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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Boston Celtics · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Show in the world, twelve years strong.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We got a great Opposition Territory pod coming your way
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this week as we dive into what the Boston Celtics
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: offseason has looked like.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: And we got our good friend Jack Simone with us.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: To take us through what the Celtics are doing and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: what the future looks like for the team.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: How you doing, Jack, I'm great, I'm great, I'm ready
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: to rock.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, off season is getting busy again.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: So I got a little like bunted off from when
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: the Celtics were out to what's happening now.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I'm good, I'm good. How are you doing?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Good? Good?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And of course you know, doing this over twelve years
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and I forget to intro like where you're from, Tell
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: everybody where you're from, where they can find you online?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: My friend, of.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: Course, I right for Hardwardogini dot com. That's all my
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: written work.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: I do a podcast have about them Celtics, and then
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: all my video content is Jacksonville, MBA on like TikTok, Twitter, Instagram,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: all those platforms.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: So yeah, there you go, folks.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: If you're watching us on YouTube, here are our social
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: media sites here. You can follow the show on the
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: various sites. I'm not going to go through them. If
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you're listening to the audio, you know where to find us.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Just search out the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. You
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: can reach Eric and myself too over these social sites
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: as well. And we got to get into this Celtics
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: team and where they're going to be going from here.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: It's such an interesting aspect of where the team was
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: at this past year. Of course, not making it through
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: to the finals like some of us thought that they might.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: But speaking of the finals, and you know what, Jack,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: before we get to the Celtics here, I want to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: get your thoughts on how the NBA Finals ended up
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: turning out. I think a lot of US fans, and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I said it online as well, like I think a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: lot of US fans were robbed when Tyre's Haliburton, you know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: went down with his achilles injury and look, okay, so
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: he was probably going to win the finals, probably, but
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: you never know. I mean, because the Indiana Pacers man,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: they they pulled out some stops during that series that
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I thought was pretty incredible. Basketball. So it was just
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a terrible way for the Pacers season to end. I
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: don't know what were your thoughts with regard to the
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: NBA Finals and how it all turned out.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that was the most fun I've had
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: watching basketball as like a not like like I had
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: no stakes, right, It was just it was not a
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: team that I covered, not a team I was a
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: fan of.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: It was just like a random team.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: It was the most on it I think it maybe
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: ever had watching a run in the playoffs, like seeing
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Tyre's Haliburton do what he did the game, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: game winners in Milwaukee and then Cleveland again, and then
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: you and then game one of the finals did the
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: same thing, like four rounds in a row, four game winners,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: four ridiculous, like social media highlight moments of like like
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: you get one of those a year if you're lucky,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: and he did it for one player that at four
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: times in a single season. Then to see them take
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: it steel game one of the finals, you know, take
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: another game and then and then B three three with
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: a dominant victory in Game six, going back to to
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Oka see red hot at the gates of Game seven,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: just to you know, the scene of him like.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: On the ground.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: You can see him mouthing the words like, yeah, it happened, man,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: talk like I think all of you know America who
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: was watching the game simultaneously just screamed at their TV.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: My roommates in our wakers like no, like it was
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: it was. That was about as crushing hard watching a lot.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah it was horrendous. But shout out to Pacers. I
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: mean we talked about Stevens a couple of days ago
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: and he was like, the two teams who deserved to
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: be the finals were playing in the finals, like they
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: were absolutely incredible. Everyone zigs, they zagged, their playing this
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: high pace. You know, we're not gonna, you know, slow
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: things down for mismatches. They're going to play their own
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: brand of basketball. And credit to Thunder. I mean, the
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Thunder were the best team in basketball all season long.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Shane Gillis, Alexander is an incredible player, you know, Jala Williams,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Chet Homer, and they built a phenomenal team of real
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: players behind those three guys, and they completely deserve to win.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: I just wish we could have gotten the ending. It
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: felt like we deserved absolutely.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Look because look the sixer season, you know, and we're
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: not really gonna get any Sixers talk on this, but
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: like the Sixer season was such a debacle in so
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: many different ways that us Sixers fans, we're really looking
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: forward to what this next season may hold. We're holding
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: out some optimism for the future. But it was a
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: really interesting uh bracket in terms of the Eastern Conference.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, with the New York Knicks were able to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: do and how far they were able to get. I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: mean I initially thought that they were actually going to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: get to the Eastern Conference finals quite frankly before the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: season even started. But it was really surprising just well
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't necessarily say surprising, but it was just when
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: you have so many injuries on a team like the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, did I mean, there's gonna be some faltering
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and hoping we can get into the reflections of what
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the season was for the Celtics. Again, disappointing season for
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Celtics fans is they were the number two seed in
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs, and we know
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that not having Kristaps perzingis due to injury. Him missing
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: some crucial games in the second round was a big
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: part of this and of course the other big part
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: with Jason Tatum tearing his achilles as well.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm hoping we.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Can get into what the Celtics, what they did right,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and what they did wrong as well, kind of down
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the stretch here. So let's start off on a positive
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: note here, Jack, Okay, what did the team do right
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: down the stretch that you saw that you feel confident about?
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Is this organization and team is moving forward? What did
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the Celtics do right?
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Not much?
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Honestly, what I was writing this question.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: When I was writing this question, like, I really wonder
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: what Jack's gonna say with this.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: One, Like where's he gonna go with this?
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: And I think if you're like grasping its straws and
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: looking for the positive in the mess, right, and you
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: consider Tatum's gonna miss all of next season, almost certainly
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: you look at I think it was game two or
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Game three of the Magic Series, the one where Tatum missed, right,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Tatum's first he didn't play in his entire career. The
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: first playoff game he missed was in that Magic Series,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: and Jalen Brown was unstoppable, just like the best player
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: on the court for the entire game was an elite playmaker,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: was an elite scorer, ran the offense beautifully.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: If you were going to look for hope, that's where
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: you look for the hope. You see.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Okay, if we can get that even two nights out
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: of three, you know, two nights out of four, right,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: you'll be okay. And I've been saying this like, it's
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: gonna be tough to tank in the Eastern Conference next
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: year because how bad the Eastern Conference is. So if
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: you have Jalen Brown, you have Derek White, like, it's
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: gonna be hard, not I possible because.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: The Celtic's don't have a center right now. I don't sure,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: we'll talk about it, but yeah, to tank.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: So having Jalen Brown play that well as a positive.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Having Derek White, who has looked poised to do more
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: than his role has you know, I don't want to
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: say allowed him to do, but like what his role
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: is called for for the past few years, like he
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: looks prime.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: And having Peyton Pritchard, who just.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Had the best year of his career, could very easily
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: average twenty points a game next year. I think if
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: given the right circumstances, like you have those three guys,
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: you can look at and say, Okay, these guys one
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Jason Tatum comes back. If we have threse guys, these
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: three guys, excuse me, we can compete for a championships.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: And so if you're looking for positives, you have those guys.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: You saw what Jalen Brown could do in that Matter series.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: You've got glimpses of Baylor Shireman down the stretch of
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: last season. You still have Sam Housar in a really
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: good contract, who's a great three point shooter. You've got
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: avenues and players you can look at and be like, Okay, like,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: we saw what these guys can do last year.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: Let's let's you know, let's trust them moving forward. Yeah.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, well, let's let's let's flip the coin here. Okay,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: here Jack, What did the Celtics team do right? I mean, look,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: whether it's whether they're coaching decisions that were made, whether
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: it was the team and that narrative that we've talked
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: about every now and again in big moments and certain
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: players not necessarily being able to step up in those
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: moments at times was certainly an issue down the stretch too.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts about what the team did wrong
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: down the stretch?
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Man, I mean, you just look at the first two
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: games of that next series. It is just a complete
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: and utter collapse by the Celtics. That is what Brad Stevens,
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: that is what everybody has kept like, you know, doubling
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: down on, like that's where we lost the season. That
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: is where everything ended. When we blew those two games
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: in the exact same fashion. It just felt like they
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: kind of, you know, devolved into a panic. Right they
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: get up this big and one time, you're like, Okay,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: that sucks, Like that's really bad.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Learned from it.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: The second time, like you could almost feel them thinking
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: about what happened the night before. They're thinking about, like, okay,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: this could happen again. We don't want to let it happen.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: And once you start to break the cycle or break
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the mindset of let's just play our game.
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: You're cooked. It's just going to be done. And so
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: they slowed down the pace.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Too much, they got sloppy with the ball, they didn't
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: corral rebounds.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: It was like everything just dissolved in front of them.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: And you're not gonna win basketball games like that against
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: teams that have a lot of talented players. And everyone
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: went into the series saying like, oh, Nicks haven't beaten
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: the Celtics all season, which is true, right, and the
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Celtics should have won the series.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: They were the better team, but they weren't.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: Though they weren't the better team because they lost and
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: they just they kind of crumbled. And now they're gonna
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: be left with a lot of decisions to make the summer.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: And it's just I mean, they've already made some, but.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I think it goes I think it goes to show though, too, Jack,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: because they were the number two seed coming in, and
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: it doesn't always mean that the top seeds are going
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: to perform the way that we think they're going to
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: be performing year in and year out once the playoffs arrive,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, how many times have we seen
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: it with the seventy six ers. Again, I say, we're
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: not gonna talk about the seventy six ers, but every
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: freaking year they get knocked out in the second round.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: You know, they could be the number three team, number
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: four to whatever it is, you know, but you know,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the number two U seed team. It just doesn't mean
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: that you're gonna go potentially to the Eastern Conference finals.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, and that's what I love about the NBA anymore,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: to be honest with you, is the fact that not
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: because the Celtics get knocked out, I mean because you
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: just don't know. We didn't know back in January that
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers were gonna put on the type of
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: show that they did throughout the playoffs. We had no
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: idea that that was gonna happen. They were a damn
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: good team then, but we had no idea they were
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: gonna put on that type of show. So it's interesting
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: how these changing of dynamics. Top seeds in the Eastern
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Conference and even you know, even the Western Conference too,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: and we all knew, okay, see was probably gonna go
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to you know, run away with it, as you mentioned earlier,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: but top seeds it doesn't matter too too much in
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference anymore.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: It's kind of crazy, right, Like, Yeah, each of the
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: last three years now, we've had at least one team
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: who everyone's like, how the heck did they get here?
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: Right? Pacers this past year.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: No one thought the MAVs were gonna get that far
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: yea in twenty four, and then the heat made that run,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: yeah in twenty three, and even like I guess the
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: last one that was kind of like, oh this is okay,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: was twenty two, but even then, like I don't think
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: going into that everyone was like, oh yeah.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: It's the Warriors. Obviously give me the Warriors.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: So it's just we're kind of in a place where
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: anything can happen. And I think that's almost shaping how
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: teams are approaching their building. Like I think it's a
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: poor example that I'm about to make it because they
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: haven't been very good, but like, look at the Kings.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: The Kings have been like, Okay, we're just kind of
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: sick of losing, right, so let's let's try, right And
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: they had that one really good season where they were
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: a top seed and they lost in seven to the Warriors.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: But like teams around the league, I feel like are
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: just getting sick of like losing. Like the tanking can
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: only last so long. It's it's seemingly as wide open
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: the league as we've seen in decades now, So why
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: not just try your best and see what happens.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Look at the Pacers.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Absolutely it worked for that and it's it works and
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: it makes the league that much more interesting. And I think,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: you know, moving along with the conversation, what's interesting here
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: is getting into these draft picks for the Celtics as well.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Want to get your thoughts on the possibly the three
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: plays if you want to dive into all three that
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the Celtics picked in this twenty twenty five NBA draft
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Hugo Gonzales from Spain, Amari Williams from Kentucky, mex Sholga
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: from VCU. I'm wondering, did you like this draft class
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: for the Celtics or are you feeling kind of mih,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: kind of mid about these picks and the direction they went?
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Are you not liking the picks at all? What are
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: your thoughts here?
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: So they were all kind of surprising, right Like we
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: did a lot of on the podcast, like a lot
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: of looking at different guys, and we didn't look at
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: any of these names, Like none of them were guys
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: that we pulled up and said, Okay, let's see if
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: this is somebody who can grab in that range. Oh, Gonzalez,
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: I've looked at since and I made it like a
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: TikTok a video on him, And the biggest takeaway I
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: had was he just plays like as hard as anybody
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: I've ever seen. Right Like, I watched like four different
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: euroly games of his minutes, and I don't think I
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: saw him not pick up his guy at half court.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Looks like he's just like a menace. He's a pain
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: in the butt. He's always just gonna be pressing you.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: He's gonna be cutting off passing lanes. He's gonna be
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: bodying you. He's gonna cut off the ball, he's gonna
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: get offensive rebounds. He's like he played on a real
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Madrid team that had ten guys with NBA experience like
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: search Ibaka, Gunda Capazo, they and Sergio Yule who is
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: like the best guy to never play in the NBA.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: And so he didn't play a lot of minutes. But
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: there was this game in January where Evan Fournier was
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: like red hot and in the third quarter they put
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Gonzales on him, the eighteen year old kid, and he
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: just like was, you know, a pan in.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: The butt the whole time He's just on him.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: And so he's going to be a very fun player
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: in terms of like the hustle and everything. The Celtics
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: fans like in that regard. But people are paying a
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: lot of attention to like, oh, he didn't play a lot,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: he was an off ball player Real Madrid. He has
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: been like a prodigy in Spain for a long time
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: and the Celtics have been tracking him for a long time.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: And the reason he didn't have the bonus Hans because
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: of just like how earlyague ball works, they played the
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: vets and so he's very comfortable with bonus Hans.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: He's a good playmaker.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: The shooting has come a long way, so I like
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: to pick from an upside swing perspective, but I also
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: think the floor for Hugo Gonzales is like a very
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: much hustle player. He can play really good defense and
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: maybe not down to catch and shoot shot every once
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: in a while. And I need to correct myself. It
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: is Ugo Gonzales. He told us that today at his
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: first offent in Boston.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: I just called I just called it.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I have done it for the past two weeks, so
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: I need to I need to like, I'm just like
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: snapping myself into Ugo Gonzalez.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: You don't bounce the age. I got to get used
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: to it.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean in terms in terms of the uh other,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, do you have any thoughts on a Mary
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Williams from Kentucky.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so he may be able to do.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: So I've watched some Kentucky games or I've watched like
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: one and a half. Now I'm gonna do a video
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: on him too, But I'm like in the press of watching,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: I haven't watched a lot of mactual yet. I've watched
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: like highlights, but I haven't watched like full games yet.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: The biggest thing with the Mary Williams is the passing.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: He's like an incredible passer out of the post, out
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: of the short roll, just at the top of the key.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Kentucky almost like used him as a crutch too much,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: like they didn't really have a point guard. I think
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: they had a couple of injuries, and so they just
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: kind of of like stuck him at the top of
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: the key and if something didn't come to fruition within
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: the first twenty seconds as the shot clock, they kind
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: of threw him the ball and said, Okay, we'll figure
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: it out.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: You make something happen to Mari. Yeah. And so he
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: didn't shoot super well from the field, which.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Is kind of a red flag for big Man, But I
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: don't think it was all his fault because he was
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: taking a bunch of light shot clock shots and he
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: kind of like had a tendency to lose the ball
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: at times, but I think a lot of it was
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: just a role he was in. Phenomenal passer, extremely good
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: putting the ball on the floor. He can make shots
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: out of the post a little bit. He's a lefty too,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: so the right hand he's a little work defensively. He
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: gets in a little trouble of jumping too earlier, just
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: over a eager, but he has a seven to six
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: wings fan. He's a freak around the rim, like if
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: he can learn how to control himself and defend with
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: that fouling, I think he could be a good pick
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: for the Celtics.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: He needs some development.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: He's on the older side to turning twenty four this
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: upcoming season, but with the passing, with the like he
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: sets really hard screens, I think I can see it.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: And then Max Shulga, hard nos defender, another hustle guy.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Kind of did a little bit of everything at VCU.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Spent a couple of years at Utah State, actually played
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: with nimishk in one of those yeah, and then went
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: to VCU.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: For his last couple of years. Do a little bit
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: of everything.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Pretty good score, pretty good shooter, really good hustle, hard
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: nosed defender, a little bit of playmaking, a little bit
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: of rebounding.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: Kind of just did it all there.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: I think he's a bit more of a like needs
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: to iron out what exactly.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: He's gonna do in the NBA.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Like he needs to be a really good shooter, he
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: needs to be a really good defenders, need to be
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: a playmakers. You do a little bit like he kind
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: of needs to find his niche and prove himself. And
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: I almost worry it's a little bit too repetitive. Yep,
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Sharman Already, Peyton, you have Derek, Like, you can't really
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: get too many good three and D guards. But if
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: he can really improve, like really accel at both of
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: those things, I could see a pathway.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: But he's I think he'll need a little more season.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see where this crop
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: of draft picks goes in terms of what they can
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: do for the Celtics.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: For sure.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Again, folks talking to Jack Simone from Hardwood Houdini dot com.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Check out everything they have going on over there. We're
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break. We're gonna we got more
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Celtics talk, Eastern Conference talk. When we get back in
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: just a bit. All right, we are back again with
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Jack Simone here from Hardwood Houdini dot Com. Love talking
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to him about the Boston Celtics and you know where
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: this Celtics organization and where this team is going to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: go because they they the vibes here. Jack really does
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: seem to be that feeling that this is somewhat an
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: end of this Celtics era, especially with perzingis on the move,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Drew Holliday is out the door as well. I mean,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the Celtics cleared what was at about two hundred million dollars
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: in luxury tax and salary off their books during this
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: off season. So what do you think the direction of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: this front office is going to be moving forward? As
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: this team in the organization, they still want to try
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: their best to remain at top of the Eastern Conference.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: It's going to be difficult without without Jason Tatum for
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: sure this coming season. But you know, as free agency
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: is upon us as well, what's the direction of this
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: team and where and where are they going?
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: In your opinion, it almost feels like like you're the
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: fact valedictorian in high school and then you take a
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: gap year like Europe and actually going to like it's
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: like it's like cool, like you can do some cool
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: things there, But I don't know, instead of like taking
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: the job you have at Google and competing for the.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Championship, you go hang out and explore it.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, like it's it's just gonna be hard, right,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: because they had to get under the second apron to
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: to avoid some of the penalties. Like that was very
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: clearly one of their goals coming into this offseason, and
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: it was going to be a goal even if they
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: had won a championship, if they had won sixteen to
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: zero in the playoffs, I still think we have seen
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: similar moves. The real kicker was the Jason Tatum entry,
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: because I think that is now spiraling into well, I mean,
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Luke Cornett's already gone.
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: You know what's gonna happen without Horford? Does he want
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: to compete for a championship? Yeah? Are we going to
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: trade Drew and Porzingis for nothing?
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: And soundar really completely? We're gonna try to save it
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: if Tatum's healthy. Now it has turned into well, we
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: got some value back in the Drew trade with Anthony
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Simon's but how much extra value is he going to
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: have in another trade because reports of like they were
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: gonna try to flip him to save money to resign
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: Horford and Karnett. Obviously Cornett did pan out. We don't
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: know about Horford, but I don't know how great Tat's
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: looking right now. I think he might be out the door.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: This is interesting really quick, if you don't mind, if
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: it can say on the Al Horford thing, because it's
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: something I've been thinking about with Horford is that he's
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: been such a key component to who the Boston Celtics
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: have been for so many years. I mean, yes, he
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: was with the Philadelphia seventy six ers at one point,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: as we remember, I remember you and I talking about that,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: but Al Horford has been such a key component to
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: who that team is. I feel like, and maybe it's
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: just me, Maybe it's just looking at what certain teams
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: in the NBA, what they like to do with their
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: players in terms of re signing them, what they actually
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: mean to the organization. I would think that the Celtics
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: would want to keep him. And maybe it's a cultural
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: thing that I'm thinking about, But now you know what
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, Like, I wanted to get your thoughts there
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: because I think Al Horford wants to play for a
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: championship yet again, of course he does. But then again,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: he's such an integral part of the Celtics organization.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: I think they want to keep it. I think they
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: wanted to keep Cornette. I think both of those guys,
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: like Boston, wanted to keep them around. It's just a
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: matter of like, I think their top priority right now
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: is financial flexibility for when Tatum gets healthy and like
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: staying under the second apron. There was a fourth today
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: from Adam himl'sbock that they might even consider getting under
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: the luxury tax line, which is another eighteen million in
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: like clearing off the books man, So they might fully
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: embrace next year as a we don't really know what's
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: gonna happen. Let's just save as much money as we
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: can and let it be what it is. And so
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: if another team comes out and says, okay, al here
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: is you know, twelve to fifteen million dollars, You're like, well, okay,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: we can't really do that.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: We can't really spend them exactly.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: And so if his priority is I want to go
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: win right now, and I'm going to go take this
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: huge payday, the last one he'll probably ever get then
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: it's tough for the Celtics, who again I think they
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: wanted to keep both of them, but it just I
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: think it truly just comes down to what Corford's priorities are,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: because I think the Celtics are going to run into
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: a we might just try to save as much money
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: as possible so we can fathom Orf forward to spend
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: it when Tatum gets healthy again.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: That seems the logical move, to be honest with you,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: If you're an organization that's in this position right now,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: you're looking at it from a business sense, you're looking
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: at it from a talent sense. You know, it seems
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: to be you know, if they lose and they're at
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the Eastern Conference, get a better draft
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: pick as well.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: You know you're you're able.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: To get right back into the swing of things a
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: year later when Tatum is able to come back.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Plus you got aj Debonson the draft rock to Massachusetts.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, that helps for sure.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Right well, buddy, before I let you go here, and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: again always great great talking to you. Yeah, with free
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: agency starting here, just just basically starting at this point,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: it's difficult to know where certain players are going to
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: end up, and as of us recording this on July first.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: We don't have all the answers for sure, not a
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: crystal ball, But I'm wondering, how do you see the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: top of the Eastern Conference possibly looking next season? Here?
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: You what are your overall thoughts?
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: Man, it's a mess. It's a mess. I think it's
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: I think it's Nick's Calves Tier one.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, I think I would put Magic Pistons and
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: probably the Sixers, depending on how the guys come back
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: from injuries, in that tier two.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: And this isn't in no order. This is just like
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: how I'm mapping it out in my head.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: I think that's there, and then it gets into a
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: really messy group. I had the Celtics in that tier
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: two before the Looke thing and the potential Al Horford thing.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: But with those in mind, it's gonna be really hard
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: because right now their starting center is Dimia chidd or
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Luca Garza, which is not awesome. So the after those fives, honestly,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: the Hawks are gonna be a really good tea.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: They have had a phenomenal offseason. Yeah, I'm high on
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: the Hawks.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: I think there I would put them maybe riding line
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: of that second tier maybe in the next year with
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: the Celtics. I think the Raptors are going to be
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: better than people expect. I think they've got a pretty
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: good group with Ingram and with Colin Murray Boyle who
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: this draft, and if they can stay healthy, I think
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: they'll be all right past that.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: I mean, maybe the heat if.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: They managed to string together, I think they'll always be
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: pretty like playing the Bucks, I don't know what they're doing.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: They're disgusting right now.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: They wave Dame and they wave you get them out there.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Nasty work going on, nasty work by Milwaukee. They're a mess, yes,
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: And I mean if you want to talk about mess,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: you get into bowls, Hornets, wizards, and that's territory of
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: that phuke. So I don't know, man, it's gonna be
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: a crap shoot in the Eastern Conference.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be a fun season though, That's what makes it.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: A fun And then the Pacers, yea god who knows.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: The East will certainly be fun and the West will
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: be fun for vastly different reasons.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Absolutely again, folks, here is Jack Simone from Hardwood Houdini
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: dot com. Get your podcast out there as well. It's
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: how about them Celtics.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Right, how about them Celtics D you'd appreciate you absolutely.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: You can listen on Apple Podcasts. Are you guys streaming
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: on YouTube? Here for the YouTube watchers.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: You Tube, Spotify, Apple, all the places we're there.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome again folks, jacksono, Jack Buddy, come come join
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: us down the road again. I'd love to have you
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: back on. I always love talking basketball with you, my friend.
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, anytime you just let me know, appreciate you, Jeff.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
• 24:20
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• 24:23
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• 24:26
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• 24:31
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• 24:34
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• 24:44
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• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Take care, we will catch you next time.