Celtic Chalk Talk - Celtics Got BETTER Without Jaylen Brown? Preseason Proves It
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Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of "Celtic Chalk Talk." My name's Steve Purciello, a lifelong Celtic fan, rooting for them since the Bill Russell days. Could tell stories, and always will be a fan. Before I begin, I wanna just mention about the podcast network that we have here at the Peach Basket, peachbasket.net.
We are a bunch of independent writers. We write, we think, we talk about things we love. We are not being paid by anybody. We are just writers who talk about things we love. My suggestion is if you like this pod, listen to some other really good ones, as well as there's some great articles written about the NBA.
I would seriously, if I were you, suggest that you look into it because this is an-- And if you like it, subscribe. But this is, like I said, an independent network that needs you people to support us who are fans. Okay, [00:01:00] here we go. The Celtics looked pretty good in the first two preseason games. I'll talk about that, but before I do, I wanna talk about an elephant in a room, as I would say, and that's the Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown thing.
A lot of people pointed at Tatum. Did he finger Brown wanting him out before they did it, or how did they do it? I don't know, and I don't have the answer, but I do know this. The other night while both of them were shooting at opposite ends of the court before the game with Philly, neither-- there was no contact.
And that makes you think, and naturally conspiracy theorists will blame Tatum or whomever. And that's normal, but I don't know. I don't know about that. But what I do know in watching this Celtic team play, the ball movement is better. There's less isolation game, and that's what Jaylen Brown did.
And I think besides the money, one of the reasons Brown ... Money meaning they had to re-up his contract, and it was a lot of money, and then they would've had trouble keeping a team together. Besides the [00:02:00] money, I think the fact that maybe Jaylen Brown was a ball stopper, and they wanted more of a free-moving basketball.
But that, that's a, that's my own thought, and I don't really wanna get into it too deeply. But that, that's a quick thought. Now let's talk about the Celtics. Two scrimmages or two preseason games against Cleveland, and that was against some of Cleveland's starters outside of Harden, and Boston had nobody.
That, the first seven or eight guys didn't play. And in that game, both games, I had some observations I think Jordan Walsh playing with the starters is indicative of the fact that Jordan Walsh can defend, and you know what? He's slowly becoming pretty good at shooting threes. He will get his pair-- share of shots in the corner during the year.
He's a good defender. He's a-- he just does a lot of nice things, and if he can make the three from the corner he's gonna be a player for them. Ugo. Ugo's played well. He's gone to the basket [00:03:00] well. He's still a disruptor, good defender and makes a lot of things happen when he's on the court.
You have to love him. In the second scrimmage against Philly, he went four for four from the floor, from three, and that-that's another bonus because you needed him to improve at his three-point shooting. The guy that's really looking like he's starting to make a step towards becoming and separating himself from everybody is Baylor Scheierman is a good basketball player, and I'm gonna say this in with all niceness as a Celtic fan, he's like a Celtic.
He's very unselfish, likes to win, and makes good plays. He will give the ball up any time defensively. He moves his feet well. He also is willing to take a charge. All the things a coach loves as well as his teammates. And the fact that he can pass makes him even better. The one negative with Baylor, he goes left all the time.
NBA, and I saw a little bit of that against Cleveland, his defender was overplaying the [00:04:00] left hand, and that's gonna be a problem, and he needs really to begin to develop some sort of right hand. That will get him over the top. The guy that I was surprised with is Mr. Carter. I thought he played really well.
I think he will fit in well with the Celtics. I think they'll sign him. He can s- play. I don't know why other teams gave up on him. Maybe I missed something but boy, he, he can play. He shot well. He went to the basket well. He's got energy. He defends. He does all the good things that are needed. And I think Boston will probably give him the s- the two-way contract, and he will be around Boston a little bit this year as well as in Maine.
Now we get to some other people. Luka Garza if he can defend, boy, he'd be great. He's not very quick afoot, but he's relentless on the offensive boards. And the whole Celtic team we'll talk about and their ability to rebound on the offensive end, which is [00:05:00] great. And that's helps makes the shooting percentage from threes better because when you're getting a rebound and kicking it out, defenses are collapsed around the basket.
Somebody's getting a wide open three. These NBA players can shoot threes, and they make their sure share of threes. So that's a positive and Luka Garza is relentless. There was a play against, Cleveland where he got two or three rebounds in a row and kept putting it back up. He finds position, he puts the ball up, he uses his body well, and he really has improved so much offensively, not to mention he can shoot a three, and that's always a great thing for a big to do.
Now, when we look at the Philly game, and before we even get in, dive into the Philly game, I wanna mention something else that I was really impressed with. Paul George is an outstanding defender. Not only is he good on a ball defender, but he's good off the ball. He's what I call a disruptor. He made [00:06:00] a bunch of steals.
He made a bunch of big plays, being in the right place at the right time. Paul George defensively is a great find for the Celtics. The other thing I liked about Paul George is he deferred to Tatum. It's very clear now Tatum is the guy, and we work around him. And when you talk about Tatum, you have to mention he's not afraid to give the ball up to an open shooter.
He threw a couple passes Saturday night to J- Jordan Walsh. And why? Because he was wide open in the corner. Now, if you think about it, Tatum is a star. This guy Walsh never shot well, but here is Tatum giving the ball up to this guy, and Walsh converted. But that tells me a lot. Now Let me talk about, oh, one other person I wanted to talk about was Mitchell Robinson.
Mitchell Robinson is an outstanding rebounder, a big [00:07:00] body, offensive rebounder, tremendous, and he's a big body that makes things go. He-- they missed it at, I think he had one put back, but he was around the boards, and he is just gonna help the Celtics immeasurably. When I look at what the Celtics traded when they traded Brown, they got George, and they also picked up Mitchell Robinson, I look at it this way.
I think Boston won. They got better. Even losing Jaylen Brown, they got better. And that's not a knock on Jaylen. I think he's one of the top players in the NBA, and a great player and formerly a great Celtic, who, was part of this, that title as the M- team MVP in the playoffs, in the finals, as well as the conference finals.
Now, let's talk about that. Against Philly, Boston really shot well. They defended well. They really made it difficult for Philly to really get any offense going. They bothered Maxi a little bit, which is pretty good. Jordan Walsh guarded him for [00:08:00] part of it, and he just, he's a pest. He's always around, and he's always swarming around the ball, and he makes things happen.
The team shot well. I'd mentioned Ugo going four for four. I believe they were over 45% from three. And let's go back to what I said before. The over 40 5%, one of the factors is those second shots, because when you offensive rebound and kick out, as I said, you get open threes. Now, that's an underrated thing, but it's a very important thing, and Boston might be one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the NBA, and that's gonna make them better, and also make guys who are not considered stars good, because an NBA player can knock down threes when they're wide open, and there will be.
And I point again to Ugo four for four. Ugo going four for four tells you everything you wanna know, because they were wide open shots. Now, the Celtics also had [00:09:00] great energy. And when I say energy I look at the defense, and I look at are they flying around? Are they causing havoc? Yes, they were. And when you can do that, you're going to make problems.
Now, all in all, when I looked at the Celtics, I thought going in before preseason, I thought this is a team 45 to 50 wins, fun year, knocked out of the playoffs first round, maybe second, but not going far. I'm a lot more optimistic. I'm a lot more optimistic. I will tell you this. I believe Boston will win more than their 51 or 52.
I think the bookies say that's what they're supposed to win. I think they will win more. Why? Because of incredible depth. They're a deep team. They go 12 or so deep. And with that, what's gonna happen? With the depth, obviously during the season, teams will be will not always have their [00:10:00] players there, meaning the players sit out now for load management and all that.
Boston will be able to, even when their players sit out, be able to field guys that Mazzulla can trust and can bring a win home. They will be very good. Now, will they do well in the playoffs? I don't know about that. Why? Because again, now your star players win in the playoffs. When I look at it, Boston has one.
Good teams generally have two. Unless somebody picks up and becomes that second player besides Tatum, I don't know how far they'll go. But I do think it will be a fun year watching this team. That's it for this week. Tune in again next week and we'll have more talk on Celtic Chalk Talk.
Thank you.
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Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of "Celtic Chalk Talk." My name's Steve Purciello, a lifelong Celtic fan, rooting for them since the Bill Russell days. Could tell stories, and always will be a fan. Before I begin, I wanna just mention about the podcast network that we have here at the Peach Basket, peachbasket.net.
We are a bunch of independent writers. We write, we think, we talk about things we love. We are not being paid by anybody. We are just writers who talk about things we love. My suggestion is if you like this pod, listen to some other really good ones, as well as there's some great articles written about the NBA.
I would seriously, if I were you, suggest that you look into it because this is an-- And if you like it, subscribe. But this is, like I said, an independent network that needs you people to support us who are fans. Okay, [00:01:00] here we go. The Celtics looked pretty good in the first two preseason games. I'll talk about that, but before I do, I wanna talk about an elephant in a room, as I would say, and that's the Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown thing.
A lot of people pointed at Tatum. Did he finger Brown wanting him out before they did it, or how did they do it? I don't know, and I don't have the answer, but I do know this. The other night while both of them were shooting at opposite ends of the court before the game with Philly, neither-- there was no contact.
And that makes you think, and naturally conspiracy theorists will blame Tatum or whomever. And that's normal, but I don't know. I don't know about that. But what I do know in watching this Celtic team play, the ball movement is better. There's less isolation game, and that's what Jaylen Brown did.
And I think besides the money, one of the reasons Brown ... Money meaning they had to re-up his contract, and it was a lot of money, and then they would've had trouble keeping a team together. Besides the [00:02:00] money, I think the fact that maybe Jaylen Brown was a ball stopper, and they wanted more of a free-moving basketball.
But that, that's a, that's my own thought, and I don't really wanna get into it too deeply. But that, that's a quick thought. Now let's talk about the Celtics. Two scrimmages or two preseason games against Cleveland, and that was against some of Cleveland's starters outside of Harden, and Boston had nobody.
That, the first seven or eight guys didn't play. And in that game, both games, I had some observations I think Jordan Walsh playing with the starters is indicative of the fact that Jordan Walsh can defend, and you know what? He's slowly becoming pretty good at shooting threes. He will get his pair-- share of shots in the corner during the year.
He's a good defender. He's a-- he just does a lot of nice things, and if he can make the three from the corner he's gonna be a player for them. Ugo. Ugo's played well. He's gone to the basket [00:03:00] well. He's still a disruptor, good defender and makes a lot of things happen when he's on the court.
You have to love him. In the second scrimmage against Philly, he went four for four from the floor, from three, and that-that's another bonus because you needed him to improve at his three-point shooting. The guy that's really looking like he's starting to make a step towards becoming and separating himself from everybody is Baylor Scheierman is a good basketball player, and I'm gonna say this in with all niceness as a Celtic fan, he's like a Celtic.
He's very unselfish, likes to win, and makes good plays. He will give the ball up any time defensively. He moves his feet well. He also is willing to take a charge. All the things a coach loves as well as his teammates. And the fact that he can pass makes him even better. The one negative with Baylor, he goes left all the time.
NBA, and I saw a little bit of that against Cleveland, his defender was overplaying the [00:04:00] left hand, and that's gonna be a problem, and he needs really to begin to develop some sort of right hand. That will get him over the top. The guy that I was surprised with is Mr. Carter. I thought he played really well.
I think he will fit in well with the Celtics. I think they'll sign him. He can s- play. I don't know why other teams gave up on him. Maybe I missed something but boy, he, he can play. He shot well. He went to the basket well. He's got energy. He defends. He does all the good things that are needed. And I think Boston will probably give him the s- the two-way contract, and he will be around Boston a little bit this year as well as in Maine.
Now we get to some other people. Luka Garza if he can defend, boy, he'd be great. He's not very quick afoot, but he's relentless on the offensive boards. And the whole Celtic team we'll talk about and their ability to rebound on the offensive end, which is [00:05:00] great. And that's helps makes the shooting percentage from threes better because when you're getting a rebound and kicking it out, defenses are collapsed around the basket.
Somebody's getting a wide open three. These NBA players can shoot threes, and they make their sure share of threes. So that's a positive and Luka Garza is relentless. There was a play against, Cleveland where he got two or three rebounds in a row and kept putting it back up. He finds position, he puts the ball up, he uses his body well, and he really has improved so much offensively, not to mention he can shoot a three, and that's always a great thing for a big to do.
Now, when we look at the Philly game, and before we even get in, dive into the Philly game, I wanna mention something else that I was really impressed with. Paul George is an outstanding defender. Not only is he good on a ball defender, but he's good off the ball. He's what I call a disruptor. He made [00:06:00] a bunch of steals.
He made a bunch of big plays, being in the right place at the right time. Paul George defensively is a great find for the Celtics. The other thing I liked about Paul George is he deferred to Tatum. It's very clear now Tatum is the guy, and we work around him. And when you talk about Tatum, you have to mention he's not afraid to give the ball up to an open shooter.
He threw a couple passes Saturday night to J- Jordan Walsh. And why? Because he was wide open in the corner. Now, if you think about it, Tatum is a star. This guy Walsh never shot well, but here is Tatum giving the ball up to this guy, and Walsh converted. But that tells me a lot. Now Let me talk about, oh, one other person I wanted to talk about was Mitchell Robinson.
Mitchell Robinson is an outstanding rebounder, a big [00:07:00] body, offensive rebounder, tremendous, and he's a big body that makes things go. He-- they missed it at, I think he had one put back, but he was around the boards, and he is just gonna help the Celtics immeasurably. When I look at what the Celtics traded when they traded Brown, they got George, and they also picked up Mitchell Robinson, I look at it this way.
I think Boston won. They got better. Even losing Jaylen Brown, they got better. And that's not a knock on Jaylen. I think he's one of the top players in the NBA, and a great player and formerly a great Celtic, who, was part of this, that title as the M- team MVP in the playoffs, in the finals, as well as the conference finals.
Now, let's talk about that. Against Philly, Boston really shot well. They defended well. They really made it difficult for Philly to really get any offense going. They bothered Maxi a little bit, which is pretty good. Jordan Walsh guarded him for [00:08:00] part of it, and he just, he's a pest. He's always around, and he's always swarming around the ball, and he makes things happen.
The team shot well. I'd mentioned Ugo going four for four. I believe they were over 45% from three. And let's go back to what I said before. The over 40 5%, one of the factors is those second shots, because when you offensive rebound and kick out, as I said, you get open threes. Now, that's an underrated thing, but it's a very important thing, and Boston might be one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the NBA, and that's gonna make them better, and also make guys who are not considered stars good, because an NBA player can knock down threes when they're wide open, and there will be.
And I point again to Ugo four for four. Ugo going four for four tells you everything you wanna know, because they were wide open shots. Now, the Celtics also had [00:09:00] great energy. And when I say energy I look at the defense, and I look at are they flying around? Are they causing havoc? Yes, they were. And when you can do that, you're going to make problems.
Now, all in all, when I looked at the Celtics, I thought going in before preseason, I thought this is a team 45 to 50 wins, fun year, knocked out of the playoffs first round, maybe second, but not going far. I'm a lot more optimistic. I'm a lot more optimistic. I will tell you this. I believe Boston will win more than their 51 or 52.
I think the bookies say that's what they're supposed to win. I think they will win more. Why? Because of incredible depth. They're a deep team. They go 12 or so deep. And with that, what's gonna happen? With the depth, obviously during the season, teams will be will not always have their [00:10:00] players there, meaning the players sit out now for load management and all that.
Boston will be able to, even when their players sit out, be able to field guys that Mazzulla can trust and can bring a win home. They will be very good. Now, will they do well in the playoffs? I don't know about that. Why? Because again, now your star players win in the playoffs. When I look at it, Boston has one.
Good teams generally have two. Unless somebody picks up and becomes that second player besides Tatum, I don't know how far they'll go. But I do think it will be a fun year watching this team. That's it for this week. Tune in again next week and we'll have more talk on Celtic Chalk Talk.
Thank you.
