The Deconstruction of the Celtics Has Begun

The Deconstruction of the Celtics Has Begun

all a matter of time before pieces started moving off the Boston Celtics as you heard there from the getup crew Uh while you might have been sleeping last night last night Drew Holiday back to the Portland Trailblazers in return for Anthony Simons A couple of second round draft picks Uh the picks include a 2030 selection from the Knicks a 2031 pick from the Blazers But more importantly it’s what we all thought was coming The peeloff has started with the Celtics and it starts with Drew Holiday Yeah So look again no surprise on the deal Murray As you said we all knew it was coming but two things popped into my head Two when when I saw what this trade was cuz I I don’t know a crap ton Is it Simmons or Simons simons Simons And did I say Simmons my bad Okay So but but it might be pronounced Simmons No it’s Simons Hopefully it doesn’t matter in a week So so uh so uh I don’t know a crap ton about the player but I’ve done a little bit of research on him and so now my uh reaction is another three-point shooter So this makes me wonder are they going to change the offense or not if he stays then I’m worried about them still being a team that just basically stands out at the line and chucks threes out its ass all night Now I recognize this player might get moved but you know the motto we have a show to do today So if I’m if they’re acquiring Simons to be part of their roster and part of their offense then they’re still defaulting to the three-point shooter and the guy that can play out on the perimeter and you know and pay make defenses pay from out there which I don’t love Secondly because it’s no different We know what the problem was It worked against him in the postseason so they went right back to it If that’s what this is I hate it I can’t stand it The other part of the deal I think Drew Holiday got royally porked in this trade So let me ask you did you think he was going somewhere better oh yeah Yeah Yeah I didn’t think he’d go to the Yeah to the Trailblazers Yeah if he any of these guys I mostly thought well I mean let’s extrapolate Sam Hower out of this whole thing but between Porzingis who I think is probably going to end up being next and Drew Holiday Yes I thought those two guys were going to end up landing on contenders I’m not you know a middler at best So if I if I’m Holiday look I’m going to make my money that’s fine You know obviously I got a a couple of championships on my resume so it’s not like he needs another one but still you want every game to count You want to play meaningful games Now I got to go back out to Portland after playing for contenders I’m a winning player I’m a guy that teams should want Yeah that’s a guy that you want if you’ve been close Like he was a perfect fifth for the Celtics Like you couldn’t get over the hump Holiday helped him get over that hump Like if you’re one of those type of teams why aren’t you trying to make a deal to get Drew Holiday on your team someone should have And again and he’s egoless on top of it He has no ego He’s the perfect guy for a team that’s vying for a championship and knows that you only play with one ball He doesn’t need the ball He’ll play defense He’ll do the dirty work He’ll take open shots He won’t complain And he ends up in Portland I’d be pissed if I were Drew Holiday Pissed You couldn’t find a better spot for me than that Oh I I just I have so much respect for how that guy conducts his business and how he uh you know if he is pissed he’s going to internalize it You’re never going to hear a P Not a word with the Portland R Not a word I just Yeah I I I just you know purely selfish reasons I wish he had ended up in a better place Yeah No doubt Because Drew Holiday was the piece in many ways the Celtics needed to get over the hump He was a perfect player for what they need uh needed in 2024 He’s a winning player Loved watching him play Obviously he was not going to be a fit moving forward given the state of the franchise following the Tatum injury and more importantly given where they were uh in the Second Apron and the money and all of that stuff I just think this is an example because I too Maz was shocked that he went to Portland This is an example of Brad Stevens continuing to show that he is the best general manager in this town and certainly one of the better general managers in sports This is a GM who turned over obviously every leaf to get what I think is a pretty good return for a guy that the whole NBA knew the Celtics needed to dump It was obvious that Holiday was getting traded I agree with you that I’m a little concerned about the fit on the team because it shows that they’re going to continue to shoot the three That being said they got a pretty good return for a guy that the whole world knew they needed to trade This is a good job by Brad Stevens continuing to accumulate assets continuing to manage his roster and to in my opinion win trades cuz I thought that was a win for the Celtics last night Well it’s a win for them you know trying to get off the apron the second apron and to make sure they reduce their luxury tax penalty I I’m I’m sorry Unless you’re like I know you hardcore cover the NBA or you have league pass and I’ve been over to watch rogue games that aren’t Celtics games I don’t want to hear anything about this Simons guy that you don’t pretend like you know him and I don’t like like that he’s like some sort of good return Give me a break All I know is he shoots too many threes and this is maybe my big biggest concern It’s something you pointed out Maz like that the offense is probably not going to change If he’s here the kid shoots 38% from three I know that the coach and the organization’s like yay we’re not changing It’s still going to be bombs away I hate that part of it Well so so again to me that was the first thing I looked at What does he shoot from three i I I would have felt better if he shot 36% from three or 35% didn’t take a crap ton of them and that that suggested he was a different kind of player and could compliment them in a way that they didn’t have yet So but but you know it’s here This time with the Celtics now is here Over the next two days they’re going to peel this thing apart They have a chance to remake their identity They they’re doing it in a league where it feels like the Eastern Conference is as wide open as it has ever been in any year in any era which you know makes me want to say don’t just give up Like there’s that element to this story too Yeah So do you think this is part of just a financial de deconstruction or is this like you know them really stripping it down is this the beginning of them stripping it down so I’m hoping it’s the first thing and not the second because I I think they’re and again they don’t have to do a crap ton to get under that second apron Murray so Bobby Mark said there that they started the off season like 20 or 22 million over that second apron This chops about 4 million off and this is what apparently they’re going to do And we’ve talked about this They don’t have a lot of options So what they what they’re going to end up doing is a series of deals in which they save five million a trade and that gets them under the second apron and I would hope that that’s the goal In the meantime with Holiday they save money in the longer term because he was signed for another couple of years So they can save money in the longer term but in the short term listen if the East sucks next year and it’s going to what if you were to get Tatum back in March or April and all of a sudden the the whole conference is is you know dreadful I think if someone sent me the odds yesterday as of right now I think they have the fourth best odds to win the East Yeah they should And Cleveland’s the prohibitive favorite and there’s no big surprise there But do you still I don’t believe in the Cleveland Capital you know how can you that’s what I like about this trade is that if they keep him and and that is remains to be seen right but they got a rotational piece for Drew Holiday I don’t like the way they play either but I understand they’re not going to change the way they play This is an example of Brad Stevens towing the line The edict from ownership is we’ve got to get under the second apron We’ve got to cut salary we’ve got to you know shed you know this money off the books That puts the GM in a tough position to get full return We have seen that with the Red Sox Brad Stevens is consistently towing the line here and this is a sign that they plan to try and build a team next year that’s going to be competitive They’re not going to strip it down That’s why I like this trade Murray who who are the other three teams ahead of them in the odds or the other two teams ahead of them in the odds do you remember was one of them the Knicks yes the Knicks The Knicks I think were plus 650 and Orlando No the Knicks I believe were plus 600 and the Orlando Magic were like plus 650 ahead of the Celtics Yeah because of no Tatum Yeah Yeah Okay So again to win the East to win the East Okay So that might happen because Tatum will miss a significant amount of time and but I don’t know like you my gut looking at that I was like they could still win the East Definitely like it’s it’s it’s not very good and those team like Orlando is certainly on the upswing They got you know they certainly have better shooting now that they made that deal and they get Desmond B Desmond Bane but like they’re still a young team I like the Celtics over them And then the Cavs just exist to fail in the playoffs All right the Knicks had your number this year but you know is that going to happen again next year i don’t I like the Celtics to still be in the mix next year even if they’re going to continue to pull off peel off pieces like Holiday So to me in the next couple of days what they should do is keep that possibility alive That to me that should be the goal of this off season before I think about it cuz I never wanted to separate Tatum and Brown There was one little glimmer in there where I thought boy there were some reports that the the offers for Brown could be competitive And if that happens and it’s some sort of bidding war and you get some ridiculous offer then I would have seriously considered taking it But I don’t think that’s going to happen And you know what if you have Jaylen Brown and Derek White and you know Peyton Pritchard and Simons and whoever else they should be good enough to compete with just about anybody in the conference It should be enough And then just hang in there until Tatum comes back and take your chances because if all the talents in the West don’t flush the season down the toilet there’s no reason to do that given how weak the East has become All right So what’s next drew Holiday is gone And it s look it sucks to see the band broken up but you had to figure something like this was going to be coming down the pipeline And it started some of the peel off of the championship Celtics from a couple of seasons ago The deconstruction has begun Drew Holiday out Who is going uh going out the door next brian Rob of Mass Live was on this morning here on 985 of Sports Hub with Tutan Hardy So he had some insight on that on whether or not there is more coming

On Tuesday’s edition of Felger & Mazz, the guys discussed the overnight trade of Jrue Holiday, and wondered if the Boston Celtics got a good return in the deal.

Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports

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