LIVE Garden Report: Luke Kornet Signs w/ Spurs, Celtics Sign Luka Garza
hard hat’s all about showing up to play hard doing what it takes to win
If you want to cement legacy win another
He’s your third center
You don’t want to pump him up too much but it’s hard not to This is maybe the most I’ve ever agreed with you Oh no Wow
Bobby
do I have to host this one wow This isn’t right
I’m so sorry No let me host it Let me let me let me
move into the host here Jimmy I’m not capable right now I’m gonna switch from three centers to no centers And not only that but they lost
the center The center of your heart Bobby Luke Cornet has agreed to a four-year Thank you Ahmed for Luke Cam We know we should do the rest of the show on Luke Cam At least most of it 4-year $41 million going to Luke Daddy Warbucks Cornet What was all that homec court discount talk that Bobby was hoping and praying for and I think Noah was maybe hoping and praying for Luke just cashed in He might be the uh he might be the richest guy in San Antonio tonight Yeah he’s going to be up there
Such a good fit for him Come on Noah The best fit for this guy is in Boston right here on the Celtics
Bobby just take us through your thoughts I I want to hear I want to hear what’s you know your reaction immediate reaction to the news Go Not stunned I I knew there was going to be some money out there for him You knew he had a cash in this summer I thought they’d make more of an effort to put something together to try to keep him But I always said Jimmy if it was one to two years elsewhere and it was one year last year the offer he had they could make that work right string some stuff together trade one of these guys wiggle below for a goal at the second apron line and just keep him here But three years was going to be tough And then if you got to four years impossible to match this here for the Celtics 41 million All you had to get to was 10 and a half annual value I guess So they maybe could have done that but this is a hefty contract he got Now I don’t know the guarantees I’d have to imagine there’s a fourth year option for the team or non-G guarantee or something like that They usually are in in deals like this So we’re probably talking about 330 effectively but it’s tough I mean this is a guy who emerged this year as one of the better pick and roll duos alongside Tatum A legitimate offensive rebounding force I think he was top 20 in offensive rebounds total and by the end of the playoffs started for you and dominated in a spot start to save your season down 3-1 So that’s going to be the lasting image of him here That great game in game five that followed Jason Tatum’s Achilles tear really lifted them in that moment He grew immensely over the last season here And I mean we’re talking about five years of this guy with the Celtics How many pe how many players have played five years in Boston straight um I know you ventured off to Maine and a couple other spots on COVID deals but I mean this story is just amazing He was a throwin to a trade Jimmy that Daniel Ty trade that first year we did the Garden Report
and five years later he’s a champion staple in their rotation and at times dominated this year It was a great pickup for San Antonio I agree with you Noah Yeah I think there’s so much to say about this because on one hand it felt kind of inevitable which was why we were kind of dark about an hour ago when we were going live Uh just because of the money that’s been out there for players of his caliber like double- digit long-term commitments And the Celtics at this moment just don’t have that And I’m thinking to myself like the summer that Sam signed his deal Luke’s in a similar position He had a similar kind of like breakout year best year of his career and Sam was able to sign that deal because in that moment that’s what was available Right now it’s not and they’re in a completely different situation So I can’t help but think there’s there was an opportunity like if things are just shaken out a little differently he could have signed this deal in Boston Like obviously this offseason they don’t have that space Um but I it’s it’s a bummer because he was a perfect fit here Loved loved the Celtics loved being in Boston Like his teammates loved him Joe Mula loved him The fans loved him And I think he honestly is worth this deal like I don’t think it’s an overpay by San Antonio and Nikki is worth the deal when you look at what else is out there and what guys are signing for Um but it just wasn’t going to happen in Boston So once we saw the dollar figures that you understand why they couldn’t match it
Um and it’s it’s a big loss and honestly it sounds like Al is nearing something with the Warriors It’s been reporting on that So it could be an 0 for two night for the Celtics with two of their more tenure you know successful big men that have been really big I mean there are two very different stories here with Al Luke and their legacies of Boston will be very different but uh I think a bummer on both fronts
And let’s face it Jimmy we can get into more Luke here but if For does go to Golden State or wherever he ends up they don’t have a starting center and they don’t have a clear path to acquiring one We all love the Maya Kada Awesome player great story in his own right last year and I’m looking forward to seeing him play more but he’s not necessarily a long-term option as a starter on this team And the guy they drafted Amari Williams two-way player Xavier Tilman couldn’t get on the court after November So maybe they find a stop gap option for this season here at least some guys to fill minutes and put Brown and others white in position to at least compete But it’s tough I you’re you’re right Noah They probably couldn’t have kept them at this price The Horford thing we debated earlier Jimmy should they have extended themselves to try to keep Horford but regardless of how you feel about Chris Staps Luke Horford individually and all of them obviously have their flaws Losing all three of them in the same off seasonason when you’re trying to get back on your feet next summer and compete is not a great thing And it’s going to be difficult to find a reliable option that fits well with Brown Tatum and the rest of this team is affordable does things on both ends of the court that you like Like the the riches they had at that position last year were out of this world And that’s why I would always stress the third center thing is this guy’s your third center you were living large with this guy as your third center And again I’ll say it now you have zero centers zero reliable centers And you know what Bobby I think you are ultimately proven right in your faith of Luke Cornett for a guy to get four years $41 million It’s not obviously something that only you believed Uh I’m sure there were some other teams across the league that at least put calls in a loop but um San Antonio looking to add that other half of the Twin Towers over there Now you’ve got your reincarnation of it a little bit
from you know the Duncan you know the the the the Duncan era Now you’ve got Wemi and and Luke and we’ll see what you know San Antonio’s putting together a fun little uh I shouldn’t say little big but a fun young team over there you know what the recent draft picks and uh bringing in some free agent acquisitions So they’ll be fun We just had a a comment from a a Spurs fan And by the way shout out Jacob Toby Maybe we have to get Jacob Toby on the show Former CLNS uh alum who is now the playbyplay uh for the San Antonio Spurs And um you know what maybe we will get him on one of these shows one of these days Doing a great job over there in San Antonio Um he’s gonna have a lot of fun with Luke
Great going to have a lot of fun with Luke isn’t he Bobby but a Spurs fan asked “What what are they getting with Luke is this guy any good what can they expect?”
This guy and sorry Noah you know I got to do it And Noah please answer it as well after after
I’m gonna let Bobby have this one but I don’t know if will he decide Bobby again
Oh he’s going he’s going solo
This guy is one of the best connective piece centers in the league And I was watching back some of the highlights last night as you started anticipating this thing coming together
The high dribble hand that the passing vision he has at the center spot He all he does is look to set up his teammates The screening I wrote a couple years ago revolutionary borderline how he screens and seals and is able to set multiple kinds of screens in the same possession The offensive rebounding I already mentioned it one of the best players in the league last year in that department Defensively I don’t know how many players fill the drop scheme better than him He’s so great positionally in there And I thought this year did a better job getting out to the perimeter And then this year looking for his own shot He actually scored a ton on the roll He had that little floater that I know John loved that he pulled out a couple times and just got so much stronger this year This guy’s going to be awesome there When you play those two together I don’t think anyone’s going to score on the Spurs and it gives them some backup option if Victor goes through some injuries or whatever else might end up happening there So definitely love this fit I know everyone wants him to start shooting threes again I I don’t think that’s his game at this point I think he’s found his role that fits him well and I think he’ll continue to do that there in San Antonio No Anything you want to add to that beautiful uh summary of Luke
i honestly I don’t even know if I felt I’ve earned the right to talk right now I really feel like Bobby should have just had a solo show and
he’s going to get more Yeah we’ll get more time But I think I think he also needs he needs to take a breath too
Yeah
Yeah So yeah You know I think the it’s always hard with these kinds of contracts where you don’t know how much of is it a player thriving in a particular system and how is that going to look elsewhere like I think about Al and Al leaving what was it 2019 and just like how all of a sudden he’s in Philadelphia and like people are wondering is this the same guy like there’s a world where Luke struggles in San Antonio He’s not going to have the same system the same coaching the same teammates Like I don’t know how much of it was the result of the Celtic system that he was a part of Um but I think that he has shown how much he’s grown how much he’s improved Is there news what is this i can’t see I can never tell if the chat’s just trolling The chat has lost my If there’s news I’m missing it I’m hosting you guys
No No They signed Garza That’s real
Wow Interesting That’s what our producer was saying they should do Bailey
Wow
All right So so Shams reports the chat The chat is one for four so far on real news to fake news So
all right So we have we have some news We’ll read the news for those who aren’t reading the chat Free agent center Luca Garza has agreed to a 2year $5.5 million fully guaranteed deal with the Boston Celtics And then he goes on and talks about their agents which we don’t care about So two years 5.5 million
I was a huge fan of him in college I watched a lot of him when he went was the player of the year that season and he had two unreal seasons in college If you go back and watch him you’ll be blown away by what he did at Iowa He was just a unstoppable player He’s mostly been floating around on two-way end of the roster status in Minnesota Uh he’s a pick and pop big He shoots threes extremely well Uh has an inside game too Phenomenal post up player So his offense is excellent The defense isn’t as great That’s why he hasn’t uh stood out in the league so far But he’s got a lot of skill Again one of the best players in college for his entire run at Iowa and a pick and pop big so he’ll shoot threes like they want him to I don’t have staff in front of me here and I doubt he’s played a ton in the NBA at this point but this is a guy I’ve always loved I ran him in the airport once which was funny Um there you go That’s gonna be a day one story Yeah Bailey Bailey
was big on the
He’s 31.4% from three for his career It was uh low low volume so hard to say but he’s not like an elite three-point shooter
Just looking at here quickly Last year 27.8% again taking one three a night So low low sample here
Yeah
but they have a center Can I ask what am I Okay this I’m gonna like throw it to you guys What am I missing here this guy 5.6 minutes a minutes a game last year Yeah No he’s he’s been on the edge of an NBA roster for pretty much his entire career so far So
he’s he’s Yeah I was going to say he’s barely an NBA player Correct
Yeah But offensively he’s great Defensively can he get on the floor that’s the question But yeah this isn’t this isn’t a longterm
reliable option at center There’s no doubt Luke out Luca in
Is that what they’re doing they just need someone with whose name started with Lu K Can he Can he bake i guess we’ll find out I don’t think anything’s going to be as good as Luke’s Lemon Squares iconic uh spread in the locker room But that is the news so far guys So Luke Cornett out signs a 4-year $41 million deal with the uh San Antonio Spurs We are in wait and see mode with Al Horford However I mean when you see this Luca does this Luca news do anything to your hopes one way or the other about Al Horford or does it not have anything is there no connection there in your guys’ eyes
uh
I mean they need they needed more centers anyways they’re still gonna need whether or not Al leaves like Luca Garza is not enough uh with Horzinga’s gone and uh L Cornet gone So it doesn’t necessarily indicate anything What does concern me is the reporting around Al Horford and the Warriors from multiple sources including Anthony Slater who is the most plugged in Warriors guy over there So that’s that’s kind of why I I think Al is is probably gone And um he’s probably not going to get I mean he’s not going to get a Luke style deal but what Brook Lopez just signed What did Brook Lopez just sign two years 15 million 13 million
for the Clippers right
18 million So like Al can command that Like I don’t think Brooke’s a better player than Al
Um like am I biased in saying that like
I don’t know how the Warriors fit that in though if they’re gonna Do you think they’re going to keep Kaminga Noah
i don’t think so I I I don’t They have probably a little bit more shape shifting that they need to do but Kaminga has the Kaminga experiment has not worked in my opinion and he doesn’t fit their timeline and he’s not happy He’s openly disgruntled I can’t remember the last time a player has been this openly disgruntled for this long on a championship caliber team So to me he’s gone They’re going to make up some space and um Alice’s gonna go over to Golden State Okay that would make more sense higher higher salary than five Again I think they could have done five for Al Jimmy Am I wrong you’re Are you wrong i mean no I don’t think so But I do think Al’s at a point in his career where he’s I mean I hate to say it guys Al’s got a couple years left He probably wants to use those years to try to win a championship I’m not going to try to predict two years from now but does he really want to waste an entire season with this current Boston roster that I don’t want to sound harsh but this is not a contending roster I don’t think anybody who really uh takes a look at things and looks around the the league thinks that the Celis are going to be serious players next year serious contenders next year So Al Horford has to do what’s best for Al Horford I’m sure in a perfect situation it would make sense here in Boston I don’t know if it does for either side right now If you’re the Celtics does it really make sense to bring Alford back uh when you kind of are seemingly punting next year for Al Horford doesn’t it make sense to come back when a team like Golden State that could make a a run at things next year in the West or if another team comes out and says “Hey you know we want to give you two years at this per year.” Uh it just might make more sense for him that and that’s an unfortunate reality of of the situation here in Boston right now They are in a uh I’m not going to call it a reset or or or a tank or whatever word you want to call it but they’ve definitely had to strip part of the roster down They’ve had to save on the tax situation They’re going to tell you that they want to be able to uh get under that apron so that they can make trades easier sign players take advantage of draft situations and picks So all those things are happening We have not been told that they’re going to stop happening Um you’ve lost your first free agent you know possible uh free agent resigning in Luke It sounds like there’s another one in Al So I can’t say there’s been a lot of good news this offseason if you’re a Celtics fan Um it’s just But I also can’t say that anything has really been that surprising if you’ve been paying attention and reading the tea leaves and seeing uh what the NBA has kind of forced teams like Boston to do in these situations We’ll find out which dominoes are next There is still time to acquire centers They can acquire them via trade I don’t know how the free I apparently the free agent market uh doesn’t look very good as far as centers go but the offseason just started You know the free agency just started
NBA is the the type of league that trades happen all the time more than any other league it feels like So you just never know what’s going to happen They still have plenty of assets on this team Um I sorry that I left this super chat up so long Bobby but uh shout out Bass Rock or Bass Rock He’s fine with Luke leaving Bobby Are people going to Is it a situation where you don’t know what you got till it’s gone with Luke Bobby or Absolutely Is what is what base rock saying here is true he’s got his flaws There’s better players out there You know he wanted to when he got too much money and blah blah blah
Yeah And listen regardless of whether he sticks in San Antonio or doesn’t translate to Noah’s point earlier you knew he fit in Boston You knew how he thrived in the system So you could have valued that Uh again he got a lot of money here I’m still looking into whether there were options and all that because I think that matters Um this was a this was a great starting center option for you if you were retaining him going into next year I think everyone would have felt pretty solid about Luke starting next season for this team And people are already getting it twisted a little bit I’m not saying Garza is a great player I’m not saying he’s even a good player I’m saying that I loved him in college and he’s got a pretty cool game That doesn’t mean anything about how he’s going to do here And this certainly isn’t a starting option for you next season given what he’s done in the NBA Um so listen that’s not a Luke replacement People are going to miss Luke I think that you know they’ll see what he did does out there in San Antonio I think he’ll thrive I’m very confident in his ability to translate into that system with the players he’s going to have around him out there Dear Fox and Luke Victor Luke big to big passing and then certainly the defensive uh possibilities endless here But you said it know this isn’t an extraordinary price This is on the low end of what centers make here Right That’s why I don’t think this is an overpay I think this is what Luba is worth right now The four-year commitment is awesome This is similar to the deal that Sam Houser’s on Um and I think that they’re comparable in you know the years Obviously Sam had a better year than this one but they were both coming off career years They’re both really good at what they do They’re both great bench pieces that are proven um and have done it consistently on an elite team Uh can hold their own defensively Like the things they do well they do really well great teammates Like that that’s the stuff that teams are looking for And I think that that’s why he was he was worth his deal And I’m not surprised the Celtics were not able to match that I think they wanted him back but probably on something closer to a minimum And so that’s discrepancy
Yeah I think something closer to a minimum So between a 10 and a minimum
I’m not saying a minimum I’m saying closer to a minimum What do you think they What do you think they wanted to offer him
that’s where I’ll be with them though If that’s where they want if that’s where they valued him And again they don’t have a backup option here in the future Like they don’t have straight path to acquiring a starting caliber center And I know we’re all looking at this as a reset year at this point But once Tatum’s back in 2026 27 if Brown’s still around and White and those guys are looking to contend who’s going to be playing center for this team it’s not going to be Luca Garza I don’t think it’s going to be Amari Williams Kada I’m excited about Jimmy but they wouldn’t even seem excited Yeah they don’t seem excited about him
I think you’re going to see the move next year for that quality center They’re clearly not trying to win very much next year because like there are options out there in the premarket I don’t think that there’s much of a point They don’t see much of a point in doing it right now is my is my feeling with how everything’s shaken up here So is this the is this the center that they they think is going to play alongside Tatum on a contending team of course not Right Um but I think they’re going to see how Nimi develops and they’re going to see maybe they grab a couple minimum guys I’m sure there’ll be another contract similar to Luca Garza Um that name sounds so not correct to say but and probably next summer they’ll make a move to get somebody that’s more of a win now big It’s just my thing is I don’t think those guys grow on trees and I think the LR net was a long-term plan and he’s 30 years old and he’s dependable and all that So I’m super bummed that they weren’t able to keep him and that they weren’t able to offload like Anthony Simons and get back a player and get that cap space and sign Luke Like I think he was worth his deal and he was worth his deal in Boston too Um and it just wasn’t the offseason that they were going to get that deal
And we both know it There was value real quick Jimmy in in trying to compete this year Yeah you do agree John’s not here
Yeah I agree with that It’s a safe space Let us let us say it one time while John’s not here yet
John is John is listening or watching in the car right now I know but I feel so free that John’s on here right now that I can say that I wanted the Celtics to be competitive next season Don’t worry John I got you I will remind them that that is the wrong take Um but did agree to mate John did agree that they’re put they’re putting they’re putting Brown and White in a tough spot with this roster
Yeah but it is fair It’s a fair take
The difference is Bobby he would get rid of those guys too Um anyway so what I what I was going to say and you brought it up briefly both of you guys kind of beat around the bush here but is it worth discussing whether or not the Celtics front office screwed this up um by allowing Luke to get to this point i mean if he was the guy that you spent years developing and you brought him back on short money you let him play into his free agent season whose responsibility is is it to sort of lock him up ahead of time so that when he does have a season like the one he had he’s not able to go out and get four years $41 million and they don’t lose the guy that they spent years developing as soon as he becomes effective and as soon as he actually is able to help them they lose him Whose whose fault is that i think that’s a fair question And honestly like it’s a bummer that he was the only one-year deal they signed last summer right with no team option nothing Yeah Um and he took a bet on himself took a pay cut
Yeah I mean I don’t know what they had the money They they were spending the money right last summer
Um with Peyton exactly right they would never be able to sign Peyton right now Peyton’s worth more than he’s currently playing for but they have that deal Like was the writing on the wall like was it could he have could they have signed him up long term probably Like I don’t know that you could have anticipated that he had the a year ago we were talking Mimi or Luke like which guy was more reliable and I think that question ended really quick and he had a better year than I think even expected because then he is 30 right like you could see the leave coming but I don’t know that they necessarily predicted it was going to be like this where he became so clearly the most reliable guy and at times the best center they had like Bobby said like you look at the numbers
their first center by the end of the year
Yeah
Yeah So to me I I do think they probably should have you know in in hindsight yeah you should have retained him if you could The be the bigger question I have is why they didn’t prioritize drafting a more ready now big in this year’s draft And like did they know this was coming did they not is it just you know that’s what I mean maybe they didn’t believe in those guys like they scattered those guys more carefully than I did but I was surprised that that wasn’t a priority is to get that like big replacement even if that involved trading up or or just grabbing that guy with number 28 So this is where you go after ownership I think Jimmy because it seems clear to me right now and we talked about it a little bit earlier They are trying to trim money at every single corner right now And I wouldn’t be surprised at all obviously with how this roster is looking if they make some moves over the next couple weeks get below that tax line uh in the next season And that’s smart if you’re not even going to try to compete try to get out of the tax and reset the repeater penalties and all that But I don’t think we knew for certain that’s where this offseason was going And I always advocated for keep a little bit of tax on the books to try to retain different parts of this roster And now you could see Simons go you could see Niang go Who knows if they’ll be able to retain Hower on top of this all like your question of whether they should have signed Cornet for more They’d be looking to move Cornet right now if that was the case based on how this off season’s going try to trim down their luxury tax and their second aprons and all that So I don’t think they had the flexibility to resign him last summer They clearly didn’t have the ability to sign everybody to extensions and keep them And things went a different way with Tatum and the way the season ended right maybe if they won the championship they would have made some different decisions here Uh but they signed a lot of extensions that they ultimately weren’t going to be able to actually pay out clearly here And right now looking at how they’re building this roster it doesn’t look like they’re trying to put a team together that can be competitive this season And we can debate whether that’s smart or not given that Tatum’s probably not going to be available here but this is going to be a difficult year for everybody involved just based on what they have right now because I don’t think they’re done I think they’re trying to as you see cut some costs here at center Uh cut some costs via multiple trades you know down from Simons and some of the other salaries they took back here They even were reportedly Jimmy trying to get the first round pick to take a little bit less money So I mean the to your point No the second round picks why didn’t they take a Cal Brener why didn’t they take a rain out because those guys were going to get real contracts and the guy they brought in Amari Williams signed a two
Lu Gonzalez also got a real contract and he’s a guard So I’m still
I’m still I think they didn’t believe in that that cast of bigs Like that’s the only conclusion I can draw because they did end up paying Hugo the normal rookie salary and there was a bunch of table still
Yeah So they must I mean again and I this is why I’m not going to overly criticize it because I don’t I have not watched hours of Lugo Gonzalez in Real Madrid So I don’t I mean there wasn’t hours to watch but like it’s hard to gauge exactly what the plan was But I it just seems to me like it’s just not it’s clear that next year’s center is not a priority and that they think they’re thinking more long term and that’s why it was okay to not draft a ready now center It’s okay to kind of fill it in with some veteran minimums see if any of them are any good and if not it’s fine because clearly winning next year is not a priority right that’s I think that that question has been resolved
You know who I wonder how how he feels about that is Joe Is he going to be like “Yeah winning’s not our priority this year.” Yeah
I mean obviously not They’re not gonna The players There it is See John is thinking about you Bobby Pray for a real Bobby Manning from John Xanis somewhere out in the world just probably driving around angry right now because uh he can’t uh criticize he can’t criticize uh Luke for you know the Celtics shortcomings next season but that’s okay we’ll find somebody else um this is just unreal Jimmy
I I think it is fair to question the front office everybody loves to praise them and and rightfully So they’ve done a lot of they’ve made a lot of great signings They made some really good trades I’ve certainly been wrong about stuff that I thought maybe wouldn’t have worked out but I think in this situation if you actually bring in a guy like Luke you spend years developing him he gets to the point where he’s helping you out and he leaves for nothing Bobby I mean yeah had they extend had they signed it for a multi-year deal last year regardless of what the money is that would have been a really good-look contract this year even if they were trying to get out of it or trying to shed salary they would have been able to get something for Luke because theoretically he would have been worth way more than whatever he was signed to at that time So that’s an asset at that point you lose him for nothing just to save money or whatever it is then it just it stings a little bit more You know if it just kind of it just it’s unfortunate that this is how it kind of ends after you kind of worked over those years to get to this point where now it looks like okay wow he could have been your starting center next year in this team right you know a team that just lost Porzingis and doesn’t seem like Orbert’s going to be coming back and it’s a bit of an in we call it an in between year I think that’s probably a fair assessment of where this seems to be going where they’re not going to be the worst team in the league but they’re not going to be you know top four five team in the league at least not by my uh estimation So theoretically would have been a great guy to have on your roster maybe at low money if you had locked him in a little bit sooner I understand that the injury to Tatum has dramatically shifted their thinking and has maybe forced them to make some tougher decisions that maybe they would have made differently but this is just the reality of the situation And I think Luke Cornet is the first real free agent um you know sign of this being the way things are going to be for this positive team I can’t figure out why they would try to nickel and dime the rookie Uh that to me doesn’t really add up in my mind Bobby I mean maybe true I don’t even know who came out with that report but I mean you’re talking about pennies like comparatively speaking here when you’re when you’re looking at the size of this roster So I don’t know why they would try to even go down that path That would be outrageously cheap sounding uh if it w were to be true Um but we don’t know anything about this ownership group We know that they’re big Celtics fans and I can’t imagine that they want to be in a situation where they turn all the fans against them because they’ve completely stripped the roster down to nothing Well they have covered
way fans we would love and let all the free agents block They do to an extent They do to an extent but I think that you know in the NBA like or especially here in Boston this doesn’t give you a five or six year window to be bad You know you still have a Jason Tatum on your team coming back You still have Jaylen Brown You still have Derek White You can still kind of reset this thing if it’s done the right way And I I’m I’m I think fans just have to hope that this is one of those one step backwards to take two step forwards maybe in the following season
Yeah And I’ll say this because I disagreed with John about this You know his thinking was who cares you’re not trying to win this year You don’t need Luke You don’t need Al You don’t need Porzingis But it’s not going to be any easier to get a center next summer Who Who are you trading to get a center hower is it Pritchard is it Brown white those your only tradable guys effectively here unless someone develops
You didn’t know Porzingis was available when he was So I mean things change like the the landscape of the NBA can dramatically shift I mean
you gave up Marcus Smart in that trade So there were different things you did in that deal to be able to get that done and you sent out a guy who was a starter for you effectively there It still looks to me though like they’re going to have to move someone of value later on if they want to bring back assets unless something significantly changes here when it comes to the value of their picks and certainly having a top pick next season would open up a lot of flexibility Uh you know Shyman or someone like that emerging into an impact player would give them a bunch of more options here But at the moment it’s not like they have cap space next summer It’s not like they have these great players that you can trade comfortably you know or easily We’ve debated all the guys and whether you’d give them up or not here So they’re going to be in a similar position next summer The only difference is Tatum’s going to be coming back And that to me does reflect on the front office a little bit just because you brought back these salaries in Nang and Simons in particular because maybe you felt good about trading down and lowering your cap hits that way to be able to keep a Cornet to be able to keep a Horford here Maybe that was never their plan but if that was what they wanted to do and they just weren’t able to do it because no one wanted to take Simons or it wasn’t easy to trade Nyang that to me is a mistake And you know you mentioned it a while ago Noah the desire to you know not attach draft picks to some of these salaries We’ll see what those deals end up looking like right because I’d imagine Simons will probably be gone at some point here Yang may be too Who knows but if those end up costing them picks to move off anyway all of a sudden that holiday trade that we were praising doesn’t look quite as good The Porzingis one certainly wasn’t one any of us were doing back flips over So we knew the stuff was going to be painful here but you would have hoped that it would have allowed you to maybe keep one of Luke or Al or certainly keep Hower here which I know they’re probably hoping to do If they have to trade Hower here too and attach picks to one of those other guys that’s where you’re like oh they put themselves in a tough spot here because this to me isn’t about this year I still think you’re going to be in a difficult position to build a team next summer Maybe I’m wrong about that but that’s just how it looks on paper right now to me And we’re going to be debating the same thing we did this summer which is do you trade white do you trade Brown to actually get some assets and players back yeah I think the one thing is that I said this a couple weeks ago or a couple days ago because all of this this at this time last week Holiday was still on the roster which is crazy but we’re still in the midst of everything So we’re we’re trying to evaluate something that’s still currently happening Like we have no idea if Simons is going to be on the roster if Yang is going to be on the roster what their game plan is at the center position outside of Luca Garza who I don’t think is much of a game plan Um and so to me like I’m not shocked that Luke was gone I kind of thought we’d get one of Luke or Al back on the roster next year And it seems like it’s gonna be neither And that’s I guess a little bit of a disappointment because both of those guys you want to have around I didn’t expect to see both I don’t think maybe at a point it seemed like possible but it was increasingly seeming unlikely So it doesn’t look good right now And the main thing that is clear is that Brad and the front office and everybody is fully on board with like not trying to be competitive next year and maybe even going in the other direction which makes me wonder if there’s going to be other moves heading in that way Um so that’s
moving worse Like they’re already not great right now but they could get a lot worse right they still have great players on the roster and that’s been the thing that you keep pointing to But like I don’t want I I don’t want them to trade Jaylen or Derek or or Peyton or any of those guys and I don’t think Peyton would be they would because he’s so cheap But like if you’re going in this direction like is there is there right now like we’re sitting here June 30th there is a world where by in August we’re looking back at the stream and we’re like wow remember we thought things were rough then like this roster looks so much worse now
Or there’s a word where there’s a world where this roster looks a lot better like we’re still in the thick of it So we just don’t know like what the opening day Boston will look like And that’s why it’s hard to evaluate But Luca is a big loss Al is a big loss if he ends up leaving tonight or in the next few days here or maybe something positive happens if they are able to retain him But these are big losses They’ve already lost Drew and Christoph So it’s just it’s a it’s a complete overhaul of what
oh I thought all this news that you keep that’s a segment like you now have
get even worse Yeah That’ll be our segment from this one No it might get even worse
And the second half that’s ended because it also could get a lot better So it’s just we’re evaluating something while we’re still within it And that’s that’s the difficult thing And so it’s easy to like my initial reaction to how things have unfolded over the last week is not positive But I also just want to like disclaim that we don’t really know what the full game plan is here Um and there might be one or there might not be one We see front teams get mismanaged all the time and people blindly believe the front office has it and half I mean a third of the NBA to me is poorly managed based on how they’ve managed their assets over the years and continuing to tank and not really seeing returns for it So we don’t know what direction it’s going to go Um they don’t necessarily know and I what I really wish though is that there’s a I could simulate what this offseason would have looked like if Tatum was healthy because we’ll never know who they would have retained what the new ownership group was willing to do um and how much of it is because of this weird position that they find themselves in where next year is effectively meaningless in their eyes um as far as trying to maximize winning which is an unusual position to be in when you have star players in their prime So that’s what that’s what frustrates me is that we’ll just never know what that could have looked like Yeah I I think that you still would have seen some of the moves The only I’ll stand behind this The only way I felt the Celtics may have tried to bring everybody back again and is if they had gone back to back and maybe they would have gotten enough pressure to try to you know keep the keep it together try to make some history win three in a row and just you know ride this wave of just unbelievable basketball But things went to complete [ __ ] in the playoffs and it just went from bad to worse And now they are in this position Noah that they really had so many different outs to make the moves that they had where that’s kind of how it felt I think that’s why a lot of people like John and I think even myself kind of felt pretty confident in saying that you know there were going to be some major moves Uh some of these starters were not going to be here And so far again I’m not stunned by anything that’s happened I think if you were to see Brown or White go that would be a shocking type of a trade Not because you just can’t fathom the idea of it but just because a month ago or two months ago it would have just sounded outrageous to to be to be thinking something like that might happen but um crazier things have happened in the NBA Even the this previous season if Luca Donic can get traded anybody can get traded You can’t rule anything out Free agency is crazy The offseason in the NBA is crazy We don’t know what this roster is going to look like on day one I think if the Celtics did get blown away with an offer then those players that I listed are on the table I think everybody but Tatum can be had for the right price Let me put it that way And the reason why I say Tatum’s not included right now is because I just don’t see any situation where he would be traded with the injury that he’s got going on right now Um I want to pay the bills real quickly and tell you about our good friends prize picks While I do that Bobby and Noah why don’t you guys just do a quick Luca Garza like just look up something important about Luca Gaza Let’s try to get some Luca Gar talk Let’s we we we have to grasp on to every little bit of hope that we can here So I want I want something positive about Luca Garza coming out of this ad re But before that I will go into it Price picks guys It’s the best place to turn your sports knowledge into cash With millions of members Prize Picks has made Daily Fantasy Sports accessible to all You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash when your game all season long on prize picks It’s the best way to get 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also offers weekly promotions that lead to big payouts Like I said Taco Tuesday discount player projections up to 25% I’ve been using it uh again I’ve been using it while I watch the Red Sox because sometimes they can be so awful to watch where you just need to have something to follow along with And maybe fantasy baseball the traditional fantasy baseball is a little too much You want to go with prize pick So download the app today and use the code CLNS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup That is code cls to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup Prize picks run your game And I’m going to start with Noah here Noah have we learned anything at all about Luca Garza since the news that the Celtics have agreed to a 2-year $5.5 million fully guaranteed deal that’s almost a million dollars per minutes that he averaged LA this season in the NBA So not a bad deal if you’re Luca Garza He’s Bosnian American Very interesting He’s Bosian
I did not look anything up I’m sorry I’m sorry That will be that will be huge uh for the Bosnian fans of the Celtics Bobby anything for me anything at all about Luca Garza you said you loved him in college
Yeah No familiar with him Why hasn’t it
oh I got one more thing for you G-League legend
He was the MVP of the G-League Next Up game
Well that’s right up your guys
Talk about all they accomplished in the G- League together That’s right up your guys alley because you guys are GLeague super fans No I was covering while he played Jimmy I watched him play at Syracuse He played at Q’s while I was there And the guy’s just monstrous Uh he’s great post up center again and he’s got pick and pop ability Hasn’t shown it at the NBA level obviously but he has a tremendous offensive game So I’m not surprised that they look at his skill set and like him and think maybe if he plays a little bit more this year he could develop into something further 37% from three in college 55% from the field Um he was the player of the year his senior year 248 and two with a block per game but slow feet knew defense was going to be a trouble for him or challenge for him rather he’s 611 265 so really strong player doesn’t move great probably not switching for you he’s going to play a drop and it’ll be interesting to see because you would think Kada is going to start he doesn’t really get the uh the typical Celtics player that they would have recently He’s not like a multiple
I think I think he could fit into it Again he can he can space the floor a little bit Good screen setter Um and then he’s able to beat a seal if he has a switch on him all that different kind of stuff So I’m interested to see him play Again not a long-term option at this position but this is a guy who I think he started his career with Detroit He
played in Minnesota most recently hasn’t gotten a ton of playing time really Obviously G- League stints as Noah mentioned there So this will be his first opportunity to actually play regular NBA minutes at this level here But I love him He’s a great player in college Watched him a ton back then One of the best That doesn’t always translate right A lot of times the best player in college doesn’t end up being a very good NBA player but it lets you know that a guy like that skilled and he can knock down a three He can set a screen he can seal a guy you know if he’s posting him up So I have no questions about the offense It’s the defense Is he gonna be able to stay on the floor and that’s my question for pretty much all their centers Noah it seems like uh Kada you know he’s come a long way but he’s more of a drop guy He switched out a little bit and shown some plasters there Williams I hear is more of a drop back kind of guy too And this is another guy who’s going to have to drop there So they don’t have much switchability at that position Is there any hope Xavier Tilman can get on the floor and play some again i don’t know I don’t know I think a lot of it will depend on his health because that was like an underrated thing that I don’t know how got that much attention But he dealt with a knee issue and I think that hampered him last year and he wasn’t the same guy he was the year prior So I don’t know how he is healthwise right now Uh but certainly based on the production you saw last year he seemed to be so hesitant with the ball in his hands um just didn’t look comfortable offensively and you didn’t really see much flashes of of anything honestly when he was on the floor So I don’t think you want to put too much faith into Xavier What they might do though is grab a couple of these guys on minimum deals where you just kind of throw them in throw them in the system and just like what John was saying earlier in our previous stream like you just see who sticks like see where there’s some promise and then maybe you keep those guys you know moving forward I mean this is a two-year deal Um but I’m sure they will sign some one-year veteran minimums as well uh to fill out the roster and you know you might just go from there But right now I think that is an open question and probably on opening nights Nimas Kada is your starting center right now Um although lots of offseason between now and then
Before we go I’m curious The Horford thing still hasn’t happened here There’s a couple teams that have struck out in terms of centers so far The Lakers don’t have an option yet so I wonder if they could get in the mix there Denver is a team I looked at too So I’m curious to see what’s going to happen there at this point I feel like based on the way that was reported that we would have heard by now but Hemos was also reporting we might not hear day one right no Yeah Adam from the Globe uh reported that you know he’s mulling over his different options I do think I’m with with Al it’s interesting because I would have been I know John was saying earlier he expected Al to Lee to not finish his careers as a Celtics I expected if if the Celtics were continuing to compete next year and Tatum was around I expected Al to be on the roster Um but if there’s more money for him out there than maybe even he realized which is what I think is the case considering Brook Lopez just signed two years 18 million I think Al can sign something similar like there’s a couple of suitors out there for him and teams that are going to be in a much better position to compete next year So Al looks like he’s he’s probably not going to stick around in Boston and I think we’re going to see a complete reset of that position Um and with Al it’s honestly there’s like the onc court stuff which I do think it’s overlooked still because he’s still a better player like I think people expect him to be like the other shooter drop almost with his age Um but there’s just the locker room stuff too where everybody has called him the best teammate that he’s had He mentors all the younger guys I’ve covered the younger guys a lot He’s they all point to Al as being somebody that’s really taken him under their wing So you have a a loss on many fronts if you lose Al Um and that’s why I still think it’s a priority for them to keep him if there’s any pathway there But that looks unlikely I think at this point in free agency Uh we’re going to let you go We know you got some things to do Um before you do go any final thoughts on the Loop chapter you know coming to a close today um anything that you want to maybe tell the fans who are on the on the edge here or on the ledge and and are and are a little concerned about the way things are going i’ll just say this is the life cycle of the NBA right you have you’ve had years a year year after year after year of the Celtics team contending and making the playoff runs and I think it’s something that fans take for granted that the city takes for granted Um and in 2024 you want it all and a lot of fans can be you know fans of a team for decades and not see that and obviously Nuggets were able to get it done Um and this is the life cycle and I do think it’s unfortunate that an a massive injury like Tatums is kind of speeding that process up but this process was going to happen anyways Um and now they might actually be better positioned to respond because they’re able to you know regain that flexibility as Brad Stevens loves to say um and put themselves in a position where they can be competitive again and maybe get some younger players and all that So it just it sucks that this is the way that it goes because it’d be fun to just see a team be great forever but it was really a long run of deep playoff runs and I don’t know how many Eastern Conference appearances was five uh where you know that’s just a normal year in Boston and it’s just not going to be the case And so they still have great foundational pieces I still think that those players are going to help them be competitive next year Maybe too competitive for what the front office is expecting Um but yeah this this part sucks There’s no way to sugarcoat it Like this is this is as unfortunate of an offseason as you can expect when everything kind of happens the way that it did Yeah that’s that’s what I said Jimmy I I think uh Green runs deep You tweeted at me and was like “Are we effed?” And I was like you’re human now That’s what I wrote That’s what I wrote the night they lost to the Knicks is that you went from being a superhuman super team to just another team and everybody’s in this position Everybody’s got some players that are great some other holes to fill and you’re just another one of those teams at this point But to have Tatum Brown White Pritchard Hower is a pretty good starting point for trying to reshape this roster around them Now there’s some challenges in doing that because of what they’ve paid those guys So you might not be able to keep those five together into the future but you have them right now And as you move forward that’s going to be a strength I don’t know what they’re going to be able to do next summer to try to reshape the roster here but everything we’ve seen at this point points toward this being a reset year It’s going to be a challenging year but there’s some fun in that too You get to see some other guys play Like for the everyone who’s pissed they didn’t play Kada Kada’s about to start For everybody who didn’t think they played Charman enough next year you’re going to see a ton of them So for you know Pritchard’s going to start his all-star campaign for Noah there as a starter likely So I think there’s some fun elements to a down year The bar can be so low as Noah said that you can exceed it fairly easily And I’m sure there’ll be a lot of debate over where they’re going and what they’re going to do and should they tank and all that too So that adds to good discussion here too I will say they were so good last year that you almost just sat back and were like what do we even talk about there just I mean they’re amazing
There was a stretch of that and then January happened and that kind of stuff But I want to let Noah go Bobby before you go on and on and on about on on Luke again But Noah
any last any any anything you want to say to Bobby before you head out just you know he’s going through it right now Um is there any sort of
Bobby it’s the memories you made along the way A lot of people can cover the NBA for 30 years and never find a player they love as much as Luke
and you found that within the first five years of your career And that’s something that you can never take for granted
And you never forget your first either So I’m sure that’s going to be somebody And you know what Jamie I almost didn’t want to go there because I knew you’d have something to add I just I I knew
and it’s gonna get better We’re meeting three rookies tomorrow morning I’m sure Bobby will really like at least one of them Unveiled
Maybe not tomorrow Please do that Actually
no don’t be that guy
He’s already starting He already said on this show that he loves Luca Garza He’s already You said those exact words So how
a lot of crap on Twitter for that from Luke to Luca very quickly for Bobby Noah thanks for joining us Anything we should look out for
from you um I’m writing this I’m writing a eulogy for this era of Celtics basketball So
Oh that’s
uh you can check that out That’ll be on Celtics blog in the morning I’ll have a You got Boston podcast episode um in the coming days here I’m gonna find a positive spin and that’s probably gonna alienate half of you guys but um the other half
we know we need we actually need you guys
We we’ll we’ll hear it out We’ll hear it out
Yeah And we’ve we’ve just done All right Thank you Noah And we’ve just done some interviews with some Celtics players Uh Jordan Walsh Who else we had we had uh Bailey Shyman Who’s the other guy
baylor Shyman You keep calling him Bailey
Yeah I keep saying Bailey Baylor Shyman My bad Bailey Oh cuz Bailey is our our producer Um I thought you
Oh but yeah we’ve got a lot of great No nothing but Bailey Zappy F him Um no there’s a lot of good stuff floating What was the third interview that you guys did
uh Tory Craig was gonna be a free agent here as well as uh four
We did we have a fourth yet i think we just had three
Oh no no no We had Jordan Walsh So
there you go
Yeah four interviews out now with Celtics Maybe more to come Uh I have something in the works with the May Kada that I’ll uh get to soon here but uh
like to hear that I just want to remind everybody that you are watching and listening to the Garden Report podcast a proud member of the CLNS Media Network Make sure to hit subscribe to CLNS Media and all of our hosts Pause Whether it’s you Got Boston whether it’s Bobby’s podcast he’s on a number of things And turn on notifications for when a new video drops on the channel like this one tonight This wasn’t a planned show We didn’t know when the Luke news was going to drop We don’t know when the Horford news is going to drop We don’t know when the next trade’s going to happen But I can promise you that whenever anything does happen the text chain starts starts rolling and we try to get to a computer as quickly as we can and we try to go live for all you guys all you fine folks at home So expect that to still happen throughout the summer And uh again if any you know big free agency news pops up you might just get that notification Speaking of free agency news I’m going to just list some other free agent signings that has happened uh while you’ve been on the show Not Celtic signings everybody relax but just across the league Venerbache is getting in the mix Bobby Nigel Hayes Davis the 2025 Euro League champ
So that was noteworthy The Celtics uh were scouting him and Joe Misoula went over to watch him So I was keeping an eye on him for Boston Ends up going to Phoenix He has agreed to a one-year deal with Phoenix We’ll see how that plays out But I know a lot of people a lot of NBA or basketball fans had their eyes on on that situation wondering where he would go Taius Jones one year 7 million to the Magic So the Magic keep chipping away at players over there Bit of a big one here Nquille Alexander Walker four years 62 million with the Atlanta Hawks plus the player option So he’ll be there for a bit Hawks are you know trying to uh do a what’s he Oh and then it says Atlanta is sending a 2027 second round pick to Cleveland in that sign and trade deal So not much not much uh added there but Alexander Walker um you know gives the Hawks another uh serviceful NBA player We’ve obviously got the Luca news and you guys saw the Brook Lopez news Caris Levert two years $29 million with the Detroit Pistons That was a pivot after the Malik Beasley stuff
Yeah the Malik Beasley stuff Yikes Not a good look for the NBA certainly Um or him specifically And now it’s funny You saw the clips coming out of like Malik Beasley like doing something that’s like a little off You know what I mean like it probably probably didn’t need to happen in the game
Um Clint Capella another center gone three years 21.5 million with the Houston Rockets who are just going to be a physical force next year The Rockets are going to be one of those teams where when they come to town you just kind of oh god this is going to be a freaking dog fight with the Rockets Um and then Luke Cornett 41 million four years Luke with the biggest one of the biggest paydays of the day so far Bobby Who would have thought um but that’s the situation What’s up with Alford Bobby what is your gut telling you i think he’s gonna depart especially with this being the roster right now And again it feels like based on the reporting earlier that when you start hearing stuff like strong interest and top choice and those kind of phrases in reporting you feel like the reporter has it knows it just can’t put it out there yet But I I I think in his heart of hearts he wants to come back to Boston Jimmy you know just getting to know him and the people around him and all that stuff I do think finishing his career in Boston was a priority but there’s also a matter of as you mentioned earlier competing for championships and continuing to do that
I don’t think he looks at his value at this point as league minimum player So he’s going to be able to go out and get a mid-level somewhere here five six million dollars over x number of years And then the most important part I think he looks at his career and I know he said in his exit interview that you he’s got to talk to his family and all that stuff I don’t think he thought about retirement for very long and never has looked at it over the last couple years like his career’s coming to an end I think he thinks he could play two three four more years However long his body is able to last and you know thrive on the basketball court I think he’ll want to continue playing And did we see some regression last year sure Particularly on the offensive end but defensively he was still a massive asset for this team He started more often than not because of Chris Sasporzingis’ sparce availability And just a year ago he led you to a championship starting pretty much the entire postseason run So he was going to be 40 next year He probably wanted multiple years And there’s still a question over whether it would make sense to bring him back given that you’re going in a different direction now and not necessarily trying to compete for a championship here So I can understand why both sides might look at it the way they do here if he does end up leaving But I still think especially his familiarity with the stars on the team His ability to play decent minutes and amounts of games he hasn’t really been injured Jimmy even though you’ve had a load manage him I think there was a case to bring him back How much cap space would you really have had to carve out to be able to offer him let’s say five six million for two years here i’ll be interested to see what the contract is right cuz let’s say it’s 24 for four years then you’re like “Okay someone blew him away.” But if it’s two years at the mid level would that have been crazy like I think for the people who think he’s just going to like collapse any day now and just be an awful player there haven’t been signs of that He he was great last season I think he’ll be good again this year And 5 million even if he does decline further isn’t a massive number We just saw Paul Reed get 5 million So I think I we’ll find out soon but I do think Horford’s going to come in more than 5 million a year I think he can still help you Um certainly as a strong option off the bench I think the days of him giving you you know 30 minutes a game consistently are obviously over I don’t think he needs to play I don’t think he sees himself as that player anymore But he’s a pros pro keeps his body in great shape Um you know prioritizes the game prioritizes all the right things in order to to be still playing in the league effectively at this point I think he wants to go to a team that has a shot at winning again Um that’s I think at this stage of his career he’s won it once Um you know he he I think he still wants to play I think he still wants to like be around his kids at the games and I still think he wants to give them that opportunity to to be in that sort of type of environment Um and I think he can help a contender I do think that’s going to happen I But Bobby like this is the reality now And this is why I think a lot of people are maybe opening up their eyes are opening up to the issues when you have two max player guys on your team You have to make these tough decisions You have to let Luke walk You have to let Horford walk You have to trade starting players on your team like a Holiday or a Porzingis And I know that he kind of fell off a little bit there but you have to make really really difficult decisions if you have that percentage tied up into two players And so I think that’s what a lot of people probably are starting to realize now And this off season is is proving that I think there were some people that thought ah maybe they you know in Brad we trust they can figure it out but no it’s it’s pretty much right there for you what they’re what they’re allowed to do what they’re not allowed to do what the owners are going to allow them to spend and not spend it’s not Wick’s uh rainy day it’s not Irving’s rainy day fund anymore well back back to Noah’s point earlier you know you asked why didn’t they resign why didn’t they extend Luke they already extended everybody and you already looked at and said “All right are they actually going to be able to keep everybody?” And it probably got to a point where it’s like “Okay if we don’t find a way to move all these different guys we’re going to be paying like 300 million in tax next year on top of 300 million in salary.” Something no one in the league has ever done before You can
I think we’re learning that you can get rid of guys right you just got to attach things and and get creative with it I can’t imagine they thought a situation was going to arise where they could not get out of a you know a lowlevel uh Luke Cornet contract I just can’t figure out why they didn’t have the foresight to give him that additional to to sign up to that additional year And yeah you can say hindsight’s 2020 and blah blah blah but that’s what these guys get paid to do I’m not the I’m not in the front office They are So I’m just asking the question what prevented them what could have prevented or what prevented them what
from avoiding the situation where they finally get the player that they kind of hoped and saw and maybe wanted to get and because they didn’t plan for it he walked he walked I mean it comes down to that Tatum or no Tatum you had a player that you developed and Bob you keep saying you know they have to develop these centers they don’t have anyone to develop there’s nobody in the pipeline at that position they’re going to have to look elsewhere they’re going to have to look outside the organization Well that was the guy that theoretically they could have said “Yeah we developed and yeah he’s here for another two years three years or whatever.” And I think they dropped the ball on that one And so again we’re always very quick to praise the front office and I think that’s fair because they’ve done a lot of great things But when something like that happens where you had an asset you had a player you had somebody that was reliable and that and that worked his way up to this um option that you had at the at a position of need by the way Um it slipped through and I think they a lot of people thought Porzingis was at some point going to get traded and I think I think everybody looked up and down the roster and didn’t see a lot of other big options on this team everyone saw how old Horford was getting And even though he was effective as good as he is he’s not a long-term solution due to his age So it just felt like poor planning in that sense when it came down to the Luke contract And now he ends up getting what what he’s worth you know which is 10 million a year now uh which they would could have had for a fraction of that had they been able to you know get him into a multi-year deal when they were given like to your point they were giving those out like crazy big big money Drew Holiday getting a big one um you know they were just giving those things out but when it came to Luke for whatever reason they weren’t able to do that
now I’m not a cap master so if there’s a reason behind it capwise then okay
I’m I’m trying to think capwise and I think there’s two explanations potentially there He was making the minimum right and you can’t give a guy a huge raise over what they’re already making Like you can’t extend him for like 15 million after he’s making 2 million So with the extension have been very small relatively speaking to what he could have potentially earned in free agency the following year I think that’s part of it And then given the fact that he signed one year at the minimum that’s a bit of a bet on yourself to right go out and get more value Yeah for sure Because he had I’ve said it a couple times a $7 million offer out there last summer that he passed up on for one year So yeah he took less to stay That actually earned him a no trade clause too doing the one-year deal So there’s some extra security there staying for that one year and then he gets to go to the free agency this summer But let’s be real did Luke probably imagine he’d be signing for 40 million this summer no Did the team think that he was going to be getting four years 40 million the following free agency almost certainly not So this caught everybody’s by surprise just how great he was this season And you had Porzingis signed for one more year Nobody anticipated potentially losing Al Horford here at this point in his career but circumstances might lead to that So it’s the fact that you lost all three Jimmy here potentially if Horford leaves that that’s what’s so crushing and you can call it mismanagement you can call it circumstances because of what happened with Tatum and this team not being a contender anymore on a dime along with Luke’s rise A lot of that stuff was unforeseen but you did want to be in a position where you had at least one reliable starting caliber center ready and signed into the future for when Tatum gets back Because Jimmy I don’t think when Tatum gets back a year from now regardless of how this season goes anyone’s going to be like “Yeah it’s a slow build It take a couple more years They’ll get there eventually.” It’s it’s going to be on again you’re going to want to be back among the teams that can at least say they have a chance to make the finals If your team is Brown Tatum and whoever you know Elsa emerges out of that white obviously too here great player you’re going to want to be in that conversation And if the rest of the roster is so hamstrung particularly at center that you’re not able to do it with that cast that’s where it’s going to get frustrating You’re going to have to make some tough decisions too like there might be some fallout to this Jimmy where you have to make some moves you don’t want to make down the line because you just don’t have assets right now And that’s a couple different things right they’ve traded a few first round picks for Derek White and Drew Holidayiday so they don’t have great future first round pick capital here Uh you don’t have players making medium-siz salary that a lot of other teams would want I mean what does it say that they haven’t been able to trade Simons and Nang and guys like that at this point even Hower who I’m sure they have a price for right like I don’t think he’s untouchable Teams just haven’t met his price
And so they’re not in a great position right here Jimmy And we we could sense it on Wednesday right they take Hugo they trade back in the second round It doesn’t really look like they’re trying to add guys who are ready to contribute to this roster right now And Brad’s demeanor that night when you look back at it Jimmy and I know Xarin had to come out a couple nights later and be like “Oh we know the Second Apron stuff.” And I believe that right but I think Brad was just showing his frustration that night over how stuck they are just roster flexibility being able to retain guys He even said you know Horford and Cornet are probably going to go out there and get good offers So I’m not going to put on any pressure on them to stay They’ve earned that They can go do what they want to do We want them back But how much did they want those guys back for how much could they have those guys back for because I don’t put it all on front office Jimmy There might be some ownership stipulations here about how much they can spend Let’s say
of course there is
Let’s say they’re not allowed to go into the tax at all this year which I’m not saying is the case but let’s just say that was There was no way to keep Horford or Cornet No I I I agree And I mean they’re not going to tell us that flat out They’re going to say everything they need to say politically correct wise but and they’re not going to throw ownership under the bus obviously because those are the guys that that cut their checks So um they all have to kind of be good little soldiers here and we don’t we’re not sure what from the top down what the message has been I think But what we can do Bobby is we can look at the moves that have been made so far and we can get an idea of of kind of what that message maybe has been from ownership Certainly it’s been get rid of some of this tax that’s that’s hitting us right now and they can use the the idea that they want to be uh flexible
able to yeah flexible They can use that word flexible all they want but there’s going to be a lot of people out there that are going to call BS on that immediately even if there is some truth to it I think that there’s a lot more truth to the fact of what it costs to have a roster uh that you had not what it does to you know your ability to make trades or draft picks or or sign players So um and again I think the Tatum injury makes it an easier pill for them to swallow because even you know because without Tatum it doesn’t make a lot of sense to bring these players back right i mean that that that’s just from an X’s and O’s standpoint a wins and losses standpoint But to your point Bobby Tatum’s coming back right i mean he’s not he hasn’t been traded It’s not a Luca situation Luca Don situation He will be back And when he does come back you would think that this team would want to do everything they can to put a winning product out there And it’s got to be a good one too Bobby because you’re not getting 100% Tatum back the second he steps on the court There is going to be of a be a bit of a ramp up process here with Tatum whether it’s minutes whether it’s games whether it’s what his role is on the team at at first So you do need pretty significant talent still around him And let’s not forget even before this injury they needed significant talent around Tatum They needed to go out and get Holiday They needed to go out and get Porzingis in order for the Celtics to win this game Tatum and Brown couldn’t do it without those guys So now they’re gone again And we’re not even sure who the players are that are going to step up Now obviously Derek White has has uh you know his game has significantly improved So he’s a player that you didn’t have that first go around when they came up short but you are going to need to find some additional pieces here in order to turn this team into a championship contender again And the other thing we haven’t even mentioned Bobby and maybe free agency is cooked A lot of these guys are getting ressigned and extended and they’re not even hitting free agency But if it is prior to Al Horford who did you sign in free agency you had Horford you had Gordon H you had Gordon Hayward It’s pretty bleak after that And and what I’m trying to say is it’s not easy to get superstars to want to come here Um you can trade for them and that’s where you need to have these assets these tradable assets and these contracts You kind of need a big contract in order to get a big contract Isn’t that the way the CBA is designed now you can bring two guys at half the price Sure But if you’re looking for a superstar player a lot of times you’re going to need a superstar player in order to make that money work Um if you don’t think free agency is going to be a place that’s going to have a lot of success for you in Boston historically speaking has not been Horford was the huge exception And that was like a monumental moment for this organization because it was before uh the championship you know Tatum Brown and all that stuff So does that go away now does that does that Boston as a destination is that still there with Tatum being hurt with you know Horford going and with Holiday being traded and Porzingis being traded and not really a ton of young guys coming up no offense to you know the Pritchards who’s obviously a very talented player but is Boston going to be a destination for players Are they gonna trust that Tatum’s going to make a full recovery and be able to sort of carry the team in that sense so these are all the questions that you’ve got to be asking and I’m sure the front office has to plan accordingly for that as well Yeah for sure I don’t know about the destination point Certainly not this season right except for guys like Garza who are trying to get some minutes It might be a destination for guys who think they have a shot to show what they’re made of here And you know when I think of the
star players not just guys who are looking to jump on a roster I mean we haven’t really seen yet star players go out of their way to play with Brown and Tatum And Hford’s a star in his role and Derek White star in his role too Maybe Porzingis embraced this opportunity to some degree So yeah they’ve gotten guys who have been helpful and strong contributors alongside Brown and Tatum but they’ve made it Brown and Tatum focused for the most part there And now that both those guys are making 50 million how much of a star can you really bring in feasibly there so I think the big three errors you can’t you can’t with with you cannot I want to make that clear You you wouldn’t be able to with both those guys right so I think what you’re looking for going forward are guys like the guys you’re offloading here unfortunately force spacing big like Porzingis who can make life easy for you and defend the rim and defensive guards who can playm but that stuff’s so hard to find never mind when you have financial limitations So a lot of it’s going to come down to good drafting Jimmy a lot of it’s going to come down to development and Brown and Tatum eventually their ability to make teammates better And this is the era that they’re rolling into here Jimmy And I know when John gets on we’ll have this debate again If they’re going to build this thing around Brown and Tatum for years to come they’re going to have to be two guys who raise up players who might not be the most talented guys in the world who might be just starting their careers or they might have to overcome some roster limitations at this point And I know it was a long time ago at this point but we remember the frustrations of 2021 how tough that year was And some of it was their fault because they weren’t ready yet and some of it was the team’s fault for not having guys around them who could hit shots and do some other things there And that year just ended up being enormously frustrating But he still made the playoffs You still won a playoff game against a really good Nets team even with Tatum and Brown at that part of their careers So post Achilles post meniscus where are those guys at because this season Jimmy I think we agree those two reached another level right like they were just miles and miles from the players they were in 2021 They both won a championship together and were driving forces in that But now that the roster is a little more limited around them that they’re coming off significant injuries here what’s your confidence level in those guys being able to carry a roster of average talent or human level talent like just normal talent of a regular NBA team to a championship potentially because that might be what they have to do I don’t have confidence in that And that’s not really a knock on them specifically but it’s it’s extremely difficult in today’s NBA to do that You have to have really really strong depth if you’re not going to have uh the starting lineup for example that you had on this box team the last couple years Bobby And going back the last few years prior to last season Tatum and Brown did have trouble in that in that role they did have trouble uh I thought you know lifting up the guys around them and and playing that style of basketball they needed to play I think when you brought in a guy like Holiday when you saw the emergence of White when you saw again in Spurs but what Porzingis was able to do and then you know I give Pritchard all the credit in the world for what he’s done you know on his own I I think Pritchard’s the type of guy that will just go into the lab and just play basketball for 12 hours a day I’m not necessarily going to credit Tatum or Brown for you know making him the player that he is at all Um you know most of the damage he does is you know coming off the bench in spurts and such So um that is a huge question mark Bobby And I think that’s going to go back to can Tatum and Brown not only make their the human players better but are they going to be able to make themselves better how is Tatum’s game going to change is he going to be the same player or close to it is Brown’s role this year going to drastically change again from what it kind of was this year when he kind of went out multiple times to the media and said you know my role is going to be this Um you know it’s not really uh you know I’m paraphrasing here but he insinuated that he wasn’t being asked to be the the shooter or the scorer and he wanted to be more of a you know team player and facilitate we’d see stretches of him sort of taking a back seat and disappearing in a sense Um so how has that changed this year is he going to be able to readjust from that so there’s there’s I mean hundreds of questions that you could that you could ask about this team But the other thing I’ll say is this Today’s NBA the landscape can change quickly There’s going to be a team like Boston next year who needs to shred salary and they’ll need to make tough decisions and they’ll need to put somebody on the block that maybe in a perfect world they wouldn’t need to So we have an update here Jimmy
We have an update All right what do we got
this is interesting and I mentioned it before Noah signed off there Like is this Warriors thing still happening with Horford here that was reported earlier and this seems to be some updated information on Horford’s market right now Interest from several teams since the start of free agency
Here we go A tweet from Michael Scottto Not Michael Scott Michael Scott is great Good friend of the show Hoops hype insider Um interest from the Alford Go ahead Jimmy
You read it Okay I’ll read it Alf has received interest from several contending teams since the start of free agency including the Boston Celtics Golden State Warriors New York Knicks Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers League sources told Hoopite Okay I mean I I don’t really know if that’s big news We We knew about the Warriors Obviously the Celtics we already know that they have interest in Horford The question is what’s their number and what’s his and then you’ve got some other teams that they list in there The Knicks the Nuggets and what was the last one the Cavs Or did I make that up
cavs were in there and the Denver Nuggets
Yeah Yeah Nuggets Yeah Again teams all And what do all those teams have in common Bobby except maybe the Celtics Contenders
Teams with
championship aspirations You know you can go down the list of the read read some of those rosters and those are teams that are going for it You know you can say what you want about the Warriors whether you or not you think they’re too old but they’re going for it The Knicks were uh going for it until they met the Pacers The Nuggets are a couple years off from a championship and they have the arguably the best player in the league These are teams that are looking for that reliable bench depth role and that’s one of the things we kind of learned in this playoffs is that depth how important depth is Bobby and so I think Al Horford certainly can provide that over a two-year you know two I wonder if he’ll get a three you know if he can get a three-year deal out of it that’s probably the team he picks right um and that third year becomes valuable to a team that’s looking to you know acquire an expiring contract you know that’s the way this NBA This whole NBA thing works There’s value in the numbers sometimes So I feel like that’s a safe I feel like Al Hortford’s one of the safer signings across the league right now
I would love for them to bring Al back If the door is still open for it why not have some stability there why not have an option going into the following season if it is a two-year deal there i’m not expecting Al to massively collapse over the next two years here physically And certainly you’ll need other options at that position right you’re not just going to have him play 30 minutes a game so he’ll be load managing or whatever that may be But to your point Jimmy is that does that make sense for him at this point in his career without a good payday without the hope or the straight path to contending the following year are you just going through a reset year here or are you going to go out and look for some options and maybe it is just a one-year deal to try to win a championship on a different team the best team possible and then see where you’re at the following summer because again I think Al plans to play for multiple more years not just this season So it would stink to see him go I understand why it might happen from both perspectives but um the contending team thing I I think at this point in your career has to be the most massive thing right obviously you want the respect of a legitimate payday You want a significant role on a team and all those teams could give him fairly significant roles right like he’d be the backup center on the Cavs He’d be the backup center on the Nuggets who badly need one The Knicks uh he’d probably be the third center there He could he could you know taste life as the third center on the Knicks behind Robinson and Cat And then the Warriors he’d probably start right so we’ll see what happens there It’s interesting to see some other teams potentially in the mix there I don’t know if that’s old news or a revelation here after we all thought the Warriors thing was probably as good as done U but the Warriors have some stuff floating around too Jimmy Jonathan Kaminga if they retain him they’ll be hardressed to pay another guy significant money So maybe it’s something on the Golden State side of things here too And interesting to see the Celtics still named there So maybe don’t close the door on a Celtics return yet We’ll see I know Bobby You you you see that report and you and you get your hopes up Um
I’m not counting on it
I don’t really see the point for either side aside I mean put like the the loyalty aside and and in a perfect world the Celtics are contenders next year Al Horford gets to stay here and keep his family here and he loves Boston and yada yada yada and all those things That’s not reality anymore So the circumstances have changed We already know the Celtics are cash strapped You want them to develop guys You want them to take fly on guys you want them to play the kids and and yeah I understand that there is an actual need at the center position but when you think about it if they aren’t if if they don’t really prioritize if they’re not prioritizing winning next year which again feels like they probably aren’t what is the value of Al Horford because he’s he can help you win games but he’s at the tail end of his career I’m not saying he can’t be effective he can help a contending team you know give them that depth to be that big off the bench that can stretch the floor and just be reliable presence and a good role model for some of these guys But I just don’t know if the Celtics is the organization for him at this moment It’s just more of a timing Bad timing Bobby Right I mean I I think I think the timing ran its course And that’s not to say that he’s sick of Boston or Boston’s sick of him just the situation doesn’t really match for either side right now I don’t I don’t really I think you might have one good really good year left of Al Horford and it’s this year coming up which is not going to he’s not going to be good enough to make up for the losses that you just sustained Let him go do his thing elsewhere The Celtics have to do their thing They have to start they kind of have to start over at that position to be quite frank And maybe Garza is a guy that they could give more burn to and see what they have with Garza It’s no different than taking a fire on Tilman taking a fire on Kada Taking a fire on actually a guy with a with a bigger um or a higher ceiling I should say based on the effectiveness that he had in college Um you know and maybe talking about situations maybe he hasn’t he just hasn’t been on good situations and now this is an opportunity for him Do you give 25% of his minutes to Al Horford just for the hell of it or do you say you know what let’s stick him out here He’s on a twoear deal Let’s see what they got with him and and let’s bring in a couple of pieces around them and just figure that position out as we go
That’s kind of how I feel like the Celtics are going to approach this one
And in in terms of starting over which you mentioned at center it’s so difficult And and Gar is 27 right so he’s not a young player He played four years in college How old was Luke when he came over probably that was five years ago so 25 A little bit younger but
yeah a couple years
Listen I don’t I don’t view him as a long-term option at that position I like his game Maybe it was just college productivity
It’s Horford That’s my point
Yep Right Yeah I mean he’s more reliable and you know what he looks like with these guys and if you believe in him being ready for 2027 Yeah for sure
By far The tough part about starting over Jimmy is
it takes a long time And to wrap this up a fitting way to wrap it up I think Just look back at that Luke journey He gets here as a as a throwin in that trade He’s way down the bench Who knows if he’s even part of this dynamic Remember it was between him and uh Mo Vagner who they were going to keep And they were probably going to cut Coronett until Cornet played well in that Thunder game And then Vagner flamed out and they just let him go 2022 he’s back on the G-League deal He’s playing in Maine that whole season until he earns a two-way at the very end or roster spot at the very end after they made some trades at the end of the year the Derek White trade So he wasn’t even part of the Boston Celtics in 2022 He’s playing in Maine that whole year reshaping his game 2023 it’s a little bit of minutes off the bench Shows out that he can play at the NBA level change his game 2024 that championship run he starts to show he can be a third center plays some good minutes that year two playoff series with Porzingis down he was a contributor too and then a champion ultimately on that roster and then the breakout season this year So it took him four or five years to get to what we saw this last year That’s the development arc of some big guys here So good to try some different players Good to see who fits in the system here It’ll be fun to try out a bunch of different names at that spot Uh but get ready for trying and failing a bunch of different stuff because it is not easy to find a big man who not only can contribute at the NBA level first and foremost but the Celtics ask their bigs to do a lot of different stuff How they screen how they defend positionally being aware and all that stuff And it goes back to Joe Jimmy for this roster He has his hands full here trying to make it work with some guys who are less experienced Trying to develop players who maybe aren’t the most talented and trying to keep this team above water this year And I know that might not be the goal of the Celtics organization That’s going to be Joe’s goal That’s going to be Jaylen’s goal Derek So how those guys manage what’s going to be a difficult season coming up it looks like we’ll see what happens with Al here It feels like the door is open but I would not count on it Yeah I mean to your to your question about how they’re going to handle it they’re going to have to be professionals I mean not every season is going to be a you know 60 plus win season It’s tough and very these guys are winners you know Yeah And he did not go through it well I will say that about Pierce He did not handle the dark days very well Um and he was he was gifted uh you know an unbelievable situation with Ray Allen getting traded on draft night to them and then being able or trade for KG So that was uh you know that’s not happening this year for this Boston team Let’s put it that way So Jaylen Brown Derek White if they do remain on this team on this roster they are going to have to um adjust maybe adjust the expectations a little bit um not get down on those nights where things aren’t going your way Um and fans might have to as well but I think fans are gonna they’re gonna have you know obviously that the dieh hard fans will be invested in this season but I think knowing that or at least hoping that Jaylen Jason Tatum will be able to be back on the team and look like Jason Tatum again we’ll keep that sort of hope alive And you know we don’t want to look too far down the road here We got to get through this off seasonason before we start talking about the next one This is day one of uh NBA free agency Um handful of moves have gone uh down so far The Celtics have made one Uh they have signed Luca Garza to a two-year deal for $5.5 million
I have a couple notes on Garza Jimmy real quick
Bobby’s new favorite player Let’s let’s get you Let’s get This is Bob This is going to be Bobby’s new binky everybody So get get ready for Luca Cam is we’re going to replace Luke Cam
I’ve I’ve been a fan of Lucas for a long time Again I covered one of his games in college
Yeah
Covered one of his games at college at Syracuse I remember interviewing him back then He had like stitches in his lip
But um you know he’s just a down and dirty player You know plays in the mud tough strong can shoot a little bit And uh you know some people out here who like him too Kevin O’ Conor says “I’m intrigued by what Garza can do in regular minutes Never really got a chance in Minnesota but dominated the G-League after dominating college basketball Maybe there’s something there.” And then John Krinski who covers the uh Timberwolves for the Athletic a great reporter uh where you know Minnesota is where Garza had been playing said “The Celtics have long been fans of Garza.”
Yeah Um Celtics have long been fans of Garza They made inquiries with the B Wolves before
Okay
So this isn’t just a guy they’re pulling off the street here This is someone
a guy they’ve been targeting Okay
Yeah
Day one signing for the Celtics They got their guy Luca Garza Yeah
Right on the rank their free agent targets and Luca Garza was right up there at the top They nailed it Brad Stevens does it again Couple more signings Luke Canard one year 11 million deals with the Atlanta Hawks who are uh chipping away here and um because they also signed Nikquil Alexander
I love that Hawks roster by the way They’re going to be a pro again that’s another team in the East that’s going to make things difficult I’m not going to tell you that they’re uh you know title contenders but the Hawks you know if you’re the Celtics this is your competition now I hate I hate to say it Um we got another one here small one Mason Plum Lee one year 3.6 million with the Charlotte Hornets So you know there’s a a big guy going on a short oneear you know one year $3.6 million deal there So I don’t know if that gives any additional insight into here’s another one Torin Prince 2-year 7.1 million deal to return to the Milwaukee Bucks Yeah this guy Darvin Ham
It’s all according to Shams So those are those are the uh the things going on So Celix make one move but more notably they uh did not bring back Luke Cornet unfortunately for Bobby Um Luke signs a 4-year $41 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs And that tweet right there sums it up the broken heart You just hate to see it You really do hate to see it
Covering him was great man And watching him just an awesome player to watch And that’s what I said All time memorable Celtic Jimmy Not all time great Not all time
Just to be clear just to be clear not all time great Just to be clear
this is just going to be an alltime memorable guy You’ll think back years from now oh man remember Luke Cornett he was awesome People will play the highlight videos They’ll say Luke Cornette was a problem and everyone will remember the personality and the jokes and all that stuff too So yeah
Is there is there a moment is there a moment that stands out for you we’re going to wrap it on on this but is there a moment for you that kind of stands out or or sums up Luke’s uh maybe Luke’s tenure here in Boston or or your fandom or relationship or whatever it is that about Luke that stands out to you that you want to that you want to divulge to our uh our our viewers here well you know my favorite story [Laughter] you know my uh favorite story when it comes to Luke and it was that game the infamous collapse against the Brooklyn Nets I believe it was and they were up 20 in that game they were you know in full control of the game and then they just completely collapsed and it wasn’t a great scene after the game You go into the locker room and everyone’s disheveled It was easily their worst loss that season I think it was 2023 And so we highlighted that moment my report that night and I’m going to try to play it here if we can We’re gonna play it right now I think Amit’s getting it or he’s gonna try to got it Amit’s gonna pull it up So yeah I’ll keep setting the scene So
yeah Yeah
We go into the locker room Everybody’s silent Everybody’s keeping to themselves and there’s a big tray of pastries on the table at the front of the locker room and no one’s eating these pastries Everyone’s pissed Everyone’s got their head down And then finally Mike Mscala goes over who was on the team at the time picks one up tries one and was like “Oh pretty good.” So I ask I’m like “Who made those?” making stuff Who Who made those and he was like Luke Or someone told me Luke I forget who told me but Luke had baked a bunch of We call them lemon squares I don’t know what they were
Lemon squares
Can they just beat you by double digits
that’s the origin of Luke’s lemon squares
Bobby you were in there Uh
here we go
The general vibe of this team uh feeling you know uh what after this well Luke Cornette cook some lemons
No no no I can’t do it I can’t I can’t Are you kidding me
i can’t do it I’m going to give you two minutes
Is it over you got two second timeout Give me one of Jazula’s timeouts and use that thing right now Time out Time out
How
bobby get back in here
How did that happen how did
how did the TV deal well the guy who played 2 minutes didn’t like it Who was watching i was trying to paint a picture of the I’m sorry I’m sorry It was unfair Go ahead
Here’s here’s where I’m going with it Made a bunch of desserts Lemon uh some sort of lemon pastry Untouched Untouched Untouched In the locker room Only Mike McAll tried one after the game But Luke made them
Put them on the table Untouched Untouched That’s the That’s the mood in the opera Oh my god
All right we should have been more specific That’s our fault All right that’s phenomenal That is
That’s actually our fault We should have way more
That’s awesome That is awesome Bobby do you get it do you get the reaction now like do you you understand how we were just beside ourselves that that was your lead of the show but it was it was a fitting description for what the mood was that night And you know we came to learn Luke is a baker You bake for the team here or there I think it was more often as his wife but I think he would get in the kitchen too and
whip up some stuff and the recipe called for lemon squares that night And probably would have gone much o over much better if they won that game Yeah it’s hard to know what the vibe’s going to be but shout out Luke for the for the baking that he provided I think San Antonio is going to get a guy that’s going to just He’s a vibes Listen Luke’s a vibes guy Some guys are vibes guys Some guys are you know the production the stats Luke’s going to give you a little bit of each I think he’s going to lift the locker room up over there I don’t know anything about the cuisine in San Antonio I have been in San Antonio actually That’s one of the cities I haven’t been to Not not a place you need to go but you can spend a day like around the river There’s like a river that kind of goes through downtown Clean city I’ll say that Alamo
is a huge fan
Alamo I got I I hate to say this
The Alamo was a little bit overrated It was underwhelming It I’m just gonna leave it at that The Alamo was a little underwhelming Obviously you probably just pop in if you’re in San Antonio because why wouldn’t you but I don’t know Luke Luke’s going from Boston to San Antonio He’ll have to talk to our guy Jacob Toby about what that transition’s like I can’t imagine there’s a lot of similarities between the two cities
Well Luke’s from Argyle Texas He went to high school four miles or four hours north of San Antonio So he’s well familiar with Texas
He’s going home then
Yep
It’s a homecoming party for Luke Okay then I stand corrected He’s going to be he’s going to uh be the talk of the town there then for quite some time So good for Luke I think we’re all happy for Luke Obviously would have been great to uh get him back Uh but again situationally it just didn’t make the Celtics couldn’t make that happen Luke’s Luke deserves the payday he got He’s going to go to San Antonio now and play with arguably like one of the most exciting players in the NBA in in Wemby A guy that I think is going to be a perennial first team allNBA As long as he can stay healthy Luke’s going to have himself uh quite a time there So shout out Luke Shout out Bobby Shout out everybody who’s watching There he is
Oh by the way
this is a good way to end it with Luke If we aren’t if we aren’t live again tonight we will have coverage of the rookie introductions tomorrow which are going to take place at a community event in Boston Uh so we will hear from Ugo Gonzalez as well as Amari Williams and uh Max Schulga tomorrow as well The Celtics draft picks
Some new blood new green blood on the Celtics here that we’ll be introducing So catch that at CLNS Media again Like subscribe put your notifications on because we will go live at any moment I wouldn’t be shocked I would not be shocked if the Horford News comes out tonight We might go live again So you want to have that nearby in case we do Any other major news that transpires whether it’s tonight tomorrow the rest of this week obviously with the Celtics press conferences Are you going to it Bobby you’re going to it right i’ll be there So tweet Bobby your questions that you want him to ask or toss them up in the chat here but we’re going to call it We want to thank everybody for hanging out with us And again not the hottest start to free agency for the Celtics and it might end up staying that way but we’ll get you covered every step of the way Do not lose the faith Better days are coming Just trust me on that For Bobby for Amit we’re out I’m hit me with the exit music No one’s sneaking a vegan brownie by me I’ll tell you that
Okay you know what we’re gonna do it You have to feel that way too Bobby
I have to feel that way Let’s fight over and and make Luke your first center
Bobby we gave you Luke hour earlier We are not going to end this on a damn conversation about Luke We we need to regain our flexibility
The Garden Report’s Bobby Manning, Jimmy Toscano and Noa Dalzell go LIVE to react to NBA Free Agency, including real-time reaction to the Celtics’ latest moves. Boston adds Luka Garza on a two-year, $5.5 million fully guaranteed deal, while Luke Kornet heads to the Spurs on a four-year, $41 million contract. The crew breaks down what these deals mean for the Celtics future.
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33 Comments
Kornet serious… traitor
Thanks for the years and dedication. Lost another great player. Good Luck Big Dogg. Go Celtics 🍀🍀🍀🍀JT get better❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Good luck Luke! Thanks for everything.
Bobby’s truly hurt😢 I think this is got the best get younger faster and stronger Luke helped us win it all that’s huge but he and AL ain’t top centers you acting like we just lost white or Pritchard lol Luke was just a big guy that’s it
So Celtics lose 2 centers and a guard.. all rotation pieces.. interesting
Luke might come back in a JB trade. Spurs overloaded in backcourt and thin up front. Harper, johnson, castle, vassell, sochan etc, somebody's gotta go. Hope some land here and they can bring LK with them.
Luke got the bag and took it, not surprising at all. Thanks for your help on 18! Good luck!
im glad we are not signing Luke or Al. I appreciate their contributions, but we needed to move on. We can pick up a center and get a real one when Tatum come back. We are tanking for AJ whatever his last name is lol
If they wanted him back they would have made an offer–they didn't. They didn't want him back. They don't want Al back either.
Al would make a good development coach.
Bargain bin shopping.
Sounds like Luke to be paid Double the amount the podcast thought he would get from the C’s
Thanks Celtics you will save me $200 on the nba package cost next season. A total throw away year. 😢🤬😡
Are these folks pretending not knowing why or what Brad is doing? Theyre saying "were losing centers".
Wake up! We're shedding salary.
John tried to tell you guys… no disrespect. This what it's come to….
"Spent years developing him…" He's a back-up center. He signed for peanuts because that's all he could get. He's a good player, but he's not Wilt Chamberlain for crissakes!
Losing Luke is the small problem, having two quarter billion dollar players and you don't know if they can play anymore–that's the big problem.
My condolences, I know these guys are people you know and like, but let's not get carried away. You need to snap outta your malaise because there are much bigger moves coming
It's over folks -it is as simple as that
I love that for Luke but we sure will miss him in Boston
If Al goes to warriors he better get booed when he comes to Boston smh. Would be the 2nd time he left to rivals for money
Celtics work quick
Good for Luke. Thanks Luke!
Go Spurs Go!
Good for him, he earned that new contract. Will miss his energy blue collar play !!!
Bobby has tears in his eyes
Lol bobby was going through it
Keep Luke he fits the J’s timeline better
Kornet cashed out and earned it—Spurs got a pro.
We deserve some happy news soon. I am hoping for some 'SMART' decisions coming….
We need to regain our flexibility
Have you seen the Garza highlights? He is a very good offensive player. In fact he can shoot three-pointers quite well. Luke never shot a three-pointer so Garza is far better in that respect. Also, the mature rookie Amari Williams can be a force on the court.
Al Horton is out…. welcome to the new reality!
This is a messed up for Bobby and Luka skywalker is not walking through that door. The spurs most been watching that game when he had 5 or 7 blocks dam he got the bag.😂
I want celtics to get bol bol. He is an excellent option to fill als role. I would also try to get al too on a minimum and al should consider it do something like haslem and igoudala did