Welcome to episode 150 of the A List Podcast with A. Sherrod Blakely, Gary Washburn, and Kwani A. Lunis. In this episode, Sherrod, Gary and Kwani discuss the Celtics win over the Knicks and how Boston has looked so far in preseason with one more game remaining. The trio also discuss their hopes for the regular season, and their takeaways about the Celtics heading into the season!
0:00 Teaser
1:07 Intro
2:03 Jayson Tatum looked good against Knicks
3:53 Celtics offense emphasizes ball movement and unselfishness
4:38 It will take time for the Celtics to get into rhythm and gel
6:03 Al Horford's role with this team
8:52 Will Horford mainly come off the bench this season?
10:52 FanDuel Sportsbook
10:35 Horford cont'd
11:57 Who else do the Celtics have for bigs besides Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis?
16:13 What are takeaways from preseason?
18:25 Joe Mazulla seems more settled in for year two
23:16 Is there pressure on Mazzulla with Charles Lee and Sam Cassell behind him?
24:05 Indeed
25:47 Is there a new brand of Celtics basketball?
31:13 Final thoughts
35:13 Outro
This episode of the A List Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5 and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5 and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss.
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Indeed! Visit https://Indeed.com/ALIST to start hiring now! Indeed understands the importance of making every dollar count when growing your business. That's why you only pay for quality applications that match your must-have job requirements with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed.
0:00 Teaser
1:07 Intro
2:03 Jayson Tatum looked good against Knicks
3:53 Celtics offense emphasizes ball movement and unselfishness
4:38 It will take time for the Celtics to get into rhythm and gel
6:03 Al Horford's role with this team
8:52 Will Horford mainly come off the bench this season?
10:52 FanDuel Sportsbook
10:35 Horford cont'd
11:57 Who else do the Celtics have for bigs besides Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis?
16:13 What are takeaways from preseason?
18:25 Joe Mazulla seems more settled in for year two
23:16 Is there pressure on Mazzulla with Charles Lee and Sam Cassell behind him?
24:05 Indeed
25:47 Is there a new brand of Celtics basketball?
31:13 Final thoughts
35:13 Outro
This episode of the A List Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5 and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5 and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss.
21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.
If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to https://drinkAG1.com/GARDEN
ODDS-R! Ever wished you could navigate the betting field with the confidence of a pro? Enter OddsR. They're not a sportsbook, but they're the sports betting advisor you've always needed. It's like having a playbook for smarter bets right in your pocket. Elevate your game day and join the smart betting revolution! Go get it at https://oddsr.com/celtics
Indeed! Visit https://Indeed.com/ALIST to start hiring now! Indeed understands the importance of making every dollar count when growing your business. That's why you only pay for quality applications that match your must-have job requirements with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 I think new frame of mind from Missoula and I think that set the tone for this this training
00:05 camp to where everybody's positive. Cassell's there. Cassell talking your ear off. Charles
00:11 Lee who I thought was kind of a quiet dude but I'm you know people are saying like oh no no he
00:16 don't stop talking. So you got two talkers and also the pressure and you can say what you guys
00:22 think about this like Joe's looking over and seeing two dudes who want to be NBA head coaches.
00:29 So Joe got to step his game up too. You got two guys who could very capably take over an NBA team.
00:36 Charles Lee's the next major coaching prospect right? I mean it's kind of a wonder we don't
00:42 know why Cassell hasn't been hired. We don't know. We ain't heard nothing about Cassell, Sam
00:47 off the floor. We heard. I don't know. It's a mystery and then Charles Lee's on that high list
00:54 of guys Charles Lee might be there for a year because whatever job opens next year you know
01:00 Charles Lee's gonna get an interview. So that also puts pressure on Joe to step his game up.
01:06 The A-List Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wedgerig partner of the CLNS Media
01:12 Network. Hello everyone Celtics fans specifically this is the A-List Podcast. I'm Quanie Lunis
01:19 joined by A'Shawn Blakely and Gary Washburn and preseason slowly winding down. They have one
01:24 more preseason game before the regular season starts. So this episode we're going to recap
01:30 what we've seen so far in the preseason and of course look forward to what you're hoping to
01:35 expect in this upcoming regular season. So let's start with their win over the Knicks on Tuesday.
01:41 Tatum with 28, 8 rebounds, 4 assists. Jalen Brown with 17.6 assists and 3 rebounds.
01:47 Brazilians with 20. The Knicks didn't start any of their start plan of their starters though. So
01:53 what do you two what did you gain from watching that game at least from the Celtics perspective
01:58 and then what does it say about the fact that the opponent wasn't as worthy as it could have been?
02:02 I mean it's still with us but yeah. I just think that Jason Tatum had a good day in practice.
02:08 They called a preseason game but Jason had a good practice day and we all want we want always want
02:13 to practice the way we want to play and Jason did that. I mean he got 28, 8 rebounds and he could
02:20 easily have 40 easily and so there's not a whole lot I think you can take away in terms of
02:28 accomplishment other than the fact that they made it through the game healthy. They broke a nice
02:32 sweat. Some guys were able to do some things get into a nice little flow a little rhythm
02:36 and you're just hoping that you know this is just another building block for them going
02:41 heading into the regular season where they are going to have tremendous expectations and
02:46 to me the only thing I can feel good about if you're the Celtics is when you're playing a team
02:50 that's bad or under man this is what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to handle your
02:55 business beat them enough to where the game is never really in doubt or close and that's what
03:00 they did to this Knicks who obviously you know they're sitting a lot of their core players
03:05 for this this preseason game. I thought it was a good effort. The Celtics were I think ahead by as
03:12 much 27 in the first half and the Knicks made it. I mean the Knicks played hard like it was kind of
03:17 the opposite of last week where the Knicks played their front line guys. The Celtics backups played
03:22 really hard and make it but you know the Celtics kind of kept them at distance. I think the Knicks
03:26 got within nine once in the second half and Quentin Grimes boy that dude could shoot he
03:32 had seven threes or whatever and McBride I thought had a pretty good game but I thought
03:38 they showed their they kind of you know flex their muscles a little bit where guys are able to there
03:46 was a lot of ball movement a lot of chemistry the chemistry they're establishing and they have still
03:51 a long way to go to establish this chemistry but I like the ball movement. I like the unselfishness.
03:57 I like the emphasis the defense the most impressive thing I thought with Tatum
04:01 was his attention to detail on defense like he had 28 points in 30 minutes. It was obvious he
04:07 was trying to get his three-point shot down. He was emphasizing shooting that long ball and he
04:12 hit four or five of those things and you know said he points was not a problem. It was a attention to
04:17 defense that I thought was impressive. I thought Jalen Brown had his his moments Porzingis so and
04:24 and Drew Holiday wasn't really that great. I mean he was cool 10 points and four assists but he just
04:30 kind of took a step back and kind of distributed a little bit so it showed the flex of their muscles
04:35 when they harness all this together and I think that it's important to note that the
04:40 that they're not going to get it together by next Wednesday against the Knicks like
04:44 they could still be plenty good to win that game and to start out hot but it's going to take 20
04:50 to 30 games for them to really get that flow and that rhythm with two new starters pretty much
04:55 and you know the starting lineup who knows what is going to be you know I don't believe in
05:00 professional sports you should like change the starting lineups depending on the matchup. I
05:05 think that's kind of a college thing so what's the if you know who knows Missoula might try that
05:10 but I I think that they'll be good to begin the season but they're encouraging if you don't want
05:17 them to be peak in October you want them to be peak in April, May and June so I think fans should
05:24 give this team some time to gel but I think they're gelling and they're taking this whole
05:30 preseason thing seriously they're not loud you know guys aren't taking rest days guys are practicing
05:36 hard so I thought last night was just a microcosm of that and then hey the final game against
05:42 Charlotte they're supposed to play their regulars again so they're taking this thing seriously
05:46 because they got some rest before the opener but I think it was an encouraging sign.
05:52 So Charlotte to your point it really did look like a practice everyone got a sense of the rhythm of
05:57 the flow for the you know the rookies the younger players they got a sense of how they're supposed
06:01 to be performing throughout this season but one of the vets Al Horford his play eight points
06:06 three rebounds and three assists what did you guys think about that performance?
06:10 What you got Gary? I thought Al's blending in he came off the bench you know he's a guy who
06:18 started his whole career so we'll see how that goes him coming off the bench at times but you
06:23 know the one thing I want to see from Al is that mid-range and his first bucket was it was a kind
06:30 of a reluctant mid-range shot but it was a mid-range shot and he was open he had a sorry
06:35 they had a small defender on him he like looked around he's like okay I'll shoot it boom you know
06:40 shoot the ball Al shoot the ball from the mid-range give this team even more options as
06:46 opposed to only shooting threes or always passing out because you pan like Al you came into this
06:54 league as a pretty damn good he's always been a great defender but you come into you came into
07:00 the league as a pretty good offensive player coming out of Florida you were a good man in
07:04 the post you could get those buckets go back to that guy we want to see that guy we do not want
07:09 to see reluctant hesitant Al only shooting threes oh no no get in the paint that little jump hook
07:16 look short jumper get that down to add that to your arsenal I was impressed by Al Horford and
07:23 I think that's what Celtic fans or folks need to see is a more engaged Al Horford not only shooting
07:28 threes but in the paint at the mid-range you got to have your bigs keep you got to keep the other
07:34 bigs honest you got to you got to know oh you're gonna leave me out here like this boom okay I got
07:38 you you're gonna you're gonna sag in the paint and wait for Jason and Janet to penetrate okay
07:43 you're gonna leave me right here but I'm gonna get you every time as opposed to you know looking
07:50 to pass because he doesn't want to be that guy take the shot don't be a reluctant shooter from
07:55 that area because I think Al does have a touch yeah I mean he definitely has touch and he
08:01 definitely needs to make his imprint on the game but for Al I think that you know they've got
08:07 plenty of guys who can score the basket and certainly Al is one of them I was more impressed
08:11 with just his overall energy and hustle he made some plays at the defensive end of the floor that
08:17 are very much in the vintage Al Horford you know class and plays that I wasn't sure if he could
08:25 make anymore you know hustling for loose balls you know balls going out of bounds and he's able
08:31 to wrap his arm around you know you know Dante smacked the ball of him go out of bounds little
08:37 things that 37 year old players typically don't do and Al did a lot of those things and that's
08:42 why I think for him and his longevity it is better for him to come off the bench and I think that
08:47 ultimately that's going to be part of the load management protocol for Al this season that you
08:53 know more times than not he's going to come off the bench I think there may be select matchups
08:57 where a team has two physically imposing bigs where you maybe throw him in there for that but
09:02 there aren't a lot of teams that are built like that and because of that I don't see the benefit
09:07 a significant benefit of having Al in that starting lineup when you know truth be told
09:12 I'd much rather see him go against second line guys or or play on maybe you know the back end
09:17 of that starting five coming in for for Zingas or coming in for Derek White or someone else
09:23 you know that gives him a little bit more size in that front court but this was a I thought this was
09:27 a good performance for Al because he again he did the little things that they're going to need for
09:32 him to do this season and and he's showing the ability to do those things and do those things
09:37 at an effective high impact level and as far as coming off the bench Al you know he's got to look
09:45 first of all whether you come off the bench or start your minutes ain't gonna be there like
09:49 they're used to you're gonna so that playing time is not the issue if anything if Al has an issue
09:55 with starting it would be a signal that Al's ego is a little bit bigger than I thought because what
10:00 they're asking him to do and Tatum alluded to that you know if Al can come off the bench any of us
10:05 can come off the bench so it that gave me a sense that you know this may not be an experiment this
10:11 may be something that as a team they've talked about and Al has talked about and I think Al's
10:17 probably made it clear that I'll do what you know whatever you need me to do Joe if it's come off
10:23 the bench if it's start I just want to win and that's kind of the way Al has carried himself
10:28 during his time in Boston so I would be shocked if Al has an issue with coming off the bench now
10:33 let's be clear there's a difference between coming off the bench and registering DNPCDs now if he
10:40 gets one or two of them all hell we got a problem yeah all hell we got we got a major problem
10:47 mas problema we got a big problem okay that's one get ready for the NFL season with incredible
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11:31 so what's so charade what's second of all
11:37 first of all when the brothers say first of all there's never a second of all
11:47 second of all second of all things will get things might go things might get real real bad
11:55 um if he if he's not playing i was gonna play because they don't have any other bigs that can
12:01 play and i'm not counting uh your boy cornet because the more i see him play the less impressed
12:06 i am that he can help this team at all i mean he just he just looks there was there was a play
12:12 in the game where he was coming back on defense and he tried to like basically uh come out and
12:17 defend and i can't remember which which play for the next but they basically took three dribbles
12:22 and they have blown past him and fortunately al was on the floor so i was able to cut off what
12:27 would have been an easy layup but cornet i think it's going to be a liability uh in a lot of
12:33 matchups if he's out there uh and to me why the hell are you playing guys who are potential
12:38 liabilities for you um there was a reason why my guy was that no the thing is like freaking like
12:46 mizula said he was a backup center and it's like you you kind of declared in the backup center like
12:51 i'm looking i'm waiting for minutes from gabriel and kito those are the two guys i want to see
12:56 we'll see what happens in the last preseason game but they didn't get no run and luke is
13:02 and they kind of and and it was interesting he kind of declared luke the backup center and it
13:07 was like you know and i like luke very nice guy he's a gentleman great with us doesn't take
13:14 himself too seriously a very probably one of the funnier guys on the team because he's got that
13:18 deadpan you know humor you know he just he's he's very polished uh young man obviously out of
13:25 vanderbilt university and and has been around the league but it's like you know that's gonna be your
13:31 backup center he's doing that many good things on the floor to where you're like you're gonna hand
13:35 them the job over to dudes who are kind of dogs i like keaton i'm getting a lot of the fans are
13:41 emailing me about keeter like they want to see more of that guy so we'll see what happens in
13:46 this final preseason game or whatever and and whether he gets some real look at it because
13:53 you know he's on the two-way contract but yeah sure i like i can't i'm with you on the cornet thing
13:58 like i'm i don't see it maybe they see it obviously but for joe to go out on the limb
14:05 and kind of say like he's our backup like oh okay you just handed him a job already like you
14:11 that was interesting so i think we might see be seeing a lot more luke cornet in more of a backup
14:18 role to to horford and to porzingis then people a lot of some people probably want to see i think
14:25 that might be gary why i think they may look long and hard about not going double big so that they
14:31 can keep al and porzingis you know playing with each other but not playing significant minutes
14:36 with each other and to keep luke off the floor um i i like i said luke is he's he's a good guy he's a
14:42 good dude but yo when you i mean when you got the easy pass for everyone that that's guarding you
14:47 or excuse me that you're supposed to be guarding that's not good i mean that's not and he's not
14:52 physically he's not physically imposing enough to where you put him out there against a big he's not
14:57 gonna get tossed around like a rag doll so and and the thing about shooting is great that he can space
15:02 the floor but guess what you gotta do seven foot three who can do that you got a guy now horford
15:07 who can do that you don't necessarily need him to give you that floor spacing when he's on the floor
15:12 so if he's not a physically imposing big and you don't necessarily need him to be a shooter
15:17 you know and he's not what exactly are you getting out of him um so it'll be interesting to see how
15:24 things go forward with luke and your question i'm with you on that i said i'd like to see gabriel
15:29 gabriel um didn't play neither takeda we'll see what happens you know i think i think that last
15:38 preseason game is a key to see what happens and and how they view will gabriel get a roster spot
15:44 what about lamar stephen i'm not talking about to even sit in position with other positions
15:48 what about lamar stephens he didn't get any run last i don't think they played you know your boy
15:53 oh shapers said along with banton and kind of like that second unit i mean i like lamar stephen so
15:59 we'll see how this turns out um in terms of just the roster but yeah like if luke is your backup
16:07 center i think that's a concern all right so at this point the celtics are three and one in these
16:17 practice preseason games we have one more ahead of us but so far what has been your biggest takeaway
16:23 other than luke cornet not being the best backup i mean i guess my biggest takeaway is just you
16:30 know really if there was such a thing as the preseason team mvp it'd be payton pritchard
16:36 um he's been one of the more consistent players for the celtics and yes we're talking about his
16:42 offense but he's he's been he's been kind of feisty defensively like when they when they
16:47 go on full court press he's been among the guys out there pestering guys uh defensively so to me
16:53 he's been the big takeaway just because of his ability to not just make shots but make them
16:57 consistently we've always known he can make he can shoot but he hasn't really been as consistent
17:03 as we've seen him in his preseason and part of that has to do a big part of that has to do with
17:06 the fact that he's getting an opportunity he's not splitting time with two or three other guys
17:10 for that for those minutes he's actually the guy that they're looking to coming off the bench
17:14 and combine that with you know some of the struggles you know that some of their other
17:18 you know shooters have guys like you know sam hauser who actually started to turn a corner
17:22 before a good chunk of the preseason really wasn't making shots uh payton has put himself
17:27 in a great position to be a regular rotation guy once the game starts to count
17:31 uh biggest surprise is just just the overall chemistry and the flow of preseason no issues
17:38 uh they're working hard they seem to be all on the same page it's just such a
17:43 there's no there's been no drama obviously last year was the e-mail drama and you know
17:48 what happened in that situation how the players feel there was all that drama coming out
17:54 of training camp where they just went into the season with so much noise in this situation
18:00 in this situation there is no noise there's just like focus on the task at hand winning
18:06 the championship being one of the best teams in the league winning the east and i think that that
18:11 focus is something that's i think the biggest factor and what i see is that stands out is like
18:18 guys are like locked in on getting the job done and i think jason said something very astute
18:26 uh the other night about joe like he just feels like joe has more control more confidence
18:31 it's a different joe you know a different joe a kindler gentler joe right kinder gentleman joe
18:39 uh and it's true you know like a soft sasquatch a nice kinder gentler joe a children's book yeah
18:49 you know the fireside chats with joe missoula joe wins a chip yeah sunday sunday afternoons
18:56 an afternoon with joe having some you know having a glass of lemonade on the on the on the porch
19:03 i mean to me like people you're always joe's joe's joe didn't like you don't hate you like
19:11 jody hating okay we was good okay we went at it um you know and that's fine and i i'm you know
19:19 i've gone out with coaches before but i think this joe that i noticed it's just more comfortable in
19:26 his own skin which is understandable he's he's more comfortable with the with the with the
19:30 situation around him his assistant coaches the atmosphere is better i mean it's hard to coach
19:37 when one you're coaching with emates guys and as much as that they were professionals ben sullivan
19:44 my man main man mike moser half a season david stoudemire aaron miles uh gary jackson like as
19:52 much as those guys were pros it is nothing against them they were all figuring out where the hell
19:58 it was gonna be next year and you got i'm sure they're texting email who's telling them hey
20:04 hey fellas the moment i get a gig another gig you're coming with me so you know wherever that
20:10 is for a minute remember what's going to be brooklyn so i'm sure you had some of those guys
20:15 figuring out okay am i going to brook am i gonna leave in the middle of the season to go with nets
20:19 um do i gotta find a place in new york like what's going on and that kind of fizzled and then houston
20:25 he took you know he took three guys to houston and then aaron miles i think went to new orleans
20:30 so you know coaching with a staff that was kind of had one foot out the door because they felt
20:38 like they had to is got to be difficult for missoula you know then damon stoudemire your
20:44 only old head former nba player former rookie of the year mighty mouse amazing guy got to know
20:50 damon pretty well during the season you know he leaves he he wanted to coach in college again
20:55 acc job one of the best conference in the world acc now in my now they invited my cowbears um
21:04 thank you thank you finally worth it because he's a refund he would get a refund but he takes an acc
21:12 job so he's gone so i think it's a and i just think jason's saying like and jason's remember
21:19 jason's always been a proponent for joe and i think that's one of the reasons they didn't let
21:23 joe go was jason was like nah like he's my guy i'm gonna stick with this dude and i think they
21:30 needed to stick with somebody i was never on the fire joe now i will say if they had lost game four
21:37 against miami and gave up like they did game three it might have been time it might have been an
21:42 indication that they gave up on him and they they're tuning him out but they came back and
21:47 won three consecutive games and then we saw what happened in game seven jaylen nine turnovers jason
21:52 springs his ankle and they get blasted but i think that that saved his job but i also think
21:59 a new staff new environment getting his family settled getting used to is really made him
22:05 change and i think jason saying that and just saying like you know and pushing them and then
22:11 being open-minded to not relying so much on the three-pointer learn how to call timeouts
22:19 listening to his players and his staff paying put pain sorry playing payton pritchard taking
22:25 him out of the doghouse because we all saw what happened with him and grant williams last year
22:30 and i always say like we all love grant we miss grant grant got a raw deal last year grant's a
22:36 good nba player not a great nba player not a guy who's probably gonna be an all-star but a guy who's
22:42 essential on a good ball club and he got a raw deal last year from being in joe whatever reason
22:50 why those missed free throws in cleveland talking too much to officials whatever it was got him in
22:57 the doghouse but i think new frame of mind from missoula and i think that set the tone for this
23:03 this training camp to where everybody's positive because sales there could sell talking your ear
23:08 off charles lee who i thought was kind of a quiet dude but i'm you know people are seeing like oh
23:14 no no he don't stop talking so you got two talkers and also the pressure and then you can say
23:20 what you guys think about this like joe's looking over and seeing two dudes who want to be nba head
23:26 coaches so joe gotta step his game up too you got two guys who can very capably take over an nba team
23:35 charles lee's the next major coaching prospect right i mean it's kind of a wonder we don't
23:40 know why cassel hasn't been hired we don't know we ain't heard nothing about cassette sam off the
23:46 floor and we heard i don't know it's a mystery and then charles lee's on that high list of guys
23:53 charles lee might be there for a year because whatever job opens next year you know uh charles
24:00 he's gonna get an interview so that also puts pressure on joe to step his game up these are
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25:42 terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed yeah all right go ahead no you got it go
25:49 ahead oh so i was just gonna move forward and talk about this rhythm of the team overall we've seen a
25:56 lot of full court presses double teams blitzing the handlers so do you think that what we've seen
26:02 so far still preseason is a new brand of Celtics basketball or is it just good luck because it's
26:08 preseason and the opponents aren't again playing up to the regular season standard that we're used
26:13 to well i think they're trying to practice the way they want to play uh they they know they have to
26:19 become a more consistently elite defensive team because you look at their numbers at the end of
26:23 the season they're great they're among the top teams statistically in several categories when
26:28 you talk about defense but the eye test tells you differently the eye test tells you that there will
26:32 be there have been pockets where they look just absolutely putrid defensively where they look like
26:38 they like just got thrown together uh at an au tournament or something like that and never played
26:44 with each other they're expected to be this cohesive group and other times they look like
26:49 brothers in arms for decades where they just lock kids up you know at the defensive end of the floor
26:55 so i think what we're seeing them is looking at different ways that they can be more connected
27:00 defensively and full court pressing is something i thought that they did a good job against new
27:04 york and i wasn't so consumed by uh the results of the double teaming and their tilting and their
27:10 full court pressing but just the fact that this was something that they made a priority to do
27:14 joe has talked about that that they have to become a better defensive team and he's talked about his
27:20 own shortcomings and having prepared them to be a better defensive team last season and it's pretty
27:25 clear and obvious that he ain't making that same mistake again because his inability to really get
27:31 them to buy into on a consistent basis what they had to do defensively may very well have been one
27:37 of the factors as you go back and look at last season that kept them from getting to the finals
27:41 and so joe i give him a lot of credit for owning you know what he wasn't as great at as he'd want
27:47 to be looking at ways to be better in that regard and and i think the proof will be in the results
27:53 that we see that this celtics team is going to be statistically probably where they were or closer
27:59 where they were a year ago but there's going to be more consistency with it you're not going to
28:02 have the ebb and flow defensively that we saw last year uh where they would be incredibly magnificent
28:09 against you know a top two top three team in the nba and just a bunch of strangers in the night
28:16 when they play a team that's not quite at that level so that that's kind of where they're at i
28:20 think and that's why i think their defense is really going to be just the key to unlock all
28:26 the possibilities for greatness for this team this year yeah i think the defense is the key
28:32 because i think this team is going to score you got nothing but scores on the floor
28:36 but can you mix up your defenses you know the whole like man-to-man switching everything that's great
28:44 but teams can figure out how to beat that and what they've learned i think for the miami heat
28:50 was it's okay to mix in a zone a trap it's okay to to mess with the opponent's heads defensively
28:57 and have them when dame lillard comes down he's facing a trap that he wasn't expecting and you
29:04 you're expecting he's got to make a fast decision he's got to throw the ball he's got to give the
29:09 ball up or whatever he's got to throw it to connington you got to lob it over to brooke
29:13 lopez or try to find yeah like he's got to do something he probably wasn't expecting to do
29:18 it's okay to to some both some some wrinkles and some surprises and it's not necessarily always
29:23 going to be as effective as you want to force a turnover but it could force a rush shot it could
29:31 force someone who didn't want to shoot to shoot um it could get the ball out of the hands of
29:38 yannis and lillard or jimmy butler hero or you know in beat and if it's james harden or whoever
29:45 tyrese maxey like it can it can be an effective means of throwing different wrinkles and not
29:52 being so predictable and i thought the celtics last year one were too easy to defend and two
29:59 defensively were switching everything even in times they didn't need to where jalen should
30:04 have went with the man that he was guarding instead of switching because the switch got
30:10 disconnected somebody took a quick step to the basket got fouled things like that things were
30:15 like you know you had your best defender on them but then he gave it up to a lesser defender and
30:21 that lesser defender got scored on so i think throwing zones traps if they can you know still
30:28 maintain that energy because it's hard to play full court defense it's hard to play defense for 48
30:34 minutes and then concentrate on scoring if they can do that they'll be a so much better team than
30:40 last even last year defense wins championships that's what they say
30:44 well that was clever that was clever that was clever quinn it's you know i actually coined that
30:53 that phrase i've never heard that before so profound that quinn i try to drop some gems
31:01 every episode oh you dropped something all right you were the listener oh my gosh the eye rolls if
31:09 eye rolls could kill all right well that's all i have do you want to say anything else before we
31:14 wrap it up thanks for coming out good night god no god bless you no i'm looking forward to get
31:23 for the actual season to get started i i think we all are uh the preseason games we we know this
31:29 team is good we know they're experimenting with some things as far as lineups uh focus in terms
31:34 of defensive focus and things of that nature but uh i'm really curious to see them get this thing
31:40 going and play a team like new york that obviously has something to prove as well uh this is not
31:45 going to be just kind of a walk in the park they're gonna have to really they're gonna play
31:48 and that's a great thing to have to come out the gates of doing that particularly having to do it
31:52 on the road so uh looking forward to getting this thing going on in the next couple of weeks
31:58 yeah i think it's going to be a hell of an exciting season i think the nba is just filled
32:02 with all these storylines and things like that and i think it's going to be interesting we'll
32:07 have to watch out for the roster how the roster shapes up or whether there could be some unexpected
32:12 cuts i mean i don't think they have a lot of cuts to make um but we'll see what happens with the
32:17 cuts and who makes the roster and if someone has to go to main or or see how that goes um but i
32:24 also think that you know this team from what i've seen from just the unbiased opinion it's just they
32:31 really are locked in more than i've probably ever seen a celtic team in the preseason i'm telling
32:38 them the previous thing messing around and hanging out and all that they took care of it they did
32:43 their work or whatever but just being locked in on like you know as we saw a couple years ago
32:49 emay's first team start off so it's like 19 18 and 21 and they were just it seemed like they just
32:54 weren't ready for the season and then last year joe's team started off really fast and then they
33:00 kind of hit some skids and you know in december when they lost those uh two back-to-back games
33:05 to work to the to the orlando magic and it kind of they got back on but i think this team understands
33:12 the importance of one the regular season and the nba understands the importance because these fools
33:17 gonna have to play now and we can talk about that the these new uh rules and shiraj's buddy and we
33:24 can talk about that joe dumars uh you know one of his one of his close friends is the gme cupboard
33:30 he spoke to a couple of reporters including myself and was like you know and joe laid the rules there
33:36 he went when joe said something you listen you listen yeah you listen joe ain't playing right
33:41 joe wasn't old cats still got that old man strength so don't go step to joe right um and
33:47 he said basically 182 game season not 62 game season two uh better all-star game three the
33:58 in-season tournaments here and get used to it you know adjust you know quit thinking about the
34:03 this ain't the old days no more we're gonna have the in-season tournament until unless something
34:09 really bad goes wrong this is how it's going to be so um it's going to be an interesting
34:14 exciting season a different season with this in-season tournament we don't know how that's
34:18 all going to go whether the celtics are going to be in vegas how they're going to take that
34:23 seriously uh you know they should be favored if you look at their division their their group
34:29 toronto chicago orlando and brooklyn like a lot of teams that could bite them especially orlando
34:37 watch out for the magic this year and because obviously the magic had no problem beating the
34:42 celtics last year and then brooklyn is always tricky so but the celtics should be favored to
34:47 get to the to the to the mid-season crown championship we'll see how that goes but i
34:52 think it's gonna be a fun season um nothing but excitement you just pray that all the players
34:58 not only yourself to stay healthy oh you know you don't want no knee you don't want no guys
35:03 getting hurt and damaging their chances you want everybody to stay healthy and have a great season
35:08 facts i 100 agree well that's a wrap second of all oh no my gosh not second of all listen cal
35:19 just be happy you in a conference all right first of all like shiraz when the brothers say first of
35:24 all they never know second of all first of all first of all second of all nobody cared that's
35:31 all i saw i had to say like wait a minute there's supposed to be a list here fool
35:34 you like first of all it's time but by the time we reconvene next week we'll decide what it what
35:44 we're going to report but the preseason will be over we will be starting one of 82 games
35:50 no you know 82 games season i heard no but until then for a shop lately and gary washburn
35:56 i'm reporting on this this is a list of podcasts thanks for sticking with us
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