54you know, they lost to Miami in game two, and everybody was freaking out. They're going back

24:58to Miami, tied 1-1, and they never beat Miami. And, you know, this is going to be another year

25:02where they flame out. There was a level of calmness among the players themselves, and

25:07especially, and including Jalen Brown, who was the one guy where you could see him go against

25:11the grain in that sense. It never wavered. I don't think there was one moment in the entire

25:15playoff run where this team looked frazzled, this team looked like they maybe had some doubt.

25:21The media, certainly. I mean, I feel like after every, every one of the three games that they

25:25lost, it was like mayhem. I mean, even the Dallas game, they were up 3-0 in the finals.

25:30They lose game four, and people started talking about this is going to be the first team to blow

25:34a 3-0 lead. For really, for really no good reason, but I feel like the outside perspective

25:39wavered quite a bit. But inside the locker room, it seemed like there was a moment in time during

25:44the regular season. And I don't know exactly when that moment was. I don't think it was, like, from

25:47day one. But there reached a point where you could tell that this group was like, we are winning the

25:52championship. And from what players have shared, I think Drew Holliday brought a lot of that,

25:57like, calmness, that steadiness, just being a guy who's done it before. And everybody kind

26:02of respected and valued his perspective. But I also think guys like Al Horford, and just like

26:06the fact that Jason Tatum and Dylan Brown, this was not their first go. That really helped as well.

26:11So to me, yeah, I think that they had all the pieces. Last question before we wrap up here is,

26:17you're bringing the entire team back. The only players that are not coming back from last year

26:22is O'Shea Brissett, who, I mean, there's a slight, slight chance that he takes that last roster spot,

26:26though. I don't anticipate that'll be the case. And then Savima Hailiku, obviously, you mentioned,

26:31just signed a four-year deal with Utah that was actually officially announced today. And

26:35the Celtics have already made their goodbye post to him. So that's definitely,

26:39that's already kind of underway. Outside of that, you brought everybody else back.

26:43I did not think that was going to be the case, but they re-signed Xavier Tillman, Yamia Shqeda,

26:47Luke Hornet, extended Drew Holliday, you know, in the later half of the season, extended Derek White,

26:52extended Jason Tatum. So you just have all the pieces. The only other new piece is the fact that

26:57you brought, you draft the two players, and I don't foresee that either of them are going to be

27:01a major on-court factor this year or really have much of a role. That'd be my prediction. But

27:06I'm curious if you think that there's a certain risk to bringing everybody back, or if there's,

27:12or if it's kind of a shoo-in that you'll have at least a similar year. Obviously, you can't

27:15always expect the health and everything else, but I've heard various perspectives on, like,

27:18the idea that you re-sign everybody and think that, okay, we're going to be able to pick up

27:22where we left off, and it's not always as simple as that. I think that the answer to that question

27:28is Brad Stevens. I think that anybody that challenges what he's thinking and his decision

27:33making, you can't do it. I think that he's absolutely head and shoulders above the basic,

27:40most of the general managers in the league right now. And I think that the players that he's put

27:46together, it's not accidental that he got these guys together. These are good people. These are

27:51good guys. These are guys that know how to not only be professional basketball players, but be

27:57like good citizens off the court. There's no distractions. There's no nonsense going on.

28:03And these guys are on a mission. And why break it up? Why change anything? It makes sense. You

28:10got a winning formula with guys that did it once. I think they want to do it again. I think the guys,

28:16like the stay ready guys that re-signed, they want to go again. They want to do the same thing again.

28:21I don't think that anybody's expecting a different role on this team. I think the expectations are

28:26going to be relatively the same. And that's something that's very, very hard to recreate

28:32and do it twice, you know, two years in a row or three years in a row. Right now, they're setting

28:37themselves up for success for the next several years. I think everybody knows it. I think the

28:41league is in fear right now of the Celtics. They know that they're in trouble. I think everybody's

28:46pretty much scrambling, trying to figure out what kind of matchups they can come up with that could

28:50possibly beat this team. And I don't think they can do it. I think that the Celtics are really

28:56going to roll through the league this year and just hopefully no injuries because you never know

29:01what can happen and that can change everything. But I think they're setting themselves up for at

29:05least two or three more championships in the next five or six years. That's my prediction. I'm

29:09sticking to it. That's a bold prediction. I got nothing to lose. They call me the cheerleader of

29:15the Celtics and even I wouldn't say that. But I just think that the one doubt that I have is

29:22just that we haven't seen a team repeat in a very long time. Like the KD Warriors was the last team

29:27to do it. So as much as you have confidence, like leaving the Nuggets last year, I was like, okay,

29:32who's going to solve this team? Right. I think it's just really hard to do it. That's where my

29:37hesitation comes from. But again, you know, it's hard to do the first time too. I think

29:42maybe the one player who I would predict if anybody has a slightly bigger role this year,

29:47I think Namiah Shkeda is going to be a part of the rotation. And he wasn't last year. And the

29:52reason for that is just because Porzingis is probably going to be out till mid-December.

29:57And I don't see them front-loading Al Horford's minutes in November. Like they're going to save

30:02him. So I think maybe in the big spot, there's a little bit of an extra opportunity, but outside

30:06of that, like, I love Jaden Springer. I'm super high on him from summer league. But like, where do

30:10you, how does he get more minutes when you already have, you know, Drew Holliday, Derek White,

30:14Peyton Pritchard? Like, I think there's kind of a logjam roster. So hopefully nobody loses their

30:19patience with the process. I don't think so. Outside of that, I, yeah. No, when you win,

30:24everybody's happy. That's the, that's the, not a secret in sports. If you're winning,

30:30if everybody feels like they're on a path to another championship, everybody will,

30:34they'll buy in, they'll be happy, everything will be fine. I don't think there's anything

30:38to worry about. Those guys, they know what they gotta do.

30:40Let me come back to this. We'll see if this is your first official take on a media platform aid

30:45as well. With that, everybody, I'll just say, please subscribe to this podcast on Spotify,

30:51Apple Podcasts, any platform that you listen to. The podcast is there. YouTube, my YouTube channel

30:57is UI Boston. It's also streaming on CLNS Media's YouTube channels. You can find this show in both

31:03places. And again, I always say this, but feel free to message me on Twitter. If you have

31:08questions or suggestions for how to do this, one thing that people have suggested that I do want

31:11to figure out is if we can do like a, a live show where people can actually call in and ask questions.

31:17So working logistically on that, I'm not the most tech savvy person. So I don't want to throw that

31:21on our producers to have to deal with. So we'll figure that out, but that'll eventually come as

31:26well. But in the meantime, share this podcast with your friends, like comment, subscribe,

31:31give a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And again, the show for the next two months is going

31:37to be, or at least month and a half, we're actually not that far off from, from training camp and

31:40pre-season, but it's going to be mostly a debrief of this past season, diving into some new things.

31:46I'm sure we'll have some new news items to discuss, but honestly, hopefully not, because I feel like

31:50at this point in the summer, everybody should just be behind closed doors and there shouldn't be too

31:55much media controversy to discuss. So this will be a lot of reflections, predictions for next year,

32:00thoughts on the rotation, things like that. Maybe we get an update with the last roster spot.

32:03It sounds like we're probably not going to, but I'll thank my dad for being our first guest and

32:08also for teaching me to talk about basketball. Hopefully you guys all enjoyed hearing his

32:13perspectives. I found someone who is even more optimistic about this team's future than me.

32:17So I guess that works. But with that, thanks everybody for tuning in and I hope you enjoy

32:22the rest of your week. We'll have another show coming to you later this week. And as always,

32:25Sundays, I'll be going live.

32:30Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The unsung heroes from the Celtics championship run w/ Jon Dalzell | You Got Boston

Category

Transcript

Recommended