The Celtics are the best preseason team in the NBA - LIVE Q&A on You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell
Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell goes LIVE for a You Got Boston Q&A to discuss observations from two preseason wins at TD Garden. Payton Pritchard, Jordan Walsh, Lonnie Walker, and Neemias Queta all stood out in night two of the back-to-back, while Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both had strong night one showings. We'll discuss what we learned about this team, and why the Celtics are a league-best +20.5 in the preseason.
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00:00What's up, everyone? This is Noah Dalziel, and I'm here with another episode of UGOD Boston,
00:19and really excited to be able to discuss Celtics preseason. We've had a couple of games to talk
00:24about and a couple of just different games. Since we last spoke, I think last time I did this,
00:29the show was after Abu Dhabi. So we've learned quite a bit about this team since then. I think
00:34that there are some things that have changed about this team. I think that there are some
00:38players whose stock, I guess, has gone up. You know, some players who we haven't seen as much
00:43as some might have expected. And so glad to be here. Glad to be able to talk a little bit about
00:49this team. I know people are going to want to know about Lonnie Walker. He has obviously been
00:54front of mind for folks over the last couple of days here. I think last night's performance
00:59only made people even more excited about him. And so that further kind of, I don't want to say
01:04exacerbated things, but it made people even more excited about the potential of him joining this
01:09team. So we'll talk a little bit more about Lonnie Walker, obviously, as well. Oops, sorry about that.
01:15Here we are. And so, yeah, as always, feel free to continue putting in your questions in the chat
01:22box. I'll go through all the questions today. I have plenty of time. Normally, Monday nights,
01:27I have a basketball league, but because of the holidays, no basketball league for me today. So
01:32happy to go through all of your questions. And then we'll do a little bit of WNBA stuff as well
01:35at the end if there are people on here that want to hear it. I'll be going to Minnesota this week
01:39while the Celtics are away to cover the remainder games in the WNBA finals. So I've been kind of
01:45shuffling back and forth, but I was able to be at both preseason games in Boston this past weekend
01:49and had a better angle. I used to be higher up kind of looking down at the court. And I don't
01:53know if it's just because it's preseason, but I had a nice seat so I could hear stuff, I could
01:57see better. So for those of you that follow me on Twitter, maybe you saw I had better highlights
02:02than usual, or at least a different angle of highlights. But I'll start off by just plugging,
02:08just because I also write, obviously, for, you know, I cover this team for SB Nation,
02:14I write about the team, and then I also do a lot of video and audio work. But I wrote a story today
02:18about the culture of winning, that the Celtics have been kind of really revolutionizing, I would
02:23say, I mean, at least in this current iteration of NBA champions, this team has been really unique.
02:28So I'm just gonna put that in the chat box for those who are curious, and I'll be talking a
02:31little bit about this as well. But the Celtics have been the best team in the preseason so far,
02:35they've been plus 20.5 points per game. So the next highest net rating is 8.9 points per game.
02:42And so obviously, this is one of those things where, you know, the 50 point win does a lot here,
02:49you know, the 50 point win, it helps them play those numbers. But I will say anybody that's been
02:53watching this team through four preseason games, like they mean business, and it doesn't matter if
02:57it's Jordan Walsh on the floor, if it's Peyton Pritchard, or if it's Jalen Brown, whoever it is,
03:02there's clearly a system in place that everybody's bought into, and that there's a lot of intention
03:06behind it. So I think Joe Mizzoula can receive a lot of the credit here. I know over the last few
03:11years, especially last year, you know, people kind of pointed to the talent on this team, and the
03:16talent here is enormous, and you can't deny it. But at the same time, I also think that the fact
03:21that they continue to put out these kind of random lineups in preseason, and they outperform
03:25other teams random lineups, is a credit to the coaching staff. And it's a credit to the philosophy
03:30and to just kind of the emphasis that this team has had on building good habits and everything. So
03:38but I wrote a story about that today with some quotes from Pritchard and Joe Mizzoula and a few
03:41others about just how rigorous training camp has been. And it came to mind because I don't know if
03:46you guys saw, but just yesterday, Michael Malone, the Denver Nuggets coach was talking about how his
03:51team isn't well conditioned and how it's like a point, a problem is something that they need to
03:55fix. And I was thinking to myself, like, that's kind of wild, because just covering the Celtics,
04:00like I can't even imagine Joe Mizzoula commenting on players conditioning, like it has so not been
04:05that type of offseason, that type of training camp, that type of, you know, just discourse
04:09in general, leading up into this year. And so if anything, it's been exactly the opposite. So
04:15you can check out that story if you'd like. In the meantime, feel free to continue putting in
04:19comments, questions in the chat box, and I'll get through everything. Wanted to start with things
04:25that have stood out to me as positives. And I think we can just go down the line. And I'll start,
04:31I see someone here commented about Peyton Pritchard. I think Peyton Pritchard is the only
04:35fair place to start, honestly, just because he in 20 minutes per game through four games, he's
04:41averaged 16 points per game, he's shooting 49% from the floor, 48% from three, seven assists per
04:47game, one turnover, I recognize it's just preseason. I think that at the same time,
04:53Peyton Pritchard has shown us that he's not somebody that's just gonna be comfortable in
04:57the role that he's had and not grow and not improve. I don't normally make this recommendation.
05:03But if you are somebody who enjoys listening to players speak, a lot of times it's just like
05:09media talk, and people ask them questions, and they give kind of the same answers over and over
05:13again. And it's not the most interesting thing, though. I like I mean, I'm always curious as a
05:17reporter. But last night, Peyton Pritchard's postgame presser, after he had a really another
05:22really good showing, he's had four good showings in preseason. He was asked a bunch of questions
05:27about like how he's approaching the season, how he's approaching his role. And I thought that he
05:31just was really, really insightful. And so the on CLN SBA, you can check out Peyton Pritchard's
05:36full presser. But he basically like the bottom line is that he knows right now, he's a role
05:41player, and then he's coming off the bench, and he's going to play a limited, you know, very
05:44specific role for this team. But at the same time, he also understands that the sky's the limit for
05:49him. And for those of you that don't know me, I believe that I think that he has an all star
05:54ceiling. I know that's going to sound preposterous to some people have already had this debate. So
05:59we can agree to disagree if we disagree on this. But I think he believes that about himself. And
06:03whether or not it's true is almost secondary to the fact that he believes that and he's working
06:07like somebody that is capable of achieving great things and being more than just a role player,
06:11not that there's anything wrong with being a role player. But I think in the preseason,
06:14he gets to kind of run the show a little bit. Last night, obviously, he was the primary option.
06:19And when he does have that type of, you know, fluidity and freedom, he great things happen on
06:24the court. And there's a reason why he had the NBA's best net rating last year, or second best
06:28net rating, I should say. And also why he had one of the best offensive rating and one of the
06:33best assist to turnover ratios. And so he leads a league in a lot of categories. And it's not a
06:38coincidence. Obviously, there's limitations to this game, his size is always going to get in
06:41the way. But I think that we saw a lot of great things from him this preseason. This is a guy
06:45that spent time with the US Select team after winning the championship. And I sure has been
06:51working as hard as anybody over the offseason. So I think he's just a reminder that when the
06:55Celtics are gonna need more shot creation this year, like he is somebody that can step up right
07:00away and help with that. And he's not a Porzingis replacement, because there's an obvious
07:04positional discrepancy there. But there is an advantage in the fact that he's somebody that we
07:09know can create his own shot. And there's going to be more shots to go around. And I also think
07:13that there's inevitably going to be more injuries and more rest, knock on wood, I don't want to
07:17curse anybody. But I think that's just a reality. And he acknowledged in postgame last night is
07:21that he wants to make sure that if there are injuries that he can step in and do what's needed.
07:26So I'm not giving player grades out, though, I think maybe at the end of preseason, that's
07:29something that would be a good blog column. But I think he gets an A, I think he had a great,
07:34a great showing through four games so far. And the preseason is not over. They have another game in
07:38Toronto tomorrow. And I know Al Horford is going to play now, which is exciting. But at the same
07:43time, the last game that I'm at in person, because I'm not going to be in Toronto in Toronto. So
07:47figure Yeah, you're right, Brian, it is probably an A plus. But it is.
07:52Yeah, I think that Pritchard was was a bright, you know, really a highlight for me for watching
07:57this preseason basketball so far. And there's also certain guys that are just cut out for playing
08:02preseason basketball, and they're going to take it seriously, they're going to buy in and he's one of
08:05those guys. I think we have a team full of those guys as well. So that's what makes preseason fun.
08:11I enjoy watching all basketball. So for me, personally, I don't need an excuse. But I think
08:15that, you know, it's fun to create this environment at TD Garden where there were still
08:19confetti falling, which was super funny. It was just great energy. It wasn't a preseason crowd.
08:24And then you had guys on the floor that were taking it really seriously and trying their best
08:27to get as much as possible. You know, whether it was points, whether it was just playing great
08:32defense doing little things. I think there was just a very serious, regular season kind of
08:36mentality about this group yesterday, and on Saturday as well. So it was fun to be TD Garden
08:41backed by games. It wasn't my first time at TD Garden since they won the championship. I'd been
08:45there for for the big three tournament and WNBA game, but it was definitely you can feel when
08:50you're there for a Celtics game, there's a different level of energy in the building. So
08:54that was a lot of fun. So I'm not going to go down the list of every single player,
08:58unless there's no questions that I can actually go down the list, because I obviously can talk
09:01about every single player. But let me just make sure that if there are things in particular that
09:05people want me to talk on that I can get to those. I guess we'll start at the top here.
09:11There's a question about Lonnie Walker. So I think Lonnie Walker is probably the
09:18thing that's most front of mind for everybody, because he's not on a guaranteed roster spot.
09:23Yet he had a really great showing last night in the preseason. And I think he's not there's a
09:28reason why you guys are all so excited about him. I've talked to some people around the league who
09:34are kind of like Southern fans are really freaking out about Lonnie Walker. And do they not realize
09:39that just because you know, there's a reason he's on a training camp deal, like if he was a guy that
09:44is going to be a sixth man, like he would have a guaranteed contract somewhere. These are not my
09:48word. These are words that I've heard other kind of people around the league and scouts and others
09:54say this is not just one person. This is a thing that I've heard a number of times. And every time
09:58I hear it, I'm like, I hear you. And obviously, there's, there's a reason why he hasn't gotten
10:02that deal. I also think there's a lot of good players that haven't gotten guaranteed deals. And
10:06we can talk more about some of those like O'Shea Brissett and Markel Fultz and a bunch of others.
10:12But that doesn't mean that right now, because he's out of the league, that it doesn't mean he can't
10:15positively impact the team. In covering the WNBA, like that's even more the case, honestly, over
10:21there that players get waived all the time. And then a month later, they're starting for another
10:26playoff team. So I'm fully aware of that kind of circle of life, I guess, in the WNBA and the NBA
10:32as well. Lonnie Walker, I would say, you know, what he showed us last night is that he can score
10:37at will, that he can get hot that he can, you know, he's called himself a microwave scorer.
10:42I think that fits what we all know and think about him. And I thought that he also defensively and
10:48just across the board, is looking increasingly comfortable. The first game in Abu Dhabi, he played
10:53just the last few minutes, but he looked really out of sorts. He looked maybe like he was forcing
10:57the issue a little bit. He looked a little bit nervous, which is all understandable, like he's
11:01on an exhibit 10 deal, he's playing with a new team under a new system. But you can tell that
11:06he's getting more and more comfortable. And people are talking about how, you know, he's a veteran,
11:11he's 25 years old. So he has years of experience in this league. He's not a rookie. And you could
11:16see that yesterday. There's a clear distinction between someone like Jaden Springer, who is 22
11:21and has very limited on court NBA experience. Baylor Shireman, who is a year younger than
11:26Lonnie Walker, but also has like five years less of NBA experience. And you could see his experience
11:31when he was playing yesterday. There were times I felt like he was one of the best scoring options
11:35him and Pritchard together. I loved watching. So yeah, I guess from a basketball standpoint,
11:40like you were people were excited about what they saw yesterday. And I think the question is,
11:45is there a way to keep him on this team? And the truth of the matter is, I'll be honest,
11:52I don't know if there's a possibility here. I do know that what we've heard from Brad on the
11:57record, and just what has been stated is that this is the guy that's aware that this is that
12:02uphill climb to get a guaranteed roster spot that he's down to do whatever he's willing to go to
12:07Maine, he has said that, you know, he brought that up, I think even unprompted. And all signs point
12:12right now, for is for Lonnie Walker to go to Maine in a week or two when the season begins.
12:19And so I intend to be there mid November when for the Portland debut, and I expect Lonnie Walker to
12:25be there. That's what I've heard. That's what I'm seeing. I've been trying to talk to as many people
12:29as possible to understand if there's maybe something more to it. I haven't heard anything
12:33else. If I do, I will be sure to report that. Of course, there's always the possibility of
12:39some sort of trade prior to the midseason deadline. We saw that last year where Lamar
12:44Stevens and Delano Banton were both sent out. Jaden Springer was sent in and then a roster spot
12:50opened up as well. So you never know what could happen there. But I think that right now,
12:56fans should be prepared the Lonnie Walker is most likely very much most likely not going to be on
13:01the opening night roster. And so, again, we'll see if anything changes there. I think from an
13:08encore standpoint, he's impressed that he's been a lot of fun to watch and just he had a couple
13:12finishes yesterday where I was sitting on press row and I was like, I get it. I get why everybody
13:16wants him on this team. He is so electric to watch. He seems like a really nice guy. Everything
13:21that I'm talking to him and just being around the team, he seems like he's always smiling. He's
13:25always happy. Derek White and Drew Holliday have talked about him glowingly as well. So
13:30there's a lot to like about him. But again, this is the guy that right now has an uphill battle
13:34to make this roster. And it is pretty funny that Lonnie Walker is such a big topic of conversation
13:38as an exhibit 10. But I also totally get it because I think ultimately, like he's somebody
13:44that is going to impact that NBA team down the road and people want it to be Boston's. And there's
13:49been plenty of players that have been here for a second, like an Aaron Neesmith type and then
13:52ended up somewhere else. And nobody wants to see that with Lonnie Walker. So right now, Bob, Bobby
13:57Manning reported this. So I'm, you know, it's 10 million dollars that is the tax associated with
14:02his contract. And I'm not an owner, but it seems like that's a hefty price tag for a guy who's
14:07probably not going to play. So I'd imagine that they're probably waiting to see if anything else
14:11is going to happen. So that's my Lonnie Walker take. We'll see. You know, I see people here
14:18saying like, sign Lonnie to a minimum, but then Ben Bow saying, you know, move off Springer's
14:22contract, sign Lonnie to a minimum deal. I think there's a lot of people that have been saying that
14:27today. One thing I want to say to Springer's defense is that I'm very online. I'm on Twitter
14:33all the time. As you guys know, I'm very much in touch with kind of like what fans are saying
14:37about this team. I remember just two months ago, everybody wanted Jordan Walsh out of town. He was
14:44the worst player to ever play basketball because it was summer league and he was awful. And he,
14:49I was saying just crazy stuff about Jordan Walsh. And now he's had a couple of good games and
14:52everybody's like Brad did it again. So this is not to you, Ben, this is just in general, but
14:56I do think like there's, you know, we, we tend to be very hot and cold thinking about these guys
15:01because we see them for such limited flashes. But there is a possibility that James Springer
15:06is doing a lot of things behind the scenes that there's a lot of things. He still has a high
15:10upside, like just because he's had a smaller showing than what we're used to. Like I think,
15:16or what we were expecting for him. It doesn't mean that James Springer is now going to be
15:19like automatically traded. He could be, but I just think, I think there's a lot of people.
15:25I think we can tend to look at these small sample sizes of basketball performances and kind of go
15:29crazy with certain assumptions about players. And so right now, Jordan Walsh is like, obviously he
15:33had a great showing and then James Springer had a less good showing. And so, you know, their stocks
15:37can change really quickly, but in summer league, it was James Springer that looked really good.
15:41And Jordan Walsh didn't. So, you know, I just, that's just the point in general
15:46to say about some of these guys, somehow, you know, sometimes you look better, sometimes you
15:50look worse and we know we should try to be as temper measured as possible. That's my perspective.
15:54At least I know that's kind of against that's the emphasis of like fun and hot takes, but
16:00yeah, Springer played great in summer league and people do forget it. I mean, I think you guys
16:03don't, he's somebody else that I'm excited about. I'll be proven wrong. I don't feel that strongly
16:07about him. I haven't seen him play enough, but I think that the times we've seen him play with a
16:10larger role, he's looked really good. So I'll keep, keep putting in questions in the chat.
16:14Feel free to continue putting stuff. We'll walk through a bunch more performances.
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17:43first $5 lineup. PrizeFix, run your game. Okay. So I'm going to go. So we've, who we've done?
17:51Peyton Pritchard. We've done Lonnie Walker. I guess very high on both of them from a basketball
17:57standpoint. Selfishly, like, I mean, if Lonnie Walker does go to Maine, I'll be excited to go
18:02over there and talk to him because you can easily talk to players in Maine more easily, at least
18:07than in Boston. So if he does go to Maine, I'll hopefully have some stories from him there. And
18:11I'm sure the fans in Portland will be very excited to see him because for those of you that haven't
18:15been to a Maine Celtics game, it's a great atmosphere over there. Really fun crowds.
18:19They had a great playoff run last year and it was like a lot of fun to plug into that. So they're
18:23gonna have a really good team this year, regardless of who exactly ends up over there. There's a lot
18:26of talent on the end of the bench there. So going to the top, just to make sure I don't miss
18:33anything. Let's see here. Okay. Let's talk Jordan Walsh. Damon here asks, do you think Jordan Walsh
18:42can shoot as well as O'Shea Brissett? So Jordan Walsh is a guy that was drafted with a mindset
18:49that he can be a three and D player. I think that was the hope for him. I think that he played that
18:56role really well in Maine last year, honestly. And this was part of the thing with guys that
19:01were really low on Jordan Walsh from summer league. I always said like, hey, if you watch him
19:05in Maine, he can do a lot of good things. And there's a reason why this organization remains
19:10optimistic about him. And I see some comments here, people saying, you know, I watched him in
19:15Maine that he was, you know, he, he did those things. And so if you were one of those people
19:20that plugs into something in Maine's Olympics games, like you saw that from Jordan. Can I,
19:25do I think Jordan Walsh can shoot as well as O'Shea Brissett? I think Jordan Walsh can shoot
19:29better than O'Shea Brissett. O'Shea, I felt like was offensively so limited last year that
19:36I don't want to say that that's what got him out of the league because I do think, I mean,
19:39he had a player option to stay in Boston and he could have done that. But he was not somebody that
19:45I felt confident when he scored up for a shot. I watched O'Shea Brissett warm up a lot.
19:51He had a tough shooting stroke. Like he really did. And I, again, I don't want to like run with
19:54what I see in warmups because it's like a 10, 15 minute stretch before every game.
19:59But I can tell you like O'Shea Brissett was one of the least good shooters that I've seen
20:04warming up at an NBA court, just warmups, right? His numbers speak for themselves.
20:09Let me actually pull up what O'Shea Brissett's numbers were last year, but I actually don't
20:11remember what he ended up landing on. And I feel bad saying that because I don't want to be like
20:16he was a terrible shooter because he wasn't. Like these guys are all good shooters and to be able to
20:20hit even 30%, you know, is impressive. But last year he shot 27.3% from three. That was a year
20:27after shooting 31% from three. Earlier in his career, he was better. He was 42% in 2021 in
20:34Indiana. So it's kind of been a downward spiral for him. And I think a lot of times it's the
20:38confidence thing, or you kind of start to make a mechanical mistake that kind of gets worse and
20:42worse. But all that being said is that Jordan Walsh, I think can shoot better than 27%. I think
20:48that the goal is for him to be at least a league average shooter. You know, that'd be like 35%.
20:52That's around what he was in Maine last year. But his shot looks great so far. He, you know,
20:57reporters asked him postgame yesterday, like, what's the difference? Like, have you changed
21:01anything? And he was like, no, I haven't changed anything. It's literally just they're going in
21:05now, which is something that I subscribe to. I tell people this all the time. A lot of times when
21:10guys are struggling with their shot, the question is like, you know, just this guy suck at shooting
21:15now or this guy like he went to the shot doctor. And a lot of times it's literally like now there
21:19are shots going in and they feel a lot more confident. And it becomes a contagious thing
21:23where you can even see in one game, like some game Sam Hauser, he's not hitting anything other
21:27games. It's like the lid is, you know, 100 feet. So I think Jordan Walsh is in a good stretch right
21:31now. And the hope is that he can not only play with shapers that's role, but he can do more than
21:35that down the road. That's why they picked him. They didn't pick him because they wanted him to
21:39eventually be an end of rotation player. And so the big difference for Jordan Walsh is that the
21:44game has slowed down for him. And this was so obvious, you don't need to be a basketball person
21:47to even notice this, you could probably be not even someone to watch a sports to just realize
21:51how sped up he looked in summer league. And that's not how we looked at Maine. And so I knew he was
21:55capable of kind of reverting back to this. And now he is playing a lot slower. I posted a couple of
22:01his highlights yesterday, because I was like, these are really beautiful moves to the basket.
22:04And not just are they really nice moves, but also, you know, he's showcasing that he has a deeper bag,
22:09but and then he's also willing to kind of make the right read, whether it's a three point shot,
22:13whether it's a drive to the basket, super impressed by his development over the last few months.
22:18And more than what we watched, you know, I think cam or one of the public supporters asked
22:23Joe Mazula last night about Jordan Walsh's performance. And he said, he's really proud
22:27of him. And he's actually carving out a role for himself. But I don't know that that necessarily
22:32means that this year, Jordan Walsh will have a role in the NBA. But I if you had asked me a couple
22:36months ago, is there a chance that Jordan Walsh is playing any real NBA minutes this year, I would
22:42have said no. And I think that that's a real possibility now after just a few preseason games,
22:46just based on how much he's playing and how he's being used and also how Joe Mazula is talking
22:51about him. And so yeah, it's been a lot of fun to see that he's like, I think he's a fan favorite
22:56as well. He's one of those guys that people just gravitate toward. And so I'm sure I'll spend some
23:01time in Maine as well. But I think that he's making a case for potentially being one of those
23:06guys that plays backup minutes. So So yeah, I think long story short, yes, he can definitely
23:12shoot as well as a chamber set. Tom here asks, which player from our state ready crew has
23:18impressed you the most so far? They've all been having awesome performances.
23:21Um, hard to pick one. But if I had to pick one, I guess I would say, I guess I would say Jordan
23:28just because he surprised me like Pritchard has impressed me the most. I guess Pritchard's not
23:32even a state ready crew guy anymore. But Pritchard impressed me the most as far as his overall
23:36performance, but I'm not surprised. I mean, we kind of we already know that Pritchard so I think
23:39Jordan was just, I didn't think that we were going to see these kinds of performances from him in the
23:43preseason and we are and so that's a great sign and it's bodes well for the Celtics future and
23:48the Celtics future development. And so I'm happy to see that and he can take the so far the stay
23:54ready crew award for me. Question here about whether the team might get bored during the
24:01regular season. I don't think so, honestly, and I think it all stems back to Joe Mazzulla. And
24:08you know, I mentioned this earlier, but you can read my article on SB Nation about Joe Mazzulla
24:13and his relentless culture of winning. His intention is to ensure that that never happens.
24:19I think that he would view that as a colossal kind of coaching failure, honestly, if it ever got to
24:23that point where, you know, the team got bored during the regular season. And so they're doing
24:28weird things. They have weird games that they're playing and there's animal kingdom references
24:33everywhere and there's they're playing other sports and practice and they're trying out
24:37anything to not get bored. And so, you know, a couple weeks back, I was at the practice facility
24:43and there was all their kids are running around and they're they're playing duck duck goose. And
24:46like, I think that's the big fear for any team, especially defending champion. But I think that
24:51with Joe Mazzulla at the helm, like there's going to be a concerted effort to avoid that that's
24:56maybe superior to any, any effort in the league. And so I have faith in the fact that he will be
25:02able to ensure that they don't get bored. There's always going to be human nature,
25:05there's going to be some 30 point loss to some team on the road, and everybody's going to freak
25:10out. But big picture, I don't think that them getting bored beyond like, maybe certain moments
25:15of lack of focus is going to be a real theme here. And that's an exciting thing, because nobody wants
25:20to turn on the TV and watch a team that's playing uninspired basketball. You're not going to see
25:24that with this team, I'd be really, really surprised. I don't like to have like, hot
25:28predictions, because it's just everything is so hard to assess in advance. I'm reminded of this
25:34covering the WNBA right now, the Minnesota Lynx who are in the finals, we're expected to be the
25:38third worst team in the league on ESPN rankings. And I was thinking to myself, like, that's no
25:43knock on ESPN, they have great reporters. But it's just so hard to make real predictions in
25:48basketball, even if it's your job full time. So I'm not going to make sweeping, sweeping predictions
25:51about this team. But I will say I can confidently predict that their mindset is going to be in the
25:56right place at the very least. I'm going back to Springer, just because I see I see this question
26:03here. From one of our regular viewers, it's noticeable that Springer's minutes have diminished
26:08any sense of his mentality and wellness must be frustrating. I do want to answer this because I
26:12actually had a sit down interview with James Springer about two weeks ago now. And I think
26:17that's the only time he's spoken with media since summer league. So I was grateful to get the chance
26:21to chat with him. He's a super friendly guy. He's kind of more reserved, more quiet. But
26:27every time I've spoken to him, he's been really willing to kind of share where his head's at.
26:32And he's meant to obviously, you know, he's sure he knows what the right thing to say to reporters
26:36are. But I also think sometimes you can read between that he seems to mentally be really
26:41accepting of the fact that right now, this is where he's at in his career and really grateful
26:45to get the chance to learn from Hall of Famers and veterans. And he said to me, like, look around,
26:50this is the same team that we had last year, there's not going to be like a big opportunity
26:54for me here. But I'm maximizing like every minute of it. And so I think mentally, he's in a good
27:00place. Honestly, I think I'm sure he's disappointed with himself. It looks like Joe got mad at him
27:05yesterday at a point when he didn't take a charge on a fast break. It was a couple of times where
27:09he got pulled out of the game really quick and then went back in that I assume Joe would just
27:13wanted to communicate something to him. So I don't think he's one of those guys that's riding a high
27:17today from his performance last night. That being said, just from speaking with him, he seems to be
27:21one of those people that is just going to make the most of the opportunity to make the most of the
27:25moment. You can check out that Jaden Springer story on Celtics blog, if you Google Jaden Springer
27:29Celtics blog, it'll come up. So yeah, that's, that's my perspective on him. At least, I'm sure
27:35he'll get more of an opportunity in this upcoming preseason game as well, at least some sort of an
27:40opportunity. And I don't think he's going to be in Maine much this year. So we'll see, you know,
27:44I think that he's, he might surprise people, like, again, just because he didn't play in this stretch
27:48doesn't mean that he's out of the rotation. Last week, Lonnie Walker didn't play at all, basically
27:52in Abu Dhabi. And yesterday, he was, you know, one of the top minute guys and one of the top
27:56scorers. So things can change really quickly. But obviously, he was not one of the standouts
27:59from this past weekend at TD Garden. And I'm sure he sure he knows that and feels that.
28:06Question on Baylor Shireman. Do you think Baylor Shireman could get cut with a season
28:13preseason performance? So Baylor Shireman is not going to get cut. He's on a guaranteed deal.
28:18He was a first round draft pick, Brad Stevens first as general manager. So there's a lot of
28:24reasons why Baylor Shireman is, you know, he's a longer term investment. He has looked really
28:29rough in preseason. His shots look wonky. You know, even when they go in, they look weird.
28:33I hate to critique the way people's shots look because I have like the world's ugliest basketball
28:38shot. But it doesn't, you know, it doesn't look smooth at all. Like it looks like he's kind of
28:43forcing the issue. That being said, it's preseason. And I thought he was solid in summer league. And
28:49we've seen a lot of really good players look a lot worse in preseason. And so, again, I caution
28:55everybody to do the whole thing that I said with Jordan Walsh, like, just like we shouldn't go
29:00super, super high on guys after a couple of good preseason performances. I feel the same way about
29:04like going really low on these guys as well. So yeah, like if I was going to rank like who
29:09winners and losers from last night, like Baylor Shireman was somebody that did not look great.
29:13And he hasn't looked great in preseason at all. And I haven't looked at the shooting numbers, but
29:17I don't think I need to look. I know that they're pretty, pretty tough. But he's not going to go,
29:22he's not going anywhere right now. You know, this, when you draft a guy in the first round,
29:26like there is at least, you're at least going to give him some time to get his feet under
29:29him, learn the system. He also gained like 15 pounds since he was drafted or even more since
29:34summer league. And so I don't know, I've never, I've never built 15 pounds of muscle, but I know
29:40that that has hurt guys shots in the past, or at least it's taken them a little bit to get in rhythm
29:44with their kind of new body. And so that could be something as well that's in the mix. But it's just
29:48like, he's adjusting to so much and all these guys, when it's your first year in the league,
29:52and like a few months ago, he was playing against completely different level of competition. Like
29:56you have to just give him some grace and just assume that it's not gonna, it's not gonna
30:01necessarily work out right away. And so I'm not saying I think Baylor Shireman is going to be the
30:05next big thing. But I just I'm not willing to discount him after just a couple of poor games,
30:10just considering the circumstances are so extenuating with like, this is really his first
30:13time as a professional. Question, can O'Shea come back if Lonnie doesn't work out? O'Shea is not
30:19going to come back. I've heard what O'Shea might be going to Europe. Nothing confirmed yet. I've
30:24been watching his blog, he hasn't said anything specifically. But once he opted out that that
30:29door, that ship had sailed, I think they want that 15 spot open. And so if they sign Lonnie Walker,
30:34it's because he has just given them no choice. Like he's playing so well that they have to take
30:37him or there's an injury or something. I don't think O'Shea is the guy that they were particularly
30:42needing this back this year regardless. Will he find a spot in the league like I'd love for him
30:46to but I think right now he has not been able to so I would expect him to not be in the NBA this
30:52year this late in the year. Yeah, this is I think this is from a while back when we're talking about
30:57Jordan. But yeah, he really was playing like how he plays in Maine. Let's talk Nimish Keita. Keita
31:05is somebody that is still I think a little bit raw. And that's something that you can't deny about
31:11him like his touch around the rim is not great. I think he was three for eight last night. And he
31:16just misses easy ones where it's like, you just feel like how how did you miss that shot? It's
31:19like it's a great angle that catches a great pass. But he gets a rebound. So this is kind of like the
31:25Angel Reese predicament where, again, not to keep bringing WNBA references into things, but I'm
31:29covering both right now. So my head's kind of all over the place. But you know, she gets flack for
31:33missing her own layups, and then she gets on rebound. And in the same vein, she gets a lot of
31:37credit for getting a lot of rebounds. But part of it is because she's missing her own shots. And so
31:42I think you kind of take it for what it is, you know, it's a gift to be able to get your own
31:45misses like that. It's also a weakness to improve upon when you're missing easy shots around the
31:49basket that other people will just make. Right now, Keita has, you know, room to grow in that
31:55regard. But I still think that there's a lot of upside 15 boards, regardless of how you got them
32:00is impressive. I thought that he made good reads as a passer. I think defensively, he still
32:06sometimes finds himself in the wrong place. Like, just as far as like helping the helper, they're
32:10trying out a lot of different schemes. He was playing with Skipintsev, who is the young Ukrainian
32:15player who is was on an exhibit 10 that you guys might have seen last night, if you didn't, you
32:19didn't know him before. So I think that it's like, it's not a, it's not going to be perfect in
32:24preseason, regardless of how well individually you're doing. But I think that Keita has shown
32:29his flashes and increasingly so like, every time we watch him play, he shows us more and more
32:32flashes. That being said, just watching Lou Cornette is like there's clearly he has a level
32:37of familiarity and comfort within the system that Keita still doesn't have. But he's gonna have it's
32:42gonna continue to come. And I think that he's a really hard worker. What I've seen is a really
32:46nice looking shot. I'm excited for the moment that he starts shooting more because I think that he
32:51has the feeling of potential of being a really good shooter. Again, it's all potentials here.
32:56Um, but he had a nice game. And I think some of you guys might know he's somebody else that I'm
33:00really excited about. I feel like a broken record being excited about all these players. But I think
33:05we have a really exciting, fun cast of guys that are in this rotation. And there's a reason why
33:10Brad Stevens worked to resign everybody that he could, between Keita and Cornette and Sam
33:15Hauser and Peyton Pritchard getting extensions. But it's not a coincidence that that happened.
33:19I think it's because they felt like they had a pretty special group. And so I guess this is
33:23talking about the the center rotation. Right now, the only backup that I appears to be encouraged
33:30to shoot threes as Xavier Tillman. I don't think we're net nor Nimesh Keita are encouraged to
33:36shoot threes right now. They were telling me when six for eight in the preseason. I've been high in
33:41the Xavier Tillman three point shot. This is for me watching him shoot. He's up there like the same
33:45way that I said that O'Shea Broussard was always kind of a tough watch. As far as shooting threes
33:49pregame, like just statistically, a lot of them didn't go in. He airballed a fair amount, like
33:54just kind of unusual misses for an NBA player. Xavier Tillman is on the opposite end of the
33:58spectrum where I was like, damn, like he really has a beautiful shot and it goes in at a very high
34:02clip. And so I think he's going to be shooting the three ball a lot this year. I think that as the
34:08sample of shots increases, so will his percentage because last year wasn't great. But I don't take
34:13anything into consideration when it's a small sample. The six for eight is a small sample.
34:18So I don't want to run with that either. But at the same time, I've seen him shoot a lot. I think
34:22that is something that he's worked really hard at. And it's part of why they traded for him and part
34:25of why they re-signed him to a two year deal is because they have the belief that he can eventually
34:29stretch the floor and space the floor. And I'm not going to call him new Al Horford or whatever it is,
34:35because that is such a high bar. And I think it's just I know that's what people want from him,
34:40but it's just I don't know if it's possible to replace Al. I think that he has such a unique
34:44skill set and approach. But Xavier Tillman is one of the guys that comes out of preseason looking
34:50like, OK, this could really be a big thing for this team. Like if Xavier Tillman can
34:53hit the open three ball like that's that's huge. And so. So, yeah, I think that he's going to be
35:00in the mix there. I think Luke Hornet is going to be the primary backup big.
35:04There's been speculation. I've done some segments on this with Bobby about whether Luke might even
35:09actually start and Al Horford will come off the bench just to kind of save his legs. I think it's
35:12a possibility. I would imagine it's probably not the case, but it's a possibility for sure if they
35:17want to limit Al's minutes. But I think the Luke Hornet at this point in his career has so much
35:22experience with his team. He's so refined. Some physicality is improved. I think that he's the
35:28lead guy in that center rotation. I think Xavier Tillman is behind him. And then I think Nunez
35:32Cade is probably behind the two of them with a lot of room to grow. And so I'm sure he's going to
35:37learn a lot from those guys as well. Just being around them, being on the team, being on Al
35:41Horford. And again, he hasn't even been in Boston for a year, or it's been like just around a year.
35:46So, you know, he's not 19. I think he's like, actually, I don't even remember how old exactly
35:51he is. But he has a couple years of experience now, but still very limited on court minutes.
35:58So we'll see how that pans out. But I think that preseason has shown us that,
36:02you know, Luke Hornet is at the top of the list. Cade is 25. Okay. I just looked that up. I wasn't
36:08sure. Okay, I'm going to continue scrolling here. Let's actually take a pause and hear over from
36:16our friends over at Game Time. And then we'll go back to finishing up with some questions here.
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37:16Awesome. Okay, I took the chance to read some more of these comments here. It's so funny.
37:22We're talking about a defending champion team. I just realized I haven't even mentioned Jason Tatum
37:25or Jalen Brown. So let me make sure I do that just out of being fair to what really is important
37:31here. I think they both look really good in their first, in their first preseason action at TD
37:35Garden. They didn't play obviously last night against the Drafters, but they did play against
37:39the 76ers. They both approached the game very businesslike. They warmed up very businesslike.
37:45Jalen, I think had some great playmaking moments, flashes early on. He talked about that being
37:50something that he wants to improve on. Tatum's two-point shots look better. So we're not going
37:55to learn a whole lot about Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown in some preseason minutes against non-NBA
38:00starters. But I will say you have to like what you saw from the two of them. So please check that
38:05box. I wanted to make sure I very least talked and addressed Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, who
38:11are at the end of the day going to be the most important part of this team, regardless of whether
38:14or not Lonnie Walker makes the roster or Jaden Springer plays or what happens with the backup
38:19backup center position, which I'm always happy to talk about, but just have to make sure to get that
38:24in there. Okay, continue to look a lot look along here. Was that Cornette game versus 76 was an
38:32outlier? Can you do that more often? I'm realizing I'm like 20 minutes behind in these comments. So
38:37um, I don't think it was an outlier. I think obviously he was playing against not Joel Embiid.
38:43And so certainly it's going to get a lot more difficult playing against, you know, all NBA
38:48MVP caliber centers. And I think that he acknowledged that in his postgame presser,
38:52he pretty much said, like, you know, we had a lot of advantages on the floor today. And that
38:56made my job easier. And the Celtics, this is like kind of the terminology that they always use,
39:01that it's all about seeking advantages. And so a lot of times they can identify we have four
39:05advantages on the floor based on who we have out there, and their opponents. Sometimes it's two
39:09guys, I try to watch from a reporter standpoint, like how many advantages they have currently,
39:14I'm probably wrong half the time, because I'm not, you know, in the film room. But,
39:18you know, I think Cornette mentioned it, and it was very obvious that that game really benefited
39:22him as being able to take advantage of the fact that they had a kind of a makeshift lineup out
39:26there. But he has a really nice touch around the rim. And defensively, Joe Mazula called him one
39:30of the best defenders on the team. And I think it's for good reason. I think that it's because
39:34he has an awareness of the schemes and an ability to communicate, and just kind of a quickness in
39:38his thinking process that rivals, you know, a few guys. And so it's why he's emerged as a really
39:44solid NBA player. I think he can do more often, I think we'll see him doing more often this year,
39:48with Porzingis out, with Al Horford playing limited minutes, I think all of a sudden,
39:52Luke Cornette is going to be, I'm surprising a lot of people that maybe discounted him early on.
39:57And I already think people are coming around on him. But yeah.
40:02Question here is about the reports between choosing between Springer and Walker.
40:06I don't think these are reports. I haven't seen any reporters report this. But I've seen like
40:09fan accounts talking about this. Down the road, can Springer be traded? Like, absolutely. Like,
40:16that's what happens in the NBA, right? If a guy like Delano Banton and Lamar Stevens were traded
40:20last year, presumably because Joe Mazula felt like they weren't bringing to the team what they
40:24really needed. And so it's always a possibility. I don't want to say like, because of one or two
40:31preseason games, so that's where we're at. And I haven't heard anything from talking to team people
40:36or anybody around the organization that makes me think that. So I'm not going to give those reports
40:42any validity. But I understand why people are going there. Because a lot of times when we're
40:44watching these players, it's like, okay, I want that guy, even though he's not an exhibit 10. I
40:48don't want that guy. He's not a guaranteed deal. But we have to look at the big picture in mind of
40:52like developmental arcs and kind of where people are expected to be at certain points. And there's
40:56off court things that we might not be aware of. And so I, you know, we'll see about the Springer
41:01stuff. I think that, you know, there's still a lot of good things that he can do, but he just
41:05hasn't had as great of a strike to some other guys on the floor. Um, yeah, I'll echo Tom's
41:13comments about how fun it is, you know, rooting covering a team that's good. Yeah, definitely.
41:19It's funny. We're talking about end of roster guys. It's because they get the luxury to be able
41:23to do that. I mean, I think we've talked about the backup bigs, because forcing is out like
41:27there's some stuff to talk about there. But ultimately, like there's, yeah, there's not
41:31big major storylines coming out of training camp. And so it'll be interesting to see how this team
41:36is covered and how the national media talks about this team, how the local media does, because
41:40I think people kind of get bored when there's not conflict. And if they're really good off the
41:44bat, and they kind of continue their ways from last year, like, what do you really talk about?
41:48You know, I mean, I'll have fun talking about like, random players. But I think from like a
41:52national media standpoint, it's like, I wonder if it's going to be like fabricated conflict,
41:56or like what exactly the deal is going to be? Because this is as uneventful as a team really
42:00gets. With everybody being back, there's all new faces, the coaching staffs, the same I noticed in
42:05the huddles yesterday, like it's literally the same guys that are with Joe Missoula. You know,
42:10at the beginning of timeouts, like even though Charles Lee left, I haven't actually seen a new
42:14guy in there. Although I know everybody kind of moved up a notch. So a lot of continuity,
42:18a lot of continuity that's been fun. Question here from Joey, are you concerned that we haven't
42:25really seen much from Drew and White? Is it just being chalked up to the fact that they just show
42:29up and work? Yeah, I don't think that there's really any, anything to be concerned about with
42:34those two guys. They both played through the Olympics. Like I think that they're ramping up,
42:37but they haven't looked bad. I think they just played more limited minutes. And again,
42:41these aren't guys that are hunting their shots either, especially in preseason. So
42:45zero concern from those two. Okay, I'm realizing a lot of these comments are from
42:54way back when, when I was talking about the Celtics being bored. So I'm just
42:57scrolling through here. This I talked about, but you know, how is your preseason colored,
43:02your view, I think it's given me more confidence because Luke Hornet and Xavier Chelman have both
43:07been better than I expected. I think I expected them to both be good, but I feel even better.
43:15Yeah. Ty Coffee here says, funny how everyone forgot how bad Walsh and Grant were as rookies.
43:21I think it's just, you know, I don't actually, I forgot about Grant, honestly, but I think it's
43:26just a reminder, like everything you see from a rookie starting their NBA career, take with a
43:30grain of salt and take with the understanding that like, they are going to get a lot better.
43:34A guy that's playing really well in summer league, like, you know, Cam Whitmore was like
43:38summer league MVP. That doesn't mean he's going to be an MVP caliber player. He's going to be
43:41phenomenal. There's going to be other rookies that, you know, were really rough at summer
43:46league that summer league that aren't going to end up being great. So everything right now just
43:48needs to be viewed under proportion. But I understand like there's things, you know,
43:53fans are watching and you want to kind of jump to conclusions. And Baylor didn't look great. So I get
43:57it. Question, this is an interesting question. Jalen Brown, do you think that Jalen Brown could
44:04be the leading scorer on the team this year and Tatum taking on more of a playmaker role?
44:10I wouldn't be surprised if the average look around the same. There's no real reason why Tatum needs
44:14the average more. I think that the things that Tatum does really well, like pass and might give
44:19Jalen a couple more shots per game. If Jalen can improve his free throw percentage as well,
44:24and a three point percentage, like that gives him a couple more points per game.
44:28Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if, I don't think, I don't see a world where Jalen is averaging like
44:33significantly more points than Tatum. But I can see it being close and maybe Jalen has a slight
44:37edge. If I had to pick, I probably would predict Tatum will continue to score more just because
44:42just looking at history, but I loved what I saw out of Tatum in the finals in those last few games
44:47in particular, where he really was a playmaker first. He was willing to pass up late game shots
44:51to find the open man, whether it was Al Horford for three, we're all gonna remember the behind
44:56the back pass. So maybe it's a sign of things to come. But I also think Tatum is gonna have a high
45:02scoring year, especially if the three point shot's back on. This is an interesting question,
45:08how many minutes do you think Tillman will play before Chris Hopps comes back? Do you think
45:11there's a chance that we could see more Nimi than X? I would be very surprised if we saw more Nimi
45:17than X. I think that right now, Xavier Tillman has a more proven shot and he understands the
45:22defensive system more. And every time I've asked Joe Mazzola about Xavier Tillman, he has pretty
45:27much said like, he is really impressed with how quickly he's picked up concepts. So how many
45:33minutes I have to probably look at a rotational chart to give an accurate, but you predicted
45:38maybe I would say like 15 for Xavier Tillman, like 18. I know he's a guy that's had knee things too
45:47as well. And so that's a possibility that, you know, he is somebody that,
45:52you know, they're going to want to limit his minutes, even if he's capable of playing extra
45:55minutes as well. I started laughing during that because I'm seeing this comment that says,
46:00I've seen your high school highlights. You definitely weren't lying about an ugly
46:04jump shot. LOL. They were cash though. Hilarious. I have such an ugly shot. I shoot from very low.
46:10I think it's because I was always weak. And so I just learned to shoot from low. And even now,
46:14like I never, I just never raised it. That's not an invitation to go look at my high school
46:18highlights, but that did crack me up that someone found those and you were not lying about an ugly
46:23jump shot. I'm going to repeat that one to my dad. Okay. Question here from Phil. Do you think,
46:32is there anything Joe Mazul needs to improve on as a head coach? I don't think I can really give
46:40that answer. And I, that might be like a bad podcast or thing to say, but we get a limited
46:46viewpoint of Joe. We hear what the players say about him. We see his demeanor and practices
46:51and games. We see his rotational decisions. And then there's the whole staff around him. So even
46:55sometimes I see certain schemes that I'm like, this is a weird time to go into the zone, zone
47:00defense. But I don't know if that's him or if it's somebody on his staff also. So I try not to make
47:04like jumps on Joe, because I don't really know exactly like, maybe there's things behind the
47:09scenes that I would disagree with if I had the full story. That being said, I think if I had to
47:15pick, I would like to see like a little bit more variety in,
47:19on like, and I guess he's doing this at practice, but for selfishly, it'd be fun to see different
47:23combinations of players, especially in preseason. I would have loved to see like JD Davison playing
47:27with the starters for a few minutes. I don't think it's like an improved thing. So maybe this is not
47:31answering your question, but I think that, I think we see a lot of times the same combinations of
47:34players and I'm assuming it's because they're trying to do that in practice and they're seeing
47:38what works there, but it's different sometimes against NBA competition. So long story, you know,
47:44to be more succinct, like, no, I don't really feel like I have anything. Maybe in a bit be in
47:51a better mood and preseason in pregame pressers. Just kidding. But sometimes I feel like he's so
47:56business that it's a little intimidating. I'll think I'll think of have a better answer to that
48:01as far as like actual schematic things. It just, it would be hard for me and like someone covering
48:06the team to be like, Oh, I know better than him on something, which is why I very rarely
48:10criticize coaches unless it's like, okay, all the players have turned on this guy. And so like,
48:13I'm going to follow their lead and be aware. So I'm probably in a, in a small camp on that one.
48:20Okay. I'm going to scroll through these quick because I think there's something else on
48:25CLNS at eight o'clock and I should probably wrap this up too. I really appreciate everybody's
48:29engagement. It's been fun. We've had like hundreds of people coming in through this
48:32across the different platforms, which is always great. I really do appreciate it. Like,
48:36I just want to say, I really do appreciate people for continuing to tune into the show,
48:39continuing to follow along. I'm going to try to do this more than weekly, which is what I've
48:44been doing right now. When the season starts, I've been kind of swamped with WNBA coverage as well.
48:47So I'm balancing everything, but I'm going to rapid fire the remainder of these questions
48:53just to make sure. I think part of my promise for this is if you tune in, I'll answer everybody's
48:57questions. I want to make sure I do that. So let me just rapid fire these and then anything we
49:03don't get to today. Well, I'll do another episode. I'm going to do a WNBA episode on Wednesday
49:08from Minnesota. So I'm going to Minnesota on Wednesday. I'm going to do a WNBA episode there.
49:12So we'll do a full length hour. Maybe some of you will be interested in that. Some of you won't be.
49:18But yeah, okay. Peyton Pritchard, we talked about him a bit, but I think I expect him to make a
49:24jump from last year. I think he'll be the backup point guard. I think he'll be the leading scorer
49:27off the bench. I think they'll have some games where he starts when lead guards are out, whether
49:32due to injury or rest. And I think that people are going to continue to be positively surprised
49:37at what he's capable of. And his shot's going to be better than it was last year too, because
49:41he really had an abysmal shooting start to the season last year. So that's something else to
49:45just keep into account when looking at his stats. Fair point. I see here someone saying about
49:53pre-season is cardio, playing time for end of bench guys, which I personally enjoy the end
49:56of bench guy stuff, but I understand it's a little more boring for fans. Question about what's my
50:01favorite scary movie. I do not watch any movies. I really don't. I really don't. So I'm the worst
50:07person to ask about this. You know, it's hard when you watch so much basketball. I just never
50:12got into watching movies. I can't even name one off the top of my head, honestly. Acknowledging
50:20this comment wasn't long ago when people trashed our bench. I know. I think people kind of looked
50:24at them individually as like, what have they done on the NBA? Did they average a lot of points? And
50:29they didn't. And so people didn't understand how the puzzle pieces fit together to create a really
50:34good system. Can Al or X wear a headband so I can more easily tell them apart on the court?
50:42It would be nice. I can say standing up close to them, I mean, you guys know this, but they look
50:46nothing alike. So it's really remarkable how on the court they look exactly the same. Because it's
50:51like, I don't, it's like an optical illusion. Like on the floor, they look completely, completely the
50:55same. And the next, you know, being near them, they look nothing alike. So it's really bizarre.
51:00But it would be nice if there was a clearer way. Because sometimes I'll be about to post
51:03something on Twitter and I'm like, oh, that's the wrong guy. So do I have favorite players around
51:08the league? I have a lot of like random players that I like. I think as far as like superstars,
51:15I really like SGA. I think that he has a really smooth game. I'm, I guess if I, if I had to think
51:20about the core, like the MVP candidates that are not on the Celtics that I enjoy watching,
51:24he's probably number one. I like Jalen Brunson. I liked, I liked like the whole like Knicks thing
51:33they have going on, like the Villanova guys. I like those kinds of players, like the Josh Hart
51:37types. I guess Eileen guards, just thinking about what I enjoy watching. But a lot of, I have a lot
51:43of players that I love, honestly. Right now, my favorite player is Courtney Williams, who's on
51:47the Minnesota Lynx. If you haven't watched her play, do yourself a favor and watch her play.
51:55How do I see the West taking out? I think I have OKC coming out of the West.
52:00I don't even know what to make of the Timberwolves, but I think that they could, they can put up a
52:03good fight too. They have a, I'm not sure about the trade, I've waffled back and forth a bunch
52:08of times. So we'll see. Talked about this briefly, do I think Jamie can increase the scoring average
52:14this year? Yes, I think he, he think he definitely can. I think that if he's more efficient, in
52:19particular, three point shooting and free throws, like that'll help. I think that he might get more
52:22shots. I don't think either him or Tatum are going to be forcing the issue. Do I truly believe
52:31ownership is going to pay the second apron penalties? I don't know, because I don't know
52:34who the ownership is going to be. And I have no, I got a couple questions about this. I don't mean
52:38to ignore them. I genuinely don't know. I don't know anything about the kind of new push for new
52:44owners. So if I know stuff about that, I feel like I'm probably not going to be one of the first
52:48reporters to know about that topic. It's a little bit above kind of the kind of reporting that I've
52:53been doing. But if I hear anything about ownership, like, I think that's going to be critical. Because
52:57if you sell this team to the wrong group, and they don't want to pay those penalties, like we might
53:01see this team be broken up way sooner than we need to. So fingers crossed that doesn't happen.
53:07Spookiest part of TD Garden? Not spooky per se, because I'm always around other reporters. But
53:13like, I just get lost a lot. I feel like I'm always making a wrong turn. And I'm like, I don't know
53:16where to go. And I've been covering the team for a year, like being there practically multiple times
53:21a week. So not spooky per se. But um, but yeah. Okay, I'm glad I'm seeing some Courtney Williams
53:30love. Okay, this is gonna be good for us. Okay, I appreciate this. Um, oh, one last question here.
53:38Does Brissette get a pen date later in the season somewhere? I think he's gonna go to Europe. That's
53:41what I mean, I've seen that some reports about that. I don't know if it's confirmed. And I mean,
53:44nothing's confirmed openly. I think he's mostly going to go to Europe. He doesn't seem like the
53:49kind of guy that a team is going to take a flyer on. Just his skill set and his limitations. I feel
53:53like, I don't know, I think it's going to usually be like a big, a big that's going to get that or
53:58like someone who can just score in buckets or whatever it is. So Brissette probably not. But
54:03I think he's gonna end up in Europe, at least for this year. I do know it's hard once you're in
54:06Europe, it's hard to make that move back. One of the first interviews I did, when I started this
54:11work was talking to Jared Selinger, who told me, like, yeah, when I went to China, I was kind of
54:16like closing the door on an NBA return, even though like, I got a lot better, actually. And I
54:19got in better shape and stronger and more skilled. And like, it was kind of too late at that point.
54:22So my intent, my understanding is like, usually, I mean, there's always like the Abu Sellies of
54:26the world, but usually you don't make it back. So if he isn't go to Europe, like that could be
54:31at the end of his NBA career. Again, you just never know, though. Um, Jalen Brown question,
54:38is he vegan? He is not vegan. He is not vegetarian. He did Hot Ones. He is somebody
54:46that I think has had stretches where he's plant based. I think that he he has like spoken about
54:50the value of veganism, but he yeah, he eats meat too. And, okay, I think that's pretty much yeah,
54:59oh, I see someone here beat me to it, the Hot Ones comment. Okay, I think that was pretty much
55:05everything. So hopefully that last bit wasn't too sped up. I wanted to make sure we got through
55:09everything. We did do almost an hour. I'll be going live on either Wednesday or Thursday. Maybe
55:15I'll do Thursday so we can discuss game one or game three of the WNBA finals. That'll be a WNBA
55:21exclusive episode. In the meantime, thank you all so much. If you're watching this on CLNS,
55:27on CLNS media, on Twitter, wherever it is, subscribe to my YouTube channel. It's You Got
55:34Boston. If you are watching this on my channel, you can also catch a lot of other podcasts and
55:39analysis on CLNS. And if you want to follow along on my WNBA coverage, it's svnation.com slash WNBA.
55:47Thank you all. Hope you enjoyed the show. Hope you enjoyed watching preseason over the last
55:51few days. We'll have a postgame show the Garden Report after tomorrow's Toronto Raptors game.
55:56So you can catch me talking to Bobby and probably some others about that game. We should be seeing
56:01the debut of Al Warford for this preseason. That's what we've heard. So maybe Al makes his
56:05return. Have a great rest of your night and enjoy the rest of your week.