Takeaways from Celtics training camp & LIVE Q&A | You Got Boston with Noa Dalzell - video Dailymotion

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CLNS and SB Nation reporter Noa Dalzell goes live to share takeaways from the first week of Celtics training camp, including insights from an exclusive conversation with Jaden Springer, thoughts on Jaylen Brown's approach to this season, and which new faces we may see in the rotation this season, including Neemias Queta and more.  Tune in to get all your training camp questions answered in live time!  CLNS Media is Powered by:   Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!   Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying MLB 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.  Elevate your style game on and off the course with the PXG Spring Summer 2024 collection. Head over to https://PXG.com/GARDENREPORT and save 10% on all apparel.  Nutrafol Men! Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com/MEN and enter the promo code GARDEN!   #celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics The CLNS Media Network is the leading provider for video/audio content. CLNS is a fully credentialed member of the media with access to all NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB teams & venues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  CLNS' rebuilt their YouTube community in less than 12 months, during a pandemic that attacked sports. Wondering how? Find out here (and support our channel) - https://www.tubebuddy.com/clnsmedia  Visit the Official Home of CLNS Sports Coverage -  https://clnsmedia.com  Twitter - https://twitter.com/CLNSMedia Celtics - https://twitter.com/celticsclns Patriots - https://twitter.com/patriotsclns Bruins - https://twitter.com/bruinsclns Red Sox - https://twitter.com/redsoxclns Non-Sports - https://twitter.com/northstation Facebook - http://facebook.com/clnsmedia INSTA - http://Instagram.com/clnsmedia INSTA Celtics - http://Instagram.com/celticsclns INSTA History - http://Instagram.com/nbahistoryclns

Transcript

00:00What's up, everyone?

00:23This is Noah Dalzell with a new live episode of You Got Boston here to recap the first

00:29week of training camp.

00:30We've got one more day and then the Celtics will be going to Abu Dhabi.

00:34So this is the most of the media availabilities that we'll have before the season starts

00:38already happened.

00:39And so I figured I'd hop on live here tonight and just get any questions you guys might

00:44have answered about training camp and then also just share some of my takeaways and thoughts

00:49on just how the last few days have gone.

00:50It's been a lot of fun to talk to the players, talk to Joe Mizzoula.

00:54We've talked to him a bunch of times it feels like.

00:56We've really gotten a sense of things and just how this team is shaping to be.

01:00I think there's a lot of questions about Lonnie Walker, got some information about that.

01:05A couple of you are wondering about Jayden Springer and if Jayden Springer was going

01:09to see minutes this year.

01:11I sat down with him yesterday for a couple of minutes and chatted with him about where

01:15he's at, how he's feeling, how he's feeling going into the season.

01:19So lots to discuss.

01:20I think there's been some big stories coming out of camp around Jalen and some of the things

01:24that he's talked about with his new shoe and just being super motivated, being as muscular

01:30and as in shape as ever.

01:32And then obviously there's been the chat around Tatum's shot, which I won't talk about too

01:37much because honestly I don't have a whole lot to say about it.

01:41He was making the shots that I saw a lot of times I post the videos and people comment

01:45like obviously he's an NBA player, obviously he's going to make the open shots and shoot

01:50around and that's true.

01:52So all I saw was that he was making shots at shoot around.

01:55And so, yeah, I think from the first couple of days, you know, we had media day on Tuesday.

02:00We heard from most of the players on Tuesday.

02:03Then we had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

02:06So we had four consecutive days of talking to players and talking to coaches and everything.

02:13And it was great because it just kind of gave us an understanding of where this team was

02:15at.

02:16And I think the first thing that I would say is that there was really not much of a difference

02:22at all between this year's vibe and this year's team and last year's.

02:25And it actually came up when I was talking to James Springer, I said to him, like, do

02:30you feel any more veteran this year?

02:31Do you feel like you have had a little bit more of like a leadership role or not leadership

02:36role, even just like not being the new guy.

02:38And he was like, no, I'm still the new guy.

02:40You know, there was a couple of exhibit 10 signings.

02:42There's the rookies, but outside of that, like he's still him and him and X are still

02:46the newest players on the team.

02:49And so I think just from that sense, you know, sometimes you go to training camp and

02:53it seems like the environment is completely shifted.

02:55It seems like the team is completely different, or at least there's a bunch of new faces that

02:59everybody's trying to get to know.

03:01This feels like literally where we left off in June.

03:03And I think that that is most likely going to be a good thing.

03:07Just considering the fact that this was a team that just handily won the championship,

03:11but something that both Brad Stevens and Joe Mazula have talked about is the fact that

03:15that can also be a bad thing.

03:17There's complacency.

03:18You know, sometimes it helps to have a new face in the locker room and re-energizes people.

03:23And so it could go in a number of different directions here.

03:26And I think the thing that Joe Mazula has stressed is that, you know, they're going

03:29to not try to continue from last year, but they're starting from scratch.

03:34So it doesn't feel that way from watching and talking to everybody.

03:36It feels like exactly the same, but I don't think they want to continue kind of coasting

03:40off of the championship and thinking about that in that sense.

03:44And so with that, feel free to continue putting in questions in the chat, and I'll get to

03:50all of them today.

03:51I'm going to do a shorter one today because we have the last day of training camp tomorrow.

03:56And then I'll probably do something after that, and then they're going to be in Abu

04:00Dhabi.

04:01So I won't be there in Abu Dhabi.

04:02I won't have as much behind the scenes, but obviously pre-seasons on Friday.

04:06One thing I'll mention on pre-season is that Jalen Brown was talking about the fact that

04:10he has spent a lot of time in the Middle East this summer, that he has a lot of family and

04:14friends there, and that he hopes that he gets the opportunity to actually play.

04:19He was like, I don't know what the rotations are going to be.

04:21I don't know what Joe Musil's plan is, but I'm going to have a lot of people there, so

04:24I want to play.

04:25And so that was just a funny thing.

04:27I have to say, Jalen Brown, really since the playoffs, I thought that he seemed a little

04:33bit more loose in the playoffs as well, but he has been so conversational with the media,

04:39so comfortable laughing, making jokes, sticking around to like chat after he finishes the

04:44media scrums where he doesn't have to, so just like a very light energy about him.

04:48And I'm really curious to see how that manifests on the court, because obviously we saw him

04:53playing the best basketball of his career just a few months back, and he thinks he's

04:57gotten a lot better and that he's continued to work really hard.

05:00And I actually asked him, like, how is it possible that you traveled, you know, we're

05:04watching on Instagram, like you're literally all over the world.

05:07How is it possible that now you're even in better shape?

05:09And he was explaining how he has a whole team and a whole scheduler, and he shouted at Drew

05:14Moore with somebody on the staff, that everywhere he goes, he has a gym, he has exactly a plan

05:19what he's going to do.

05:20And then it's just discipline.

05:21Like he said, he didn't really take a break all summer.

05:23So I don't think this is a guy that said, let me step away from basketball for two months

05:27and get back to it, or even a month.

05:28It sounds to me like he really just continued from the finals, he maybe took a little bit

05:33of time off, but by the time we talked to him in summer league, he was back at it.

05:37So I'm really excited to see how that manifests.

05:40The obvious area of improvement in his game is free throws, like I think that was the

05:43one thing that he was struggling with last season, and I don't necessarily think that

05:47he's going to struggle with that again, necessarily.

05:50I could see him making a jump there, but it is so mental.

05:52So you know, he could have been practicing all summer, and who knows if he got better

05:55on that front.

05:56So Jalen was something that stood out to me, someone else that stood out to me was, we

06:00talked to Nami Ishikata, and he was talking a little bit about just how he's feeling really

06:05comfortable.

06:06You know, he has this multiple year contract now, last year when we were, you know, at

06:10this time he was dealing with a foot injury, he was on a two-way, he was probably going

06:13to spend a lot of time in Maine.

06:16And so yeah, I think that he's somebody that I would not be surprised, and I did a segment

06:21on this with Bobby Manning, but I would not be surprised if he's somebody you see a little

06:24bit more earlier on than maybe we had expected, especially with Porzingis out, and Luke had

06:30wrist surgery, Luke Cornett had wrist surgery, to me it was out of left field, Brad Steven

06:35said, as some of you know, and I haven't found one person that knew about it yet, so I don't

06:39think anybody knew, but yeah, certainly that is something to know, but I don't think it's

06:44the kind of injury that's going to pop up again, you know, I think he had a fracture

06:47and he fixed it, is my understanding at least.

06:50So also running through these, and if there aren't too many questions, then I'll just

06:54share a little bit more takeaways, and we'll have more updates from tomorrow.

06:59We have kind of like an off-the-record film session with Joe Mazula, and those are always

07:03helpful to better understand just what he's thinking and how things are going in that

07:08sense, so it's no media, you know, no filming or any, no quotes or anything, but it just

07:12helps kind of understand where he's coming from and everything.

07:15So first question, with the Knicks getting Kat, how do you think Porzingis will match

07:20up with him?

07:21So first of all, me and Bobby did a whole reaction show last night after the game, so

07:28feel free to, sorry, after the trade was announced, so feel free to watch, it was midnight, I

07:31was like falling asleep, but we did react to it, so if you want more on that trade,

07:35feel free to tune into that.

07:38Generally speaking, I was high on the Knicks from before, I think that they have a very

07:41well-rounded roster, I really believe in Jalen Brunson, I think that he's the type of player

07:45that you can go far with, even though I know a lot of people, the undersized guard, like

07:50there's a lot of questions about it, I just think he's a winner, just from everything

07:53that I've seen, and I have him higher up than maybe most people will have him, so yeah,

08:01so anyways, all that being said, last night, as most of you probably know, the Knicks traded

08:06Carl Anthony, Julius Randle and Dante DiVincenzo and a pick to the Wolves and got back Carl

08:13Anthony Towns in return, and I think that there was probably a number of reasons for

08:17this trade, one, they were just lacking frontcourt depth, like at the end of the day, Kat can

08:22play center better than Julius Randle can, Mitchell Robinson is out, he's not expected

08:26to be available at the start of the year, and then obviously Isaiah Hardenstein is gone,

08:31and I do think that Isaiah Hardenstein moved to Oklahoma City was probably the most underrated

08:36move of the summer, he was such a game-changer for New York, as a Celtics reporter, every

08:41time I watched him play against the Celtics, it was just, eating them up on the glass,

08:46so aggressive on rebounds, I just think that he's a headache, so getting him out of the

08:51conference is a win for Boston, getting Carl Anthony Towns back, I know that he's a very

08:56criticized superstar, I know that a lot of people think that Carl Anthony Towns is soft,

09:01and that he's had a lot of disappointing treacherous career, but there's value that he brings,

09:08like he can shoot significantly better than Julius Randle can, I think they take a little

09:12bit of a hit defensively, but he's just a little bit of an interesting defender, like

09:16he actually did a good job against Jokic, for those of you that remember the Nuggets

09:19Wolves series, he was the one guarding Jokic, not Rudy Gobert, so there's a lot to consider

09:24here, but I think overall, this trade makes the Knicks a little bit harder to guard, and

09:30then obviously you're thinking about Porzingis being his matchup, they have some similarities,

09:34I mean they can both stretch the floor, they're both actually pretty injury-prone, I saw today

09:39that Carl Anthony Towns has missed more games over the last few years than Porzingis has,

09:44and the other thing is that even though right now, that is the automatic matchup I would

09:47consider, Porzingis on Cat, like we saw last year when they were in Minnesota, that Drew

09:53Holliday guarded Carl Anthony Towns for a lot of that game, so one of the things that

09:56I've learned with covering this team is that the obvious matchup is not always the one

10:00that we see, and so I would imagine potentially it's not even the matchup that we're going

10:03to see, but it's less this one particular matchup that I'm concerned about, it's more

10:08just that I think that this is a team now that can have five threats on the floor, and

10:11they don't have as many weak spots, although defensively, you know, that pick-and-roll

10:15duo of Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns, I do think there's something to exploit there,

10:19so we'll see, I think it makes the Knicks, on paper at least, a little bit better, but

10:22it's always hard to say, everybody was super excited about Damian Lillard last year, and

10:26obviously the Bucks didn't pan out, so there's always trades that can happen that on paper

10:30look really exciting, and actually, most of the time, they don't pan out the way that

10:33we expect, and I think actually the Celtics trade is the one that, you know, the Drew

10:38Holliday and the Porzingis trades are actually like a rare one where you acquire stars and

10:42it pans out in the first year perfectly, so we'll see, but I'm excited, and I'm really

10:46excited that this is opening night, because at the beginning, I was kind of bummed that

10:49the Knicks were opening night, felt like there just wasn't enough juice there, and feels

10:53like this was what I needed to get it over the top to make this really exciting, so we'll

10:57see them in less than a month, October 22nd is when Carl Anthony Towns and the rest of

11:01the Knicks will come to TD Garden.

11:06Question here about Jscrub, and well-titled, the username we're asking the question is

11:10G-League fan, and that's a fitting person to ask, because Jscrub, from my understanding,

11:16and this hasn't been confirmed, but I've spoken to a bunch of people about this, Jscrub should

11:20be a main Celtic to begin this year, so right now, the three two-way spots are all occupied,

11:27J.D. Davison, Drew Peterson, and Anton Watson, who was drafted in the second round, and so

11:33there is not an available two-way slot, Jscrub had a two-way slot last year at this time,

11:38and then he tore his ACL in camp, and it's a huge bummer for somebody like him, because

11:44he was waived, and then Drew Peterson was signed later on, and so just, yeah, it was

11:48a huge bummer, but from what I understand, I saw him at the Auerbach Center, not working

11:53out, but just kind of walking around, he talked to Bobby a little while ago, he said he was

11:58at 80% health, I believe, I don't think that he's cleared completely to be in-game action,

12:04my understanding is he's not traveling with a team to Abu Dhabi or anything like that,

12:07I would imagine that he is going directly to Maine, I talked to people in his camp,

12:14that's my impression of it at least, and so we'll see, if he does go to Maine, which is

12:19what it's looking to be right now, that's going to be a pretty stacked Maine team,

12:23and for those of you that followed me last year, I love covering Maine, I love covering the Maine

12:27Celtics, so we'll see how exactly that pans out, but that team is going to include J.D.

12:33Davison, who's on his third two-way, so that's a lot of two-ways, a lot of experience,

12:39also that team will include Jordan Walsh, who obviously people were excited about last year,

12:44and then had a really difficult summer league showing, so remains to be seen exactly what

12:49Jordan Walsh we're going to see, and then there's going to be a couple other guys from the Exhibit

12:5410s that are currently at training camp, and then you never know, these things can come together

12:58really quickly. Head coach will be Tyler Lashbrook, spoke to Joe Mazula about him yesterday,

13:03really glowing stuff, and then also Jaden Springer, that was Jaden Springer's guy,

13:07so he said I'm going to have to find some other guys to work with, but yeah, long answer short,

13:11you know, J. Scrubb is going to be in Maine, and then we'll see from there, maybe he gets a two-way

13:16eventually, maybe somebody else picks him up, you know, if you're not in a two-way and you're

13:19falling out, and from what I remember from J. Scrubb from last summer, like he can be really

13:23elite, like maybe that's a guy that somebody else snagged, so we'll see.

13:29Okay, question here from Gary, do you think the Celtics want Keita to start shooting threes in

13:33games, looked like he was draining them in practice? So I could just say I like to post

13:37the clips of guys shooting just because I feel like I should be giving you guys everything that

13:42I see as much as possible. Keita is a really good shooter, again, in the environment of watching him

13:48shoot threes with taking all the time in the world, he's a little bit of a slow release,

13:51but he's a really good shooter. Like, it's hard to rank, but he would be in the upper half of the

13:56team, I think, as far as just three-point percentage from just me standing and watching

14:00them shoot, which doesn't, it's not scientific, but just an example. He has been shooting threes

14:05since he got to Boston, in practice. Pre-game, he takes a bunch, after practice, he takes a bunch,

14:10at shooter rounds, he's always practicing threes. Now, the weird thing is, is that so is Luke.

14:15Luke is shooting threes pre-game, Luke is shooting threes after practice, it's a part of his routine,

14:21and obviously, as everybody that watches this team knows, Luke doesn't shoot threes in games.

14:26And so, yeah, it's a little bit confusing, because Luke Hornet is a three-point shooter,

14:31he's the all-time leading three-point shooter among seven-footers in NCAA history. I believe

14:35he still holds that record, I don't think it's been broken. And so, to me, it's like, Luke,

14:39we have never gotten a good answer about why he does not shoot threes. I've asked Joe about it,

14:43I've asked Luke about it, like, I've never gotten a good answer. Luke said he likes practicing them,

14:48that it's a part of his game that he wants to keep fresh, but he's never said, like,

14:52you know, when I leave, when I play for a different team, I will shoot threes, or I've been told not

14:55to shoot threes for X reason. Like, I've never gotten a straight answer for it. I'll probably

14:59ask about it again, but I have asked about it, just for the record. And so, I think until we

15:04see Kato shooting threes in games, like, in my mind, he's in the same category as Luke, as somebody

15:09who practices threes, but doesn't actually shoot them in games. And maybe it's because, you know,

15:16long-term, anybody, everybody knows right now that you don't want to be the one guy in the court

15:21that can't shoot. It just makes you a liability, right? Everybody knows most teams, like, four guys

15:26on the court can shoot a one, sometimes even five. And for the Celtics last year, there were,

15:30the vast majority of playoff minutes, like, you had five threats on the floor, and I think is what

15:33made them really difficult to guard. And there's so many advanced analytics that have come out that

15:37have shown that other teams' rim protectors were constantly pulled away from the basket at a rate

15:42that is far superior than any other team's. And so, I imagine that this Kato shooting threes thing

15:47is more of a long-term project than anything that we're seeing right now. But maybe we'll see when,

15:53you know, he's going to get an opportunity early on. I mentioned it, you know, we talked to him

15:57yesterday. I did a segment on it, but I do think they were going to get an opportunity, and maybe

16:01he fires them up. So, until I see otherwise, I'm putting him in the Luke camp, though, just because

16:06I got to go with the fact that, you know, Luke's not shooting them, and he's still not a three-point

16:10shooter. You know, Kato, it's still a new thing, relatively speaking. So, okay. Question here,

16:16do you expect Joe to play the starting five in Dubai? JB wants to play. JB made it very clear

16:22he wants to play. He was like, I don't know the lineups, but I want to play. I'm going to have

16:26people there. I would, if I had to guess, and Joe said that they're balancing a bunch of different

16:31kind of strategies and plans. If I had to guess, I think that Joe starts the five guys that are

16:37going to be starting, especially because there's some, like, you know, promo international stuff

16:41around it. Like, I think that there's a bunch of fans that are going to be there. It's a kind of a

16:45globalizing the game initiative. If you don't have your stars play at all, I think that's probably

16:50not the best look, is my impression of it, at least. So, I've had to guess Jalen's going to start

16:56alongside the rest of the starting five, but I don't think he's going to play, like, significant minutes.

16:59Like, maybe he just plays in the first half, and they're going to get other guys going, and I'm

17:03actually excited about those other guys, because I feel like the stories of camp are always less

17:07about the stars, which are kind of more of a known thing, and more about the other guys.

17:11So, we'll see, but that's my prediction, at least.

17:17Okay, question. After more days of training camp, what's been your favorite moment while

17:21interviewing the team? I'm assuming we're talking about this year's team and not last year's team.

17:29Probably chatting with Jaden Springer yesterday. He's somebody that I think, some of you might know,

17:33I'm really excited about him. I think the two full games that we've watched him play

17:37were super impressive, both in, as a G League player, he played one game last year, and then

17:41also one summer league game, but then other than that, we really haven't seen him play a lot.

17:44And so, he's somebody I'm just fascinated by. I think that his defensive skilling is so high.

17:49I see, you know, I think if you have a gift like that, like, it's just, it's worth being excited

17:54about a player, and everything else, maybe it could come around, maybe it won't. But yeah, I did a one-on-one

17:57with him yesterday. You can check that out on Celticsblog.com if you want to read the whole story.

18:01But he's just a really nice guy. I've interviewed him a bunch of times since he got to Boston.

18:05But the thing that I was trying to, you know, I was talking to him about his career, and where he

18:09sees his career going, and to me, it's like, what's the ceiling for Jaden Springer? Like, if I had to guess,

18:13it's being like a, you know, really elite defender who is a role player, who, you know, comes off the

18:20bench, or maybe starts, and is not, like, the primary offensive player. You know, from my vantage point,

18:25obviously, you know, just watching and reporting on him and his team. But he was like, you know,

18:31everybody wants to be the best player in the world. Like, that's where I'm, have my sights set on it.

18:34And it was just kind of a funny moment, because I don't think it's like him having unrealistic

18:38expectations, or him having an ego, or anything like that. I think it's just a reminder that, like,

18:41NBA players are different than the rest of us, and all of them think differently. And so,

18:47are different than the rest of us. And all of them think, at least most of them, I think, can

18:51think they can be the best player in the world. Like, if you ask Pritchard, what's your ceiling?

18:54Like, I think that's what he would think as well. And so, that's Jaden Springer, who has barely

18:59played in the NBA. Like, that's where he's eyeing things. And it was just an interesting conversation,

19:02and you can read more about that at Celticsblog.com. So, some Lonnie Walker questions here.

19:09Bobby did a full interview with him a couple, yes, on Friday. So, you can watch that whole

19:15interview on CLNS, all access. Question here about when we'll find out, and then also just,

19:21you can't help but hope for the best for him. He's been super, super nice. We did a scrum with him.

19:26He's gotten this question a bunch of times in various forums around, like, are you, you know,

19:32what went wrong, basically? You know, I think everybody's kind of like, how did this guy end up

19:36on a training camp deal? And he's made sure to show, you know, nothing but gratitude. He's made

19:42it very clear that he doesn't exactly know how he got here, that it wasn't what he was hoping for,

19:47but that he is going to take it and make the most out of the situation. And he's really just looking

19:52for a home. He's looking for a team that believes in him and where somewhere he can get a multiple

19:55year situation. And right now, it's not the Celtics. There hasn't been that guarantee.

20:01He has said a couple times, you know, this is what I'm hoping to happen. You know, God willing,

20:06this is what will happen. But he's also made sure to constantly disclaim that he doesn't know

20:10exactly if this is going to materialize into a 15th roster spot, and that he's open to spending

20:15time in Maine, and that he's talked about that with Brad. So we'll find out in the next few

20:18weeks. I'm not sure an exact date. Obviously, you know, the roster has to be finalized in the next

20:23few weeks before the season begins, but I will find that exact date, actually, so I can share

20:27that with you all. But yeah, it's right now, like, you know, people are wondering, how's Lonnie look?

20:31Like, he has been literally smiling at all times. Like, that's been something that stood out to me.

20:35He's, some people have like a very straight face when they're working out. He is grinning while

20:39he's shooting. Shot looks very smooth. Mostly just seen him playing, you know, shooting threes. We

20:44haven't seen much more of anything else. One thing I did not realize, how good of a friend he is,

20:49how good of friends he is with Derek White. Like, he is super, super close with Derek White. That's

20:52something that was, I know, I mean, I knew they played together in San Antonio, but never know

20:57to what extent two people might be, you know, really good friends or just teammates for a

21:01couple years, and they go their separate ways. And I also didn't realize that he was good friends

21:05with Drew Holiday, and that he spent time working out with him in Los Angeles at his home and

21:09everything. And so, Brad Stevens mentioned that, and then Bobby followed up with Lonnie on that

21:12yesterday. So, if you want more Lonnie Walker, feel free to check that out on YouTube. Celtics All Access,

21:16Yale NS All Access. I'm, I have to say, like, I'm supposed to be unbiased, but like, I am rooting

21:22for him. I think that he's just a fun player, and he seems like a really nice guy. And it's more fun

21:25to have a 15 spot field than to have it's, you know, empty for financial reasons. From a, just

21:31from a reporting standpoint, and I'm sure for the fans too, everybody would rather have Lonnie Walker

21:35on the roster than just, you know, have ownership, save some money. But, you know, you got to think

21:39about big picture things. And if he's not going to play, then I get it. But if he is going to play

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23:00Great. So, I'm just looking through these comments here. The Abu Dhabi comment,

23:04everybody is available as of right now. There's been no official injury report.

23:08So, just as far as I understand, everybody's available. Xavier Tillman said he's available.

23:12Luke said he is. But again, we haven't seen anything formal there. Obviously, Porzingis

23:16not available, needless to say. And I haven't seen Porzingis shooting or working out or anything.

23:21You guys will definitely see clips when Porzingis is on the court. That's like media B. The second

23:26that he steps out, everybody pulls their phone out. Everybody knows that everybody wants to see

23:29those clips. So, those will be available. I see a question here about the Connecticut Sun. I'm

23:34going to save that for the end so I can talk WNBA then and I'm not bouncing around. But I will do

23:38that because there's a lot to talk about there. I'm going to scroll through the rest of these

23:43though in the meantime. What do you think, what stood out to you during training camp so far?

23:48I think the main thing that has stood out to me is how similar everything is. Like how it just feels

23:54like nothing has changed at all. There hasn't, there isn't like a now that we won the championship,

23:59this is how we feel. Or now that we won the championship, you know, vibes are completely

24:02different. Like that is probably the main thing that I've noticed, honestly. So, and again, this

24:08is only my second year covering the team. So, I started last year in the middle of the year. This

24:11is my first training camp. So, it's all kind of new still. But I expected there to be like an

24:17energy of like, okay, we won the championship. Now we're talking about repeating or defending the

24:21title. And I think it comes from Joe and it's probably everybody's bought into it. But there

24:26is not any of that at all. I think the general feeling is like we are starting over. It's really

24:32hard to repeat. We're really grateful to be in the position to even be in that conversation.

24:37But it's very business, very business-like. Everybody's talking about how hard training

24:40camp has been. Drew Holliday said, last year I missed the first day of training camp, but I

24:46wish that I had missed it this year too. Because of how hard it is, like obviously joking. But

24:50you know, Jalen Brown said, you know, Missoula is a psycho in a good way. They've been doing

24:56drills where you don't score, drills where you don't pass, drills where you don't dribble. So,

25:01it sounds like they're doing all sorts of weird things. But outside of that, like the habits of

25:05everybody are the same. Jalen is in his basket working with a few coaches. Tatum's in his basket

25:11working with his few coaches. Derek's doing his shooting competitions. And it's, you know, that

25:16he always does like a trick shot that he does. And they were all working on that. You know,

25:20Charles Lee, he's the guy that's usually pretty involved. Obviously, he's the head coach of

25:24Charlotte right now. And I'll be in Charlotte in a couple of weeks covering those two Celtics games

25:29in the end of October. So, we'll see, you know, we'll see how kind of those, what kinds of losses

25:34impact the team. But it is pretty funny. It feels like, you know, there was just such little change

25:38that everybody's in their same spot and nothing's really shifted. And there's some guys that we

25:43don't actually ever see at training camp. Like, we never see Drew Holliday. I think he's a guy that

25:46maybe works out before, but he doesn't hang around after. So, I don't even know what his basket is,

25:50honestly. But everybody else, same routine as usual. Obviously, no Corsengis. That's the one

25:55guy that usually would shoot around that we just haven't seen. Question here, do you think

26:02the town straight makes ownership say, yes, I'm Lonnie? Maybe a little. I mean, it feels like,

26:12you know, the Lonnie question is more about whether they're willing to pay the luxury taxes that it's

26:17associated with signing that additional roster spot and how comfortable they feel with not having

26:21another big man backing up, you know, Corsengis in his absence. So, to me, like, I don't know.

26:27I don't think that the town straight, like, shook the landscape that much. And to be honest with you,

26:31like Lonnie Walker, like, I don't think they're expecting him to be a playoff, you know, a playoff

26:36rotation player. If they were, they'd sign him. That's kind of what it comes down to. I think

26:41what it comes down to is, you know, defensively, how he looks like, if he looks really good

26:45offensively training camp, like maybe they're thinking, okay, this is actually a guy that

26:48will change the complexion of this team. Again, this is speculative, because we haven't had any

26:54of this confirmed. But I would imagine what the conversation behind the scenes is right now is,

26:58like, how worth it is to pay a bunch of money for this player? Like, is this guy really going

27:03to impact us a lot or not? And if he's going to impact this team and actually play real minutes,

27:07like, maybe it's worth going into the luxury tax and paying, you know, millions of additional

27:11dollars. I don't have the exact amount of what it would be. But Carl Anthony Towns makes the

27:16Knicks a little bit better. But I don't know that it changes things all that much. I've heard a

27:21little bit about, like, you know, Peyton Purchase getting picked on for being smaller, but Purchase

27:25is a good defender. So, you know, it all kind of balances out, but we'll see. I have not heard

27:31anything about building a new arena. Obviously, it's something that, like, I hear radio people

27:35talking about, but it's not something that's come up around the team at all. I haven't heard

27:39anything about the ownership thing. I think Jalen Brown and Drew Hall, they both made clear, they

27:44were both asked about the ownership thing, that it's, like, kind of none of their business and,

27:47like, they're not that concerned about it. I'm sure behind the scenes internally, people are

27:51a little bit worried about it. I'm sure there's this feeling of, like, you know, I don't want to,

27:56you know, like, I don't know. They like their current ownership. You know, they like Steve

28:01Pagliuca. They like Wick. They get along well with those guys. You know, Steve has really backed up

28:06a lot of Jalen Brown's, like, off-court social justice initiatives. You know, they've done

28:09Raise the Age together, which was a criminal justice reform bill. So there's, like, no reason

28:14that they would want to, yeah, that they would want to make things, you know, get a new group or

28:20anything like that, but at the same time, like, I totally understand them not wanting to talk about

28:25it or speculate about it too much. Okay. I just saw someone said Mike is still upside down.

28:31Okay. I'm going to try to fix it. I don't know. Is this better?

28:42I might be wrong. I might have to just fix it for next time.

28:46Okay. I'm going to scroll through the recipes quick. How has Wharton Walsh looked? We haven't

28:50heard from him yet as a scrum, and then also I've only seen him, like, practice jump shots, so

28:57he was making his free throws, but not a whole lot more since Summer League. Obviously, I saw him a

29:01lot at Summer League. I talked to him a lot at Summer League. I feel bad if, like, all the Summer

29:04League guys, like, are sick of talking to me because I was the only reporter that was there

29:08in, like, the last few days of Summer League, so it was just me, like, five administrative questions

29:11for everybody that was available. So, but, you know, everything I see about Jordan Walsh, he seems

29:16like a really fun guy to be around. He seems really happy. He seems like a hard worker, and I think

29:22that he had a really tough couple weeks in Vegas, and I don't know that it's reflective of him or

29:26anybody else, anything beyond just, like, the fact that he had a bad couple shooting weeks, and as you

29:31guys, you know, those of you that have heard me talk before, like, I'm not a huge person about

29:37shooting struggles when they're in a limited sample size. I just think it's part of,

29:40part of basketball, part of life, and there's no reason to have, like, big ramifications

29:45beyond just the fact that, you know, someone is on the most consistent shooter where Jordan Walsh

29:51obviously isn't, but I think I'll be in Maine to begin the year. I think I'll probably spend most

29:54of the year in Maine, which, yeah, I guess it's kind of weird, like, you know, these draft picks

29:58keep going to Maine, and we haven't seen anybody that Brad's drafted actually end up in Boston yet,

30:03so we'll see if Jordan Walsh can crack the rotation at some point. I thought with O'Shea gone,

30:08there was, like, a slim opportunity, but then seeing him in Vegas, like, it just looks like

30:10he's still a little bit away from actually being able to impact the court, and talking to,

30:15you know, talking to Jaden Springer, who just turned 22 this week, you know, he's entering his

30:20fourth season, I believe, and Jordan makes you realize just, like, how young some of these guys,

30:24you know, Baylor Shireman is 24, right, so it's all relative here when we're talking about age

30:28and everything like that. Okay, so the path to Lonnie being on the team is that if he is not,

30:38you know, signed before training camp, he goes to Maine, and then he's, anybody can grab him,

30:43and so if you're a Lonnie Walker fan, first and foremost, you just hope that he goes to Maine,

30:47he balls out, and if he really balls out, there's going to be this feeling right away, like, I'm

30:53confident that somebody will pick him up, like, he's a scorer, he has called himself a bucket

30:57a number of times, like, instant points, and there's always guys that don't pan out, there's

31:02roster swaps, there's guys getting waived, like, there's always guys that get picked up for Maine,

31:06and he's not a traditional Maine guy, like, he's a veteran, he's a guy coming off a pretty

31:10solid couple years, so the risk to have him just be in Maine until February is that somebody else

31:15can snag him, and I would guess that somebody would, although clearly we all have the wrong

31:19impression here of what Lonnie Walker's pathway is going to look like, so that's the challenge,

31:24you know, if you could sign him to a two-way, then you, you know, you have his rights, but

31:28you can't do that here in this case, and so that's why it's like, I don't think the

31:32public would get it if he went to Maine, I think that somebody else would eventually grab him,

31:36unless he goes to Maine, he doesn't do that well, but you never know, I think that it's hard to

31:39adjust from being a role player in the NBA to now you're trying to show off in Maine and show that

31:42you're really good, so although Isaiah Thomas has made a career out of showing us how to dominate,

31:46you know, in Maine, so we'll see, I'll share anything more that I learned, it's kind of

31:51funny how much we've been talking about Lonnie Walker because he's like, you know, on an exhibit

31:5510, but I also totally get it because Lonnie Walker is somebody that people are excited about,

32:00and for good reason, because he is, he's a, he was a big name, he was one of the bigger

32:04names going into free agency that was undetermined late in the summer, and next, you know, something's

32:08grabbed him, and now it's looking like maybe he won't even stay here, so I'll keep sharing

32:11anything that we report on him, but yeah, yeah, I'm seeing a comment here that it would make sense

32:19that he'd be close with White and Holiday, yeah, I think that defensive potential is there, but

32:23it's also been one of the question marks around him. On the Lonnie Walker thing, I think we've

32:28talked a little bit about this, but so much of what I realized is, like, this stuff is about how,

32:33how, like, you play your cards, like, he hasn't specified at all about what went wrong, I guarantee

32:38you that there was some miscalculations with his agents or stuff like that about, like, what went

32:41wrong, but I don't know, I have a feeling that this market is just out, like, putting out a lot

32:48of people, like, I'm seeing reports that O'Shea Bursette might be going overseas, that he's,

32:52you know, being sought after by Serbian teams, and, you know, I was thinking, you know,

32:56O'Shea Bursette was opting out to get a three-year deal somewhere, and obviously he didn't get that,

33:00and so I think a lot of guys went into free agency, and maybe they made the wrong move early

33:05on, like, maybe guys passed down veteran minimums, and then somebody else got those veteran minimums,

33:09it's all a big gamble, and I think Lonnie Walker, O'Shea Bursette, Markel Fultz, who's still unsigned,

33:14like, there's a lot of guys out there that are on the losing end of this gamble right now, and

33:18there's guys like Savi that got a contract, and I would not have guessed that Savi would have a deal

33:22and that Lonnie Walker wouldn't, but that's kind of the way, the name of the game, it's, you know,

33:25who you talk to, and, you know, very specific things about you, and, you know, reputational

33:29things, and so it's more complicated, I guess, than it might look on paper just looking at box scores.

33:35Early impressions of Baylor, hearing really good things, I haven't seen him play at all

33:41since Vegas, I thought that he looked solid in Vegas, he mentioned that he's gained 10 to 15

33:47pounds since summer league, which to me seems like a lot, like, we're talking muscle here,

33:52I saw some people saying it's not possible, he said it, I don't think, I think he'd say it only

33:57if it was true, but I can't really gauge, like, it didn't look to me, so he didn't look substantially

34:02different to me, but I don't know him that well, you know, I met him in Vegas and spoke to him a

34:05few times then and just once here, but he seems like a guy that's just happy to be here, there's

34:10something very, like, very, like, just graduated from college about him, and I say this as somebody

34:15who graduated from college a few years ago too, but he was talking about, like, oh, I can get the

34:19meal plan, I can capitalize on, like, the kitchen, I'm trying to have multiple meals here a day,

34:23like, he just doesn't really, like, I'm so happy to be here, energy, I'd imagine that he goes to

34:27Maine, I'll cover those games when I'm up there, and yeah, we'll see, we'll see if, you know,

34:35he's a guy that sneaks into the rotation, like, my initial instinct is to say he won't be, but

34:39you just never know, and I'm just gonna circle through these really quick, and then we'll wrap

34:46things up. Tillman and Luke, I haven't seen them shooting at all, so we've only heard from them,

34:54but we haven't seen anything of them. I think that's one of the things that's tough with covering

34:58the team is that, you know, they open up practice, but then a lot of guys are already out at that

35:01point, so, you know, there's a lot of guys that we watch a lot, like Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum,

35:05those guys are always in the mix, and then there's guys, like, I don't think that I've ever seen

35:11Peyton Pritchard at practice, like, he seems to get out of there quick, and maybe he was there before

35:16or whatever, so no Luke or Tillman limitations, but also no Luke or Tillman sightings, and from what I've

35:21heard, they're both good to go, and Tillman said he's been feeling a lot better since having this

35:25surgery on July 30th, so that's only two months ago. If he's already doing better, it doesn't

35:29sound like it was a very substantial thing. It was a knee scope, so yeah. Any info on the details

35:36for 741? 741 is Jalen Brown's new shoe company. He talked about it quite a bit. He said that

35:41he knows it might not be successful. He did it out of boredom and wanting to just see if there's

35:45another way to do things. Very Jalen Brown-esque move. He wants to be able to, you know, players

35:50that don't want to go the mainstream route, like Nike or whatever, like, he wants to be able to

35:56provide them with, like, a blueprint of, like, okay, I started my own company, you can do it too.

36:00He did say a bunch of times, like, no shade if you do want to do it too, if you do want to do

36:05the mainstream way, like, I think he wanted to make sure that it didn't sound like he was,

36:08you know, throwing a shot at Jason Tatum at all, so he said it, like, five times, like,

36:12totally respected. That's the path you do want to go, but, like, I wanted to try something

36:15different, and, like, I know that some people wanted to do that, but I haven't seen any ad

36:18campaigns or anything like that. I've seen the shoes. Not my personal favorites, but I'm not,

36:23like, much of a fashion shoe person anyways. They look very different. Maybe it's just, like,

36:27something I'm not used to seeing, but he's wearing them. They're $200, which I've heard

36:32people talking about that it's a little bit more, but I think the price point for kids is going to

36:36be significantly lower, though I don't have that confirmed, and then do we know if Jalen's going to

36:42sign players, college players to his shoe brand? He didn't specify who. He said that there's NBA

36:48players and college players that he's sending the shoes to, but he did not specify who those might

36:53be, and I don't know if he's going to sign people. I don't think this is going to become, like,

36:56a massive operation. I think that it was, like, a project for this past summer. I would be

37:01surprised if all of a sudden, like, Jalen Brown's, like, signing a bunch of people, but he surprised

37:05us plenty of times, so you just never know with him. Comment here on ownership. Yeah, I think

37:11everybody hopes that Steve Pagliuca is able to take the lead owner role, keep things consistent, but

37:16also financially, I don't know if he has, like, the money to do that. I know that there's been some

37:21really, really rich names in the mix. It's hard to even stack up these rich people against one another,

37:25but from my understanding, I think he'd probably have a little bit of an uphill battle to get the bid,

37:29but I know that he's interested, but again, haven't heard much confirmed at all about

37:36ownership or any of that stuff. Like, hasn't been a big story at training camp, just because, like,

37:40none of the people that are there can, like, offer that much up because they're all, you know,

37:44they're all waiting to hear as well, I think. Okay.

37:55Let me see.

37:56Okay, I think I'm going to wrap it up here. Last question I guess I'll do is,

38:00what other early season games are you looking forward to beyond New York?

38:07I think, honestly, like, I think the, I'm excited to just see the big matchups. I'm excited to see

38:13them play against the Warriors. Like, I hate to feed into that, the Olympic stuff, but I think

38:18that, you know, the Jaylen Brown, Steve, that Jason Tatum, Steve Kerr stuff, like, it's just

38:22a fun storyline. I don't think that it's actually that deep, but I think the city will be very

38:25rowdy. That's in November. And then just seeing how they stack up against, you know, 76ers,

38:29the Bucs, all the Eastern Conference rivals. The Eastern Conference just matters more because

38:33they're going to play more of those teams. So just seeing how those stack up will be a lot of fun.

38:38So with that, I will wrap up. Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. Feel free to send me additional

38:42questions via Twitter, if you'd like. Feel free to. And I will see you guys next time.

38:52Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your Saturday night. I'll have more from practice

38:56tomorrow. Updates, analysis, all that. Check out my James Springer story on Celtics blog.

39:02And in the meantime, if you want to make sure you get the You Got Boston episodes,

39:06you can subscribe on my YouTube channel, You Got Boston.

39:09Thanks so much, everyone. Have a great rest of your night.

Takeaways from Celtics training camp & LIVE Q&A | You Got Boston with Noa Dalzell

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