Latest / Club 520 Podcast / Club 520 - Wyc Grousbeck on ’08 & ’24 titles w/ Pierce & Tatum, SELLING HIS HOUSE to buy Celtics

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Club 520 - Wyc Grousbeck on ’08 & ’24 titles w/ Pierce & Tatum, SELLING HIS HOUSE to buy Celtics · Club 520 Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: The volume. Yo, Yo, y'all's had a fine expects. How
0:07
Speaker 1: y'all doing yo, yeah, y'olly good energy for show for show,
0:11
Speaker 1: for show man, you know what it is? Club five
0:13
Speaker 1: twenty podcast live and fanatic spects. Man, we appreciate y'all
0:16
Speaker 1: pulling up. We got some dope guests pulling up. But
0:18
Speaker 1: first and foremost, man, I'm the host. My name is
0:21
Speaker 1: DJ Willis. You know what it did? Same game with
0:23
Speaker 1: me on the road. To my far left, we got
0:25
Speaker 1: my dog Bishop be hearing out the pearles. How you
0:27
Speaker 1: wl nasty?
0:27
Speaker 2: Saying the nasty?
0:28
Speaker 3: Hey, make sure y'all were that Tommy John, put them
0:31
Speaker 3: draws on, put them hands on.
0:33
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Shouting to Tommy John, Baby.
0:36
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lie, put them draws on it crazy, get right,
0:39
Speaker 1: get right, shout to tip me John for show. To
0:42
Speaker 1: my far right, my dog, young Nacho, young team, how
0:45
Speaker 1: you what, I'm chilling, bro, Happy to be here. They
0:48
Speaker 1: got a nice crowd. It's gonna be a vibe for sure,
0:51
Speaker 1: most definitely, man, we're gonna kick it off. First man,
0:53
Speaker 1: we got a special special guest in the building. Man, entrepreneur,
0:56
Speaker 1: philanthropists and you most best know him as the former
0:59
Speaker 1: owner of the Boston Celtics. Man, we got the one
1:01
Speaker 1: to all the miss away growsmen in the building, appreciate
1:03
Speaker 1: you big dogs. Join us on stage.
1:08
Speaker 2: Hey for the next fan's nice win. But this is
1:10
Speaker 2: what a ring looks like. Show that ring, Go that ring?
1:18
Speaker 1: What's off? I like that energy?
1:23
Speaker 3: Hold on before we start, man, you gotta break the
1:25
Speaker 3: ring down. You gotta I know what you shared with
1:27
Speaker 3: us back there, tell us tell them what's inside the ring?
1:30
Speaker 2: Man, all right, hang on to this, all right, all
1:33
Speaker 2: right inside there you open it up. N are eighteen.
1:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the part K floor.
1:43
Speaker 2: The final score Boston one oh six, Dallas.
1:46
Speaker 1: Eighty eight bells, most definitely. Man, before we get started, man,
1:53
Speaker 1: you know the bous. We got a shout out to
1:54
Speaker 1: Boost Mobile Man, Boost Marble Powers Club five twenty we appreciate.
1:58
Speaker 1: Shall you know what it is? Twenty five dollars? How
2:01
Speaker 1: long where they at with the team. It's five gen nationwide,
2:04
Speaker 1: twenty five dollars. Hey, no hike prices. There's gonna be
2:07
Speaker 1: twenty five dollars. You're gonna step in. You're gonna get
2:09
Speaker 1: that twenty five dollars. Come on, man, you need a
2:11
Speaker 1: Barner phone. Get your grilla phone. Antybody need a phone tap?
2:14
Speaker 1: Be in with boos Mo.
2:15
Speaker 2: What's a Burner phone? Oh, we'll talk to you about
2:18
Speaker 2: that off the court, take it later.
2:20
Speaker 1: You got a high championship ring for the barn phone.
2:24
Speaker 1: Most definitely, man, But first he starts to appreciate you
2:25
Speaker 1: having us on the show. Man. Man, you are a
2:27
Speaker 1: man of many hats. But we wanted to say, you know,
2:29
Speaker 1: you grew up Massachusetts. What's it like being able to
2:33
Speaker 1: purchase your favorite team.
2:37
Speaker 4: I'm the luckiest guy. I was forty one years old.
2:40
Speaker 4: It was two thousand and two, and I that was
2:44
Speaker 4: back when you could mortgage your house and buy an
2:46
Speaker 4: NBA team. And that's what I did. I never had
2:48
Speaker 4: any money, but I didn't do it for money. I
2:50
Speaker 4: did it for love. I did it for love. Jeff
2:52
Speaker 4: Tige was on our team, a great person, a great player.
2:56
Speaker 4: But the Celtics are a way of life, and I'm
2:58
Speaker 4: very lucky to be able to have my hometown team.
3:00
Speaker 1: Man, that is beautiful. Have you been had a very
3:03
Speaker 1: interesting point? He said, mortgage you'll house. I was gonna ask,
3:06
Speaker 1: I don't even know how how do you even start
3:08
Speaker 1: the process of acquired a scene. But you said it's
3:09
Speaker 1: starting with the mortgage refinanced.
3:11
Speaker 2: It started.
3:12
Speaker 4: And I went to the garden i'd been born and raised.
3:14
Speaker 4: I went there and it was half empty. In two
3:16
Speaker 4: thousand and two, the team wasn't playing well, and I'm like,
3:19
Speaker 4: this is half empty, and I'm like, I wonder who's
3:22
Speaker 4: the owner. And they said, oh, he lives down in
3:24
Speaker 4: New York. And it turns out to be a very
3:26
Speaker 4: nice guy. I went to find him. They said he
3:29
Speaker 4: hadn't been here in three and a half four years,
3:31
Speaker 4: he hadn't come to the games. Wow, but a very
3:34
Speaker 4: nice guy. But so I'm like, wonder if he might
3:36
Speaker 4: be interested in selling. And so I go down and
3:38
Speaker 4: find him and shake his hand and say what do
3:41
Speaker 4: you want. I said, I'd like to buy the Celtics
3:43
Speaker 4: and he goes, they're not for sale, and I said, well,
3:46
Speaker 4: is there a crazy number? And he named a crazy number,
3:49
Speaker 4: like way too high? Really, But I didn't have the money.
3:53
Speaker 4: I said, I don't have the money, but I'll get
3:54
Speaker 4: it in four months, three and a half months, and
3:57
Speaker 4: I so I didn't give him a chance, and so
4:01
Speaker 4: I took his price.
4:02
Speaker 2: I didn't negotiate. He named the number. It was a record,
4:05
Speaker 2: and I just.
4:06
Speaker 4: Said, Okay, I figure I could probably get it and
4:10
Speaker 4: I and then I said, oh, I know, why are
4:12
Speaker 4: you this much next week to keep you just keep
4:15
Speaker 4: it a deposit. And I named a number, which wasn't
4:19
Speaker 4: very much for the team, but it was a lot
4:21
Speaker 4: for me. And he goes, all right, you know what's
4:23
Speaker 4: he going to do? You had to say, yes, free money.
4:26
Speaker 4: So I shake his hand, I go home, mortgage my house,
4:27
Speaker 4: send him the money. And then three months later I
4:31
Speaker 4: had twenty five partners and we had all the money,
4:33
Speaker 4: and I lost seventeen pounds.
4:34
Speaker 2: I didn't eat or sleep.
4:36
Speaker 1: Wow.
4:36
Speaker 2: I looked like Jeff t very very lucky story.
4:41
Speaker 1: May you was locked in. That's a hell of a store.
4:44
Speaker 2: But I did it totally for love. I just did
4:46
Speaker 2: it for love. Yeah.
4:47
Speaker 1: And you can tell by the way the organizers were
4:49
Speaker 1: obviously under your tool is the love was back in
4:51
Speaker 1: the guard. You had what Paul Pierce Antoine Walker back there. Yeah,
4:55
Speaker 1: you guys, So I gotta ask, what's it like? First day?
5:00
Speaker 1: You're the man, biggest, one of the biggest franchises sports history,
5:04
Speaker 1: one of the craziest fan base ever.
5:07
Speaker 4: Was it?
5:07
Speaker 1: Light Day won when you locking in, I also.
5:09
Speaker 4: Hold on what's your first adjustment? Oh, the first adjustment.
5:12
Speaker 4: I made some changes on the business side, and within
5:15
Speaker 4: a year the top of the business side we were
5:18
Speaker 4: nice guys, but they weren't seeing eye. Then that general manager,
5:24
Speaker 4: and then the whole coaching staff, they were all gone.
5:27
Speaker 1: He came in clean house.
5:29
Speaker 4: And I am not funny. I shouldn't. I mean, it's
5:31
Speaker 4: not funny. I had never run a business. I hadn't
5:34
Speaker 4: run a McDonald's, I hadn't run anything. But I just
5:37
Speaker 4: had to try to do it with my gut. And
5:39
Speaker 4: these are good people and nice people. But we made
5:42
Speaker 4: changes and it ended up that we ended up. Maybe
5:46
Speaker 4: it could have worked out if I didn't make the change,
5:47
Speaker 4: I want to say that, but it worked out when
5:49
Speaker 4: we did make the change. We brought in Danny Ainge,
5:52
Speaker 4: and then we brought in Brad Stevens. Oh, Doc Rivers
5:55
Speaker 4: and Brad Stevens, and I promoted Brad to GM and
5:59
Speaker 4: uh now we got Joe Mizila and we got two
6:01
Speaker 4: rings along the way.
6:03
Speaker 2: For sure.
6:04
Speaker 1: Speaking of Brad Stevens, when I was in Boston for
6:07
Speaker 1: my short period of time, he changed my name. I
6:09
Speaker 1: don't know if you heard the story, my name is
6:11
Speaker 1: Jeff T. Y'all had Jason Tatum on the team at
6:14
Speaker 1: the time. I'm the real JT, but he changed my
6:18
Speaker 1: name to Jet. You might hear people out here calling
6:21
Speaker 1: me Jet, and it was a funny story. I think
6:24
Speaker 1: I was in my twelve years. JT might have been
6:27
Speaker 1: in his fifth or sixth year, and I lost my
6:29
Speaker 1: name at Jason Tatum and I wanted to know was
6:32
Speaker 1: I a real JT or was he real j C.
6:35
Speaker 2: Well, I got it.
6:36
Speaker 4: I'm gonna see you today, but I'm going to see
6:38
Speaker 4: him for the next six years.
6:42
Speaker 5: Answer.
6:42
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna call you Dave.
6:45
Speaker 1: I got a whole new day, Dave Tess my Cave.
6:52
Speaker 1: I got a cousin, Dave.
6:53
Speaker 4: David.
6:54
Speaker 2: Oh man, ollkay.
6:55
Speaker 1: We're gonna skip around a little bit though. But first thing,
6:57
Speaker 1: so I don't want to ask you, obviously, you know
6:58
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. We see the bling bling, which championship
7:01
Speaker 1: felt better?
7:02
Speaker 2: Oh?
7:02
Speaker 1: Wait a twenty twenty four.
7:04
Speaker 2: I don't have to choose, but.
7:08
Speaker 4: The first one could be luck because second one feels
7:10
Speaker 4: a little more like what do you got? You know?
7:14
Speaker 1: It locks it in.
7:16
Speaker 4: Plus this one, my wife Emilia and I are together.
7:19
Speaker 4: We got married eight years ago, she got her parade.
7:22
Speaker 2: It was heaven, Oh dear heaven.
7:25
Speaker 1: Was that first championship when you made the big trap
7:28
Speaker 1: for Kevin Gardenet Ray Allen? Was there any kind of
7:31
Speaker 1: nerves there? Did you know, like, hey, we all in
7:33
Speaker 1: right here, we gotta win it, or was it like, hey,
7:36
Speaker 1: whatever happens happens.
7:37
Speaker 4: There was nerves because that was I think three max
7:40
Speaker 4: contracts at once with Ray and I had to gather
7:44
Speaker 4: my partners together and I said, if this works, we're
7:47
Speaker 4: gonna win. If it doesn't work and it blows up,
7:50
Speaker 4: we got a big a lot of contract numbers here,
7:53
Speaker 4: and we're gonna have to do a capitol call around.
7:55
Speaker 4: We're gonna have to eat ship in more money, you know,
7:57
Speaker 4: if this goes really bad, because we're putting everything pushing
8:01
Speaker 4: everything in and and I looked at him and said,
8:04
Speaker 4: are we okay with that? I want to I want
8:05
Speaker 4: to do it for my part, but I'm not a
8:08
Speaker 4: super wealthy guy, you know like that, and we would
8:11
Speaker 4: all have to do it, you know what I mean.
8:13
Speaker 4: And so I'm just saying, are we all good going
8:15
Speaker 4: for it? And the very I looked at the very
8:18
Speaker 4: first guy I picked him on purpose, and he said,
8:22
Speaker 4: I will do it, and I'll do the part.
8:24
Speaker 2: Of anybody else that can't do it. Wow. And so
8:27
Speaker 2: he set the whole to His name's Paul Edgerley, a
8:29
Speaker 2: great guy to this day, and the whole group. But
8:32
Speaker 2: we were all in and then it did work out.
8:33
Speaker 2: But you know, it was scary. We don't do this
8:36
Speaker 2: for money, we do it for love at the Celtics.
8:38
Speaker 4: But but.
8:41
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean you know, so you do you do,
8:43
Speaker 2: you do everything you can. But that was scary.
8:47
Speaker 1: I can I can imagine like growing up at that
8:50
Speaker 1: time and watching basketball and having you guys, having Rondo
8:54
Speaker 1: and all those very players. Did you expect more championships
8:57
Speaker 1: from that team? Or was it like, uh one was
9:00
Speaker 1: good enough?
9:01
Speaker 2: We were close? Yeah, we had that three year run.
9:04
Speaker 4: Oh wait, we were sixty six and sixteen and we
9:08
Speaker 4: beat the Lakers by thirty nine points in game six. Okay,
9:11
Speaker 4: that was that was fut eating the Lakers, badass.
9:14
Speaker 2: That was fun.
9:14
Speaker 4: My light's playing on my car is thirty nine. Wow,
9:17
Speaker 4: only only the lake Kobe and I know what that's for,
9:21
Speaker 4: you know, far and Kobe was amazing and anyway, nine
9:25
Speaker 4: was our better team. We started twenty twenty seven and two,
9:30
Speaker 4: and then we add injuries to KG and Rondo, but
9:34
Speaker 4: o'deine might have been the best team. And then twenty
9:36
Speaker 4: ten we were leading the finals three to two and
9:39
Speaker 4: then lost the last two. Perk got heard or whatever.
9:41
Speaker 4: We lost on the road in LA and it was
9:44
Speaker 4: in game seven. That was a very low point. So
9:47
Speaker 4: we had three good teams there.
9:48
Speaker 1: That's interested. Did you say that because a lot of
9:50
Speaker 1: people see Kendrick Parker's on TV. I have a different
9:52
Speaker 1: opinions about him, But if he's not hurt in twenty ten, yeah,
9:56
Speaker 1: win that shit.
9:56
Speaker 4: We probably did, and I love Perk to this day.
10:00
Speaker 4: He wasn't invited to our parade last year. That is
10:02
Speaker 4: true because you've been giving people a lot of shit,
10:08
Speaker 4: you know, And so I had family members of players saying,
10:12
Speaker 4: if that guy's in the parade, we're not in the prade.
10:14
Speaker 4: I said, well, that's you know, okay, you win.
10:17
Speaker 1: Yeah you should see what I try to get jef
10:19
Speaker 1: t and back in gains Bridge. Just the same type
10:21
Speaker 1: of conversation. Oh yeah, I'm not welcoming the Pacers facilities anymore.
10:24
Speaker 1: But it's all good for sure, man, we got to
10:27
Speaker 1: get for you know, we appreciate you pulling up. Shout
10:28
Speaker 1: out to the crowd. Man, make sure y'all walk out.
10:30
Speaker 1: Tommy John, gotta get you some Tommy John here, sir, Oh,
10:33
Speaker 1: thank you absolutely, sir. Man one time for Tommy John.
10:36
Speaker 1: We appreciate y'all. Today's hot take ball handling matters. Pause, Yeah,
10:40
Speaker 1: on the court, But I'm talking about your draw Keep
10:42
Speaker 1: your palls handed with Tommy John underwear. Tommy John has
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10:49
Speaker 1: Man tap in with Tommy John. Man, take care of yourself.
10:52
Speaker 4: Presented with underwear before. Thank you very much, tom Make
10:56
Speaker 4: sure you check the sizes on them too. I don't
10:59
Speaker 4: think they once saw specific say you.
11:02
Speaker 1: Okay us it ain't throw draw say not the way around.
11:04
Speaker 1: But you don't say we're here anyway.
11:05
Speaker 3: Fish Now, I wanted to talk to you about the tequila,
11:08
Speaker 3: Bria said, Carol, Yes, sir, how did death start?
11:11
Speaker 2: How did that come about?
11:12
Speaker 4: My wife is gonna be thrilled she runs it, but
11:15
Speaker 4: it's with it was uh. I met Amelia nine ten
11:19
Speaker 4: years ago and on the Labor Committee talking to the players.
11:23
Speaker 4: It was me and Michael Jordan and Genie Busts of
11:26
Speaker 4: the Lakers and Wes Edens, and the four of us
11:29
Speaker 4: are very good friends for years and years and years
11:31
Speaker 4: ownership in the league. We all do stick together, you know.
11:34
Speaker 4: I said, you got to meet Amelia, Let's go out.
11:36
Speaker 4: So we all went out. By the end of that
11:38
Speaker 4: dinner and then another dinner, they're like, she's unbelievable. And
11:42
Speaker 4: we're starting a tequila So the five of us, that's
11:45
Speaker 4: the Sinko five oh an Oral for gold and we've
11:49
Speaker 4: sold two and a half million bottles. We won twenty
11:52
Speaker 4: nine gold medals in spirits competitions and we're going global.
11:56
Speaker 2: That's dope.
11:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, but MJ is an amazing partner. Jeanie West send
12:00
Speaker 4: a million of their amazing partners.
12:01
Speaker 2: Okayank you.
12:02
Speaker 1: And that's interesting you say that because our first time
12:04
Speaker 1: having sacrow was actually with him. He's the one to
12:06
Speaker 1: introduced us to that the small world. For sure. We
12:09
Speaker 1: won the championship in twenty twenty twenty one and I
12:12
Speaker 1: celebrate with a bottle the whole night. I walked around
12:15
Speaker 1: West like, Hey.
12:17
Speaker 2: You like it.
12:17
Speaker 1: I would love it.
12:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, we put those in the Lakers SLocker room. I think, yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:22
Speaker 1: Yep, and we drank it all night. But I had
12:25
Speaker 1: it at my house. I thought I was cool. I
12:26
Speaker 1: thought I knew I had the inside school.
12:28
Speaker 2: Thank you. And we never seen that bottle before. That's
12:30
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13:40
Speaker 1: Nah, I don't want to stunt on them like that, man,
13:43
Speaker 1: I man, and I don't wear his Ain't that big
13:45
Speaker 1: though it is. I got more diamonds a month.
13:49
Speaker 3: Oh, don't get us. Well, just wait till next year. Hey,
13:57
Speaker 3: did you think I was gonna win this year? Did
14:00
Speaker 3: you think I was gonna win this year?
14:01
Speaker 2: Yeah? I thought we had a chance.
14:03
Speaker 1: Uh.
14:03
Speaker 4: The Knicks played real well, to be honest, and uh
14:06
Speaker 4: then obviously JT got hurt, but they were already beating
14:08
Speaker 4: us before then, So that was a down year. It
14:10
Speaker 4: was a little disappointing, but uh, I don't know who's
14:14
Speaker 4: gonna win. Game seven. The Pincers are coming. It's in
14:17
Speaker 4: ok C. It's probably okay. See, but good job Pacers.
14:21
Speaker 1: Oh, I know when you see the hair right there,
14:22
Speaker 1: you know the Bob's paces at seven, it's up. J
14:26
Speaker 1: C told me that was the hardest series they had
14:28
Speaker 1: on the championship run against the Pacers. He was like, was, yeah,
14:31
Speaker 1: that's what and we and we sweat.
14:32
Speaker 2: Oh, let me check on the inside of it says
14:38
Speaker 2: right here. Because people were dissing us about who you beat.
14:41
Speaker 2: I'm like, we're on the inside.
14:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, it says Boston for Miami, won, Boston for Cleveland, won,
14:47
Speaker 4: Boston for Indiana, nothing Boston.
14:49
Speaker 1: For I love. Yeah, it's crazy.
14:57
Speaker 2: I mean it's not like we just snuck by. They
15:00
Speaker 2: were sixteen and three.
15:01
Speaker 4: Yeah. The hardest was the Pacers, even though it was
15:03
Speaker 4: four nothing. Every one of those games we were behind, yeah,
15:06
Speaker 4: and we had to come back and they were a
15:08
Speaker 4: very very good team.
15:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, most definitely.
15:10
Speaker 4: No.
15:10
Speaker 1: When I asked, obviously the league changes so much. You
15:14
Speaker 1: look at what's going on now with the way free
15:15
Speaker 1: agency is going, how did you adjust as an owner
15:17
Speaker 1: with the different periods, with the new payments of contracts,
15:20
Speaker 1: the way people wanted to go to different destinations just
15:22
Speaker 1: the way the league changes. How do you adjust like that?
15:24
Speaker 1: And does it start with you? Do you funnel down
15:26
Speaker 1: to the rest of your organization? Do you go get
15:27
Speaker 1: people who fit the changes that the league is going towards.
15:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we don't have a team where the
15:33
Speaker 4: players put it together.
15:35
Speaker 2: You know.
15:36
Speaker 4: Our eight team was Danny putting it together with a
15:39
Speaker 4: brilliant move. We waited three years to get Garnett and
15:42
Speaker 4: got ready for it and built up people like Al
15:45
Speaker 4: Jefferson and Tony Allen who we love both of them,
15:49
Speaker 4: but could include them in trades. Not Tony, actually I
15:52
Speaker 4: was wrong, but Al is the centerpiece for seven to
15:55
Speaker 4: one for Garnett, and so we build up for that
15:59
Speaker 4: for three years. That was Danny we put you know,
16:01
Speaker 4: he and we put the team together, and then we
16:04
Speaker 4: made the trade in thirteen and had those draft picks
16:07
Speaker 4: we picked Jalen and Jason.
16:09
Speaker 2: So but we did have a period of time. Kyrie
16:11
Speaker 2: came and he thought maybe.
16:12
Speaker 4: He could put something together and was thinking about making
16:14
Speaker 4: calls and then he ended up just feeling like he would.
16:17
Speaker 2: Try to do that somewhere else. And I respect that.
16:18
Speaker 4: We're friends to this day. So I don't know if
16:21
Speaker 4: we ever adjusted to it or not. Okay, this one,
16:24
Speaker 4: I mean I don't have a problem with it. But
16:25
Speaker 4: the team, well, first of all, there's no league without
16:28
Speaker 4: the players. And people are not playing to come see me. Obviously,
16:30
Speaker 4: they're paying to see the players, so they get to
16:33
Speaker 4: do what they want to do, and we're all benefiting
16:35
Speaker 4: from them.
16:37
Speaker 1: Definitely.
16:38
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask how important is there for like
16:40
Speaker 3: an owner and player like relationship.
16:44
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
16:44
Speaker 4: I mean, first of all, the guys know that, the
16:48
Speaker 4: owners in general and in our case for sure, all
16:52
Speaker 4: my whole group, we're in it to win it. Yeah,
16:54
Speaker 4: they don't have any doubts about that. And we you know,
16:57
Speaker 4: we tried to do everything first class. Not everything always
17:00
Speaker 4: works out right or whatever, but we are we legitimately
17:04
Speaker 4: are friends, and then when you win together, you're friends
17:06
Speaker 4: for life.
17:07
Speaker 3: Nah for sure.
17:08
Speaker 4: I mean it's just and I see Kg of all people,
17:11
Speaker 4: and he's like running across the room, or I'm running
17:13
Speaker 4: across the room. We see Shaq when he's jing and
17:15
Speaker 4: he'll stop and bring my wife up onto the like
17:17
Speaker 4: the decket.
17:18
Speaker 1: Know.
17:18
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just it's magic, nah for sure. Love
17:22
Speaker 2: those guys, Nah.
17:23
Speaker 1: It's amazing. The organization is first class. When I was there,
17:26
Speaker 1: I always made fun of because I came from Atlanta
17:29
Speaker 1: and not saying it's not first class. But when I
17:30
Speaker 1: first got to Atlanta, we didn't have a practice facility
17:34
Speaker 1: really nice. They had to They have those things now.
17:36
Speaker 1: But when I got to Boston, I'm like, yeah, it's
17:39
Speaker 1: a little different. The vibe here is different. We getting
17:42
Speaker 1: it was COVID time, so we were getting the mills
17:44
Speaker 1: and all the extra stuff you guys were giving us,
17:46
Speaker 1: And I was just like, I see why people fall
17:48
Speaker 1: in love with being here. It's an amazing organization.
17:51
Speaker 4: Well, there's a big history. We're just trying to keep
17:52
Speaker 4: it going, you know. And thank you for being there, Na,
17:55
Speaker 4: thank you for sure.
17:56
Speaker 1: I have a question for you. When you see things
17:58
Speaker 1: happen like the Luca tree right catches everybody off guard.
18:02
Speaker 2: What the fuck?
18:03
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask what was your initial reaction to that?
18:06
Speaker 1: And it's just like y'all hop an owner's group said like, hey, yo,
18:08
Speaker 1: what's really going on? Because like y'all really kind of
18:10
Speaker 1: set in the tone and how everybody has to conduct
18:12
Speaker 1: business going forward.
18:14
Speaker 4: Well, I you know, I hate to I don't want
18:16
Speaker 4: to really pick on anybody, but I'll give you an
18:19
Speaker 4: honest answer. I think if we traded somebody of that level,
18:24
Speaker 4: which we're not, but if we were, we would call
18:27
Speaker 4: everybody and it.
18:28
Speaker 2: Would probably leak out.
18:29
Speaker 4: But you just kind of take it and then you
18:31
Speaker 4: get five picks back or six yeah. I mean Bain
18:36
Speaker 4: got four picks in a swap. Yeah, and they got
18:39
Speaker 4: like one pick or maybe two. And I so, I mean,
18:43
Speaker 4: it just feels like, you know, but then now they
18:47
Speaker 4: ended up with Cooper Flag. It's not not all connected.
18:50
Speaker 2: Really that way. I don't know.
18:52
Speaker 4: I just I guess I feel like it it must
18:55
Speaker 4: have been painful for them to do it, so they
18:57
Speaker 4: didn't want to let everybody know about it, probably, and
18:59
Speaker 4: that's kind of human nature.
19:00
Speaker 2: I guess.
19:01
Speaker 4: Yeah.
19:01
Speaker 1: I just want to go, like you probably open up.
19:03
Speaker 1: Joe Fault like everybody else did at one o'clock in
19:05
Speaker 1: the morning, said what is this untail? Like?
19:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, if I was awake at one o'clock in the morning,
19:10
Speaker 4: I would have opened up.
19:13
Speaker 1: I'm a grown up most stepping out again. I'm a
19:17
Speaker 1: grown up. But he's in a rock band. I'm gonna say, you.
19:20
Speaker 2: Up like working man, I know, I know I might
19:23
Speaker 2: have been up.
19:25
Speaker 1: Now we look across the league and some of the
19:27
Speaker 1: recent news that just take place. The Lakers obviously big
19:30
Speaker 1: news of them transition from different ownership. I did something
19:34
Speaker 1: else that sets the tone in the NBA. We see
19:36
Speaker 1: somebody that's especially with the Bus family law ownership of
19:38
Speaker 1: the team, not saying what'sh our thoughts behind it? Because
19:41
Speaker 1: obviously you're a good friends business far as we are,
19:43
Speaker 1: but what's your initial reaction to, like, really like this
19:45
Speaker 1: is going on now?
19:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean my family had a right after twenty
19:49
Speaker 4: years to asked me to sell for on behalf of
19:52
Speaker 4: all of us. And so we are as the Celtics
19:54
Speaker 4: just got sold. We're gonna I'm gonna tell my piece
19:57
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty eight. Others are going out now in
20:00
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five, so the Celtics have new ownership coming in.
20:04
Speaker 4: It was a really good group and that must have
20:07
Speaker 4: given Genie an idea. And she she's so much of
20:10
Speaker 4: a good friend that when Amelia and I got married, Jeanie.
20:12
Speaker 2: Like presided at the wedding.
20:14
Speaker 4: Oh and she literally said, wick if you don't marry her,
20:17
Speaker 4: I will, which is funny because Gani's straight but anyway,
20:20
Speaker 4: you know this, so we're close friends. So the Celtics
20:24
Speaker 4: and Lakers are changing hands. You know, we got a
20:26
Speaker 4: new media deal and a whole new future for the league,
20:29
Speaker 4: and a lot of people really want to come in.
20:31
Speaker 4: Nobody buys these things for money, especially at these prices. Yeah,
20:35
Speaker 4: you can't say you're gonna get rich off of it.
20:38
Speaker 4: You got to be one of those people and then
20:41
Speaker 4: say this is the time of my life. And I
20:42
Speaker 4: can tell you personally it's been the time of my
20:44
Speaker 4: life for sure.
20:46
Speaker 1: Still still now. Is there any moves that you regret
20:50
Speaker 1: not doing?
20:52
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm sure, well I do regret like trading work,
20:57
Speaker 4: to be honest, that was one that we all thought
21:00
Speaker 4: and there was discussions around the table, and I got
21:03
Speaker 4: to sign off on the trades as the governor lead owner,
21:06
Speaker 4: and you know, I feel like I got kind of
21:09
Speaker 4: talked into it, but I did sign off. It's not
21:12
Speaker 4: you know, we're all in it and it you know,
21:15
Speaker 4: Jeff Green came back and then he had a health problem,
21:17
Speaker 4: and you know, nothing against Jeff Green, and he just
21:20
Speaker 4: won a championship, you know, so you know, but anyway,
21:25
Speaker 4: our team didn't feel the same after Berk was gone.
21:28
Speaker 4: So not everything goes perfect. Nothing everything went perfect this year.
21:32
Speaker 4: You know, JT lost his achilles.
21:34
Speaker 2: So you just you go for the highs and you
21:37
Speaker 2: get through the lows and you you have a brotherhood
21:40
Speaker 2: that lasts for life.
21:41
Speaker 1: Most definitely. Obviously we're in New York. You know, the
21:44
Speaker 1: Knicks moved on from Tibbs. In that situation, I saw
21:46
Speaker 1: how to unfold it and that situation, how do you
21:50
Speaker 1: go about when you have to make a decision like that.
21:52
Speaker 1: You go to everybody and think about it, because I
21:54
Speaker 1: know it's easy to overreact in a moment, right, always
21:57
Speaker 1: not always.
21:58
Speaker 4: I had one coach who told me, I'm not gonna
22:01
Speaker 4: mention who the one coach who told me years and
22:04
Speaker 4: years ago, we see you working out in the gym
22:08
Speaker 4: at our old practice, Cilly, you wouldn't have liked it.
22:10
Speaker 4: This wasn't very nice. And and I'm like, yeah, I'm
22:14
Speaker 4: working out. I'm working out at eight am. And the
22:15
Speaker 4: guys come in at like ten, you know, or whatever.
22:18
Speaker 4: And he goes, well, it's players only, that's the NBA way.
22:21
Speaker 4: And I'm like, but there's nobody here and it's my
22:25
Speaker 4: gym and I'm gonna work out. And the next day,
22:28
Speaker 4: I come in and there's a sign says players only.
22:32
Speaker 4: Oh so that guy ended up departing coaching very long
22:39
Speaker 4: and I didn't ask anybody.
22:41
Speaker 2: That's the thing.
22:42
Speaker 4: You just now that's probably a jerky thing to say
22:46
Speaker 4: in that way, But when you're running something and there's
22:51
Speaker 4: something just going to complete opposite direction, I don't put
22:56
Speaker 4: up with it for sure, And I take the blame
22:58
Speaker 4: if it doesn't work. And I got the ring if
23:00
Speaker 4: it does. Actually, the trophies in my living room. Wow,
23:04
Speaker 4: that both of them.
23:06
Speaker 1: That's fire.
23:07
Speaker 4: So you're gonna take the trophy, you also got to
23:09
Speaker 4: take the blame.
23:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all right. Anyway, I like that.
23:14
Speaker 1: Can I actually have.
23:15
Speaker 4: Any Celtics fans out there? I saw a few? Hey,
23:17
Speaker 4: I got off right. Look, I'll meet you. I'll meet
23:20
Speaker 4: you over here at the end.
23:21
Speaker 2: Of the way. If you want to take a picture
23:22
Speaker 2: with the ring.
23:23
Speaker 1: All right, that's fire. So how did you know Brad
23:26
Speaker 1: Stevens was like the perfect guy? Because when I was there,
23:28
Speaker 1: Brad was the coach and he was kind of telling
23:30
Speaker 1: me he was going to try to transition to something else.
23:32
Speaker 1: How did you know he was a perfect guy to
23:34
Speaker 1: move up to the front office because the things he's
23:36
Speaker 1: putting together are amazing.
23:37
Speaker 2: That happened real quick.
23:38
Speaker 4: I didn't know, but Danny came to me and said, look,
23:41
Speaker 4: I'm going to move on for medical just because of
23:44
Speaker 4: my stage of life. And I'm like, Danny, I don't
23:47
Speaker 4: want you to leave, but all right, And so I
23:50
Speaker 4: knew I had to get somebody. I called in Brad.
23:54
Speaker 4: Between the lead owner and the coach is the general manager,
23:57
Speaker 4: and we got all three but yond the same page.
23:59
Speaker 4: We got to be able to say yes, no, yes, no,
24:03
Speaker 4: but agree at the end and not have a fight
24:06
Speaker 4: about it, just agree and respect. I said, we need
24:09
Speaker 4: a partner, and what's the short list? And Brad led
24:14
Speaker 4: me off the short list of six GM candidates and
24:18
Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't want that guy. I don't want
24:20
Speaker 4: that guy, and I don't know the other four. We
24:23
Speaker 4: don't have anybody here. And then I looked at him.
24:25
Speaker 4: I looked at him and said, Brad, it might be you,
24:28
Speaker 4: because you've been here eight years, nine years, and you
24:31
Speaker 4: are a partner, and you know putting together teams at Butler,
24:34
Speaker 4: and you've worked with Danny here. This could actually be you.
24:37
Speaker 4: He did not ask for the job. I said, I
24:40
Speaker 4: think it's you said, I got to think about it.
24:41
Speaker 4: I said, tell me tomorrow morning. Came in the next morning,
24:44
Speaker 4: he said, I accept. That was a lucky guess.
24:48
Speaker 2: Man.
24:49
Speaker 3: He did an amazing job.
24:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's doing a great Executive of.
24:53
Speaker 4: The year yet last year and then he's an amazing guy.
24:56
Speaker 4: Just just hung up with him. Now we're coming onto
24:59
Speaker 4: that time of the year or drapped in the trades.
25:00
Speaker 4: So I just was talking to him about a half
25:03
Speaker 4: hour ago.
25:04
Speaker 1: For sure, most definite man. Shouts of Brad Stevens, Indiana
25:07
Speaker 1: legend man. What makes a noise? Mister Groco man. We
25:09
Speaker 1: appreciate you man.
25:10
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, serious
25:14
Speaker 1: The volume