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SportsTranscript
00:00Can you say hard hats, folks?
00:07Hard hats?
00:08Lunch pails?
00:09Steel tool?
00:10Boots?
00:11Anything short of a championship this year is a failure.
00:12Look at this boomer right here.
00:13You've just got so much talent here.
00:16Somebody said we need to apologize for Jalen.
00:18Can I pull the John?
00:19What are we apologizing for?
00:20What did we say?
00:21What did we do?
00:22Hey, Bobby Manning here.
00:31Welcome to the Garden Report Celtics Nuggets Abu Dhabi trip complete and the Celtics take
00:37both games.
00:38This one in dominant fashion, 130 to 104.
00:43Noah Dalzell here, John Zanis out doing Patriots stuff today.
00:49I think Jimmy's out singing, enjoying his Sunday, so we'll hold it down and talk about
00:56a pretty dominant win.
00:57A good start to this season, this preseason at the very least for Boston here in form.
01:04I know Noah tweeted at one point, not looking like much of a hangover here, at least to
01:09start these games.
01:10Denver, an interesting opponent.
01:12You get some great frontline competition at the beginning of these games and both starters
01:16for the most part began these games out, Horford sat out again today, so Luke Cornette
01:21got some extra run.
01:23So you take a little bit from that.
01:25I do think the second unit minutes here are trickier to talk about because I just don't
01:31like that Nuggets second unit.
01:34They got some things that might be going for them there.
01:36I think Russ sat this one out too, so you didn't even have that going for them there,
01:40but we'll get into that all some news, not a ton of news around the league right now.
01:45So we'll mostly be talking this game, both games as a whole, Celtics going to be coming
01:49back today and get into some practice before a couple more preseason games next weekend.
01:56So let's start.
01:57It is Sunday, so it's a great time to go over to prize picks.
02:01You got about 20 minutes to build your fantasy team for today.
02:05Great slate of football games, including the Patriots, who maybe don't have many guys you'd
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02:14and Miami will be putting out there as a whole will be pretty abysmal.
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03:10You can keep your guys in play for the second half, even if they go down in the first.
03:16So again, prize picks, code STEALNS.
03:20Run your game.
03:21So let's get into it, Noah, what stood out to you first and foremost from this one today?
03:27Yeah, I mean, I don't think anything, anybody missed a beat, really.
03:31That's my main observation.
03:33It was just very obvious from the jump that there wasn't like a preseason vibe on the
03:38Celtics.
03:39And I do think you're right.
03:41That second unit is pretty abysmal right now.
03:42And you know, that was that third quarter was kind of tough to watch if you're watching
03:46from a Nuggets lens.
03:48But yeah, Jalen Brown, I think as the first guy I'll mention, he just looked great across
03:52the board.
03:53He looks like he continues to make steps and involve his game.
03:55And, you know, obviously, nobody put up crazy numbers just playing, you know, 23 minutes
04:01or so.
04:02But he really stood out.
04:03I think he's gonna have a great year.
04:04We've been thinking that we've been hearing how much he's been working on his game.
04:07And tonight, I think you saw or this morning, I should say, I think you saw quite a bit
04:11of that come together.
04:13I thought Tatum's shot looked a little bit, he continues to look smoother.
04:16Again, you know, I'm not going to dive into the mechanical side, but you know, he had
04:20three of seven, he didn't look to be hesitating, he looked pretty comfortable.
04:23And then obviously, you have to shout out Sam Hauser and Peyton Pritchard off the bench.
04:27Again, I think they remain underrated as a duo, particularly how well they play together.
04:32Both were super efficient.
04:33Hauser was six of seven, Pritchard was five of seven.
04:36They made the most of their 16 minutes on the court.
04:39So those two guys, I think are going to be really huge to what the Celtics hope to do
04:42this year, particularly when considering rest and those kinds of things, I think they're
04:46going to continue to have a larger load on their plate.
04:48So those are the first four guys that come to mind, but really a lot to like, I think
04:53if you're watching this from a Celtics lens, just a lot of guys stepping up, a lot of guys
04:57doing good things.
04:58And it is a weird watch, just every quarter having a completely different unit out there.
05:01But I thought that each unit, there was things to like.
05:06Yeah, we can start with Tatum again.
05:08Another good performance from three here from him, shot looking condensed, smooth, faster.
05:14No doubt about it.
05:15It's not a drastic change by any means, as we've talked about from the start, but just
05:19a little bit more to the point and he's gotten some good results out of in a variety of different
05:23scenarios to pull up situations, look better for him, step back.
05:27He got one of those to go early in that first game.
05:30And then even just on some of those toss plays, catching the ball off a handoff or whatever
05:35it might be, they're looking pretty good in the catch and shoot scenarios.
05:38I like him out of the corner to give it to him there and he can attack a closeout with
05:42a little more space or pass out of there.
05:45So as much as we talk about the mechanics with him right now, and there obviously is
05:51a difference there.
05:53The approach to me is important as well.
05:56And he comes out of these two games, what, three or seven today, three or seven in the
06:01first game.
06:02So six of 14, that's pretty good.
06:05Just over 40%.
06:07And from the field, 40%, which you probably want to see a little higher, especially some
06:12of the plays around the rim.
06:14But overall, I like the approach here.
06:16I like the balance.
06:17You know, he's going to be shooting a lot of threes.
06:19That's going to be his role within this offense.
06:21But for me, looking back at last year, mechanics, obviously a little bit of an issue, but it's
06:27also the shot attempts, getting rid of the most difficult versions.
06:31And it's great.
06:32During the game, he and Brown, their biggest, the biggest praise you hear of these guys
06:37around the league is just how great they are at making difficult shots.
06:41But sometimes I think they can make it a little easier on these guys too, and Tatum's case
06:45in particular, getting them off the ball a little bit more, getting them closer to the
06:49basket a little bit more.
06:50He's obviously going to be the guy who puts up many of their threes, and they shot a ton
06:54again in this one, love it or hate it.
06:57He's got a good balance that we saw in these games here, which I found encouraging.
07:03Yeah.
07:04Celtics were 18 of 47 from three, 38%, Nuggets were eight of 34, 23%.
07:10So you got to like that, you know, I feel like they continue to showcase why, why the
07:15three point heavy offense works.
07:17Even when people aren't necessarily on fire, like it's just, it's hard to go up against
07:21and they do have so many weapons and Sam Hazzard came in, like didn't even hit the rim for
07:25the first few.
07:26So that certainly helped.
07:28But yeah, I thought just in general, like, you know, we only saw only a couple quarters
07:32of action, but Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, both looked super locked into me and you never
07:36know how people are going to, your stars are going to look in preseason action.
07:40But we've been hearing all the right things.
07:42Everybody's been saying the right things and felt like this was a, you know, they took
07:45it as seriously as you possibly can.
07:47All things considered, Derrick White's like diving on the floor, Jalen Brown's getting
07:51a technical, doing the too little on Jamal Murray.
07:53So, you know, as much as they could, I think it had a regular season feel when those guys
07:58were out there and then it, it died down a little bit as you kind of continued running
08:02through the rotation.
08:03But yeah, I thought that was, it was encouraging to see just their kind of them being the head
08:08of the snake.
08:09And then obviously the whole starting lineup, I thought looked good.
08:11I like Luke with the starters.
08:13I don't mind it.
08:14I don't think you lose as much as you might think on paper.
08:16I mean, obviously it's not a long term solution, but I feel like for what it is right now,
08:21it was pretty worthwhile.
08:22I like that Al Horford's at these two games, like he doesn't need, he doesn't need these
08:25two games for rhythm.
08:26He needs to save his leg.
08:28So probably, probably a good choice there by the coaching staff.
08:32Yeah.
08:33I wonder where he's at.
08:34Definitely be interesting to hear more about that this week.
08:37I probably wouldn't have predicted him to play zero across these two games.
08:42So is he not quite there yet conditioning wise?
08:45Do they feel like he needs to start this year a little more slowly?
08:48I do think there's a story there one way or another.
08:49I don't think he's hurt or dealing with anything.
08:52So we'll see what happens when they come back to practice this week.
08:55Horford did not play in either of these games, as Noah mentioned there, Cornette, the beneficiary.
09:01And this gets me so excited, his start to this game, the movement, the screening, again,
09:07all the things I've talked about for years with him, the things that don't show up in
09:11this box score right here, you saw it all in there.
09:15So concerted about playing through him, getting him touches closer than that, having him do
09:20those kickouts.
09:21He had a kick out, I think, to Springer at one point that he missed in the corner.
09:24That was just a nice, pretty play off a touch inside.
09:26And even at times in this game, trying to finish inside, he beat Jokic on a slip at
09:32one point and finished past him.
09:34I think some encouraging stuff defensively from him in these games, being able to get
09:38out on the perimeter a little bit more with guys and show against some actions, being
09:42able to deflect some passes inside.
09:44There's a play in that first game that I posted where he recovered on a pick and roll, tipped
09:48it away, almost like Giannis in there.
09:51This guy looks like he's ready to take another step.
09:54And it's so exciting to me because you are going to have nights during this regular season
09:59with Porzingis out where he might have to step into the starting lineup.
10:03And like you mentioned, he doesn't look out of place out there.
10:06He actually looks like a guy who enhances this unit with his screening, which is so
10:11good.
10:12His passing, which is underrated and even a little bit more offensive rebounding than
10:15we've seen from him in the past.
10:17Yeah, definitely.
10:18And then again, Xavier Tillman, too, like thought he looked good and thought that there
10:24was a lot of flashes, a lot of things to like in his game as well.
10:27He played 15 minutes.
10:28They played around the same.
10:29So, you know, I think you have to feel good about both of those guys heading into the
10:34regular season.
10:35I think the question is, how do they translate to the playoffs and who do you trust in those
10:39moments?
10:40And we've seen them both in flash, but from a regular season standpoint, as far as like,
10:42I know the big question is what's going to happen in Kristaps Porzingis absence through
10:46December.
10:47Like, I think you've got to feel good about those two guys splitting those minutes quite
10:51a bit.
10:52So I think that there's a lot to like there and I like and I like the idea of them kind
10:58of each offering the things that they are good at, you know, I think Tillman's shot
11:03has looked smooth.
11:04He was one of two today.
11:05I think he had one other day.
11:06So, yeah.
11:07And then Keita was the other guy.
11:09I still feel like he's he makes some defensive mistakes where it's like he does have the
11:14tools like you almost need to put someone else's brain in his body and I feel like he's
11:17just going to be there.
11:18But I still feel like he's a step behind them defensively as far as just knowing where to
11:22be.
11:23There were a couple times today when he was up against Jokic for a while.
11:25So it's like you can't really blame him for things going wrong.
11:28But I still think he's a little bit behind those two as far as faith and then being in
11:33him being able to be kind of an impactful part of the rotation.
11:36But I'm watching those three quite a bit because that's just going to be like that's a rotation
11:40spot that we know that there's going to be available minutes, whereas these perimeter
11:43players like I know I'm high on some of them and I'm excited about them, but we don't know
11:47what the opportunity is going to look like.
11:49Yeah, I feel similar about that.
11:53They went to Keita first today.
11:56So I thought you might see Tillman take a seat.
11:59That's good that he got in there today because I would have been saying, oh, is the knee
12:02not reacting well again and they got to give him some rest there.
12:05So that was just a rotation or lineup choice, I guess, going with Keita first.
12:10The one thing that does encourage me with Keita, I guess there's two things.
12:14We've heard his name mentioned among the guys who are going to be in that mix at center.
12:19So I don't think he's boxed out or there's a lack of trust with him right now.
12:23In fact, I think it's the opposite.
12:25They're trying to put him in positions to succeed on that end, knowing that he's not
12:30the best rim protector straight up.
12:32I don't think he's a guy who's going to be blocking two shots a game, disrupting shots
12:38or making consistent contests in there the way Cornette and some others are at that spot.
12:42I think for him, it's more about utilizing his athleticism.
12:46They had him off ball quite a bit in this game, like they did in the summer league,
12:49trying to roam.
12:51And I think it's just a timing thing for him right there.
12:53I think he's got the capability to be good in that role.
12:56And it's just not clicking yet.
12:58Switching's another matter.
13:00I don't know if you want him switching a ton on defense, and that's where Tillman obviously
13:04has a big advantage on him.
13:07He's capable of it, but they've put him in that position a lot in these games.
13:11And even they did some like Tillman-Cada stuff too, where Quaid was dropping back and Tillman
13:18was on the perimeter and they'd have Tillman running around a lot trying to go at him in
13:21those situations.
13:22I don't think Cada backed him up the best there.
13:25So there's obviously some room for improvement on the defense here.
13:28And another thing I noticed in this game, maybe it was just a matter of Nuggets missing
13:33a lot of shots and different lineups for Boston and not being super connected.
13:39But the Nuggets were pretty good on the offensive glass in this game.
13:42It didn't hurt Boston.
13:44Celtics still shot a lot more shots overall.
13:47Three point advantage, still a big edge for them here.
13:49And the Nuggets turned it over like crazy too, which is how this got out of hand.
13:53But I do think the Celtics looked...
13:55I was going to pick out one weakness here for them with these centers, with these lineups.
14:00They look a little vulnerable on the offensive glass for the other team, the defensive glass,
14:04I should say.
14:05Saric beat them a little bit in there, Jokic tough, Wings getting past guys.
14:12I think that did hurt them a little bit here in these two games.
14:15And Cornette's not the best defensive rebounder.
14:18Tillman a little undersized out there.
14:20Cada can help, which is another reason I think Cada will get some opportunities here in the
14:24schedule early on.
14:26But if I was going to pick one nitpick for all the center optimism we have here is that
14:30they do look a little weak on the boards without Horford and Porzingis.
14:33Yeah.
14:34And with Tatum playing half the game.
14:37That was another thing.
14:38You know, I think...
14:39Yeah.
14:40He's everything, right?
14:41When you're a little smaller.
14:42Yeah.
14:43And again, like we would talk about this a lot, but it's one of the things that's underrated
14:45is his rebounding.
14:46And ultimately, like 25 minutes tonight, he didn't have Al, Porzingis or Tatum on the
14:51floor.
14:52And so that's going to put you at a disadvantage.
14:54Yeah.
14:55And you want to see those guys.
14:56I think it's a group effort.
14:58You know, just looking at the box score, like some of the, you know, Jalen had one rebound.
15:03Derek had five.
15:05Drew had three.
15:06So nobody was like really...
15:07I don't think it was a point of emphasis, but I'm not overly concerned about it because
15:10I think when you do have this roster with Al and Tatum playing at full strength, like
15:13in the playoffs, like I don't think rebounding was really much of an issue.
15:16But yeah, certainly it's something you want to keep your eye on, especially when you're
15:19playing against teams that are, have known great offensive rebounders, which there will
15:24be some of those teams, whether it's, you know, OKC with Isaiah Hardenstein, Mitchell
15:28Robinson, if he's healthy.
15:29God, those two guys aren't on the same team anymore.
15:31But there's some teams where you definitely have to keep your eye on it.
15:34But I feel like, yeah, when Tatum comes off the floor, like rebounding complexion really
15:37changes.
15:38But yeah, certainly this was a game, though, I will say across the board, like depth looked
15:44like a big strength of this team.
15:45And the Nuggets are kind of on the opposite end of the scale where they're, they're notoriously
15:49kind of struggling on that department.
15:51But just looking at the guys that continue to have checking in, like you just you have
15:54to feel good about who they have backing up this, you know, backing up this really elite
15:59starting group.
16:00That's my perspective on it, at least.
16:02Yeah.
16:03One of my preseason questions.
16:04Can Pritchard repeat what he did last year?
16:06It looks like he can.
16:07He's going to elevate it.
16:08It looks like he can.
16:09Yeah.
16:10Hauser, who missed shots in the first game, made them in this one and extended that dominance
16:16of the second unit.
16:17So those three guys, it's going to be the core of the bench again, when they're healthy.
16:21All these other guys we're talking about aren't going to play Tillman, Springer, Walsh, whoever,
16:25when they're fully healthy.
16:27And that's essentially your eight right there.
16:29And if those three guys are clicking, connected, complementing what the starters do, you're
16:34looking at a team that's going to roll at a similar pace to what they did last year.
16:38And the big thing, as you see in a game like this, is they're able to step into bigger
16:41roles and sustain what the team's doing here, Al being out, this is what your rotation looks
16:48like.
16:49And you're going to have different lineups, different combinations that are still able
16:51to play pretty well together.
16:52So that was a huge strength of them last year, probably the biggest reason that they won
16:56the East by like 14 games or whatever it was.
17:00And when all these guys are back, you expect it to click a little bit.
17:04And the encouraging part, like you said, is that guys have taken steps.
17:08Pritchard's obviously leaner, in better shape, stronger.
17:12Those are things you want to see from him.
17:14Shot making.
17:15That's something that he wants to be better at this year.
17:18Cornette, similar deal, physically looking a little bit better, a little more poised
17:22out there, more connected and Hauser.
17:25It's just pretty much do what you did last year, though the rebounding for him with Aiden,
17:29this one is a real area of growth for him to see my exciting stuff from those three
17:33guys.
17:34Yeah, for sure.
17:36And again, you know, thinking about shot creation, like when with Brazil gets out in particular,
17:41there's going to be times when you're actually going to want Hauser or Pritchard to create
17:45their own shot a little bit more than you maybe did last year.
17:48And I think both of those two guys are guys that had really good seasons, and you'd probably
17:52just take them at face value and replicate them.
17:54But I also think they both have the potential to make a jump.
17:57And with Hauser, I think it's a little bit off the, you know, a little bit off the dribble
18:00stuff, a little bit, you know, beyond just the catch and shoots race, which we know,
18:03we know he's incredible at, like, I think there's, there's a lot to like about Hauser's
18:07potential.
18:08And even just an update, like drive or just here and there, we've seen like what Duncan
18:11Robinson's been able to add to his game and not the same player, but there's certainly
18:15flashes of like things that Hauser could incorporate.
18:17So I'm really high on both those guys, I think they play really well when they're playing
18:21together, especially and at a certain point to like, not a lot of teams have the luxury
18:25of having three of their top bench players playing for several years, together in the
18:30same system, you know, with the same group.
18:32So I think that's going to come to benefit them to a lot of times, like teams are losing
18:35those good bench players, because they go sign bigger deals elsewhere.
18:38And this team was able to stick it out.
18:40So I think that's a big part of what's, what's been really impressive for them.
18:44Definitely.
18:45And that's a good point to hear going against Jokic.
18:49So that's the standard Cornett had to reach in these games as a starter and did a pretty
18:53good job with it.
18:54And Jokic probably played at about half speed, but still, that's the best player in the world
18:59right there.
19:00He's going up again.
19:01So super encouraging stuff from those three.
19:04The depth contributions below them, a little more mixed, Keita, we mentioned him, still
19:12a ways to go in terms of picking up the defense, I think, in the mix, I think squarely in terms
19:18of their depth right now, Al goes down, he's probably playing, they're going to some combinations
19:23with him and Tillman.
19:24So they're clearly looking to develop some double big chemistry out there again.
19:29But I do want to move on to Walsh, who I thought looked pretty good again here today, not as
19:34good in the shooting department, missed all three threes.
19:36And that's another conversation here with him.
19:38But some nice plays in defensive coverage.
19:41Good ball pressure.
19:42I feel like he's sticking with guys well on the ball.
19:46They're having to bring the ball up sometimes, which I find interesting.
19:51And then on offense, his only shot came as a screener and roller.
19:55Nice finish inside.
19:57I like where he's at right now.
19:59Again, probably a good bet he's going to be in Maine this year.
20:04But he's showing a little something here in these couple of games that he can play off
20:08the starters or whoever else is out there, the second unit mostly where he's been and
20:13can apply some pressure in the other areas of the game.
20:17Didn't get on the offensive glass in this game, but I just overall liked his activity
20:21and improvement over what we saw from him in the summer league.
20:25In fact, it makes me think that a lot of his summer league could be explained by him
20:29thinking he had to go out there and take a lot of shots and put up big numbers and be
20:34a frontline guy in that scenario.
20:37And that's not what they need him to do.
20:39They need him to do all the things we've seen from him in this environment.
20:43So I don't know, injuries, risks, things like that.
20:48I want to have some hope.
20:49And I know a lot of people in the chat do as well, that maybe he can sneak into some
20:54time.
20:55I just don't think this whole year can be another lost season, not lost season, but
21:00a season where he's in Maine the entire time and miles from even thinking about appearing
21:05in Boston.
21:06I think he, given his guaranteed contract, given his draft status, given where he is
21:10in his career at this point, should be a little bit more front of mind in terms of where he's
21:15at in his development.
21:16I think starting the year for him is a good idea in Maine, but if he shows some steps
21:20up there quickly, there's a spot for the taking here.
21:24I think clearly with O'Shea gone in terms of that 10th, 11th man.
21:28Yeah.
21:29So the thing with Jordan Walsh is I think people freaked out about his summer league
21:34performance and it was, it was uncalled for.
21:36And I tried to tell her people at the time, but at the end of the day, this is not a guy
21:39that's really ever been, I'm going to go off for 25, like maybe in high school a bit, but
21:44you know, he wasn't in college.
21:45He wasn't in Maine last year.
21:47And I think that he felt a lot of pressure and he even said it when the first day we
21:50were in Vegas, he said, like, I'm going to get in my bag a little bit, like, you know,
21:54this is different than Maine.
21:55Like, I'm going to show what I can do.
21:56And then it didn't go well.
21:57And I think that then the anxiety and the pressure starts to mount and you want to rectify
22:01all the misses with more, you know, you're forcing more things.
22:04And we see it all the time in basketball, but it kind of piled on.
22:07And I think he got in his head and he was frustrated and impacted his defense.
22:11But I don't, I never thought that it was reflective of like what he is capable of.
22:15And the biggest thing that I liked out of his two summer league performances so far,
22:19I think he played, you know, 13 minutes today, 25 on Friday.
22:22So a pretty sizable sample.
22:24He just looks like way more playing, you know, under control and not forcing the issue.
22:30And part of it is because, you know, he's playing on a stacked NBA team now and not
22:34on a summer league squad or in Maine or whatnot.
22:37But I think a lot of it is I'm sure the coaching staff has been talking to him.
22:40I'm sure he's been thinking about a summer league performance all summer.
22:43And he just looks a lot more poised.
22:45And from what I'm hearing and my understanding is the plan is still for him to be primarily
22:49in Maine this year.
22:51And even guys like Baylor Shireman are ahead of him as far as the rotation goes, as far
22:55as potential opportunities, although obviously that could change quick.
22:59But yeah, you might see him come down to Boston a little bit more, at least to, you know,
23:03be available.
23:04He really wasn't available for much.
23:05You know, there was one road trip last year that he was a part of.
23:08And towards the end of the season, he joined them a little bit.
23:10But yeah, I think Jordan is one of those guys.
23:13The fans are excited about him.
23:15They get it.
23:16He's one of those.
23:17I think somebody here has a comment that kind of captures it like he gets it all together.
23:20I think that there's such a high ceiling there.
23:22And that's what people are excited about.
23:24But flashes of that certainly today, two steals and just it's just under control.
23:28You just got to slow him down a little bit.
23:30And it was tough to watch in summer league.
23:31But I also think it's reflective of summer league being a really difficult environment
23:35for a lot of types of players.
23:36Like if you're not somebody whose game translates well, it can look disastrous.
23:39And I think he fell in that category.
23:41Yeah, and I want to see some more.
23:44We're just talking about two games here with some of these guys and what they contribute.
23:48I just hope that if he's close, if he's on the edge, maybe you feel like there's some
23:55areas of his game that could fit in and others that worry you if you're Joe Mazzulla about
23:59keeping the system going and just having this team run smoothly throughout this regular
24:05season.
24:06I think that's a big component of why some guys will play and why other guys won't is
24:10I don't think Joe even wants one guy out there messing up what they're doing on either
24:14end or I think they just want to keep things in sync, which is great.
24:18And I think they have enough depth to do that.
24:21But as I've written a couple times this week, you do have to start to think ahead a little
24:24bit here, especially during this regular season where you want to get rest.
24:29You want to maybe take a step back in terms of how much you're playing guys and how much
24:35you're going for it.
24:37I don't think you need to win the East by 20 games this year.
24:40So it might benefit you even if it knocks you back just a little bit to get some of
24:45these guys in here, see what you have first and foremost, because you're going to have
24:48decisions on a lot of these guys at the end of the year and whether you want to keep developing
24:52them or not and get them opportunities, reps to develop.
24:56And obviously the biggest reason Walsh was in Maine all the last year is that he is so
25:01that he could play consistently.
25:02He didn't just end up stuck on the Celtics bench because even if he was active and available
25:06and around the team last year, he probably would have played about as much as we saw
25:10him in Boston last year, none at all.
25:13So can you get them in a little bit?
25:16And this is where I go to shooting.
25:19Obviously the biggest thing that's going to keep him off the floor is he's just not there
25:22as a shooter and he might never be given his pedigree.
25:26So is that just going to eliminate him from ever being part of this Celtics team?
25:32Are there some other ways, creative ways you can work them in?
25:35I like that screen and roll situation.
25:37He had got his basket in today.
25:39I like him playing around the basket a little bit.
25:41He's so long.
25:42It looks like he has great potential as an offensive rebounder out there, cutting all
25:46of those things.
25:48There's got to be a more creative way to use some of these guys because if we're just thinking
25:51about the shooting now, he's not going to fit in.
25:54Springer's not going to fit in.
25:57Even wonder if Tillman's going to fit in.
25:59I know the early returns on it look good, but if he's going to be a four for them, I
26:03don't know if that's a good enough shooter to be fitting in at the four.
26:07So I know they love their spacing.
26:09I know they want the four clear for Tatum and Brown.
26:12I get all that.
26:13But if you're going to fit in some of these guys deeper on the roster, they're not Hauser
26:17Pritchard type shooters.
26:19There's got to be some other ways to fit them in offensively.
26:21And that's not the reason I want Walsh to not be in this year.
26:25I want it to be maybe he's not caught up with the defense or maybe he's just not physically
26:28there.
26:29I don't want it to just be, oh, he can't shoot threes.
26:31He can't play.
26:33Yeah.
26:34And I don't think that would be the reason.
26:35Honestly, I think if everything else comes together, there's a role for him.
26:38I'm super curious.
26:39Like, I know a lot of these guys were talking about their three point shooting, but really
26:43our knowledge of it is very limited sample size, like, you know, each of them took like
26:47three threes today and then watching what was he in Maine last year, thirty three.
26:50I don't remember.
26:51I think he was a little bit better than that.
26:55Thirty five.
26:56Thirty five.
26:57Yeah.
26:58Maine has two has two seasons.
27:00There's like the exhibition round and then there's the regular season.
27:03So I think he got better in the second second round of of that main season.
27:09But the other thing is that the Celtics team is constantly evaluating these guys as performances
27:16and doing like larger scale shooting.
27:18And they have all these advanced stats on them just like from training camp, from preseason.
27:23And I would love to see those because I feel like I get a glimpse of like, OK, look, Luke
27:27Luke looks good in pre, you know, warm up shooting.
27:30But obviously, his numbers aren't good enough across the board where he'd be shooting them
27:33more.
27:34So I think, yeah, I'm curious where these guys stack up against one another, because
27:37Jordan Walsh, Jaden Springer, these are guys that are there's a huge question mark around
27:41their ability to shoot.
27:42And right now, we don't really have the answers because I'm not I can't conclude too much
27:45from watching a handful of shots like Jaden didn't look like he was dying to shoot threes
27:49today, you know, but I've seen him shoot make their twenty five in a row in warm ups.
27:53But I don't know how much that means.
27:54So it'll be a big part of it.
27:56You know, you don't see a lot of guards in the NBA today that get on the floor for extended
28:00minutes without being able to shoot.
28:02So I think it will keep people off the floor.
28:04Ultimately, Baylor Shireman, I thought, speaking of shooters, like looked a little rushed.
28:09I got to get used to his left handed shot.
28:11It looks so unnatural to me sometimes the way he kind of wraps it around his body.
28:14But he made a work in college.
28:16I'm sure he'll make a work in the NBA.
28:17But yeah, that's a question mark right now.
28:20And I think that maybe one of those guys will evaluate, you know, kind of jump above the
28:24rest of the pack and maybe establish themselves as a good backup perimeter player.
28:29And again, I mentioned this last time, but a lot of it comes down to injuries.
28:32And if there's all of a sudden one of the stars misses 20 games, like suddenly you're
28:37really getting a chance for some of these guys to show what they're capable of.
28:41Yeah, and it'll be interesting where they stand going into the season, I under I understand
28:45want to get a look at them now where there's minutes available, I do find it interesting,
28:49maybe not telling because I don't think preseason rotations and minutes always mean a
28:53ton. But it probably says a little something that they want to get a look at Springer and
28:57Walsh in particular with that second group and see how they fit in around some of the
29:01stars staggering into those groups.
29:04And other guys further down the line didn't get an opportunity again today.
29:07Same exact statement that we saw in the first game in terms of where guys stand.
29:12So Peterson, Davison, Shireman, Walker, all those guys, Anton Watson on the back
29:19burner, and probably a good bet you'll see all those guys in Maine to start the year,
29:23at least right now, based on where they are in the rotation.
29:26So do these two join them?
29:29Do these two stay close and have status as next man up?
29:34We'll have to see next weekend when the Celtics play again here.
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31:08What time is it?
31:09Game time.
31:10So we can go a little deeper on the roster here.
31:15I think people, myself, a little disappointed in Shireman, where he's at right now.
31:21I expected a little bit more of a strong first impression from him, and instead we're seeing
31:25him a little lost, a little physically overrun by the game right now and missing shots, which
31:30is something we saw from him in summer league too.
31:33And even though there's other parts of his game that can make up for it, and he did make
31:35a nice string of plays after some early misses here, rebound, pushing traffic, nice feeds
31:41to Keita inside.
31:43You got to hit shots if you're him to get on the floor.
31:45That's going to be his primary responsibility, and that's not there right now.
31:49Not much playing time, not many opportunities, so understandable in some way, but he's clearly
31:54on the back end of the roster right now in terms of trust.
31:57Lonnie Walker, I think you can already say he's probably main down at this point.
32:04No emphasis in getting him opportunities with other guys in the rotation.
32:08He's missing shots, and the worst part with him is his approach isn't good.
32:11I think he's forcing shots.
32:13I think he's just trying to get opportunities out there quickly, and that's understandable
32:20because he's playing six minutes, but it's not going to put him in position to be part
32:24of this team to start the year, I would think, and we already had that conversation.
32:27Maybe he goes elsewhere.
32:28Maybe he stays in Maine for a month or two and tries to fit into what they're doing here
32:32system-wise because from the little we've seen of him, it just doesn't look like he's
32:36in sync with the passing, with plays that they want to run, with all the things that
32:40make the Celtics offense what it is, and I know a lot of people are excited about him.
32:44I understand it.
32:46Great pedigree, high draft pick, guy who's still young, has some potential here, but
32:52from what we've seen over two games is he's just not a priority for them, and he's going
32:57to have to stay dedicated to what they're doing here.
33:00If he wants to go somewhere else and try something else, if opportunity arises, that's
33:04going to be on him, but through two games, it doesn't look like Walker's going to make
33:07this team.
33:08Yeah, and to be honest with you, I don't think anything about these two games plays too much
33:14of a role in his potential as far as making this roster.
33:18I think just hearing people talk about, from Brad to Joe to even Lonnie himself, it was
33:26quite clear that the plan, the expectation for him is not to be on this official roster
33:32right away, and so, yeah, I mean, I can't even weigh in on a guy that played six minutes
33:39that's obviously trying to make some sort of mark.
33:42Yeah, he didn't look natural.
33:43I thought a couple of the shots that he took were like he chucked in immediately and wanted
33:46to get a good look, but that's kind of normal.
33:49I don't know.
33:50I feel like that's kind of human instinct, and you have to fight against it, but I'm
33:53just curious to see what this main situation looks like for him.
33:55Is it going to be one of those things where he's just kind of establishes himself as a
33:59fabric of this team and shows that he can be a veteran presence, and maybe later on
34:03in the year, someone snags him or the Celtics snag him?
34:06I think this could go a lot of ways, but I'd be very surprised at this point if it's anything
34:11other than him going to Maine at the end of this preseason, and yeah, it would have been
34:15fun to see him more just because we don't really need to see Drew Holiday.
34:18There's not really much to talk about there, so it would have been fun to see him more,
34:22but I thought from the stretch that he saw, he did look like to see that he was forcing
34:26the issue, and again, him, Shireman, some of those guys that checked in in the fourth
34:30quarter.
34:31It's just I can't even weigh in on that because it's such an uncomfortable, awkward position
34:35to be in, and it's such a small sample size for us to microanalyze, but yeah, Lonnie looked
34:41like he was forcing it a bit.
34:43Yeah, and that's the frustrating part too about them having to do the Abu Dhabi thing
34:48here.
34:49They miss out on a little practice time with the travel.
34:52You got this week off here, they're going to come back, probably have to recover for
34:55a handful of days, and then get into some practices that are a little more limited.
34:59I'd imagine going into a weekend back-to-back, so you're probably picking and choosing a
35:04little bit.
35:05Do you want to get more reps in practice?
35:07Obviously that's the case now with Horford, but do you want to get some game reps in?
35:11And I think that's been the case with these other guys.
35:12I was actually pretty surprised by how much we saw the starters in these games.
35:16I thought it was going to be like one rotation out and let all of these younger bench guys
35:21and deep depth pieces fill out those minutes, but they actually gave, I thought, a pretty
35:25good run of minutes, rotations, and sets out there.
35:31They really worked through some things with the starters in these two games.
35:36Maybe the NBA gave them a little nudge and was like, yeah, we got to see Tatum and Brown
35:40more than five minutes in these Abu Dhabi games as we showcase the game here.
35:44Or maybe it's the Celtics saying, we don't have as much practice time this preseason
35:47as we normally would otherwise, so we actually have to get some reps in in these games.
35:52And that's probably a big part of it here.
35:54There weren't as many minutes for the Shiremans and Walkers of the world because you were
35:57seeing Tatum, Brown, Holliday, and White for pretty much the whole first half.
36:02White played 22, Holliday 17 in this one, 23 each from Brown and Tatum.
36:07That's way more than I would have expected from them in these games.
36:11You saw on the other side, a bunch of Nuggets players didn't play.
36:14Aaron Gordon didn't play.
36:15I think, or did Aaron Gordon play?
36:18No.
36:19Westbrook was out.
36:20Westbrook was out.
36:21So yeah, I think, I'm not surprised.
36:25Everything we know about Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown is that if they are given the opportunity
36:28to play, they will want to, and it sounds like, in particular, this trip and being in
36:32this part of the world meant a lot to Jalen Brown.
36:34He told us at camp he really wanted to play here, and he said it was a really special
36:39day and everything.
36:40So I'm not surprised that we saw them go out there.
36:42I'm sure if they had the chance to weigh in, that was the direction they wanted to head,
36:45but they only have three more preseason games.
36:47So over the next, you know, regular season starts October 22nd, they have two at home,
36:52one on the road in Toronto.
36:53So maybe those games they'll play a little bit less.
36:55You know, we'll see how that goes, but I feel like part of the vibe and the hype around
37:00this trip was having the opportunity for those guys to get a more extended run in front of
37:04fans.
37:05And it sounds like there was a lot of Jalen Brown fans chanting MVP for him, a lot of
37:08Tatum jerseys from Adam Himmel's box reporting.
37:11So it was fun to watch them play.
37:13I think they played the second half like as serious as you could imagine.
37:16And then I would have liked to think we talked about this last game, it would have been fun
37:18to see a little bit more mixing and matching, like, let's see JD Davison not play with the
37:22main Celtics guys and play with like the actual players that will be in Boston this year,
37:26stuff like that.
37:27It would have just been fun to watch.
37:28But I'm sure there's a reason why they kept things kind of as close to what who will actually
37:33be playing within the next few weeks as well.
37:36Yeah, and he had a couple of shots to and in 12 minutes in this one, I don't know how
37:41to feel about him.
37:43Springer's probably ahead of him.
37:45So you have four guards in front of him, and that probably puts him in Maine along with
37:49the two way deal here.
37:51And like where we talked about with Walsh, is this just another year where he's up there
37:58all year?
37:59Or is he going to start to break through and get some spot opportunities to he's just in
38:04such a tough position with the guard depth in the organization, but it does feel like
38:07he's taken steps.
38:08A lot of positive reviews about his offseason workouts after the summer league where he
38:12played pretty strong and his first two appearances in the preseason.
38:16He looks in control.
38:17I don't think we talked enough about that great first game.
38:21He had chased down block alleyoop the other way.
38:25He's got such good feel over the game.
38:27And I know turnovers can be an issue at times smaller stature.
38:30You wonder how that's going to translate to the NBA and the shot?
38:34Such a big question, but obviously improved over the first year, certainly in last year.
38:39He wasn't great overall from three either, but he comes out and hits another three in
38:43this game.
38:45Is there any hope for him to play regular season NBA minutes this year?
38:49Again, not to be a broken record, because I feel like we keep going back to the same
38:53points because they're so true.
38:55But if he can become a three point shooter, like, yes, I think that he's a really good
38:59playmaker.
39:00He's a good ball handler.
39:01He's a reliable point guard.
39:02Like he actually he's a he's a floor manager.
39:05And he had a very underrated season in Maine last year in part because nobody really cares
39:10about the G League.
39:11And so nobody's giving a ton of, you know, hype to any of these players.
39:14And also, he's just not one of the guys that people are super closely following in Maine.
39:18But as someone I've watched Maine quite a bit last year, and I feel like J.D. Davidson
39:23was consistently the best player on the floor with prospects and guys that are going to
39:28be on NBA, real NBA deals this season also on the floor.
39:31And so there's a lot of things against him.
39:34The fact that he is on his third two way contract in a row, the fact that he's undersized and
39:38he's not a proven shooter.
39:41But there's also a reason why they keep they keep him on board and why they keep him as
39:45a two way where they can give somebody else a look like I think that they there's something
39:49in him that they believe in.
39:51And I know that he was looking for something more than a two way this offseason.
39:56I'm sure he tried his best to get a guaranteed deal and clearly didn't get that.
40:00That doesn't reflect on his potential because there's a lot of really good players that
40:04didn't get guaranteed guaranteed deals the summer.
40:07So I don't know.
40:08I'm rooting for him.
40:08I feel like a broken record saying I'm rooting for everybody.
40:10But he's somebody that you can just steadily see how he's improved over his two seasons
40:15in Maine.
40:15And that's all you can really ask for.
40:17And he's a leader.
40:18He's been a leader of that team.
40:19He has a really good attitude from everything I've heard.
40:21So it'd be fun to see again.
40:23I think a lot of these guys were talking so deep in the rotation.
40:25The only chance that he's going to have is if there's some injury trouble.
40:29And all of a sudden, Pritchard is a starting point guard for a while.
40:31Maybe you're in JD as a backup.
40:33Like, that's the really the only pathway I see for him in Boston right now.
40:36And so you don't hope for it.
40:38But you also recognize that if something does happen, providing that it's like temporary,
40:41that there's on the bright side, like maybe you get an opportunity with some of these
40:44players.
40:45Do you do you know the Luke Lemon Square story?
40:48Um, I think I do, actually, was this like a you, you made a joke on the garden report
40:55about how like, you were describing the atmosphere in the locker room or something?
40:59Yeah, yeah, it was two years ago.
41:02I think Missoula's first season, they went up by a million on the nets at a home game.
41:08And you felt like it was going to be one of those games last year, where you just kick
41:12your feet back and it was going to be like a nothing second half.
41:15run before halftime, completely blew it in the second half, and it went the other way
41:21and the Nets ended up blowing them out.
41:23And we go in the locker room after and everyone's completely silent.
41:29It was one of those games.
41:31And there was a tray of lemon squares or dessert.
41:35They john and I'm called them lemon squares.
41:37I don't know what they were.
41:39But only you were in the locker room, right?
41:41Yeah, yeah.
41:42No one's touching them.
41:49And I forget who told me it might have been Taylor or something that Luke made them.
41:53He brought them in, was going to serve them to the team after the game.
41:57No one's eating them.
41:58And then Mike Mascala came over and was like, ate one and was like, all right.
42:05But he had this whole tray of desserts there, they blew a 25 point lead, maybe 28.
42:10And no one touched them after the game.
42:13So I went on the show after this.
42:16Oh, go ahead.
42:17Yeah, I went on the show after and they were asking for the moon in the locker room.
42:20And I was like, no one touched Luke, Luke's square.
42:26So I was actually looking for a video the other day, because I was trying to find something
42:29that we were talking about.
42:30So I searched, looking for a different video.
42:32And then I came across that lemon squares video.
42:35And I was like, let me watch this.
42:36So I actually watched that clip like a week ago, by chance.
42:39So I'm up to speed on the lore.
42:40But that's pretty funny.
42:42I remember that game.
42:42I mean, I wasn't covering the team then.
42:44But I remember being like, I checked the box for them.
42:45Like two quarters later, it was like flipped.
42:47So not surprised that bad vibes followed after that one.
42:52Yeah, you started covering the team after three years of nightmares.
42:59I brought the good luck.
43:01We went through it.
43:02That's why I'm so not, that's why I'm so optimistic.
43:04You know, I've never seen anything go wrong.
43:06So and I was vindicated last year.
43:09We saw a lot go wrong over three years.
43:11And it's amazing to think, given where they were in 2021, in particular, that they're
43:16in this position is such an overwhelming favorite this year coming off a championship.
43:20And before we get out of here, I think that's all from this game here.
43:24Salzburgs beat the Nuggets 130 to 104.
43:28Pretty dominant effort.
43:29Starters look good.
43:30Bench guys ahead of schedule, I would say.
43:34Let's get to some news around the league.
43:36Not great news for some former Celtics.
43:38Marcus Smart, Grizzlies getting underway.
43:40There was a Smart report out there about Nick's interest or something like that.
43:45I didn't, I don't know the source and I don't want to downplay it, but I don't, I don't
43:50understand why everyone ran with that.
43:53Was that like you taking some stock in that, Nick's Smart?
43:58I mean, I think the report was that they're internally talking about him.
44:02I'm sure there's a lot of teams that are.
44:04So I mean, I think it was one of their reputable beat writers that reported it.
44:07So I don't think that he would go out on a limb and say something if it wasn't, he didn't
44:11have real sources.
44:12But I don't know.
44:15I think it'd be fun to see him there from a basketball standpoint.
44:18I understand Celtics fans are not happy, not happy to hear about that report.
44:22He really won't end up there.
44:24But I also think that he's not a perfect fit in Memphis when you look at that starting
44:27lineup.
44:27So I don't know, I could see, I could see them trading him somewhere.
44:32I wouldn't be surprised if he's not a guy that sticks long term.
44:36It's a, it's a good point.
44:38I don't know what to expect from them.
44:40I know I heard Drew on the broadcast and Noah Eagle, who, when he came on here was super
44:45high on them.
44:46A lot of people nationally high on the Grizzlies health restored job back to start this year,
44:53obviously suspended to start last year and then hurt.
44:56I understand the hype, but to me, they're the hardest team in the league to anticipate.
45:01You don't know how smart fits in because he barely played last year.
45:04Clark's coming back off a torn Achilles.
45:07Jaren Jackson got hurt.
45:08I think he's down a couple of weeks and they're going to take it slowly with a hamstring injury.
45:12And Gigi Jackson and Vince Williams went down with pretty significant injuries already there.
45:17So injuries already setting in on a team that was just torn apart by them last year.
45:21So if you were going to say the single biggest team that's hardest to predict this year for
45:25me, it's Memphis.
45:27And in that West, if things don't go right or more injuries strike, they're playing,
45:30maybe not even playoffs.
45:31And then you're talking about a smart trade.
45:34He's is he in the last year of his deal?
45:36I want to say.
45:37Or maybe two more.
45:41Yeah, so he's in an interesting spot with them.
45:44Yeah, they are.
45:46I totally agree with you.
45:47I think that he has two years.
45:49Okay, yeah.
45:50And so they when they traded him, he had three guaranteed years left on that deal.
45:54Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
45:56Yeah.
45:56So I don't know.
45:58I think he's a he's in a weird spot.
45:59Memphis is in a weird spot.
46:02I just want to see them stay healthy because I feel like every time I get like an underdog
46:06NBA notification, it's another Memphis player dealing straining something.
46:10So yeah, I'm not super high on them in like a contender way.
46:14I don't know that they have like the ability to go from like a do like a Timberwolves or
46:18OKC style jump where they go from, you know, lower in the standings to now contender.
46:22But I think they'll definitely be better.
46:25He's just a little bit of a weird fit there.
46:27Like he's a weird fit alongside Desmond Bain and John Morant, like those three together
46:30on the floor once a little bit undersized.
46:33I think a lot of why they brought him was to help out when job was going to be out.
46:36And then that didn't really work out because John missed the whole year and smartness most
46:39of the year.
46:43But yeah, we'll see.
46:44I mean, I would love to see him somewhere as a fan of his.
46:47I'd love to see him somewhere where he can contend for a championship.
46:50I know it would hurt people to see him in the East or see him go against the Celtics,
46:54but I think that it'd be fun to watch.
46:56So we'll see.
46:57I haven't seen.
46:57I don't think that report was super substantive, but I also think that there's been rumblings
47:01about him not staying in Memphis through the duration of that contract.
47:05Yeah, and I don't know what the Knicks can offer.
47:07They'll float Mitchell.
47:08I'm sure Robinson.
47:09I don't know how valuable he is while he's hurt, even after if he comes back and plays
47:14decently.
47:15I don't know how valuable he is.
47:17They don't have a ton of contracts to move pretty restricted money wise, so it'll be
47:21a difficult trade to make for New York.
47:23And then the other two guys who went out the door last season and trades already hurt after
47:30pretty injury season injury plague seasons last year for Rob, who I guess went through
47:35one practice.
47:37Responded well, then went through the second and had some pain and had to come out.
47:41And now he's out at least two weeks with a hamstring injury.
47:45Brogdon, I don't know the extent of his.
47:47He's going to get to memorize, but I guess hurt his hand in practice.
47:50So more of a freak injury in his case, but he missed all but 39 games last year.
47:54I want to say.
47:56So two guys injury plagued and departed Boston in a weird way after that 2023 season.
48:03And obviously the Celtics made off with holiday and what's going to go down is an all time
48:08trade.
48:09Tough to see these guys in the spots.
48:11I brought them, of course, ending up in Washington, which is probably gonna be the worst team
48:14in the league this year and already heard he's in the last year of his deal.
48:18So I don't know what the future holds for him, but he was the sixth man of the year
48:22two years ago and now in relative obscurity out there.
48:26Rob was a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate two years ago and is probably
48:32the third string afterthought center in Portland right now struggling to get on the floor period.
48:37So tough, tough news for both of these guys.
48:43Yeah, I mean, the Malcolm Brogdon stuff is so wild because the kind of injuries that
48:48he has is always something different.
48:49It's always like a hand or an elbow or like, I don't know.
48:53I don't get how I don't get why it happens at a certain point.
48:55It's like I get the knee guys.
48:56I get the seven footers that keep having lower leg injuries, but does he just have bad luck?
49:00Like, I don't understand why he keeps finding himself in this position, but certainly that
49:04trade, I mean, that trade was a win as soon as they became contenders and as soon as they
49:08won the championship, like they won the championship.
49:10You can't complain about the trade, but I think now seeing what those guys have done
49:14since leaving Boston, like this is a pretty wild, pretty lopsided result between Rob Williams,
49:21who, again, I hope the hamstring thing is a limited thing and I hope that it's just
49:24one of those comes back from training camp and he's ramping things up and it's not a
49:28long term thing, but it's certainly not a good start.
49:30And then Brogdon, I just he's one of those guys.
49:32I don't have a lot of faith to stay healthy.
49:34So it's tough.
49:36And then even Marcus Marth like missed most of last year.
49:38So all three guys that they lost might have been a wash last year anyways, and some of
49:42it's out of their control, but there's certainly a history there and a track record where it's
49:45not not totally unexpected.
49:47But yeah, just saw that drawing him important.
49:50That sucks.
49:50And being in Washington sucks too.
49:52He always has like the good lines is when he's on these bad teams, like how he said
49:55he always wanted to be a wizard because he had like family in D.C.
49:58growing up.
50:00Same with Portland.
50:00Like, I think he said the right things, but at this point in his career, I'm sure he
50:03wants to play for a contender.
50:06Yeah.
50:06And you wonder how much contenders want him at this point.
50:09The defense didn't go the way you thought it might in Boston.
50:11That probably didn't help his value.
50:13And then the injuries, it's it's tough to try to go after guys making like 22 million.
50:18If you're not sure he's going to be on the court, but he's a good candidate to move if
50:21he can get healthy this year.
50:22And Rob, plenty of rumors all over the summer about him moving, given that they drafted
50:27Klingon.
50:27So once he shows he can be healthy, maybe he ends up elsewhere as a depth center.
50:32And there's certainly a need around the league.
50:34I thought New Orleans might be a fit next to Tice.
50:37They don't have much center depth and some other teams around the league that probably
50:41need some help.
50:41They're not the Knicks anymore, of course, who I think are going to debut Towns today.
50:45So I'll be interested to watch as well as they get their preseason action started.
50:50Only other thing I'll say here, we just passed the one year anniversary of the holiday trade
50:56right before camp.
50:58And it just makes me think again, if if Brogdon goes down or struggles to stay available and
51:06some of it was that elbow injury from these finals the year before that kept him out with
51:09Portland.
51:11And then you think of Rob going down for the year after five games.
51:15We had so much debate at that time.
51:17Oh, do you trade Rob?
51:18Do you give up on his potential?
51:20Do you trade all these picks?
51:21Do you do the holiday deal?
51:23And looking back on it, obviously, holidays edition meant everything.
51:27And added to this group.
51:28And like I've said, actually was the piece that changed everything.
51:30Porzingis, you know, they still ended up mostly winning without him.
51:35If you didn't do that deal and you go into the season with Rob, you go into the season
51:40with Brogdon.
51:41Porzingis is still here, presumably at that point, but deals with some injuries and stuff
51:45that would have probably happened the same way.
51:48Last year could have been a disaster for the Celtics, never mind a championship.
51:52If you don't have holidays, Mark goes out the door.
51:55You're not really replacing him.
51:57Brogdon goes down.
51:58Rob goes down.
52:00Porzingis struggles to stay on the court.
52:02You could be talking about a second round exit team and questions about doing the smart
52:07trade, questions about bringing in Porzingis and certainly a lot of questions about that
52:12team ever winning a championship.
52:14So this deal that was a stroke of luck.
52:16I don't know if you would have been able to move Brogdon otherwise for anything good,
52:19at least.
52:20I don't know what Rob's value would have been to some other teams because clearly Portland
52:23liked them.
52:25Man, it always takes luck, right?
52:27But even beyond winning the championship, just their long-term situation here, they
52:32got so lucky.
52:34And obviously they had to go and do it and make what was a difficult move at the time.
52:38But wow, they got lucky with this one.
52:43Yeah, and honestly, one of the things that I've been trying to understand, how all these
52:47transactions impact each other, the Celtics front office knew that Damian Lillard was
52:52going to get traded.
52:53And I think there weren't actually that many viable destinations as far as trade packages
52:57that were of equal value.
52:59That Drew Holiday being on the market is not something that we were all talking about,
53:02but I think that it's something that the front office had a pretty decent sense around.
53:07So I think it was on their radar going into the summer that that could happen.
53:11Obviously, a lot of things have to line up.
53:12Drew has to be interested.
53:14The Blazers have to be willing to make a deal.
53:16And obviously, the Damian Lillard trade had to happen as well.
53:18And the Bucs didn't seem to be the front runners.
53:21But you're absolutely right.
53:22I feel like we don't talk enough about how well things worked out.
53:25And it's hard to think about what would have happened.
53:29Also, you don't know that Marcus Marks would have gotten injured if he was a Celtic.
53:32He broke his finger.
53:32There were some things that kept him out for an extended period of time.
53:35But yeah, it's crazy how impactful he ended up being.
53:40Yep.
53:41So just want to hit on that.
53:42Both those guys getting hurt this week.
53:44Anniversary just passed in that holiday trade.
53:47Makes you think again about what a stroke of luck it was that the Celtics
53:51were able to pull that off.
53:52And holiday became available for moving Milwaukee and all that.
53:55So that'll do it for us here today.
53:58Next game going to be Saturday at 8, I want to say.
54:00We'll be at the Garden for that one.
54:02Celtics 76ers.
54:04As the Celtics come back from Abu Dhabi today,
54:07we're going to take some time off to start this week.
54:10So we'll be at practice later this week with updates, thoughts on these games,
54:15where guys stand, and go from there.
54:18So preseason continues for the Celtics.
54:21We are brought to you by PrizePix.
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54:24Games getting going underway right now.
54:26Football games, but still some four o'clock games if you want to get it on.
54:30Do your daily fantasy teams and get them set up with some of the later players.
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54:46Terms apply.
54:48Once again, Celtics beat the Nuggets.
54:49Sweep this preseason Abu Dhabi series out there.
54:53And they are headed back to Boston to continue their training camp slash preseason.
54:58And we are just, what, 15, 16 days from opening night.
55:04So that's drawing a little bit closer here.
55:06Thanks for tuning in today.
55:07Thanks to Noah Dalzell for being here.
55:09You're off to Connecticut, right?
55:11Off to Connecticut in two minutes.
55:12So I'll have some Connecticut zone coverage from that WNBA game coming up too.
55:18All right.
55:18Check that out over at SBNation.com and check out Noah's You Got Boston podcast.
55:23We'll check in again midway through this week
55:26with some guests and thoughts on where the Celtics stand.
55:28And until then, this has been The Garden Report.
55:34See ya.
55:36Wait, Ahmed's got an outro for us, I think.
55:38No, he doesn't.
55:39He said he was going to work on an outro.
55:42He had a phenomenal game.
55:44Phenomenal.
55:47Porfrit's out.
55:48I think it's an option.
55:52That did not sound like a chair.
55:54It was a freaking chair.
55:55It does sound like a chair.
55:58It does.