NBA Insider Kevin O’Connor explains why the Celtics should consider a subtle tank | Jones & Keefe

NBA Insider Kevin O’Connor explains why the Celtics should consider a subtle tank | Jones & Keefe

and we’re continuing our Celtics talk and we have a special treat today. We have the great Kevin O’ Conor of Yahoo Sports. He’s the host of the Kevin O’ Conor show, NBA insider and has his local roots here in the Boston area. So Kevin, thanks so much for joining us. And I’m going to start where I think a lot of people are wondering about, which is how real is the mutual interest between the Celtics and Damen Lillard? And especially, we went back to some audio of Chris Haynes speaking on Damen Lillard’s behalf in 2023, not sounding very interested in Boston. So how real do you feel the interest from Lillard’s side might be in Boston? I haven’t heard anything directly necessarily uh with Lillard’s interest. I mean, I think personally my own, you know, my own opinion is he should be interested. I mean, you’ve never won a championship. If you’re looking for a team that gives you an opportunity to do that when you do get back in the NBA, it’s Boston because there’s no pressure on you to be the old Damen Lillard. You can be a guy who is an elite spot up shooter, who moves without the ball, who focuses on playmaking, and not even have to start for that matter. So, it depends on what his priorities are. Does he envision himself immediately being, you know, the old Damen Lower? Then maybe you don’t want to go to Boston and compete with some of the other guys, including Pritchard for some starter level minutes. But ultimately, I think Boston should be high up on his list. Kevin, you mentioned Pton Pritchard, and I’m curious how he fits in in all this because he wins sixth man of the year last year. The Celtics add Anthony Simons and I know they could still move on from Simons, but I wonder if Pritchard’s a guy that they envision as a starter regardless, even if it’s over Simons or potentially over a Damen Lillard or they think he’s going to stay in a six-man role. Like, how do you think they envision or how do you envision Pton Pritchard fitting in all of this? I mean, I think with Pritchard, he’s going to be a big minutes guy. You’re going to find out what exactly you can get out of Pitchard. We see him be a six-man of the year. We know what Pritchard can do. He’s had some big scoring games when he gets opportunity. And so I to me like whether it’s Pritchard or whether it’s, you know, Baylor Shyman or the rookies, Yugo Gonzalez, to me like this is this is a year of experimentation for the Celtics. And I I think if you’re Brad Stevens and you’re Joe Mazoula, it’s empowering Patrick to have games where he shoots 25 times. It’s trying out different young players, different types of roles, trying out different schemes, and finding out what works, what’s going to make sense to move forward with this uh this core of Tatum and Brown. And and I think to me, like Pritchard being the prime example of a guy that you want to give big minutes and big opportunities to because you want to see what you actually can get out of him. Kevin, that’s a really interesting way to categorize it or characterize it rather a year of year of experiment. Experimentation. So with difference from competing for titles, right? We went from potential 3P to year of experimentation. Yeah. Life comes at you fast. The where the Celtics are right now in their roster building. Do you think that they have their starting center on the roster as it sits today? How much more of a dramatic move or moves do you expect them to make with that big position? I’m not so sure. I mean, look, I I think they might have their 2025 2026 starter, but I I think ultimately so much of this is going to have to do with Al Horford. Is is Horford going to sign immediately with the Warriors or the Lakers? Or is he going to retire? Is he going to take a half season off and come back mid year? Allah PJ Brown way back different circumstances way back 15 you know 20 years ago and PJ Brown did that with the with the ‘ 08 Celtics 09 Celtics when he came back but ultimately I think with with Horford he’s the only guy that I could see unless we’re going to have a trade coming again because I think I think for Stevens you’re not looking for a guy who’s going to be your long-term piece right now. You’re finding out who are the guys that you want to stick with once Tatum is actually back. And so I think a guy like Luca Garza who dominated college basketball, dominated in 22 games in the G- League and just has never gotten any consistent opportunities in the NBA with Detroit or Minnesota, but has shown flashes when he’s gotten chances or guys like Kada Amari Williams as a rookie. finding out I is a lowcost option at center possibly the next piece for you rather than spending for somebody right now in the short term when really I think some of these guys are deserving of extended chances Xavier Tilman included. So, I I think for the Celtics to me, like I think if they just go in with the roster as is, obviously the team is not going to be anywhere nearly as exciting as it was last year, but I still think there’s so many young guys that are intriguing and deserving of opportunities that there’s there’s an there’s an advantage to that with the amount of minutes and chances those guys get for that next year’s team in 2627, whether it’s Gonzalez, whether it’s Simons, whether it’s Hower getting extended time, whoever you it is you really uh want to give those opportunities to in the young roster because for Boston this year the advantage of you know being a seven seed a nine seed a 10 seed in that playing range or worse next year’s draft class is stack so I don’t think Boston is going to be bad enough to bottom out or necessarily but the Dallas Mavericks just moved up to the number one pick with the 11th best odds every year a team with seventh or worst odds has moved into the top four and there’s at least three number one pick quality guys next year with Cam Boozer at Duke, Darren Peterson at Kansas, and then Brockton’s own AGD Bonsai going to BYU. So, I think for the Celtics, there’s there’s advantages to testing the young guys for the long term, but also for potentially getting a higher draft odds and a loaded draft class. Do you think there’s any chance, Kevin, that there’s a strategy the Celtics employ or they look to get into that lottery spot? Maybe. I mean, Jaylen Brown turns an ankle and you keep him out for two months instead of two weeks. I mean, I think ultimately that’s the type of stuff you could see. But, you know, I think for Boston, we’re still in a position now where we know teams have called about Derek White and about Jaylen Brown. Nobody has reached that threshold of what Boston’s looking for yet. But if you know deadline time comes and you know it’s late January, early February and Boston still has Derek White and Jaylen Brown on their roster and there’s another team it’s like we are a Derek White away from winning an NBA Finals. We are a Jaylen Brown away. It’s tougher to deal guys during the season than it is during the off season. But ultimately, that’s when the price could really hit its peak for those guys where somebody just goes over over the top and Boston has like no choice but to say yes because the offer is so significant. So, I think that’s the type of scenario like that hits what you’re talking about, Megan. So, Kevin, the thing hanging over all this is Tatum’s recovery, right? And he had the speedbridge surgery the day after he got hurt to me and I’ve always hoped, I guess maybe felt isn’t the right word. have hoped that maybe he could come back in March and they could really do something at that point because that would be 10 months after a speedbridge surgery. But by them trading Porzingis and Holiday and talking about staying under the aprons and maybe even the first apron and maybe out of the tax altogether, is that them telling us without telling us that they don’t want or don’t expect Tatum to be back at all this year? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think that’s got to be part of it because, you know, with the Celtics, look, you don’t want to say at this point, Tatum might come back. I don’t think you want to put that out there. I think it to be the type of thing where, you know, Boston is on a 50- win pace and Tatum is fully healthy and he’s able to come back in February, but you wait to March and you feel like it’s safe to bring him back. I I think it would be something that in the moment were to happen if the Celtics are, you know, exceeding expectations. Pritchard has an all-star caliber year. Jaylen Brown is even better. Like the rookies are are key guys and you’re not even missing Drew Holiday. You’re not even missing Chris Porzing. It’s like that’s al that’s a possible outcome. I think the Celtics are at least going to be competitive but maybe they win a lot more than people expect. And so in that case I think I think for Boston they’d at least think about it because I mean look Tatum is the dude who texted Kobe, you know, after Kobe passed away. He’s the guy who idolized Kobe. Kobe came back in nine months. You don’t think Tatum’s going to do everything in his power to come back in nine months and try to do what Kobe did. So, I think Tatum’s intentions, this is just me, you know, hypotheticals. It’s just, you know, I I don’t know anything here. I would imagine Tatum is would want to come back in nine months. And so, we’ll see how the Celtics look at that time when it comes. Kevin O’ Conor of Yahoo Sports and the Kevin Oconor show. We’ll show the pride of Brockton Mass because he he brought up Devatista earlier so I had to mention that of course represents Yeah. So we have seen Joe Misoula as a coach who has had a couple different iterations of very stacked rosters and a cornerstone of Joe Misoula’s coaching philosophy has been the three-point shot. How much do you expect that philosophy and Missoula’s overall approach with the team to change with how dramatic the changes to this roster are so far this off season? I don’t think it’s going to change at all. I mean, I think Missoula is going to that’s just part of the the state of the NBA today. I mean, you three-point rate rises every single year in the regular season. It rises every single year in the playoffs. I don’t think Missoula is going to stray from that necessarily. Where I do think he should evolve is adding back some of those layers that we’re missing this season. More movement off the ball, more ball movement, more player movement. I think having more to go to other than what their set offense is. And so I think this sticks to like you’re experimenting with minutes with these young guys, experimenting with ro different roles for these young guys. You’re pushing the limits of what you think you can get from Brown and Pritchard and White assuming you know everybody’s back that’s still on the roster, but it’s also for Missoula. Well, how do you how do you toggle from to from winning mode to developmental mode? and developmental mode also includes yourself and and installing new things in the system and experimenting with different things because I think you know even Oklahoma City this year they win the NBA finals and Mark Dagnel their head coach during the season was was asked about them using two bigs Chad Homegrren and Isaiah Hartinstein and he’s like well we’re using the regular season to experiment with different things and sometimes we’re doing it against teams where it might not sense make might not make sense to do that’s Oklahoma City the champions that did that during the entire 82 game regular season. And so I think the Celtics, a team entering next season without championship aspirations. There’s no excuses. They’re the team that more than any team should be experimenting and figure out how do we optimize this for when Tatum is back and how do we make it so we’re even more favorites in the week Eastern Conference once he is back. So I think this year’s very important for all of that from a de developmental standpoint with players, roster, and coaching staff. Kevin, I think you you brought up a great point about their movement on offense and cutting and all that. And we saw Brad Stevens talk about that after the draft that he likes guys that are going to be cutters on offense. And I felt like two years ago when they won the championship, they were much better moving without the ball than they were last year. And I my question to you is A, why do you think that is? And B, is there besides just Missoula preaching it more, are there certain guys you just expect that more from going into this season? I I think it’s like sometimes, you know, us as people, sometimes we fall into different habits and we forget our old habits. I mean, like again with OKC, like another example there in the finals, they start having Shay Gilus Alexander screen more often uh or get get screened more often or vice versa. That’s something they did a lot the year prior, but then they get a center and Isaiah Hartenstein and they kind of go away from it for the full season and it’s like, “Oh, wait a minute. I used to do this.” And I think with Boston, you just develop new habits. You get away from things and maybe there was a bit of fatigue as well after the championship and the Olympics for guys last year where you’re not wanting to cut as much. It’s not as intentional. So, I think it’s a lot of things that you see these these habits that kind of reflect us as people. I mean, we we fall into fall in and out of different habits as well. So, I think that happened on a teamwide scale with the Celtics last year and maybe be a bit more intentional this year without uh the championship expectations. I think that’s a great perspective. Final question for me, Kevin. So, we are awaiting this changing of hands to build Chisum and company for the ownership of the Celtics. What have you heard about the expectations of how smoothly that will go? the expectations around this new ownership group and really beyond this year because I think especially with the Tatum injury a lot of people are chalking up moves to this summer saying well they’re forced into this situation you can’t look at the new ownership so much for that as much as the CBA the injury what they did the last couple years in terms of spending but like longterm outlook what do you expect from the new ownership I mean Everything I’ve heard is more on the Gross Beck side that you know he wanted to stick around for more championships and it seems like I kind of wanted him to too. I I know. Seriously. And I think that’s a bit less likely right now. And ultimately with Chisum, all I’ve heard about him is that he is the real deal in terms of like his Celtics fandom. It’s not some phony fake Celtics fandom. I think he is a real fan. And so you’d hope that this new ownership that can at least channel some of what has made Wiccross spec so successful. And part of that to me like the key the key ingredient over the years especially you know in the the prime days of Boston sports winning titles competing for titles every year it’s ownership empowering front offices to do what they think is best for the franchise. And and Danny Ang’s hired an 03 trades Antoine Walker a fa fan favorite. He’s willing to trade away Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets get a hall back in return and ultimately I think that happened with the Patriots with Bellich getting rid of Seymour early and so on and so forth. It happened with all of these teams. Red Sox trading Noomar that’s the key ingredient empowering a good smart front office to do what they think is best. And so as long as Chisum empowers Brad Stevens, who has shown with every move he’s made to be a very savvy, very smart general manager, as long as they continue empowering him and giving him the money that he needs to do the job at his best, I mean, to me, that’s that’s all he’s going to do above all else is empower Brad Stevens in this really good Celtics front office. Last question for me, Kevin. Our conversation today and really the conversation around the Celtics over the past couple months has been all about hey they might be a playin team and if things go right they could be like a five seed of Pritchard’s an all-star as you mentioned things like that is there anything they can do this summer a major minor moderate move anything they can do that will change that conversation and we’ll sit here and say hey they can be a top three team in the East and potentially make a deep playoff run. I don’t think so. I mean, I I think the East has gotten so much better around them and without Jason Tatum, it’s just it’s just so unfair to expect this team to be a top three team in the Eastern Conference. I don’t think there’s a move that Boston should make that puts themselves in that conversation unless internally they feel like Tatum’s going to be ready in February or March. And in that case, then sure, maybe you go for it. But I think the way the Knicks have improved and could continue to improve, the way the Hawks have improved, the way the Cavs are going to try to improve, and you, you know, Indiana’s taking a step back and all that, but the East is is better at the top. To me, Boston, the best thing for the long term is to make this a developmental experimental year and then come back in 26 27 and 27 28 and then that’s when you go forward again because again like this draft this year there’s no guarantee the Celtics will even be in the lottery. But the fact that they have their own pick, it’s a very unique chance, very unique opportunity this year with a loaded draft class up top. Cam Boozer, AJ Deb Bansa, Darren Peterson among others right now that are playing in the underi under 19 competition for Team USA. There’s a lot of number one pick quality talent and a lot of guys that belong in any draft in any year in the top three. There could be seven, eight guys that are worthy of that. So, I think if the Celtics are able to fall into that range and get Tatum back and still have Brown and still have White and a really promising young player, like that’s what sets up sustainable success for the next decade. And that’s what the Celtics should be thinking about, not just the 2526 season. Okay. Well, it sounds like there are a lot of reasons and a lot of names there to follow Kevin O’Connor. You can find him at Yahoo Sports. You can find him as the host of the Kevin O’Connor podcast, Kevin Oconor show, anywhere that you get your podcast. Hey Kevin, thanks so much for joining us, especially right before the holiday. This was really awesome. Hope to have you on again sometime. Thank you. I appreciate it. Megan and John and John. Uh, Brock to represent, man. Good to talk to you. Ride of rock to Kevin Oconor. Forget about Rocky Marciano mega. It’s Al Davis, right? You guys can probably talk about that another time. You know, we we’ll talk about that another time. There’s plenty of Brockton legends.

It’s been a busy offseason for the #celtics, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor joined Meghan Ottolini and Jon Lyons to talk about what’s gone down, what’s still to come, and what to expect from the team this season.

#basketball #nba #nbabasketball #nbatrade #nbanews #nbarumors #baseballnews #celticnews #sports #trending #news #fyp #jaysontatum #joemazzulla #jaylenbrown

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