CELTICS LATE NIGHT | Celtics vs Grizzlies Summer League Postgame

CELTICS LATE NIGHT | Celtics vs Grizzlies Summer League Postgame

Oh, knocked loose. White dive on it. This is twice now the Celtics have been first to the floor. Save with Harford. Unbelievable. Boston first to the floor. So good. Brown fakes. Fires up the three. Tatum dives on the floor. Everybody dives. Brown with the flush. Blocked by Forza. He’s doing it all. Tatum spinning, driving. Washington drives. Blocked by White. Oh, what a block from Derek White. All right, first the floor. Summer League game one in the books. I’m joined by Sam Lef France of How About Them Celtics. Sam, it feels good to be back. It’s great to be back. We’ve had a great day today. We enjoyed the stream. Maybe more laughs on the playback ever than ever. Just watching Ken Loftton just be like, “Watch this.” It It was a good day though. We got to see Ugo, got to see Amari Williams, got to see Max Schulga, got to see Walshie, Shyman, all the gang. We got to We definitely got to see them all. We definitely saw Kenneth Loftton. We definitely saw Baylor. They did they wear white? Was the Celtics Okay, I matters. I say they weren’t at home. Um they weren’t the traditional uniforms, but the boys were looking pretty good out there and man, summer league is especially game one, they’re all these guys essentially first real game together and all of them. Like you go into an NBA season like this season for the Celtics is going to be very different in that I’ve been saying I’m still wrapping my head around that they’re missing five of their top eight from last season. when you count Tatum out for however long he’s out next season. So, there’s going to be a lot of getting to know each other for the real Boston Celtics. But these guys literally, I guess Walsh and Shyman have played together a little bit, but outside of that, none of these guys have played in a real basketball game together. And that’s true all around summer league. And that’s what you can really feel when watching a lot of these games. And I thought that today, especially like the defense, a lot of miscommunications and stuff like that. So I think once you just kind of accept that’s part of the experience and that you also understand that’s happening to every team, it’s not just Jordan Walsh, it’s not just Shyman or whoever that’s getting lost off ball or making mistakes. That’s kind of just a summer league thing. You can just start to settle in and enjoy the good times. I don’t know. Coming into the summer league, I think I was most excited for Ugo Gonzalez, the 28th pick in the 2025 draft, who I had third in the Celtics blog summer league pressure rankings. Not because of anything that he did, and how it’s kind of unfair for him to have pressure as a 19-year-old 28th pick, but just how desperate the Boston Celtics are for an injection of talent and youth. And whether the pressure is on Brad or on Hugo, there’s just pressure for some of these guys to be good. And Hugo, I liked what I saw because I see like a very versatile sample from Ugo, right? Like going into summer league coming out of the draft. It was, “Hey, look at this guy. He tries really hard.” Jack made the really cool Tik Tok mixtape and and breakdown where the first thing you see is his lip bleeding, his mouth bleeding because he’s busting his ass out there trying so hard on defense and we got to see all of the hustle stuff like first play of the game tipin put back like off a hustle play immediately go out goes down the other end steals the ball. So, we got the hey, look at this. This is what he is stuff right off rip. And then Matt Reynolds also had him handling the ball and kind of playing point guard for the majority of the day. And then bonus, he made threes, three of five from three. One of them was a bank shot. Don’t know if we want to count it or not. It went in. He did a celebration after and to be honest with you, it felt like found money. Inside the ark, not as great. He was what? Three of five from three, four of 12 overall. So only one of seven. Seven. Yeah. Got to be a little bit better on that. But he got some good looks at the rim that just kind of rolled off, which is unfortunate. Uh but yeah, I I was impressed, happy with him. He didn’t seem nervous. Had a tremendous sideline interview that made us all erupt in laughter. Great day. The sideline interview. He couldn’t believe that he had to give a sideline interview uh in the middle of a game. He she asked him, what did she ask him? Uh an absurd question and he just responded with uh something that was unrelated to Here it is. I I got I can’t I pull it up here. Um what did he say? Let me see if I can private chat it to you if I find it quick. Ah, he said we’re doing a great job. We got and we got to focus on the game and straight back to the game. So really impressive stuff from Hugo. The intensity is real. Like if it feels like it blends bleeds over from like off the court, his persona and the way that he plays like it was not a perfect clean game for Hugo by or Ugo by any means. Man, that’s going to take me so long um to get that right. But Ugo and the the motor is real. Defensively, he was absurd. Uh, effort-wise, off the ball, some of the gambling stuff. I think if he cleans that up, he’s gonna be a fantast. I’ve got um a clip here which was electric here, Hugo. Something you’ve got to consider. That’s one for to come opportunity full court here. Interesting on Jaylen Wells. Well, one of the things Brad Stevens said in the leadup to summer league, clearly an offensive foul there by whistled for it. Here’s Wells driving on the left side of the lane. Wells the defense by Norris. Lovering gets tipped away by Williams. Walsh again up ahead. Walsh nearly a travel knocks in the three. I mean that’s that’s the big big make big win. I should have probably started with that. the Celtics won this game and move to one and0 undefeated record to summer league as they we want them to get through the next uh to the knockout stages because we just want more summer league games. Correct. But which we definitely did not get last season but that was kind of the the full package. You got the high motor, you got him picking up and it wasn’t Jaylen Wells actually. was someone else um because Jaylen Wells was the one who caught the ball after that and then he kind of gamles and had no chance of impacting the ball at all which um got him out of position several times in this game but then sticks to his guy ball comes back Amari gets a hand on it and then the transition three uh Hugo Ugo talked about how the coaching staff has empowered him to just kind of let it fly and you felt that from a lot of the guys today and they went in today shot looked good he really stuffed the stat sheet. 12 points, four rebounds, five assists. Some really nice kind of like transition halfcourt entry passes into Loftton into Amari. Really just, you know, good feel for where where the game was in those moments. Steel two blocks. I uh I’m I’m stock up. So, I created a uh a scale in the in the aftermath of I loved it of the Thank you. of the of the game here. Stock up, stock down. Uh the scale is either a maximum of three arrows up or three arrows down and neutral is arrow to the side. Um Ugo, how many arrows up or down or horizontal is he getting for this one? In my opinion, I think he probably gets two. The three-point shot pretty encouraging. He did have three turnovers, but it never felt like he was uncomfortable, right? like it wasn’t the kind of like game from Huga or Urugu where yes, he’s the point guard, he’s handling the ball, but Memphis was not able to just blitz him at half court and make him panic. Like when they pressured him, he did well and his turnovers were more on drives where he didn’t quite know where he was going with it, which h I mean, you don’t want to see it, but it’s better than him just getting flustered, not being able to initiate offense. He actually said had some pretty good offensive possessions penetrating, getting to the rim, even if it didn’t go in. So, I was impressed. Three-point shot looks clean. Went in today. The free throws, free throws have room for uh improvement. And I was talking to Jack who was at the postgame presser today and he was like, “Yeah, Jake King asked Ugo about the free throws and he was [ __ ] pissed.” He was like, “Yeah, man. I’m I’m bummed.” Like, he really wanted to do well. And that that’s another part of this too, right? like you’re a kid from Europe, you’ve probably maybe the European guys don’t like fantasize about the NBA as much as we think, but they probably still care. He’s been playing as a pro since 15, so it’s a little different for him. This is like the like biggest butterflies in your stomach type moment. At least to this point, I’m sure opening night will feel very similar, but there’s always like a lot of pressure to come out in summer league and be like, “Watch this. I’m nasty. The team did not make a mistake drafting me.” Yeah. Yeah. He didn’t feel like he came out and tried to do too much and for a guy that, you know, didn’t play a lot last season, a lot of the on ball initiator reps were not there at his time in Real Madrid. And so, it was cool to see him be given the opportunity to initiate some stuff, run some pick and roll. He had some really good moments getting to the rim. And I think that’s why I I give him one one arrow up partly for my own uh hype for Ugo. Uh I was already quite high him so I don’t want to give him too many arrows up here. Um the offball defense was a bit of a ding but the motor like everything that he was built at as I feel like was there tonight had really good feel like understands how to play the game of basketball the motor is like you can’t like you I feel like you should be able to coach that but it’s very clear like a lot of these guys are playing for their lives but he has a different level of like you cannot screen me type of mentality. Uh Spoony made the comparison as well in this playback. Very knee smithy as far as like frenetic energy defensively. Far less frantic with the ball in his hand I thought and as you said comfortable getting downhill and again ding him a little bit for going one for seven on some of those shots around the rim. That’s something that obviously he needs to be better at and don’t love seeing and missing missing the free throws. But this is my thing with Ugo s the frame translated to what I saw on the screen today. I don’t know if Jack mentioned that at all today, but like the dude looks every bit of the 6’6 without shoes, 220 as a 19year-old, like big strong legs, long wingspan. Like he was not getting pushed off his spot on drives. He was able to impact dudes physically on the defensive end. And then if you’re going to have the tools physically, have the motor, have, you know, a relatively high floor from a skill level, and then have the work ethic piece, like I like it. I’m encouraged. One arrow. We’ll give him 1.5 arrows up here, Sam. Any closing thoughts on on our boy Ugo here? Yeah, looking forward to next game to see what he’s able to do. Like, is it going to be a consistent thing? Is he going to be better with the ball? Is he going to be better at the rim? That’s really what we’re looking for because a lot of the stuff at Real Madrid was off ball. Like he was a great cutter. Brad Stevens mentioned Ugo is going to be a great cutter. We love that about him and then summer league rolls around there like actually he’s going to play point guard. Yeah. I think that just speaks volumes about how versatile he is and probably smart as a basketball player. Like Greeny was harping all all on Twitter today like he’s seeing the floor crazy like 10ear vet. So I want to see more of the vision. I want to see what he has in the bag, as they say. In the bag. In the bag. Yeah. Looks good. Yeah. And this is the chance for some of these guys to spread their wings um a little bit, which is which is cool. Love what we saw from Ugo. I think it might be time. There’s There’s a flicker. There’s a flicker of light. Jordan Walsh Island. I was in the midst of paddling across on my makeshift raft over to Baylor Shireman Island and I heard heard noise. We saw we saw some light. We saw a flicker of fire potentially. Jordan Welsh man 17 points, three boards, two assists, three turnovers. Uh plus six, three for six from three. Again, the free throws today, two for four from the free throw line. um this I mean coming into this summer league it’s like I can you just show me something that doesn’t make me feel like it’s over uh because well cuz dude like his contract’s not guaranteed and that that’s that’s just a real thing that so he can be cut at any moment if they want to bring in Dame if they want to do get under the second apron and they want to keep JD Davidson itself cuz in instead because they’re low on guards and they have all these wings with Hower and Ugo and Baylor and and uh and and Niang. So like Walsh literally is not guaranteed to to see him come out and have his one of his better probably his best summer league game. I’d have to go back and actually look at the numbers but um defensively again one of those guys that got lost a little bit off ball which I wonder if it’s just like a defensive scheme thing but looked really comfortable and the 17 points came in the rhythm of the game. It didn’t. It was not like last summer league where he came out and tried to beat Jason Tatum despite coming out today and looking like Jason Tatum with the leg sleeve and the armband. So maybe just Exactly. Just embody the aura of Jason Tatum but not the play style of Jason Tatum. Jordan Walsh. Couple arrows. Couple arrows. You mean no aura of Jason Tatum? Of course. Uh Jordan Walsh. Yeah. It’s like the meme uh of the guy like on the respirator that wakes up from a coma or whatever it is. I don’t know the reference. So, if it’s from some popular movie, please don’t get mad at me. I just know it because it’s a meme. That was Jordan Walsh because Jordan Walsh just had two disappointing summer leagues. Last year was the year we came into last year like watch out for Walshie. Had a decent showing in Maine. He’s probably going to be ready to play. And you said it like just kind of came out and tried to do too much. Today was very much in the flow of the game. And to be honest with you, if you’re Joe Misula watching, this is the sort of performance you want to see from Jordan Walsh. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands. He’s ready for catch and shoot opportunities. I almost wish he didn’t do the gather dribbles or whatever. We were joking about it in the playback giving us Jaylen PTSD, but like it would be cool to see him be able to catch not perfect and set himself and then make the three rather than doing that because it would just feel more game speed. Granted, this is a game with a bunch of guys who are fighting to be in the NBA. So, it’s not nothing. He He made the shots. They were clean. He looked confident. He looked comfortable. He was active defensively. I was very happy with what we saw from him. And this is going to be maybe the biggest year of his career. There’s going to actually be opportunity with Tatum out. We saw the graphic they put on the NBA TV broadcast today. Very mean. It was George Niang starting power forward. They they really don’t have a whole lot of depth in the front court, especially like in that four spot. I don’t think Walsh is going to be a four. He’s kind of too skinny still, even though he looked a little bigger. We’re hyping up the muscles today. Yeah. I don’t know if he’s there just yet to be as strong to defend like a versatile style. Like he could probably hang with smaller wings, but like you play against developed star player wings, it’s going to get tough for him. If he can make threes consistently, his stroke looks good. He looks comfortable. Let’s see. Let’s see you do it again, Jordan. Show us what you got on Sunday. That’s right. They’re They’re saying it was a fluke, Jordan. They were saying it was a fluke. What do you have for us in Make some threes when you don’t do the gather dribble? Yeah, it would be. I will say on the threes, yes, I’m with you. PTSD from the viral clip of Mitchell Robinson defending all five Celtics players, ending with Jaylen Brown getting clamped in the corner because he took a rhythm dribble instead of just shooting a [ __ ] corner three. I will never uh get over that because Nick fans were just jerking off to that clip for till still to this day in hasn’t stopped yet. So that pisses me off anytime I see a rhythm dribble now. But Jordan Walsh the he took one like very late shot clock three uh but then the other two that he missed. One was like another deep one that was online but a little bit long and then another one from the corner that was a tightly contested one that went in and out. So, the shooting was there. And what I really liked as well, I thought he was actually good getting downhill, getting to his spots. I just thought that he had a couple of he had a travel uh maybe had two travels potentially, but getting downhill and then getting Yeah, yeah, it is hard, especially in in NBA summer league. And so getting to spots, but then like didn’t do an awesome job like either getting to two feet and like, you know, making a decision whether it’s, you know, a pull-up, jump shot or or kicking to a to a a shooter. But I like the fact that he got to some spots and gets he gets downhill and when he elevates, he’s got the athleticism to hang and he feels comfortable. Kind of like Jaylen when Jaylen is able to finish like taking contact, adjusting, and then getting a shot shot up on the rim. Whereas like Tatum to me feels like he needs, you know, some cleaner cleaner looks at the basket to finish whereas Jaylen can really take contact and then finish. And I thought Walsh had a good did a good job staying on balance. I thought it was just a nice overall game from here. I’d like to see a couple more rebounds. I’d like to see uh some more defense without getting lost, but I’m encouraged. That’s just kind of like a summer league thing. But Jordan Welsh, man, I’m going two arrows up. I’m going two arrows up because he there are, you know, thirdyear guy. Don’t want to get too over my skis here. I’m going two arrows up for the stock report, Jordan Walsh. I think that’s fair. I I just hope um you know, he’s able to duplicate it. He did have some very patient finishes to your point. Like he had the one late in the game where he drove and it was sloppy and he lost the ball, but then he got it back. He didn’t panic, which was great. waited for the defense to react and then just went up with his left and finished through a tight window, which was great. Uh kind of surprised looking at the box score, he didn’t have any defensive stats. It felt like, yeah, he should have the way this game went. So, I’ll be paying closer attention to his defense on Sunday, I think. Yeah. And one one last thing I thought that was really good, he ran the floor and we love that. Had two two dunks in transition. Just get like that should be a big part of his game. You’re gonna be super athletic. He loves dunk trying to dunk. how many attempted and missed dunks as Jordan Walsh had in his career. And like it there was there’s a clear emphasis on playing fast. And it’s unfortunate that it took uh the loss to the Knicks series and Jason Tatum torn Achilles to implement more pace into the Celtics offense. Alas, they’re clearly doing it. They were flying up and down the court. And I think that he should be someone uh that is a beneficiary of that. Hugo Ugo as well. It should be a fast team. Get, you know, get the ball to Amari. He pushed in transition. And maybe that’s a good uh a good transition here. Actually, let me um let me pull up our friends from game time here and u talk about the god the god Amari Williams in a in a second here. Me. All right. He He had that sick time. One sec. One sec. One sec. Prize picks time and then we’ll get to Amari Williams. Um I think the Red Sox are good again, Sam. You’ll have to confirm that one. They’ve won seven in a row. They’re losing right now. Okay. Okay. Uh hold the phone on the Celtics being back, but for now they might be. Amari Williams is back. I I may have led us astray in focusing on Baylor Shire and points, but the uh the Ugo Gonzalez just points, rebounds, and assists. Pick your poison. Whether it’s the 12 points, the four rebounds, the five assists. I think you would have been feeling good in any of those spots, but maybe it’s the Ugo and Jordan Walsh show in summer league as we move forward here. Some league prize picks, you know, you can’t you can’t beat that when you’re when you’re living your life. So download the app today and use code cls to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Download the app today. Use code cls to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Price picks run your game. Sam, sorry to cut you off there, but that’s all right. I was just trying to fill in a minute. I We got it. I think I know exactly what you’re talking about here. This dime Mario Williams posting up in the close side of the court here. Yeah, it did not. And then he spots Miles Norris other side of the court over the top. GG Jackson trying to get the contest there. This is like a ridiculous find from Amari. Throws the ball where he wants him into the pocket. Bang. And we’ll get to Norris as well here, but we we definitely like the skill set there. But I wouldn’t say Amari Williams had like the loudest game. I was kind of excited by the idea of the Baylor Shyman Amari Williams twoman game. Uh, and you know, maybe they get a little more comfortable um with as as time goes on here, getting like some more flow in the half court. But I think with him, it it was like a fine showing and flashing some of the stuff that we were excited about the pass that we just talked about. He had the open court, you know, coast to coast. Um, co did he what? Did he dunk it? Did he dunk it? I think he got inside and got fouled because there was one in particular. He came up with his left, which he’s left-handed, so I don’t know why I keep saying with his left. I’m just describ that didn’t see it. I’m trying to paint a picture. And he hit a Hezi on whoever was trying to pick him up and blew right past him. Like he looks so comfortable dribbling the basketball for a guy who’s supposed to be like an athletic finisher at the rim with flashes of playmaking. That part of his skill set is not something to sleep on. Kind of exciting, kind of intriguing. I’ve joked with Jack. I’m like, might be some Giannis in there and he gets pissed every time cuz there probably isn’t Giannis in there, but he moves really well for a guy his size dribbling the ball and he doesn’t look like he’s at risk for losing it. I mean, there’s a bit of Giannis in there. There’s a bit of Jokic in there with the passing. Is Is he Is he not the UK Giannis Joic blend that we’ve been searching for? There’s your thumbnail. Just the the Greek Serbian blend that is Amari Williams that likes fish and chips. Nine points on three shots. Was able to finish his free throws. Very efficient there. Um he’s a huge dude. Like he he clearly passes the eye test with the measurables similar to Ugo. Like I I feel like as if some guys, you know, you hear their measurements and you see them out there and I’m I’m like, are they actually who who gave him an extra inch or two? Someone long arms. Super long arms. A 76 wingspan looked like a 76 wingspan. So yeah, I’m not going to go over the top with the I didn’t think that he like did a ton for me today, but he flashed the things that we were excited about like the ball handling at that size. And when you think about um like that’s, you know, with Jokic, one of the things that makes him so deadly is that he’s an elite rebounder. He grabs these defensive rebounds and then he goes and it creates massive advantages for your offense in transition because he is beating his man down the court, the big man who’s been battling him defensively. there’s no rim protector and he’s just out and running and then someone has to come help and then he Joic finds guys either under the rim or find shooters. So, it’s a very valuable skill set because it’s able to um generate, you know, easy offense for your team. So, we love to see that. Love to see some of the passing. But, you know, I didn’t think that he was a dominant um you know, rim protector or rebounder or anything like that, but I’m giving I’ll give him a one arrow up. One arrow up for my boy Amari. I think that’s fair. I would have probably said like neutral just because like he didn’t suck. Like he he didn’t do anything to be like damn maybe we all got a little too hyped for him. Like he showed you the things that you knew about with him. He didn’t really rebound at all for being the starting center which I don’t really know how much I care too much about because Bassie did a great job doing that. There were other guys hitting the glass including Shyman who had five, Ugo had four. So like it it was a team effort but only three is a little like headscratching. Defensively, what I will say is I think he played better defense than the stat will tell you. Even though he has two blocks, there are a couple possessions during the game where I was like, damn, he did a great job defending the guy inside and the guy just made a tough layup. So, I thought his defensive positioning was actually really good and I’m encouraged by that. And offensively, you mentioned only three shots. Felt like they missed him a couple times, too. Like he fell victim. We showed the Ugo highlight where he hit the three in transition. Yeah. Probably should have been a lob to Amari. Like should have hit him. Glad it went in. Glad we got the highlight. Glad we can talk about Ugo making threes. Frankly thought the the alleyoop would have been a better move, especially since Amari ran the floor. You kind of got over reward him. And then there was a dumpoff pass. Might have been for Bassie, might have been for Amari. I don’t remember which one of them it was, but instead they kicked to the corner for I think Walshi on a drive and could have been an easy two points. So he could have easily had 13 14 points instead. Yeah, and I think that’s a classic summer league thing. These big men sometimes get phased out. A lot of a lot of the time it’s these perimeter guys that are going to have the ball a lot. Like even when we were watching that clip just now, I was like I don’t remember an Amari Liup here and Yeah, exactly right. Cuz I’ I’ve just pulled it up again like Amari is just butt naked under the rim right now when Hugo catches the ball. It’s like he should have absolutely just passed. Oh, Walsh should have found him. Either of those guys should have hit him there. So, I think you’re you’re probably on to that as well. Uh, arrows up. Did I get your arrows for Walsh as well? What are you What are your arrows? I think I agree with you. I think I said two. I I thought this was like a much needed everybody can breathe. There’s a pulse. And I think coming in none of us were super high on him. Like, we’re all like Shyman, Shyman, Shyman. Nobody was really talking about Walsh. Yep. And then Amari, I’m go I’ll go one arrow up. Are you Are you in the same? All right, we’ll go one arrow up on Stockwatch for our boy Amari Williams. Um, it’s probably time sadly. Uh, Baylor Shyman, better days. Oh boy, that was rough. And I wonder if there’s a little bit to what happened with Walsh last season where last summer league where he came in thinking I’m going to be the number one option. I’m 25. I’m too good for summer league. I should have been playing last year and he came out and tried to be like Steph Curry and it was rough. I thought defensively was maybe the worst part of it. Like I can I could almost live with the offense in that, you know, he probably could have just made two more threes and like two of them I think went in and out, but he was two for 14. He kept getting to like one foot finishes and yeah, you feel like he was just all over the place. But my bigger concern cuz I he’s never going to be a number one option at least on this Celtics team in a season or at a time where it matters. So I’m not necessarily too worried about that part of it. Defensively he is a [ __ ] mess. He did draw a charge which was close. Uh probably was it was a no call in my opinion. I don’t know man. It was pretty pretty rough for Baylor Shyman here. Yeah. So here Charman’s day today was good and bad. Speaking well, we’ll start with the bad because speaking of like what kind of role can he play with the Celtics this upcoming season and in the future, a lot of people are like he should be able to catch and shoot better. One of eight from three today, not good. Couple of the catch and shoot ones weren’t good. And he seems actually like he’s more comfortable shooting off the dribble at times. Something Jack talks about quite often and I think he’s right. I thought some of the drive shots were actually good. And here here’s what I’ll say. If you thought the drive shots were bad, then you will disagree with this. But there weren’t a lot of moments in this game that I was like, damn, man. He’s like really like holding them back. There were moments that were not pretty. There were misses that were ugly. If you didn’t like the drives, you didn’t like the drives. I like the drives because I was actually impressed with how much body control he showed stopping, slowing his steps, and getting the defender to just project themselves away from him because they couldn’t slow down and change speeds at the same rate. He didn’t make the shots. They were tough shots. I think there’s something in there with those moves that if he continues to work, maybe it’s a weapon. Definitely needs to shoot better. And last positive thing, he had the ball a lot and only turned it over once. had four assists, had some nice looks. Okay. I I think there are like marginal things to be happy about, but this is definitely like an arrows down game. It’s probably two arrows down. I’m not like I’m not like he’s dead. I just think what I look for in Shyman is different than what a lot of people will look for. Like I I don’t really put everything into the shooting. It’s important. It’s what I opened this with. But him being able to playmake is like the sneaky upside thing to him. It is for sure. I love this from RJ in the chat here. Baylor played like he was Sam Hower after the bees on the parade. Yeah, right after Sam Hower puked into the cooler on the on the on the duckboat. That is similar to how Baylor Shyman played today. Yeah. And to your point about getting to the teeth of the defense, Z gamer agrees it is good to see him kind of break down the defense, get into compromising positions. Just got to get more on balance and make better decisions kind of in those spots. So that is a good call there. The shooting’s not everything, but if he’s not going to be a very good shooter, his ability to leverage the playmaking is going to be more difficult is the only He’s also not beating people off the dribble. Exactly. So like he’s really good in the pump fake game. One of my favorite things about him, whether it’s pump faking um off of like swing passes and getting downhill, uh like and yeah, he really uses those to create advantages for him. But if he starts to play more minutes and move up the scouting report, like those pump fakes probably start to become less effective if teams are not worried about you being a knockdown shooter. And I think he’s going to be a good shooter. He shot like 37 38% at Kraton. His numbers I think like I’m not going to read too much into his volume from last season, but 31% 32% I think one for eight today. He needs to be a good shooter at the very minimum. I think he is. I would like to see the good shooting kick in at some point. That would that would be that would be nice. But yeah, uh and because like defensively, I think he really struggled. I don’t know what you because I I like I like the cope because I do agree if you’re going to be the number one uh option. Uh and not turning the ball over is important the team. That’s also another thing in summer league like 17 turnovers in for the Celtics, 19 turnovers for the Grizzlies in a game where you’re only playing 10-minute quarters. I forget it was it was I was watching a Thunder game. Both teams had 20 plus turnovers. Like that’s another just sympto that too. That too. Um yeah. So that’s just a symptom of summer league is these turnovers, right? And and uh the defense for Shyman. I like your cope. I like your cope. Not turning it over. Important. Gave you five rebounds. Found some guys. Four to1 assist to turnover ratio. We could put that on the on the uh on the graphic. That’s nice. cuz cuz the people that think that he’s going to be able to, you know, take Sam Hower’s spot and you can just trade Hower for whatever, like How’s become a very capable defender and Baylor Shyman to me is like the the reason he was dropping in the draft is because of the defense and I think to this point, he hasn’t really shown to me that he has proven that to be incorrect at all. I think throughout the season, Shyman had like decent defensive moments. Today was not one of those days. It I’m really bad at watching games and noticing defense like vehemently, but there weren’t a lot of moments where I was like, man, what a what a great effort or like really good job of cutting that guy off to the basket. Like I didn’t notice a lot of good from him. I’m sure a lot of the rotation stuff like in terms of the defense having to be in rotation had to do with him. Um, but at the same time, like with him and Ugo being the guards, I guess Shel’s out there with them, too. He might be asked to defend some guys who are a little bit out of his range, but it’s it’s summer league. I got to stop rambling. Yeah. Yeah. I I’ll take your word for it on the defense. I don’t have any strong takes. I apologize. That’s fine. Hey, he still managed to be a plus five. Uh, so we’ll take that. Uh, Baylor, I’m giving him three arrows down. Three arrows down. I’m sorry. I’m only going two. Two. One of them goes away for the cope one. The one turnover that that keeps it at two arrows down, not three arrows down. All right, it might be time to talk about the Kenneth Loftton Jr. experience. And I have the clip from the playback here actually, which I it sums it up. Oh, he missed. Oh, that went in. Can’t believe that didn’t go. Oh my god, dude. Is he serious? What is going on? going to be a foul office. What? Just great content. I mean, for all three of us just started laughing. Spoony had had it to that point. Like I going into it, Spoony had had it. Like you guys you guys were out on Loftton Loftton before. Yes. I was like, “Oh, like it’s kind of funny. Like he’s chubby. Like he he had like a good game in the NBA before. Like I don’t know. Maybe maybe something’s there that people like. No, dude. Dude is playing like he’s playing 2K in the wreck by himself. He’s getting offensive rebounds. He’s not looking to kick it out. He’s just putting it back up. He was one of eight from the field, nine of 10 from the free throw line. So, what does that tell you? It tells you the one of eight did not deter him from trying to force the issue like he was the best guy on the team. And to his credit, he is a force to be reckoned with to the point where nobody could really contain him on the drive without fouling him. Like even some of the misses, like you could make the argument that he was hacked. Maybe he’s not the guy you want to play through, though. And maybe this is a good indicator of why he was the Chinese League MVP. He’s able to do whatever he wants over there. You’re not going to be told that you can’t do something and there aren’t really other players that you need to defer to. If you’re going to be in the NBA as a guy who’s playing on a summer league team unless you were just drafted, you’re probably going to have to learn how to fit in. And Kenneth Loftton probably isn’t fitting in. No pun intended, bro. Yeah, we were out before it started. When I wrote about it for a Celtics blog, I said I don’t know why he’s on the team. I think he’s going to take away touches and opportunities from guys that I would like to see actually get touches and opportunities. And he played exactly as I expected him to. His fourth summer league, he played like he is the Chinese League MVP. Said, “I’m going to show you guys what an MVP looks like.” Can’t blame him. Someone’s got to show these guys what it’s like to hold a trophy. Um, this is Jordan Walsh, you know, champion, by the way, Kenneth Loftton Jr., he knows how to win. He knows how to move the ball. It was beautiful. I have nothing. Three arrows down. Maximum maximum arrows down. It was just like it literally looked like he was out there like trying to lose on purpose. Like he he used to play for the Grizzlies. Has some affection towards the franchise. Is like I’m not going to I’m not going to do it to him. Like I’m just going to sell on purpose. He was doing like he was getting offensive rebounds with four people around him. Oh, that was the worst. Facing the guys that are open like literally doesn’t have to turn his head, nothing. The guy in the corner is like, “Hey, look at me.” And he’s like, “Watch this.” And throws up another hook shot and misses. Yeah. It started early. It started often. Like the lack of self-awareness was unreal. And how do you deal with that if you’re Matt Reynolds? M is probably like what what is what do I do with this? 18 minutes for Kenneth Loftton. Just clearly a guy who is trying to play his way back in the league probably too hard. He’s doing the wrong thing. This is this this might be a worse move by Brad Stevens than giving Luca Gaza the second year guaranteed is bringing in. Did you see this other like social team post guess who’s here and it’s just him not Josh might not. I’m sorry I keep calling it Justin. Is it Is it Josh? Wait, is it Justin? I thought it was Is it um It is Josh Miner. Josh Miner. Jeremy Miner. We did talk about um the bus Kenneth Loftton Jr. looking a little bit like him and I couldn’t think of it was it’s Jerome Bettis but in the playback I was like I is it Jeremy Jerome Jeremy Bettis the bus Steelers legend uh Kenneth Loftton Jr. did Jeremy Bettis proud out there today. I’m guessing was a running back for the uh USFL at some point. Definitely not the Steelers running back. Get him off my summer league team. He’s ruining the vibes. Uh three three arrows down. Do you agree? Yeah. Like what what are you doing if you like turn on Sunday’s game like you load up the playback and we’re hearing reports they just asked him not to come back. I’d be happy happy not asked back. Kenneth Loftton Jr. off my summer league roster number one winning the 2024 title number two. Get rid of him. All right. Miles Norris. I feel like a bit of a fan a sicko fan favorite. fan favorite amongst uh how about them Celtics and first of the floor crowds everywhere. It’s hard to not be really infatuated with the skill set of a dude that’s that big that clearly can just stroke it. Dude can just shoot it shoot it. Had that play with Amari Williams just move. Beautiful splash. Had a nice like one dribble pullup off a closeout as well. Yeah, I I really hope that he gets the last two-way because just like the percentage chance that he’s able to figure out the defense like is is he just not budget Michael Porter Jr. Miles Norris has like I mean kind of a good theme through this show. The people that are like Shyman is going to be the Hower replacement. I just think Shyman is different than Hower. If there’s a Hower replacement on this team, it’s Miles Norris. Who? He’s about the same size. He has good size. has good length. Probably needs to put on a little bit of muscle. Really pretty jump shot. Really good confidence. Came off the bench today. Scores a quick five points in the first quarter. Kind of cools off for the rest of the game. So, it wasn’t as fun as it was looking to be early on when I told Jack and Bobby Kitzky. I was like, “Oh, I’ll write about Miles Norris today. Looks like it’s going to be a fun game for him.” But he had good moments defensively. Like, he was part of that turnover where Ugo hit the three in transition. He stepped up really well and Jaylen Wells trapped him, got him to turn the ball over. It’s just a question of whether or not there’s actually going to be opportunity for him in Boston this year. But I think this was like a good indicator like, hey, if you put him out there, he might be able to catch and shoot and make some threes for you. He looks very comfortable doing it. His numbers in Maine were good this year. He shot 39.3% eight games for him. 30 games in the G- League this year, he’s 39.5%. Yeah, high volume. He’s a confident three-point shooter. He can do it and he looks really good. Um, anytime we get to the garden early and we’re watching the stay ready guys go through their drills and stuff doesn’t miss. Yeah. Yeah. He he very clear like the and it’s not just the percentage. I think if if you’ve got it up in front of you, I’m guessing I think it’s like seven attempts or something like that in in his G-League games, but he he gets him up and 8.7 GC. That’s wild. That’s wild. 7.6 six remain in the eight games, but before when he was with the Memphis team, 8.7 total for the year. Dude, nine threes a game on 39% at that size. Like clearly, it’s actually it’s kind of wild to me that I haven’t seen him get some run in the NBA at some point because just anyone that’s that tall that can shoot it like that, that’s just so valuable in the NBA. Like, so uh RJ has pointed out he does have this the two-way, but yeah, they can take it away. Yes. So, uh, I’m there was no one on that played today that made a case, I don’t think, in order to take it away from him. Well, definitely not Kenneth Loftton. Does he bring Maine a championship if he’s up there? Can Do you think anyone could stop him? No, that’s that’s one thing. He is elite at free throw rate and he knocked down all nine uh nine out of 10 free throws today. So, uh, six offensive rebounds. I think at least four of them were his own misses. Uh, another guy that we uh Oh, Norris. One just one arrow up. I feel like just met expectations today. It could It was It was like trending towards two, but then it just kind of kind of not flatlined, but it it didn’t go up anymore after the first quarter. Yeah. Yeah. So, I could give him a side arrow, but I’ll go It’s summer league. I should be I should be kind. Uh, Sugar, the sugar. Max Sugar. I’ve been calling him Matt Sugar. My bad. My bad, SHs. Uh, I honestly wasn’t that impressed with him. I thought he had a couple of nice rebounds, but as a guy that’s a bit older, I was expecting him to be a little more a little more polished. And so, uh, yeah, 0 for two from three, had one just horrendous pull up three that almost broke the backboard. Fine shot. Good shot in Yeah. Yeah. I was trying to justify it on the playback. Yeah. I’m like, I do not understand Sam’s assessment of which pullup threes are good and which pull-up threes are bad. As long as Jason Tatum’s taking them. I know that Sam Lefrance and RJ in the chat here are unhappy with them, but I don’t know. I probably was a little maybe too hard on Sugar and and maybe I missed some of the defense because he had the two steals in a block and I saw some people talking about how he was good defensively. He was definitely active, but uh I was a little underwhelmed for a guy and [ __ ] I mean he’s a 57th pick, so I I probably should lower my expectations, but for a guy that’s a bit older, has good shooting indicators, I was expecting a little bit more. Offensively was not impressed. Defensively, Shoga had this play that I talked about with Jack, which will be up in the morning. Transition might have been twoon-one, might have been threeon-one. He did a fake charge. He was setting to take a charge and the ball handler drove at him and then when the guy got close, he got out of the charge and stripped him and then got the ball back and got a steal. Like the I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen somebody be like, I’m going to take a charge. Just kidding. I’m actually going to steal the ball from you. He has really good hands. He had a lot of the Bulldog stuff we saw from Ugo, too. Like he was picking guys up. He was a pest. and him with Ugo combined in summer league. I’d be heated if I’m like trying to get an NBA spot and I got to see two guys on the other end of the floor. Like, you kidding me? You got just full ball denial guy picking you up at the other free throw line. I I think he’s a side arrow though to to just go with RJ. It was what we expected. I think if he was like drilling threes offensively, we’d be like, whoa, look at him. He had to add one, but he did he did what was advertised. Yeah, I think that’s probably fair. I gave him a a down arrow on my tweet, but you know, got to be little little bit of rage bait for the for the Schulga hive. What do you mean? Yeah. Did you see that transition? Stop. I love it, man. People uh people getting getting real emotional about summer league. People aren’t backing off Baylor either. I got someone arguing with me that uh Baylor is a better defender than Sam Hower. And like I’m just I I don’t want to be too mean to people on the internet cuz I think it feels crunching down. Now I may be arguing like with a very slanted view on this. I want to know how the casual fan is like, “Yeah, that guy’s a great defender.” I like I get it. It It’s my job to like watch these games and I’m not good at it. Like I straight up admitted to you. I was like, “I got nothing for you.” Like I can’t talk that much about defense unless like it’s right in my face. Look how hard this guy is trying. Look at him pick up the guy full court. Like I’m not noticing things. So how how is some guy like random just arguing with you on Twitter like Baylor great defender. You got nothing going on. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. And they’ve got their profile picture as a picture with Jaylen and I’m just not going to be mean to someone. Well, I respect that. And I was like I don’t know. So, especially at this point, I’m not going to quote tweet someone for some something dumb and then people are going to pile on. I like depends on the per like if someone does like a like like a if someone calls me like the rword or like like [ __ ] you, you piece of [ __ ] like goes like way over the top then why don’t you go watch some rugby? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. If someone’s like really racist towards the Australian uh side of me, then maybe. But like I’m I’m I’m happy to leave that alone. I got good news for you by the way. Side note here. Um Ron Holland 28 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals, two assists in 28 minutes for your Pistons. Yeah, there we go. Double hate watch, too. Should have been Should have been the second time they beat the Knicks in a few months, but they should have beat him in the playoffs, man. I know. I know. Both my teams tough. I think that’s definitely going to be the team. I’m going to hop on the bandwag bandwagon, I think, with the next You’re welcome. He couldn’t come. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. I’ll be uh I will be seated. Uh last guy here, uh Bassie. Uh I was afraid you weren’t going to bring him up. I was like, we’re really far in for the first guy on the team. My bad. My bad. My bad, Bassie. I mean, we didn’t know he was on the team till he subbed into the game basically. And I’ll ask you this. Would Charles Bassie be the best big man on the Boston Celtics team as it stands today? Maybe. But what if you ask Neimi? Nimi was nasty in summer league last year, too. He was dominating dudes. So, uh, maybe what I’ll say about Bassie, and this was very impressive to me, and I wanted to tie it into Kenny Loftton. Bassie had seven offensive rebounds. He only missed one shot. So, he was getting other people’s misses. Like, he wasn’t getting the Andre Drummond, I’m going to miss five times and just keep getting the ball back or the Nennis Freedom, I’m going to get the ball back. He was crashing hard in getting those rebounds. He was dominant today, man. I hope they sign him. That if like if I’m Miles Norris, I’m sweating a little bit if he’s still eligible for a two-way contract because if the Celtics don’t want to give up a roster spot to bring in Bassie or if I’m JD, I’m sweating too. It would be silly not to bring him in in my opinion. I don’t know how you feel about that, but it just feels like why would he be on this summer league team if they weren’t thinking about it? You you make a good point on Nimia Kada. Adam just brought up the Lakers game from last summer league. 22 points. You can make a Tik Tok. Seven for 10 from the free from the field. Eight for nine from the free throw line. We know that’s not real. Only eight rebounds though. Three blocks, four fouls. Um plus 15. So maybe you’re right. Maybe I need to be just slow my roll a little bit. Uh cuz I’m really going hard at the big guys. Yeah, it is. Uh cuz yeah, because they can just gobble up rebounds and if they get if the flow of the game finds them, they can obviously rack up big counting stats. Uh yeah, I’ve been um pretty hard on the bigs out here. And but Charles Bassie has been like productive in the NBA before at times. He’s had a ton of injuries. I think he had an ACL. I want to say maybe he did a patella at some point. Um so he’s missed a ton of time with injury. I just I maybe wouldn’t bring him in because I don’t want our team to be good. I want our team to be bad and I’m not sure I want to waste another spot on a like a fourth big man. Like who are you? Because you’ve got Kada Gaza and Tilman all on guaranteed contracts. So you have to then add a fourth big. And I’m like I don’t really want to because who you cutting then your JD. Who would you rather have? I was that exactly what I was just going to say. Uh I was I think I would just lean JD just because you we we don’t have guards. And as much as I’m not a JD guy, I I don’t think that Charles Bassie is going to be a Luke Cornet cuz he’s a bit older, right? He’s what? 24 turns 25 in October. What day, man? Uh 28. No way. Yo, same birthday. Same birthday. Wow. Bang. They gota keep Oh, from the logo. Well, me and Derek White don’t have the same birthday, but our birthdays fall at the same time because of the time difference. So Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah. And so, uh, that’s always fun. He’s July 2nd. I’m July 1st. But Bassie, I’m I’m torn cuz I’m like it would be nice to find the like of Gaza, Kada, Bassie. You just want one of them to turn into a guy that you feel good as a backup. Like if one of them turns into like a good backup big man. That’s a really big win from a developmental point of view. And I do think Bassie has that potential from what he’s shown both in today, but like what he’s shown. He’s played, you know, you know, 113 NBA games and Luke Cornet’s better than him. But, uh, as much as I’m not a JD guy, they do not have guards and he is still 22. It’s crazy. I don’t know. Now that I’m talking it out, I might just go Bassie. I just don’t I just don’t see the JD Davidson path really to being an NBA player. I think if you’re the Celtics, well, you you have Derek um and for now Anthony and Pritchard and they can all be the one if you need them to. Yeah, you also have Ugo and Shyman who you can swing down to guard if you would like to. Specifically Shyman. I think he can do it. Yeah, maybe you don’t need JD. I I just think like you do not have a good enough big man not to take a chance. Yeah, that’s Yeah, right. Like it it just seems like it’s What What is the worst thing that happens? JD Davidson goes somewhere else or you get rid of uh I mean, can you put Bassie on a two-way? Can you do it? I don’t. Is he allowed? Has he played too many NBA games to be eligible? I don’t know. I’m not going to pretend to know. That’s one fact that I have no idea about of the two-way eligibility. But but are you bumping Norris for Bassie because you’re not bumping Sugar or Amari, the two guys you drafted? No, not a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I do. And like JD’s there for potential Simon’s trade. I just don’t think I just don’t think it matters too much. Um, the Tilman Tilman’s the problem here. Him just completely turning into dust is same age as good. That’d be awesome. I’d love that for everyone. I I don’t think we should count out that he could be decent. I don’t think he’s going to be like starting center caliber, but I think like there’s a chance like he’s had enough time to get right after having knee surgery that I don’t know, maybe he won’t be as worried every time he’s put in the game. You know, like last year there weren’t a lot of windows for him to actually go out there and play well. So, he’s probably pressing. There’s actually opportunity. Maybe he’s comfortable again. Who knows? Yeah, for sure. And it’s very possible he just needed an extra year to recover from the knee surgery he had. Yeah. I mean, he’s I cannot believe he’s 26, bro. Like, you look at the difference between Bassie, who’s 26, and Tilman, who’s 26, and the difference in like athletic profile. Tilman looks like he’s about to retire. Yeah, Tilman’s younger. Jesus Christ. Um, he also just lives a mature life. Like he has like three kids. Yeah. Slowing him down. I thought supposed to make you more athletic, stronger, power, powerful. Dad, dad strength. Uh, yeah, man. Definitely not ruling it out. Sam, it’s been a pleasure having you here for summer league game one. Uh, we will be back. Well, Sam might not be back for the next game. Um, but let’s hope I’m not there. Something went terribly wrong for my friend if I’m there. Yes, that Yeah, let’s that’ll be it’ll be a great piece of uh podcast. Me joining the playback would be electric though. Everyone would be like, “Oh [ __ ] what happened?” Yes. For context, if you weren’t on the playback, Sam has a friend. Hopefully, she’s not watching this podcast, which I would imagine she is not. That would be crazy. That would be crazy. Uh, she might be getting proposed to, and if she says no, then Sam will be here. Yes, correct. Uh, fingers crossed Sam’s not here, honestly. Uh, as someone that’s been through the asking of the marriage before, it’s much better when you get a yes, I’m guessing. As someone who has not got a no. Um, but Spoony will be here for late night after summer league game two. Sam, you guys got anything come? I’m guessing of course every day. How about the Celtics coming out tomorrow? Yeah, we’ll have the recap up tomorrow. Jack and I will be chatting uh some content through Vegas. Jack’s going to be a little busy, so we might have shorter full pods, but we’ll still be doing stuff every single day. And be on the lookout for Jack’s stuff. He just had the little Tik Tok with Shyman which was really really cool. So everyone go check it out. Support him. Yeah. Dear Jack Jinx Baylor Shyman. We didn’t talk about that on the show. I actually I I think I’ve lost my fast ball a little bit to be honest with you. I just I didn’t even think about it. It’s summer league game one. It’s all right. I’ll losing people off ball. Has Jack broken Baylor Shyman for the remainder of his career? We will find out. We’ll find out. Jack and Baylor Shyman on the hot seat. Sam from How about Them Celtics. Been a pleasure as always, everybody in the chat. Good to see you. Summer League, baby. It’s been a good time. Till next time, go Celtics.

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