Boston Celtics’ SOFT TANK | Why Al Horford leaving Boston MAKES SENSE

Boston Celtics’ SOFT TANK | Why Al Horford leaving Boston MAKES SENSE

Is it time to say, “Hey, this is a soft tank. Just admit it.” What should they do with Al Horford? And should the Celtics try to sign Damen Lillard? It’s all right. Now on the Locked On Celtics podcast. Uh-huh. Yep. Be ready. It’s the season. Who else could it be? What they going to say now? Screaming like JT Car. We kept the madness every game, every practice. Prime time Deon D White on the sideline rece how we started raising business. How we finish locked on selfish pot home of the winners. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It is your team every day. Your team is the Boston Celtics. I talk about them every Monday through Friday. So make sure you’re subscribed wherever you get your podcast. The show drops to three days a week in August and September then back to 5 days a week. still the most free podcasting you’re going to find anywhere. So, make sure you’re subscribed, get into that comment section, share your thoughts with me, John Corales, beat writer, covering the Celtics for Boston Sports Journal. I have uh also written a couple of books uh covering the Celtics. I’ve been doing this job for about 20 years. So, I’ve seen a lot when it comes to the Celtics, and I think I know what I’m seeing when it comes to this team. I think my optimism, I’ve been saying this during the course of this week, I I don’t think it’s time to be as optimistic about this team anymore. Let’s call it what it is. Later on, we’ll get into Damen Lillard in the third segment. Talk about that some more. We’ll talk about Al Horford in the second segment. Today’s show, by the way, brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use the code lockdown day for $20 off your first purchase of tickets. Today we’re bringing in our buddy Tom Westerhome for the first time this week. Tom, how are you doing, my friend?
I’m good, man. How are you?
I’m great. Obviously, for people watching YouTube page, I am not in my usual studio. I am uh enjoying a little bit of trying to balance working vacation. So, my podcasting times have not exactly been western home uh eligible, I guess. Uh, so
it’s it’s an official term actually. Yes. Yes. So now now I got you. Now I got finally finally this week. I know people have been clamoring for Westerhome. Like fine, fine. Here you go. So uh let’s get Tom Westerhome on here to deliver the bad news. Hey Tom, are the Celtics going through a soft tank?
It sure seems like it, man. Uh yeah, when you take a look at the moves so far, it uh really does seem to be pointing in a very specific, very soft, very tanky kind of direction here.
Yeah. Like not a real tank.
No,
not not, you know, Fourth of July coming up. Not one of those army. We’re we’re talking but but it’s still a tank. Yeah.
Like the one that the kids get in, you know, like maybe a little cardboard enhancements and you Yeah, it
still looks like a tank. You’re like, “Okay, it’s not real.” But they’re still It’s tank adjacent. It’s uh they they are I was hoping that they would push for some sort of like, “Hey, look, East is going to be wide open. Let’s just make a push. Let’s make a run. Let’s let’s let’s do something here. You have limited time. the second apron gives you very limited time and you can still get down under the second apron and do this other stuff. But I I I just don’t think that’s their motivation. I don’t know, Tom. I see Josh Min come in. I see um Luca Garza. I I I look at the names. I see Anthony Simons come in and immediately turn around. They’re going to turn around and try to flip him. They’re they don’t seem interested. They they didn’t even come close to a Luke Cornet deal. They don’t seem interested in Al Horford sticking around, which we’ll get to in the second segment. It just feels like it’s cut, cut, cut. Get under that second apron.
Maybe get under that first apron. Maybe get under that tax. Which I want to throw this out there. If they get under the tax this year, they have to get under the tax I think next year because the only way to not be a repeater anymore is to get out of it you like if you’re if you’re a taxpayer three out of four years.
Yeah.
You’re a repeater.
Yep.
So if they get under this year, it doesn’t matter because they were still taxpayers the three pri prior years. Well, it matters, but it it does indicate that something else that they’re not done. It matters, but they’re not done with the project, and they are taking on the project of resetting the repeater if they do that.
That’s right. So, so, right, we’re saying the same thing in different ways.
Yeah.
By getting under the tax, it doesn’t reset the repeater, right?
You you have to get under it a second year, right? So, if the Celtics goal, and I don’t know if this is their goal, but if their goal is to be like, “Hey, let’s get under that tax, then they have to they have to do it again next year, which means more cuts are coming, which kind of should inform you moving forward. Now, if they don’t get under the tax this year, then maybe getting under the second apron, under the first apron, kind of resetting those is enough. And ownership, new ownership group’s going to be like, “Hey, we’ll we’ll pay a little in taxes. That’s not a problem.”
Yeah.
But we can’t have draft picks frozen. We can’t have all this other stuff. So, that that’s really the one thing I’m looking to see. Where how far does Brad go? Is it second apron apron? Is that enough or are they going all the way down to the tax in which case it’s like I think I should just remove soft from that first bullet point.
Yeah. I mean and and I think the the interesting thing is was what they can do with the third bullet point as well, but we can get to that. Um yeah. No, I I think that like when you look at the moves that they’ve made so far to me the the the Garza one being the first move, right? that being like the first one, that’s the first guy that you brought in, that is just very telling, right? And I think
you can I mean, obviously I I I posted this on on Blue Sky the other day. It’s it’s wild that the CBA has created a situation where, you know, you got rid of of Drew Holiday and Chris Stafs Porzingis and you still can’t afford Luke Cornett. Like that’s that is kind of a wild situation. And certainly like the Celtics are um you know uniquely positioned where they had a very expensive roster and a lot of good players. So it’s not it’s not just you know one plus one equals two there. But it is kind of telling that that’s the case. Um but yeah I mean look I think the way that this the way the CBA is built, the way this team h has to tear things down, they can they can take the season, you know, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago, a month ago, whatever. like they can take this upcoming season and and throw it away a little bit and and have some options, give themselves some future flexibility. It it doesn’t look pretty, you know, it’s it’s going to be tough to watch. It’s going to be really tough to watch after what we’ve seen the last couple of years and the amount of talent that they had on the floor and the way they all played together. It’s probably going to be tough for Joe Mazula to coach, you know, like he’s not he’s a competitive guy. I don’t think he’s going to enjoy this one bit. Um, but if I all that is aside from a team building perspective, you know, Brad Stevens is is very smart. He knows what he’s doing. I mean, I, you know, we I saw somebody saying that getting off the the Porzingis and the holiday contracts felt like the last helicopter out of Saigon because it like went before everybody started tearing things down. And it’s like,
yeah,
it does kind of feel that way. But it’s it is still a very viable team building process to tear this team down a little bit. Right now when you’ve taken on these hits when you know that you know even if Tatum does come back next year, chances are you’re not getting 100% Jason T. Even if even if 100% Jason Tatum comes back in the future, you’re probably not getting 100% Jason Tatum next season. No matter when he does come back, no matter, you know, how early that is. Like next season’s going to be a little bit of a transition year anyway. So, one way or the other, like there is certainly plenty of justification for moving in a tankish direction, whether that’s soft or whether you’re right, like whether that is just a hard tank, whether it it makes team building sense either way. I think the reason I I I just go into soft tank is because you still have Jaylen,
you still have Derek, you still have Payton Pritchard, you’ll still have I believe Sam Hower, you have guys who are good. Yeah. Oh, yeah. and better that like you look at the tanking teams of these past few seasons, the team I just mentioned, those guys plus whomever is left is still pretty good. You’ll just have, you know, more rookies. You’ll have more from these guys. You’ll you have to take a look at Garza. You have to take a look at Minot. You have to see if you can find cheap versions. like you couldn’t afford Luke Cornett. So, can Luca Garza do what Luke Cornett did? How much what percentage of what Luke did can he do? And how does that relate to the percentage of how much you’re paying him versus what you would have paid Luke? You know what I’m saying? So, if you’re getting 80% of Luke’s production from Luca Garza, let’s say, at 50% of the money, well, that’s a big win. And you can move forward with that.
If you’re getting
50% of the production at 50% of the money, it’s like, well, that’s not really, you know, much above replacement. You know, you’re you’re you have to find somebody else to do that. Maybe it’s maybe it’s Jo Landale who just got released. I don’t know. But whoever it is, like the the Celtics have to next season do all of that. Like you have to give these guys minutes. And that’s going to be the the Joe Mazoula challenge is I know you don’t like rookies, but you know, Ugo Gonzalez is going to have to play a little bit just so you can see what you have. You’re going to have to start playing some of these guys and let them play through some mistakes. Uh, and that and that’s going to be the the challenge.
And and that’s where maybe the tank gets a little bit harder, like a little bit less soft is when you’re playing those rookies all that time. Yeah.
Right. But I’ll come back. I’ll tell you what, Joe Misoula. It’s so funny because I deal with a lot of questions, Q&A from the mailbag, from Boston Sports Journal and all that stuff. I see all the the people hating on Joe Missoula. I have a feeling that he’s going to do something that will make those people happy next year, but will be actually bad for the team. We’ll get into that as we get into the Al Horford stuff when I come back. Today’s show is brought to you by Game Time. You know, going to these games is a lot of fun. Whether you want to get out there and watch baseball or if you want to go to a soccer game or if you want to go to a concert, if you want to go to comedy show, whatever it is, live events are awesome. Game time is here to make getting these tickets faster and easier than ever. Prices drop right before Game Time or Showtime. You can save up to 60% off with their killer last minute deals. I’ve been using Game Time a bunch. So, there’s a special offer coming up that I can’t use that you will use, but I know for a fact because I’ve used it that you can get into that you open up the app and you can see the zone deals. You can see the panoramic seat view right from your app. You can see that there are uh the price that you pay. The price that you see is the price you’re going to pay. The fees are right up front. So, that’s all on the app. I’ve used it. I’ve seen it. I’ve gotten it. It’s great. Uh, if your plans change, the Game Time guarantee has your back with cancellation protection and more. So, take the guesswork out of buying concert tickets, show tickets, game tickets, whatever with the Game Time app. Create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. I’ve made many purchases, so I’m done with the $20 off, but you can get it off your first purchase. Terms to apply again, create an account, redeem the code lockdown NBA for $20 off. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. Go check out Lockdown NBA. There’s two podcasts on that feed. Two for the price of one, which is also $0. Uh I am there. I will be there. I’m recording this show first and then I’m going to go record with Jake Madison locked NBA covering free agency, a big reported 17 trade. We got Yonas Valenunis just ditching the NBA to go to Greece, which hey, not a bad idea if you’re as far as I’m concerned. But hey, all of that stuff is coming up on Locked on NBA. Tom, Joe Mazula, a lot of people are looking him at him as like, “Oh, this is this is going to be a year we’re going to see what Joe is really made of.” Um, I I mean, I know firsthand exactly how competitive Joe Missoula is. I feel like he will look at this year, like you talked about it, he’ll see it as a challenge. I feel like he’s going to be like, “Hey, you know what?” He’s going to put up a middle finger to his bosses and he’s going to be like, “This is the crap that you’re giving me. No problem. Watch me win with these guys.” He’s going to find a way to tap into these guys. They’re going to win more games than they than than people think. and he’s he’s going to win over the people who are like I don’t know what kind of coach Joe is like he I think he’s going to have a year where those those folks are going to be like oh wow okay he’s better than I thought and the the folks in the front office are like oh man he’s too good for this job we were supposed to lose these games and he’s finding ways to win I don’t get it uh so I don’t know man I think I think there’s a real possibility that Joe will keep this as a off the tank. Guys will be make mistakes because they make mistakes. But I I just feel like Joe will tap into something with some of these guys.
Well, if he if he does uh and and he does give his boss the middle finger, his boss can’t really be too mad because if you remember the first um like those first couple of Brad Stevens years, right?
Especially that that first year, he was supposed to tank. Like that team was supposed to be bad. They were supposed to tank.
That was Thomas’s fault.
Yeah. Well, uh, no, not not the first one, though. The first year of Brad Stevens, he did not have Isaiah Thomas, and he still was half decent. Not half decent, he was still pretty bad, but he was like, you he won more games than he should have. And the Celtics then lost a chance to draft like Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker. Like, it really wasn’t a big deal. They drafted Smart instead, who was
I don’t know, probably better than both of those guys. I guess he could make a case for Wiggins. I don’t know. But one way or the other, like he ended up getting Marcus Martin and it was fine and you know, life worked out for the Celtics in ways that didn’t involve the draft. Well, until later. Anyway, um yeah, like Joe would be uh standing in uh good, you know, good shoes if he followed in Brad’s footsteps there. Like
Danny will text Brad and be like, “Oh, see how do you like it? How do you like it when a coach is too good to tank?”
Yeah. Yeah. anytime that uh Brad brings up AJ Dansa, he just sends him a picture of Jabari Parker like, “Oh, yeah. Okay.” Um, but yeah, no, I I think I I think Joe is is I mean, for one thing, I do think it’s just a your first point. I think it’s funny that people are like, “What’s Joe made of?” I don’t know. He won a title. Like,
yeah, right.
Like, yeah, he’s pretty good. Uh, whatever you want to say about him. I mean, we’ll definitely see how he does with a worse roster. Like, yes, that’s true. We will see what Joe Mazula does with a with a depleted roster. Um but I think uh he’s a pretty good coach one way or the other, right?
Um but I I do think that yeah, he’s a very competitive guy. I think that whatever he can get out of these guys um he’s a very motivational guy. I think whatever is possible to get out of this roster, he’ll try to get it out. Um then we’ll just have to see what what that entails.
Now the question is, will that entail Al Horford minutes or is Al Horford gone? All of the reporting makes it seem like Al is gone.
Yeah.
And the question the question I really have and I can’t get an answer to is
is this Al’s decision or is it the team’s decision or is it a mutual decision? Be like, you know, Al could be looking at the the last year or so. I mean, he’s contemplating retirement.
Yeah.
So Al could be looking at this and be like, look, I don’t I just don’t want to be part of a tank. Yeah.
Or whatever whatever the Celtics are. just don’t want to be part of that. Now, the reports are that he is going to go to Golden State, and I don’t know that Golden State is the best option for him either. It is fitwise, I think. But is are the Warriors going to win a championship next year? I don’t I don’t know about that. And like they just announced he’s having another kid. The Al Horford has five kids meme is going to go to Al Horford has six kids. He’s going to have six kids by December. Is do you really want to uproot your family and travel across country and move to San Francisco to all like you going to have all six of your kids with you there? Like it why not just stay in Boston? Just hang out. Just you got your championship. Just hang out in Boston. Just be here, man. And I feel like I feel like if if the Celtics were willing to pay him the minimum and he was willing to take it, he would stay. But I I I just question are the Celtics willing to do that? Is he willing to do that? I I don’t know what the deal is here.
Yeah. I mean, it it does make it feel a little bit more like it’s a um you know that it is a team decision because you’re you’re right. on the other hand, like I I can imagine, can’t you kind of imagine being Al and just and just not wanting to to to play like a losing season? Like what?
Like all respect to these young guys and everything, you know, I’m sure yada yada, but like
when the point of the season is to see what you have in Baylor Shyman, it does kind of feel like if you’re Al Horford, you’re like,
“Yeah,
enjoy.” you know, like I I just wish I’ve done too much, but no.
And and and and especially like as we’re seeing guys get injured from the pace and the the how hard this game is to play now, it’s like if you’re Horford and you can put yourself in a position to potentially win another title or even just compete deep into the playoffs and be an impact player, like for sure, but how much of an impact player are you on a team where the young guys are the bigger focus? you know, like that’s to me that if I’m him, I’m just kind of I Yeah, all the all the family stuff is I would just be ready to retire. Like I I don’t know. I mean, because yeah, I don’t think I would want to uproot I mean, I wouldn’t want to uproot one kid, let alone, you know, like his his entire uh family. Like that’s a that’s a big decision. And obviously, you know, money makes everything a little bit easier, but it doesn’t solve all those problems. it doesn’t solve like you know you know his his son being in being in basketball circuits like he’s he’s playing youth basketball he’s you know he’s making friends and and you know being in a school system like those are hard things to
to just kind of rip up so I mean
to me it would just it would feel very much like you know as soon as as soon as Tayen got hurt maybe a little bit of clarity I don’t know we’ll see I I could be wrong because like I’m I’m just speaking for myself here obviously but like if it were me I would just kind of feel like That’s like a little bit of a hint of like, okay, you know what? I’m probably going to be in the Hall of Fame. You know, I wouldn’t be shocked if if the number 42 is never worn again in Boston. Like,
sure.
You know, what a career. What a time to just call it. It
And this is the hardest thing. And I never want to tell a guy to to to retire. Absolutely not. Not not advising anything.
I mean, I know that’s not what you’re doing.
Yeah. Yeah.
Um
but you’re right. It would be a hell of a time. It feels like a good time. But look, I can I can speak for myself.
Yeah.
At 52 almost, I’m like, man, I never I never miss playing until I’m in the locker room
and I see the guys interacting with one another
and I’m like, that’s the stuff. When I see guys talking to one another, busting each other’s chops, all of that stuff, I’m like, h that’s I never miss practices. I never miss a game. I don’t miss all of the the crazy work that you had to do, but I do miss the camaraderie. It keeps you young. And Al is playing until he’s 40. And he’s got all these guys, you know, looking up to him. He’s got all these guys. He’s He’s He’s been pretty successful. I I look at Al and I’m like, “And you got your kid walking through the locker room with you and doing all this stuff. This is awesome.”
Yeah.
Why would you give that up? Why
I wouldn’t I would I’d play until they kicked me out.
But this is But the the question becomes like, can you do you want to play in Boston? I I I’m sure the Celtics if he said I’ll play for the minimum, why wouldn’t they want him for the minimum? That’s
of course Yeah. Yeah.
I don’t know. I If he wants to play for the minimum, if he goes to Golden State, I’m assuming that he’s getting like 5 million a year that he’s going to get the tax pyramid level. Um and it’s not money is not the issue over there because they’ll pay any money. But
yeah,
maybe I’m being I’m just being wistful. No, but I think one Al Horford around have a round.
And I know you got to go to a break, but I do want to point out too, one thing I think you touched on something important there too. Like if he does go somewhere else where he’s got a better chance of winning, one thing to remember, right, is that like his son is going to probably be a really good player, right? Like he’s and what he’s what his son has been able to be around over the last two years is a championship basketball team. Like he’s he’s been around that. He’s been in that locker room. If Al Horford goes somewhere else and his son can be around more good basketball situations, there probably is something to that as well. Like not that, you know, not that being around Joe Mazul is ever going to be a bad thing, but if you go somewhere else that’s another winning situation and you’re like, “Hey, I think my son has a future in this.”
I mean, there’s there’s something to be said for playing somewhere good just purely for that. That’s a good point. Showing him that you you don’t always stay with the same team.
Yeah. that you got to learn. You got to learn that it’s a tough business and you sometimes you got to go somewhere else.
You got to advocate for yourself a little bit. Yeah.
This this damn it. Damn it. That’s it. That’s the argument. That is going to be why he’s doing it. That you you show your kid doesn’t matter how old you are. Minimum these guys are offering you more money. You got to value yourself and you got to be ready to go from one city to another. We love everybody in Boston. We got to go to another city. This is the tough part of NBA life. You got to see what it’s like and see what a different a different locker room is like. And you know what? You get to hang out with Steph Curry who’s awesome, right? you know, and Steve Kerr, who is awesome, and Draymond Green, who despite the public stuff, I’m sure in the locker room is great with his mostly great with his teammates and but great with their kids.
Bet he’s great. I bet he’s great with their kids. Yeah.
Yeah. So, well, it took a long way to get there, but damn it, we just figured out why it makes perfect sense for Al Horford to go to Golden State.
Yeah. Yeah.
H All right. Well, let’s see if we can solve another problem. Let’s come back and figure out
if Damen Lillard makes sense in Boston. Hey, thanks for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. We got locked on for every team. Whatever team makes a trade, you can get to a locked down NBA team. Whatever whatever team that is. If you like other sports, if you like all Boston sports, lock down Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, it’s all there. So check those out. Same place you got this podcast. All right, we solved the Al Horford situation. Makes perfect sense. Now Damen Lillard, does he make sense, Tom? Does he make sense coming to Boston? Yes. Um, yeah, I think it does.
My man. My man. No, I I think that’d be I think it makes like a shocking amount of sense, right? like you know you you have a chance to to bring in a guy like for cheap who can rehab with Tatum and I mean I think that there’s something to be said something intangible to be said for having two star guys like rehabbing together motivating each other a little bit guys who have a connection previously from team USA like whatever Lillard becomes after this it obviously won’t be prime Damen Lillard but there’s so much. The thing about Damen Lillard is that he’s always had a lot to his game and and that is so he’s not just an athleticism guy. There’s so much skill there. There’s and he’s and one of those skills is shooting three-pointers from very far away. We know that is a, you know, very helpful thing on this team. I think I think it makes a ton of sense if they can make it happen. If he’s interested in it, I think Yeah, absolutely. Go for it. You want to talk about soft tanking? You want to talk about a perfect way to kind of show, hey, we’re serious about winning, it’s just that this year isn’t going to be our year. Yeah.
I think bringing in Damen Lillard is a great way to message that to everybody.
Yeah. Two-year deal or something like that.
Yeah.
Let him come in, get a chance, and he has the options like, “Hey, you’re right. You’ve you’ve played on Team USA. You’ve got Jason, you’ve got Jaylen, you’ve got an organization, a premier organization. You haven’t you’ve played for, you know, the Bucks and the and the Blazers and all that stuff. you haven’t stepped into what it’s like to play for a team like the Celtics, why not end your career, uh, you know, like that, it to me on a minimum deal. Absolutely. Absolutely. and you know having a guy like that around Tatum to be like this is what I think of when I’m you know hitting those shots those daytime shots those those last second that that feeling of h just having that guy around just I feel like that’s
if you’re losing Al Horford you can do worse than having Damen Lillard step into your locker room
by all accounts Dame is great great with his teammates that that’s one of the most loyal kind of fiercely competitive, there for his teammates. I mean, who’s more there for his teammates than a guy who played in Portland all that time,
right?
And, you know, didn’t leave until like the very end when Portland was forced to basically they wanted to tank, he wanted to win, and they mutual decision. So, yeah, I said I was asked a question yesterday in the mailbag podcast, and I I think it still applies. I I just feel like he can he can at the very least finish off his career as just an elite shooter.
Yeah.
These guys.
Yeah.
And Okay. So, you don’t play him down the stretch in the fourth quarter unless you need somebody to hit a big shot and then maybe he does hit that big shot. But yeah,
having that guy around as a kind of bridge to like this next version of the Celtics, which it’s so interesting, and this is probably an entirely new podcast that I’m starting at 29 minutes, but
as we do,
we do that a lot. You have this you’re this whole next season is figuring out what cheap pieces can do kind of Indiana Pacersish like what who can be your shooter? who can be your your this guy, who can be your that guy, and you find these little pieces who make 5 million, 8 million, 9, whatever, and you put them around your big money guys. And having a guy like Dame to tie it all together, that’s that’s not bad. It’s really not that bad. And if we’re talking about a minimum deal or close to the minimum deal, absolutely bring them on. I I I look forward I would love to spend 15 minutes talking to Damen Lillard about everything that he’s seen in basketball. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I I mean, and I think you’re right that it would be great for the for the other players. I think that it would be great for Tatum. I think I think there’s I think it would be really interesting to see like how he is in the locker room on a team that he actually wants to be on. You know, it sounds like he’s actually open to going to Boston as opposed to Milwaukee. I mean, I think there’s probably something to that. Uh, I also think it would be kind of um little a little bit funny if the Celtics first fleeced the Bucks by getting Drew Holiday so they could win championships and then took the guy that the Bucks got as a result of giving up Drew Holiday and then had him be a useful member of their team. Um, there would be some amount of
uh some some funny there for sure.
I would enjoy that. I would enjoy that very much. I mean, just, you know, like from slander purposes, it would be very funny. But listen, you got to factor slander purposes into everything when it comes to talking about the NBA.
You do.
Yeah. Just is what it is. Um, at least we do. Factor has to be behed for.
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, like, this would be a prime opportunity for Brad to uh account for the slander factor without actually doing anything actively damaging for his team. So, it’s it’s kind of perfect.
So, yeah. I I I think I think do it if you if you’ve got the opportunity. I mean,
absolutely. Yeah. Be agree be an unbelievable stroke of luck in a in a season that does not look like it’s going to have a ton of strokes of luck. Maybe this be an opportunity to claim one.
Yeah, I agree. I’m looking forward to having somebody with Dame’s personality around, too. So,
yeah, that’d be fun. All right, Tom Westerhome. Speaking of personality, Tom Westerhome,
it’s this guy.
It’s that guy. appreciate you, man. And I always appreciate you, the listener, the viewer here on the YouTube page watching or if you’re listening, whatever it is you’re doing on a daily basis. If you’re an everydayer, I love you. You know, I love you being here with me Monday through Friday. Thank you so so much for doing so. Uh would love to have more of you become everydayers. So, make sure you’re subscribed wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch the show on YouTube, get into the comments section there, share your thoughts with me, with Tom, uh just whatever thoughts you have. And then I would love it if you shared the podcast and told everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, it is your team every day.

CELTICS EYEING SOFT TANK? AL HORFORD’S FUTURE AND DAMIAN LILLARD RUMORS

Recent Boston Celtics moves hint at a potential “soft tank” strategy. John Karalis and guest Tom Westerholm analyze the implications of getting under the salary cap and tax thresholds. They explore Al Horford’s uncertain future with the team and debate the possibility of Damian Lillard joining the Celtics. The duo also discusses how coach Joe Mazzulla might handle a potentially weaker roster and the challenges ahead for the team’s star duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Tune in for expert insights on the Celtics’ roster shake-up and what it means for their upcoming season.

1:30 Intro: Is the Celtics’ soft tank underway?
5:05 Analyzing the Celtics’ salary cap situation
10:56 Joe Mazzulla’s coaching approach next season
16:58 Al Horford’s future with the Celtics
23:39 Why Golden State makes sense for Horford
25:35 Does Damian Lillard fit with the Celtics?

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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