Keith Smith covers the NBA and the salary cap for Spotrac. Keith joins the program to go over Jeff Goodman's exclusive interview with Jayson Tatum, Blake Griffin's potential comeback, and what to do about the last roster spot. Twitter: @KeithSmithNBA
0:00 Tatum’s interview w/ Jeff Goodman
12:17 Do the Celtics need the “in your face leader”?
16:55 Blake Griffin should be a target
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0:00 Tatum’s interview w/ Jeff Goodman
12:17 Do the Celtics need the “in your face leader”?
16:55 Blake Griffin should be a target
Available for download on iTunes and Spotify on Thursday, September 7th, 2023. Celtics Beat is powered by Fan Duel! Go to FanDuel.com/Boston and bet $5 to get $200 back in bonus bets AND to get $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube and YouTube TV!
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SportsTranscript
00:00 How great was it? What was the most, I don't know, noteworthy take away for you from that piece?
00:06 Yeah, there were a few things. I thought I appreciated his taking ownership.
00:13 He kind of did it in defense of Missoula, but it was when he said, "Hey, he's not the one who missed any free throws or threw the ball away or anything like that."
00:21 It comes back to us.
00:22 Celtics Beat is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNX Media Network.
00:30 What's up, everybody? Welcome on in. New Celtics Beat. Good to be back with you.
00:35 I missed last week's show. Evan Valente, though, we held it down. I am Adam Kaufman.
00:38 We are here with Keith Smith, good friend of the program from SpotTrack.
00:42 Keith, how are you, bud?
00:43 I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
00:45 So obviously there are Celtics and NBA thoughts that we have. This is, after all, a Celtics and NBA podcast.
00:53 But I have to, I'd be remiss, guys, if I didn't begin just by saying, "Ah, thank goodness football's back."
01:00 As we sit here right now, it is the day, it is the very beginning of week one, of course, a couple days away from the Patriots,
01:09 the team that we care about taking the field against the defending NFC champion Eagles.
01:14 But Kansas City, Detroit, maybe by the time you listen to this podcast, that game is already over,
01:19 so it's not like we're going to sit here and preview it.
01:21 But it's just nice to have NFL football back that matters, that counts, wins losses, that we actually give a damn about.
01:28 College returned a couple weeks ago, so we are full on into the fall football swing, guys.
01:33 I can smell the tailgates, Keith. I absolutely love it.
01:36 Yeah, you know, it's funny. I don't want to rain on the parade here, but I have direct TV.
01:43 Who cares? Has basketball started yet?
01:45 That's kind of where I'm at all the time, always, right from late June forward.
01:50 But, you know, I have direct TV, and they don't have the Sunday ticket package anymore,
01:55 so I'm going to have to find ways, creative ways, to find Patriots games when they're not on TV.
02:01 Thankfully, they're on TV plenty, so I should still be able to see them without going to any kind of extreme measures.
02:07 But, yeah, I'm a little bummed out because I don't have the Sunday ticket package, which I've had since 2003, I think.
02:17 I got it like a very early adopter and all that, and I was very big on the Game Mix channel,
02:22 where you could watch up to eight games at once and all that stuff.
02:25 But, yeah, my excitement's tempered a bit because I have to find ways to watch the Pats this year.
02:32 But I'll figure it out by the time it all matters.
02:34 Look, with our discount code, you can get $100 off YouTube TV.
02:37 I saw that.
02:38 So I'm just saying, just going to throw it out there. FanDuel's got us covered, Coffman.
02:43 But to make this somewhat basketball-related, the reason why it's amazing that football is here
02:48 is because the next month is going to fly by.
02:50 Because, again, like Keith, I'm very just waiting for basketball to start,
02:57 and the next month is going to make life go so much faster.
03:01 So I'm very, very appreciative of the NFL and Coach LePaul.
03:04 Yeah, I mean, sadly, we're going to kind of blink and it's going to be January, February.
03:09 It's just the way it works once you get into the football schedule with games.
03:13 Between college and pro, if you watch both, games basically every single day of the week.
03:18 So it just absolutely flies by.
03:21 But, yeah, as noted, basketball's right around the corner.
03:24 Next month at this point in time, we're going to be talking about real games, actual games.
03:28 Even sooner than that, obviously preseason games and the start of training camp.
03:32 And so it's coming, it's coming fast, and I know a lot of people have been--
03:38 this is kind of the, like, basketball porn time of the year, right?
03:44 The ramp up to training camp is when people are--
03:48 it's pretty much the equivalent of that first media day and everyone's in the best shape of their lives
03:53 or baseball spring training when we're always hearing that.
03:56 With basketball, you'll get all those fluff interviews, obviously, when media day arrives.
04:01 But right now, you have kind of the ramp up to that.
04:04 Articles being written where every guy is saying everything you could possibly hope to hear.
04:09 And everyone's feeling good.
04:12 Nobody has the injuries unless, heaven forbid, you suffered them in the FIBA tournament.
04:17 And everyone is-- just the promise of greatness.
04:22 And all of the top-tier teams are true contenders and all of it.
04:25 I ramble on and on to lead into this.
04:30 Jason Tatum is just the latest.
04:33 And I don't say that in any sort of critical way.
04:35 I say it really in a celebratory way.
04:37 He's out there.
04:38 We're seeing video of him working out with Paul Pierce, which of course gets everybody excited.
04:44 Jeff Goodman, if anyone missed it just earlier today or yesterday, came out with a piece--
04:49 I think it was today-- on The Messenger, where he's writing now.
04:53 And just a very thorough Q&A with Tatum about kind of his place in the NBA,
05:04 his pursuit of basketball immortality, and being on the Celtics Mount Rushmore.
05:11 Obviously, the money in the league, the contract that Jalen Brown got, Marcus Smart's departure,
05:17 the coaching change from Udoka to Missoula.
05:21 It basically hit on everything.
05:23 Raising a young son in Boston, now he doesn't want to go anywhere.
05:27 And I'll give you some of the specific quotes, but I know, guys, we've all read this article.
05:31 Keith, let's start with you here.
05:33 Just how great was it?
05:35 What was the most, I don't know, noteworthy takeaway for you from that piece?
05:41 Yeah, there were a few things.
05:43 I thought I appreciated his taking ownership.
05:47 He kind of did it in defense of Missoula.
05:50 Because when he said, hey, he's not the one who missed any free throws or threw the ball away
05:54 or anything like that, it comes back to us in executing.
05:58 I think he took ownership of saying he and Jalen Brown talk a lot about how they know
06:04 if they want to put up banner 18, it has to start with them.
06:07 They're kind of the guys who are going to have to lead the way.
06:11 It was really cool to hear kind of just his thoughts on Boston as a city.
06:18 We know it's been a little rough for Boston and some of their athletes in recent times.
06:23 And Jason Tatum basically talked about how he showed up as a 19-year-old kid and was like,
06:28 whatever, I'm from St. Louis.
06:30 This is just kind of where I work, I guess, and I'm paraphrasing.
06:33 But then he's like, now it feels like this is home, and I feel a connection to the city.
06:39 And his son is growing up there and all those things.
06:41 So, Hank, if you're a Celtics fan, you read this, and you're flying high today
06:46 because you're like, man, this guy just kind of gets it.
06:49 He said everything you want to hear, and you're right.
06:51 I mean, that's what happens at this time of year.
06:54 And I've seen some of the response being, great, cool, you say all this, show it.
06:59 Show it on the floor, prove it.
07:01 And there's always going to be people like that.
07:03 But overall, great interview for him to basically say, hey, Boston's home now.
07:08 I want to be here.
07:09 And also to recognize, if I want to be an all-time great in an all-time great Celtic,
07:13 the only way to get there is to win.
07:15 It doesn't matter what I do, accolades-wise, what records I set,
07:19 if I don't win a championship, I'm never going to be at that level.
07:23 Yeah, I think the not wanting to leave Boston stuff, for me personally, is huge
07:29 because, again, you have the Giannis particular portion of this offseason
07:34 kind of looming over everything, his upcoming extension,
07:36 and how he's not going to hang around if they don't put a winning team around him.
07:40 And that's the first time we've kind of heard Giannis even remotely address
07:44 anything close to leaving Milwaukee.
07:47 And look, Tatum is the top five, top seven.
07:52 I mean, you name the number in the ten, one of those guys.
07:55 He's one of the cornerstones of the NBA at 25 years old.
07:59 And he's going to be a very good player for a very long time,
08:02 pending just devastating injuries.
08:04 And if you're any team in the NBA, you're dying to have the chance to draft
08:09 someone like Jason Tatum and have him for two to three contracts.
08:13 And it seems like so far, throughout the career of Tatum,
08:16 Boston has done nothing but embrace him, make him feel comfortable,
08:20 make life easier for him.
08:22 They've put a winning team around Jason Tatum since he got there.
08:25 Tatum has just been in the playoffs every single year,
08:29 making deep runs year in and year out.
08:31 There's never been an excuse of like, "Oh, well, they haven't really--
08:34 this team hasn't really won enough," whatever, whatever.
08:36 They've made life great for him.
08:38 And in this particular day and age of coddling the superstars,
08:42 that's where we're at, Boston's done a great job with their very own.
08:46 Now, again, Jalen's had a little bit more of a difficult time,
08:49 and I like that Tatum spoke about the contract and was like, "This is great.
08:53 I'm thrilled it was a no-brainer," et cetera, et cetera.
08:56 So you know that Tatum and Brown, as much as people want to break them up,
09:00 again, those two guys I think want to stay together.
09:02 So there's a bunch of stuff in this article.
09:04 And Jeff and Tatum go back, I think, to high school.
09:08 Jeff's been talking about Tatum forever.
09:11 He was really early on that Jason Tatum is the best player in this draft train.
09:16 I know that I worked with Jeff for a while when he was working with us at CLNS,
09:19 and now the field is 68.
09:21 I was his producer for a while, and he's been all Jason Tatum all the time.
09:25 So it was a perfect interview for him.
09:27 But, I mean, Tatum gave you every single quote you wanted to hear,
09:31 and especially about his leadership style.
09:33 He talked about, like, "I'm not Kevin Garnett.
09:35 I'm never going to be Kevin Garnett.
09:37 That's not my style.
09:38 But don't think I'm not trying to lead this team to banner 18.
09:42 It's just I'm doing it my own way."
09:45 And we, as a fan base, as a media in general,
09:48 just people that watch the game, I don't think us three in particular,
09:52 but other people need to be more accepting of the fact that he's not just like
09:55 the rah-rah KG doing push-ups, knuckle push-ups on the ground,
09:59 slamming his head into the stanchion.
10:01 He does it all differently, and he's been very successful doing it.
10:05 So I want to pick up on that.
10:06 That's exactly where I wanted to go next.
10:08 I want to read the quote from Tatum in this Goodman article.
10:10 Again, it says, "I'm never going to be Kevin Garnett.
10:13 As much as people want me to be, that's not who I am.
10:16 The way I lead, the public may not ever see what I do.
10:19 When I need to, I make sure my voice is heard, and I do it in my own way.
10:23 I'm not going to be out there jumping up and down, screaming.
10:26 That's just not my personality.
10:28 As much as people want to talk about it and want me to be that,
10:30 I'm not changing who I am.
10:32 I lead in my own way.
10:33 And when I talk, everybody in that organization is going to listen.
10:36 And whatever I say is always for the betterment of the team,
10:39 and my teammates know that."
10:41 Again, he's been asked to talk about this, Keith, for years,
10:46 time and time again by various media, different articles, different podcasts.
10:51 It's a theme.
10:52 It continually comes up.
10:54 But the big difference between all of those times before and now is,
10:59 I would argue, you know, like we have fun with the whole heart and soul thing,
11:02 but Marcus Smart, I think, really was the de facto captain,
11:08 obviously, who was the longest-tenured member of the team.
11:11 He was this team's leader.
11:14 He was this team's, you know,
11:16 the guy that was going to yell and shout and be that vocal guy.
11:20 Now, does that always make you the true leader just because you're the
11:25 loudest guy in the room?
11:27 Not necessarily, but I do think Marcus Smart, more often than not,
11:30 was considered both internally and externally the leader of that team.
11:34 He's gone now.
11:35 So this is, more than ever, Evan and I have talked about it,
11:38 Tatum and Brown's team.
11:40 Is Tatum prepared to lead in -- you know, he doesn't -- forget us.
11:45 He doesn't need to do anything for us, you know, fans, media, outsiders.
11:49 Within that room, does he have a leadership style, you think,
11:53 that does resonate with everybody else that need to listen to him?
11:58 I think so.
12:00 I think what we're going to find out with this team is do you need that
12:05 in-your-face leader or not?
12:08 Because you mentioned Marcus.
12:10 I would say the second guy on the roster who would do that is Grant Williams,
12:14 and he's no longer there either.
12:16 You know, I always like and did, too.
12:18 Those are the two guys along with when he was there, Emei Udoka.
12:22 They'd scream and yell at you and make you feel bad,
12:24 and then Al Horford would put his arms around your shoulder and be like,
12:27 "All right, you know, let's move on.
12:29 Let's go and just kind of get it moving."
12:31 And I think Tatum probably falls more towards the Horford side of things.
12:35 We know Derek White's kind of a quiet leader.
12:38 Jaylen Brown can be loud, but I tend to think that's more towards himself
12:42 than it has ever been towards anybody else.
12:44 So we're going to see, is there somebody on the roster who will, you know,
12:48 if the need arises, kind of get in somebody's face?
12:51 And do you even need that, right?
12:53 Those are the other things we're going to find out.
12:55 Can you get through?
12:57 Like I don't know, maybe somebody is that guy on the Denver Nuggets,
13:00 but I don't know who the guy on the Nuggets is that was screaming
13:03 and yelling in teammates' faces either.
13:05 It seems like they were all a little bit more of,
13:07 "Hey, let's do what we're supposed to do."
13:09 But that's a long way of saying, I think, with Tatum, you're right,
13:13 we're never going to see it.
13:14 Like it's never going to be on the court where he, you know,
13:17 was grabbing somebody's jersey and screaming and yelling at him.
13:21 We're never going to see, you know, that,
13:23 in the moments when the media is allowed in at the end of a practice
13:26 and those kind of things.
13:28 Maybe stories will trickle out, but I think he's going to be more of the
13:31 kind of guy who's going to be like, "All right, here's what we got to do."
13:34 And kind of sit everybody down and let's talk through this and kind of go
13:38 through it in a way where it is, you know, hey, but I think it's more than a
13:42 just let's, you know, build everybody up.
13:45 I think it's going to be in a I'm holding people accountable kind of way.
13:49 And it's almost kind of like I look at it as when we were kids, right,
13:52 you almost wanted if you knew you screwed up,
13:55 you wanted your parents to scream and yell at you.
13:57 And it was way worse when they were like, you know,
14:00 I'm just disappointed in you.
14:02 Yeah, I'm not mad.
14:03 We should have done it.
14:04 Yeah.
14:05 Like that just that hurts so much worse, you know,
14:07 than if they yelled at you.
14:09 So I think that's, but I think that's the kind of guy Tatum is.
14:11 I think he's probably more the kind of, you know,
14:14 leader who is like, all right, I'm a little disappointed.
14:17 I'm not happy.
14:18 Here's what we got to do.
14:19 I guess my concern, Keith would be, and, and,
14:22 and I don't know how this plays out and I may never know because it would
14:25 have to be written about by, you know, it's, it's,
14:28 it's that behind closed doors kind of thing.
14:31 And I'm not even saying it needs to be Tatum.
14:34 It just needs to be somebody who every once in a while.
14:38 Who isn't the coach is going to raise his voice in that room.
14:43 I just think you can only have so many and it doesn't need to be on a
14:46 daily basis.
14:47 Like it felt like maybe it was from Marcus or even from grant it.
14:51 You just can only have, I think, within a team.
14:54 And all this expertise that I have.
14:57 I just think you can only have so many lead by example, guys, you know,
15:01 you need to have someone that when the going gets tough and,
15:04 and I don't mean a five game skid, it could be, you know,
15:07 at halftime of a game,
15:08 a particular game where somebody is going to raise their voice and get
15:13 everyone's attention and, and, and provide that sort of, you know,
15:17 for lack of better way of putting it, that, that fire up moment,
15:21 that spark doesn't need to be a, a rah, rah speech,
15:24 but it's gotta be something that just like gets everybody's blood
15:27 boiling a little bit.
15:29 And I don't know who that guy is on this roster.
15:32 And it does sort of feel like if it is going to be Tatum,
15:35 it's going to be very, very infrequent and that's fine.
15:38 If he only raises his voice three times a year,
15:41 people are sure as hell going to listen when it happens,
15:43 but it's gotta be somebody. Right.
15:45 I think so. I, you know, I'm with you on that. I generally think, you know,
15:52 someone needs to be, be that guy and we'll see, you know,
15:55 maybe that develops into somebody and maybe that's where it goes. But yeah,
15:59 I, I, I think it's, you know, team chemistry is always a very, you know,
16:04 it's like a balancing act, right. It's like, you know,
16:07 you put too much chlorine in your pool and you know,
16:10 you're in trouble with that and everybody's eyes hurt.
16:12 You don't put enough in and your pool is gross. And, you know,
16:15 I think it's, you're constantly kind of tweaking and adjusting and trying to
16:18 figure out, you know, the right mix. And I think with,
16:21 and the dog just popped their head in here. They, I think you gotta,
16:26 you know,
16:27 go into those things where you got to figure that stuff out because to your
16:31 point, yeah. If everybody's just the kind of quiet leader,
16:33 then it's like, who's going to fire these guys up?
16:35 Who's going to get them going,
16:36 especially on that night where Tatum shot isn't falling and he's not able to
16:40 kind of get himself going. Who's going to get everybody fired up.
16:43 And on the flip side,
16:44 if you have too many guys who want to scream and yell all the time,
16:47 we know that never goes well, right?
16:49 That's when it's like, God,
16:50 would you just shut up and just play kind of stuff. And that's,
16:53 that's going to be interesting. I'll also say too,
16:56 come very underrated loss.
16:58 I think in that locker room is going to be, be Blake Griffin.
17:01 If he does not return, which all indications are,
17:03 he's probably not going to.
17:05 So I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:07 Cause he's another guy who he'd been around for a long time.
17:10 He wasn't afraid to get loud and much like Grant wasn't afraid to, you know,
17:15 all right, Hey, let's, you know, I'm going to crack jokes. Let's be funny.
17:19 And, you know,
17:20 I'll kind of be the butt of the jokes for the team for that. And, you know,
17:23 I think they're going to miss out with grant to grants,
17:25 the guy that could all kind of pick on if they wanted to. And they,
17:28 they did plenty and he took it good naturedly and those kinds of things.
17:32 So yeah, they're,
17:33 they're going to miss out on a lot of the things that they've done.
17:35 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:37 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:38 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:39 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:40 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:41 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:42 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:43 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:44 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:45 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:46 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:47 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
17:48 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:16 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:17 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:18 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:19 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:20 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:21 And I'm going to digress.
18:22 I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:23 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:24 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:25 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:26 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:27 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:28 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:29 And I'm going to digress.
18:30 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:31 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:32 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:33 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:34 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:35 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:36 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:37 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:38 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:39 And I think that's another loss that they're going to have.
18:40 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:41 And I'm going to digress.
18:42 And I'm going to digress.
18:43 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:44 And I'm going to digress.
18:45 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:46 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:47 >> And I'm going to digress.
18:48 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:14 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:42 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:44 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:45 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:46 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:47 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:48 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:49 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:50 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:51 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:52 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:53 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:54 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:55 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:56 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:57 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:58 >> And I'm going to digress.
19:59 >> And I'm going to digress.
20:00 >> And I'm going to digress.
20:01 >> And I'm going to digress.
20:02 >> And I'm going to digress.
20:03 >> Keith, I'll tell you what, I would not know how to bet on Blake Griffin.
20:06 You brought him up before.
20:08 And obviously, the Celtics do have some open roster spots at the end of that bench.
20:13 We are talking back end of the bench guys, veteran minimum type guys.
20:17 There have been smaller moves, obviously made nothing monumental.
20:21 As far as Blake goes, how would you handicap this?
20:24 Because correct me if I'm wrong, it seems like, because he has just been on and on and
20:28 on about how much he loves Boston.
20:29 It seems like either a return to the Celtics, where there reportedly is interest from the
20:33 team, or it's retirement, right?
20:36 Or taking a year off anyway, it's not him going somewhere else.
20:40 >> Yeah, what I was told was, throughout the course of last season, he loved his time in
20:47 Boston, which he openly said.
20:48 He likes the guys, he liked the city, enjoyed his time there.
20:52 But I was also told he really missed his family, which I believe all pretty much remained out
20:58 on the West Coast.
21:00 And I think that's probably the tug he's feeling at this point is, if one of the West Coast
21:07 teams really wants to have him, maybe he plays there.
21:10 But I'm sure it's one of those things where it's, hey, it's the beginning part of September.
21:15 I don't really need to make a decision today, right?
21:18 Like I can kinda come in a little later if it's, man, everybody's back in camp and I'm
21:23 seeing these preseason games and I really wanna play.
21:26 Maybe Boston still has an open roster spot and says, hey, come on back, we'll keep it
21:31 open and go.
21:32 Now they're not gonna keep it open indefinitely.
21:35 At some point they'll fill it and they'll move on in a different direction.
21:38 But that's kinda what I wonder if that's where we're at with Blake.
21:42 Are we in a spot where it's, I'm just gonna wait and see how I'm feeling and go from there.
21:48 And that's been, I think, the reporting from others recently has been kind of akin to that,
21:54 because he just isn't sure what he wants to do right now and not sure that he really wants
22:00 to maybe even play again, which is also fair too at this point in his career.
22:05 But I'll say, yeah, I mentioned veteran leadership, but he actually was an on-court contributor
22:10 for the Celtics quite often.
22:12 And especially in times when I don't think they really expected him to be.
22:17 Early in the year when Rob was out and then Al was being load managed, wasn't playing
22:22 back to back, it was more often than not Blake Griffin who got the call there.
22:26 And then he became kind of Joe Mazzulla's, I need somebody to go in and hit the deck
22:30 and get a loose ball and make a play, get the crowd fired up.
22:34 He kind of became the guy that Joe Mazzulla called on for that.
22:38 So that's another thing that they need to replace.
22:40 And if you look at the roster, at least in my opinion, there's still a big short.
22:44 They need one more big, even if it is a break glass kind of guy at the end of the bench,
22:49 I do think they do need to add one more big to kind of round out this roster.
22:55 Is he a loss if they don't bring him back?
22:57 I know he's not someone that, you know, betting perspective, he doesn't move the needle in
23:01 terms of the team's win total or anything like that.
23:03 But in terms of culture off the court, like you said, sort of that break glass in case
23:09 of emergency guy on the floor, the fact that they are a little bit thin at big when you
23:13 consider that Porzingis is going to miss time, Horford's going to be load managed, Rob's
23:18 inevitably going to get hurt at some point.
23:20 They're going to be guys that, you know, they're going to have to rely on there in the middle
23:25 and they don't have a lot of options if they can't bring Blake Griffin back.
23:30 Is that a problem?
23:31 Yeah, I mean, potentially, I think there is a chance that that kind of becomes an issue.
23:37 Now, if you could tell me I looked into my crystal ball and Rob Allen Porzingis, they're
23:42 all going to play 60 to 70 games and they're all going to be healthy at the end of the
23:47 season.
23:48 I'd probably say it's fine.
23:49 Right.
23:50 But what I was what I tried to tell people is we get to a point where it's Christmas
23:55 or New Year's and Luke Cornette's having a play 25 minutes a night.
24:00 It's probably not great.
24:01 You know, if Luke Cornette is your fifth big and you're just throwing them out there when
24:05 you need them, that's awesome.
24:06 He's very good in that role.
24:08 I think you're fine.
24:09 But if it is, he's a nightly 25 minute a night guy.
24:13 That's not good.
24:14 So you're not getting somebody else great at this point in the offseason.
24:18 It's just not going to happen.
24:19 There just isn't that player left.
24:21 And it's highly unlikely the Celtics are going to jump in on any kind of major trade that's
24:25 going to deliver a player like that.
24:27 But if you do go into a point where you looked at and said, are you know what?
24:31 We could kind of get to, you know, this guy to come in and be at least another option,
24:37 whether it would be Blake Griffin or somebody else.
24:39 That's good.
24:40 But the chances of them being as good as Blake Griffin was in that role last year, probably
24:45 pretty slim.
24:46 I'd say you have a very small chance that they're as good as Blake was in that role
24:50 when you factor in both the on and the off the court stuff that he brought to the team.
24:55 So yeah, I that's a long way of saying, yeah, I think it is a loss.
24:59 Yeah, I mean, look, man.
25:03 We've talked about it ad nauseum, the issues that Boston's frontcourt has in terms of their
25:08 health.
25:09 They're not their potential issues.
25:11 They're not.
25:12 Yeah, we've done it enough.
25:14 I will say, though, that the the blip that Hamels backhand is one of his most recent
25:18 pieces about it didn't seem like that there was going to be a reunion between Blake and
25:24 the Celtics made me sad.
25:26 Just going to be honest.
25:27 I loved him.
25:28 I think I think he's I mean, coffin, you've worked around baseball teams before.
25:33 You know how long a season can be when it comes to baseball.
25:36 Like having a guy like a key game, Hernandez is really, really important to try and just
25:40 break up the monotony of every single day.
25:43 I think Blake does that, you know, the same thing for the Celtics or whatever team he's
25:47 going to be on, like the bus one boys.
25:49 I got to be honest with you probably was started with an idea of Blake Griffin of like trying
25:54 to like, hey, man, like, yeah, we might not be like the best players on this team, but
25:58 at the same time, we have a job, we have a role.
26:00 Let's embrace it.
26:01 Let's let's make T-shirts.
26:02 Let's let's you know, let's make this a viral thing.
26:04 Let's have NBC Sports boss and do an article about the bus one boys like that's valuable
26:10 to make everybody else on the team, the guys that are 12, 13, 14, 15, feel like they're
26:16 a part of something because oftentimes they're not doing a lot.
26:19 You know, I'll never again.
26:21 I always love watching Malik Fitz on the bench.
26:23 Just go nuts when things are going well.
26:25 Like that's you need guys like that.
26:26 And Blake definitely does that.
26:28 Again, I don't know about the family dynamic.
26:30 No clue there.
26:31 Totally understand it.
26:32 Totally get it.
26:33 That's a real big priority for him, which sounds like it is.
26:36 I wouldn't be mad at him, but like I love to have him, Blake, on the team.
26:39 I think I think everybody did.
26:42 So you know, this is us maybe begging Blake to come back and it would be great to have
26:45 you back because he's he's in the minutes, you know, the minutes were good and it was
26:51 almost surprising when he would play and he's like dive on the floor for loose balls.
26:54 He's hitting threes.
26:55 He's he's tipping out offensive rebounds.
26:58 I remember there was one stretch.
27:00 He had like two or three offensive rebounds in a row and the crowd was going beneath.
27:04 But it was amazing.
27:07 So I think he has a nice home with the Celtics in terms of everybody likes him.
27:11 He doesn't have to get to know new teammates.
27:13 He knows mostly everybody already.
27:15 So it's a positive from a continuity standpoint.
27:17 It's positive for a lot of things.
27:18 Just has to be right for Blake.
27:20 And I hope it is.
27:22 So yeah, I'll put my hand up real sorry.
27:26 Just to say the comment I made when he signed was as a gift.
27:30 This matters.
27:31 It's probably bad for Boston.
27:34 You know, and I was completely wrong.
27:35 I mean, he ended up being a key contributor to a team that, you know, I know people have
27:40 their feelings about the way last season went, but they were a very good team, you know,
27:44 by the end of the year, they were a game away from going back to the finals and who knows
27:48 what would have happened if they had made it back.
27:50 But I, you know, Blake was a big part of that.
27:52 So I was completely wrong on that one.
27:54 And to your point, yeah, I mean, you know, keeping everybody engaged all, you know, as
27:59 coaches will talk about all the time, you know, we need all, they say all 15 guys and
28:04 it went to 17.
28:05 Now it'll be 18 with the two way addition, the third one and the two way guys.
28:08 It'll be getting all 18 guys, you know, pulling the rope in the same direction that we're
28:12 all working together the same way.
28:15 Like that, that is something that I think, you know, matters.
28:18 And, and he's a big, big part of that or was last year.
28:22 So yeah, he's definitely going to be missed for sure.
28:25 So maybe Blake returns, maybe he doesn't.
28:28 We know obviously there was the recent signing of a Sfima Kailuk who's a, he's been around
28:32 a handful of years.
28:33 He's a journeyman.
28:34 He's a nice depth addition, I think, but you're not asking a whole lot of them.
28:38 He's also not a big, he's a wing, but Keith, in terms of, in your reporting with these
28:44 remaining open roster spots and guys that are out there trickling around any logical
28:49 fits that, that you're waiting on here, a TJ Warren or somebody like that.
28:54 Yeah.
28:55 I mean, we got those reports that they were bringing in a number of different wing options,
29:00 bigger wings.
29:01 Um, you know, in there, I, TJ Warren was one Lamar Stevens was another, uh, these, these
29:06 guys are all, you know, three, four type players more than the traditional two, three type
29:12 wings, but they, that fits.
29:14 Because that's off the, I think Boston has coverage at the big spots, you know, when,
29:20 when the guys are there and I think they were weighing short adding Sfima Kailuk, that's,
29:25 you know, fine.
29:26 I had no problem with that, that addition at all.
29:28 I think, you know, he's kind of duplicative with what Sam Hauser brings, but if you're
29:32 going to have too much of anything, have too much shooting that that's, you know, just,
29:36 you know, I feel like you can always put one of those guys on the floor and the rest of
29:40 the guys there will be able to cover for that guy defensively.
29:44 And we saw last year with Sam Hauser, maybe he doesn't really need covered as much defensively
29:48 as at least we thought he might need.
29:51 So yeah, we'll, we'll see kind of where that goes.
29:54 That last spot, I guess that I'd be looking for more of a true big to, to come in there.
29:59 The issue is we're, we're, we're down to it now in free agency.
30:03 There's really nobody that you're looking for.
30:05 And I think one of the things that was suggested was maybe they just kind of, you know, bring
30:09 in camp guys for now, and then see who gets cut, who gets, who shakes loose here towards
30:16 the end of camp.
30:17 And maybe, maybe they go snap one of those guys up.
30:20 If somebody that they're like, wow, I actually kind of really liked that guy and think he
30:23 can play a role.
30:24 You grab that guy at the end of it, almost more of an NFL type approach to, to the way
30:29 you build your roster where that's, you don't generally see a lot of that in the NBA, but
30:32 every once in a while, you know, you'll come up with somebody pops free that day you get.
30:37 So that, that's where I'd be going, but you know, yeah, if you want to add TJ Warren,
30:41 fine.
30:42 You know, I, I think again, I was wrong last year about Blake Griffin, but you're, you're
30:46 talking about your 15th man here.
30:48 You know, you're, you're, you're probably hoping that guy's not factoring in too big
30:53 on the floor over the course of the season.
30:56 So, you know, but yeah, let's kind of see.
30:59 And I guess I'm kind of taking the approach of, I just assume Brad will get it right,
31:04 you know, for, for the coaching staff and the rest of the roster and he'll find somebody
31:07 who, you know, can come in there and contribute when called upon, even if it's, you know,
31:11 very rarely.
31:13 Well, the waiting game continues guys.
31:19 Training camp is coming.
31:20 Obviously preseason games are coming.
31:23 Roster moves may or may not be coming.
31:25 Eventually basketball will return in a way that actually counts, which is nice.
31:30 We have it with football as we talked about earlier and soon enough, the NBA will be back
31:35 with all of us and in our hearts as well.
31:37 But it's just good to see this team is, is pretty much, you know, obviously it, it, it
31:42 wasn't a, what's the best way to put it away.
31:45 It wasn't a turbulent off season.
31:48 There wasn't a whole lot of drama as compared to maybe some off seasons.
31:51 Naturally, as we know, there was a big trade.
31:54 There was movement with forcing is coming in smart, going out most notably.
31:58 And as Keith said before, Grant Williams going as well.
32:01 So it's going to look just a little bit different, but still obviously a team with serious contending
32:07 potential and among the favorites to win the upcoming championship.
32:10 And when, anytime you have a team in your city that you get to talk about that way,
32:14 it just makes for a, you know, makes for a much easier experience.
32:18 Keith, I think we can all agree on that.
32:20 Yeah, absolutely.
32:21 It's, it's a lot better to be talking about.
32:25 Do we have enough to win a title then?
32:27 Well, I hope this guy kind of plays good in a rebuilding year and maybe we've got something
32:32 for the future.
32:33 I mean, those years generally are fun, but in a completely different way after a period
32:38 of success, the Celtics are still, you know, I would say at the beginning parts of their
32:43 a, you know, period of, of success, just because of the age of the two stars on the team and
32:48 Tatum and Brown, I, this is going to be stretch out this window of contention for quite some
32:54 time.
32:55 And I think it's up to Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzuola to find and develop and play the
32:59 right guys around them and kind of continue to maximize them.
33:01 I go back to, you know, something Brad said, I think it was that email you doke is a introductory
33:07 press conference, but it holds true is Tatum and Brown are the pillars on the roster.
33:11 Everything else is to support them, right?
33:14 Everything else that they're doing is to support and lift those two, two up.
33:17 So, you know, I'm very, very curious to see how it goes.
33:20 And I think it was time in this team's arc to do something big, like, like, let's, let's
33:26 see, let's try something different than what we've looked like before.
33:30 And we're going to find out if it works here starting in about a month or so.
33:35 As always, we appreciate you checking out Celtics beat.
33:37 You can get it wherever you get your podcast rate review, subscribe means a lot to us as
33:41 well.
33:42 We thank you for that.
33:43 We will be back with you weekly as we always are, maybe even more frequent than that.
33:46 If we just have thoughts that we can't wait to get out to you.
33:50 So for Keith Smith, again, from spot track from Evan Valenti, I am Adam Kaufman.
33:54 Thanks for hanging out.
33:55 We will talk to you again next week.
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