The Boston Celtics are the best team in the NBA thanks in large part to their depth, but the league's collective bargaining agreement and age will eventually force changes to the heavy-minutes players on Boston's roster in the next several seasons. Thankfully for the Celtics, they have most of their younger core players under contract beyond this season, and have several promising prospects already on the roster to help offset the inevitable exits Boston's roster will face.
Taking a more granular view, which members of the team's rotation could one day become starters? What deep rotation players might be able to step into a larger role to become second-string options? And which players currently on the team look like their future lies on another roster -- whether in the Association or abroad?
The hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with "How Bout Them Celtics" cohost Jack Simone to talk it all over, leaning on his time covering the Maine Celtics to add some depth to the conversation. We also get caught up on the news while we look back on the busiest (and dullest?) part of Boston's 2024-25 schedule.
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Taking a more granular view, which members of the team's rotation could one day become starters? What deep rotation players might be able to step into a larger role to become second-string options? And which players currently on the team look like their future lies on another roster -- whether in the Association or abroad?
The hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with "How Bout Them Celtics" cohost Jack Simone to talk it all over, leaning on his time covering the Maine Celtics to add some depth to the conversation. We also get caught up on the news while we look back on the busiest (and dullest?) part of Boston's 2024-25 schedule.
CLNS Media is Powered by:
💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
🎫 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. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Celtics Lab is brought to you by PrizePix and the Game Time app.
00:06All righty, welcome to the Celtics Lab podcast brought to you by PrizePix, the exclusive
00:10fantasy basketball partner of the CNS Media Network.
00:13Brand new game with PrizePix.
00:15Celtics Lab is also brought to you by Game Time Tickets.
00:16Less than a ticket, lowest price guaranteed.
00:18What time is it?
00:19It's Game Time.
00:20I'm Cameron Tepes-Devay.
00:21I'm your host.
00:22I'm joined by Dr. Justin Quinn in Mexico.
00:25I'm joined by Alex Goldberg back in Brooklyn.
00:28You can hear the New York City B-roll behind him.
00:31And joining us from just down the street from my apartment, Jack Simone of How About Them
00:35Celtics and Hardwood Houdini, a sight expert in the flesh.
00:39Jack, what's up?
00:40Hello.
00:41How are you doing?
00:42Thanks for having me.
00:43Sorry, you made me laugh with the sight expert thing, so I was throwing off my game.
00:52In terms of an agenda, Jack, it's a slow week for Celtics Nation.
00:57After a very busy week, Celtics played five games in seven nights, including learning
01:01about their NBA Cup fate, including Marcus Smart.
01:04And now they have a game against Detroit and a game against Washington this week, so decidedly
01:08different pace.
01:09And we're going to use that to talk about what we've seen out of the bench players,
01:13what their future might hold this season, this spring, and beyond.
01:16Jack, you know a thing or two about the guys who like to stay ready or are forced to stay
01:21ready up in Maine, so we thought you'd be good at that.
01:25Quickly, Jack, how was Marcus Smart's return?
01:28It was fun.
01:292.0, I guess.
01:30Yeah, I know.
01:31It was good to see Marcus there, he had his little pre-game backwards shot from the corner,
01:37which was nice.
01:38Good to hear the garden, you know, give him the ovation he deserved when he got on the
01:43court.
01:44Jay King of The Athletic wrote a really cool article about Marcus Smart bringing his son
01:47to the garden way before the game to show him, yeah, I can point back to this moment
01:51and help him understand the impact it had on the city.
01:54So it's just another nice night.
01:56I feel like most of the hoopla happened last year when he didn't play, but it was just
01:59the last final, like a little bit of, all right, let's see him play on the garden floor.
02:03He played good defense, but wasn't amazing otherwise.
02:07But that was not the point of the return.
02:08So it was good to see Marcus back playing on the floor, I should say, at TD Garden.
02:15Yeah, he did return last year for the first time since being traded, but he didn't play.
02:21And he had that pressure and everything.
02:22So that moment was there.
02:23But certainly like seeing him go up against Jalen and Jason and others was different.
02:29I think I was thinking about this, you'd probably have to go back to when Paul Pierson and Kevin
02:33Garnett were traded to Brooklyn to recreate something like that.
02:38Because when Isaiah got traded, it was like, oh, but now we have Kyrie Irving, like, it's
02:44probably a good thing if you're a Celtics fan.
02:47I don't know, Justin, you're a history person of some consequence.
02:50Do you think the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce is the last time seeing a former Celtic as
02:55an opponent was weird?
02:56Was that weird for you?
02:57I mean, anytime anyone's been with a team for a long time, or at least from the start,
03:02I always have that feeling right away.
03:03But in terms of like, impacting the culture of the team, like a large chunk of the culture
03:07of the team left?
03:08Yeah, definitely.
03:09Yeah, that was, we're rooting for Marcus, he's only 30.
03:15I mean, he's beat up.
03:17It doesn't seem like he's the same player he was, but he's still he still has games
03:23where he like does Marcus stuff, though, like, yeah, for better or for worse.
03:28I think the grid is really, you know, just from what I've seen from the Grizz fan community,
03:33they really are getting the full Marcus smart experience this year.
03:36It's like missing four games for injury, having games where he'll like take five threes and
03:42make two awful turnovers in the last nine minutes of the game to completely lose it.
03:47And then also like having inexplicable 25 points, eight assists, three blocks on us
03:52on good shooting, like, they're, they're getting the full gamut.
03:55Yeah.
03:56Well, it's funny is john Morant said he's not going to dunk anymore.
04:00And then he had this unbelievable, like double clutch, reverse dunk.
04:06I guess he said after the game, he had to do it to get it up over Porzingis, which if
04:09you watch the tape, I kind of believe him.
04:11So I do believe he's possibly slowing his role and not going to dunk john Morant.
04:17I don't think you could teach Marcus Mark to play a different brand of basketball.
04:20I think he will play until he gets injured and then he can't play again because that's
04:24all he knows.
04:25But who knows?
04:26Jack, I guess we'll stick with the Memphis games most recent one and we can talk about
04:31some of the other more recent games.
04:34How much of that do you chalk up to fatigue?
04:37And then I also want to talk about three point shooting because that was a common thing.
04:41But let's remind ourselves as the fifth game they played since the previous Sunday against
04:47maybe what will end up being all playoff or play in opponents.
04:51Yeah, I think a good chunk of it because the defense was pretty lackluster, especially
04:54in transition and I mean, tired legs breeds tired transition defense, I suppose.
04:58I don't think you can give all of it to that as an excuse.
05:01And obviously, Joe Mozilla, Jalen Brown, who talked after the game, we're not going to
05:04use it as an excuse to play.
05:05Yeah, we didn't play well enough, which is a part of it.
05:08I think they weren't fully locked in as much as they had to be.
05:12I think the drew part of it all was.
05:1617th or 17th.
05:18Yeah, I don't know.
05:20Yeah.
05:20And I said it in a clip after like, well, part of our podcast, but I made it into our
05:24like our TikTok clip was like he played bad, but it wasn't really his fault.
05:29Like the whole Joe Mozilla thought process of process or results like truly took the
05:34shots that were given to him.
05:35Sure, there were a few moments where maybe you don't go inside and try to post up Jerry
05:39Jackson Jr.
05:40Maybe that's where it went off the rails a little too much.
05:42But I mean, all those threes he took were because they left him as wide open as you
05:46can possibly be.
05:46And I mean, if I'm Joe Mozilla, if I'm anybody on that team, I bet my money that I don't
05:50think he's going to shoot four of 17 every single time that happens.
05:53And you bet your money that he'll make a few of the first one.
05:56So Memphis is forced to adjust, and then you can go back to playing your brand of basketball.
05:59So I think tired legs definitely played a part of it.
06:02I also just think a bad shooting night from your holiday was enough to kind of send them
06:05off the rails a little bit.
06:06So I think it was a mix, a blend, I should say, of effort and the tired legs you mentioned.
06:12Yeah, it was interesting on the hoop collective.
06:15They said, and I'm doing this off the cuff, drew hit like four of nine on contested or
06:23non contested threes, which is good enough.
06:26And then he didn't hit any of his contested shots.
06:28So the whole like he was open and it was a mind game and it worked.
06:33I don't know if that holds water.
06:34Justin, what do you see out of that game?
06:37Absolutely none of it.
06:37I went to a concert with my wife, but from the discourse surrounding it.
06:44Wait, I thought you went to the concert during the Bucks game.
06:46But that was a different concert.
06:48Oh, look at you.
06:50Yeah, I got out of the house this year, right?
06:52Pretty crazy.
06:54No, the so for this game, the the whole two and three thing was one of the big sticking
07:02points I saw a lot of people talking about.
07:04And they have the same record.
07:07They started at this point in the season as last season.
07:10They won the title last season.
07:13They won it by shooting threes.
07:14They're shooting more threes.
07:17I don't see the problem.
07:19Yeah, I don't see the problem either.
07:21Alex, the night before they took care of business against the Bucks.
07:28I just I want to ask you what you thought of that game.
07:31And it's a little late.
07:32We're recording Monday afternoon.
07:33So I don't need to get my rocks off here.
07:34But that, be honest, pull up three and transition with like 90 seconds to go.
07:38That led to the hour.
07:41Wow, that's a disaster of a decision that Yannis made there.
07:44Yannis is shooting 20% from three this season.
07:47Anyways, Alex, other than that, what you see out of that game?
07:50Yeah, I mean, that's an interesting game.
07:52Because, you know, I do think the Bucks look better than they kind of had been at the beginning
07:58of the season that the Celtics have now played and beaten the Bucks three times.
08:01And of those three games, the Bucks look the most competitive in that one.
08:07Chris Middleton looked fine in his return.
08:10I think it's going to take him a little bit of ramping up.
08:12You know, he's not 100% yet, but he'll get there.
08:17You know, the Dame Yannis thing feels like it has moments where it looks really good.
08:22And I think there were times during that game where it did look really good.
08:26But at the end of the day, I think you're right to hit on the Yannis decision making late.
08:33That has kind of quietly been a thing that has existed for a large chunk of Yannis' career,
08:39that he has made some questionable shot choices late in games.
08:43And, you know, often he hasn't needed to make those choices because the Bucks will
08:48be ahead by 30 or sometimes down by 30.
08:51But, you know, I think in general, I wasn't super surprised by anything in that game.
08:58I thought the Bucks looked pretty competent, and I think they will
09:01definitely be in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
09:04And, you know, matching up with Yannis in the playoffs always sucks.
09:07But the Celtics are on a different tier than the Bucks, and they have been all season.
09:13They have been since last year.
09:15I didn't see anything in that game to suggest otherwise.
09:18I think that the Bucks' personnel is just not really well equipped to handle the Celtics'
09:23wings.
09:24I think that has been the case pretty much the whole time.
09:26And Jalen and Jason showed that again.
09:29Until they can find some capable wing defenders,
09:33this is kind of going to be what that matchup looks like, I feel like, for the most part.
09:38Yeah, Boston's now 3-0 against the Bucks in the regular season, and that's it.
09:41We won't see Milwaukee again until maybe the spring, which is, I guess, disappointing
09:46because Milwaukee is better than they were at the beginning of the year, and a rival of a sort.
09:49But yeah, they're 3-0 against the Bucks in, like, a plus-10 off the cuff, something like that.
09:55I mean, Jack, you and I sat together for the previous Bucks game, and it was,
10:01I think this is the game I'm remembering, where it was tight, but we both looked at each other
10:05and said, yeah, in the fourth quarter, the Celtics, they're going to have more gas,
10:08and they're going to have more shooting on the wing, and low drama.
10:13Okay, so let's put a wrap on the games that were.
10:16I'm going to do an ad read, and then we'll do a little bit of news,
10:19and then in the lab portion of the programming, like I hinted off the top,
10:23we will kind of look at the bench with a critical eye.
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11:44Okay, back to the show.
11:46Uh, I'm biting my tongue.
11:49Let's do the news a little bit longer and then to the lab we will go.
11:54Jack, the Celtics are not advancing in the NBA Cup this year.
12:00We don't have to re-litigate the conversations that we've had on and off air about whether or not
12:05the Cup is good television.
12:09But I'll ask you what you're interested in for the Cup moving forward.
12:13And did you get a sense that the Celtics are bummed that they did not advance?
12:20I think they're bummed to the extent of their competitors and probably would have liked to
12:25advance, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think they care all too much.
12:30I think they're probably pretty indifferent.
12:31As far as the Cup itself, it's kind of like a who's who of the best teams in the league
12:37outside of the Celtics and Cavs.
12:39You look at the standings and right after the Celtics and Cavs, it is Knicks, Magic,
12:44Bucs right in there, and then the Hawks a little further down.
12:46And then out West, I know the Grizzlies have surged a little bit, the Thundermavs, Rockets,
12:51Warriors.
12:51At one point, that was the top four in the West in the past week.
12:55I think it is a good slate of games.
12:59As the underdog rooter I have in me, I would like to see Dyson Daniels steal away everything.
13:05I think that'd be really fun.
13:06I think that's probably the most interesting team, at least in my opinion, to see make
13:10a run in the Cup.
13:12So I'll be rooting for the Hawks, but I don't think the Celtics care in the grand scheme
13:15of things.
13:16Does anyone know off the top of their head if that Hawks-Knicks game is in New York or
13:20Atlanta?
13:22New York.
13:22I think it's in Atlanta.
13:24Oh, no, maybe I'm wrong.
13:25But the Knicks are the two seed.
13:26I thought it was MSG.
13:29That's sick.
13:30I mean, Trey playing villain in MSG is as good as it gets.
13:35Justin, who are you rooting for in the NBA Cup?
13:38Not the Lakers, and that's been a problem this year.
13:39So nobody, I guess.
13:41Oh, come on.
13:42I'm coming back.
13:44I'm doing what I do with my students.
13:45You got to pick something.
13:46I'm going to Alex.
13:46Alex, who are you rooting for?
13:48I'm rooting for you.
13:49Sorry.
13:50Yeah, you know, I think it would be fun to just, like, see what this OKC team can do
13:57with, you know, some serious competition.
13:59But I think I got a pull for the Hawks here.
14:03I've just really enjoyed this Hawks season.
14:07It's such a weird thing because, like, the Hawks are, I think they're, like, 3-1 against
14:13the Cavs and Celtics, and they're 0-2 against the Wizards.
14:16And this team just makes no freaking sense whatsoever.
14:21They have all these, like, long, great athletes, like, you know, Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels.
14:27And DeAndre Hunter seems like he's actually playing good basketball for the first time,
14:31basically, in his NBA career.
14:33But then, like, everything is still built around this tiny man and Trey Young.
14:38They've got too many centers.
14:40Like, they have all this shooting, but the shooting can't defend anybody.
14:46It's such a bizarre, weird amalgamation.
14:49And Quinn Snyder is just kind of making it happen.
14:53They've been really fun to watch this year.
14:55Reza Shay, we have no idea what's happening on a game-to-game basis with that guy.
14:59Like, is he going to make, you know...
15:01Neither does he.
15:02Yeah, exactly.
15:03So I think just from a watchability standpoint, it's got to be the Hawks.
15:08They're the craziest wildcard team in the whole thing.
15:12And I think they're gonna be, like, one of the crazier wildcard playoff teams
15:18that we've had in a little bit.
15:20I like that.
15:21All right, Dr. Quinn, who are you rooting for in the Cup?
15:25I'm not rooting for anybody in the Cup.
15:27I'll root for the Celtics when they're in the Cup.
15:28When they're not in the Cup, I mean, there's lots of interesting teams, like,
15:31we've been talking about, but I'm not rooting for them.
15:34It's just interesting.
15:36I'm like the inverse of you now that the Cup is over.
15:39Well, for us, anyway.
15:41Yeah, I'm coming back to this next year when I defend my position
15:46on how much I don't like the Cup.
15:47Guys, sorry, but the correct answer is we're rooting for the New York Knicks
15:51to advance in the Cup and have to play an extra game, play Tibbs basketball.
15:55All the starters get 42 extra hard-fought minutes in a basketball game that doesn't
15:59mean anything.
16:01So when April rolls around, they're that much more tired.
16:04That's how it's done.
16:07We don't really have that much other news to talk about.
16:09Jalen Brown got fined for slashing his throat at beef stew.
16:14I was not a fan of that because the Celtics almost lost that game, and that would have
16:18been super embarrassing for Jalen.
16:20That slash happened in the second quarter, and then the Celtics almost choked like dogs.
16:25If Pritchard doesn't come around.
16:27Actually, Jack and I talked about this on How About Them Celtics.
16:29Pritchard kind of saved Jalen's ass there.
16:31It would have been super embarrassing if the Celtics lost after Jalen pulled that.
16:35Can I just jump in here real quick to say, Jalen Brown, great basketball player.
16:42You never need to listen to me about anything because you're much more accomplished than
16:46I am.
16:47The buckle up is better than the throat slash as far as talks go.
16:51I really like the buckle up.
16:52I like the fluid motion.
16:54I like that.
16:55It's about Jalen being able to jump really high and sky over dudes.
17:00The throat slash is a little like cartoon anime villain for me.
17:05It's the Undertaker.
17:06Yeah, I get it.
17:08I know, but he's the gravedigger.
17:10Yeah, but the buckle up is better.
17:12Stick with the buckle up.
17:13I mean, the buckle up is a good second quarter celebration, and the throat slash is a good
17:18fourth quarter celebration.
17:19So I think he just had the timing off.
17:22Yeah, he knew that he was going to get fined.
17:24You're not supposed to do that.
17:26I'm not going to count his pennies on that one.
17:30Jack, you liked it in that night.
17:32Do you have any new takes on that?
17:34Um, I don't know if I necessarily liked it.
17:36I think it was like a shock value of like, oh my God, did he just why?
17:39Why did he just do that for?
17:40Because like in my mind, I think what it was is like, oh, wow, that was a sick dunk.
17:44Oh, wow.
17:44What a celebration.
17:45Oh, wow.
17:46He's going to have to pay a lot of money for the court.
17:48So I think I was just like in a state of awe that he tried to pull that off.
17:52But I think Alex is probably right.
17:54I think the buckle up is more original, too.
17:56So I think it's a little bit more unique.
17:59It's better than the pockets thing.
18:00I don't really get the pockets thing.
18:02But Jalen had been pushing and shoving with beef stew a couple plays leading up to that.
18:07So it might have just been like that.
18:10That's actually how he felt about as a steward at that time.
18:13Anyways, let me pause the action again, do another ad read, and then we'll hop into the lab.
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19:37Okay, true story.
19:38Oh, that was a true story.
19:42Sorry, Claire.
19:43I can't just get you in the door.
19:46Anyways, also, I don't write for the Celtics.
19:48Jack, you get that a lot too.
19:49Oh, Jack writes for the Celtics.
19:50Constantly.
19:52And my mom is like, oh, my son writes for the Celtics.
19:54I'm like, no, no.
19:55No, I don't.
19:56I forget who I was talking to, like, the other day too.
19:58I think I was just out with some friends or whatever.
20:00And they go, yeah, my buddy writes for the Celtics.
20:02I'm like, I stepped in.
20:03I'm like, uh-uh.
20:04I do not.
20:04I cover, like, come on.
20:06It's a very distinct difference.
20:08At least you don't have to tell people what they are sometimes, which is something that
20:12happens to me here in Mexico City.
20:14Yeah.
20:15I just, I don't know.
20:17Everyone here believes that a free and independent press is important in society.
20:22And I just feel like prepositions matter.
20:25Anyways, let's hop into, we're not wordsmiths anymore.
20:29We're scientists.
20:30And we're going to hop into the Celtics lab.
20:32So put on your lab coats and your glasses.
20:34Wash your hands, et cetera, et cetera.
20:37And what we would like to do is look at the future ceiling, floor, and maybe some wacky
20:42or restrained predictions about some of the guys who are either role players or on call
20:50to be role players or even deeper than that in the Celtics depth chart.
20:53And what we're going to do is we're going to skip over the core.
20:57Justin, I actually don't know this Bon Temps report.
20:59So why don't you tell us why specifically we're skipping over the core?
21:02So this was a couple of weeks ago.
21:04He put out the core of every team in the NBA.
21:06And he had a pretty good case that I think was either three or four seasons into the
21:10future.
21:11What players are most likely to still be on the team?
21:13And in this case, that would be the Jays and Derek White, which frankly makes sense,
21:17given all the other things that are going on with the other high minutes players.
21:21Yeah.
21:21And then we can add Al Horford.
21:24Look, prove us wrong, but you got to retire at some time, dude.
21:28And then unless a really super duper wealthy owner comes through, Drew Holliday or Christophe
21:33Porzingis will be traded at some point.
21:37Anyways, that's why we're not going to talk about them.
21:39Also, Jack, I don't know if you were here for this.
21:42Bon Temps complimented me for getting the Porzingis injury news, which means ESPN knows
21:48that we beat them to the punch, which means if you're listening from ESPN, like and subscribe
21:53to never miss an episode.
21:55Anyways, I wasn't meaner, meaner, meaner, but that's just me.
21:59No, I was.
22:01I liked him.
22:02I talked to him about his new contract.
22:04It was very pleasant.
22:04Okay.
22:05But anyways, let's start with the biggest dog in the dog pound, Peyton Pritchard.
22:13Jack, it's hard because like contracts and aprons and fit and opportunity matter.
22:20So we can do kind of like a hypothetical and then like a practical ceiling and floor, I
22:24suppose.
22:24But just like what does the future hold for 25 or 26 year old Peyton Pritchard?
22:30I forget which Woody is off the top of my head.
22:33I think he's 26.
22:34We were talking about this on How About Them Celtics recently.
22:39It feels like he should just be able to step into a starting role whenever Drew Holiday
22:45decides he wants to retire.
22:47The Celtics inevitably have to trade your holiday, whatever it is.
22:49And Sam made the point of, oh, well, I don't know if that would work because he's not as
22:54good of a defender, et cetera, et cetera.
22:56And I kind of went back with like, well, yeah, but you're not really gonna be able to find
22:59a Drew Holiday level all around defender type player.
23:02So you take what you got, you play the best players and you adapt to the play style from
23:06there.
23:06And I think Pritchard is fully capable of taking on a full time starting role.
23:09I think he could play.
23:10I mean, Pritchard could play 40 minutes a night if you really wanted him to, right?
23:13He'll do whatever you need him to do.
23:15So I think it's going to be a world where Drew Holiday eventually gets traded or whatever,
23:20and they'll just elevate Peyton Pritchard into a, if not a starting role, a heavy 30,
23:2535 minute game bench role.
23:28And they'll be fine with that because he's very capable of playing big minutes.
23:31Yeah.
23:31Just as a point of clarity, we're saying that Chris Epps and Drew will eventually be traded
23:36because of cap math and the apron and the reality of the NBA financial landscape.
23:42Not this is not like expected to happen soon or anything.
23:45They're aging.
23:46It's just and these things all come together.
23:49That's a to be clear.
23:50Also, I don't have sources to speak to this effect and I can't really say that much, but
23:57I would bet that Drew Holiday signed his extension last year knowing full well that
24:04he probably was not going to spend all four of those years in Boston.
24:07I would just be very, very surprised if they didn't,
24:11if they weren't upfront with him about that.
24:15That being said, unless they change some of the apron
24:19math, a lot of teams might be stuck in place for a while because it's hard to trade these contacts.
24:24Anyways, Jack, just because you brought it up, Peyton Pritchard is 6'1", Drew Holiday is 6'3".
24:30They're listed as Peyton Pritchard weighs 195 and Drew Holiday weighs 205.
24:36I don't think of Pritchard as long enough to be as good of a defender as Drew, but he's so strong.
24:43Alex, hypothetically, do you think that Pritchard could become a starter on the Celtics team?
24:50Like, on nights where the only injury concern is
24:54Porzingis-Horford, so you're rolling one big in the starting lineup.
24:58I think so. I think they would have to slightly modify the way that they play,
25:03but I do think Pritchard has kind of found his role as far as defense goes on this team.
25:09He's never going to be the biggest, strongest, fastest guy on the court,
25:13but he knows how, he's gotten a lot better at kind of getting to his spots on defense,
25:18making whoever he's guarding actually have to work.
25:23He's better at fighting through screens. His footwork is a little better.
25:27There are going to be some matchups, like, it's going to be rough when he's going against,
25:31like, Cade Cunningham, sure, but I think in general, he's gotten much better at
25:37playing within the system, and I do think his shooting is so valuable for this team,
25:43and really, that's been the case all year, that to me, it feels like the drop-off defensively,
25:51and it is a significant drop-off from Drew Holiday, one of the best perimeter defenders
25:55in the world, to Pritchard, that drop-off is now narrow enough defensively, even while still being
26:02large, that with the full package of Peyton's shooting, I think he could step into that
26:10starting point guard role and be pretty effective. Like, the reality is that Jason Tatum is still
26:15going to be the primary playmaker for this team for as long as Jason Tatum is the main guy on
26:21this team, so as long as you just surround him with capable secondary creation talent,
26:26and that talent isn't getting absolutely shelled on defense, I think it's going to be fine.
26:33Justin, anything we missed that's positive about Peyton, or do you want to
26:37throw any cold water on this? I will emphasize that Pritchard is a much better defender than he
26:44used to be. He understands positioning, he understands timing, he understands how to burrow
26:48into a player and use weight as a leverage better than he used to. He's still only six foot one, or
26:54six foot whatever he's actually standing at these days, which is, there's nothing you can do about
27:00that. There's going to be lots of players in this league who will be able to shoot over him, and
27:04you'll have to game plan that, and as a starter that could be a problem, particularly deeper into
27:08the postseason, but as that happens, and as he grows into that kind of role, I have to imagine
27:12he can continue to learn ways to help mitigate that as some of the other higher scoring smaller
27:17guys in the league do. Yeah, it occurs to me that Celtics fans watch undersized point guards get
27:25feasted on in the playoffs for like six or seven straight years, so I'm a little sensitive to that,
27:30but truly Pritchard is really unique among those. I mean, he's not Isaiah Thomas or Kyrie.
27:40He's got infinite dog in him. Let's be clear about this. Peyton's defense is not necessarily
27:47about strength, size, positioning, whatever. He's just got that dog in him, and that's why he's
27:51going to be fine. Yeah, all right. Jack, you guys did this on How About Them Celtics. Justin,
27:59I think you aggregated that. I did it on Twitter. I think we think Peyton could start on like a
28:04third to half of the league right now, so we're not breaking any news here. Anyways, Hauser,
28:12I think also probably could find his way into some starting lineups. I don't know if those
28:16teams would be any good. What do you think about that, Jack? Like as in if Hauser could take on a
28:24larger role or just about a season in general. I think I missed that little part of the question.
28:27It's kind of wherever you want to take it. Okay. I think Hauser's been good this year in every
28:34aspect. That's not the one people care about the most. I think he's been a pretty good defender.
28:38I think I've been really impressed with his ability to make plays off the dribble,
28:42and his rebounding has been incredible, so I don't think it's necessarily fair for people
28:47to look and say, oh my gosh, this guy lost all. Tim Hauser is too good of a shooter to forget how
28:51to shoot the basketball, right? We've seen it time and time again. He can't shoot, so it is,
28:55in my eyes, just clearly a slump or maybe the back issues he was dealing with at the start
28:59of the year are still lingering. So I'm not worried about Sam Hauser. I think he should
29:02and will be a long-term piece on this team. The only concern is by the time Droghody retires,
29:06and you have to make a decision on that, contract for Hauser will probably be hit in the last couple
29:11of years. Our team's going to offer him a lot more money, et cetera, et cetera. You'll have
29:14to figure that out, but I think if the Celtics want to pay him, and if he doesn't garner a too
29:19big of a salary, he should be a part of the future of the Celtics. I mean, he's under contract for,
29:24I think, three more seasons and Pitcher 2. So as far as the guys who are in this conversation that
29:30are most likely to stick around, it's really just like, do they fall off or do they want to keep
29:35them? I think they're going to be around for a while. I'm going to maybe zag a little bit here.
29:39I actually think that Sam Hauser might be heading into the part of his career, like this is in a
29:46post-Porzingis, post-Holiday world. I think the plan with Sam Hauser might be that he is going to
29:51be one of the Celtics' better trade assets going forward. He's on a good contract. He's still young.
29:59He's consistently developing more and more skills. I would bet pretty good money that the plan with
30:07Sam Hauser is that he will be on the team until he is at a point where there is significant value
30:14in dealing him as part of a package to get potentially a future start. We'll talk about
30:19one of those potential reasons a little bit later in this conversation.
30:23Well, that's interesting. I didn't know that. Sam's 27. He's probably got one or two more years
30:31before he declines. I would probably say this is close to Sam Hauser's ceiling.
30:38I don't know, he's on the magic and now suddenly with all their weird injuries, he's starting.
30:41I don't think he suddenly gets a lot better handling the ball. I think this is probably
30:45about as good as Sam Hauser could be and thus he's in the best situation for that.
30:49The trade package of it all, the trade piece of it all is tough because he doesn't make that much
30:55money. Evidently, we're going to get into that shortly. I skipped Luke Cornett for no reason,
31:04but let's talk about him now. He's 29.
31:06It's quiet excellence. It happens all the time.
31:09Sure. The big man is 29. He I don't know, Jack, do you think we know what he is? Do you think
31:18he's still getting better? Do you think he could ever reintroduce three point shot again?
31:24I think he can shoot. I just think the way we always explain that, why doesn't Luke shoot on
31:29the podcast is when you let Luke do a lot of stuff, he's a fine player. When you narrow down
31:35his game to set good screens, catch the lobs around the room and play good defense, he is a
31:40very good role player. You narrow it down, give him a very defined role and you're fine.
31:46Maybe he shoots again eventually. I don't know if I see it. Maybe one every game,
31:51something like that. I think the thing with Luke Cornett is he's going to slowly turn into
31:55one of those, basically what people wanted Blake Griffin to be. He'll always just be there
32:01hanging out towards the end of the bench. He can give you minutes if you need him to,
32:04but really he's just the person everybody loves, the great locker room guy, the good vibes.
32:08Like he'll be on the bench, not like you don't have them because that's an extreme example,
32:11but like, I always listen to Keith Smith's podcast, the NBA front off show. And he always
32:15talks about how much the Thunder love Kendrich Williams. Like they're not going to trade him.
32:18They like his presence. They like it. You can give him spot minutes, kind of like that.
32:20Like I think Luke Cornett will be around until the Celtics desperately need the roster spot or
32:27he retires because like paying Luke Cornett a minimum contract, like you have to fill the
32:31roster spots. Anyways, you might as well keep a guy that, you know, you know, he can play and
32:35is great vibes. So I think he'll be around a while. The only way that Luke Cornett is leaving
32:41the Celtics is if somebody throws a decent amount of money at him, which could happen.
32:46That's the thing. Cause he's, he's contracts up after this season and there's a significant dearth
32:50of functional depth, big men in several teams around the league. I would not be surprised if
32:55they offered, you know, like a mini mid-level something a little bit more.
33:01I remember he was the first person to sign a free agency this year. That was fun. Yeah.
33:09Let's keep it real. Like the average NBA career was only three seasons or so three and a half.
33:15A lot of the guys that we're talking about were not high profile players. Like
33:19they've already radically exceeded a lot of expectations. And also in like the most
33:24reductive of ways that provide more value than their contracts by, by a lot. I think
33:30I will say about Luke in the point of maybe somebody throws a bag at him, the last good
33:35Celtics depth center that got a bag did just end up back in Boston. The year later, Daniel Tice got
33:41a bag. Then it didn't work out in that contract. So I mean, I, I do think there is a little bit
33:45to it of, I mean, even now we're in certain places versus yeah, exactly. Al Horford.
33:51Uh, Jack, speaking of big men, changing cities and contexts, I think we were more hopeful that
34:00Xavier Tillman would thrive in Boston, but we have yet to see that certainly this season,
34:06Jack Simone, you recently did a profile of the X man. Um, so I know that you're rooting for him
34:13because he's, he's sincerely like, we, you hear it all the time. Oh, they're a good guy. They're
34:17a good guy. I've said this before. Bobby Manning, interestingly said, I don't like to vouch for
34:21people's character. I've, I don't really know these people. You and I don't know Xavier very
34:25well, but I do feel confident saying he is a good guy, but he has been a very good basketball player
34:31this year. Yeah, no, I, I, I talked to X for a story in the finals last year. Um, and then after
34:40I turned the thing off, I just sat and talked to him for like 15 minutes and he's like my age,
34:45not even close to the same point in life. Like he's got three kids. He's all this. And so,
34:49uh, he's like the nicest dude ever. Like when I sat down for the conversation, he's like super
34:52personable. Um, like the whole profile was really fun to do. And one of the quotes in that article
34:58was like, I work with DMACC, which is assistant coach D by DJ McClay. And he told me, you're going
35:03to be mad at yourself if you don't shoot, because you know, the work you put in and he must be
35:07kicking himself right now. Cause you won't shoot the ball. And I don't get it. It makes me so mad
35:12cam. I don't know if you were there, but there was one game where if you were there, you would
35:16have witnessed me watch Xavier Tillman, catch the basketball, not shoot pump, fake, and drive.
35:21I got up out of my chair at TD garden and walk down the hall. I walked away. I was so mad because
35:26he is a good three point shooter. We saw all preseason. I watch him warm up. He like knows
35:31how to shoot. The form is good. He can do everything. He's a versatile defender. It
35:35looks like the confidence has evaporated out of his body. And it's frustrating because I know he
35:40can play. He certainly knows he can play. The coaching staff knows he can play, but he doesn't
35:45do it. And so it's frustrating for me. Cause like you said, I am rooting for the guy. He's one of
35:48the nicest people that I've talked to since, you know, doing this job, whatever. So I hope he turns
35:54around right now. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I hope he turns around just in the position that I took
36:00talking to Jack about this was Tillman just doesn't get enough minutes to a year. I was going
36:07to ask you to analyze that thesis a little more. I mean, I don't know what's going on,
36:12but when I was putting together some of the notes for this, I was floored when I saw what he's
36:17actually doing in terms of shooting splits. Uh, it's bad. And the only explanation based on what
36:23we did see in preseason in last season is that the confidence has gone. I don't know what else
36:29to say. Like he needs more run to get it, uh, more actual like real time with the main Celtics
36:35might be a good idea at this point because he needs to see the floor to start seeing that go
36:40through the basket because he's never going to get his confidence back playing. Otherwise he played
36:44like six minutes a game, something like that. It's technically averaging nine, but I think
36:49those are, uh, weighted stats. Um, he's young enough that main would not, I mean, older guys
36:54end up in Maine too. He's young enough. He's 26, 25. He could do a stint in Maine. And I think
36:59that'd be very dignified Alex. Um, not to put you on the spot. Do you ever get the yips performing?
37:04Alex is in a band called divine sweater. They do our intro music. Um, they've played really big
37:08gigs sometimes, uh, including Boston calling this past year. Have you ever gotten the yips?
37:13Um, I'm not exactly sure if I would call it like the yips per se. I mean, um, so we've,
37:20we've played a lot of shows and it's definitely the case that some shows are better than other
37:25shows. That is this weekend. In fact, uh, we had a great show on Sunday. We did not have
37:31the greatest show on Friday. I'll be perfectly safe. Um, but I, I think with, uh, with performing
37:38on, on that stage, it's less the yips and more just that, like over the course of the flow
37:45of a gig, sometimes like things can kind of cascade and apologize for the siren in the background.
37:53Um, they're always coming for Alex. They're always coming for me. Yeah. My, my streets
37:58just getting a lot of fire truck action these days. Um, yeah, so I'm not sure if it's necessarily
38:04yips, but I do empathize with Xavier Tillman in that, like sometimes the flow of the game or the
38:11gig can be such that like it throws you off and then it's hard to recover from that. Um, I, I
38:18think that's definitely a real thing. And I would say that that's a thing in basketball, in music,
38:23in really any sort of aspect, um, that is kind of team-based, um, where sometimes like team success
38:31doesn't necessarily depend on you performing your best. And sometimes, you know, when you don't
38:38perform your best, the entire team kind of drags down with that. Uh, and I don't think that's
38:44uncommon in music either. I would say I do feel like a twinge of nervousness pretty much every
38:51time that I play, regardless of whether a gig is going to go well or not. Um, I mean,
38:58I tell my students is if they're nervous, it means they care.
39:01Yep. Yeah. It's just, it's just, you care so much about the base. Um, okay, let's do one more
39:06player with this much depth and kind of free form analysis, and then we'll tighten it up for the
39:11deeper bench guys. Jack bear with me on this. Sometimes in writing for the Celtics narratives
39:20come up that are kind of tropes because, uh, we have to write about the game 82 times and
39:27there's like almost like inside jokes and we kind of like lean on things. So Nimi Keita's emergence
39:32has become one of the big stories of the year. And part of it I think is just, he's gotten more
39:38minutes and we've talked here and there about like whether or not he's been as good as advertised or
39:44if he's just, you know, a shiny new thing. So Jack is Nimi Keita sincerely a bona fide
39:50sustainable role player or is it he's just getting more minutes and thus it's new.
39:55Um, I don't think he is right now, but I think he's well on the path. Like I do think he's made
39:59significant improvements this year. Um, I think he's a lot better at not fouling. I think he's a
40:04lot better positionally. I think he's grown, uh, as a passer, especially, I mean, even game to game
40:09this year at the start of the season, he would catch the ball down low and just throw up shots
40:12at random and shoot like two of eight as a big man. And now he's catching it deep under the rim
40:17and kicking it out to three point shooters, which is something Lou Cornette's really good at. Uh,
40:21and I think that's a huge development for Kate, especially he's going to play for this team.
40:25Um, I do think the perimeter defense is getting a bit overblown because it's a lot of like,
40:29Oh my gosh, you can keep up with the cards. No, he can't. Uh, he can try and he hustles.
40:35And I will say, I do think it was really good in that Grizzlies game at providing energy on
40:39closeouts and hustling. But if you get them one-on-one with Donovan Mitchell, you saw what
40:43happened. You saw what happened with the Steph Curry. He can have good singular possessions,
40:47but over the course of a wide range of like, they're just going at him, it's, it's going to
40:51wear it down. So I do think he has been better enough this season where I would invest into me
40:56as Canada for the full length of this multi-year contract. But I don't think you look at him right
41:00now and say, Oh yeah, that's the guy who can play 30 minutes for me or 20 minutes or whatever you
41:03want to say. So I do think it's still a work in progress, but the progress is progressing.
41:08Justin, you have in our notes that we haven't sent, uh, seen Mimi up in Maine and you think
41:13that's a good thing. Tell us why. I didn't say that it was a good thing. I'm wondering
41:17if it might be good to give him some consistent run. Uh, he does. It depends if the matchup is
41:27good, then yes. If the matchup is nothing, he hardly even plays or doesn't play. Uh, if you
41:32think that you're not going, maybe they don't know, right. But the thought it did occur to me
41:36that those games where he disappears or just doesn't play, why not send him to Maine? Why not
41:40give him some more money? If you are, as Jack suggests, going to invest in him, give him every
41:45opportunity you can. You're going to see a recurrent theme here through some other players as
41:49well, uh, who haven't been getting much or any time in Maine, like James Bringer. Uh, maybe they
41:57should. It's just, it's a tool. Maybe it could be used more than it is. Maybe there's a reason I
42:02don't understand about why they're not doing that. But to me, it seems like if you aren't
42:06going to play in the game, send them in. I, I'm actually going to take perhaps a wrong, but wild
42:15zag here. I'm perfectly fine with Nimi not going back to Maine. Uh, and I'm perfectly fine with him
42:22not playing games. Uh, and the reason I'm fine with that is because I think if Nimi is going
42:27to develop into the player that we want him to be, uh, a like really high end backup center who
42:33could start on some nights, a pretty good motivator for him is going to be, Hey, you're not good
42:39enough to play some of these nights. So you have to sit on the bench and you have to just kind of
42:44deal with that. If you want to play on these nights, guess what? You have to get better at
42:48moving your feet on defense. You have to be better at positioning and, you know, operating within the
42:53flow and scheme of everything you have to, uh, you know, cut out like bad turnovers and things
42:58of that nature. I actually think I'm fine with having some nights where it's like, Hey, you're
43:05not yet a good enough player to be in this matchup. So you got to ride the pine. And if you want to
43:09be in that matchup, get better. Uh, yeah, he's not Rob Williams yet. Um, Rob Williams did not
43:17have these problems in the same way that we're identifying them. All right, Jack, I know you
43:21have somewhere to be soon enough. So let's breeze through these rest of these guys. Um,
43:27Jack, you buy Andrew Peterson stock or are you selling it? I'm buying. I was in on Drew
43:32Peterson after the preseason. I think he's really good. I think he's good at putting the ball on the
43:35floor. I think he can shoot. I think he can do a little bit of everything. And I think like Sam
43:39Hauser, he's probably a little bit of a better defender than people realize. So I'm, I'm in,
43:42I'm in, uh, just as quick, Alex, you buying or selling, uh, Drew's stock
43:48light by I'm, I'm putting a little on Drew Peterson. I'm not all the way in,
43:53but I'm ready to start putting some speculative money there. Dr. Quinn,
43:58the NBA level production is not as good as it looks like it should be. If that makes any sense
44:04when you see him play, like when you look at the numbers of what he's produced, it's not as good,
44:08but I do see the, the, the core of a Sam Hauser S kind of a player there. So I am buying. I think
44:15that eventually sooner than later, he'll get there. He's got an NBA body. He's 25. So, I mean,
44:20you're kind of, that is what you're going to get. Um, some guys grow into their body, but he's
44:23older. Uh, speaking of which Baylor Shireman's 24, um, Justin, I'll start with you. Uh, are you
44:29buying, uh, buy buying Baylor stock? I'm buying very lately. Uh, the, is he going to be another
44:41James young? That's the thing that I'm concerned about here because he's putting up amazing
44:46numbers in Maine. Then when he gets to the NBA level and he doesn't barely enough, have very
44:51much opportunity at the NBA level when he has, like, I think like the highlight of his NBA career
44:55right now has been like a transition pass. Like that is it. So the jury is still out on whether
45:02he will ever actually be able to make it at the NBA level. But for now I'm buying
45:07Jack. Can I ask you to divulge your digital relationship with Baylor Shireman or no?
45:12Oh, sure. I mean, Baylor Shireman is likes liking tweets. He very much likes liking tweets. And so,
45:19uh, over the summer, the first interaction I had was with him was I asked him which high school
45:24musical was his favorite. And he told me three, which is wrong. And I told him it was two and he
45:29liked and retweeted that tweet. I, and actually when I was in Maine the other day, I like,
45:33I recanted that or not. I recounted that. And I was like, Hey, you're a high school musical guy,
45:37right? And can be like this. And he goes, yeah, I am. I said, have you seen the new wicked movie
45:40yet? Cause I saw it the other day and I was like, you got to see the new wicked movie.
45:44And so I think he's, I put, I put the plant, I planted the seed that he's,
45:48Oh, you saw what you saw. I did. Yeah. I saw it the other day. Okay. Well, we'll talk. Um,
45:54well, I was just going to say Baylor seems very interested in what people tweet about him.
45:58Yes. I think he should be more interested in basketball. Alex, um,
46:02buying or selling the Shireman stock, the price is so low. Why not? Yeah. That's hilarious. Um,
46:10speaking of penny stocks, Anton Watson, he looks good in a Maine uniform. Uh, what more can you
46:15say? Uh, Jaden Springer, anyone want to go to bat and explain why they're buying Jaden Springer
46:24stock? Uh, I'll, I'll go to bat and buy Jaden Springer stock. Um, I think Jaden Springer
46:29is going to look potentially really good on his next team. Um, and so I'm going to buy him
46:35buy the stock now, knowing that, um, if there's any player on the Boston Celtics who is most
46:41likely to be dealt in February, it is certainly Jaden Springer. And I think when he inevitably
46:49winds up on the Charlotte Hornets with Charles Lee playing him 25 minutes a game, he's going to look
46:54good or down in Miami because it seems like Terry Razier's time there is about to run out.
46:59Uh, what about JD Davis and Jack, were you in Maine this weekend? I was, yeah, I was there
47:05yesterday. Um, he's like the King of Portland, huh? Well, I guess Jordan is, but, um, he is,
47:11why does he translate from the G league to the NBA? Cause it's sort of like, yeah,
47:17it's sort of like why Russell Westbrook doesn't translate to any other role other than being
47:20Russell Westbrook. Like Russell Westbrook is great. If you give him the keys to do everything
47:25and he's an MVP and you can make the playoffs and probably be good, but you probably won't win a
47:29title. JD Davidson is like the dollar store version of that. You can, he can lead your
47:33main team and that'll be a good maintain. He was making plays. He was hitting shots. He was doing
47:37everything. I sure he looked good. You put that in the NBA, you have to give him the keys.
47:41JD Davidson led team probably isn't the best, right? So it's kind of like that old,
47:45he's a little bit small, not the best defender. You can't like he's an okay shooter. He's getting
47:50better, but he's not like a dependable shooter to where you'd be comfortable letting him play
47:52off the ball too much. And so he kind of needs the ball in his hand. Also just to circle back,
47:55I'm buying every single ounce of Baylor Sharman stock. There is, I want it all. Give it to me.
47:59I like Baylor Sharman a lot. Yeah. I, I really like Baylor Sharman. But anyways,
48:05I have a better jump shot than him. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like, okay. I don't,
48:11I don't want to take us too far down the rabbit hole, but Baylor Sharman is one. I I've never seen
48:17a guy like, like when he is trying to get around screens, he looks like he's going to die to get
48:22around that screen. As in like, he is going to give every ounce of every part of his body saying,
48:27I will get around the screen or I will run into you and give you a concussion. Like he, he,
48:31the effort with, with trailer Sharon plays is unlike anything I see, like, like in general,
48:36let alone just the main, like he plays with such incredible effort. Like at one point, man,
48:40yesterday I watched Tyler Lashbrook, the head coach, like see the team was lagging, walk over,
48:44say Baylor, get your ass up, go like get, get in the game, go. And he, he hustles. Nobody loves
48:49rebounding the ball more than Baylor Sharman. I mean, what, what are his stats in the NBA was he
48:53stole a rebound from Jalen Brown. He like, he, he did the mellow, like, give me that whatever.
48:57Right. And he did that. And what I'll say about a shooting is it has looked a little inconsistent
49:02and I could see where somebody would say, okay, maybe he's going to be more of a needs a rhythm
49:07to get a shot rather than catch and shoot guy. But when I watch him practice drills with Craig
49:12Lucian out before the game was an assistant coach was a player development guy last year.
49:16They it's not just here, catch and shoot. It is run off the screen and move while shooting.
49:21He's like, he is shooting while he was still moving in the air. And I don't think it comes
49:24across at how difficult that is. And he's not perfect at it yet. Right. He shot like two or
49:28five on those yesterday or one of three, something like that in Maine yesterday.
49:31But the fact that they trust him enough to move him to that level of his development to practice
49:35those, like I, I really like Baylor Sharman's player. The defense needs work. It's still very,
49:41very much a work in progress. But like I said, he's trying like, like, and that is for a lot of
49:45players that is more than half the battle. So I I'm, I'm very much in on Baylor with all, with all
49:51due respect. Sorry, Kim, we don't want to bring your jump shot into this. You don't want to bring
49:56your jump shot into this. I'm just saying like, I might shoot less two handed than Baylor Sharman
50:02does. Nobody has a worse jump shot than me on this podcast. So we're all good. That's because
50:09that's because Baylor didn't dial in. Jack, I like that a lot. I suspect you're right about a
50:15lot of that. Let me use that as a way to talk about the last player on our list, which is
50:20Jordan Walsh. Are you satisfied, Jack? Everyone will weigh in on this one. Are you satisfied on
50:27how Jordan has performed in year two? And Jack, just like as a carryover from what you were just
50:31talking about, do you think Shireman is on a trajectory to do better in a second year or the
50:38same amount? Like where do you see the future for those two players? I think it'll be a little
50:43different cause I like, I do think there'll be more opportunities for minutes next year. Cause
50:48you don't know if Al's going to be gone. You don't know what KP's injury is going to look like. You
50:52don't know if Drew's going to be playing at the same level. Like, so I do think it could look a
50:56little bit different. I think if I had to place a bet, Baylor Shireman will probably be more NBA
51:00ready in his second season than Jordan Walsh is. I don't know. I don't think that's going to be
51:04like, oh my gosh, she's playing 20 minutes a night. But I, and I think Jordan Walsh has been
51:07good too. That's not also what I'm saying. So I think Jordan Walsh has been good. I think he's
51:11really good in Maine yesterday. He played 29 minutes. It was a great energy guy. His defense
51:15is yeah. Like real, like he's a really good defender. He's infinitely more confident in
51:22his three-point shot this year. Like he was catching and shooting. He didn't even get behind
51:25the three-point line one time yesterday. He saw a line on the ground and it was like the high
51:28school three-point line. And he accidentally shot the high school three in Maine. And it was only
51:31two obviously, but he's like, he's letting it fly. And so I'm, I'm very pleased with what
51:38Jordan Walsh is turning into. I think him and Baylor are very different players because I think
51:41one is this more polished offensive player who needs to work on his defense and the other is
51:46the opposite. But I do think Jordan Walsh is progressing very, very well. Can I ask, did you
51:53go to Maine just because the Celtics were off or are you working on something? A little bit of both
51:58subjects are off. I did get a chance to ask a couple of questions for stuff that I am working
52:02on, but if the Celtics aren't playing, it's a two hour drive and I like put my face out there.
52:06Cool. Love Portland. Yeah. Dr. Quinn and then Alex, then we'll start to wrap
52:11thoughts on Geordie that we didn't get to last week or that Jack missed Justin.
52:16I'm not too sure that there's too much more to add with Walsh. Similar to Peterson. When you
52:22watch him, it looks like he's playing better than he is like the process, the way that he plays.
52:27It looks like he knows what he's doing on the floor. They look confident, but they are ready.
52:32Like they can play some spot minutes, like in the case of Walsh, the defense. It's great, but
52:37it's much more confident as he is in his jumper. I think he's only made one three pointer this
52:42season so far at the NBA level and he's got a ways to go. I think he's going to have a future,
52:47but he is, he's very young. He's only 20 years old and I would not be surprised if it takes
52:55two or three more seasons before he's a regular part of the rotation.
52:59Yeah. Um, I mean, he's younger than, right. He's younger than Baylor. Yeah. Yeah. Taylor's
53:06already 24 years. Um, Alex, anything we missed last week or this week about Geordie Walsh?
53:11Um, just in terms of the Shireman Walsh comparison, I probably would lean a little
53:16bit more towards the Walsh camp. Um, I just always like betting on athleticism and I think
53:22Jordan Walsh has that in spades. Um, the jump shot is still super streaky and I think until
53:27it is not super streaky, it's going to be hard for him to find minutes on a Joe Mozilla team.
53:31But if we take the Celtics track record of developing shooters into account, you see,
53:38you know, kind of a Derek White comes into the Celtics and goes from being a pretty good three
53:42point shooter to one of the best three point shooters in the league. You see Peyton Pritchard's
53:47continued improvement there. Jason Tate and Jalen Brown, pretty much everybody on the Celtics
53:52just gets better at shooting over time as long as they stick around with the team and are,
53:57you know, in a position to take those shots. I feel reasonably confident that that's going to
54:02happen with Jordan Walsh at some point. And if that's the case, I'm going to take the athleticism
54:07and the length on defense pretty much every time. Cool. Okay. Well, we can end on a hopeful note
54:13that Jordan Walsh will someday become the next Derek White. We have been talking to Jack Simone,
54:19the host of the How About Them Celtics podcast and from Hardwood Houdini. We've also been talking to
54:24each other, Dr. Justin Quinn over at Celtics Wire and here, Alex Goldberg over at Divine Sweater
54:30and here and me here. Jack, I'll see you on Thursday. Yeah, this is maybe the most boring
54:42week of the regular season. How's that? Definitely. Actually, I'm calling it. This is the
54:47most boring week of the regular season. How exciting. So thanks for spending your boring
54:51week with us, dear listener. Like and subscribe to never miss an episode. Thank you to Prize Picks
54:56for being the exclusive fantasy basketball partner of the CIS Media Network. Thank you to Game Time
55:00Tickets for their last minute tickets and their lowest prices that they guarantee. And thanks,
55:05Justin. Thanks, Alex. And thanks, Jack. We'll catch you next week. Peace out.