Celtics Trade Rumors Starting to Pile Up | How 'Bout Them Celtics - video Dailymotion

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Sam and Jack are back with another Boston Celtics podcast. In this one, they discuss the recent influx of Celtics trade rumors, including their reported interest in Isaiah Stewart, TD Garden being a fortress, and the team's commitment to playing "Celtics basketball." Plus, they talk about Jordan Poole, Draymond Green, and Lauri Markkanen. Let us know your thoughts, and as always, thanks for listening to How 'Bout Them Celtics!  Podcast Twitter: @HowBoutThemCs Sam's Twitter: @SamLaFranceNBA Jack's Twitter: @JackSimoneNBA  0:00 Intro 1:40 Inpopnito 2:45 Celtics have checked in on Isaiah Stewart 15:17 Shams convinced Celtics will be trade-happy 23:02 TD Garden is a fortress 28:04 Celtics are still for real 33:16 Email check-in 39:38 NBA standings check-in 46:36 Jordan Poole slipped lol 48:30 Draymond Green has started counseling 50:22 Stephen Curry’s three-point streak is over 54:22 Lauri Markkanen’s trade value 58:55 Other NBA trade buzz 01:02:54 The Rat List 01:20:31 Outro  #celtics #bostonceltics #celticsnews #celticsrumors #celticstraderumors #celticspodcast #celticspod #nbapodcast #nba #bostoncelticsnews #howboutthemceltics #neemiasqueta #alhorford #dalanobanton #jaysontatum #jaylenbrown #derrickwhite #kristapsporzingis #jrueholiday #samhauser #lukekornet #paytonpritchard #lamarstevens #oshaebrissett #svimykhailiuk #jddavison #jordanwalsh #joemazzulla #drewpeterson #isaiahstewart #torreycraig #jevoncarter #deanwade #nickrichards #celticsbasketball

Transcript

00:00:00 [MUSIC]

00:00:10 And we are back with another episode of How 'Bout Them Celtics.

00:00:13 Sam and I are here recording on Monday, December 18th,

00:00:17 after the Celtics win over the Magic yesterday.

00:00:20 >> Which won, yeah.

00:00:22 >> Huge win, two huge wins over the Magic.

00:00:25 I feel very weird this afternoon cuz I was thinking about it.

00:00:29 I was talking to Sam, so I slept in, obviously, it's two.

00:00:32 >> Yeah. >> I woke up at two or

00:00:33 something, which is standard for me at this point.

00:00:36 But it was weird cuz I think what happened is I stayed up very late

00:00:40 the night before the Patriots, but then I woke up very early to go to the Patriots.

00:00:44 I woke up at eight, right?

00:00:46 Well, I went to bed at four and I woke up at eight, so I didn't sleep much.

00:00:50 And then I half took a nap when I got home from the Patriots, so

00:00:53 it felt like another day.

00:00:55 So I think today feels like, my hours are thrown off even more than normal.

00:01:00 So I felt very weird waking up to do this, cuz it's also not light out,

00:01:05 cuz it's rainy and gross, so it feels like nighttime still.

00:01:08 >> It's been quite the day.

00:01:10 >> Yeah, my entire internal clock has been completely thrown off.

00:01:15 Not fun, don't enjoy it.

00:01:18 My throat is still killing me from Vegas, so I don't know if that is now-

00:01:22 >> You and Big Cat.

00:01:23 Big Cat also had a voice on today's podcast, so one of the greats.

00:01:28 >> Yeah, yeah, don't know how the voice is gonna do for the next, I mean,

00:01:32 really two hours, cuz we have to record Talkin' C's after this too, of recording.

00:01:36 But we'll see how it holds up.

00:01:38 Anyways, now that I'm done rambling, let's do In Popnido, so

00:01:44 we can talk Celtics, know more about my struggles this morning.

00:01:51 Full wheels today, eight entrants, eight people who are looking to get

00:01:56 themselves a $10 gift card to get some popcorn.

00:02:00 Let's spin it and see who's going to be winning today.

00:02:04 There we go.

00:02:06 >> Wee, I've got my bag of dill pickle here, and I got it over the weekend,

00:02:11 and you can see it's already over halfway in, that's how good it is.

00:02:14 >> Josh, shout out Josh.

00:02:16 >> Josh has been entering for a while, so

00:02:19 he can finally feel vindicated that he has won.

00:02:22 >> It's about time, I will say, half the time when I see some of these people win

00:02:25 that have commented so many times, I think to myself, have they won already?

00:02:29 And then I'm like, no, they've just been commenting every time, and

00:02:31 they've always been on the wheel, but shout out Josh.

00:02:33 Josh is getting himself a $10 gift card.

00:02:35 >> Let me go hit him with a guess what buddy in the comments.

00:02:38 >> [LAUGH] >> I can find it.

00:02:39 >> We'll get you hooked up with our guide in Popnido and get you some popcorn,

00:02:44 don't you worry about it.

00:02:45 But let's get into Celtics now, because the Celtics have been in trade talks,

00:02:51 kind of, the trade season is upon us.

00:02:54 >> A bit exposed.

00:02:56 >> Yeah, something weird, so trade season is upon us in the NBA.

00:03:00 December 15th marked the unofficial start to trade season in the league,

00:03:04 because a lot of the players who signed deals over the summer are now trade

00:03:08 eligible.

00:03:09 And the first guy that the Celtics have reportedly checked in on is

00:03:14 Isaiah Stewart in Detroit.

00:03:16 This comes from James Edwards, the third of the athletic.

00:03:20 He wrote contending teams like Boston, OKC and

00:03:23 Dallas have shown a great interest in Stewart.

00:03:25 League sources tell the athletic one challenge in trading for

00:03:28 Stewart is he's a poison pill restricted.

00:03:30 He signed a four year $60 million extension that will kick in next season.

00:03:34 His outgoing and incoming salaries differ for trades.

00:03:37 Stewart counts as 5.3 million outgoing salary on the piston side for

00:03:41 a team acquiring Stewart.

00:03:42 He will account for 13.1 million,

00:03:44 which is the average of his current player salary plus his four year extension.

00:03:48 Essentially, this is the Alex Caruso conundrum again, except that the TPE flip

00:03:52 deadline as our this is Sam explaining it.

00:03:55 I thought that was more of James stuff.

00:03:56 Yeah, it just, the Celtics have to match 13.1 million,

00:03:59 which doesn't seem very likely considering they would have to probably trade

00:04:04 Al Horford and unless you think as a Stewart can be the Al Horford replacement,

00:04:08 which in theory, I guess if you're really, really high on Isaiah Stewart,

00:04:11 maybe you think it's possible, but it's not possible.

00:04:16 That's not a trade you make.

00:04:17 I like Isaiah Stewart.

00:04:19 I think he's fine.

00:04:19 I don't exactly know how well he's been doing this season.

00:04:22 I can't imagine the answer is very good considering they're like two and 24.

00:04:26 Averaging 10, 7 and one and a half on 45, 5 and 36, 7 shooting.

00:04:31 It's actually better than I assumed, but it's just like,

00:04:34 there's no real way to do it.

00:04:36 So like, why is this of note?

00:04:39 I guess I don't know.

00:04:39 It's weird.

00:04:40 It makes sense that they would check in because he is a big,

00:04:43 and that is maybe an area you might want some extra depth that he is young.

00:04:47 He is only 22 years old and he is under contract for a long time.

00:04:51 So all the points that you look for in a trade candidate are there,

00:04:55 but like the reality of it is like there's just no way to match the salary.

00:04:59 No, there's not.

00:05:01 This is dead, but we have to talk about it because it came out today.

00:05:04 It was like, hey, how about what if they go do this?

00:05:09 Because James Edwards put it out that they had been interested.

00:05:12 Now, I know it was written on Celtics blog and when it was pitched as a story

00:05:17 in the Celtics blog slack, there was speculation that this is just

00:05:22 a repeat report of what he had earlier in the summer.

00:05:25 And he has added the other teams to the list that have inquired,

00:05:30 inquired about Isaiah Stewart, because remember back around the draft,

00:05:34 maybe a little bit before free agency, the Celtics had reportedly had interest

00:05:38 in bringing in Stewart at that time.

00:05:41 It made a little bit more sense because the contract would still have been matchable.

00:05:45 He could have fit into a much easier trade.

00:05:49 It would have been what, five point three million.

00:05:51 So that's much easier to match.

00:05:52 They didn't have the TP yet, I don't think.

00:05:55 But regardless, they could have made the deal much easier.

00:05:59 Would have been pick any couple of end of bench guys and you've got yourself

00:06:03 a salary match now. It's much more complicated.

00:06:05 Like you said, the money is much larger.

00:06:08 It would likely take out Horford, which isn't any fun.

00:06:11 And I mean, Horford has really bought into his role off the bench.

00:06:17 We talked about it at length this weekend, but he's been really good

00:06:22 at impacting the game without really having to take too many shots.

00:06:25 Stewart himself is having an OK statistical season.

00:06:29 He's averaging more than he has for his career average.

00:06:32 He's downscoring from last year, but he's still playing 30 minutes

00:06:36 a game for the Pistons, which is kind of encouraging

00:06:40 when you're looking to trade for a guy.

00:06:41 A lot of times we talk about trades, we look and we're like, well,

00:06:43 that guy's just not even playing.

00:06:46 Like, what value is he going to add?

00:06:47 It's not like you can't conceive a world where Stewart

00:06:51 is somebody that could help the Celtics rotation wise.

00:06:54 Like you said, 45% from the field, 36.7% from three.

00:07:00 That effective combined field goal percentage is kind of low for a big guy.

00:07:06 53% effective field goal percentage as a what?

00:07:10 How tall is he?

00:07:11 6'11", seven feet tall guy?

00:07:13 6'8". He's actually shorter.

00:07:14 A little shorter.

00:07:15 I think the only this I agree with you.

00:07:18 I'm not saying like it's it's not.

00:07:19 I think the reason is they're not really playing him in a role

00:07:22 that necessarily suits him.

00:07:23 They're playing him at power forward, right?

00:07:25 They're playing him alongside Jalen Duran, alongside James Wiseman.

00:07:28 Like they're trying to play him at power forward.

00:07:29 And then there's the other guy, James Wiseman.

00:07:31 Like they're trying to play him as this four.

00:07:33 When in reality, he's kind of like a small ball five.

00:07:35 So I don't know what the fuck the Pistons are doing.

00:07:39 I think a player like Stewart makes sense for the Celtics.

00:07:43 Because I was thinking about it. Yeah.

00:07:44 When I saw the initial report, I was like, well,

00:07:46 I know we're going to talk about this today.

00:07:48 Like who would be an actually great player for the Celtics target

00:07:52 if you want to bring in another big guy that's not Luke Cornett

00:07:55 and keep Luke Cornett around?

00:07:57 Because Cornett has been pretty solid.

00:07:58 You can't really look at his game and what he's done and be like,

00:08:01 that guy's a problem when he's in the game.

00:08:03 Things go worse for the Celtics.

00:08:05 What you could say is when he's in the game

00:08:08 and has to guard the perimeter, things don't really go well for the Celtics.

00:08:12 So if you bring in a small ball, big guy, usually one of the traits

00:08:16 that they bring is the ability to move their feet and stay in front of these guards.

00:08:20 It's what's made Horford great for years.

00:08:22 It was part of the appeal of Rob Williams because he could do that a little bit.

00:08:26 He was blocking jump shots on three point attempts.

00:08:28 It was awesome.

00:08:30 Porzingis lacks that a little bit.

00:08:31 You've seen the team go to drop coverage a bit this year,

00:08:33 so you don't necessarily need the backup to be able to do that

00:08:37 because your whole team understands the defensive scheme of drop coverage.

00:08:42 And it's worked pretty well this year.

00:08:45 But when the guys are a little bit shorter or maybe not as athletic as Cornett

00:08:49 really can't extend himself as much as Porzingis,

00:08:52 it gets a little easier to pick apart the drop coverage.

00:08:55 That magic loss at Amway Center last month in the in-season tournament

00:08:59 was a perfect example of why Cornett can be a liability

00:09:03 because they went at him every single time in the second half

00:09:05 that they had the opportunity and the Celtics paid for it.

00:09:08 Yeah. Do you have any names or are you just...

00:09:11 Do I have names?

00:09:13 Who do you think I am?

00:09:14 No, I have like an... I just created a my player.

00:09:17 That's what I did.

00:09:19 The answer to your question is that guy doesn't exist for any kind of salary

00:09:24 that could fit into the TPE.

00:09:26 Do you want the closest names that I could come up with in these 30 seconds?

00:09:28 You're going to give me a Metu.

00:09:30 No. No. No.

00:09:33 Some of these are...

00:09:34 The only one that I've heard you say in the past. Go ahead.

00:09:36 Yeah. OK, so some of these are more fours that could potentially guard fives

00:09:40 as well, which kind of fits the same mold.

00:09:42 Drain.

00:09:43 No, Dean Wade is a name we heard a lot over the summer, actually.

00:09:46 I don't know how much the Cavs would want to give them up

00:09:48 because their own depth issues.

00:09:50 And they started him the other day.

00:09:52 They did start him.

00:09:52 The other appeal of Dean Wade is he makes five point seven this year,

00:09:55 and then he's also under contract for two more years for six plus mil.

00:09:58 So that is tradable salary.

00:09:59 If you'd like to be more active.

00:10:02 Other guy is magic player Chuma Okeke, who hasn't really played for them.

00:10:06 But he is six six.

00:10:07 He's a bigger body that you can put on the wing.

00:10:10 But he's very similar to Lamar Stevens at that point.

00:10:12 So you don't really know why they would or the Celtics want to do that.

00:10:15 It's a bit weird, but Jared Vanderbilt's not really playing for the Lakers

00:10:21 right now, he's like playing 15 minutes a game.

00:10:23 He's only played in five games.

00:10:24 I know he was hurt for a while, so he was like, that's a bit weird.

00:10:28 You wonder if they'd want like.

00:10:30 I'm not saying you should trade Peyton Pritchard for Jared Vanderbilt,

00:10:32 but if they were really convinced

00:10:34 they needed that small ball five more than Peyton Pritchard,

00:10:36 which I don't think is true,

00:10:37 you could see a world

00:10:40 where the Lakers might want the shooting more than Jared Vanderbilt

00:10:42 and the Celtics might want the vice versa.

00:10:44 So that is something and he is under contract for a while.

00:10:46 That's matching salary.

00:10:47 Not really the switchable one, but a big

00:10:51 if you're really if you're one of the people really convinced

00:10:53 they need a better big Nick Richards in Charlotte

00:10:56 making five million this year and then five million the next two years, too.

00:11:00 So another guy is getting tradable salary and fits into the DP

00:11:02 Jalen McDaniels in Toronto, six, nine.

00:11:06 He's not his brother defensively, but he is a big body

00:11:10 that can get out there and guard and then precious

00:11:12 that you is the name that we've talked about a million times as well.

00:11:14 So big bodies.

00:11:17 I just want to go back to him.

00:11:19 I'm pretty sure he signed an extension with the Lakers last summer.

00:11:21 I don't know how much it was for, but that whole poison

00:11:24 pill issue could come into play with him, too.

00:11:26 Yes. So he makes four point six right now,

00:11:30 then ten, eleven and a half, twelve and a half, then thirteen point two.

00:11:34 I don't know how the poison pill works there,

00:11:36 but that would definitely be something to look out for that.

00:11:37 I'm not sure how it works.

00:11:39 They need to ban the poison pill.

00:11:41 That's my takeaway from this discussion is it's really made things

00:11:44 too cloudy for us to talk about.

00:11:46 And if you're the NBA and you so desperately need press,

00:11:49 you got to make it easier for the numbskulls that talk about you to cover.

00:11:52 For what? I just good looking at it.

00:11:57 Something valuable. I'm not.

00:11:58 I don't think I don't think the poison pill applies to Jared Vanderbilt.

00:12:03 Excuse me, because it's not a rookie scale contract.

00:12:05 I think that's the main thing,

00:12:07 because when I put it in the fans, it didn't pop up.

00:12:10 And if I put Isaiah Stewart into fans, though, and try to trade him to the South,

00:12:13 I assume it'll pop up and say, oh, poison pill, watch out. Yeah.

00:12:16 So I don't think it applies.

00:12:19 OK, sure. For what it's worth.

00:12:22 But I don't really know if they need anybody right now.

00:12:26 It's very hard for me to look at a twenty and five Celtics team

00:12:29 that's won five straight and hasn't lost at home and is proven

00:12:32 that they can turn up when it's important for them to turn up.

00:12:35 I can't be like, hey, I think they're really missing this

00:12:39 or they need to remove these guys in order to bring in this guy.

00:12:42 It's very I mean, Jack, you know, I'm never like I love a trade.

00:12:47 I hate trades.

00:12:48 It's very difficult for me to cope with giving up anybody on the team.

00:12:52 I'm very loyal to our guys here.

00:12:54 I'm very curious.

00:12:55 Ten years, X amount of years down the line when the Celtics are in a magic

00:13:00 like or thunder like position with the new guys on the team

00:13:03 where they do need to make a trade, if you are still going to be like,

00:13:05 no, just see it through or be like, maybe they should do something.

00:13:08 That's I don't know, because I'll probably be smarter by then.

00:13:11 But like the last time it happened, when let's like turn back,

00:13:14 let's say five years ago when it was twenty eighteen, Tatum was a rookie.

00:13:17 Or I'm sorry, it would have been Tatum second season then.

00:13:20 But there was still the Anthony Davis talk.

00:13:22 We were all like, oh, should they get Davis?

00:13:24 Kyrie will stay. You can have those two guys.

00:13:26 I mean, Anthony Davis was a legitimate question.

00:13:29 Then his dad was like, I hate the Celtics.

00:13:31 I hope I hope they die.

00:13:33 He said terrible things about the organization.

00:13:36 I don't think I would have traded anybody.

00:13:40 I didn't like that.

00:13:40 I was like, I like it's really hard to like give up.

00:13:43 You have Tatum and Brownian for a long time.

00:13:45 They don't make a lot of money.

00:13:47 I mean, obviously it worked out for the Celtics, but there have been guys

00:13:50 I didn't want to trade in the past, like when they traded every Bradley, I was pissed.

00:13:53 I mean, Marcus, the summer like Mark is the example.

00:13:57 But I think when Marcus happened, like we were pissed because of the

00:14:00 the optics slash the moral standpoint of it.

00:14:06 I thought it was kind of fucked up.

00:14:07 But from a basketball standpoint, right off rip,

00:14:11 you were in on Porzingis before it even happened.

00:14:13 And then when we when the trade actually happened, we were like, well, Porzingis

00:14:17 like is coming off a career year and he makes sense.

00:14:20 Then I rolled a whole whole article on him being the Horford successor

00:14:24 over the summer. So,

00:14:25 I don't know. It's weird.

00:14:28 Like, I have different tendencies now than I did a couple of years ago.

00:14:31 In 10 years, I'm probably going to have a lot different tendencies.

00:14:35 Who knows? Sure. It's true.

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00:15:14 I mean, this bleeds right into our next topic of conversation,

00:15:20 which is the fact that Shams is convinced that the Celtics

00:15:23 are going to be trade happy this year or in on the trade market or something weird.

00:15:27 We had the Windy Report come out, I think a couple of podcasts ago saying,

00:15:30 "Nah, they'll probably be buyout guys."

00:15:32 Sham keeps hammering home, "No, trades, trades, we're going to trades."

00:15:36 What exactly did he say?

00:15:38 You put this in here.

00:15:41 I don't see any like...

00:15:41 I didn't put the quote in because I wasn't listening to it.

00:15:44 He basically said, "Hey..." He tweeted it out or did he say it somewhere?

00:15:46 It was one of those stupid...

00:15:48 He tweeted like a clip.

00:15:50 OK. Not getting my views.

00:15:52 Sure.

00:15:53 But I saw people aggregate that he said the Celtics are still going to be active

00:15:55 in the trade market.

00:15:57 It was not an article,

00:16:00 but he must have some pretty solid stuff coming in on his end

00:16:03 because he has doubled down on his report after being disputed by the Great Windy.

00:16:07 When was this?

00:16:08 The Great What Is Happening Utah Windy.

00:16:10 I see. I see.

00:16:13 The Boston Celtics are going to be aggressive

00:16:15 and just seeing what could be out there for bench help.

00:16:17 Like...

00:16:20 The buyout market is the way to go.

00:16:22 There's no avenue for the Celtics to significantly improve their bench

00:16:28 without taking away from another area.

00:16:32 And if you want to talk about Al Horford, he technically is the bench.

00:16:35 So if you want to go get somebody like Isaiah Stewart,

00:16:38 you have to give up Horford.

00:16:40 And I don't think it makes you better.

00:16:42 It doesn't feel like it.

00:16:44 You're disrupting the chemistry.

00:16:46 You're taking out a key component.

00:16:47 Why would you do that?

00:16:49 OK, if you combine Brissett, Banton, and

00:16:53 McAiloo, guys that are all...

00:16:56 I don't know if they're guaranteed or not.

00:16:58 I'm really bad with the contracts.

00:16:59 But if you added them all up, you would get, I don't know,

00:17:02 four million?

00:17:04 We...

00:17:05 You can really get an absolute game changer for four million dollars

00:17:08 in today's league.

00:17:09 There is no room for them to make a trade unless there's something we don't know.

00:17:13 Unless they're over Horford.

00:17:17 Trade options out there are Chicago and Toronto

00:17:21 because they have like four guys who fit into the D.P.

00:17:24 that you could say, yeah, they're probably better than the Celtics

00:17:26 slew of random bench pieces.

00:17:28 And it's Precious Achua, Jalen McDaniels, Torrey Craig and Javon Carter.

00:17:33 Past that, there is nothing.

00:17:35 I have looked at every fucking player that makes seven million or less.

00:17:38 And there's not one.

00:17:41 He is, but he's he's like he's been hurt and hasn't really done anything

00:17:45 since the finals when they beat the Celtics.

00:17:47 So yeah, he's washed with all due respect, Otto Porter.

00:17:50 He is currently averaging two and two on 38, 37 splits in 12.

00:17:56 There's some it's not bad if you're only taking threes 38 percent from the field

00:17:59 in. I don't know if you want to bring in the vet present.

00:18:04 Sure, it's not the end of the world, but like I said, he's Toronto.

00:18:07 It's Toronto and Chicago.

00:18:08 And I don't hate Greg. I don't hate Javon Carter.

00:18:11 I don't hate McDaniels like there are.

00:18:14 Exciting storylines or targets to talk about,

00:18:20 but it doesn't feel like that's going to happen.

00:18:22 The reason those guys are exciting is because they actually are valuable.

00:18:26 I don't know how much a Toronto is going to want to give up

00:18:28 on somebody like McDaniels.

00:18:30 It sure has been a weird one where we kind of seem unsure.

00:18:32 Carter, sure, but I've been so impressed with Pritchard,

00:18:36 I don't really know if I need that.

00:18:38 But Carter does bring a little bit of a defensive burst,

00:18:40 which you don't always get from Pritchard.

00:18:43 You're always going to get play hard no matter what from Pritchard,

00:18:45 which is excellent.

00:18:47 But sometimes he just doesn't have the strength and size to defend, which sucks.

00:18:51 And as for Craig, he's been a three and D guy for years.

00:18:55 Sure. But the Celtics have a bunch of them.

00:18:58 They're not playing them because Sam Houser's out playing all of them.

00:19:01 Well, they have a bunch of defensive guys.

00:19:04 They don't really have the three, I suppose.

00:19:07 Well, they're supposed to be.

00:19:09 There's a big difference between supposed to be a thousand percent,

00:19:12 a hundred percent from three.

00:19:14 He was for a while. He's not anymore. Not even close.

00:19:16 He's probably like, what, 35, 38 percent.

00:19:20 I don't know how many he's taking. He made two.

00:19:22 You know, he missed like a bunch in the other game was 33, 33, 33.

00:19:26 Yeah, not great.

00:19:28 There's just not nothing out there.

00:19:30 There's just making a trade for the Celtics is impossible

00:19:34 because all they have is the TV unless they trade Horford.

00:19:36 And I can't imagine a world where they trade Horford.

00:19:38 And even if so, even if they'd want to trade Pritchard,

00:19:41 even if they're like, you know what, Pritchard makes a little bit of money.

00:19:43 Let's trade him.

00:19:44 He's poison pilled, so it makes it harder for other teams to take them.

00:19:50 Right. And even if they could take him in and the Celtics literally traded everything,

00:19:54 they were like, you know what, we like our top six, but we want a seventh guy.

00:19:58 Or excuse me, we like our top eight or seven with Sam Houser.

00:20:01 We want an eighth guy.

00:20:03 It will trade everybody else.

00:20:04 We'll it doesn't matter.

00:20:05 We'll trade everybody else in the roster to match the salary

00:20:07 and then they can wave them and it's fine, whatever.

00:20:09 Even Jordan Walsh can be in there for the sake of me ranting right now.

00:20:12 That get them up to

00:20:15 four, six and a half, eight point,

00:20:19 you know, something.

00:20:20 Twelve, 13, it get them to 13, they could just barely trade for Isaiah Stewart

00:20:26 if they combined Peyton Pritchard, Luke Cornett, O'Shea, Bursett,

00:20:30 Sfima, Kyle, Delano, Ben and Jordan Walsh, they could get to to to Isaiah Stewart.

00:20:35 That is the only way without trading Al Horford or Sam Houser.

00:20:37 It's not happening.

00:20:40 It's just not going to happen.

00:20:42 So you're ready to talk about buyouts.

00:20:44 That's what's going to be next.

00:20:46 And that's what all you fans should be looking for, because exactly.

00:20:50 I has there been anybody that Jack has brought up

00:20:53 that is a potential trade target that's actually excited you?

00:20:56 I mean, those names you mentioned today aren't bad to us

00:20:59 because we're kind of in it, but I like somebody just on the outside

00:21:03 looking in, you're like, I don't care.

00:21:04 Torrey Craig's my favorite out of everything.

00:21:06 Auto Porter's fine, too, but like Torrey Craig's a guy who has been on.

00:21:10 But excuse me, been on winning teams.

00:21:12 He's been to the finals.

00:21:14 He shoots the ball pretty well.

00:21:15 He's a big body, six, seven strong can defend bigger guys.

00:21:20 He's basically like O'Shea Bursett, Lamar Stevens, if they could shoot threes.

00:21:23 And he's a veteran.

00:21:25 He's the only guy that comes to mind that I'm like, yeah, that wouldn't be terrible.

00:21:28 And I think he's on a multi-year deal as well, which would make him

00:21:32 a trade piece moving forward.

00:21:33 Yeah, he's two point five this year, two point eight next year, which is small.

00:21:35 But it is you know what I'm saying?

00:21:37 He is under contract for an extra season, so it's not like a complete rental.

00:21:40 He's the only guy that comes to mind that I'm like, yeah, do it. Why not?

00:21:45 But at the same time, I'm pretty sure they'd have to waive somebody

00:21:47 in order to bring him in, which I don't think would be too big a problem.

00:21:50 I think Sfi and or Delano and or Lamar and or O'Shea is pretty like meh.

00:21:55 At this point, I think Sfi would probably be the first to go.

00:21:57 But Torrey Craig's the only guy that I'm like, yeah, I'm in.

00:22:01 Precious is all right, too.

00:22:02 But like it's all the same, like none of it's like this big, like Shams

00:22:06 or trade big, big bench upgrade like no, it's just like meh.

00:22:09 The Celtics are at a position where you shouldn't want that.

00:22:13 Like you should look and be like, oh, Celtics are 20 and five.

00:22:16 They've won just about every big game.

00:22:19 Who cares? Mm hmm.

00:22:23 I don't care. What do I care?

00:22:25 Keep these guys.

00:22:26 I trust just about everybody that Joe trots out there.

00:22:29 It doesn't feel like there's actually like a real place that needs upgrading.

00:22:34 It just doesn't.

00:22:35 Hauser, Pritchard and even Cornette have probably played above expectations

00:22:40 this year.

00:22:41 Hauser in particular has been excellent.

00:22:42 He's better than I could have imagined he'd be.

00:22:45 And Pritchard is really turned around lately in Cornette's just been solid.

00:22:48 He's not giving you minutes where you're like, oh, he's out there.

00:22:51 I can tell because they suck.

00:22:53 Yeah, I just there's nothing out there that's good enough

00:23:00 to make you want to blow up with the Celtics have already done.

00:23:02 Speaking of what the Celtics have already done, TD Garden

00:23:05 is not a place players want to play right now.

00:23:07 We titled a podcast earlier this season.

00:23:09 TD Garden is a fortress and it has continued to be that.

00:23:12 Five and a homestand wins over the Knicks two against the Cavs,

00:23:15 two against the Magic Celtics are now 14 and 0 at TD Garden.

00:23:19 A lot of players have played about it or excuse me, talked about it.

00:23:22 JB said successes are in every day.

00:23:24 That means every shoot around film session.

00:23:26 Every time we're together, we need to be aware of what's going on.

00:23:28 Missoula said

00:23:29 that's more important.

00:23:31 You got to think two years.

00:23:32 We go to the NBA finals without home court advantage.

00:23:34 Last year, we don't go home court advantage is important.

00:23:36 I think from the standpoint of you want to be able to play in the garden.

00:23:40 But we want to be defined by

00:23:42 at the end of the day, you might not be able to control that,

00:23:46 but we have to just be able to play regardless of the circumstances.

00:23:48 I think we want to be defined by that.

00:23:50 Derek White says they don't really talk about it.

00:23:52 He said they had the best fans in the league.

00:23:53 Then he walked out of the room.

00:23:54 It feels like they understand it, but it also feels like

00:23:58 they're still trying to keep up the mentality of when the day

00:24:01 doesn't matter, just win the game no matter where you are.

00:24:04 That said, 14 and 0 at home, kind of crazy, kind of sick.

00:24:09 They're awesome.

00:24:11 I mean, I've loved that they have played for real.

00:24:15 And there's like another little like block of quotes here that I put is

00:24:19 something's continuing to be for real because they are

00:24:22 all of the stuff that you just read off the quotes.

00:24:25 They just don't seem satisfied with their early season start.

00:24:28 They've done a great job of mostly taking everybody serious.

00:24:33 The only laugher that they dropped was that Hornets game.

00:24:37 The rest of their losses, Minnesota was a tough one, went to overtime.

00:24:40 They lost in Philly.

00:24:41 That was a really bad performance that they made close at the end.

00:24:44 There was the Charlotte loss.

00:24:46 I'm missing two more, but they haven't lost at home yet.

00:24:49 Go ahead, Sam. You got it. You got it.

00:24:51 Don't tell me because I want to say already.

00:24:54 I said. Philly, Minnesota,

00:24:58 Charlotte, Orlando was just a game that they fell apart in the second half.

00:25:02 And who is the last one?

00:25:05 Who is the last one?

00:25:07 They haven't gone west yet.

00:25:09 They didn't go to Milwaukee.

00:25:11 Oh, Andy, they lost the game in Indy.

00:25:13 They did lose to Indy. Yes, they did.

00:25:15 That was that was an annoying loss.

00:25:17 It really was.

00:25:17 It was two weeks ago now at the time the sky was falling.

00:25:21 I was on. We did the postgame and I was mad, real mad.

00:25:25 I was like, these guys are doing the same stuff from last year.

00:25:28 They continue to be on serious and big moments.

00:25:31 They can't close games.

00:25:32 They can't play defense and get stops down the stretch.

00:25:35 And then what did they do as soon as they got back

00:25:37 from the little in-season tournament break?

00:25:40 They won five straight.

00:25:41 They beat the Knicks bad.

00:25:43 They blew the Cavs out twice.

00:25:44 They blew the magic out twice.

00:25:46 And now we're looking at them going away on a West Coast road trip

00:25:49 where they have an opportunity to extend that to potentially nine straight wins.

00:25:53 It's not going to be easy.

00:25:55 They have to go to Golden State.

00:25:57 The team that they have had a little bit of a back and forth with for years now,

00:26:00 they'll play Utah, they'll play the Clippers, they'll play the Lakers,

00:26:03 they'll play Sacramento, or do they even play Utah?

00:26:05 They might not play Utah.

00:26:06 They don't think they play Utah in this in the street.

00:26:08 Idiot. Someone just beat my ass, please.

00:26:11 They play Golden State, Sacramento, L.A.

00:26:14 L.A. Then they come back.

00:26:15 Big, dumb idiot, Sam.

00:26:19 But yeah, I'm glad that they're showing up for these games

00:26:22 and they look more consistent overall.

00:26:24 Especially over this last stretch, they've looked extremely consistent.

00:26:29 Maybe it helps that they're not bouncing around.

00:26:31 Or they haven't been bouncing around traveling,

00:26:34 that they've been in one city for over a week and a half.

00:26:37 But the ability to

00:26:41 shape shift as a team, play through different players,

00:26:46 meaning Jalen Brown can take over, Porzingis can take over,

00:26:49 Derek White has had big games, of course Tatum, too.

00:26:52 This is how the team is supposed to play.

00:26:57 When you have this many guys on the team.

00:27:01 This is what you're going for.

00:27:02 This is what Brad Stevens envisioned.

00:27:04 And I want to compare it to the 2019 team that we all thought would be like this

00:27:09 when they had Kyrie and then Brown and Tatum were coming off the playoff run

00:27:12 where they both stepped up huge against all the teams that were in their way,

00:27:16 even Cleveland, who they lost to.

00:27:18 Hayward was going to be back.

00:27:21 Horford's back.

00:27:21 Terry Rozier was going to come off the bench and be the sixth man.

00:27:24 Then you have Marcus Morris and the other characters, too.

00:27:27 And that didn't work.

00:27:29 They weren't able to play fluidly.

00:27:31 They struggled to find an identity the whole year.

00:27:34 And we're not seeing that this year.

00:27:35 We're seeing a bunch of guys that are integrating new bodies

00:27:39 into the team, Drew Holliday, Porzingis.

00:27:41 And those two guys have been great to start.

00:27:46 Holliday has done it without having to be an offensive focal point.

00:27:49 Porzingis has been somebody that they've played through more often,

00:27:52 but they've both both had positive impacts right away.

00:27:56 There have been growing pains.

00:27:57 The only pains that there have been are in Porzingis' calf, unfortunately.

00:28:01 Yeah, they're back.

00:28:04 And I mean, this bleeds into the quotes you put in here about the Celtics

00:28:07 still playing correctly that I accidentally skipped over to go to the garden thing

00:28:10 because I missed it.

00:28:11 KP said, I think JP said it.

00:28:14 When you have that much talent, it can invite laziness.

00:28:16 What we want to do is build the culture no matter what,

00:28:18 no matter how talented we are, no matter who's in, who's out.

00:28:21 We always play hard.

00:28:22 Mazzullo said this is about Mazzullo's big fist pump thing

00:28:26 that we talked about in the magic recap, which I love.

00:28:29 I think players need to see that sometimes.

00:28:31 I, like everyone else, care about winning.

00:28:33 I do have fun.

00:28:34 I just thought it was a moment to show that I think we're starting to play

00:28:36 Celtics basketball.

00:28:37 Celtics have won five in a row.

00:28:38 And as you put here, is this over the last five games or is this overall

00:28:42 the offensive defensive rating?

00:28:44 That's overall that is that is just across the league.

00:28:47 They are sixth in offense, third in defense,

00:28:51 and they're just firing in all cylinders.

00:28:54 They have it under control on both sides of the ball.

00:28:57 Specifically over the last week, they've been great on defense,

00:29:00 which to me is always very important.

00:29:01 I just think it's the most

00:29:02 reliable source of success.

00:29:07 Yeah, they've having a good stretch here.

00:29:13 Five and oh at home.

00:29:14 It does feel like they're really locking into playing the correct way,

00:29:17 which is important.

00:29:19 Even going back to like, like, I know we had those those

00:29:25 disagreements after the indie game of did they play correctly? Did they not?

00:29:28 I still think there was a certain level of they played.

00:29:30 Fine, minus the defensive slip ups in the third.

00:29:34 But it feels like they've taken that and they've adjusted it

00:29:41 because in the indie game, I think offensively, they played the correct way.

00:29:44 Shots just weren't falling.

00:29:46 But defensively, they failed to adjust a little.

00:29:48 And in every game since then, they've continued to do that

00:29:51 offensively and trusted the offensive process.

00:29:54 But they've started making adjustments game to game defensively.

00:29:57 Like you saw it during the Cavs games where they picked up the pick

00:30:01 and roll at a higher point.

00:30:02 So Max Struess and Donna Mitchell couldn't hit, you know, super cool threes.

00:30:05 And then in the next game, they played free safety defense

00:30:08 where Chris stops would be in the corner and help over at the rim.

00:30:10 And they kind of left Isaac Kikoro.

00:30:12 And then in the magic game,

00:30:13 they, you know, played a little bit more physical.

00:30:16 They focused on stopping Apollo and friends.

00:30:19 And I mean, they really just kind of shut them down and said, no, sorry,

00:30:22 you're not going to beat us in the same physical way that you beat us last time.

00:30:25 It's been fun to see them then commit to playing the level of basketball that.

00:30:30 Everyone knew they could play and sort of.

00:30:34 So they were hot to start the year, and when they came out of the gates,

00:30:37 everyone's like, yeah, it seems really good.

00:30:38 I think they're playing better now than they were even at the start of the year.

00:30:41 Yeah, that's to be expected.

00:30:43 I mean, listen, at the start of the year,

00:30:46 they were in a dogfight against the Knicks and opening night.

00:30:49 They buckled down and won it.

00:30:50 Shout out.

00:30:52 Then they kind of struggled against a heat team that didn't have Jimmy.

00:30:55 Like they didn't get off to the most amazing start

00:30:59 after the first couple of games, we should not have been like

00:31:01 Celtics are back.

00:31:03 Who's stopping them? Bleacher report.

00:31:05 Instead.

00:31:07 We've watched them continue to grow.

00:31:11 We've seen them continue to respond when they play poorly.

00:31:13 And I think these are traits of a team that is serious.

00:31:19 Because that Pacers loss was terrible.

00:31:22 It came in a big spot.

00:31:25 It was a game I cared about quite a bit.

00:31:27 A lot of people started to care about the in-season tournament.

00:31:30 The fans in the arena in Indianapolis clearly cared.

00:31:34 And the Celtics withered away down the stretch, I didn't like it.

00:31:37 I was discouraged.

00:31:39 But the encouraging part is now they've won five straight.

00:31:42 And they look to be playing their best ball of the whole year.

00:31:45 They just beat an Orlando Magic team that had ripped off what?

00:31:48 A nine, 10 game winning streak at some point this season.

00:31:51 They beat them on Friday without any of their regular rotation

00:31:55 bigs playing Lamar.

00:31:57 Stevens started at center in the Celtics one.

00:32:01 And they wanted a blowout.

00:32:03 That is so big.

00:32:07 And also at other times this season when Porzingis has been out,

00:32:12 you've been like, damn, they look like they miss Porzingis.

00:32:16 That didn't happen.

00:32:18 So I'm just continuing to get more confident about this team.

00:32:21 It reminds me of the 22 team when the big story,

00:32:25 especially going into the finals, was that they didn't lose back to back games

00:32:29 for like a very long time, like since they turned the season around,

00:32:32 they stopped losing consecutive games.

00:32:35 I would be shocked if we saw this team lose consecutive games,

00:32:37 knock on wood, this season.

00:32:40 The way they're playing right now in the backbone that they have shown.

00:32:44 It would be very surprising.

00:32:48 You're setting yourself up.

00:32:50 Guys, you're setting yourself up for disappointment here.

00:32:53 You know that, right?

00:32:54 I'm always set myself up for disappointment.

00:32:57 That is crazy.

00:32:58 Playoffs last year, and I was like, this is the most wonderful time of the year.

00:33:01 And boy, was I wrong.

00:33:03 No back to back losses is crazy.

00:33:06 They've only lost back to back once this season.

00:33:08 Yeah, I don't know.

00:33:10 I don't know if I can commit to that.

00:33:12 We're back to back.

00:33:13 I don't know. All right.

00:33:17 Let's check in with the email.

00:33:18 Let's see what people have to say.

00:33:19 I think we have lots of RJ emails here.

00:33:21 Make sure to email us at HBTC pod at gmail dot com.

00:33:25 If you'd like to get in touch with us for now, let's see what RJ has to say.

00:33:29 First one.

00:33:30 What's popping?

00:33:31 The magic wind started with Indiana.

00:33:33 Evening, guys, just a quick email to suggest that everything starts somewhere

00:33:36 and it's not always what we think.

00:33:38 Looking at footage from Friday's game, the pacing and attack of the Celtics

00:33:40 reminded me of the fourth quarter against Indiana.

00:33:42 No, not the lost ISD, the blowout win in Boston that night.

00:33:46 All of the bench guys played hard with both pace and connection

00:33:49 at each end of the court.

00:33:49 They built up a lead against the Pacers by continuing to execute as a team.

00:33:53 The hospital Celtics on Friday found that same key to success,

00:33:56 starting with Jalen Brown's overdrive gear and then everyone playing ball

00:34:00 and getting to the room.

00:34:01 This is the first magic game,

00:34:02 which opened up three pointers and kept the Celtics even in free throw column.

00:34:06 I hope the Celtics follow the formulas for success on Sunday.

00:34:08 We'll see in about 18 hours.

00:34:10 Be well. Well, RJ, they did.

00:34:11 They did, in fact, keep it up on Sunday, which was fun to see.

00:34:15 They did do that.

00:34:17 I mean, this was from before the first the second game.

00:34:20 Yeah, it was from Friday.

00:34:23 Next one, this is from before Sunday's magic game again.

00:34:26 What's popping? Can you run laps for running your mouth?

00:34:30 Morning, gents. It is still here on the rainy West Coast.

00:34:33 Saw the headlines on Boston that come with a quote from O'Shea Bursett

00:34:36 about how the Celtics bench is, quote, better than a lot of teams.

00:34:39 First unit. I did see this.

00:34:40 I did forget about it, but I did see this.

00:34:42 And I get that he's confident in the new bus boys, which is great.

00:34:46 But let the unit surprise people, Brissy, or let them remain overconfident

00:34:50 that they can kick your butt while you go out there and take their lunch money.

00:34:52 But it's a rookie move when after you finally gets impressed

00:34:55 about something other than your vlog, you go out and put a target on your back,

00:34:58 daring opponents to dial in on Celtics reserves.

00:35:00 If Al still holds his kangaroo court, I can see O'Shea getting called up on charges.

00:35:04 Well, I hope he and the rest of the squad are ready to cash the check.

00:35:08 O'Shea's mouth, I hope you will.

00:35:10 And I don't care. I think it's fine.

00:35:12 I don't think that matters.

00:35:13 I don't think teams are using O'Shea Bursett's quote to fucking.

00:35:16 I am happy that he's confident.

00:35:19 I'm on the opposite, actually. I like the quote.

00:35:21 I don't think it's a bad thing.

00:35:23 I agree with you, Jack.

00:35:24 I think it's really big that the bench has this much confidence,

00:35:27 despite a lot of them not always being involved in games

00:35:30 like it sucks for somebody like O'Shea Bursett to join the Celtics

00:35:35 this summer, be a big talking point and then just never get any run at all.

00:35:40 Like the man played an excellent game.

00:35:43 The first time he was asked to actually play minutes

00:35:47 in over like three weeks, I'll let him talk.

00:35:50 I mean, I'm just I'm happy that they played well,

00:35:52 and I'm happy that Joe Mazzola can rely on them in spots where guys are hurt.

00:35:57 It's just it's pretty sick.

00:35:59 I agree. For what it's worth, the Celtics bench this year

00:36:01 is the third best net rating of any bench in the NBA.

00:36:03 So he's backing it up.

00:36:05 They are backing it up.

00:36:06 They're playing well to go.

00:36:09 Next one, what's what's cooler than being cool ice cold?

00:36:12 This is after the Celtics win over the Magic afternoon,

00:36:16 gents, four games up, four games in the win column.

00:36:18 My MVP for this game, as much as I love JB's offense, Drew Holiday

00:36:22 for cooling out bankero in the second quarter and beyond.

00:36:24 Ben Harrow, excuse me, bankero hit for 19 in the first quarter and 17.

00:36:28 The rest of the game.

00:36:28 Also, shout out to Nami Ishkeda for giving his best Luke Cornett impression today.

00:36:32 Not highlight real stuff, but 16 minutes, two points, three rebounds, only one foul.

00:36:36 That's important.

00:36:37 He stepped in and played solid ball and kept the game flowing.

00:36:39 Also saw the bankera spent more time trying to hunt isolations

00:36:42 against Horford and Sam Houser against Horford, then Sam Houser.

00:36:45 I think people have learned that Sam Houser Island is no vacation spot.

00:36:48 Still waiting for that Wagner masterclass, though.

00:36:50 Be well, Archie.

00:36:52 Yeah, good.

00:36:53 Move on. Good across the board.

00:36:56 Did you get the the reference in the in the subject line?

00:37:00 What's cooler than being cool?

00:37:02 No, it's a hey, have you heard the song?

00:37:04 Hey, yeah. By outcast. Yes.

00:37:07 And it's a lie. It's a line in the song.

00:37:09 Last email from RJ.

00:37:10 This is from last night after the Celtics Sunday night.

00:37:13 One of the magic what's popping back to the future road trip.

00:37:16 Fun fact, gents.

00:37:17 Last year, after 25 games, Celtics were twenty and five and were heading west

00:37:20 for four game road trip

00:37:21 that included stops against the Warriors, Clippers and Lakers.

00:37:24 Sound familiar?

00:37:24 Last year's trip turned out to and to.

00:37:26 I want more this year.

00:37:27 Let's get greedy, RJ.

00:37:30 As much as I am not Sam and I am realistic.

00:37:32 I agree. Keep it real.

00:37:34 And you're playing well right now.

00:37:35 You can't let this road trip bring it down.

00:37:37 You got the Warriors, the Kings, the Clippers, the Lakers.

00:37:40 I'm not expecting a sweep.

00:37:41 I never expect a sweep on long trips.

00:37:43 I didn't expect a sweep at home, and it was a nice surprise when they did it.

00:37:46 Because you're an idiot. That's why.

00:37:48 No, because I'm not.

00:37:49 If you are late all four games, you could be rich, but you

00:37:51 you would never do that because you have no spine.

00:37:53 No, you know, also because you can't get that far in advance, but

00:37:58 you should win at least three of these games.

00:38:02 You definitely beat the Lakers at Christmas.

00:38:04 You can't lose to them on Christmas or the only game

00:38:07 you can't lose to the Clippers are hot right now.

00:38:10 So maybe that's it.

00:38:11 They beat up on the Kings in the past.

00:38:13 I think the Clippers and the Warriors games, the only like maybe they lose games.

00:38:16 But these are four winnable games.

00:38:18 When that's so last year, this road trip was awful.

00:38:24 RJ is right.

00:38:25 I think I want to say the Kings weren't a part of it.

00:38:29 And it was Phoenix that it was a five game road trip.

00:38:32 And Phoenix was also involved, which could be.

00:38:34 No, I think you're right.

00:38:35 I think you're right, because they beat the piss out of Phoenix

00:38:37 and we were all like, watch out.

00:38:38 And then it turned out not to be true.

00:38:42 They lost real bad to Golden State.

00:38:44 They looked lost.

00:38:46 And it kind of showed us that they weren't ready yet.

00:38:48 Or they had like little bit of flashbacks to the finals when they sucked.

00:38:51 But the reason I'm going back to this is because last year's game, it's

00:38:56 crypto dot com against the Lakers was my least favorite game ever.

00:39:01 Because it was awful.

00:39:03 The Celtics had a big lead.

00:39:04 They blew the lead.

00:39:05 They said, please, no, no, no, we don't want to win.

00:39:08 Then the Lakers blew a lead and they said, please, no, no, no.

00:39:11 We don't want to win.

00:39:13 And then we had to watch two overtimes and I had to work the next day

00:39:16 and the game ended at like two thirty.

00:39:18 It was terrible.

00:39:20 Yeah, I mean, two cents analysis.

00:39:24 Shocker.

00:39:25 Sam expects Celtics to be perfect 100% of the time, which it works for the show,

00:39:29 but it's unrealistic, which is why I will never predict a sweep,

00:39:32 although they're playing well enough where they can do it.

00:39:34 So do it. Why not?

00:39:35 That's that's where I'm at.

00:39:36 All right. Let's go to the NBA.

00:39:40 Let's check in with the NBA standing.

00:39:41 Sam, have the Pistons won a game yet?

00:39:43 Fill me in.

00:39:44 No, they haven't. It's really sad.

00:39:46 But like, in fairness to them, the schedule has not been in their favor.

00:39:50 They had the misfortune of playing Philadelphia in Milwaukee back to back.

00:39:55 The two teams are both big time front runners.

00:39:59 Like nobody loves a win against a bad team quite like the Sixers do.

00:40:03 But the problem is they lost by like an average of

00:40:07 they actually literally lost both games by 32 points.

00:40:10 Look at this.

00:40:10 So they're not even close to win.

00:40:13 Look at this.

00:40:13 How sad is this ESPN schedule page?

00:40:17 Look at the L's.

00:40:19 It's like

00:40:20 if I was a Pistons fan, I don't know what I would do.

00:40:24 I would probably be rooting for the firings of a lot of people.

00:40:28 But I'm not really sure who's completely to blame for this

00:40:31 because they've done everything they're supposed to do draft wise.

00:40:35 Like they had the number one pick.

00:40:35 They picked TK'd.

00:40:37 He's been OK.

00:40:39 He was hurt last year.

00:40:41 He's putting up like loser star guy stats where he's doing.

00:40:46 Yeah. His like percentages are kind of low.

00:40:48 He's not all that efficient.

00:40:50 I think his assisted turnover might be pretty good.

00:40:52 But besides that, like there's nothing to be super excited about.

00:40:54 Duren's been good for them.

00:40:56 Like they have individual guys to be excited about.

00:40:59 Even Thompson is a rookie has been pretty solid.

00:41:01 He's like a do everything guy.

00:41:03 But it just hasn't come together yet.

00:41:05 It's really weird.

00:41:06 But they are playing

00:41:10 Atlanta and then Utah this week.

00:41:13 Now, I don't know who's after that, but the Celtics will host them in 10 days.

00:41:17 December 28th, baby.

00:41:19 Could be a streak versus streak home win streak slash Celtics win streak

00:41:23 if they continue to win versus Pistons losing streak.

00:41:27 They've got Atlanta, Utah, Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Boston.

00:41:30 So I I feel like there's no way they lose back to back to Brooklyn.

00:41:36 It is in Brooklyn and then in Detroit.

00:41:39 So it's kind of weird.

00:41:40 Oh, it's a it's a back and forth.

00:41:42 OK, yeah, that's stupid.

00:41:45 I agree.

00:41:45 It's also Saturday in Brooklyn

00:41:49 and then Tuesday in Detroit, so it's like a two day.

00:41:53 And they come back here.

00:41:55 Very weird. Very weird.

00:41:57 I don't know how many games have they lost now.

00:41:59 What is it? Twenty three.

00:42:01 They're five away from the record.

00:42:03 If you don't tell you what, if they break the record,

00:42:05 I will buy a Pistons jersey with the number whenever they win.

00:42:10 And it'll say straight is the name.

00:42:13 Like, let's say 28 straight fire.

00:42:16 I like that.

00:42:17 And I'll hang it. I'll hang it right up there.

00:42:19 I'll do it. What do I need?

00:42:21 I mean, at this point, you kind of lose your stuff if you don't break the record.

00:42:24 Like it's all for not at this point.

00:42:26 Yeah, if you're going to suck, at least suck like the best.

00:42:28 Agree.

00:42:30 Anyways, looking around the league, the east is very wind heavy at the top.

00:42:35 Celtics five in a row, Bucks four in a row, six or six in a row.

00:42:38 And only two other teams, the Heat and the Cavs,

00:42:40 who have both won only one in a row, have winning streaks.

00:42:43 Everyone else has lost Pistons at 23.

00:42:45 A bunch of one gamers, Hornets at four games, lost Pacers at three in a row.

00:42:49 Magic at two in a row.

00:42:50 Both Celtics.

00:42:52 So the Celtics, Bucks and Sixers are really separating themselves

00:42:55 from the pack here.

00:42:56 Six or two games ahead of the Magic and four.

00:42:58 Out West, meanwhile,

00:43:02 Pelicans have won four in a row, they're seven and three in the last ten.

00:43:04 Timberwolves, Thunder, Mavericks topping the West.

00:43:07 Timberwolves kind of separating themselves from everybody else.

00:43:09 There are three games ahead of the second place.

00:43:11 Thunder Blazers have lost seven in a row.

00:43:14 They're approaching, you know, we're just as bad as everybody else territory.

00:43:18 And then the Warriors have won two in a row.

00:43:20 So they're turning it around a little bit.

00:43:21 But they are still five and five in the last ten.

00:43:23 The Suns are still four and six in the last ten.

00:43:25 So West is weird.

00:43:26 Yeah, I mean, overall,

00:43:29 there's five teams that have been pretty good.

00:43:33 Celtics, Bucks, Sixers, Wolves, Clippers all eight and two over the last ten.

00:43:38 Pretty impressive.

00:43:40 Clippers have turned around big time after they had a little bit of a rocky start

00:43:43 with James Harden.

00:43:44 I mean, luckily for them, it's starting to pan out here

00:43:49 where they went all in and it doesn't look like

00:43:53 it's going to ruin their franchise for the next ten years.

00:43:56 So good for them.

00:43:56 It still might ruin it for the next ten years, but they might get something out of it.

00:43:59 Then who's been fucking shit is, of course, Detroit Spurs

00:44:05 are one in nine in their last ten Blazers, Wizards, Hornets, Hawks,

00:44:10 all two and eight, so Hawks could lose the Pistons.

00:44:13 They've been bad enough where it's do the Pistons beat the Hawks?

00:44:16 Maybe then the Raptors have been sneaky bad, too.

00:44:19 They were one of the surprising teams that I saw in the three and seven.

00:44:22 So I put it on there.

00:44:23 Well, if Atlanta loses to the Pistons, that'd be bad.

00:44:27 Sorry, my audio cut out for a sec, because I think my phone

00:44:31 started picking something up audio wise for that.

00:44:33 It's terrible.

00:44:34 I was so confused, too, because I was I was looking at the picture

00:44:37 you sent me, which is flooding.

00:44:39 I that's the rat list I meant to say for rat list.

00:44:42 My bad. But we'll look at that.

00:44:44 But you know what?

00:44:46 My point is, that's all I was looking at.

00:44:48 So I don't know why my headphones cut out in terms of audio.

00:44:51 You did send me two game winners to look at or you put them on the sheet,

00:44:54 which we can look at here.

00:44:55 This is the Lincoln.

00:44:57 So Miami downed Chicago with a Jimmy winner and then OKC beat Denver

00:45:02 over the weekend.

00:45:02 It's always cool when you get a buzzer beater and listens against your team.

00:45:05 But cool. Jimmy stepped back over Kobe White and they win it.

00:45:10 Is that Tyler Hero dressed like a fucking dickhead?

00:45:14 You know, yes. All white. Yeah. Yeah.

00:45:16 I mean, who else would that be? Shocker, right?

00:45:18 There is big winner from Jimmy in their ugly ass

00:45:23 heat culture uniforms, and then Shay just just down the nuggets.

00:45:28 This this one's more impressive.

00:45:29 It's always more impressive to see a game winner when your team is losing.

00:45:32 Yeah, I think that's true.

00:45:35 That was cold blooded by Shane.

00:45:36 That was a tough shot to Peyton Watson played good defense here.

00:45:39 Shane was to be an absolute dog.

00:45:42 Good for him. Good for Thunder fans.

00:45:44 It's been a while for the Thunder.

00:45:46 It's good that they finally get to see their team be competitive

00:45:49 and things are finally starting to fall into place.

00:45:52 I feel like I guess if you're a Thunder fan, you kind of had this coming for years.

00:45:55 Like you knew, like all the draft picks were there.

00:45:57 If you play any two case and you know, like Thunder always a Haas,

00:46:01 like they're winning five straight finals every time you do a SIM.

00:46:05 But it's kind of cool to see it actually go there.

00:46:07 And then OKC, I mean, OKC Warriors, you said two straight

00:46:11 barely beat the Portland Trailblazers yesterday, though, who have been terrible.

00:46:15 They won because Shady and Sharp drove for a game

00:46:19 tying layup on a fast break in.

00:46:22 Potashevsky, I don't know how to put it.

00:46:25 Jim, what is it?

00:46:26 But Jim, what is it?

00:46:27 But Jim, ski pajamas, pajamas, pajamas.

00:46:30 Took a charge.

00:46:33 So there was that good for them.

00:46:36 Speaking of taking a charge, a former warrior took what he thought to be a

00:46:40 hit in the deck, not taking a charge.

00:46:42 Jordan Pool, if you're looking at the timestamps, I wrote it as Jordan Pool

00:46:46 slipped, lol, because I truly don't know what else to call it.

00:46:51 No, he slipped.

00:46:53 This is Jordan Pool against the suns with some sound effect magic for you.

00:46:57 Just what he's doing is bringing the ball and he just goes down.

00:47:05 This is crazy, man.

00:47:07 He just falls. He falls like a cartoon character.

00:47:11 Yeah, he from from the way he was standing and running.

00:47:16 I'm not sure he could have fell harder.

00:47:19 This was about the heart.

00:47:22 That's like in wrestling when like they barely get hit,

00:47:24 but they have to like act like they got hit hard.

00:47:26 That's kind of like what this looks like.

00:47:29 Look at how confused Eric Gordon is.

00:47:30 He's like, what the hell?

00:47:32 He doesn't know what to do.

00:47:33 He like freezes.

00:47:36 Well, good for the officials.

00:47:37 Like, I feel like they would have been like, oh, we have to call something here.

00:47:40 If and here is a Gordon had been anywhere near as close to pool

00:47:44 here on audio platforms.

00:47:47 This is a very one.

00:47:49 Oh, laughing.

00:47:51 Stray monkeys post punching Jordan pool and then falling down.

00:48:01 Yeah, I don't know.

00:48:02 The Wizards are a franchise here or something special.

00:48:05 I don't really know what I love this because and they were actually close

00:48:08 to that son's game credit to them.

00:48:10 But I love the sleep cycle

00:48:13 I have now where like I kind of go to bed early enough to where like I wake up

00:48:18 and I get to see all of this all at once because I had myself a nice chuckle today

00:48:22 when I was starting off at the gym in between sets.

00:48:24 It was great to see pool just fall flat on his ass, man.

00:48:28 They're they're special.

00:48:31 Speaking of Draymond Green, though, he has apparently started counseling,

00:48:34 according to Shamster on the athletic

00:48:37 Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has started counseling

00:48:39 is expected to remain sidelined via suspension for at least the next three weeks,

00:48:42 which means he was just Celtics matchup for word.

00:48:45 People around green in the organization said the four time champion

00:48:48 has been understanding and prepared to undergo the process

00:48:50 required to return the team to full capacity.

00:48:52 Those sources would not reveal the specifics of Green's counseling

00:48:54 out of respect for his privacy.

00:48:55 I mean, good for him.

00:48:58 This is kind of what you wanted for him.

00:48:59 I don't know what it'll change.

00:49:02 It feels like this is this is a bunch of bullshit.

00:49:04 I disagree. I think it's you don't disagree.

00:49:07 You just said it. You don't know what it's going to change.

00:49:09 It's a bunch of bullshit.

00:49:10 They have to have something to be like.

00:49:13 Well, I think it's good that he's trying, but I don't know how like

00:49:16 how significant the changes will be if it'll work because he is, you know,

00:49:20 so deep rooted.

00:49:21 But like that, like you said, they have to try something.

00:49:23 So I think it's good because they have to try something because it's not OK.

00:49:25 Them being like, we we got to do something

00:49:28 because we can't just be like, here, come back.

00:49:30 Like he's he's gotten ejected 20 times,

00:49:33 which is only second to Rashid Wallace, who has 29 career ejections.

00:49:37 They're like, all right, this has to stop.

00:49:39 Like we need to like put some kind of plan in place.

00:49:42 But I don't know if it's going to help.

00:49:43 And this is somebody like, I don't know.

00:49:45 I think counseling is a very good thing, but I don't know.

00:49:48 If you're a Draymond.

00:49:51 How is that going to help you not punch people?

00:49:53 Anger issues, hopefully, like hopefully they fix his anger issues

00:49:57 or get to the, you know, help his anger issues.

00:49:59 Like I said, I'm hesitant to be great when he's out there again.

00:50:01 And he's just like counting down from 10.

00:50:04 You see, if it helps a little bit, I mean, he's fucking choked somebody out

00:50:07 and punched somebody this season in the span of 10 games.

00:50:10 Like, yeah, it reminds me of the job thing where like he had the gun

00:50:13 and then said, I'm really, really sorry.

00:50:15 And then he just had the gun again.

00:50:17 A different things work for different people.

00:50:19 Sure. I think it's good to trying something

00:50:22 sticking with the Warriors, though.

00:50:23 Stephen Curry's streak of making a three in every game ended.

00:50:28 He went to what is it?

00:50:30 268 straight games of making at least one three.

00:50:32 And this year's Trailblazers stopped him of all teams.

00:50:36 Yeah, like that. That's what happened, right?

00:50:39 Crazy. Also, another fun three point thing.

00:50:45 Do you see the video of staff reacting to Keegan Murray's three point

00:50:48 like Bonanza in Sacramento?

00:50:50 How did I forget to put that in the sheet?

00:50:52 I saw that. That's crazy.

00:50:53 Is that it?

00:50:53 Is what's the record for most threes in a single game?

00:50:56 13, 14, 14.

00:50:58 Clay did it.

00:50:59 And Keegan Murray had 12 through three quarters,

00:51:02 and then they pulled him because they were killing him.

00:51:05 Good for him. I like Keegan Murray, like the Kings.

00:51:08 I thought it was sick to see him pop off like that.

00:51:11 But what did Curry have to say?

00:51:13 So here I'll play the video of Curry's against Golden State.

00:51:16 Or is this no?

00:51:16 Asked him about it because they just asked him about it.

00:51:19 They asked him about it while it was happening.

00:51:21 So their game, the Warriors game wrapped as Keegan Murray was doing it.

00:51:25 And I'll play the clip here.

00:51:26 Hopefully you guys can hear it all right through the podcast.

00:51:27 I'll shut up.

00:51:28 Up in Sacramento tonight, Keegan Murray started 12 of 13 from three.

00:51:32 You've been there in the first three quarters.

00:51:36 You've hit 13.

00:51:38 I mean, it's still going on.

00:51:40 Ah, he got hit with it.

00:51:45 Clay, Clay hypothetically had 18 in Chicago.

00:51:49 If he would have stayed in the game and

00:51:52 is it still going on?

00:51:54 Well, just how difficult is this?

00:51:57 He's still at 12.

00:51:58 I think so.

00:51:59 Pull it up.

00:52:00 And come on.

00:52:02 How would you just describe that record

00:52:05 just in terms of its difficulty to achieve?

00:52:08 You know, you and Clay have both been up there.

00:52:10 I mean, when somebody, the team knows you're hot,

00:52:14 they're going to start to shade your way, take your looks away.

00:52:18 You've got to sustain that over the course of a game.

00:52:21 12 or 13 is nuts.

00:52:23 12 or 14 right now.

00:52:25 He's getting them up.

00:52:26 How much time is left?

00:52:27 Stay tuned.

00:52:29 No, but it's

00:52:32 I will see.

00:52:34 If I was watching the Celtics play and somebody shot 12, 13 from three,

00:52:40 I'd probably whip my remote across the room.

00:52:43 He started 12, 13, then he missed the two attempts

00:52:45 he got in the fourth quarter, so he didn't break any records.

00:52:47 But I just thought it was funny that separate point shooting this week, though,

00:52:51 because you had the Brunson nine of nine game.

00:52:52 Then you had Murray do that.

00:52:55 I feel like in the past we haven't seen like high efficiency three point

00:52:59 outbursts. Usually it's by a lot of volume.

00:53:01 Like that's all the practice now up off.

00:53:03 Or do you know how to look up off the top of your head?

00:53:06 How many threes it took Clay to get the 14?

00:53:08 Or like how many?

00:53:11 Yeah, like Clay made 14 threes for the record.

00:53:14 But how many shots did he take from three that game?

00:53:16 He was 14 of.

00:53:21 Oh, where is the answer here?

00:53:22 I know they're against the Bulls.

00:53:24 Here's the game.

00:53:25 They won one forty nine to twenty four.

00:53:26 Jesus Christ. Big win.

00:53:29 He finished the night 14 of 24.

00:53:33 Yeah. See, like that's still high efficiency, like it's over 50 percent.

00:53:37 Hats off. But it's not 12 of 13 good or nine of nine.

00:53:43 You know, like this is a different breed.

00:53:45 We're seeing this week of guys just on heaters.

00:53:50 I wonder how many like I wonder if you miss some at the end of the game, though.

00:53:53 Like I wonder. Maybe, maybe he did.

00:53:55 He also didn't play in the fourth quarter, which is crazy.

00:54:00 Isn't it crazy?

00:54:01 Like guys will have record nights and then they just end up

00:54:04 like leading their team to a blowout so they don't get to really, really.

00:54:07 Let me rephrase.

00:54:08 He didn't play for the last 16 minutes of the game,

00:54:11 and he shot that well, that's fucking crazy.

00:54:14 It took him all 24 to get the 14 makes because he ended on a make for it.

00:54:19 So there's that.

00:54:21 In other news, Laurie Markkinen

00:54:24 trade value has been discussed because recently on the pod,

00:54:29 we talked about how, you know, I think it was Jake Fisher,

00:54:33 friend of the show, said he might not be untouchable anymore.

00:54:36 Kevin O'Connor, quote, What's the line for an acceptable offer for Laurie Markkinen?

00:54:40 My impression from talking to teams is something resembling the hall

00:54:44 there is just received from excuse me for Mitchell and Gobert.

00:54:47 So five is first and or players of comparable value, comparable value.

00:54:51 That ain't happening.

00:54:53 That's not going to happen.

00:54:54 Like see the the progression of Woj bombs that leads to you

00:54:58 receiving that information.

00:54:59 So there's the first one that's like the Jazz are sending Laurie Markkinen to,

00:55:04 I don't know, let's just say Oklahoma City.

00:55:07 And you're like, cool, we got Laurie Markkinen.

00:55:10 And then it's like hearing that the Thunder have sent some future first

00:55:15 to Utah for marketing, you know, like, OK, like it can't be that bad.

00:55:19 And then it's like they traded five future firsts for marketing.

00:55:22 Your head is in your hands.

00:55:24 Actually, what I was going to say, if I'm the Thunder, I do it.

00:55:27 I give a five first remarking because I have a nine.

00:55:30 Yeah, they're a bad example.

00:55:31 But like if I was the Atlanta Hawks

00:55:34 and I found out that my team traded five first for Laurie Markkinen,

00:55:38 like you have to think they don't even have like that.

00:55:42 You whatever.

00:55:44 I don't have the fucking sheets. No, I know. I know.

00:55:46 That's my point.

00:55:47 It was like it's impossible for most of these teams.

00:55:49 Like, that's crazy.

00:55:50 But if if you're making a trade where you're giving up that many first,

00:55:54 you have to think like, damn, this is our spot and we have to go all in.

00:56:00 The only teams that you could really be like they're in position to go all in.

00:56:05 And if they did, they would compete for a title is Philly,

00:56:09 who I don't think has that draft capital.

00:56:12 Maybe the Lakers, if you think they're a guy away.

00:56:15 The Clippers have already done it.

00:56:18 Phoenix doesn't have enough wiggle room cap wise.

00:56:20 You don't think it falls into it?

00:56:23 OKC falls into it, but like they're a weird one

00:56:26 because they're not like mortgaging their future, like the rest of those teams

00:56:29 would have to mortgage their future in order to get a deal done like that.

00:56:32 Kind of like how Phoenix did it for Bradley Beal.

00:56:35 They give up a zillion picks for Beal.

00:56:37 The point of that being that they think they can win a championship.

00:56:40 How many teams out there really think they can win a championship

00:56:43 if they bring in marketing?

00:56:44 OKC is maybe one.

00:56:46 The other ones listed are also a possibility.

00:56:49 But besides that, like who?

00:56:51 New Orleans.

00:56:52 Do they really think he's moving the needle for them?

00:56:55 Minnesota. Very briefly.

00:56:58 I'm cooking an OKC lorry trade up and I'm like done in two seconds.

00:57:05 I can do what I'm talking.

00:57:07 That's always impressed me, by the way.

00:57:09 Say the five or six like first, whatever, because they have a million, right?

00:57:12 It is like you have a ton of first.

00:57:13 And it's had players of comparable value now.

00:57:17 I don't want jokes because I'm actually trying to talk seriously.

00:57:21 But if you trade giddy because there's questions

00:57:26 as to his fit with Shay anyways, and he's a fine player, right?

00:57:30 And the jazz kind of do need guards if they really want that.

00:57:33 But maybe it wouldn't matter if they traded.

00:57:35 What's it called?

00:57:36 They traded marketing.

00:57:37 Maybe they would just be whatever.

00:57:39 Giddy Poku, Trey Mann and Davis Baird Towns contract in like six firsts

00:57:43 for marketing and Colin Sexton.

00:57:45 The money works.

00:57:47 OKC gets to go all in on Lori and then still have a guard

00:57:50 that can be like a bench scoring guy instead of a Josh Giddy playing next to Shay.

00:57:55 Sure. You could roll out a starting lineup of Shay Jalen Williams, Lou Dort,

00:57:59 Lori Markin and Chet Holmgren with off the bench.

00:58:02 You'd still have Colin Sexton.

00:58:05 You'd have Kendrick Williams, other Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe.

00:58:09 Hey, I don't know if that's the move you want to go all in on,

00:58:14 but like that'd be a damn good team like also Pacers.

00:58:19 Pacers, I don't think I don't know if I'm like a Pacers fan.

00:58:24 And I watch my team get market and I'm like, they can beat Milwaukee

00:58:27 and Boston and Philly.

00:58:30 I think they join like the Philly level,

00:58:34 but I don't think they're up there with the Bucks and Celtics.

00:58:36 Like I think like if they match up with Milwaukee or the Celtics,

00:58:39 like no one's going to take them seriously still.

00:58:42 Yeah, I don't know, which might be unfair, but like

00:58:46 it's just I wouldn't if I'm not OKC, I'm not trading five first for marketing.

00:58:51 That's that's the end.

00:58:52 That's where aligned.

00:58:54 All right. A lot more trade buzz.

00:58:56 Let's rapid fire through this.

00:58:58 Yeah, I just figured I'd put it all here so we could have just the report

00:59:02 in front of us.

00:59:03 All right. Rapid fires from Sam may make up the athletic Lakers.

00:59:06 Levine, Rich Paul basically saying

00:59:09 when that familiar storyline resurfaced last week about the Bulls, Zach Levine

00:59:13 with Chicago Sun-Times reporting that Levine and his representation

00:59:16 want the Lakers.

00:59:17 Paul decided to push back on the widely held premise.

00:59:19 It's not one team.

00:59:20 I don't have a specific destination for Zach.

00:59:22 I want what's best for Zach and his family.

00:59:23 When you have a guy playing the game, you want to be able to play the game happy,

00:59:26 whether it's in Chicago or elsewhere for the Lakers, who are also known

00:59:29 to have an interest in the Bulls, DeRozan and Caruso.

00:59:31 Conversation with Chicago is likely to include a request for Austin Reeves,

00:59:34 who isn't eligible to be trained till the 15th of January.

00:59:37 But by all indications, the Lakers remain as committed to reasons

00:59:39 they were when they gave him the extension this summer.

00:59:41 I wonder what that says, like that could mean

00:59:45 like they just weren't committed to him over the summer.

00:59:47 I know it's trying to present itself to where they believe in him,

00:59:50 which I'm sure they do, but they could.

00:59:53 That's also like a very tradable contract at the same time.

00:59:56 Like they could have been like signing him with like, oh, we could trade him.

00:59:59 So you see what that means to me.

01:00:02 But I stand by Rich Paul bad for the NBA.

01:00:05 76 year stuff.

01:00:07 Meanwhile, the 76 years have been studying the star player market closely

01:00:10 ever since Harden's trade request in June last year made it clear

01:00:12 he was on the way out.

01:00:13 Yeah.

01:00:14 While their focus might have been on an offense first player like Levine

01:00:16 in the preseason, the unexpected improvement in their post-harden offense

01:00:19 makes it more likely that they'll target a high end two way player

01:00:22 heading into the February thread deadline.

01:00:24 This just screams OG on Adobe to me.

01:00:26 That's all. Makes sense.

01:00:27 Yeah. Do they? Let's see.

01:00:29 They who do they trade for?

01:00:30 Oh, gee.

01:00:31 Like who does Masai Ujiri want off their roster?

01:00:34 Does he go for Tobias Harris?

01:00:36 Nobody. If I don't I don't want anybody.

01:00:37 If I'm if I'm beside you, there's nobody on that roster

01:00:39 that appeals to me.

01:00:40 It's out of Tyrese Maxey.

01:00:41 That's the thing.

01:00:42 So that makes it really hard for them.

01:00:44 Who else could be out there?

01:00:46 I don't know.

01:00:48 Like that wants to trade for Ojiri, that is that really could make a trade

01:00:52 with to get a high end two way player.

01:00:55 No, not a lot.

01:00:57 I know.

01:00:57 You know why?

01:00:58 Because the teams that have high end two way players are good,

01:01:01 are competing in those players are high end two way players

01:01:05 because they're on competing teams.

01:01:07 The only thing close is Alex Caruso, which I wouldn't hate for them, actually.

01:01:09 So sure. Go ahead.

01:01:10 OK, well, actually, you might have just hit it on the head

01:01:13 because that's probably who they're trying to talk about without actually saying

01:01:16 that.

01:01:16 What should Sacramento do?

01:01:18 It's no secret that the Kings have an appetite

01:01:20 and the assets to improve the roster is Kings general manager Monty McNair

01:01:24 explained so candidly in a mid July interview with The Athletic.

01:01:26 They entered the season with two prong plan of sorts

01:01:28 with their 15 and a record of fifth place standing the West and that rating of 17th.

01:01:32 That should cause some concern within their walls.

01:01:34 Where does this leave them at this point?

01:01:35 The interest in exploring upgrades is there, but that does not appear

01:01:37 as if any of their well publicized opinions or excuse me, options are no brainers.

01:01:41 The problem is, it seems has everything to do with the likely price of doing business

01:01:45 for these particular players.

01:01:47 They go for players with the Toronto Raptors,

01:01:48 Siakam and Nobi, who have drawn interest from the Kings in the past

01:01:51 who are headed for agency in the summer, that the massive cost of retaining them

01:01:54 in the offseason would have a significant impact on what the Kings are willing to offer.

01:01:57 Siakam is on an expiring deal and Ananobi is widely expected to decline

01:02:01 as 20 million dollar option for next season.

01:02:03 Those two particular prospects appear unlikely at the moment,

01:02:05 but they will still have a long way to go for the market to evolve.

01:02:08 And I know be more specifically, it does not appear to be significant interest

01:02:11 to the Kings.

01:02:11 Sucks. There you go.

01:02:15 Last thing, Markin doesn't want to be traded.

01:02:18 Laurie Markin doesn't want to go anywhere.

01:02:20 Let's get that part clear to start after talking with the 26 year old all star

01:02:22 forward on Saturday morning, not long before his jazz got blasted

01:02:26 by the Kings in a loss in Sacramento.

01:02:28 Quote, I just want to emphasize that I really believe in what we're building here

01:02:31 with the jazz.

01:02:32 He doesn't want to go anywhere.

01:02:35 I don't know what's happening.

01:02:36 It feels like he wants to be there.

01:02:38 Some reports out of Utah beat reporters say that he's you know,

01:02:40 they don't want to get rid of him.

01:02:42 It just sounds like they're not completely saying he's untouchable now,

01:02:45 which is fair enough, I suppose.

01:02:46 But I don't know.

01:02:47 There you go.

01:02:50 Well, you got to go first, so good luck.

01:02:52 There's all the trade buzz.

01:02:54 Now we can go into the rat list here.

01:02:56 Do you want to start?

01:02:57 I'll start. I'll start.

01:02:59 How many things you got?

01:03:01 I know much. Just a couple of things. OK.

01:03:03 So first and foremost, rat list,

01:03:07 the lady at the gym.

01:03:10 So I was at the gym today.

01:03:11 I feel like I have a problem with like 35 percent of the people

01:03:13 that go to my gym, which is kind of high for like the general public to like,

01:03:16 be like, yeah, I hate like this amount of people.

01:03:19 But I feel like every time I go in there, I'm like,

01:03:21 at least minorly annoyed with somebody today was this lady.

01:03:25 So I'm on my final exercise.

01:03:27 I could not be more excited

01:03:29 because every time I finish up at the gym, I go get coffee in my breakfast.

01:03:32 And it's like it's like a ritual.

01:03:34 So I get very like, OK, here we go.

01:03:37 Now, on my last exercise, I'm in the space

01:03:41 where there's a lot of people and that's fine.

01:03:43 It's public gym, whatever.

01:03:45 The woman next to me is having a loud conversation on her phone.

01:03:50 And I almost put the ratless is AirPods because I'm pretty sure she I did not look,

01:03:56 but I'm pretty sure she was just using AirPods to like have the conversation.

01:03:59 And she wasn't having this conversation the whole time.

01:04:02 I was about halfway through my second set and I hear hello.

01:04:07 And then I hear her start talking loudly.

01:04:10 Now, here are some facts that I know about this woman's person.

01:04:14 She was talking on the phone with whoever it was, lost their backpack.

01:04:20 She has recently started a relationship.

01:04:22 And sounded like they may have been late for whatever they were going to.

01:04:27 So my guess is it was her son.

01:04:30 But who am I to eavesdrop? Right.

01:04:32 It's very rude to eavesdrop.

01:04:34 And you don't always want to be doing that.

01:04:35 But it is very tough when you have noise cancelling headphones on

01:04:38 and you can still hear all of the details of this woman's loud phone conversation.

01:04:42 So that is my first ratless of the day.

01:04:45 If you're at the gym, they do have signs that say phone conversations to the lobby.

01:04:50 Only nobody wants to hear you talk about missing backpack.

01:04:54 I'm sorry. Agree.

01:04:57 My first ratless will be the child in the Red Robin bathroom, because I don't know.

01:05:03 So I was going we went to Red Robin for the Patriots game yesterday.

01:05:07 Go into the bathroom at Red Robin.

01:05:10 I'm like, all right, I'll pee.

01:05:11 Then we'll go to the stadium.

01:05:12 It's probably less packed here.

01:05:14 Wrong line at the Red Robin bathroom.

01:05:16 Annoying. Go in there.

01:05:18 I'm waiting. I'm waiting.

01:05:19 Whatever, whatever.

01:05:20 It's like five minutes and I'm like, do I just go and see if the bathroom

01:05:23 at the place is bigger and more open? Whatever.

01:05:25 Kid and his dad come in.

01:05:29 Kid almost gets smacked by the door, which is funny.

01:05:32 Then as everyone is trying to use the bathroom and get through the line,

01:05:38 the kid is just like doesn't shut up like he's one of those kids

01:05:41 that's just talking and talking and talking and talking.

01:05:44 And I'm sitting there like.

01:05:44 As you leave, I'm like, I just don't want it like this.

01:05:48 I'm I'm annoyed that I'm waiting for the bathroom.

01:05:50 The kid's not going to shut up.

01:05:51 And he's saying and he's like, not like just like talking, talking.

01:05:54 He's like, oh, look at that guy.

01:05:55 He's like describing things in the bathroom like it's rude kid.

01:05:59 Like and the dad is like, yeah, I know.

01:06:01 Like the dad with the dad, like with all due respect,

01:06:04 the dad is trying to be like, shut the fuck up.

01:06:06 But I was just like, I need to get out of here.

01:06:08 I thought there is two stalls and one urinal, which, by the way,

01:06:13 a terrible ratio of bathroom, you know, police.

01:06:16 Think of it like this. It could have been much worse.

01:06:19 There could have been three urinals to go along with the stalls

01:06:23 and you could have been peeing next to the child.

01:06:25 Then he just starts describing your penis.

01:06:28 This is true. Look at this guy's penis.

01:06:30 Would have been worse. Yeah.

01:06:32 But yeah, I was annoyed.

01:06:33 So she wanted to talk about your penis.

01:06:35 So we got to I got to the Gillette Stadium and the bathroom was open.

01:06:40 So it's fine.

01:06:41 Those like an annoying start to the morning.

01:06:44 I do have like a point to make about children in public places later.

01:06:48 But I will say a sporting event does not apply to this point.

01:06:52 So I'm going to save it.

01:06:55 Rat List is.

01:06:58 Well, there was a storm today, if you didn't know.

01:07:01 We talked about it a bit at the end of the show.

01:07:05 When there is a storm like the one today, there is oftentimes flooding now.

01:07:10 Near me, there is significant flooding.

01:07:14 Yes, you can pull up the picture.

01:07:17 And when there is significant flooding, there are times where you get idiots

01:07:20 trying to make their way through the flooding without getting with their car.

01:07:25 Now, as you can see on your screen here,

01:07:27 this man did not fare so well.

01:07:32 Now I sent a picture.

01:07:34 I didn't send this picture, but I sent a picture of the car and my girlfriend.

01:07:38 She was like, that's terrifying.

01:07:39 And I was like, well, it's kind of terrifying, but like also Darwinism,

01:07:43 like he drove through a flooded area and like thought to himself,

01:07:47 oh, this won't be a problem.

01:07:49 Sometimes you just kind of deserve like the situation

01:07:53 you get yourself into, like no sympathy here.

01:07:55 I wonder if the car is still there, though, because this was

01:07:57 this was taken like a while after I took my picture.

01:08:00 So there there was a significant amount of time while this person was stuck.

01:08:04 Brutal scenes.

01:08:06 I mean, that's that's peak like you get what you get, brother, like, hey,

01:08:10 games, the game,

01:08:12 rat list,

01:08:14 court, I suppose, the ratless court.

01:08:16 I know.

01:08:16 Or I know you what your answer is going to be.

01:08:19 And I know where I stand.

01:08:19 Oh, OK. Ratless.

01:08:21 I think you meant ratless like. No, no, no, no, no.

01:08:23 Well, ratless jury duty.

01:08:25 I do have jury duty in March that I've had to put off.

01:08:27 But so Taylor Swift was at the Pats game.

01:08:31 Whatever. We know I like Taylor Swift.

01:08:33 I like her music. I'm not.

01:08:34 But she cheered her booed when she was put up there.

01:08:36 Mix of both.

01:08:38 There were a decent amount of Chiefs fans at the game, so like it was a mix.

01:08:41 Yeah.

01:08:42 So games going along, whatever they show her once, it's not like

01:08:47 she's like obsessively on the double try.

01:08:49 They showed her once in like the second quarter.

01:08:50 And that was. Yeah.

01:08:51 As you would with a celebrity. Yeah.

01:08:53 They put her on and she was they put her on for like an awkwardly long period

01:08:57 of time, so you just see her mouth like, what am I supposed to do?

01:09:00 Like, what do you want me to say?

01:09:02 But I like Taylor Swift.

01:09:03 I thought it was fine. It was cool.

01:09:05 I posted a picture of it. It was whatever.

01:09:06 Henry and I are like standing up, so like it's like the equivalent

01:09:12 of the lowest section, but there's like a standing room area above it.

01:09:14 So we're standing there waiting for my uncle Danny and cousin Joe

01:09:18 who are getting food or waiting.

01:09:20 Uncle Dan, the goat.

01:09:22 Different Uncle Dan. Different Uncle Dan.

01:09:24 Yeah, this is this is Uncle Danny.

01:09:25 That is Uncle Dan.

01:09:26 He's not the goat. Sorry. He's still the goat.

01:09:28 No, he's still he's still great.

01:09:29 They're both good.

01:09:31 Shout out.

01:09:32 We are waiting and Travis Kelsey drops the ball

01:09:36 and a man yells.

01:09:39 Taylor Swift's a bitch anyways.

01:09:42 Which rude shouldn't say that, like it's kind of just like why?

01:09:46 At the same time, this man is almost certainly drunk

01:09:49 and he's at a Patriots game.

01:09:52 You expect some of that sort of behavior, right?

01:09:54 Like both can be true, correct?

01:09:56 If there was any place for the behavior,

01:09:59 sure, would be at a football game, any place to go.

01:10:01 That's the place, right?

01:10:03 It's not a nice thing to say.

01:10:04 She has nothing to do with it.

01:10:05 I understand both of that.

01:10:06 But you expect some level of idiocy at the game.

01:10:09 So that those are the thoughts that go through my head.

01:10:13 These same thoughts went through a woman next to me said differences.

01:10:17 She decided to act on the thoughts.

01:10:20 So the woman turns to the man and goes, that's not very nice.

01:10:24 Now, as you can imagine, didn't go well.

01:10:29 The man goes, I don't fucking care.

01:10:32 She's a bitch, as you would expect him to do, because like, duh.

01:10:36 And she goes, well, that's just not like that.

01:10:39 They just start going at it back and forth, back and forth.

01:10:41 Obviously, as any logical human should understand,

01:10:46 this just prompts him to do it more.

01:10:48 Yeah, because he's drunk for him.

01:10:50 She keeps getting mad.

01:10:52 She's complaining to her friends.

01:10:54 Again, yes, it's rude.

01:10:56 Yes, it's an unnecessary thing to say.

01:10:58 But two, you're not helping the situation here by trying to be this moral police

01:11:02 because it's just going to make them want to do it more.

01:11:04 It was just like the most brain dead interaction between two parties.

01:11:07 I was like, what are we doing here?

01:11:09 Why do you one? Why do you care this much about a woman you've never met?

01:11:12 I understand it's rude.

01:11:13 I agree that it's rude and I agree that it's unnecessary.

01:11:16 It is. He's clearly drunk.

01:11:17 And it doesn't matter at all.

01:11:19 Like she's never going to hear this.

01:11:21 She's never going to give a shit about this random person.

01:11:23 And he's drunk and he's just off his ass at a game.

01:11:26 Again, it's not it makes it an acceptable thing to do.

01:11:28 But you saying stop is only going to make him do it more.

01:11:31 Like, right. It's just like, what do we do?

01:11:34 If you want to do a court really on this?

01:11:37 I think the guy I don't know if you should really call it like women, bitches

01:11:41 like, yes, I agree.

01:11:43 Like in a general way, I don't know if you should do it.

01:11:45 I do think it's like whatever, like when it's a celebrity,

01:11:51 like I kind of care a little less.

01:11:53 It's like when I talked about Zion and like him having to deal

01:11:56 with being called fads, like you're famous, deal with it. But

01:11:59 I think the moral police are some of the worst people on the planet.

01:12:04 Truly, I don't like it for the most part.

01:12:07 There are times where it is necessary.

01:12:10 This is not one of them.

01:12:13 And also, she should have known that it wasn't going to end well,

01:12:16 because like you said, the man was not going to stop.

01:12:19 So she made it worse for everybody involved.

01:12:22 Yeah, I don't know that they both suck.

01:12:25 I don't know. You don't really need that.

01:12:27 The football game is not the place to be the moral police.

01:12:30 It just isn't.

01:12:32 Yeah, I agree.

01:12:34 All right. You have what?

01:12:36 Two more atlas things. I think I'm done.

01:12:38 So if you want to get done, you can wrap. Yeah.

01:12:40 OK, Jack.

01:12:43 So are you familiar with?

01:12:46 I guess we can call it girlfriend activities.

01:12:49 Of course. So there are things.

01:12:51 And I put apple picking in this category.

01:12:55 There are things that we all do.

01:12:57 We can also call it family activities.

01:13:00 That you don't I don't think anybody would ever do on their own.

01:13:04 Like, I don't think anybody is just showing up to the apple

01:13:08 orchard on their own to pick some apples. It just doesn't happen.

01:13:10 I participated in a girlfriend activity on Saturday.

01:13:18 There was no South game.

01:13:21 I went to Roger Williams Park Zoo, which is the zoo we have here in Rhode Island.

01:13:25 And I went to the holiday light show.

01:13:28 They have all Christmas lights around the park.

01:13:31 They're all designed in special ways.

01:13:33 They had a Wild West section.

01:13:36 They had aliens.

01:13:37 They had zoo animals.

01:13:39 They had actual Christmas displays.

01:13:41 This is not something I think anybody would do on their own.

01:13:48 I'm happy to do everything with my girlfriend.

01:13:52 I like her. I care about her very much.

01:13:55 I will participate.

01:13:58 But I will also tell you, aside from her,

01:14:01 the activity itself was fucking awful.

01:14:04 Too many kids,

01:14:08 even though it's for kids and it's definitely for families.

01:14:10 That's not I'm not trying to gatekeep the kids.

01:14:12 But a lot of kids, a lot of strollers,

01:14:17 a lot of people stopping in the middle of walking.

01:14:21 Not a lot of degrees.

01:14:25 Very cold. Didn't have gloves.

01:14:28 Nose was running, still getting over whatever the hell

01:14:31 this climate change cold I have is. Yeah.

01:14:35 It makes me think that.

01:14:38 We need to like kind of segregate kids away from adults like there need to.

01:14:43 I had to say it very fast because I was going to be like,

01:14:46 I think we need to bring back segregation, but for kids, no,

01:14:49 can't say it like that.

01:14:51 No, there needs to be specific things, places,

01:14:55 times for kids to participate in things,

01:14:59 because I think a holiday light show like this is absolutely for families

01:15:03 and kids should always go enjoy it.

01:15:05 But there should be special set times where there are no kids.

01:15:08 There should be restaurants where kids are not allowed.

01:15:13 There should be flights where there are no children allowed.

01:15:16 All of this should be true.

01:15:20 So this is a very long winded way of me saying there were too many kids

01:15:23 around and a thing that was meant for kids.

01:15:26 Sure. I mean, I don't have any complaints with that mindset.

01:15:31 I think they're annoying.

01:15:32 I used to complain about the kids.

01:15:35 Well, maybe not.

01:15:37 I did it.

01:15:40 They took it back.

01:15:41 It's going to happen again.

01:15:44 I got anything else or is there one more?

01:15:46 Ratless Christmas shopping.

01:15:49 Now, you know this.

01:15:52 I kind of hate Christmas.

01:15:56 I kind of hate Christmas. I think it's a big sham.

01:15:58 I think we all spend a lot of money on people and gifts for people

01:16:01 that might not necessarily want the gifts that they're getting.

01:16:03 Sure. I think there's a lot of effort and marketing that goes into it.

01:16:07 And a lot of people like it a little bit too much.

01:16:09 But today and over the weekend, I did Christmas shopping

01:16:13 specifically for the lady.

01:16:14 I went out, I got her stuff fine on Saturday, went to the Warwick Mall,

01:16:20 I got my impop Nito, it was excellent.

01:16:22 I actually enjoyed myself.

01:16:26 When I went to see my girlfriend before the holiday show.

01:16:28 I had a moment to check her shoe size, and it turns out

01:16:32 that I bought the wrong size shoe.

01:16:36 So today I returned to Foot Locker and I said, hey,

01:16:41 do you have these shoes in a different size and a size nine?

01:16:46 For those that like feet, you're welcome.

01:16:49 In a size nine.

01:16:51 They said, no, they said Providence Place, the champs sports has two pairs.

01:16:56 They give me a Foot Locker gift card,

01:17:00 which has been confirmed to work at Champs Sports.

01:17:05 The manager was nice enough.

01:17:06 He called for me to confirm that I could use the gift card there.

01:17:10 So I drive to Providence.

01:17:13 Of course, there was the storm today, risked my life to go get some shoes.

01:17:17 I arrive at Providence Place, I go to the champs, I look at the wall of shoes.

01:17:22 I do not see the pair of sneakers I'm looking for.

01:17:25 Somebody finally asked me if they can help me.

01:17:28 And I say, hey, do you have these shoes?

01:17:30 I show my receipt from Foot Locker so they know the exact thing I'm looking for.

01:17:35 The I was like, they said that you guys should have these here.

01:17:38 He sounded very unsure and went back and looked.

01:17:40 Turns out that they did not, in fact, have the shoes that I was looking for.

01:17:44 Tough. But then I realized there's a Foot Locker

01:17:48 on the top floor of the Providence Place Mall, so I make my way up there.

01:17:52 And I see the shoes on the wall.

01:17:55 I'm like, hey, do you guys have these shoes?

01:17:58 In a size nine, and she says, no, sorry, we only have them in size eight.

01:18:04 She says, Champ Sports downstairs might have them.

01:18:08 They says they have two pairs of size nine.

01:18:11 So I already asked them.

01:18:13 So I go back to the wall in the Foot Locker.

01:18:17 You can see the toll it's taken on me.

01:18:22 And I start to look at other options because I've given up hope.

01:18:27 And I finally decided on another pair of shoes.

01:18:30 I'm like, hey, do you guys have these in nines?

01:18:32 And they say, no, we have nine and a half.

01:18:34 I say, whatever.

01:18:36 I give up. I go back downstairs.

01:18:39 Now, when I parked my car in the Providence Place Mall, if you've never been there,

01:18:43 they have a big ass parking garage.

01:18:45 They have all these different entrances.

01:18:47 My entrance had a Champ Sports outlet.

01:18:49 It's different than Champ Sports that I went in.

01:18:51 So I go in there. I'm like, all right, let me see what's in here.

01:18:53 I start to peruse through and I find a couple of different pairs of shoes I like.

01:18:59 And I'm like, OK, I can get her these two pairs of shoes.

01:19:02 They're still nice. They're cheaper because this is an outlet

01:19:05 and I can spend the same amount of money.

01:19:07 So I was like, OK, I'm going to do this.

01:19:08 But let me double check the men's section of the clearance

01:19:12 because I just want to see.

01:19:14 I want to see if they had anything that I couldn't get in women's.

01:19:16 As I'm doing this.

01:19:22 The fire alarm goes off, so we have to evacuate the mall.

01:19:27 And I thought it was like a drill at first.

01:19:30 Were we in vague? Oh, we were in the airport.

01:19:32 They had the alarm go off. Remember?

01:19:34 Yeah, I didn't like it. Yeah. Not a fan.

01:19:36 Yeah. So I was like, oh, like this won't be anything.

01:19:39 But no, they evacuate us out of the store.

01:19:41 I've called it quits. I drive home.

01:19:43 And then, of course, I hit traffic.

01:19:46 So ratless Christmas shopping, because that was an unnecessary

01:19:50 four hours of my life that I wasted

01:19:52 getting dicked around by sneaker stores only to come back home.

01:19:56 I was like, I'm going to go back to the stores only to come out empty handed.

01:20:00 That is it for me.

01:20:04 Yeah, it doesn't sound like you had a fun experience there.

01:20:08 Yeah. For a guy who already doesn't like Christmas, it sounds quite the

01:20:11 like, what the I got a lot of like, wow, I might be right today.

01:20:15 Reinforcement from the.

01:20:17 Was that today? That was this morning.

01:20:18 That was literally like when I texted you and you didn't see it.

01:20:22 I had gotten home from this charade.

01:20:24 And when I got home, I saw the guy stuck in the water and I was like, OK, I feel

01:20:28 tough. All right.

01:20:31 Anyways, thank you all for tuning in.

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01:20:44 So, yes, we can't leave reviews on Spotify.

01:20:46 You can leave a rating.

01:20:47 That's what I figured. I figured I would make you explain it.

01:20:49 Yeah, we please leave us a rating on Spotify.

01:20:53 Five stars followed the show on Spotify,

01:20:55 but only reviews are on Apple.

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01:21:01 I'll take it out.

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01:21:26 We have a lot of fun and we put videos up every single day.

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01:21:52 We have a lot of you that reach out.

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01:22:15 You can follow me at Sam with friends and that's it for us.

01:22:18 And. Tick tock. Come on.

01:22:22 Taco Taco's having some fun here.

01:22:25 And he's bogus. These guys are ridiculous.

01:22:32 These guys are ridiculous.

01:22:36 (upbeat music)

01:22:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Celtics Trade Rumors Starting to Pile Up | How 'Bout Them Celtics

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