Could Marcus Smart RETURN to Boston? | Joe Mazzulla’s rotation DILEMMA – Boston Celtics mailbag

Could Marcus Smart RETURN to Boston? | Joe Mazzulla’s rotation DILEMMA – Boston Celtics mailbag

Opening up the mailbag for questions about Jordan Walsh, Marcus Smart’s potential return, Joe Missoula’s rotations, and a whole lot more right now on the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Uh-huh. Be ready. It’s the season. Who else could it be? What they going to say now? Screaming like JT Cares. We kept the madness every game, every practice. Prime time. Deon D White on the sideline. Rain and J how it started. Rais how we finish. Lock on Celtics Pot home of the winners. Hey there. Welcome back to the Lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network where it’s your team every day. Your team is the Boston Celtics and I talk about them Monday through Friday for free right here on whichever podcasting app you decide to use. This show is on all of them. It’s on YouTube. Get into the comments section. Share your thoughts there with other Celtics fans and with me, John Carales, beat writer for Boston Sports Journal. Been doing a job, this job, version of this job for like 20 years now, and uh I’ve written a couple of books, been podcasting about them forever. I’ve been around the team for a long time. Today’s show is a mailbag episode. Later on, we’re going to get into the second apron impact around the league, specifically OKC. Marcus Smart, is there potential for his return to Boston? Questions about the Celtics front court coming up in the second segment. Joe Missoula, but let’s start with uh a question about Jordan Walsh, which comes from Ira says, “In all the speculations about possible contributors, why have you not mentioned Jordan Walsh? I thought he showed flashes of playability last year.” And granted, I think this question came in a little bit before summer league where I listen, I’ve been clear on the last couple of podcasts. I’ve been disappointed with him in summer league. Now, I want to be clear. I’m not saying he’s done. I’m I have said I’m kind of like I’m starting to I’m I’m I’m definitely at my lowest point with Jordan Walsh, but I understand that summer league is a different animal. players have looked bad in summer league. Sam Hower looked horrible in summer league. I was ready to move on from him. So we it very easy to have strong reactions to summer league especially when a guy struggles. I’ve said before struggling in summer league is more meaningful to me than success because every decent player is supposed to have success and Jordan has had some. I think the the struggles with speed of play. I didn’t like the fact that he got thrown out and how he got thrown out. Uh I I just don’t like how he has been scoring his points. I just feel like he’s a better athlete than a lot of these guys and I haven’t seen the type of play that makes me think like, oh god, okay, he’s he’s mastered the change of speed. He’s mastered the, you know, the little nuance of finishing around the rim. I I just I haven’t seen that. But he’s also 21, so I’m not saying that he’s he’s never going to do it. He could possibly do it. But is he ready to be a contributor this year? That’s going to be that’s going to be tough. Um um my hope for him is that he once again takes the summer league performance, goes home, chews on it, comes into camp, and and kind of fixes some of those things. I I’m I’m not I’m not completely out on Jordan Walsh yet, but like I said, I’m at the party. I’m looking at my watch and I’m thinking like might be time to leave this party soon. That’s where I am with him now. He could easily turn things around, but he needs to be more consistent with his shot. He needs to be uh smarter with how he drives. Uh rather than just relying on his speed and athleticism to try to get by guys, which I’ve seen the same thing out of him for three years now. This is the third year. I have not seen major steps forward. So, that’s where I’m struggling with this. Maybe that changes, but this is this is kind of like he’s he’s under contract. It’s not even a fully guaranteed contract. That’s I I feel like if he can’t get it by trade deadline, then there’s he can go somewhere else and maybe find it. People have thrown Aaron Nith at me and like, yeah, okay. But no one no one was crying about Aaron Nesmith leaving when he left. And it was part of the Malcolm Brogden trade. It made sense and the change of scenery worked. And maybe the Celtics are in a position where they can keep Jordan around for another year uh beyond this. But I don’t think they’re going to resign him. Like he’s he’s I think done at the end of this at the end of the season no matter what. So, well, I shouldn’t say no matter what, unless he shows a marketked improvement or the potential for significant improvement. I hope I’m wrong. I hope that I’m wrong about this. I hope that we can look back on this and say this was an overreaction. I I listen, I’ve always I never root for the demise of a player, but I’m not going to lie about what I think about a player either. So, I like Jordan Walsh. I think he’s a good kid. I think he’s working hard. He’s there’s nothing there’s nothing wrong. There’s nothing negative about him and he’s a he’s a a guy that you want to keep around the team because he’s just a good hard worker. But this is a cold hard business and you got to perform and if he’s not performing and this is this is where I have my question marks then I don’t see him as a contributor next year. Williams says, “What do you think is going to be Joe Mazula’s biggest struggle concerning rotations this season? Who do you think will have the breakout season?” Well, breakout season is going to be tough, right? So, let’s work backwards on that. Uh you you could qualify Jaylen as a breakout season even at this point if he thrives as a number one option, but I don’t think I think that’s just trying to be too like I don’t think that qualifies. Um can Sam have a breakout season? I think I think like Sam and um Payton have already broken out. Like all of these guys have broken out. Uh, so that leaves like Baylor Shyman as a breakout kind of player. So I’m gonna go with him just because this is his chance to throw, you know, a few a few things out there and and and be a be a contributor where last year he was kind of on the fringe and mostly garbage time. So that’s where I go with that. But what is Joe’s biggest challenge, his struggle? I think it’s going to just be finding the guys that complement Jaylen and Derek and what combinations to use. If you listened last week, I had it was at towards the end of the podcast with Tom where I think you have to start Peyton Pritchard on the bench. And this is one of the questions, right? Every time every time I say Pton Pritchard is a potential starter, there’s a segment of Celtics fandom that’s like, “No, you can’t.” What What do you mean starter? Um, I think he has to come off the bench just so he can come in for Derek White and then Derek can come in for Jaylen. And you’re going to have long stretches. So you have the first quarter, the first four or five minutes of the first quarter where Jaylen and Derek are going to be on the floor together and the last five minutes of the second quarter. So first five minutes of the half, last five minutes of the half and it’s all staggered in between. So that’s how it’s going to be for both halves. What combinations of guys do you put around Jaylen? And what combinations do you guys of guys do you put around Derek to maximize each guy’s strengths? That’s going to be the challenge. What What big do you put in there with Jaylen to run the pick and roll? What big do you put in there with Derek Wright? Derek White to run the pick and roll. Different styles, different uh you know, Derek has the floater, right? He’s more of a shooter. Jaylen is more of a downhill guy. And so, who’s going to be more of the lob threat? Who can who’s going to be an outlet for him? So, it it’s just that little kind of formula is going to be the toughest thing for Joe to find out. He’s going to have to go back and forth and try to just what who on the floor? Is it Shyman? Is it how how far does Pritchard and Jaylen go? Can how long can you play Pritchard and White next to each other? Is that enough size? Uh how do you how do you switch that up against bigger teams? So that that kind of stuff is going to be uh Joe’s biggest challenge when we come back. Nimish Kada, JD Davidson, their questions. And then uh front court and Marcus Smart. That’s all coming up when I come back. Today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. We’ve all had our moments where you go, hm, I thought I had more money than this. 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Let’s move on to Casey who asked, “What kind of role do you see for Namish Kada and JD Davidson playing this season? JD had very limited minutes but was the G-League MVP and Nene had more regular season minutes but was a no-show during the playoffs. So JD, this is great that he was MVP. Can anybody name without googling the last three MVPs of of the G-League? I couldn’t. I had to Google. But can you name them? Before JD Davidson, Mac McClung. M. McClung is not in the league. People, he he’s just not he’s not an NBA player yet. Carlique Jones, Trevlin Queen. I heard we remember Trevlin Queen because he kind of burned the Celtics. uh once, but he’s not exactly making big waves. The biggest names for G-League MVP were Paul Reed a few years ago and Chris Boucher. So, two guys out of the last one, two, three, four, five, six that are serviceable NBA players, right? So, I’m not holding the fact that JD won G-League MVP in the highest of regard. I think he’s again he’s in a lot of ways like Jordan Walsh where nice nice player. He’s I’ve said this before to be the best player in the G-League still means you’re one of the best basketball players in the world. you know that of the the top you’re in the top like half a percent of basketball players when you consider that compared to the entire population or everybody who plays basketball but I don’t see a role for JD Davidson I don’t Nish Kada he has work to do uh I think Kada Kada has nice big kind of showy moments uh he’s a big guy so he has like big dunks he has big blocks you you can see when he’s playing really well, but also he has tr he’s not exactly the most mobile. People talk about him as super athletic and I disagree. I I don’t I do not evaluate him as a super athlete. He had to dip the ball real low to jump. Like he doesn’t just get the ball and go up and get tip dunks. He gets it, dips the ball real low, and then goes back up because he has to get all of that momentum. going straight back up is tough for him. He doesn’t have a strong second jump. He doesn’t go he doesn’t change speeds very well. He can go side to side, so he’s got kind of like these weird quick feet that get him laterally pretty decent, but north south he’s not he’s not great at a change of direction there. So I I think that he’s fine in a third center kind of like okay gets eat up some minutes here and there against the right matchups but that’s it. I I’m not high on Kada. I’m definitely not high in Davidson. I just don’t see it. So um but again look I would love to be wrong about this stuff and and I will be or you know uh on some players. I’d rather be wrong on this end. I’d rather say a guy’s not going to do well and have him do well. But look, Davidson, if if you’re not cracking an NBA rotation by now, this long into the league, it’s hard it’s hard for me to think that you’re suddenly going to be like, “Oh, he oh, he figured it out.” It’s possible, but it’s it’s not it’s not likely. So, I don’t see big roles. I don’t see a a role much at all for Davidson. Uh I and I see more of a role for Kada, but I I’m not like I’m not starting him. He’s not my second string center. He’s my third string center. Andrew on a related note says, “The Celix front court desperately needs help, but what kind of a big would fit best around the Jays? Derek White and Pritchard. A rebounding dribble handoff guy like Sabonis, an athletic jumper like Timelord, a bruising pick setter like Steven Adams. You know, you can make a case for a lot of those guys. I think I want a passing kind of facilitator. So, uh, more of a Sabonis. I want a guy that probably doesn’t require a lot of the, you know, a lot of touches, but can make the most out of the touches that he gets. So rebounding, offensive rebounding, facilitating good passing, that type of guy when you have strong wings, strong perimeter players, you want a rim protector. Uh and and like look, if Sabonis, Sabonis has obviously defensive weaknesses, makes a lot of money, too much money, and but like Sabonis is a guy that I mean, I like him. I I actually think that he’d he’d be pretty good. It’s just that he’s when it comes playoff time, he is is not he doesn’t it doesn’t work playoffwise. So, you can’t build your team around him. He needs to be a better defender, a stronger defender. If you can find that in him, but at this point, I don’t think you’re finding that. But, I like like pick setting, rebounding, facilitating, he’s he’s one of your better regular season centers. It’s just that playoff time, it’s it’s a problem. Stephen Adams is a real interesting guy. Um, but he’s definitely a hack kind of like at some point having him on the floor because if his free throw shooting it’s a problem. The the time lord, a healthy version of him is great because he was a great passer. I just want somebody that does those little things. So, whatever kind of big you get has to be able to set a screen, make a pass, and um and defend. That’s it. I don’t need a shooter. Although a floor spreader would be great, a floor spacer would be great, but somebody who just does those little things like Luke Cornett was was effective because he did the little things. He didn’t hold the ball. He didn’t need. He just got it and got when he touched it, it it went out of his hands quickly. Made a play with it. I have the ball. I should not have the ball. Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derek White, Pton Pritchard, Sam Hower, those guys should have the ball. That’s that’s what you need. So, I don’t need a scorer. I don’t need um a guy that’s going to try to create off the dribble. So, a guy like Sabonis with just a touch more defense, you can dial the other stuff back, but give me a give me some rim protection. So, but dribble handoffs, all that stuff is going to be important. Uh, Marcus Smart, uh, subject of a couple of questions. One from Patrick who says, “What’s your opinion of a potential Marcus Smart return?” I don’t think we get the old Smart back, but you know, after everything that happened. David says, “When you look at the ca the contracts of Anthony Simons and Marcus Smart, they’re both one-year deals, and Smart makes a fair amount less, seeing as the goal is to save money. Would you like to see it?” Um, and so, okay, Marcus Smart coming back, I just don’t see it happening. I don’t think it’s I don’t think coming back to Boston as uh a shell of himself as a you know in a lesser role. Maybe it’s maybe it’s an emotional thing. I mean I can see them trading for Smart and then turning around and trading him away for less uh as part of that kind of constant flip down down down salary-wise. I’m I’m a h a huge Marcus Smart guy. I love Marcus. I don’t want to see her return. I just at this point it’s done. I don’t think he he fits Joe Mazoula’s style anymore. Um I don’t think that that’s I don’t think that that’s going to work. So, as much as I really like Marcus Smart, and I really think that defensive intensity can be helpful, this is this is not going to be a good defensive team. And Marcus, even at his best, isn’t going to change a whole lot. You need front court rim protection. So, that I’d rather find somebody that does that than than Marcus. Uh, if you’re trading Anthony Simons, I just And this hurts me. You can tell there’s like pain in my voice because I I like Marcus Smart. I think he’s a great guy. I just I know we have a propensity for, hey, what about this guy that we know? People want to say bring back this guy, bring back that guy. Um, what’s done is done and I’m just I’m moving on for Marcus. Here’s another one. I’ll do this when he come back. another blast from the past and big name that uh somebody is asking for back people are at two names I’m looking at this two names uh and then we’ll get to second apron OKC and all of that stuff when I come back. All right, let’s get back to this mailbag here. Uh V uh wait, nope. Well, somebody V, sorry. Uh, since it says I I didn’t copy over your first name, I apologize. Since it appears that this season’s going to be a soft tank, why not bring back Isaiah Thomas? It would be fun for fans. Uh, you know, look, it would be, and I I advocated for him coming back a couple seasons ago, but again, like what does that do? What does that get you? You know, garbage time. Sure. Garbage time. Isaiah Thomas. It’d be, you know, it’d be it’d be fun, but I’m not I’m not going to push for the Celtics to spend money on Isaiah Thomas. Moving on from a player like at this point, I’d rather see them sign a guy who got cut and send him to the G-League in that role. You under the Second Apron, I hate to say it, but these sentimental roster spots very difficult. You can’t you can’t really do that. Um, and that goes to this next question from male from the Philippines who uh asked, “Do you see Al Horford returning on a UD Udonis Hassel type role down the road?” No, not really. I think if if he was going to come back, he’s going to come back and he’s not coming back. It’s obvious. Brad Stevens has spoken about him in the past tense, so it’s obvious he’s not coming back. He’s got he’s going to go to either uh Golden State or somewhere else or he’s going to retire and that’s it. I don’t if he comes back to Boston maybe in an advisory role, maybe in a coaching type of situation or or something like that, but I it’s not going to be in a Udonis Hasslam kind of way. All right, let’s wrap this up on some NBA second apron talk. Starting with Nick who says, “The Sun base their booker signing on cap projections. Right. If that’s the case, isn’t it possible we’ve been thinking about the Jays contracts all wrong? Consensus is the Jays need to break up within a few years. But knowing players are going to be making 75 plus per year. Cap projections range from 180 to 200 million. I’m starting to feel some hope that we will be one of the few teams to maintain a supermax core. Am I crazy?” So, the Suns gave Booker 75 million a year or somewhere around that money because I think it’s 72 and a half because they want to keep Devin Booker and they completely screwed up their their cap with the KD and the um the um Oh my god, I totally drew a blank on the I love it when my brain stops working uh because I can see him and I know he’s Jason Tatum’s best friend, but my mind just completely shut down. Uh to a point where I actually You ever have a moment where you know the obvious name is right there and you’re all I can hear you screaming at at me. How can you forget his name? But it just left my Bradley Beal. I I didn’t even look that up. I didn’t even look it up. It just popped in my head honestly. Like you know the name. I knew the name. How does How does the name Bradley Beal I’m looking at his face in my mind. How did that name not get So they screwed it up with the Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant uh moves. they decided to give Booker this incredible extension. Um, so as far as the Celtics go, the cap has been going up 10%. Um, and it continues, it will probably continue for a couple of years. Um, Tatum’s extension is going to kick in. I think it’s actually started to kick in already. In a couple years, both guys are going to be making over $60 million. It’s just you can do it with two supermax guys. It’s just you couldn’t do it with two supermax guys, two guys making over 30 million, another guy making over 20 million. Like that’s that’s where it starts to get expensive. You can do it, but you can’t do it with a million guys. and you can do it and you’ll have to still be a taxpayer. So, just to clear up the why people are saying Tatum and Brown are going to have to get broken up at some point. Well, first of all, at some point you’re going to have to uh rebuild. At some point, that’s going to happen, right? It’s you’re just not going to you’re going to have to bottom out. You’re going to have to start looking at going for top picks, right? you’re going to have to start moving these guys uh in their early 30s. Even if you roll for the next few years, you’re going to have to maximize when you trade these guys so you can get a bunch of picks. You’re going to have to send these out to, I don’t know, like OKC or some somebody, you know, the Indiana type teams in the world, the the the almost their teams that are going to give you a bunch of draft picks, that are going to give you young players, and you’re it’s just it’s it’s coming. The the guys aren’t going to finish their careers on the same team anymore. It’s just how it goes. So, somebody Jaylen Brown will finish his career somewhere else. I think Jason Tatum will finish his career somewhere else. I hate to say it, but that’s the reality. At some point, you have to bottom out. But they can keep Tatum and Brown for the next few years if they’re willing to pay that tax. They just But if they’re gonna want to get underneath the tax, then at some point you’re gonna have to really re-evaluate the structure of this team. So, you can stay under the second apron with your two Max players, super max players, but there’s a limit to that. So, that’s that’s where all of that comes from. And finally, Matt says, “There’s a lot of talk of the second a second apron coming for every team. Does an OKC seem kind of second apron proof? They could potentially keep ressigning their players if willing to pay a ridiculous tax bill. Then with how many draft picks they own, they could use a lot of those to trade uh further out uh in the years that their their picks would be frozen at the bottom of the draft. So, it’s an interesting like you could say, “Hey, whatever, you know, we don’t care if our picks down at 30 even if things bottom out because we’ve got picks from all these teams and those are going to be bad.” But you also want to control your destiny. So, when it comes time to be bad, you want to be able to be bad and control where your pick lands. So, you can’t you can’t just say we have this Phoenix pick and this Philly pick and this pick there and that pick there from these other teams and that will shield us. But they are in a sense uh more insulated from the second apron because of those draft picks because they can make those picks and hope that they can hit they can start. So, they just gave a bunch of contracts. They gave out Chad Holgren. They gave out Jaylen Jaylen Williams. They uh I think they gave out one more but oh well I’m thinking of maybe the Shade Gilders Alexander extension which starts at $63.7 million in two seasons. So this upcoming season they’re fine. Next season 2627 they’re going to have problems because they’re going to be at $245 million which is going to be well over the second apron and they’re going to have to think about do we want to be here? And maybe they do for a year. Uh they can keep they can keep Hartinstein, they can keep Lou Dort, they can keep uh a few of these other guys. Uh, but this is why on the uh, locked on NBA game night podcast, I was talking about Nicola Topic, who has looked good and could be a guy that in a couple years they a guy that they turn to for, you know, to to fill a cheap role because they have him under contract uh, on team options for two more season upcoming season. So, he’s a guy that can help them withstand the second apron. They’re going to lose Hartinstein at some point. They’re going to lose uh Dort. They’re probably going to lose Caruso, but their draft picks are going to be there. They can probably try to start drafting some of these replacements. So, the second apron is going to come for them. They are going to have to start moving guys. Like I said, those those guys that I mentioned, maybe at some point Jaylen Williams or Chat is going to have to go and they’re going to have to figure out which one of those two is easier to keep because in 2728 two so you got next season, the season after that, and then three seasons then you’re going to have a bunch of open roster spots. Shay at 63, Chad at 45 almost, Jaylen Williams at 45 almost. So that’s what 140 150 154 155 just in three players with a lot of open roster spots a year after you went into the second apron. So that’s going to be another second apron year. Second apron too restrictive. You can’t make trades. You can’t make you know you it’s much much more difficult in a team a small market team like OKC. they’re not going to want to pay massive luxury taxes. So, they haven’t been a taxpayer. That’s a situation that’s much different than Boston. They were Boston was a repeater. OKC is not not yet. They they’re just going to get into the tax for the first time next year. So, they’ll have like two, three seasons and then so that third season at 2728, the year after that, the repeater tax will kick in. They’re not going to want to pay that. Not an OKC. So that’s going to be I think where they draw the line. What insulates OKC is the draft picks and hopefully for them the draft picks hitting and you’ll have Shay and Chad and two guys on rookie contracts and you know some guys on smaller smaller deals and th those are the types of deals that are going to be um I think what get you through and can keep more of your core intact. through those tough sec second apron years. That’s where OKC seems second apron proof, but no team is fully second apron proof. They’re going to have to pay and they’re not a big enough team. They don’t bring in enough money where they’re going to be able to withstand some of these some of these restrictions. So, I think I think it it’s going to it’s going to come for them in a similar way that it comes for everybody else. and they’re just hoping that some of those draft picks hit or they can turn around and make some trades and redo their roster to bring in cheaper guys who can do the same things. We’ll see how it goes there. Thank you for the questions. All the questions can come in at johncares.com/mail.ag johncaris.combag for questions. Uh this is the Wednesday show. Uh I’ll be back for you know another show. Uh we got Monday, we got Monday through Friday this week, next week uh week after. So that gets us through the end of July. Then August, September, we’re 3 days a week. Uh so that’s going to be the schedule. You everydayers who are with me all the time, thank you so much. I do appreciate it. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen. 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