Celtics Banking on Team Chemistry to Win w/ Adam Himmelsbach | Celtics Beat
Adam Himmelsbach covers the Boston Celtics for The Boston Globe. Adam joins the program to discuss Jaylen Brown's comments, the Celtics pursuit of new ownership, and why continuity is key for Banner 19.
Twitter: @AdamHimmelsbach
3:43 Celtics offseason this year is boring
8:18 No bidder lined up
16:41 What Jaylen said about Bronny was true
20:46 Baylor Scheierman is clearly a rotational player
34:00 Why would you tinker w/ a championship team?
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Twitter: @AdamHimmelsbach
3:43 Celtics offseason this year is boring
8:18 No bidder lined up
16:41 What Jaylen said about Bronny was true
20:46 Baylor Scheierman is clearly a rotational player
34:00 Why would you tinker w/ a championship team?
CLNS Media is Powered by:
Prize Picks - PrizePicks.com/CLNS
Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100!
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.
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00:00Self-Explained is brought to you by the Game Time app.
00:05What's up everyone?
00:06Welcome in, a new Self-Explained
00:07just before Ev heads off on vacation,
00:10but we wanted to make sure we got this thing in
00:12so he doesn't miss any shows
00:13because he likes to be with you.
00:15Evan Valente, I am Adam Kaufman.
00:17Our guest today, I guess, Ev,
00:19we're just keeping it in the Boston Globe family
00:21because we recorded just a few days ago with Gary Washburn,
00:24and now we've got another friend of ours
00:26and a coworker of his, Adam Himmelsbach,
00:29with us on the show.
00:30Last week, it was a lot of conversations
00:32surrounding the circus
00:34that has been Jalen Brown's life of late,
00:36and this totally, at least when the news broke,
00:39unexpected looming sale of the Boston Self-Ex.
00:42We will touch on some of those things
00:44here in this show as well.
00:46We won't rehash all of it.
00:47We'll try and bring you up to speed,
00:49update it a little bit.
00:50Jalen's life has only gotten just a touch crazier,
00:53and of course, all that is going on
00:55with Team USA and the Paris Olympics rapidly approaching,
00:59but Himmelsbach, welcome, buddy.
01:00It's good to see you.
01:01How are you enjoying the off-season, such as it is?
01:04Yeah, so the question I get most often about my job is,
01:07well, what do you do when the off-season is?
01:09Don't you have some, I'm like,
01:10the off-season is a lot shorter than you would think,
01:13especially with the Self-Ex over the years,
01:15but there's always something going on, it feels like.
01:18How, I mean, this year's particularly unusual,
01:22not only because obviously Boston played
01:24as long as possible and won the championship,
01:26but the move right into the Olympics.
01:28So in a normal year,
01:29and even if you want to say Boston plays into mid-June,
01:33but a normal year being no Olympics,
01:35how long can you actually unplug
01:38before sort of dialing back in?
01:40Like the Al Horford,
01:42I'm gonna take two weeks off of basketball
01:44and then get back in the gym equivalent.
01:45What does that mean for Himmelsbach?
01:48Yeah, and the NBA August is usually your go-to month,
01:51and it still kind of will be,
01:52but typically, you get through the season,
01:57it's crazy to think about the days
01:59of the Celtics not making the playoffs,
02:01like those seasons end for those teams like April 14th,
02:04like that's an eternity ago,
02:06but for a team like the Celtics that plays so long,
02:08and it looks like they're gonna be playing
02:09deep into June for the next couple of years,
02:13you go to free agency, or the draft, I guess, first,
02:16then free agency, then summer league,
02:19and then when you get back from summer league,
02:21that's usually the time,
02:22like you take a couple of days,
02:24whatever you have left over,
02:25and then you have like a month to actually chill.
02:28The only time I was doing that
02:29was when they traded for Kyrie.
02:30I was actually on vacation when they traded for Kyrie,
02:33because that was like mid-August, like very unusual.
02:35Yeah, same, I was in Delaware when that happened,
02:38and all of a sudden, the phone starts blowing up,
02:40and I'm sorry, the Celtics did what?
02:43How long have you been on the beat at this point?
02:44I'm trying to remember.
02:47It's gonna make me sound old, I am old.
02:49It'll be 10 years in January.
02:52So you've been through all stages of the rebuild
02:55then at this point, so that's good.
02:57That means that's relevant to the question
02:59that I wanted to ask.
03:01Is now that obviously the Celtics are where they are,
03:03where, I mean, they're so locked in,
03:07when it comes to the economics of this team,
03:09free agency isn't all that interesting
03:11compared to the July 4th surrounding Horford,
03:16or Hayward, or Durant Chase, and some of those things,
03:20or even the draft where it's,
03:22what's Boston gonna do at number three
03:24when obviously it went with Brown
03:26and then Tatum after the trade back from one, all of that.
03:29Now it's like Celtics fans generally,
03:31and no disrespect obviously to Baylor Shireman,
03:34or Anton, what is it, Watson, is that it, Ev?
03:38Is that right?
03:39He's not gonna be around anytime soon.
03:40But when we talk about those-
03:42You just talked about him like two minutes ago.
03:45That's how meaningful he is to me.
03:46When we talk about those guys,
03:48generally speaking, the draft
03:49is just not that interesting right now
03:51if you're a Celtics fan, and free agency,
03:53like I said, not that interesting.
03:54So does it sort of change the whole perspective
03:56for you from a coverage standpoint?
03:59Yeah, I mean, there's no,
04:01like you mentioned, the years of all the lottery picks,
04:03and not only having them,
04:06but also having future options
04:09that could make a deal likely, it was frenetic.
04:13And there was Danny Ainge, who just, as we know,
04:15like, especially on draft night,
04:18even though a lot didn't happen necessarily on draft night,
04:22he was always looking for a big move.
04:25But yeah, now, like, I watched the draft,
04:27but previously, like, let's say they're losing
04:30the first round of the playoffs,
04:32which those early teams did.
04:34Then they'll, you spend the next couple of weeks
04:36like going to draft workouts.
04:37I left that out, what I just said to you a minute ago.
04:39But like, the Celtics invite you in,
04:41there's like six prospects there, you interview them,
04:44and then you leave, you're like,
04:45what was the point of that?
04:46I'm like, there's almost no chance
04:48this guy's gonna end up on this team,
04:50but you're asking them all the questions.
04:51Oh, what would it be like to be a Celtic?
04:53Oh, it'd be an honor.
04:54I would love to play for this team one day.
04:57Draft workouts, the more I think about it,
04:58are just the worst.
04:59So thankfully, we don't have to do those,
05:01because when the team is deep in the playoffs,
05:04your focus is on the team being deep in the playoffs.
05:07But yeah, that's cut out.
05:09And then, so because of that,
05:11you have definitely less awareness of who the prospects are.
05:14Well, so needless to say, life is much more fun now.
05:17And like I said, there's a lot going on with this team
05:20that really doesn't concern basketball.
05:22Why don't we just touch on the ownership situation?
05:25Because I don't want to spend much time on it.
05:27As it was, we didn't spend a lot of time on it either
05:29with Gary, because there's so many unknowns to this.
05:31But anything that you know, that you sense,
05:34that you feel, whatever the right word may be,
05:36outside of obviously what's been reported so far,
05:39about sort of when all of this is going to come to a head
05:42and whether it does in fact stay in the Celtics family,
05:46meaning Steve Pagliuca winds up being the guy
05:48and buying out the Groesbeck family.
05:51Yeah, like you mentioned, really nobody knows
05:53at this point, it's so early in the process.
05:57The only thing that's like really on the record
05:59and is known is like you mentioned,
06:01Steve has put it out there, he put it out there within hours
06:03that he's interested in becoming the new majority owner.
06:06And look, he has obviously a great relationship with WIC,
06:10great relationship with his family.
06:13It would be logical, but what's to say someone comes
06:17over the top with an extra billion dollars in their offer?
06:21You know, how much do you be like,
06:22oh, well, we had such a great partnership with Steve.
06:24That's true, an extra billion dollars is also pretty great.
06:28So they're going to look at all their options.
06:30The sense I get talking to people,
06:32and they alluded to this a little bit in the releases,
06:35by the end of the year, the calendar year,
06:38there's a hope that they'll at least have kind of a person
06:42or a group in place, and then the process will go
06:46from there, which it'll be a lengthy process,
06:48even after they've decided who it's going to be.
06:52Yeah, it was weird.
06:53It just seemed like when, we don't know a lot.
06:57It's kind of what makes this sort of a tough topic
07:00to talk about, but one of the things that was-
07:01It's actually our motto of the show, we don't know a lot.
07:04We don't know a lot.
07:05Game's been ending the show.
07:07The game's been up and the points don't matter.
07:10But it seemed like the consensus from some people was,
07:13oh, they must already know who they're selling it to
07:16if they're going to, as you said,
07:18they're going to try and have this thing wrapped up
07:19by the end of the calendar year here.
07:21Do you get that sense from them
07:22when you talk to people around this thing?
07:24Or is it really like, ah, this is just the time
07:27and it couldn't be any better.
07:29Time could be better.
07:30Irv wants to get out.
07:31There's a lot of estate planning that needs to happen here.
07:33So that's really mostly what drives us,
07:36not like, hell, we already have someone in mind
07:38that's going to be real simple, real easy.
07:40Yeah, no, I've gotten no indication from anyone
07:43that there is a bidder lined up
07:45and that this is just like a formality.
07:48I really get the sense it's going to be an open process
07:51and they're eager to see how it goes.
07:52Like, it's kind of a cool thing, really.
07:54Like, they got this team 2002, what was it, 360 million?
07:59I always get the exact number wrong, but not a bad,
08:02it's not a bad return on investment, right?
08:04Like in 22 years.
08:07But yeah, I don't get the sense
08:09there's any kind of like handshake deal
08:11or anything like that.
08:12Like, they're going to see who's out there.
08:14And it's going to, look, it's like,
08:15this is an obscene amount of money.
08:17Like our Mike Silverman published a story today,
08:21basically said, there's a lot of billionaires now
08:25in this world, but there's only a few, like Jeff Bezos,
08:28who could just be like, yeah, I'm going to buy the Celtics.
08:30Even the billionaires for a $5 billion purchase
08:34need other billionaires involved.
08:36Right.
08:37So it's going to, you know, you have to create these groups,
08:40figure out who's going to own how much,
08:42like there's a lot that has to happen.
08:43And, you know, we say the end of the calendar year,
08:46like it's just mid July, like six months seems
08:49like a logical timeframe to me.
08:52Have you heard, and I don't necessarily believe this
08:56to be a reality, but I'm asking
08:58because it's social media fodder
09:00and it's something people like to talk about,
09:02like in all likelihood, as you alluded to,
09:04it's going to be a billionaire that swoops in
09:06or Saudi money, or we'll see, obviously.
09:09In a perfect world, it is maybe Palyuka.
09:11I think Celtics fans would root for it to quote unquote,
09:14stay in the family.
09:15But there are so many people that are somewhat high profile
09:19who are, you know, big Celtics fans, whether it's,
09:22you know, David Portnoy, Barstool, you know,
09:25Donnie Wahlberg, you know, we know what he's achieved.
09:29You know, Matt Kalish, who's one of the co-founders
09:32of DraftKings is a season ticket holder
09:33and he's at every game.
09:34Like there are so many people that individually
09:37obviously could not go and put in a bid
09:39for the Boston Celtics.
09:40But do you see any of these types of people who are,
09:44you know, really front facing trying to put a group together
09:47to, you know, try and actually make this happen?
09:50Or is that just so far out of the realm economically
09:54being plausible?
09:56I mean, if you're talking about percentages,
09:58nothing's out of the realm.
09:59Like if you're an ownership group and you're like,
10:02hey, let's, it'd be cool to have a kind of a face of this.
10:06You're not gonna be, you know, a majority owner,
10:09but we can be like, hey, look at this person
10:11we're adding to our potential ownership group.
10:14But I have no idea, you know, who has interests,
10:18who would potentially like know the,
10:20cause you gotta know the right people.
10:21You know, you're not just gonna randomly,
10:23like the names you mentioned, just make a quick call.
10:25Hey, can I get in with you guys?
10:27This is the one thing I have found
10:29talking to these people in this industry over the years,
10:31like relationships are huge.
10:33So it's most scenarios, it's either gonna be like
10:36someone you know, or like a friend of a friend
10:39type of thing where people, this is a massive investment.
10:43Like it's, it's obviously like fun
10:44kind of toy department thing,
10:45but it's gonna be a massive investment for somebody.
10:48And you're not gonna kind of take that lightly.
10:52Yeah, I mean, what do you say, let's-
10:54You got 5 billion Kaufman?
10:55I don't have that in my checking account, unfortunately.
11:00You know, I've been saving, trying to, you know,
11:02really like the kids don't need to go to college.
11:04I could put my funds-
11:06You got a diverse portfolio, Kaufman?
11:07They understand, yeah.
11:08You seem like a diverse portfolio type of guy.
11:11You got some bobbleheads behind you,
11:13sell some of those things.
11:14Yeah, I mean, what's the going rate
11:16for open to out of package bobbleheads?
11:18I have Mac Jones right here.
11:20Everybody see that?
11:20That's some sure worth of fortune.
11:22In a Patriots uniform, for sure.
11:24Yeah, well, of course, I mean,
11:27are the Mac Jones Jacksonville bobbleheads
11:29even available yet?
11:30Because obviously I've got to have one when they are.
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13:00All right, let's get to the Jaylen Brown stuff.
13:01And you know, we, again, we don't need to sort of rehash
13:05everything that we touched on last week
13:06with the sort of political element,
13:09certainly in his opinion, definitely in Gary's opinion.
13:12I share that opinion of him being left off of Team USA.
13:16And we did the whole,
13:17as he'd been handling things as a poor teammate
13:21with his public griping sort of right after
13:24the Derrick White selection.
13:26He just spoke.
13:27This is something that is new or has happened
13:29since we last recorded.
13:31Jaylen obviously spoke out in Vegas
13:33in attending some summer league action,
13:35talking about how he reached out to Derrick White
13:38immediately and that they understand
13:42that this is not a personal attack.
13:44This is him just venting his frustration and all of that.
13:46And then of course, all of the stuff with, you know,
13:50lip reading experts out there,
13:52seemingly Jaylen criticizing Ronnie
13:55and all of that stuff that goes nuts on social media.
13:59It's just sort of a wild time to be Jaylen Brown,
14:03for lack of a better way of putting it.
14:04Does, I like, this is me sort of looking for the positive
14:09in all of this.
14:10I like the element, Adam, of,
14:13I think it's going to be motivating for him, obviously,
14:15you know, to be Eastern Conference Finals MVP,
14:17NBA Finals MVP, and yet not be All-NBA, not be Team USA.
14:22This is stuff that is going to drive him next year.
14:25And teams, especially coming off a championship
14:27are always looking for that next thing
14:30that's going to be a chip on their shoulder.
14:32This works for Jaylen Brown.
14:34I think in that sense, it's a good thing.
14:36But obviously on a very deep personal level,
14:38he is hurt, he is offended,
14:40he is bothered by all of this.
14:42Where does it go from here?
14:45I don't really think it goes anywhere.
14:47I'm not, and I get players say this,
14:51so it's hard to go against it,
14:52but I never bought into the whole, like,
14:54playing with a chip on your shoulder thing.
14:55So you think there's a world where, like,
14:58as hard as Jaylen played in the NBA Finals,
15:00the Conference Finals,
15:01how incredible he was in the playoffs,
15:03now he's going to be pissed.
15:04Now you're going to see the real Jaylen, like.
15:06Sure.
15:07It's not something, like, he's not going to be on the court
15:10for 10 seconds, left moment came.
15:11All right, this is my time to show they made a mistake.
15:14Did it piss him off?
15:15Clearly it did.
15:17He acknowledged it.
15:17He said he's going to have some more to say about it.
15:20But I don't think this is something
15:22that will, like, carry over
15:23and you'll see after effects into next season.
15:26I think you're, if you're a self-explanatory,
15:30you feel better about the fact that
15:32he really ascended in these playoffs.
15:33He was excellent throughout the entire playoffs.
15:36I mean, like you mentioned,
15:38the fact that he won Conference Finals and Finals MVP,
15:41none of us would have guessed that.
15:42And he deserved it.
15:43Like, there's an argument for Jaylen or Jason in the,
15:46in the finals, but my vote would have gone to Jaylen too.
15:49Like on top of everything else,
15:50shooting so well, he guarded Luka the entire series.
15:54Like he just had a great playoffs and he just,
15:56not just, didn't just play well,
15:57but he had like a certain calm about him
16:00and his leadership was really evident.
16:03I think if you're a self-explanatory,
16:04you just are looking forward to seeing that Jaylen
16:06carry over as opposed to,
16:08let's see the new pissed off Jaylen
16:10who didn't play for an Olympic team.
16:12Well, as you said, he alluded to the fact
16:15that he's going to have more to say on the matter,
16:16but the timing wasn't right.
16:17What, what does that mean?
16:19Does, does it mean like he's,
16:20he's going to have like put out an official statement,
16:23basically condemning Nike or,
16:25or Team USA selection committee,
16:27Grand Hill in particular, or whatever it is like,
16:29what, what does that look like?
16:31Yeah, it's hard.
16:32I mean, it's hard to tell without asking Jaylen,
16:34but it sounded like when he said it,
16:36it sounded like he was referring more
16:37to the Nike stuff in particular.
16:41Jaylen also, you know, in press conferences,
16:43he'll sometimes say some things
16:46that wouldn't surprise me at all.
16:47If he has a few days to kind of relax,
16:50think things over, talk to, you know, his agent
16:53and decide if that's something he's going to do.
16:55Maybe he will, but it also wouldn't surprise me
16:57if they just kind of move on to the next thing
17:00and put it to bed.
17:02Yeah, it was like, it's almost like too much Jaylen Brown
17:05at this point in the summer.
17:06It's like, Hey man, like I, we love you.
17:08Like might want to take it easy for a little bit.
17:09I do feel bad about the lip reading stuff
17:11just because he said that obviously not thinking
17:14every single camera in this room is on me.
17:17That's what happens when you, you know,
17:18when you're the, the, the finals
17:20in the Eastern Conference Finals MVP,
17:21you roll into, you know, any, any game,
17:23especially some of the game,
17:24like you're going to get a little bit of attention,
17:26which I think is kind of what he's looking for.
17:28But at the same time, like, I just feel like
17:30maybe taking a step back,
17:32letting the world kind of do its thing
17:35and just, and just kind of lay low for a minute.
17:37It might, might be the best advice
17:38I could possibly give Jaylen.
17:38But at the same time, like, you know,
17:40what he said about Bronny James was,
17:42I'm sure went over real well with Team USA
17:44and LeBron, who has obviously a huge hand
17:46in picking that stuff out.
17:48I'm sure that, you know, that didn't go over too well,
17:50but like, he was also like kind of right.
17:53Like, you know.
17:53That's what I was going to say.
17:54Like who hasn't had that discussion
17:56with their buddies over the past month?
17:58I don't think Bronny's a pro.
17:59I've said it.
18:00Like there's people who've said it.
18:01Like, I don't think Bronny's a pro.
18:02So he said it.
18:03And he owned it.
18:04I don't know if you saw, if you guys saw,
18:06he quote tweeted it yesterday.
18:09And he didn't deny it.
18:10Like, he wasn't like, I didn't say that.
18:12He just kind of said, oh, you know,
18:13I have a lot of respect for whatever LeBron.
18:16It's really cool to have an opportunity.
18:18He earned this opportunity to like play with his son.
18:20I'm paraphrasing obviously, but.
18:22Yeah.
18:23Having your kid in the league is the ultimate flex
18:25or whatever exactly, however he put it.
18:27But yeah, it's.
18:28It wasn't a horrendous thing to be like,
18:31I don't think this 55th overall pick
18:34who averaged four points a game at USC is an NBA player.
18:37Like.
18:38And finally just scored his first summer league points
18:40as well.
18:42Yeah. I mean, you know, you feel,
18:43you feel bad for Bronny at that point.
18:44Cause it's like every, every,
18:45every time you step on the floor,
18:47that everything's gonna be about your play.
18:48Like no matter what happens, especially if you're bad,
18:51everybody's just gonna talk about how bad you are.
18:53You know, you look at that game from last week,
18:56was it technically like Monday?
18:58I think was it Monday or Sunday?
19:01I don't, days are just molding together,
19:03but like he just,
19:05if you looked at him in like Jordan Walsh, right?
19:07Like in Jordan Walsh,
19:08sometimes looks like a baby giraffe has no idea
19:10where any of the limbs are going,
19:12but then at certain points,
19:13like, wow, this guy's awesome at defense.
19:14And I definitely, there's simply, there's something here,
19:18but you watch Bronny and you're like,
19:19I don't know what the appeal is.
19:22I mean, he hustles, I give him credit.
19:23Like he broke up an alley-oop,
19:25I think intended for Jordan Walsh from J.D. Davison.
19:28But like, other than that,
19:30I never thought at any point about like,
19:31wow, Bronny James really showed me something today.
19:33Like it just didn't happen that way.
19:35So again, when you're sitting courtside,
19:37you're having a casual conversation with your girlfriend,
19:39just being like, hey, I don't know if they're dating,
19:41but they're happy to be together all the time now.
19:43So I'm just throwing it out there.
19:44But it's like, hey, you know,
19:46we're having a casual conversation
19:47about what's happening in front of me.
19:49And maybe Jalen's at that sort of fame, guys.
19:50Maybe Jalen's like, no matter what,
19:52Jalen's the point, if he says something,
19:54it's just all of a sudden newsworthy.
19:56Or that's more of an indication
19:58of where we're at in the summer
19:59with the content machine that we all sort of like feed into.
20:03Literally anything we grab onto,
20:05we're gonna make a big deal out of it.
20:06I don't know if it's one or the other.
20:10Yeah, it's aggregation culture.
20:13Yeah, it's like I said,
20:16I feel like the Bronny thing isn't that serious.
20:19If Jalen's gonna come out
20:21and take a major like political stand against Nike,
20:25that'll be interesting to see.
20:26You know, I'll be curious to see what he has to say,
20:27see if he's curious if Nike reacts.
20:30But to say what basically everyone else is saying
20:33while sitting and watching a game
20:34and someone catches you on camera.
20:36It wasn't like he said something defamatory
20:39about Brian James.
20:40He said, I don't think he's a pro.
20:43Okay.
20:45Yeah, I'm with you.
20:47Like you said, something that we've all said
20:49at this point in time.
20:51I do wanna get into some Team USA stuff.
20:52You'll be heading to the Paris Olympics,
20:54which is, you know, it's gotta be a pretty cool experience,
20:56something I'm sure you're looking forward to.
20:58But before we get into that,
21:00obviously you haven't been in Vegas
21:01as a result of the fact that you're going there.
21:03But what, you know, sort of tuning in from afar,
21:06there's a lot of, I won't say hype, excitement.
21:10How about that around Baylor Shireman
21:12and what kind of role he actually could play on this team
21:16in the little that you've seen
21:19or just talking to people about him?
21:21Does it, do you feel like he's a rotational player here?
21:26It's hard to say that just because,
21:28so I feel like he's an NBA rotational player.
21:30I don't know if that means he's a rotational player
21:32on this championship team
21:34that's bringing its entire top nine guys back.
21:38So, you know, will he have a chance to earn that?
21:40I'm sure.
21:42He's shown some things early on.
21:43There's a reason the Celtics drafted him.
21:45He's a first round pick,
21:47like the first first round pick of the Brad Stephens era.
21:50So he'll have opportunities.
21:51And there's one thing about the Celtics team,
21:53and they did it last year,
21:54I expect them to do it even more this year,
21:56is they did a much better job this year,
21:59this past season of focusing on the playoffs,
22:02gearing everything toward the playoffs,
22:04obviously sitting out on back to back, sitting crisscross.
22:07If a guy's fingernail is hurting,
22:08all right, sit out tonight, you're fine.
22:10So I anticipate them to do that even more this coming year.
22:13So when that happens,
22:14you have a random night when three guys are sitting,
22:18and he'll get some opportunities,
22:18and that's your chance to kind of show what you can do.
22:21He's gonna be spoon-fed opportunities too,
22:23which is the best part.
22:24It's like, yeah, he's right now playing on a team,
22:26J.D. Davidson and Jordan Walsh,
22:29and maybe Anton Watson's playing with him,
22:31or Jamias Ramsey's out there.
22:33Like, yeah, he's gonna be asked to do some certain things
22:35for the summer league team
22:36that he's not gonna be asked to do
22:38when he plays for the Celtics.
22:40It's like, hey man, go sit in the corner over there
22:42and just knock down your open threes,
22:44and that's all we're gonna have to worry about here.
22:46He's gonna be playing on the floor
22:47with three guys that are on Team USA right now,
22:51so it's like, hey man, get comfortable,
22:54get comfortable with this team,
22:55get used to shooting off the catch,
22:57or shooting off the dribble,
22:58or shooting off curls, or pin downs,
23:00or get used to doing that,
23:02and the NBA floor, NBA spacing,
23:03and obviously with the basketball,
23:05but what he's doing now,
23:07and trying to run the show a little bit,
23:09because he has done a little bit of that,
23:11yeah, you're not gonna do that at all
23:12when you get to the big league roster, man.
23:14You're gonna just have to sit over there
23:15and just knock down the open ones,
23:17and you're gonna be just fine.
23:18Guard your yard, knock down open shots,
23:20and I don't know about you two,
23:22but I think he has shown the ability
23:24to do definitely one of those two things
23:26at a very high level.
23:27We'll see about the defensive stuff,
23:28but I think he's gonna fit in fine.
23:30It's just a matter of minutes for him.
23:31It's like with Hauser, and with Peyton Pritchard,
23:33like those two guys specifically,
23:35who had to sit and wait to earn playing time,
23:38and then this year, their number was called upon a lot,
23:41and those guys produced the biggest moment.
23:43So if you're Baylor Shireman,
23:45as you sit there and look at some guys on your roster,
23:47and you're like, all right,
23:48I just gotta follow that track,
23:49and we'll be just fine.
23:51Peyton got paid last year, he got his extension.
23:53Hauser's gonna get paid dramatically
23:56as soon as he feels like it.
23:57He could sign an extension, I think with the Celtics now,
24:00or wait until free agency,
24:01which is probably what he should do,
24:03and get locked up for a much bigger number.
24:05But I mean, the fact that Shireman's on a team
24:07with two guys that have come through
24:10what he's gonna go through right now,
24:12it would be a pretty positive thing for me, I think, yeah?
24:18Yeah, I would say so.
24:19I mean, again, this is,
24:21we talked about this when we had Matt Peralta on
24:24to sort of break down the draft pick at the time.
24:26Clearly, these guys are not remotely the same player,
24:30type of player, role, anything like that.
24:33But I just think that with Porzingis missing
24:35probably half the season,
24:37it's gonna open up a lot of opportunity
24:40for a variety of guys,
24:41including someone like Shireman,
24:42who is really, despite being sort of,
24:45I think he's listed as a guard,
24:46played a lot of wing, but played a ton of power forward.
24:50He's an excellent rebounder.
24:52He's a big guy.
24:53Not Porzingis big, but a big guy.
24:55I just think he's gonna get some run
24:56because they are going to,
24:58one, there's gonna be no rushing Porzingis.
25:01When he does come back,
25:02he's not gonna play more than anyone
25:05feels comfortable with him playing.
25:07I know Cornette is back,
25:08and so he'll have opportunity
25:10to play Tillman, same story.
25:11But Horford is,
25:12yeah, I feel like we have this conversation this time
25:14every year, the last few years,
25:16but this guy, he's gonna be yet another year older.
25:19He's not gonna be playing back-to-backs.
25:21He's gonna be missing considerable time.
25:23Even when he does play, the minutes are,
25:25he's gonna be at, what, 25, maybe?
25:28So I just think, again, whether it's Shireman
25:32or sort of filtering down the depth chart
25:33to some of these other guys,
25:34like more of a role for Hauser, Pritchard, and so forth,
25:37I think these guys are all gonna get some run.
25:39But Himmelsbach, again, you're gonna be heading overseas
25:44and getting ready for the Olympics.
25:45You've already spent some time with Team USA
25:48and the Celtics trio there.
25:51Sorry, Jalen, but Tatum and Holliday and White,
25:54these guys, they've been playing pretty well,
25:56and they're just sort of warmups, tune-ups
26:00that they've been playing so far.
26:02What's the attitude around this team,
26:05the feel of these guys in particular,
26:07and clearly how they fit?
26:09None of them are starting, which is fine,
26:11but all play their role.
26:13I sort of feel like on social media,
26:15not that it's any surprise to those of us
26:17that watch the Celtics night in, night out,
26:19but league-wide, it feels like there's a greater appreciation
26:22of Jason Tatum and all the things that he does well.
26:26Yeah, and you said they're not starting.
26:28Like Steve Kerr said a few times,
26:30he's using these exhibitions to try things out.
26:33I don't think he's even decided on a starting lineup yet.
26:36It wouldn't surprise me at all.
26:37Jason or even Drew gets a nod there.
26:41But yeah, they were out, and I was out in Vegas with them
26:43for about four days when they started training camp.
26:46Obviously, Derek wasn't on the team yet,
26:48so he was not there, and Jason missed the first few days.
26:51He signed his extension here in Boston
26:53and then had another personal issue.
26:56But these players are like, the cool thing is
27:00looking at kind of the last hurrah,
27:02it feels like LeBron, Steph, KD,
27:06these guys that have really just carried the league
27:09for over a decade, all teaming up really
27:11for the first time together.
27:14And it's Paris, guys just seem really,
27:22I don't want to say, I'm sure when the games start,
27:25they'll be locked in, but they just seem really honored
27:29to be with each other.
27:30They all have such respect for each other,
27:32and that came across, even LeBron saying,
27:35yeah, look up, one day we're walking into the gym,
27:39and that's what it was.
27:40Someone snapped a picture of them,
27:42a wire service photo, and it was them all
27:44walking into the gym together.
27:46And he's like, I look up, and there's me,
27:48and there's Steph Curry, there's Kevin Durant,
27:50and there's Kawhi Leonard when Kawhi was still on the team.
27:52He's like, it felt like we were going to AAU practice
27:55when we were 17, and that's kind of the vibe of it.
27:58But they're really just enjoying this very rare chance
28:02that realistically is not going to happen again
28:04with that top group.
28:05And then for the Celtics players,
28:07like obviously Jason won a gold medal last game,
28:10James Drew holidated as well.
28:13You add Derek, it's just pretty cool.
28:15There's 12 guys on this team, and 25% of them are Celtics.
28:20And obviously it's just a great experience,
28:22high-level basketball, there's things.
28:26I talked to Tyrese Halber and Vegas,
28:30and he was like, you know what, I'm looking forward
28:32to most of all is being around Drew Holiday out here.
28:35I'm like, why, with all these big names, why Drew?
28:37He's like, man, he's really the best defender I've ever seen,
28:40and I just want to learn things from him and pick his brain.
28:44So the opportunity for things like that,
28:46I don't know who, whatever, Drew's been around for a while,
28:49but I'm sure the things Derek's going to be watching,
28:51just the way the best of the best carry themselves
28:54and prepare, and maybe how they handle their post-game.
28:57So I think it'll be nothing but beneficial
28:59for three Celtics.
29:01Yeah, that was one of the interesting things
29:03that came out recently about,
29:04I think it was Jane Springer said it
29:07after his big game one summer league performance,
29:10and then he wasn't playing the second game
29:11of how valuable being around Drew Holiday every day is.
29:15Then JD Davidson backed that up as well.
29:18It's like, there's so many things that happen
29:19behind the scenes, behind closed doors
29:21of practice and things that we don't see,
29:23where Tatum calls Al Horford
29:26the best teammate he's ever had.
29:28And to your colleague's point,
29:30we've had Gary Washburn on this show,
29:32I don't know, Adam, pretty much consistently every year
29:35since you've taken over the show.
29:37And one of the things he's always pounded the table for
29:38is that we've got to have more vets on this team.
29:40You got to have more guys that have been around a while,
29:43whether it's on the coaching staff or on the team itself.
29:47It feels like Drew Holiday,
29:49for at least the guards on this team,
29:50is the guy to talk to.
29:53Kaufman, I don't know if they have a better guy on the team.
29:57I undersold the Drew trade when it happened.
30:00I was a little nervous about it.
30:01Obviously, I was an idiot and I was completely wrong.
30:04He was perfect.
30:05But the other part of that is how influential
30:09he can be on younger guys.
30:11And to hear that from Halliburton and be like,
30:12yeah, out of all these guys, Steph, LeBron,
30:15AD, and all these,
30:17yeah, the guy I want to talk to the most is Drew Holiday.
30:19That's such a luxury to have.
30:20And we talk about all the other things
30:22that Drew Holiday brings to the table.
30:24Defensively, he's just the most unique player they've had
30:27in quite some time.
30:29But the IQ stuff, the history stuff,
30:31for me, is really interesting.
30:33So to hear some people talk about that,
30:36that's, I mean, it's super beneficial.
30:38And Tatum's talked about being on Team USA before, too,
30:40where he's like, I get to learn how to wake up
30:45and how to get started with my day
30:47and how to focus early on in the day, all that stuff.
30:49It's super beneficial.
30:50But I don't know, I guess this is the stuff
30:54that you hear when all these guys get together.
30:57And I guess I'm super thrilled
30:58that these three guys have the opportunity.
31:00Because it's rare, right?
31:02How often are you gonna be on the same team
31:04as Steph Curry ever in your life?
31:05For these guys, none of them ever
31:07in the history of their careers,
31:09unless Steph goes ring chasing.
31:10So at that point, maybe Boston gets
31:13into climbing board for a year.
31:16I love all this stuff that comes out
31:18about how the younger guys switch to the older guys,
31:20and especially with Holiday.
31:22I don't know, Coffin, did you factor that
31:24into the equation when you were thinking
31:25about acquiring Drew Holiday back a year ago?
31:29His leadership, his Team USA sort of veteran experience?
31:33I didn't think about it at all.
31:34Which aspect?
31:35No, that.
31:37Yeah, I think you and I were,
31:40this is either a detriment to both of us
31:43or praising both of us.
31:45But I would say that you were ahead of the curve,
31:48definitely ahead of me when it comes to
31:50what Derek White could be for Boston this year
31:53in particular, with Marcus Smart being sent away.
31:58But I was probably higher between the two of us
32:00on the Drew Holiday acquisition.
32:02It's just, for me, bringing in Holiday
32:04sort of completed a puzzle
32:05that didn't make a whole lot of sense.
32:07I mean, people who listen to this show remember,
32:09I'm sure, that I didn't love the smart Porzingis trade,
32:13but it wasn't so much
32:16because of either of those guys individually,
32:19although I didn't love trading away Smart
32:21when it could have been Malcolm Brockton.
32:23It was more the, all right, now I feel like
32:26you've sort of gone excess on bigs and you're light on guard
32:30and what does this look like defensively
32:32and da-da-da-da-da.
32:33And if they had opened the season like that
32:34and played the season like that,
32:36I would have been very skeptical about the roster makeup.
32:39But as soon as they acquired Drew Holiday,
32:41that to me just, it buttoned all of that up.
32:44It closed all those loopholes.
32:46And so, yeah, I think he's excellent.
32:48And he's, obviously now he's a two-time champion,
32:51but coming in, he was the only one that had won a title
32:54and brought a certain level of experience
32:58and poise and locker room leadership
32:59and all of that stuff that a lot of these guys
33:02were missing, I think, in their lives
33:07when it came to a deep playoff run.
33:08And obviously we saw what happened in year one,
33:10whether that was the path and all of that,
33:16or it was the impact of guys like Holiday
33:18or all of the above, which is probably what it really is.
33:21But when it comes to all of that,
33:25Himmelsbach is sort of looking ahead to running it back
33:28because as you alluded to before,
33:30all the top nine are coming back.
33:32There have been no significant changes
33:35to this roster at all, which if you are a proponent
33:39to running back a championship team
33:40that was light years ahead of the rest of the NBA,
33:43you're a happy camper.
33:44But did this team, in your mind,
33:48need anything outside of whatever repeating motivation
33:51that Joe Mizzoula seems to be filled with
33:53based upon the stuff that's being written about
33:55with him right now?
33:57Yeah, I mean, obviously they're limited
33:59in what they can do, first of all.
34:01But second of all, no.
34:03They just marched through one of the most dominant seasons
34:07in NBA history.
34:08I don't think everybody necessarily even grasps that.
34:11To win 64 games and then roll through the playoffs
34:15and losing three times, why would you tinker with that?
34:19And it's just such a switch.
34:22Basically, any other year,
34:25there were some years that they wanted
34:27to make more significant moves and didn't
34:28and fans were furious.
34:30Any other year, you announce,
34:31hey, bringing the same group back,
34:34fans here would have lost their mind.
34:36But now there's a sense of it's comforting now.
34:39It's like, oh, wait a minute,
34:40we have all those guys back again
34:42who now have maybe a little more chemistry
34:45and now a little more comfort on the biggest stage.
34:48Now you know you can count on Sam Houser
34:51and Peyton Richard in NBA Finals games.
34:53Nothing's gonna be new to this group anymore.
34:55And they've won it and seen what it takes
34:57after missing against the Warriors two years ago.
35:01That has to feel great if you're a fan.
35:03There's no other way to really look at it.
35:07With Pritchard obviously being part of the select team
35:10and scrimmaging obviously against all those guys
35:13that we were talking about before,
35:14I know he's done stuff like this before
35:16and we're always, this time of year,
35:18we're generally talking about like pro-am Peyton Pritchard.
35:21But for him to be doing it on this stage,
35:24this level, that kind of talent around him
35:26on the other side,
35:27I just feel like we're in such a different position
35:30than we were in even one year ago with Peyton Pritchard
35:32in terms of his role in the Celtics,
35:35his comfort in Boston, the contract.
35:38Again, he is a champion now
35:40and he's getting married soon, all of this stuff.
35:43Is this Peyton truly at his high point right now?
35:47Yeah, I had a chance to speak to him in Vegas
35:50and it was like the most Pritchard thing.
35:52I asked a question kind of like you just alluded to.
35:54I was like, oh, it's pretty cool to be out there
35:58scrimmaging against LeBron and stuff.
36:01And it was like the most Peyton answer.
36:02He was like, man, I just love playing basketball.
36:05He's like, I don't care who it's against.
36:07It could be anyone, but yeah,
36:08I mean, it's an honor and everything,
36:09but more than anything, he just wants to be out there.
36:12You're not gonna see any stargazing from Peyton Pritchard
36:15and that's why fans love him.
36:17He's just like, he's a bulldog.
36:20So he said it was a good experience.
36:22He said some things he'll pick up that he'll take with him.
36:25But more than anything,
36:26if you put a ball in front of him and say,
36:27hey, there's gonna be this,
36:28like if you said, hey, there's gonna be whatever,
36:30the Stonem Pro-Am is going on next week,
36:34you'd probably be out there.
36:37Reminds me of Isaiah Thomas a little bit in that way.
36:40But yeah, it's such a swing.
36:42And of course, everyone remembers his trade requests
36:45and not just his trade requests,
36:47but them being like disappointed when he wasn't traded.
36:51Right.
36:52And to see a year and a half later,
36:54that they kind of just told him and look,
36:57like that's part of the reason they didn't,
36:58they knew this wasn't a mystery to them.
37:01They knew there was a very good chance
37:02they were eventually gonna need him
37:04and he was gonna be a key part of this team,
37:07which he became.
37:08And that's all he ever asked for.
37:09Sometimes people are like,
37:10oh, why doesn't Peyton Pritchard like the Celtics?
37:12Why does he wanna be here?
37:13All this guy wanted to do was play.
37:15He loves everything about being here,
37:16except the fact that he wasn't playing.
37:18And now he has both.
37:20So yeah, he's certainly in a good spot
37:22and he's looking forward to, like all these guys,
37:24he's looking forward to doing it all over again.
37:28I don't know if that's it.
37:29Hanging out in the gym, practicing his buzzer beaters.
37:31Go ahead.
37:31Did you get a chance to ask him about
37:33if he still hires guys from the European leagues
37:35to guard him one-on-one
37:36so he can practice during the summertime?
37:38Or is Team USA gonna be just enough for him?
37:40You know, those scrimmages with-
37:43Yeah, I did not ask him that,
37:44but judging from like his social media and stuff,
37:47I don't necessarily think that's in the plans.
37:50Like Coffin mentioned, he's got a wedding coming up.
37:52But yeah, no, he's locked in, he's ready.
37:55And that was the thing,
37:57like when I asked Drew about everyone coming back,
38:00Drew was obviously at this training camp as well.
38:03And Drew isn't a guy that like shows much emotion.
38:06And I was just halfway through my sentence.
38:09It was the day Derek and Jason
38:11had both signed their extensions.
38:12And he like flashed this big smile,
38:14which is not, you don't see from Drew very often.
38:17And he's basically like, yep, this is pretty great.
38:19Like we just won a title and now we're gonna do it again.
38:23And Jason, same thing.
38:24Jason was like, we spoke to him a day later
38:28and he just said, this is what we wanted.
38:30We didn't want changes.
38:32We wanna bring this group back
38:33and show people like last year was no fluke
38:37and we're gonna do it again
38:37and we're gonna be even louder about it.
38:40Well, for Celtics fans,
38:41the next season can't come soon enough.
38:43But for Adam Himmelsbach, it's all about the Olympics
38:46and something that a lot of people will get a chance to
38:49watch, enjoy, consume all of that in the weeks to come here.
38:54Do yourself a favor.
38:55I'm sure I'm like the 95th person to say this to you.
38:58Try and get out of that hotel room a little bit,
39:00get out of the gym, sightsee,
39:02take advantage of your time there.
39:04It looks lovely.
39:06Can't say I've ever been, but you know,
39:08maybe put it on the bucket list one day.
39:10Enjoy your trip, obviously we'll get you back on here
39:13hopefully when the real, the regular season
39:16is right around the corner to our annual preview.
39:19Yeah, I went to Paris once with my family when I was 13
39:22and this is so pathetic,
39:23but I need to make up for it.
39:24My favorite night there was the night my parents
39:27did a date night and I have two brothers
39:30and we stayed back in the hotel,
39:32rented an R movie, The Last Boy Scout,
39:36starring Damon Wayans and Bruce Willis.
39:38And we got Pizza Hut and McDonald's.
39:41That was my best memory of 13 year old parents.
39:44So I have a lot of like making up to do.
39:46Now I'm an adult, so I'm looking forward to it.
39:49Or you could recreate that night.
39:52Just think about what's-
39:53Maybe three weeks in, maybe three weeks in
39:55after eating like duck and escargot, I will be.
39:59There you go.
40:00I had my 13th birthday in Paris.
40:02Oh wow.
40:03And we were part of this travel group at the time.
40:08And our nightly activity that night was a show
40:13at the Moulin Rouge.
40:14So I had my 13th birthday at a can-can show
40:17at the Moulin Rouge.
40:19Couldn't have been any better than that.
40:22I had a great seat.
40:24That's all I will tell you.
40:25It was a dinner and a show.
40:26It was spectacular.
40:28That's amazing.
40:28Evan Adam had two very different 13th year experiences.
40:34Oh, that's amazing.
40:35Yeah, you'd have a very different memory
40:36of your time in Paris.
40:37It wasn't bad.
40:38I'll tell you, it was not bad.
40:40It was not bad.
40:41Itching to go back.
40:42All right, for Evan Valenti,
40:43for Adam Himbelsbach of the Boston Globe,
40:45check him out, check out all his great work.
40:46He'll be writing extensively, obviously,
40:48about Team USA and the chase for gold.
40:50I am Adam Kaufman.
40:51We'll be back at you next week.
40:53Enjoy and happy betting
40:55if you're wagering on this stuff as well.
40:57We'll talk to you soon.