Latest / Stugotz and Company / The Big Stu-ey: I Care About Training Camp (w/ Michael Felger)
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Our next guest is killing it in one of the
- 0:06Speaker 1: few cities where local radio still matters, and that city,
- 0:10Speaker 1: of course, is Boston. Felger and Maz two to six pm, Eastern,
- 0:13Speaker 1: ninety eight point five, the sports up. They're doing like
- 0:16Speaker 1: twenty shares. They're incredible. Mike, how are you today?
- 0:20Speaker 2: I forgot? How you doing doing well?
- 0:22Speaker 1: I am wondering here? What is like when you go
- 0:25Speaker 1: to the phones today? The first call is going to
- 0:28Speaker 1: be about the Red Sox or about how the Celtics
- 0:31Speaker 1: handed the Eastern Conference of the Philadelphia seventy six ers.
- 0:35Speaker 3: Oh, the Jalen Brown trade is even more than the
- 0:41Speaker 3: It's that is still front and center. Celtics fans happy
- 0:45Speaker 3: ability to wipe away bad losses really quickly. It's a
- 0:50Speaker 3: unique trade by them. They're unlike any other fans here
- 0:52Speaker 3: in town. They're very soft on the team. But the
- 0:55Speaker 3: Jalen Brown trade was so bad that that is one
- 0:58Speaker 3: that's still life the lamp more than any other thing.
- 1:02Speaker 4: How bought in are the fans there on Jason Tatum,
- 1:05Speaker 4: as you know, the loan leader now and especially after
- 1:08Speaker 4: he said what he said, which was obvious to anybody
- 1:11Speaker 4: about Jaylen Brown, to those campers, So.
- 1:15Speaker 3: I'd say that his support level is about eighty percent, which,
- 1:20Speaker 3: let me tell you again, for Celtics fans is low.
- 1:24Speaker 3: If people don't know the dynamics in Boston, the Celtics
- 1:28Speaker 3: get treated different than any other team in town. The
- 1:30Speaker 3: Red Sox brought us the fellowship of the miserable. There's
- 1:34Speaker 3: been so much controversy about the Patriots and so much
- 1:37Speaker 3: success that there's you know, great back and forth and
- 1:41Speaker 3: sort of a really high bar, really high standard.
- 1:44Speaker 2: If they don't live up to it.
- 1:45Speaker 3: Fans get ansy and Boston Bruins fans are just miserable.
- 1:49Speaker 3: But Celtics fans, I call them Green teamers, are just
- 1:52Speaker 3: the most optimistic, positive fan base that you can imagine,
- 1:58Speaker 3: and it's just sort of weird. It's out to play
- 2:00Speaker 3: here in town. So that's all a way to set
- 2:02Speaker 3: up to say that if the fan support for the
- 2:05Speaker 3: top player is only eighty percent, that's actually low. So
- 2:10Speaker 3: I think there is a fraction of the fan base
- 2:13Speaker 3: that was I think Kleb Brown's a better player, or
- 2:16Speaker 3: thought he was a better leader, or think that Tatum
- 2:19Speaker 3: is a little soft. Shouldn't be the standard bearer of
- 2:22Speaker 3: a franchise so as much as you can get among
- 2:26Speaker 3: Celtics fans, opinion on Brown Tatum is kind of split,
- 2:30Speaker 3: which for them again means eighty twenty was.
- 2:32Speaker 5: There a lot of I don't know, talk locally about
- 2:35Speaker 5: the two of them maybe not being aligned or not
- 2:38Speaker 5: being on the same page the last few years because
- 2:40Speaker 5: I know from the outside everybody wanted to tear them
- 2:42Speaker 5: apart for years.
- 2:44Speaker 3: Well, there wasn't nearly enough scrutiny on that, Scott. I
- 2:48Speaker 3: think that there were signs of their relationship fracturing recently,
- 2:53Speaker 3: you know, I think the balance of their relationship was
- 2:57Speaker 3: strong and a positive, functional, working relationship. I mean that's
- 3:00Speaker 3: truly the way it was for I say, most of
- 3:03Speaker 3: their tenure together. But over the last year plus, if
- 3:07Speaker 3: you wanted to see cracks in the foundation, they were there.
- 3:11Speaker 3: And I don't think that that is people trying to
- 3:13Speaker 3: tear them apart. I think that's the nature of the
- 3:16Speaker 3: beef in the NBA. I mean, big superstar duos are
- 3:20Speaker 3: hard to manage. The egos and the brands and you know,
- 3:25Speaker 3: sharing the basketball, sharing the spotlight off the court, those
- 3:28Speaker 3: are real legitimate NBA things, and it's driven apart a
- 3:32Speaker 3: lot of duos and a lot of teams. So I
- 3:36Speaker 3: don't think people try to drive them apart. I think people,
- 3:39Speaker 3: for those of us that I'm in this camp, who
- 3:41Speaker 3: wanted to take a hard look at it, I think
- 3:43Speaker 3: it's the fair thing to do, and that's what we did.
- 3:45Speaker 3: We took a hard look at ka. I think we meaning,
- 3:47Speaker 3: like the Feldri and Mad show, the bulk of Celtics
- 3:50Speaker 3: fans and the bulk of Celtics media didn't want to
- 3:53Speaker 3: cover it and didn't want to look at it. But
- 3:55Speaker 3: over the last year, I think it became clear that
- 3:58Speaker 3: there were fractures in there relationship and I think by
- 4:01Speaker 3: the end it was flat out dysfunctional. And I don't
- 4:04Speaker 3: think it's been covered here in Boston nearly enough.
- 4:07Speaker 1: Mike inside that organization organization. When you say Celtic fans
- 4:11Speaker 1: are upset, who are they upset with? Is it Brad Stevens?
- 4:14Speaker 1: Is it Jalen Brown? Is it Tatum?
- 4:16Speaker 6: Who are they like exactly? Who? Where is their anger going?
- 4:19Speaker 6: It has to be Stevens, right.
- 4:22Speaker 3: No, Well, good question, and I think the bulk of
- 4:24Speaker 3: it is towards the new owner. They changed owners last
- 4:27Speaker 3: year from Wick Grosspec to bil chishm and built Chism's
- 4:31Speaker 3: the front guy for a large private equity amalgamation, so
- 4:35Speaker 3: it's it's really been turned over to private equity ownership.
- 4:39Speaker 3: And it feels like the private equity guys are doing
- 4:43Speaker 3: what they would do in any other business, which is
- 4:45Speaker 3: come in, tighten up the books, eliminate inefficiencies, cut costs,
- 4:51Speaker 3: trim you know, trim fat, you know that, tighten up
- 4:56Speaker 3: the whole business, and then flip it. So we don't
- 4:58Speaker 3: know if and when they're going to flip it, but
- 5:00Speaker 3: they're certainly managing the thing like any private equity company
- 5:03Speaker 3: would that came in and bought any private business. And
- 5:06Speaker 3: that has been I think I think most Celtic fans
- 5:09Speaker 3: can agree that this came from ownership and even though
- 5:12Speaker 3: they haven't saved much money in the short term, you know,
- 5:15Speaker 3: the Paul George contract is one year less than the
- 5:19Speaker 3: Jalen Brown contract, and it could be two years less
- 5:22Speaker 3: if they can move Paul George for the year left
- 5:24Speaker 3: and his expiring contract, which I think you know they're
- 5:26Speaker 3: going to do, or they're all these provisions like wave
- 5:29Speaker 3: and stretch so that the Paul George contract gives them
- 5:33Speaker 3: more flexibility and more what they called optionality, which is
- 5:37Speaker 3: a total you know, finance pro term, but that's what
- 5:40Speaker 3: they're using because they're run by pure finance bros. And
- 5:44Speaker 3: that's where most fans go. And then I think the
- 5:46Speaker 3: second guy inline would be Brad Stevens. Okay, if you
- 5:49Speaker 3: got it trim money, then great optionalities. You have to
- 5:52Speaker 3: do it by trading Jalen Brown for just about one
- 5:54Speaker 3: of the worst guys in the league in Paul George.
- 5:56Speaker 3: And I think worse guys, worse contracts and worse, you know,
- 6:00Speaker 3: one of the worst figures in the league in Paul George.
- 6:03Speaker 3: And did you have to do it now? So I
- 6:05Speaker 3: think it's ownership and Brad Stevens pare the front of it.
- 6:08Speaker 1: Not only that, it's did you have to trade him
- 6:10Speaker 1: to Philadelphia? Like, I mean, what are they thinking?
- 6:13Speaker 3: Man?
- 6:14Speaker 1: Like the team just knocked him out in the Eastern
- 6:16Speaker 1: Conference semi finals and like trading Jalen Brown is one thing.
- 6:20Speaker 1: Trading him to a team inside of that conference and
- 6:23Speaker 1: to that city, uh, and a team that just beat
- 6:25Speaker 1: you in the Eastern Conference semi finals is ludicrous.
- 6:30Speaker 3: Yeah, And I know people don't look at this way
- 6:32Speaker 3: in the NBA. They're in their division right, I think,
- 6:35Speaker 3: you know, I don't know the divisions, but I'm pretty
- 6:36Speaker 3: sure you know Philly's in their division, which is like you,
- 6:40Speaker 3: you really don't do that, which tells you how badly
- 6:44Speaker 3: they wanted out of Jayalen Brown.
- 6:45Speaker 2: Crazy.
- 6:46Speaker 3: Which is it is that still remains something of a mystery.
- 6:50Speaker 3: I mean, look, his contract was widely viewed as one
- 6:54Speaker 3: of the worst in the NBA, which is crazy given
- 6:57Speaker 3: that he just finished sixth in the MVP. You would
- 6:59Speaker 3: say that he's, you know, kind of living up to
- 7:01Speaker 3: the contract. But you know, I think analytics have taken
- 7:04Speaker 3: over the league so badly. Uh and you know, and
- 7:07Speaker 3: and and to touch the league's setriment by the way
- 7:11Speaker 3: that most teams are run by the analytics apartments. And
- 7:14Speaker 3: Jaln Brown is not an efficient basketball player. Uh so
- 7:18Speaker 3: I think that was part of it. It all lined
- 7:20Speaker 3: ups too, guts.
- 7:21Speaker 2: You know.
- 7:21Speaker 3: I think Brown and Tatum had a pretty significant falling out.
- 7:25Speaker 3: I think that Brown and the coaching staff at a
- 7:27Speaker 3: prety significant falling out. I mean, Joe Misula is Jason
- 7:30Speaker 3: Tatum's guy, So the the alignment is Jason Tatum, Joe Missoula.
- 7:35Speaker 3: Derek White is really close with Jason Tatum, and I
- 7:39Speaker 3: think all those guys got sick of Jalen Brown. So
- 7:43Speaker 3: I think the basketball people, you know, the uniform people,
- 7:45Speaker 3: including Missoula, got sick of Jlen Brown. I think that
- 7:49Speaker 3: the front office and the analytics guys that run the
- 7:52Speaker 3: team got sick of Jalen Brown. I think the ownership,
- 7:56Speaker 3: you know, showed up and said, how can we be
- 7:58Speaker 3: more efficient financial? They looked at that contract and they
- 8:02Speaker 3: you know, they were immediately sick of Jaln Brown. So
- 8:05Speaker 3: it all lined up, and I, you know, I don't
- 8:09Speaker 3: understand it. I can explain to you why they did it.
- 8:12Speaker 3: You know, that's why they did it. The one thing
- 8:14Speaker 3: that I just think is just the biggest mistake was
- 8:17Speaker 3: the return. You know, if it's fine, you know, if
- 8:19Speaker 3: Tatam and Brown weren't getting along, if Brown didn't like
- 8:22Speaker 3: the way Joe Missoula you know, ran the offense, if
- 8:26Speaker 3: they got sick of Jaln Brown being the sickest guy
- 8:28Speaker 3: in the room, if his contract, you know, like all
- 8:29Speaker 3: those things, I get, the return can't be Paul George,
- 8:33Speaker 3: you know it. It just can't be if the return
- 8:36Speaker 3: is just Paul George and a couple of picks. Then
- 8:39Speaker 3: they owed it to themselves to try and make it work.
- 8:41Speaker 4: Right, Mike, I don't know if you're a dog guy.
- 8:42Speaker 4: I'm a dog guy. I love dogs.
- 8:44Speaker 5: I hate when dogs are used for any other reason
- 8:46Speaker 5: than being great pets.
- 8:47Speaker 6: Yes, so I'm wondering.
- 8:49Speaker 4: How you are, Boston when Mike Rabel showed up with
- 8:53Speaker 4: that adorable puppy practice in a press conference.
- 8:56Speaker 2: It's sad.
- 8:57Speaker 3: You know, you get the props they get people right
- 9:02Speaker 3: away from something they might ask, but also it just
- 9:04Speaker 3: to you know, in fairness, and again it's it's it's
- 9:07Speaker 3: ass kissing. But the owner's wife, Robert Craft's wife has
- 9:10Speaker 3: this big pet adoption initiative, so it's become like her
- 9:16Speaker 3: cause where she's just huge. They call it the Patriots,
- 9:20Speaker 3: and so they're into up placing, placing, you know, shelter dogs.
- 9:26Speaker 3: So it's like her thing. So if you want to
- 9:29Speaker 3: get in good with the owner, you're getting good with
- 9:30Speaker 3: the owner's wife.
- 9:31Speaker 2: And it's that kind of thing. But you know, I
- 9:34Speaker 2: was rolling my eyes.
- 9:35Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they could have sent Drake may out,
- 9:36Speaker 4: you know what I mean with the puppy. It could
- 9:38Speaker 4: have been anybody else. It's just not Mike.
- 9:42Speaker 6: How much were your callers panicking about the Drake May
- 9:45Speaker 6: AJ Brown lack of connection early in campo?
- 9:48Speaker 2: Who cares well?
- 9:50Speaker 3: They're not well?
- 9:51Speaker 2: Who cares? What do you mean? Who cares well?
- 9:53Speaker 3: I mean I care?
- 9:54Speaker 6: No, no, I care.
- 9:55Speaker 1: I realize people in that city care. It's why you
- 9:57Speaker 1: guys get twenty shares. They care about this stuff.
- 9:59Speaker 6: But it general. I was just saying, who cares?
- 10:01Speaker 1: I mean, it's training camp, that's all I care.
- 10:04Speaker 3: I mean, listen, training camp has started. They send reporters
- 10:12Speaker 3: down there to tell us what happened. Fans want to
- 10:15Speaker 3: know what happens. But if a player doesn't look good,
- 10:18Speaker 3: we shouldn't talk about it and no one cares.
- 10:21Speaker 2: But if you look good, if Drake May and A. J.
- 10:23Speaker 3: Bown were lighting it up and we came out and
- 10:26Speaker 3: talked about hey thought on day one, AJ Brown and
- 10:29Speaker 3: Drake May lighting it up, drink, fans will look at
- 10:32Speaker 3: us and go.
- 10:33Speaker 2: Who cares? It's early in camp. You know, they said, great,
- 10:36Speaker 2: so listen.
- 10:37Speaker 3: If you're allowed to talk about a good day, you're
- 10:39Speaker 3: allowed to talk about.
- 10:40Speaker 2: A bad day.
- 10:41Speaker 3: I don't get it. I mean, if it's too early
- 10:43Speaker 3: and who cares, then we're not going to talk about
- 10:45Speaker 3: training camp, and like, we get into that beef all
- 10:48Speaker 3: the time. You know, if someone looks good with it,
- 10:51Speaker 3: we getting beef with our listeners. If someone looks good,
- 10:54Speaker 3: you say, hey, he looks good. They're after a great start.
- 10:56Speaker 3: That's a good sign. Everyone's like, yeah, great sign.
- 10:58Speaker 2: Okay.
- 10:59Speaker 3: But then turn around and say, well, this guy doesn't
- 11:01Speaker 3: look so good. Then the first thing the fan says,
- 11:03Speaker 3: as well, it's early, it's day one.
- 11:04Speaker 2: We'll wait a minute.
- 11:06Speaker 3: If it's not too early to talk about the guy
- 11:07Speaker 3: who looks good. Why is it too early to talk
- 11:09Speaker 3: about a guy.
- 11:10Speaker 2: That looks bad? You know what I mean? So yes
- 11:12Speaker 2: it who cares?
- 11:14Speaker 3: I care.
- 11:16Speaker 2: If AJ Brown?
- 11:18Speaker 3: AJ Brown looked like ass at the end of that
- 11:21Speaker 3: Philly tenure. Okay, And we know there's all sorts of
- 11:24Speaker 3: actenuine circumstances are in Philadelphia. But it's also he's twenty
- 11:28Speaker 3: nine years old, he's got a bad knee, and would
- 11:31Speaker 3: you get to that age. Maybe you just don't separate
- 11:33Speaker 3: the way you used to separate, and maybe he's not
- 11:36Speaker 3: going to be the same player. And maybe the fact
- 11:38Speaker 3: that he was such an a hole there is a tell.
- 11:41Speaker 3: I mean he went to pro Bowls, He won championships,
- 11:44Speaker 3: they went to the playoffs.
- 11:45Speaker 2: Every year.
- 11:45Speaker 3: He put up numbers and he was miserable. Why you know,
- 11:49Speaker 3: if that makes you miserable, what's going to make you happy?
- 11:52Speaker 1: So like, yeah, ask Jalen Brown?
- 11:54Speaker 3: Why I mean, right, Jalen Hurt's right, So it's streeling Brown, right, Why.
- 12:03Speaker 2: You're winning?
- 12:03Speaker 1: You want a finals MVB? Why you so miserable?
- 12:06Speaker 6: Go ahead, Taylor, Yeah, I was just gonna mention Felger.
- 12:08Speaker 6: Drake May completed his final eight passes today in eleven
- 12:11Speaker 6: on eleven, including three touchdowns.
- 12:13Speaker 5: A J.
- 12:13Speaker 6: Brown something to note, Yes.
- 12:15Speaker 1: He was a walk on at North Carolina, just saying.
- 12:17Speaker 6: Matt Collins was my roommate.
- 12:21Speaker 3: Well, but so listen, when I give those stats out,
- 12:24Speaker 3: no one's going to call me up and say, why
- 12:25Speaker 3: are you saying that it's too early? Right?
- 12:28Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
- 12:29Speaker 3: Like, if he goes eight for eight with three touchdowns,
- 12:31Speaker 3: it counts. And if he goes oh for eight with
- 12:33Speaker 3: three interceptions, it counts. It all I care about it?
- 12:36Speaker 1: All All right, real quick, we'll get you out of here.
- 12:38Speaker 6: We know you have to run.
- 12:39Speaker 1: Can you envision a scenario where maybe the Patriots get
- 12:42Speaker 1: off to a one in five start and Mike Rabel
- 12:44Speaker 1: is fired.
- 12:45Speaker 3: No, not that second thing. No, But I but I
- 12:49Speaker 3: think they're going to struggle. I mean, I have the
- 12:50Speaker 3: under on them, and it's not you know, I think
- 12:53Speaker 3: they improved. I think their roster is better, and I
- 12:56Speaker 3: think Drake May is an elite high and I think
- 12:58Speaker 3: Mike Rabel, you know, aablished himself as an elite NFL coach.
- 13:02Speaker 3: And I'm not I'm not banging on the team. I
- 13:05Speaker 3: think they're a good team that got better, but their
- 13:08Speaker 3: schedules much harder. They had great injury luck last year.
- 13:12Speaker 3: You know, they keep the stats. You know injury stats.
- 13:15Speaker 3: They were the healthiest team in the league last year.
- 13:19Speaker 3: It's going to be gunning for him. They have all
- 13:21Speaker 3: these primetime games, et cetera. They're going to run into
- 13:23Speaker 3: a lot of headwinds that teams that win or lose
- 13:26Speaker 3: the Super Bowl run into. And I think the win
- 13:29Speaker 3: loss records going to reflect that they're going to struggle.
- 13:31Speaker 1: What are you expecting the Red Sox to do here?
- 13:33Speaker 1: Before the trade deadline two weeks ago, they were sellers
- 13:36Speaker 1: and now it appears they're going to be buyers.
- 13:38Speaker 3: What do you think so call me stupid or you know,
- 13:41Speaker 3: I'm taking the cheese because I've said this before, but
- 13:43Speaker 3: I really do think they're going to do something significant.
- 13:45Speaker 3: I think they were trying to do something significant two
- 13:49Speaker 3: months ago before they went in the app rappler, you know,
- 13:51Speaker 3: they were reports were that no one's really calling around
- 13:55Speaker 3: except the Red Sox. They're desperate for a right hand bat.
- 13:57Speaker 3: They're desperate and they're willing to add money. And they
- 14:00Speaker 3: were in on Mike Trout earlier in the year, so
- 14:02Speaker 3: I think they were looking to do this even before
- 14:04Speaker 3: they caught fire and climbed back into it. And I
- 14:07Speaker 3: think the timing's right. I think they put their hopes
- 14:10Speaker 3: on a lot of these young guys that have not
- 14:11Speaker 3: panned out and have kind of gone sideways, like Marcela
- 14:14Speaker 3: Meyer and maybe even Roman Anthony, and I just think
- 14:17Speaker 3: the timing's right for them to make a big deal,
- 14:19Speaker 3: not just for you know, like a rental and make
- 14:21Speaker 3: a run at it this year, but for the future.
- 14:23Speaker 3: And I frankly I'm expecting them to do something big.
- 14:26Speaker 1: All in all, what happened with the Celtics here good
- 14:28Speaker 1: for ratings, better for ratings, bad for ratings, good for ratings, right,
- 14:32Speaker 1: great for ratings.
- 14:32Speaker 3: You love this well, you know, good for call volume
- 14:36Speaker 3: and good for passion. Yes, but again, Celtics fans are
- 14:41Speaker 3: unlike other fans, you know, the Red Sox. If they
- 14:44Speaker 3: lose a big game, their fans will are pissed and
- 14:47Speaker 3: they're engaged and they'll grind it out. And a Bruins
- 14:50Speaker 3: fan is still, you know, banging his head against his
- 14:53Speaker 3: desk over you know, the game four months ago, and
- 14:56Speaker 3: we you know, a Celtics fan.
- 15:00Speaker 2: Says, we've got.
- 15:02Speaker 3: Seventeen championships, I'm going to go skiing. There's very There's
- 15:09Speaker 3: the percentage of Celtics fans who are really willing to
- 15:13Speaker 3: dig in and engage when things are bad is less
- 15:17Speaker 3: than the other teams in town. So it's it's better
- 15:21Speaker 3: for the Celtics to win for ratings.
- 15:23Speaker 2: I put it to like that. All right.
- 15:24Speaker 1: We've asked every guest this question. I'll do it on
- 15:26Speaker 1: the way out. Indiana basketball school, football.
- 15:28Speaker 2: School, basketball school. Basketball.
- 15:34Speaker 1: It's a ridiculous question, but a lot of people are
- 15:37Speaker 1: saying football school.
- 15:38Speaker 2: Check it out.
- 15:39Speaker 3: Oh, it's not a football state, it's the basketball state.
- 15:45Speaker 1: You're right, check the check him out. Two to six pm.
- 15:48Speaker 1: Eastern Felger and Maz. It's the highest rated local show
- 15:52Speaker 1: in the country.
- 15:52Speaker 6: He's killing it. I'm proud of you man, you're doing great.
- 15:54Speaker 1: Keep it up and we'll talk to some grateful that
- 15:56Speaker 1: another time.
- 15:57Speaker 2: Okay, thanks you guys, Thanks guys, ever,