Celtics Have Started the Season ANGRY | Big 3 NBA Podcast - video Dailymotion

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A. Sherrod Blakely is joined by Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports to discuss the beginning of the NBA season. The Celtics have come out aggressive and on a mission with a 4-1 start. Who looks like true contenders around the league? Who will improve? Who will decline?  0:00 - Intro 1:12 - Biggest surprise this season 3:01 - Players left on margins 5:23 - Issues with 76ers 6:44 - Joel Embiid's uncertainty 9:01 - Playoff prospects discussed 10:30 - Regular season importance 13:02 - Cleveland Cavaliers surprise 16:49 - Cleveland's strong start 18:30 - Golden State's resurgence 21:36 - Orlando Magic's potential 22:50 - Carmelo's skill set 24:44 - Major disappointment teams 27:02 - Celtics' championship prospects   CLNS Media is Powered by:   Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!   Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!  Elevate your style game on and off the course with the PXG Spring Summer 2024 collection. Head over to https://PXG.com/GARDENREPORT and save 10% on all apparel.  Nutrafol! Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code GARDEN!   #celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics The CLNS Media Network is the leading provider for video/audio content. CLNS is a fully credentialed member of the media with access to all NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB teams & venues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  CLNS' rebuilt their YouTube community in less than 12 months, during a pandemic that attacked sports. Wondering how? Find out here (and support our channel) - https://www.tubebuddy.com/clnsmedia  Visit the Official Home of CLNS Sports Coverage -  https://clnsmedia.com  Twitter - https://twitter.com/CLNSMedia Celtics - https://twitter.com/celticsclns Patriots - https://twitter.com/patriotsclns Bruins - https://twitter.com/bruinsclns Red Sox - https://twitter.com/redsoxclns Non-Sports - https://twitter.com/northstation Facebook - http://facebook.com/clnsmedia INSTA - http://Instagram.com/clnsmedia INSTA Celtics - http://Instagram.com/celticsclns INSTA History - http://Instagram.com/nbahistoryclns

Transcript

00:00The Big 3 NBA Podcast is powered by PrizePix and the Game Time app.

00:25Welcome to another edition of the Big 3 NBA Podcast, I'm your host, H. Rob Blakely, and

00:29I'm joined by Yahoo Sports, always on the move, on the move, Vincent Goodwill Jr.

00:36What's going on, Vince?

00:37H. Rob Blakely, how you doing, man?

00:40I'm wonderful, wonderful.

00:42Glad you could squeeze us in because you are now, you are in the midst of doing what all

00:47NBA beat writers are doing this time of year, you're on the move, doing your thing, and

00:51I want to just kind of just really jump right into conversation.

00:54The season has gotten off to a pretty good start.

00:57Some of the teams that we expect to get off the fast starts are doing it.

01:00Some teams have been a little bit in slow motion so far, as far as winning and things

01:05like that.

01:06When you look at the way the league has played out this first week or so, what's been the

01:12biggest surprise to you as far as how things have started this year in the league?

01:18I think, Sherrod, every team goes into the offseason saying, we need to make a big move,

01:23right?

01:24We need to make this biggest, splashy move, and it's going to pay dividends very early

01:29in the season, if not late.

01:31I think what we're seeing, Sherrod, is continuity wins the day.

01:34When you're looking at the Celtics, when you're looking at even Golden State, who's made moves

01:39around the margins, when you're looking at the Clippers, you're looking at Oklahoma City,

01:43the teams that are winning are teams that have been together for a long time and have

01:47a system and a style of how we want to play.

01:52Even though the style of play, Sherrod, has changed throughout the NBA, it's way more

01:56three-point heavy.

01:57I got a lot of criticism about that, but in terms of winning and how it looks, you can

02:02see that the teams that understand the style, the Celtics are going to launch 53s a night,

02:07right?

02:08Golden State is going to launch a lot, even without Stephen Curry there.

02:11Oklahoma City is going to play to their youth, to the point that they're playing eight against

02:16five.

02:17You know what I mean?

02:18It's about continuity, and it's about youth, because conversely, they got a lot of continuity,

02:26and they don't look good at all because they don't have shooting.

02:29You know what I mean?

02:30It's a lot of different things working here for and against these teams, and I think that's

02:39what's going on in the Boston State.

02:43Yeah.

02:44I mean, there's no question that continuity is a big thing.

02:48You talked about putting things together on the margins.

02:53One of the things we've seen is that some pretty decent players have been left on the

02:57outside of the margins.

02:59You look at a guy like Markel Fultz, you look at a guy like Lonnie Walker.

03:03Why do you think teams have been so reluctant to add guys who have shown that they can play

03:07in this league?

03:08They're not superstars by no stretch of the imagination, but you're talking about guys

03:12who are pretty good rotational type players who are doing kind of what you and I do in

03:18most NBA nights, and that's watching other ballers play.

03:23I'm really surprised about Markel Fultz.

03:25There's a story behind that that nobody's talking about, because for all of his struggles

03:31that he had early on in his career, Sherrod, he found a niche.

03:35He found a way to make things work using his athleticism.

03:38The shot was going to be the shot, but whenever you can get to the basket, I feel like as

03:43a small guard, a small-ish guard, and you're an active guard in terms of athleticism, there's

03:48going to be a place for you in the league, and not just a place for you, there's a place

03:51for you in the rotation.

03:52He's a rotational player.

03:54Same thing with Lonnie Walker.

03:56I understand why the Celtics looked at him from a numbers standpoint and said, hey, we

04:01were only going to be able to give you a training camp look.

04:04It's a championship team that's paying a lot of money to a lot of guys, and you're

04:08way deep into the luxury tax.

04:10Why haven't the New York Knicks picked up Lonnie Walker before?

04:13Can someone explain that to me?

04:15He is a seventh, eighth guy on a rotation, and you know, Sherrod, like I do, no matter

04:20how long you've covered this league, you win in the regular season with eight or nine guys.

04:25In the playoffs, you maybe play seven and a half, eight, but he's a good regular season

04:30player.

04:31He won the playoff game with his bare hands against the Golden State Warriors when he

04:36was with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2023 semifinals.

04:40He had a fourth quarter that nobody saw coming, and the fact that he doesn't have a job right

04:46now, I'm wondering if teams are waiting for the 20-game mark and saying, okay, maybe some

04:51of these young guys that we have on cheaper contracts, if they're not going to show and

04:55improve, we're going to bring in some veteran players, but Sherrod, that's why I think there's

05:00going to be a lot of movement this offseason in terms of front offices, because not everybody

05:05knows what the hell they're doing.

05:07Right, and it's being exposed in a big, big way when you look across the league, and when

05:13you talk about front offices being exposed, and you know, there's some people that may

05:17say that, Sherrod, you always hate on this team, but damn it, I got plenty of reasons

05:21to now, and I'm talking about the Philadelphia 76ers.

05:24Now it's one thing when you've got load management with your best player, but then you make a

05:29deal to bring in him some help who has as many, if not more, load management issues

05:36as your main guy, and then to really put the icing on the cake, you begin the season with

05:41not one of them, but both of them doing the same thing that you and I are doing, watching

05:46games play.

05:48Are you surprised that Philadelphia went in like they did on Paul George, and depending

05:53on what you say to that, are you surprised, or is this expected, that they would have

05:59both of those guys on the sidelines so early in the season, at the start of the season?

06:05No and no.

06:06I'm not surprised that Philadelphia went all in on this.

06:09I'm not surprised that either guy is sitting, and I'll tell you why.

06:13Because from a coaching standpoint, Nick Nurse has done this before, right?

06:18He did it when he was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors, and he took over Dwayne Casey's

06:22team, and you added Kawhi Leonard.

06:25You didn't have to have Kawhi Leonard there to establish a culture, reinforce a culture.

06:30The culture was already there.

06:32You had your Kyle Lowry's, you had your Serge Ibaka's, you had guys like that there, right?

06:38You didn't have to worry about that.

06:40In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid theoretically is the culture, but I don't know what that

06:45culture means.

06:46He's an MVP player when he plays, but you don't know when he's going to play.

06:51For him to have almost courageously played through the back end of that surgery, right?

06:57And to have had some big playoff games in that first round series that they lost against

07:01the New York Knicks, to turn around and play in the Olympics, and then to say, you're not

07:06ready for the regular season?

07:08Which job is your job, Sherrod?

07:11Which job are you getting paid $45, $50 million for?

07:15What happened between the Olympics in August and training camp in September?

07:19Did you have another injury?

07:21There wasn't another surgery, at least not that we know about, that you can't even play

07:24five-on-five.

07:25You're coming in.

07:26Most guys, Sherrod, come from the Olympics, and they come ready, rocked to go, right?

07:33Because they've had a summer of conditioning.

07:35They've had conditioning, yeah.

07:37Right.

07:38You're loaded.

07:39You're loaded into NBA basketball.

07:40Not only that, you're loaded in terms of competition.

07:43You're loaded in terms of you've been playing ball against the best of the best all summer,

07:47so all you got to do is get yourself in basic basketball conditioning, basic, and get yourself

07:54on the floor.

07:55So, Joel Embiid said, I don't want to play back-to-backs.

07:58I'm not going to do that this year or the rest of my career, and Paul George, who was

08:02playing in the preseason, you know what I mean?

08:04He was playing in the preseason, Sherrod, and hyperextended his knee.

08:08We saw that happen.

08:09I can respect that, but for Joel Embiid-

08:12Obviously has been a problem for the Sixers this year.

08:17Clearly, whatever he's dealing with, in his mind at least, it's enough to keep him off

08:24the floor, which it opens up opportunities for Maxie, who's, I think, been playing out

08:30of his mind, but Vince, we've seen this movie before.

08:34Good player, bad team, lots of losses.

08:37What does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

08:41Where do you see Philadelphia, at the end of the day, stacking up in the Eastern Conference?

08:46Because we didn't even talk about the NBA Finals, we're not talking about titles.

08:49In the Eastern Conference, how do you think the fact that you have so much uncertainty

08:53with Joel and Paul George, how do you think they're going to finish this year?

08:58Sherrod, I'm not very bullish on them as a playoff prospect, as a playoff team, and I'll

09:04tell you why.

09:05The regular season, as it's been undervalued by a lot of people who follow or watch the

09:11NBA, and maybe it's been some of us in the media who undervalue the regular season.

09:16I do not.

09:17I think those 82 games develop muscles, and you have to wind up relying on those muscles

09:23when the playoffs begin.

09:25Take a guy like Tyrese Maxie.

09:28You like Tyrese Maxie as a guy who's an energizer bunny.

09:31He's going to zip up and down the floor.

09:35That's just his energy.

09:36His energy is to be aggressive at all times.

09:39When Joel Embiid isn't there, he has to be a point guard.

09:42He's not a table setter.

09:43He's not a natural point guard.

09:45He's not a guy that you can run your offense through because you want to give somebody

09:48else shots.

09:49Tyrese Maxie is going to give Tyrese Maxie some shots, and maybe, just maybe, he'll make

09:54the pass that leads to something.

09:55But if you're asking him to be the hub on offense, Sherrod, that's not the best use

09:59of his talent, and simultaneously, when Joel Embiid is out, and that's 30% of your usage,

10:0635% of your usage, guys can't get into a rhythm.

10:09They don't know what type of shots they're going to get, how many minutes they're going

10:12to play.

10:13Sure, it's putting them in different positions, but they can play different roles.

10:18But what muscle memory will they have to rely on when times get tough?

10:21Are you going to be playing 15 minutes as a backup, or are you going to be playing 30

10:24minutes in a playoff series?

10:26I think to disrespect the value of the regular season, we'll come back to bite them when

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12:15Yeah.

12:16And, you know, and again, obviously there's a lot of games left to be played for sure,

12:21but this is not the kind of start that you would want to have, particularly when you

12:24have so many integral pieces that you're trying to get on the same page.

12:30The longer it takes for them to get on the court, the longer it takes for them to be

12:33in sync.

12:34And I'm not talking about just Joelle and Paul, but Joelle, Paul, Maxie, they've got

12:39a lot of pieces that they want to make sure give them the best chance to be successful.

12:44And that's just not happening.

12:45But Vince, as you look around the league, I mean, there are some teams who are probably

12:50playing a little bit better than most people thought.

12:52Is there one team that jumps out to you that has really just been a pleasant surprise of

12:56sorts for their fan base, at least as far as how they play?

13:00One jumps out to me that I did not expect to be this good, this quick, and that's the

13:04Cleveland Cavaliers, right?

13:06Yeah.

13:07Right?

13:08Like when you looked at their roster and you looked at them firing JB Bickerslaff, you

13:12were wondering, okay, how much were you expecting someone like him to get out of that team?

13:17What is that team ceiling?

13:19Like he got him to the second round of the playoffs with your main player being hobbled

13:23in Donovan Mitchell.

13:24Like what, what do you expect?

13:26How much work are you expecting the head coach to do?

13:29Kenny Atkinson has jumped in there and has sort of taken it to another level.

13:34And Donovan Mitchell, I think is one of those players, believe it or not, he's a top 15

13:40player who has not gotten to the conference finals, right?

13:42Joel Embiid is a top 15 player who's never gotten to the conference finals, but we look

13:47a little bit different.

13:49And I think with Cleveland, if you're going to play double big, you got to lean heavily

13:53into one of those bigs being your guy and that's Evan Mobley.

13:57And I really like Evan Mobley as like a concept.

14:00I think he's Slim Duncan, not Tim Duncan.

14:01I want him to put on some weight.

14:03You know what I mean?

14:04Let's just eat a little bit.

14:05Just go to the Rasheed Wallace School of Dieting just for like a couple of weeks, put on some

14:09weight, right?

14:10You know what I mean?

14:11Have him put on some weight and then he can, you know, just sort of slim it down a little

14:17bit.

14:18I'd rather you have a little bit too much than not enough to start when you're playing

14:21four or five, because I think that kid is special.

14:25He's got some talent.

14:26And if you play through him, you might have something.

14:27Yeah.

14:28Yeah.

14:29Well, first of all, there will be no Rasheed Abdul Wallace slander on the big three NBA

14:33podcast.

14:34No slander.

14:35No slander.

14:36There is no Rasheed Abdul Wallace slander.

14:38But you're right, though.

14:39I mean, he has shown himself to be a guy that in certain situations can be really, really

14:44talented and impactful.

14:45The big thing with him is consistency.

14:48He doesn't seem to.

14:49And the other thing, too, is, you know, he's got basically a backcourt with two off guards

14:54who are supposed to be playmakers.

14:56They don't really don't have a clear, definitive table setter, as you put it.

15:00The guy that they've got in that role is actually better at eating than to set the table.

15:05You can get buckets.

15:06And then when you talk about Donovan Mitchell, who obviously is a big time prospect, and

15:10then there's Jared Allen, who it seems they want to be that hub.

15:15They want him to be that central figure that, you know, in terms of the impact that the

15:19bigs can make.

15:20Jared is the one that they seem to be really because I was listening to Austin Carr the

15:25other night talk about, you know, the Cavaliers.

15:27And I mean, he is as close to that for that team as anyone with, you know, just his role

15:31and just his TV presence.

15:34And he was talking much more about Jared Allen and just making sure that he gets and he's

15:39in position to be impactful, which kind of was a little bit of a head scratcher to me,

15:43because if you've watched that team play and we've seen Jared play and we've seen Mowgli

15:47play, Mowgli's got way more.

15:49There's way more room to grow for Mowgli.

15:52Mowgli is a guy that could be not just an all star.

15:55He's got all NBA potential, I believe.

15:58I can't say that about Jared Allen.

16:01Jared Allen, all star, but not all NBA type talent.

16:04We've seen the best of Jared Allen.

16:06That's not to say that that's not good.

16:07That's a great player.

16:08But there's no more high notes for him to hit in terms of where he can go with Evan

16:14Mowgli.

16:15He's in year four.

16:16Like, he's a guy that you're going to be expecting in a critical playoff game to be guarding

16:21Jason Tatum on a perimeter, to be guarding Chris Stapps for Zingas in the midpost, to

16:25be guarding Al Horford on the block.

16:27Like he's that gifted and that talented on both ends of the floor, Sherrod.

16:31You're just asking him to be a little bit more aggressive and assertive and to take

16:35the team.

16:36Like when you're on a team with Donovan Mitchell, you're probably not going to be handed the

16:39team in terms of hierarchy, or you have to take it on the floor where a guy says, you

16:43know what, this is your team now.

16:46Absolutely.

16:47Absolutely.

16:48And obviously, you know, Cleveland, they have had a great start, won their first six games

16:52looking like, you know, one of, if not the best team in the NBA.

16:56But there's, there's the usual suspects that are lurking, you know, the Boston Celtics

16:59lone loss, you know, was to Cleveland, excuse me, to Indiana on the road in overtime on

17:05a night where they just did not look very good.

17:08Oklahoma City is doing some really good things out west as well.

17:10The Los Angeles Lakers have had a, you know, a pretty good start, obviously, but Vince,

17:16is there a team that has, that people aren't talking about that they probably should at

17:24the start of the season?

17:25I hate to, I'm going to say I hate to say this, it sounds, it sounds bad, but I think

17:30we've all written off the Golden State Warriors as a team that has hit a sunset, right?

17:36They've hit a sunset.

17:38And for some reason, now they're back to strength in numbers, at least that's what it looks

17:41like early on.

17:42Now, they haven't had the hardest schedule, they're about to go out east, I think for

17:45five games.

17:46So you're really going to see what they're made of, especially with Stephen Curry being

17:50out with that ankle injury.

17:52But when you look at the Gary Paytons of the world, the Jonathan Kamingas of the world,

17:58the Andrew Wiggins, guys that you don't think of as, shall we say, big spades.

18:04We don't think of these cards as big spades, they're going to win you a book, they're not.

18:08But for whatever reason, they are hellacious on defense, Sherrod, they're very, very active.

18:12These are like eight and nines, we're talking eight and nine spades, yeah.

18:16They walk in, that eight and nine is walking every nine again, and next thing you know,

18:23you're picking up six, seven books, and you're trying to figure out how you're getting off

18:26the table.

18:27They are taking people off the table.

18:29What they did to New Orleans, and you know this, Sherrod, is to beat, one of the hardest

18:33things to do in the NBA is to beat a team on back-to-back nights when there's no travel

18:36involved in these home-and-home series.

18:38And they whooped New Orleans' behind, being from down 20 to winning by basically 20, shutting

18:44down Zion Williamson, shutting down CJ McCollum.

18:47That just shows that they have an activity, they have an ethos, that I think could be

18:52very scary in the Western Conference because it's so deep, but I do think it's one of those

18:57things, Sherrod, when trade deadline comes around, that's a team that you need to be

19:01looking forward to because they have just enough good players that maybe they can go

19:05fetch a great one.

19:06Basketball season will be here before you know it, and that is great news for Celtics

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20:41What time is it?

20:42Game Time.

20:43Yeah.

20:44Yeah.

20:45And the thing that all those guys that you mentioned, for the most part, are dogs.

20:49They get after you.

20:51They understand that they have no shot at winning unless they compete.

20:55And that's the scary part about a team like Golden State right now, because their ability

21:01to compete night in and night out is going to mean that they're going to get a chance

21:04to win every single game.

21:06And that more times than not, when you got a guy like Steph Curry in the building, and

21:11you got guys who are genuinely talented players, I mean, these aren't scrubs who play hard.

21:16These are decent NBA players who play with great effort.

21:19They're going to give themselves a chance to be successful.

21:21I would agree.

21:23They've been a big surprise this year.

21:24The team that I probably think has been, record-wise, maybe not as great as some people think, but

21:32I watched them play, and they will make me a little bit nervous, is the Orlando Magic.

21:37They got some interesting pieces there.

21:40I mean, and I need to talk about, yeah, I mean, they got, I mean, the way that Banchero

21:45has been just, I mean, he has been bully ball personified so far.

21:50Yes, yes.

21:51I mean, he is taking kids to the shed, and those kids ain't coming back, V.

21:57He's leaving bones, and they are not coming back.

22:03And the thing is, he's young, he's starting, the thing that he's doing that I really am

22:08impressed with is his understanding the mental part of the game.

22:13He's always had talent, he's always been able to physically impose his will, but there seems

22:18to be a different level, a higher level of thought to his game now that is a problem.

22:23Because if he's thinking the game better, combined with the physical gifts that he brings

22:27to the floor, Orlando could be that sleeper team that, man, you don't want to see them

22:33come April.

22:34No, because they don't scare, right?

22:38I will give you two names because you're a Syracuse guy.

22:42So his game reminds me of a mix between two guys that might be near and dear to your heart,

22:49okay?

22:50One is obviously Carmelo Anthony.

22:52Everybody can see the Carmelo, the way that he handles the ball, the way that he can sort

22:58of, the skill set for his size, right?

23:01But you know who else I see?

23:03I see Derek Coleman.

23:04Ooh.

23:05Ooh.

23:07Big man who can handle, big man who can beat you up.

23:10You know what I mean?

23:11He's got the Derek Coleman inside with the Carmelo outside, which means you don't have

23:15a guy that can really defend him because if you send a big on him, he's going to blow

23:18by you.

23:19You send a small on him, he's going to, like you said, take him to the woodshed and punish.

23:22That's a problem you don't want to have in a seven game playoff series where you got

23:27a scheme for it.

23:28Well, as soon as you touch, you've got to double.

23:29That means you're in rotation.

23:31That means boom, KCP is open four, three, but one of these other guys that's young and

23:34hungry is going to be open.

23:36You don't want to play this young and hungry team that can take you out.

23:39No, no, you don't.

23:41And the point that you made earlier, we saw a little bit of that last year.

23:44This team ain't scared at all.

23:48And to be as young as they were last year, and they're just looking at every team like

23:52what?

23:53Who are you?

23:54We, what?

23:55Are we supposed to be punked by y'all?

23:57Nah.

23:58And now they got the experience of the success they had last year and they're better talent

24:02wise and their best player has got appreciably better.

24:06I mean, he's going to be in the all NBA conversation this year.

24:10Assume he gets back and gets healthy and can play enough games.

24:14Yes.

24:15Like that.

24:16That's a blessing for the league, for those opponents, for the next four to six weeks

24:19that he's going to be out.

24:20But I wouldn't be surprised if a kid like that makes it back and wreaks havoc on everybody

24:25else for the last 60 or so games of the season.

24:28Yeah.

24:29Because he'll have enough time to do that.

24:30And I could be way off base on this, but I just get the feeling that he ain't going to

24:36be, he's not one of those guys that's going to take a long time to get right.

24:38I'm with you.

24:39I'm with you.

24:40I mean, it's four to six weeks, but I would not be surprised if we see him back in there

24:43in like three, three and a half, maybe four.

24:46And Orlando, what they need to do between now and then is just kind of hold the fort.

24:51Keep stay, you know, within striking distance.

24:53Don't, you know, go on one of those seven, eight, nine game losing streaks type things.

24:57Just stay, just stay in the game and they got a shot.

25:01And obviously you got, you know, the Celtics and Oklahoma city.

25:04I wanted to just kind of pivot real quick, Vinny, cause I know we're pushing up on time.

25:08What are a team or two that has been a major disappointment to you so far?

25:13Ooh, a major disappointment.

25:16I think we have to start off with the Denver Nuggets, right?

25:20Or do we start off with our buddy Doc Rivers and the Memoriality Buck, right?

25:25Cause they, yeah.

25:27Cause they just got smashed by Memphis and Memphis was coming.

25:30I think Memphis had a, it was like a back to back for Memphis.

25:34And the stuff that Memphis was doing, stuff that just should never happen.

25:37I mean, you got John Moran literally on his ass on the court throwing lobs.

25:43How are you going to throw a lob out of you?

25:45Harlem Globetrotter style, baby.

25:50Exactly.

25:51And he's doing that in game.

25:53We ain't talking about like practicing before the game.

25:55We ain't talking about after.

25:56We're talking in game.

25:58This counts that they got some problems, man.

26:02I think one thing, look at that team, Vinny.

26:06I think they got to make a move and they got to get Portis in that starting lineup.

26:09He gives them great juice off the bench.

26:10They got to do something to shake things up though.

26:15I'll tell you this.

26:16I think their roster is just flawed because when you look at it,

26:19Sherrod, who's the athlete?

26:21Who's the guy that defenses just have to bend?

26:24Not in terms of just taking it and being a superstar, but

26:28just adding in a level of energy and adding a level of,

26:34hey, we're going to make things easier for Giannis and Damian Lillard.

26:37Giannis is balling, right?

26:39Giannis is doing what he does, but it's not in the context of winning.

26:42The Bucs, they definitely have some issues to work through for sure.

26:45But one team that seems to be rolling along are the Boston Celtics.

26:49Vinny, obviously the defending NBA champions, that's the goal.

26:53From what you've seen, what do you think their prospects of repeating

26:56as champs looks like?

26:57As strong as any team who hasn't repeated over the past, what, seven, eight years?

27:02And I mean that as a sincere compliment,

27:04the last team to repeat was 17, 18 Warriors.

27:07And that team had Kevin Durant in his prime and

27:10maybe the greatest offensive weapons we've ever seen on one team.

27:13The Celtics look like they have broken the math of basketball.

27:17Like they're going to take as many threes as they can.

27:20You have all these versatile wing defenders and

27:22guys who can also attack the basket.

27:25Remember, Christophe Porzingis hasn't played a game yet.

27:28You know what I mean?

27:29And they're still destroying teams.

27:31And they are coming in, Sherrod, and you can never mistake the importance of this.

27:36They are coming into this season mad as hell.

27:39For whatever reason, they are mad.

27:42And then you got a coach who is ornery as he is unique, right?

27:45I'm actually starting to like Joe Mazzullo,

27:47because that man a little different, right?

27:49He's a little bit on the different side,

27:51which means I don't think you have to worry about this team getting complacent.

27:54I don't think you have to worry about this team sort of having

27:56the championship hangover.

27:57They're going to have some bad games here and there.

27:59But, Sherrod, I still think they're going to be 60 wins, and

28:02you're going to see the decent tatums of the world and MVP conversation,

28:06which I don't think we could have expected over a year ago.

28:08Very true, very true.

28:12Look, appreciate your time as always.

28:15Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports on the move as always, literally and figuratively.

28:20Vince, thank you for your time, brother.

28:22I appreciate you.

28:23I appreciate you, my man.

Celtics Have Started the Season ANGRY | Big 3 NBA Podcast

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