• 3 months ago
On this episode of Celtics Beat, Evan Valenti is joined by Chad Finn. Chad Finn is a sports and sports media columnist for The Boston Globe. Chad joins the program to chat about Jayson Tatum's lack of playing time, why it was such a big story, and how the Celtics can stay Kings of the city. Twitter: @GlobeChadFinn



5:45 Surprised that Jayson Tatum DNP-CD’s generated so much controversy

11:30 Curry, LeBron saved Kerr from intense criticism

20:39 Why did this topic dominate news cycles?

37:44 Is there a Celtics bias around the league?

44:30 How long can the Celtics be the Kings of Boston?

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Transcript
00:00Self-expression is brought to you by price picks and the game time app
00:06All right, and welcome in everybody. Evan Valente solo. No and coffin this week. He is on vacation enjoying
00:13Beautiful countryside of Maine. So Adam have great time
00:16I only mentioned that because I think it was
00:19Maybe a month or two ago Adam was up there and someone had recognized him from this podcast
00:23So I'm hoping that someone that's out there
00:26It's a fan of this pod maybe spots him around wherever town in Maine. He's and I'm not gonna give that away
00:30I just know he's in the state. And with that we bring on a fellow Mainer Chad Finn from the Boston Globe
00:37You know
00:37I was thinking about this show and I was trying to figure out how I wanted this to go and
00:42We're in the deadest of dead times. I think during the content creation season
00:48Football thankfully is gonna carry us the next six months, but you know, it's a little stale
00:53So I want to take a different, you know take on this particular show and with Chad Chad. Hello. How are you?
01:00Hey, Evan, how's it going doing? Well, thank you for asking
01:03I wanted to start this show in a little different spot and I promise there's a reason why I'm asking it and I will come
01:09Out and fully admit that it doesn't come as a shock to anybody
01:12But I am a Celtics fan that happens to run a Celtics podcast. I would like to think
01:18I'm on the more objective side than not
01:21I try and keep the fan hood down as much as I possibly can
01:26But I want to open this up Chad because it's gonna help me frame this discussion a little bit. Are you a Celtics fan? I
01:32grew up on
01:33Yeah, I grew up in the bird era
01:35Can't really be nowadays
01:38you know as a columnist, I mean I do have an opinion but
01:42You're not supposed to root for the teams. I kind of take the Brian approach. He told me once that
01:48You know, you don't openly root for the teams
01:50but it's fine to acknowledge that it's good for everybody when they're doing well that you see them do well because
01:56Everybody's reading what you write
01:58Everybody's happy around town. You know, I when I think of that like line everybody's happier on town
02:03I think like what it was like after the parade, you know walking around Boston
02:08You're the newspaper or the websites making money and it's all good for everybody. So that's that's kind of how I look at it
02:15I'm not a
02:17Somebody who is negative to be negative. I can be when I believe it but and I believe that's the approach to take but
02:24for the most part I just kind of follow that that that feeling that Bob always had that mindset that
02:31you know, it's it's a good thing to be able to cover this and to be around teams like this and
02:36To be able to make those memories and share them with your readers and the people in your life who are real true fans
02:42Yeah, this year obviously something to celebrate about pretty much every step of the way I get the idea of being negative to be negative
02:49Right. I mean that sells especially in Boston. I mean the Felger and math ratings when they come out every single corner
02:55It's like yep. This is just how this town loves to talk about sports. It's it's it's a it's a great years of it with them
03:03Yeah, I actually talked to Michael earlier today. Yeah about their ratings run and
03:08It validates everything they do and my colleague Dan Shaughnessy, I think
03:14would be regarded as negative mostly and a little bit cynical and maybe a lot cynical and
03:21You know, he's you look in every column. He writes shoots the number one on the globe website. So
03:27It's a it's a feature not a bug of this Boston sports market
03:31Yeah, and as the guy from the other end of the pike, you know
03:34I'm down here and the west side of Massachusetts a little bit more laid-back a little less stressful out here in terms of your coverage
03:40You know, I'm again trying to be balanced and everything
03:42I get the idea of you know, not everything is sunshine and rainbows all the time
03:45But not everything is also falling apart at the same time. It's like, you know with the Patriots
03:50You know Joe Joe Milton has a great, you know throw for a touchdown. Everybody's like always better than Drake. Hey, oh my goodness
03:56It's like oh, yeah. Oh
03:58My god, I know I didn't look I like regular art a lot. I've been following Bernard for a long time
04:03he made a lot of you know headways with
04:05Just the way the practice went the other day and obviously that gets picked up by everybody and now it's the Patriots stink
04:11Like obviously this is a rebuilding thing. It's gonna take a while, right?
04:15They're not gonna be perfect right now, but there are you know, you watch the game last I should say Thursday night
04:20There were some positives. It's all I'm saying and we can always highlight those but what's interesting is I
04:27Think like sometimes the
04:29Community or the the local angle sometimes can help shape
04:33the national angle around certain things and
04:37I mean look you've been paying attention
04:40most of this audience if not all this audience has been paying attention to
04:44how much
04:46negative press
04:47Jason Tatum collected just during the Olympics, right? I was I was legitimately blown away Chad
04:56by
04:57How much coverage?
05:00Jason Tatum got just around the Olympics and his did not play
05:06Coaches decisions. Did that like the fact that it generated new cycles?
05:11Yeah, completely floored me. Did it surprise you?
05:15I think to the degree that
05:19Constant story day after day
05:21But it was also sort of self-inflicted by Steve Kerr where he doesn't play him against Serbia the first time and
05:28You know, he says was this quote? I feel like an idiot, but he also kind of explained it was matchup based
05:34So you're left wondering
05:37When they play Serbia again, will Tatum play will he see?
05:42Like cursory minutes or will he actually will Kerr actually proved to be a hypocrite and really, you know
05:49Wasn't matchup based at all. He just didn't play in that game and as it turned out he didn't play
05:53in the
05:55game before the gold medal game against Serbia either with the big comeback and so I guess you give Kerr credit for sticking to
06:01his
06:02to his guns there, but in terms of the national
06:07Response to that it was I think it comes from two places. It was over-the-top
06:12Which is sort of the hot take
06:16First take kind of culture that we have right now where the loudest take gets them the most attention and
06:23That's also certainly true locally
06:26The other thing was was kind of shocking
06:28I mean it was a ready-made story for this because Jason Tatum was just had his coronation
06:34They won the NBA title all that talk about
06:38Can Jalen and Jason coexist where you know?
06:41Some people have written 50 columns about that or 50 blog posts or done 50 podcasts on it through the years. That's gone
06:47now they co-existed and I thought you know, I've been rewatching a lot of
06:53The Celtics playoff games, you know
06:55like the ones with great endings like Drew Steele or you know white hitting the corner three and
07:01You know we think about how Tatum struggled with three-point shooting in the playoffs and he certainly did but he had so many big shots
07:07and maybe plays along the way that
07:11It should have been no question that yes, Jason Tatum three-time first team
07:17champion now is
07:19player on team USA and it just didn't work out that way and you're not most people aren't gonna sit down and think about that and
07:26say
07:28And say well
07:29It's kind of tough to see where the minutes come from if you're if you're going with the older guys
07:34And this is their farewell tour with Curry and LeBron and Durant
07:38Well Tatum probably would have played a lot if Durant hadn't come back from his injury probably would have started
07:43He certainly wasn't gonna take LeBron's minutes
07:45And so you start what you start thinking about it logically and there weren't a lot of minutes in a 40-minute game to go
07:53To him because of the way the rest of the roster was constructed
07:58It's a shame he had two DMPs because that never should have happened and so it's
08:04picture of it
08:05Set up is the absolute perfect
08:09multi-day argument for sports talk radio and for all those shows you see in the morning on ESPN or FS 1 and I think that's
08:16why that it's
08:17White carried for so many days like it did especially because it recurred where and he did not play against
08:25against Serbia twice
08:27Yeah, and I wonder if that was communicated to him like prior to him joining the team. I think that's something where
08:33Maybe there wasn't a clear concise plan for what Tatum was gonna be
08:37yeah, and like, you know, he gets like he gets there and
08:41Like again, I can you can always make an argument for four minutes and where they should be distributed or whatever and and and and you
08:48got
08:49All timers, right? I mean LeBron Curry and Durant are all timers. I mean, they're on everybody's I mean
08:56They're all three of our top 75 guys. LeBron is either one two or three pending how you want to rank them
09:02Durant is one of the greatest if not the greatest scoring shooting for
09:05Small forward in the history of the league and Steph's the greatest shooter of all time. So like there's these guys, right?
09:10There's no shame in that but you know, if it could have been conveyed to Tatum like hey, look, this is really
09:16Their last hurrah here and we're doing everything we can to support these three guys
09:21Yeah, this is a farewell tour for them. And if that's communicated prior
09:26I think maybe we have less of this going on
09:30I think there's less of this cut like there's maybe Tatum's like yeah, you know, I knew this was you know
09:35Gonna be the case coming in. I'm here. I'm part of the stay ready group. We can throw a little something's thing in here
09:39I'm gonna be part of that stay ready group. Okay, coach. Kurt needs me. I'll be ready. He's okay. Is that what he is?
09:44Yeah, right Lamar Stevens for
09:48Sure, you know, well the Lionel Banton at one point was part of the stay ready group, you know
09:53We'll keep trading names here
09:55But I just don't think it was communicated to him
09:58I think he expected coming off the last time he played with Team USA to have a pretty big role and
10:03again, my point being is
10:05as we try and
10:07Place blame pie because that's another big thing that a lot of people to do
10:11I do think her has to own a lot of this and I think frankly Chad he was bailed out
10:16by the comeback win specifically Steph Curry
10:20LeBron James and in a little bit of Durant and a little bit and be at the end of the game a little bit
10:25I'm BD. Yeah, he was bailed out by
10:28Two and a half guys from having to answer a lot of tough questions
10:32When the the clocks finally hit zero and USA was moving on in my opinion. Yeah, no doubt
10:37I mean you could have they had a hard time
10:39I did it before they had a hard time rebounding even with him being on the court and the argument for playing in bead was
10:45He's a body on Jokic, but then you start seeing LeBron handling Jokic pretty well
10:51in the you know in the paint and and
10:54You realize that maybe and beads a little bit more of a defterment out there
11:00Even with the skills that you think you need then then you realize I mean he couldn't go get the ball and there were
11:06offensive rebounds putback second chances
11:09It was like it was like watching the Knicks and the playoffs when you know
11:13Hardenstein was seemed to get every every other offensive rebound before you know
11:17All the injuries caught up to them and that's an extremely frustrating thing
11:21It's been a flaw of the Celtics that they corrected this season
11:24But in recent years that was a flaw giving up offensive boards
11:27And I think Tatum for this team would have really helped in that regard and I also think it's kind of insulting
11:34To insinuate that all his value is as a scorer because the Celtics are champions
11:41In large part, I think it's fair to say in large part because he made the necessary sacrifice
11:47he learned to play a
11:48little bit more team basketball and the division that pops in my head is the behind the back bounce pass to Horford for the
11:55key three-pointer
11:57against the Pacers
11:59He tried to do the right thing. Sometimes he takes side step threes
12:03You don't want him to take sometimes he'll take a heat check his shooting was off
12:07but this is a complete player who understands how to play and wants to win and
12:13Has gotten over gotten past that point where?
12:18He I think he and Jalen both once thought I have to score for us to win and that's not the case anymore
12:24It's more of a trust in their teammates and so get that great growth during the playoffs during the season and
12:30It felt like he was at the absolute pinnacle
12:33Coming off these the the championship getting the max contract and then he goes to the Olympics and he's treated like the the kid who
12:41You know looked over his own shot first and second and couldn't do anything else to have help the team. That's just not true
12:47I think he could have tried to figure out
12:49We're supposed to come from for him because it is hard. It was a tough job for for
12:55Kerr, I a lot of people would say like a guard. I don't think that's it. I think didn't book a really
13:02Acclimated himself as a role player and accepted that role really well
13:06And you can't you have to validate curse decision to play him, but I think he could have taken some of those BAM minutes
13:13So I wonder if Joe Missoula was on that staff rather than Eric's posture whether maybe
13:18Tatum would have gotten those minutes with the other two centers already on the roster
13:23Maybe he just plays a little bit more for Durant or that sort of thing
13:26But if the bottom line to me is he should not have had
13:30DNPs with being a player that he is right now no matter
13:34What all of the other factors with the construction of that team and it being focused around the old guys?
13:40What it was embarrassing for him and he shouldn't have been put in that situation. I do want to get sort of back to
13:48More tating discussion, but I think what drove me nuts
13:50later on and
13:52this out and
13:54Nope, I again correct me if I'm wrong here because I didn't see every second every game
13:57I will hang up in the air. I didn't catch all of it. I caught a good amount of it, especially the ones that mattered
14:03And loved every second of it was a blast
14:05but one of the things that drove me crazy was I don't think there was a ton of time where Derek white drew holiday and
14:10Jason Tatum shared the floor at the same time. Yeah, I don't again is you when you look back at why some of these teams?
14:18They're like why is Yahoo? Selly awesome with France because he plays
14:22All the time
14:23Yeah, you're coming off an NBA season where this team just won 64 games
14:28These guys play together for a hundred games
14:31They have a ton of like and it was super evident to me and I forget the exact time and situation where this happened
14:39But there was a play where I think I think I want to say yoke it to the ball on the left baseline
14:44He's got the he's got it kind of above his head
14:47He picked up his dribble and drew holiday shot down hands up
14:50You know come at him fast to try and double him and the way the Celtics played that everybody would rotate around, right?
14:57Right, right, and nobody rotated his guy
15:00So this guy's the top with nobody on him and yoke itch
15:02Who again I keep using the Greg Popovich quote because it just is the best way to describe
15:07How good of a passer yoke itch is you have to bring the double team from where he can't see it
15:12So he just you know, he gets blindsided because you can't blindside him. The guy's amazing and he just was like, oh, yeah
15:17Okay, and sure enough three-pointer and I'm sitting here like yeah, you know if Tatum and wait run the floor at the same time
15:24they might have been able to
15:26Close that gap a little bit and that's if I have one
15:31If I did my biggest frustration
15:34After this is all over was that exact idea?
15:38We we praise all these other teams and for good reason, right?
15:41Oh, it's so great that these guys have so much synergy and chemistry and they can they just know how to
15:47Play together and we just throw this hodgepodge. I'm not saying the hodgepodge like it's like a a bad term here
15:52It's just kind of thrown together. It's a guy. Yeah, we'll throw
15:55Ron staff and we'll just take all these guys and they'll just kind of figure it out and luckily for the u.s
16:00It usually works out more often than it doesn't but those those little times you're like dad if there was a little more continuity here
16:08Plays like that wouldn't happen in it and yet
16:10We didn't see a minute of that and that Chad at the end of the day that drove me the craziest out of all of it
16:15Because I just that's something I completely don't have an answer for I don't understand why that wasn't thrown around
16:20yeah, no, that's a great point and
16:24you know, you see the connection that curry and Durant still have from their time in Golden State you see
16:31You see a guy like Jamal Murray really struggle for Canada and part of that I think is he didn't have yokich
16:38You know see the the connections that these players have built in already before they go to the Olympics
16:43It's really fascinating to see where they succeed and where they struggle without pieces that they're working with and
16:50Team USA starting lineup wasn't great defensively when you would have been beat out there who?
16:57It's not wasn't the best shape to start the tournament wasn't that interested in moving kept having communication issues with Durant
17:04We saw that in the Serbia game where they both ended up on your kitchen your kitchen ding hits a guy underneath for a layup
17:10And then, you know Curry's not a good defender Booker's defensive ability his efforts there and he dog guys up and down the court
17:18During the the tournament, which I think wore some lesser guards out
17:22But he's not doing call him an above-average
17:25Defender you could have put holiday white and Tatum out there for a short spurt and been incredibly switchable
17:31What about problems they ran into against Serbia was they they weren't getting the three-point shooters when they built that 14-point lead because
17:38they weren't rotating like you said and
17:41Guys were not used to communicating with other other guys and they're not weren't the greatest offensive players in the first place
17:47I think those three guys would have played spectacularly together
17:50And I know part of that is that you can put drew holiday with anybody on earth and it'll fit in
17:56It was funny. Just watching
17:59watching the
18:00The Olympics and you see Booker and Durant and you see LeBron and Davis and you say, you know
18:06Why the Suns just good then, you know, not a contender just a good pretty good team and why do you like or stink?
18:14They would give anything to have a Derek white or drew holiday let alone either of those guys
18:19And so we saw Derek get a little bit of run early in the term
18:22We saw drew essentially start some things with essentially their six and like their jack-of-all-trades
18:27And if you put those two guys out there with Jason Tatum
18:31I think the defense would have looked a lot like the Celtics defense this year
18:34Which is again one of the reasons they're gonna be racing a banner on opening night
18:39But I do want to get this back to Tatum specifically and sort of the coverage around of it. I can't I
18:45Again Tatum dominates new cycles by not playing which I think is a unique situation
18:50I don't think there are many guys, you know, if Edwards didn't play I think people would have figured out
18:54Well, he's kind of young, you know, whatever but he got a lot of minutes. I got a lot of playing time
18:58Nobody's making crazy
19:00Assertions, you know assertions because Tyrese Halberd didn't play. I mean he made a joke out of it
19:05It's like look I got it. I've got a gold medal to even play like this is great
19:08You know, nobody went crazy
19:09But I think it's interesting that that specific thing again dominated new cycles
19:14and I wonder if you know and the answer is probably a
19:19Multitude of things. It's probably just one thing or one thing
19:22it's probably a combination of things and I can't quite figure out if if like Tatum is that big of a lightning rod if
19:29Boston sports in general are
19:32Just because we're so passionate as fans
19:35About all of our teams that we just kind of we're loud and we're we're passionate about things
19:41So it just gets into the sphere if it's the NBA in the popularity of the NBA
19:47Being you know, look it's not the NFL. We know it's not the NFL
19:52We got that the NFL literally makes a day out of the schedule day that the NBA tried to write Thursday
19:58But like to no avail nobody really cares like it's just like how many national TV games are there the suburbs have 36, by the way
20:06It and we're gonna even talk about that cuz it's like who cares. There's like I like the Larry Bird quote
20:11There's 41 at home for you in a way. We'll see it when it happens
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21:51Run your game
21:53Why is Jason Tatum in?
21:56his not playing dominant in the news cycle in your opinion is because he's
22:00Because he's a top five player in the league and that's what that attention gets
22:03It's because you know, Boston people are so adamant or is it the NBA's popularity or is it a combination of all three of these?
22:10Yeah, I think it's a bunch of things
22:13Your your friend Brian Barrett just texted me actually a fan duel thing that came out today
22:18Sure, it didn't have Tatum in the top 10 players in the league
22:22So it gets engagement I think one of the
22:29Yeah, Devin boy, it's basically the guys who played well at the Olympics ahead of him
22:34And they're LeBron's in there. I mean it Booker. Yeah, it's
22:38And that plays into the fact that Celtics fans react to this stuff
22:43It gets engagement. It gets clicks. It gets impressions
22:47It becomes something where the response carries from day to day rather than just petering outs
22:55There are other factors. I mean
22:58Kendrick Perkins is probably
23:00Have has the worst takes of any NBA analyst he is a prominent gig and he's an ex Celtic
23:07So that that plays into it. I think a little bit and the biggest one is just it felt like
23:13Jim was still on everybody's minds
23:16Celtics had just won the title
23:18Felt like his culmination, but there was still a little hint of are we sure?
23:23He's the guy because Jalen got the finals MVP and the Eastern Conference MVP
23:27And so here we are a couple weeks later and this guy who we thought
23:32Elevated into the lead the elite in the NBA
23:36Who?
23:37Is unassailable now at this point all of a sudden he's I don't say being humbled
23:43but all of a sudden he's
23:44you know dealing with some taking some lumps because he's not playing when he
23:49Probably felt like it thinks fans probably felt like this was gonna be another part of that culmination the coronation for him
23:56As you know
23:58Superstar of superstars. I mean he's only guy in the team. It was first team all NBA this year
24:02It was easy to assume that
24:04you know and that he was gonna be a guy in team USA and as for all the reasons we talked about it
24:10It didn't work out that way for him
24:12so there's just so many elements to the particular story that makes it enticing to ESPN to Fox and
24:19You know to columnists looking to get a reaction from their readers even for FanDuel
24:23Who's like kind of even in this game, but still kind of just trying to generate. Yeah, and it's it's
24:29You know speaking of Barrett. I had Barrett's show on
24:33Was last week and I love weeks blend together now
24:36But I was listening it was him and Justin Termini and they kind of led with this and you know
24:40I was just curious as a guy who hosts a national radio show what his opinion was on it
24:44He was like this is crazy that
24:47Playing and it's it's like it's like this is insane that this guy can't get minutes and all the
24:52Excuses that curse comes up with this is Craig. I'm like, so this is not just like a Boston of like self-absorbed
24:58That's us. Yeah. Yeah, and that's what I really like. I love that. I texted Barrett because I was like, hey, man
25:04This was really great
25:04I just want to commend you on having a different voice other than the Boston
25:09Echosphere of like just all of us chatting and being angry about this like because we had Barrett on our show the week prior
25:14And talk about the same exact thing. It's like what's going on?
25:18It's good to know that there's like at least some level heads out there nationally that can
25:22Kind of sort their way through this and I love termini him and Eddie Johnson that do a great job. Great
25:27So fun and that shows is awesome
25:30but I was fun to hear a national perspective on that because I can I just feel like it's a lot of
25:35The same voices dominating the same space and then and again, I guess for me, you know
25:41This is maybe this is the territory that comes with being
25:45One of the premier franchises in the league with one of the best players and like this is just what's gonna come with it
25:49And maybe we all need to embrace this. Maybe Tatum needs to be like, you know what like, yeah
25:54I'm gonna be a lightning rod for everything and I mean look him and Jalen
25:58Pretty much since they've gotten here have been lightning rods for things of other discussions, right of you know
26:03As you said that can they coexist together that conversation drove me absolutely bananas for you, man
26:08It's ridiculous has always been ridiculous and like ask anybody that really knows anything about basketball
26:14It's like yeah, these two guys if you put the right team around them, they will be fine
26:17And guess what? Here we are. But maybe this is what comes with being
26:21The face League. I think so many people are trying to force certain guys down our throats
26:27Like whether it's Anthony Edwards and I love it. He's great
26:30It's a little too early for an I think but he's got a shot. We've seen a lot of examples of it being too early
26:35Yeah
26:37He's gonna be a special player it's gonna take time we need to allow him to get to that point, you know
26:43Devin Booker is another great example. He gets in the NBA Finals
26:46He's feeling great
26:47but then the only thing people remember from the NBA Finals is the alley-oop and it's
26:52Giannis dropping 50 in a game six to win like that's what we remember and
26:56He's a huge face the league yoke. It's a huge face. The league the league is way more international now than it's ever been
27:02I mean look if I'm on the Spurs
27:04I would have already signed the opposite to a contract already to be on our team for this year because the chemistry there is
27:11Obviously pretty good women Yama is the next big thing
27:15But maybe this like all this vitriol that Tatum is getting
27:20Maybe this is what comes with being the American face of basketball
27:24I mean Steph, you know people gave him a hard time until he won
27:28I mean LeBron still gets a hard time even though he's like at worst the second best player
27:35Like maybe only won four. Yeah, maybe this is what comes with the territory of like maybe
27:40Collectively we all just need to embrace this and say look like this is
27:45Because he's the top player in America
27:47This is what's gonna happen and we all need to embrace the fact that we're so lucky to have
27:52The best American basketball player playing for our local team. Maybe that's it. Am I wrong?
27:58No, not at all, I mean
28:00Certainly, you can find a positive out of it, too
28:02I mean I I read at least three columns this week excluding my own using the phrase vengeance tour
28:09That and it really does feel like that's possible at 15 of the 17 guys coming back
28:14And yeah, who knows maybe O'Shea could end up back here, too. He's still out there
28:19and
28:21The fact that they're probably going to be the most
28:24Motivated defending champion that we've seen in a long time because of all the nonsense that's come after they won whether
28:30Jalen's frustrations with Team USA basketball or all the stuff that you know Tatum had to endure
28:37by you know getting those two DNPs over there and and all the conversation around that which
28:43He acts like he doesn't hear it and he handles it really well, but he does hear it
28:48He kind of revealed that after they won when with a what are you gonna say now, is that what his phrase was?
28:55so
28:58It's like well, I don't know this guy's been getting his his ass kicked verbally for seven years
29:02I think he I think he can say a couple things
29:05Right, but you know what to I mean, it's just a little bit off the topic
29:11But you mentioned that it's been nonsense with Jalen and Jason for a long time
29:17one of the most satisfying things about sports about being a sports fan or about covering a particular team is
29:23When the guys that have been here for a while actually come through the the most satisfying thing to me about the
29:302004 Red Sox was that Pedro Martinez got a World Series here. His contract was up
29:36You didn't know if he was gonna be back. He had been through so much Yankees
29:39Yankees are my daddy and you know great leaving him in and all that and
29:44For them to for them to overcome that that was the biggest thing more than
29:48Years or anything else to me was seeing guys like him and Manny Ramirez and people like that who had been here for Derek Lowe
29:55Jason Varitek win and that was the same thing with this the Celtics did it the right way
30:00They obviously had to make some changes
30:02I think a big reason that Tatum and Jalen became more willing to share the ball was because
30:08They have a trust in Drew Holliday and Derek White that they just couldn't quite muster for Marcus smart the the ball
30:14I love Marcus
30:16He's found him in the big moments. Sometimes he came through sometimes he didn't but the ball always found him
30:22and
30:23to see those two guys with the ups and downs and the Kyrie years and the Gordon Hayward injury and
30:30IT and Kemba Walker and everything that had come in the build-up to them finally winning
30:36It doesn't get more satisfying than that and the frustration
30:40You shouldn't be having any frustration right now
30:42She enjoy that but because of weird things that have happened after the season with USA basketball and Tatum it feels like
30:51Doesn't feel like a setback, but it feels like we didn't get quite enough time to celebrate it
30:57As we should have this offseason without you know, having a little bit of controversy mixed in but ultimately that controversy might help them
31:04Do it again this year. Yeah, there's nothing I mean as
31:08Guys have been watching the Patriots for the past 20 years, you know having a chip on your shoulders
31:12They're the worst thing in the world, you know
31:15The the documentary the last dance documentary show just that Michael Jordan like you're not saying hi to him in a restaurant
31:22It was enough to give him the motivation like Brady can go through this the quarterbacks taken in front of him
31:28I like I love a Monrath st
31:29Brown for the for the Lions you can name all like 14 receivers that are drafted in front of them and
31:34Now he's a top five, you know white out in terms of monetary value in the league and like here
31:39So he's Paul Pierce always battled off the guys picked ahead of him
31:42yeah, and and still Paul still fighting battles where it's like again you weren't the way that kills me about the new generation and I
31:49like the fact that they're
31:51passionate about things and they
31:52They want to you know
31:54there's so many avenues that'll learn the game that weren't available when I was younger and certainly when a lot of people are listening this
32:00Podcast were younger but like the one thing that kills me is the lack of respect for the guys that have come previously
32:06And it's like oh, yeah, Paul Pierce wasn't wasn't any good
32:09It's like you weren't watching the game. It's like if you went back and watched the line
32:13I know he doesn't look like the most athletic guy
32:16but he still found ways to score and that's a skill and it was a
32:20unbelievable skill and and just has gotten lost with time and
32:24It's really that stuff like actually bothers me and if you know
32:28What's fun is like I went back during kovat I watched
32:32And this is gonna this is gonna drive me crazy. But my brain's got a kajillion things in it. Did they did the Celtics play?
32:39Kareem in the box in 74 76
32:4474 76 was Phoenix. All right, so I watched the 74 finals
32:49Recent not recently but like during Kobe when live sports weren't a thing and I had to find some outlet right and I remember watching
32:57Those playoffs and having just a completely different appreciation for Jojo white
33:02I'm like you could take that guy and put him in any era and he would be oh, yeah, and in his run forever
33:08Oh my goodness. Yeah, I mean like it's it's unbelievable and I'm laughing. I'm like Dave Cowan's trying his best
33:13He's like six foot eight maybe six nine, maybe and he's got a guard Kareem
33:17Who's like an absolute alien and how how every play wasn't all the Kareem?
33:21I'll never understand like I just never got it. And then you're watching Pavlicek literally never stop running ever
33:28The guy is constantly in motion. It's like Steph. Yeah
33:32Yeah, exactly over the place. It's amazing. So that stuff bothers me when you're like, oh, yeah those, you know
33:38But anyway, we got way off topic here way way way off topic quick break from today's show to tell you today's show is
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35:41I
35:42Want to get get us back to?
35:44The suffix and how they're covered nationally and locally and all that stuff because like the local angle we all know I know what it
35:49Is I look I'm on the other side of the state. I know what's going on. I got it. It does bother me
35:56But again, I get the why it's being done and everything
36:01You know again you as soon as things happen you got everybody kind of talking everybody that things are coming out and you know
36:06You hear from Bob Cousy, which is always my favorite thing because you know, Bob's always gonna have an opinion about something
36:12Saying that there's like a Celtics bias around the league and that's what curves going through
36:19You you've been chatting with people throughout your time whether it's broadcasters players coaches, etc
36:25Do you think there's a Boston Celtics bias on there?
36:27I actually don't see there was three guys
36:31No, no, no, no, I mean
36:34Kuz is great. And one of the things I admire about him is he's still right on top of the current NBA for 96 years old
36:40I was I was like that about Tommy to like Heinsohn was obviously from a different generation from a couple different generations
36:48He coached at 74 and 76 team we were talking about
36:51to titles and he was a player and the player rep and a broadcaster and all these things but
36:57He had a great appreciation for the current players. He might bitch about the three-point line or something like that or
37:03Complain that they're not, you know running as much as he wants to run run Walter run, but
37:10he he had great respect for
37:14The skill set that Jason Tatum had or Steph Curry shooting ability or whatever it is
37:19and I admire that from the older guys from the other generation because
37:25The people I hear from often from that same generation are their emails will start I grew up with Bill Russell
37:32Heinsohn and koozie and
37:34Jason Tatum doesn't play defense and he does a rebound and all he wants to do is shoot threes
37:38I'm just like you're not watching the games
37:40You're listening to sports radio and you're listening to what Felger and Maz are telling you about Jalen and Jason and you're regurgitating
37:48it to me because it jibes with what you want people about the current NBA game because
37:54Not a young anymore and it's not the game you grew up with and it's different and so it can't be as good and man
38:00I grew up in the bird era
38:02Okay, I love bird and McHale and chief and Dennis Johnson's probably my favorite non Larry player of all time
38:09But I can recognize that so much about the game now is better
38:13You watch your you watch like a highlight reel
38:16I'd like I was watching Magic Johnson highlights the other night because it was the 65th birthday the other day
38:21I still think he's the best passer of all time him and Larry right up there, but
38:25The defense wasn't as good as it is. Now. The players are nowhere near as physical as they are now and they talk about the
38:31game like from
38:3435 years ago as like everybody was a bad boy Pistons beating the crap out of each other
38:39It's just not true
38:40They tried to play defense
38:42but it just the players weren't as athletic or as fit or as well-rounded as they are now and that's the truth and a lot of
38:49Fans from a different generation have a hard time
38:54Recognizing that and that is
38:56Amplified by sports radio telling you there's always a problem with something this Jalen and Jason don't get along or these guys don't want to pass
39:04or whatever it happens to be and so those things it's kind of a cycle and
39:09It's a frustrating one because if you can just step back and look at what your eyes are telling you
39:14These guys bust their ass they play the right way they just won the championship by playing selfish unselfish
39:20team basketball and coming through again and again and again and it's a great product and I kind of
39:27Feel bad for people from a different generation who don't appreciate it
39:31But I'm also kind of like, you know the hell with them. They don't know what they're missing
39:35Yeah a couple more things before we get out of here Chad and one of the things I kind of referenced it earlier about
39:40Celtics they're nationally televised games and you know, here we are in the middle of August. We're talking about Jason Tatum and talking about
39:48You know, it's it's not in the horizon for a while and you know
39:52The C's have a ton there the what the fourth most national television games be subbed in the Lakers
39:58The Warriors the Warriors have a bunch. Yeah for it's just it's the step show and honestly, I get it
40:05I get it. Totally on ankle. So yeah, I know it's gonna be the Pazemsky show
40:11I love be pods. He's great
40:15Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga and you know the rest of that team. I'm you know, look I'm ready
40:21The C's obviously, you know
40:23Very well represented nationally in terms of you know, seeing the product on television and again
40:28It's nice to be the champs for sure. But you know with everything being said I it just feels like to me that
40:34Adam Silver must love the fact that the Celtics are relevant because again here
40:38We are in August when things aren't supposed to be going on and supposed to be football football football football football
40:43And yet here we are dominating new cycles
40:46Talk about basketball. We're talking about the NBA. We're talking about all this stuff
40:49How much do you think Adam Silver loves the fact that Celtics are super relevant right now?
40:54Adam Silver loves the fact that the Celtics are super relevant
40:58That LeBron and Anthony Davis are on the Lakers so you can still put them on TV even though they're mediocre as a team and
41:05that the New York Knicks suddenly are
41:08Relevant with their Villanova alumni squad
41:12it doesn't get much better than that for the NBA just in terms of
41:17viewership markets, you know, New York being number one la number two, but also
41:22history tradition
41:24dedicated fan bases
41:25The league is in a great spot with that sort of stuff right now and you look at the teams that
41:31You know consider themselves serious contenders
41:34I think the league was really happy Wemby ended up with the Spurs which is a team that it's not the biggest market
41:39but it's one with a great basketball history and
41:43The you know the league if you're not gonna end up in the bigger markets
41:47They certainly like their their best young players to end up in cities with a tradition
41:52so I
41:54Think if you ask that I'm sober right now, he's got a lot of things he's dealing with
41:58The TNT situation with Amazon is a headache
42:02You know few other things, but I think if he asked him about just specifically the state of interest in the NBA
42:09He would be pretty thrilled with everything
42:11Yeah, we're just missing the Bulls really if you want to talk about the only things are missing Chicago being Zach Levine's not gonna elevate him
42:18Huh? Yeah, I don't know. It's good
42:20It's tough and but we look we can't win them all you got to have somebody's got to lose and
42:25Unfortunately, the Bulls have been doing a lot of that recently and I don't think it's gonna turn around anytime soon, unfortunately
42:31Last thing because I think this is interesting point
42:37Between all of the the four major teams in Boston
42:40we have the the Bruins who are trying to figure out what the next step for them is you have the Red Sox who I
42:46Mean I could go on for an hour about
42:50Have a problem with what they're doing
42:52But they're in a state of flux
42:54Obviously, they're not sure what to do
42:56they're cutting costs if they're if they're gonna invest in the future if the big three down and now and now and I think
43:03They're up in triple-a now if they're gonna be coming anytime, whatever like there's a lot going on there. The Patriots are young
43:09You know Drake may obviously that 55-yard bomb Thursday night. That was just just off the fingertips
43:15Well out of the grasp of Javon Baker heck of a throw. Yeah. Oh my god
43:23No, I know you I can't tell if it if may looks really good just
43:28Athletically or it's just the Mac Jones effect still
43:32By comparison everybody's gonna look great. I think may looks I think it's great reason to be enthusiastic about him
43:38No, absolutely. I was I was thrilled with the gun second preseason game, but it it seems like to me
43:45Celtics are the king
43:48quote-unquote of the city in terms of just from a
43:52recognition standpoint from a talking standpoint in your opinion
43:57How long can this last can they can they hold on to it?
44:01Is this gonna be like, you know, Larry Bird and you know
44:04The big three and the 80s of the Celtics that this is this is the team of Boston for an era
44:10Or is this gonna be just a flash in the pan once football becomes way more relevant?
44:14They're gonna be next year's, you know, whatever
44:17yeah, it's I don't know if you should ban the term second apron on your on your podcast, but
44:25Might want to I I'm a little
44:29Not down, but I'm a little skeptical that they're gonna be able to keep this, you know
44:36900 million dollar roster whatever it is together for the long term once those
44:41Penalties start to hit after next season with the team being for sale and you know
44:50Some
44:51People getting involved with that probably that you might not want them to be involved with owning a team you care about
44:56I think it I think we're gonna have probably hear some names that make you say good lord
45:01I hope that guy doesn't buy the team. I hope that conglomerate doesn't buy the team but for the short term and that
45:09Is next season and maybe this season after and then we'll see beyond that they're loaded and if they stay healthy and
45:16Chris steps comes back and is ready to go whenever that time comes
45:21January maybe
45:23they should be in a position to make another run at it and
45:27They know so much more now than they did going into this season. They know
45:32How drew holiday fits with them?
45:34They know the roles of their bench players and what they can do jump is always grown exponentially as a coach in his two years
45:42I think you can afford to be cautious during the regular season now Joe wants to win by 50 every night, but
45:50Their nights, I think well you'll rest holiday
45:52He's 34 years old now and maybe give Tatum more of a breather than he wants and just make sure that you
45:57when it comes time to defend that title in the playoffs that
46:01You're a maximum health and Mac ready to go so
46:05but they're in a absolute enviable spot this year and probably next year too and then you know
46:11We'll see how things shake out in terms of being able to pay everybody
46:15Yeah
46:15I think the only thing that's gonna derail this team from being just the talk of the town for a decade as Drake may
46:21Possibly be in just the next best guy
46:23But you know
46:23I think we got a little while so they it drives me crazy about the Drake may experience already is the amount of people that
46:29Just want to speed everything up and get this like to it's like no no no no no no no no no
46:34No, this is a this is an investment at number three overall this week the team better get this right
46:39This is a huge like look at the Trey Lance
46:42Trey Lance shot never had a shot and that's not his fault
46:45You know it's it's you know the San Francisco falls in love with them
46:49Then he ends up in Dallas and isn't on anything and the one thing I'll say and I thought about this today
46:53I was listening to Barrett
46:56Driving my car to go pick up a couple of errands and
47:00one of the things that's driving me nuts is is certain people who are quick to
47:05Clown the Patriots for trying to protect Drake may for as long as they can
47:10Yeah, and they're like well. This is clearly the Packer way. I'm like okay. I'm
47:1434 years old the Packers have had three quarterbacks in my life
47:20That's something to envy guys. That's probably a good idea the Packer way isn't a bad idea
47:25And everybody that wants to clown you know Mayo and Alex van Pelt for
47:32Doing something different like I love Michael Lombardi. I look I do I subscribe to a lot of what he says, but like his
47:39Railing of how the Patriots are handling Drake may and I'm like look like you're not in the building
47:45And he like you're not in the building anymore right let him let him figure this out
47:49It's not look we all know Belichick's the greatest. I think I I love watching his teams
47:56But it was time for someone new
47:58Let's let's give this a shot, and it's we're not even in the regular season, and it's like already a mess. It's like
48:04Relax, so you know I?
48:07Just don't get it. I in and maybe I'm just way more patient and everybody else is it, but it's like I as someone who?
48:15Would like this to be the last quarterback. I have to root for for a while like I just want to watch Drake
48:20Grow and develop it
48:22It's okay if he's not taking a kajillion snaps
48:25It's totally fine as yeah you if you look at the product look at his feet his footwork looks great looked awesome like
48:32Baby steps, it's okay. You know Rome wasn't built in a day
48:35It just yeah drafting third overall doesn't mean he's gonna save your franchise the first days here
48:41Well, it's been kind of absurd with him already in terms of the media reaction around here where you went from preseason game one
48:47Are we sure Joe Milton's not better Joe Milton throws the screen passes at 95 miles an hour
48:53That's why he's not gonna be the the guy
48:56Probably ever
48:58You know they drafted him to trade him for a fourth round pick down the road
49:02And now you know may play as well last night made some throws
49:06We haven't seen around here in a while and all of a sudden you got to play him over bursette
49:11You know there's been these wild swings already, but I think it comes down to media wise
49:18Okay Felger told me this
49:21Yeah
49:22Talking to him you know for something about the sports hubs 15th anniversary
49:26Just kind of said offhanded and we need the Patriots to be good again, and it's true because they
49:34NFL is just
49:36The attention I felt that's is multiples over their league you look at the TV ratings look at Super Bowl
49:43115 million people watching it and more than that compared to like what the NBA Finals or something like that gets
49:49it's just no contest and
49:52I think these people
49:54In sports radio and to a lesser degree doing you know what I do what you do
49:59Recognize it's a huge benefit to us if Drake may is good and the Patriots accelerate this
50:05You know this return to
50:07NFL relevance because they're not they they're not gonna be very good this year
50:10And I actually kind of admire trading Matthew Judon and having a first year
50:15You know call Elliot Wolfe the de facto GM having one record having him recognize that
50:21This team is what it is. It's not going to be very good, and so we're gonna build for the future
50:26that's a pretty mature approach to team building from a
50:30guy who's in the job for the first time, but
50:33it behooves all of us for
50:36This team to get back to being relevant in the NFL landscape again, and so I think we're gonna hear a lot more
50:42Drake may has to play Drake may has to play, and you know Mayo kind of left that door open this morning
50:48Friday morning to that you know that job isn't settled yet, so that's only gonna play into it more
50:54Yeah, thanks. Thank you Gerard for stoking the fire
50:58Hey media guy right yeah
51:01Slants alumni there you go look. It's a it's a long list of quick slants alumni
51:07but
51:08That being said still looks right now still the Kings of Boston and probably will be at least for for one more season
51:14And you know look we'll see how this goes the rest of the way. That's the Boston Globes Chad Finn Chad
51:19Thank you so much for joining the program here this afternoon
51:23Want to thank you want to thank our sponsors game time and prize picks can code CLNS for both
51:30Up to $100 in your first deposit match for prize picks
51:33It's a $20 off your first purchase at game time want to thank all the audience out there want to thank
51:38Everybody involved behind the scenes Amit who is just the craziest guy ever I love that guy he is amazing
51:45Adam we'll be back next week with me make sure you subscribe to this show on iTunes on Spotify on YouTube
51:51We're all over the place you guys have a great weekend, and we'll see you guys next time right here on Celtics beat
51:59You

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