Untitled project from SquadCast
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squadcaster-2861_1_06-08-2026_122135: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of "Celtic Chalk Talk." My name's Steve Purciello, lifelong Celtic fan, and that's for a long time. I go back to the Bill Russell days when the Celtics always won. And I have followed them ever since. I just-- Before we begin, I just want to remind everybody, this is the Peach Basket Network is a, an independent network of people who are basketball fans, NBA fans particularly.
We write and we do pods on teams we like or things in the NBA. I really, if you like this pod, I suggest you look at the Peach Basket website, maybe subscribe, and begin to delve into all the various pods and articles you might see. You'll find it interesting and you'll find it usually, even though we're fans, you'll find the people that are writing are pretty objective and are pretty good.
So it's just something I think everybody should take a look at. [00:01:00] Now, let's talk about the Celtics. Here's what I think and here's how I look at the Celtics, and I think the best thing to do is talk about how you look at them. Being a fan for so many years I go back to the '90s and I always go back to it.
And honestly, I don't want to get in a position where I watch Dino Raja or Greg Minor play basketball and hope they get better. Dino was a decent player, by the way but y- you get my gist. So I want to see something go on where they can be consistently good. When we talk about consistently good, you want to be hanging around in the top five or six seeds in each division.
If you're close on a year, you make that trade at the deadline that'll bring you home or hopefully bring you home or give you a shot. When you think about-- that's my philosophy. I think most people in basketball in higher offices think that you don't do it that way. You only have that one chance and you go out and [00:02:00] get them.
Having said that, my thinking does not allow me to want a Giannis Antetokounmpo because you're gonna have a shot for a year or two and then it's over. And you're paying th- two or three people, if Jaylen Brown is the one traded, two people that it's so much money that you don't have a lot of money left over to fill out a decent roster.
Now, Boston did that this year. They did well during the regular season, but you saw what happened when the playoffs came. So y- you need to just decide on your philosophy before you begin. I don't like Giannis, as I said. I don't think he can, really help us in a way that'll bring us over the top.
Right now, we're looking at a team like San Antonio that's gonna be around for a long time. So my thinking goes, "Okay, how do we figure out a team put together a team that can play with this team?" First thing I [00:03:00] think about is we need the two Js, Tatum and Brown. They can go to the basket and create things.
But also what we have to build around them is a bunch of shooters. Follow my drift. If you're watching the finals, you see the Knicks numerous times go to the basket with Wemby there. He can block or take up everything, and nobody shoots it. They kick it. Now, if you get a group of shooters around them, and by that guys who can shoot 40% from three.
Sam Hauser's one of those players that could do it. I don't know if I would wanna keep him, but he is one of those players that can do it. You build around that, so now you force Wemby to have to guard one of the shooters or JB. They're not gonna-- he's not gonna guard JB or Tatum, but he's got to guard one of those shooters.
There's no easy day. If you give Wemby a weak shooter [00:04:00] on the court, he can guard him but only slack off and take away the dribble drive and take away the chance to make layups. So if you get the shooters, you can make it a problem for them. Now, why do I say San Antonio? I think San Antonio's the future, and Wemby is the future, so you need to be able to beat them to win the whole thing.
So naturally, my mind starts thinking about shooters and that's the biggest thing, I think. Now what do the Celtics do having said all that? They've got a couple thoughts. First of all, when you beat... You wanna beat San Antonio, naturally you gotta get out of your own division, but you got to start with something.
Now, when you analyze the Celtic roster, they came into this season and they really were saying, "This ain't gonna work 'cause Tatum's out, and we're paying a bunch of guys very little money." Now from that, you have a couple keepers and a couple guys you might be able to sign cheaply. You probably [00:05:00] can get K- Akata for what, 10 a year after next year.
He's got a contract next year, 10 to 12 a year a year from that point forward. So you can get him. You could probably get a guy like Jordan Walsh for five, six million, if that. So now and Jordan Walsh has a place on a team. You can probably get... you have another year after th- next year, two more years of Baylor Scheierman, so you just leave that alone for a year and see how that pans out.
Now, you also, you, you have Harper who can play a bit, and he can help you as well. So y- you... and you've gotta make a decision. You can watch how he develops over the next year. Payton Pritchard is making a low contract, two more years. You gotta pay him. You gotta give him money as a reward almost.
Boston can go to 17 million, so you can take care of him, and you can have him for the future. So now slowly you're building out a team. Now, who's the shooters in this group? Hauser, of [00:06:00] course, if he's still here and Scheierman has demonstrated from the corner a pretty good knack at hitting threes consistently.
So now you're building some shooters into the process, but you need another shooter. You need to get more, and if you don't do that, you're not gonna win. You gotta keep thinking, your eye on the prize, beat San Antonio. Now, that ties into my next thought. There's been a lot of rumors about Trey Murphy Let me talk about that with something else.
If you are a GM, loyalty is not rewarded in the modern NBA. What do I mean by that? You would love to keep Derrick White, JB, and JT for the rest of their careers, but no. As they age, you need to deal them so you can keep this going. You don't wanna-- Let me go back again. You don't wanna go back to the '90s.
You don't wanna do that. So you need to deal them. Now, I don't [00:07:00] believe JB or JT are ready to be dealt. You've gotta pick a time where the value's high and you feel it's gonna begin to slippage. I think both of them have a-- Tatum's probably got another extra year, but both of them have two to three years of outstanding basketball, and then it will go down.
Then you begin to look at your roster, and you start thinking about it. Derrick White is the guy that is the most expendable. Now, it breaks my heart to see Derrick White go 'cause he was a key player in the Celtic title run, and he's been a steady player, consistent player, great off-the-ball defender, and just a great team player that everybody likes playing with.
But let's go back to what I said, beating San Antonio, you need shooters. If you need shooters, I don't know. After White's year last year, I don't know. Now, we can say two things. [00:08:00] One, he had a bad year because he moved up to the number two guy on the team, and he couldn't fulfill that because now he wasn't getting the open looks he was getting.
Or two, he just didn't have a good year, and he's maybe he's on the downside. Those are the two things that you have to think about. Let's go back to what I was saying again. You need to get rid of guys before they are completely down and their value goes down. That's the modern NBA. Don't like it. I would never wanna see Tatum or Brown traded, but they will be down the road if you wanna continue to be good.
Now, Derrick White. Now, there's been a lot of rumors about Jaylen Brown being traded for Trey Murphy It's an interesting thing, but you need more than Trey Murphy obviously for Jaylen Brown. So now let's-- would New Orleans is looking to get a veteran that can keep it going. Would a deal like [00:09:00] Derrick the base of a deal, Derrick White for a Tre- Trey Murphy?
Now if you can do that, you've just got another shooter. That just makes your lineup better against a team like Wemby. Now that's always thinking that you can get to the finals. I kinda look at the East, the Knicks are having their run this year, but I don't see that being a consistent every year title contender.
They're going to age out in time, and it's just not-- this is like a beautiful run, but I don't think they will continue to make the run. Now, Trey Murphy could fit in. He can shoot, and you've seen him, we've all seen him go in hot spurts, and if he can do that, he takes some of the heat off of the two Jays.
Now there's one more thing that needs to be considered and talked about by, for the Celtics. That thing is this. Jaylen Brown and Tatum have a great knack for getting into the paint. They can take guys off the dribble and [00:10:00] get there. Tatum is a better passer. JB has got to pick that part of his game up. If he can, you're going to, again, with shooters around them, you're going to get them open, and you're going to get them the ball.
Brown needs to understand that because he oftentimes goes into his dribbling dribbling, dribbling, and then a shot. As opposed to, and if you watch it and you freeze the screen if you're watching it, guys open all over the place. So because they all converge on Brown in the paint. So what you need to do is begin to talk to them and work with them about kicking the ball.
More JB than JT. The thought behind that is both of those guys should be close to a triple-double every night. And if that's the case, you have now figured out how you can get better, because now you've got shooters around them that can knock the shots off the pass. That would make [00:11:00] your team much better.
That, that's my thoughts for this week. Again, I'm here every week and I'm always ready to talk Celtics. Thank you again for your patience in hearing me, and we'll see you again next week. Thank you.
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squadcaster-2861_1_06-08-2026_122135: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of "Celtic Chalk Talk." My name's Steve Purciello, lifelong Celtic fan, and that's for a long time. I go back to the Bill Russell days when the Celtics always won. And I have followed them ever since. I just-- Before we begin, I just want to remind everybody, this is the Peach Basket Network is a, an independent network of people who are basketball fans, NBA fans particularly.
We write and we do pods on teams we like or things in the NBA. I really, if you like this pod, I suggest you look at the Peach Basket website, maybe subscribe, and begin to delve into all the various pods and articles you might see. You'll find it interesting and you'll find it usually, even though we're fans, you'll find the people that are writing are pretty objective and are pretty good.
So it's just something I think everybody should take a look at. [00:01:00] Now, let's talk about the Celtics. Here's what I think and here's how I look at the Celtics, and I think the best thing to do is talk about how you look at them. Being a fan for so many years I go back to the '90s and I always go back to it.
And honestly, I don't want to get in a position where I watch Dino Raja or Greg Minor play basketball and hope they get better. Dino was a decent player, by the way but y- you get my gist. So I want to see something go on where they can be consistently good. When we talk about consistently good, you want to be hanging around in the top five or six seeds in each division.
If you're close on a year, you make that trade at the deadline that'll bring you home or hopefully bring you home or give you a shot. When you think about-- that's my philosophy. I think most people in basketball in higher offices think that you don't do it that way. You only have that one chance and you go out and [00:02:00] get them.
Having said that, my thinking does not allow me to want a Giannis Antetokounmpo because you're gonna have a shot for a year or two and then it's over. And you're paying th- two or three people, if Jaylen Brown is the one traded, two people that it's so much money that you don't have a lot of money left over to fill out a decent roster.
Now, Boston did that this year. They did well during the regular season, but you saw what happened when the playoffs came. So y- you need to just decide on your philosophy before you begin. I don't like Giannis, as I said. I don't think he can, really help us in a way that'll bring us over the top.
Right now, we're looking at a team like San Antonio that's gonna be around for a long time. So my thinking goes, "Okay, how do we figure out a team put together a team that can play with this team?" First thing I [00:03:00] think about is we need the two Js, Tatum and Brown. They can go to the basket and create things.
But also what we have to build around them is a bunch of shooters. Follow my drift. If you're watching the finals, you see the Knicks numerous times go to the basket with Wemby there. He can block or take up everything, and nobody shoots it. They kick it. Now, if you get a group of shooters around them, and by that guys who can shoot 40% from three.
Sam Hauser's one of those players that could do it. I don't know if I would wanna keep him, but he is one of those players that can do it. You build around that, so now you force Wemby to have to guard one of the shooters or JB. They're not gonna-- he's not gonna guard JB or Tatum, but he's got to guard one of those shooters.
There's no easy day. If you give Wemby a weak shooter [00:04:00] on the court, he can guard him but only slack off and take away the dribble drive and take away the chance to make layups. So if you get the shooters, you can make it a problem for them. Now, why do I say San Antonio? I think San Antonio's the future, and Wemby is the future, so you need to be able to beat them to win the whole thing.
So naturally, my mind starts thinking about shooters and that's the biggest thing, I think. Now what do the Celtics do having said all that? They've got a couple thoughts. First of all, when you beat... You wanna beat San Antonio, naturally you gotta get out of your own division, but you got to start with something.
Now, when you analyze the Celtic roster, they came into this season and they really were saying, "This ain't gonna work 'cause Tatum's out, and we're paying a bunch of guys very little money." Now from that, you have a couple keepers and a couple guys you might be able to sign cheaply. You probably [00:05:00] can get K- Akata for what, 10 a year after next year.
He's got a contract next year, 10 to 12 a year a year from that point forward. So you can get him. You could probably get a guy like Jordan Walsh for five, six million, if that. So now and Jordan Walsh has a place on a team. You can probably get... you have another year after th- next year, two more years of Baylor Scheierman, so you just leave that alone for a year and see how that pans out.
Now, you also, you, you have Harper who can play a bit, and he can help you as well. So y- you... and you've gotta make a decision. You can watch how he develops over the next year. Payton Pritchard is making a low contract, two more years. You gotta pay him. You gotta give him money as a reward almost.
Boston can go to 17 million, so you can take care of him, and you can have him for the future. So now slowly you're building out a team. Now, who's the shooters in this group? Hauser, of [00:06:00] course, if he's still here and Scheierman has demonstrated from the corner a pretty good knack at hitting threes consistently.
So now you're building some shooters into the process, but you need another shooter. You need to get more, and if you don't do that, you're not gonna win. You gotta keep thinking, your eye on the prize, beat San Antonio. Now, that ties into my next thought. There's been a lot of rumors about Trey Murphy Let me talk about that with something else.
If you are a GM, loyalty is not rewarded in the modern NBA. What do I mean by that? You would love to keep Derrick White, JB, and JT for the rest of their careers, but no. As they age, you need to deal them so you can keep this going. You don't wanna-- Let me go back again. You don't wanna go back to the '90s.
You don't wanna do that. So you need to deal them. Now, I don't [00:07:00] believe JB or JT are ready to be dealt. You've gotta pick a time where the value's high and you feel it's gonna begin to slippage. I think both of them have a-- Tatum's probably got another extra year, but both of them have two to three years of outstanding basketball, and then it will go down.
Then you begin to look at your roster, and you start thinking about it. Derrick White is the guy that is the most expendable. Now, it breaks my heart to see Derrick White go 'cause he was a key player in the Celtic title run, and he's been a steady player, consistent player, great off-the-ball defender, and just a great team player that everybody likes playing with.
But let's go back to what I said, beating San Antonio, you need shooters. If you need shooters, I don't know. After White's year last year, I don't know. Now, we can say two things. [00:08:00] One, he had a bad year because he moved up to the number two guy on the team, and he couldn't fulfill that because now he wasn't getting the open looks he was getting.
Or two, he just didn't have a good year, and he's maybe he's on the downside. Those are the two things that you have to think about. Let's go back to what I was saying again. You need to get rid of guys before they are completely down and their value goes down. That's the modern NBA. Don't like it. I would never wanna see Tatum or Brown traded, but they will be down the road if you wanna continue to be good.
Now, Derrick White. Now, there's been a lot of rumors about Jaylen Brown being traded for Trey Murphy It's an interesting thing, but you need more than Trey Murphy obviously for Jaylen Brown. So now let's-- would New Orleans is looking to get a veteran that can keep it going. Would a deal like [00:09:00] Derrick the base of a deal, Derrick White for a Tre- Trey Murphy?
Now if you can do that, you've just got another shooter. That just makes your lineup better against a team like Wemby. Now that's always thinking that you can get to the finals. I kinda look at the East, the Knicks are having their run this year, but I don't see that being a consistent every year title contender.
They're going to age out in time, and it's just not-- this is like a beautiful run, but I don't think they will continue to make the run. Now, Trey Murphy could fit in. He can shoot, and you've seen him, we've all seen him go in hot spurts, and if he can do that, he takes some of the heat off of the two Jays.
Now there's one more thing that needs to be considered and talked about by, for the Celtics. That thing is this. Jaylen Brown and Tatum have a great knack for getting into the paint. They can take guys off the dribble and [00:10:00] get there. Tatum is a better passer. JB has got to pick that part of his game up. If he can, you're going to, again, with shooters around them, you're going to get them open, and you're going to get them the ball.
Brown needs to understand that because he oftentimes goes into his dribbling dribbling, dribbling, and then a shot. As opposed to, and if you watch it and you freeze the screen if you're watching it, guys open all over the place. So because they all converge on Brown in the paint. So what you need to do is begin to talk to them and work with them about kicking the ball.
More JB than JT. The thought behind that is both of those guys should be close to a triple-double every night. And if that's the case, you have now figured out how you can get better, because now you've got shooters around them that can knock the shots off the pass. That would make [00:11:00] your team much better.
That, that's my thoughts for this week. Again, I'm here every week and I'm always ready to talk Celtics. Thank you again for your patience in hearing me, and we'll see you again next week. Thank you.
