LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Hawks Postgame, Summer League Recap

LIVE Garden Report: Celtics vs Hawks Postgame, Summer League Recap

Hard hat’s all about showing up to play hard, doing what it takes to win. If you want to cement legacy, win another. He’s your third center. You don’t want to pump him up too much, but it’s hard not to. This is maybe the most I’ve ever agreed with you. What’s up everyone? This is Noah Dzel and I’m here with Jack Simone of the How about Them Celtics podcast in Hardwood Houdini for the final Las Vegas summer league postgame garden report recap. Uh this was a fun team to watch. I’m going to miss watching this team. I don’t know if that’s a crazy take. I don’t know how many people agree with me back home. Um but they finished four four and one 81 100 to 81 today. Um that’s not the score. I need to find the right score. Oh yeah, it’s right here. 101 to 80. Apologies. Um, but this was a fun team. This was a fun group. It’s been a long 11 and a half days at Las Vegas Summer League. Um, Jack, initial reactions just as you think about this team and we were here for most of summer league last year, too. I feel like this group was a lot more fun to watch than last year’s. Yeah, this group was fun. I I enjoyed that was just such an onbrand comment, which is why I was laughing like I’m going to really miss watching the Silver League. I love them. They were so like today was so fun to watch. Just the problem is here’s the problem. None of the none of the like draft picks or like the young prospects had a phenomenal summer league. Like had Baylor been going for 30 a night, but the team was one and four, fans would be happier, you know? But as somebody who was around this team for the last two weeks and watched all their games, like they were fun. They were they played hard. They played well. I agree. It was just it was a lot of team basketball, not one individual person. 100%. You’re 100% correct. It was it was just that I really like the summer league Celtics into not into the not knowing the scores on the screen pipeline. It was just like two noisms in the first five. It just made me laugh. Uh I like this team a lot. It was very fun to watch. Like they it like from the jump it was very clear like Baylor was struggling shooting. Ugo wasn’t like dropping 30 a night but it it was very clear that the Celtics trained them to play a very specific way that led to winning basketball. Right. Like they went 4- one in total in Vegas and they were pressing past half court the whole time. They were running a lot of offball actions to get shooters open. They were cutting off the ball because of Mario Williams is a great passer. Like they were playing a very onbrand style of basketball to probably what the Celtics are going to have to do next year without Jason Tatum. And I’m not saying it’s going to be one to one. Obviously, it’s very different players. But just just the way they played was more of a let’s try to win basketball games rather than okay, let’s just have our rookies drop 30, which I enjoyed watching. Yeah. And honestly, the probably the most encouraging thing to draw from this group was the coaching staff because I think this team was super prepared. This coaching staff was super prepared. Everybody like I don’t know how much people care to know this, but like the way that summer league works is Joe Mazula is not on the bench. She came to watch a couple of the games from the bleachers. Um, and everybody else is like in an elevated role from what they’re usually in. So Matt Reynolds, longtime assistant, becomes the head coach. um you know, Nana Fooland and a couple other people who were uh Sham God, they’re the ones that are now doing like challenges. They usually aren’t even on the bench, so they’re usually in the locker room. So, everybody has like additional responsibilities and you could tell that this coaching staff clicked and you could tell that the players were bought in, they played hard, they played together. Um and again, we see the coaches all the time, all the assistants. I think for for people at home, it’s like Joe Misoula is the face of the staff, but there’s a ton of people uh that are involved in the day-to-day. And I think that they had a really productive run here. And there’s no turnover. Like the exact same coaching staff is coming back next year from last year, which is pretty unique as well. Um, as far as prospects, we saw today, I didn’t think anybody was going to play, but all of the rookies played, Ugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams, Max Schulga. Um, who stood out to you the most of those three guys heading into next year based off of their summer league performance and just things you knew kind of heading into this? Yeah, it it’s almost like a mixed bag, right? Like I I think the flashes that Ugo and Amari showed were the most significant, right? Like but but that’s the key word. Like it was flashes. Like I think Max Schulga was the most consistent. It’s just he got the Baylor treatment of he literally could not make a basket. And so it but but when you look at his track record of shooting in college, it’s hard for me to say, “Okay, he’s a bad shooter.” Like you can’t like the actual shot making is not something that you can really pay attention to in summer league to a certain degree, right? Like obviously Baylor shooting what he did you’re like all right well he’s obviously has to turn it around just like Schulga obviously has to turn it around but like whenever Max Schulga had the ball in his hands he wasn’t turning it over he was setting setting up the offense well he was getting to his lanes he he takes a few too many of those mid-range like floaters that either needs to cut out or get better at. I thought Amari Williams was really good as a passer obviously getting those back cuts that was super impressive but at the same time he was like almost a step behind like on defense in terms of how quickly he reacted to things and then Ugga was just rushing like and then that’s normal for a guy who was so young but like off the ball he did a great job cutting he did a great job crashing and offensive rebounding like you could tell he was very adept as a defender but it was he was driving through traffic without a plan. It was he was going for steals when he shouldn’t have and he should have just been staying in position. So I I think there were certainly ups and downs for all three players involved. Like I think the upside for Ugo and Amari is definitely a lot better than Max Schulga, but from what I saw from Max Shoga, it was he he was just more consistent and he played like he’s 20 30 24 and that’s his that’s how old he is. So I I think it makes sense. Um but yeah. Yeah. And after the game, Matt Reynolds said that Schulga had like a really consistent floor game. Uh, so it’s not going to blow nothing he did was would blow you away, but there’s a lot of bad decision-making in summer league, like a lot. And I feel like he was actually not responsible for a lot of it. Like he was Yeah. probably one of their most reliable players. Um, I’ll give a shout out to Isaiah Wong, who I don’t know how much we’re going to talk about him, but he was pretty impressive. Like this is the guy, this is his third summer league. He’s played for a couple different NBA teams. He just played in Lithuania with Lonnie Walker actually, you know, over the winter. Um, had 18 points tonight. Was just really kind of phenomenal offensively. And after the game, he talked about, you know, his goal right now is to show that he can defend and that he can he can playmake. Um, and that was the big change from I everybody knows that he can score. I was sitting next to a Pacer scout. He was previously on the Pacers. He said that’s not a question. So, he’s one of those fringe players uh that, you know, is kind of like one foot in the NBA, one foot out. Uh, a couple guys, I mean, really, everybody that played tonight showed some promising flashes. Um, I don’t have a ton honestly on on Ugo because I do think that he played very rushed throughout the summer league. there was just the learning curve right now is so steep um that it’s hard to draw too much. But I will just say I looked into this because I remember this discourse from last summer. The summer league three-point shooting just does not correlate well at all to NBA three-point shooting. And some people have looked into this and really plotted it all out and you can Google it, check it out for yourself, but it really doesn’t. So that’s why the guys that didn’t shoot well, Baylor Shyman, Max Schulga, really I mean this team did not shoot well as a as a collective. That’s not really what I was looking for here. It’s a fivegame sample and when I asked Matt Reynolds about Baylor yesterday, he was like, “If you were shooting for five games in December or January, February, it would just be like not a big deal.” But I think because of summer league, everything gets extra scrutinized. Um, Baylor and Baylor Sherman and Jordan Walsh both did not play today. They were the only two guys on the roster who were in street clothes. Kenny Loftton was not with the team today. He had a prior obligation for the last day. Uh, Baylor and Jordan. Uh Jack, what are your kind of reactions to those two guys who it’s not their first go around the previous two, you know, draft picks for the Celtics the last two years? What do you kind of make of their performance here over the last two weeks? I I think I ended up pretty like relative to where I was before, high on both of them. I’m not going to say like the stock skyrocketed. Like neither of them had unbelievable performances, but Baylor did a great job of doing everything that wasn’t actually putting the ball in the basket. And I know that sounds like kind of backwards, but they like in a way you can’t really control if it goes in. Like obviously you literally do, but if you’re in a slump, you’re in a slump like you said, like if he had this five game shooting slump in January of next year, we’re just talking about it. Oh, we hopefully he’ll he’ll bounce back soon. But since it’s his only basketball we’ve seen him play in a month and we will see for a few months, like it’s it’s tough. Um, but I I think outside of that, he did a great job. I think he was a little bit too antsy going for steals, which worked out a lot, but I think he needs to do a better job of staying in place and, you know, moving his feet on defense. But I thought his playmaking was great. I think his uh ball handling was very necessary for this team. He had a great job uh or excuse me, did a great job setting up his teammates for uh you know, making plays and and getting open threes for his other guys. And for what it’s worth, for as much as the shots didn’t go in, creating his own three-point looks, he did a great job moving off the ball, like getting those almost JJ Reick, Sam Howeres, like I’m going to come off the screen and then shoot the ball immediately. Like he he did a good job getting to those spots and they were clean looks. They just didn’t fall. And then Jordan Walsh, like he he was confident. He did everything he needed to do. Obviously, the ejection was less than ideal, but getting to his three-point shots, taking the chance to create when he needed it. He got into the paint very, very well, but it wasn’t like once he got there, he was lost. sort of like Ugo struggled with a little bit, but he did he planted his feet, made a pass if he needed to, you know, went up at the rim if it was there. Like I think both have earned their chance to be a part of the rotation for at least stretches next season. Yeah. And I think with, you know, I asked both Jordan and Baylor who they’re currently studying like from a film perspective. Uh because there’s obviously, you know, it’s it’s interesting like all these guys are in the position where they’re not they’re not quite like NBA rotation players. Those two guys have had NBA experiences in NBA minutes. Uh Baylor Shyman said that the three guys that he’s kind of been studying and drawing different parts of their game from are Mike Conley with the floater, uh Luca Donic with the passing and the playing off two feet, and then uh Duncan Robinson just kind of the flying off screens, the three-point shooting, all of that. Um and I think that was an interesting trio of players. I can see what he’s saying there with all three of those guys. Jordan Walsh was the more intriguing comparison because I think you can kind of see it better. He mentioned Jaden McDaniels and Aaron Nesmith as two guys that he has their film on his phone on his iPad. He’s constantly watching it. He’s con constantly studying it. So I I know sometimes like you hear the the comparison. You’re like, well, you know, Baylor Charm is not going to be Luca. But it’s interesting to see what they can draw from these other guys. Um I felt like they both had a pretty good summer league and neither of them like blew blew us out of the water here. Um and I was curious to see if there was going to be like a clear separation of like, okay, this is the guy that coming out of here just seems head and shoulder above the rest. That’s the big question that wasn’t answered. Uh Baylor maybe looked the most comfortable, but as far as shot making, Jordan was more reliable. Ugo, I think, looked a little bit behind both of them just as far as the learning curve, and that doesn’t mean much for his long-term outlook in Boston, but just for right now, he’s not going to come in right now and be an impactful NBA player without a little bit of time here. Um, so I feel like they both had a pretty decent summer league. just I think we’re we’re probably hoping to see like one person separate themselves from the pack and we didn’t really get that here. I don’t think I think if Baylor even shot like 35% it would have been that guy. It just it just didn’t happen. His shots just weren’t falling. I think one of my biggest takeaways is all three rookies probably need some time and made and that makes sense with a guy 28th pick and then two second rounders. But I think a lot of people with all the stuff around Ugo, I mean, I made a video on him like I can you can very clearly see the pathway, but you get like take a step back. Remember, he is 19. He was the 28th pick for a reason, right? Like he got all this hype of a top five pick and I think the potential still could be there, but there’s a reason he fell in the draft. And so I think all three of those guys in Schulga in Amari Williams and Ugo are going to need some time up in Maine. And if anything, it’ll be good for them. Get some more consistent reps with the team and get to play 30 minutes. It’s like I don’t think Ugo sitting on the end of the bench and getting in five minutes every other game is really going to help him in Boston. And so I I think all three of those guys will benefit a lot and you’ll get to learn a lot about them uh from spending time in Maine. And you’re probably not going to see Jordan in Maine this year. He played one or one or two games with the main Celtics last year. Baylor Sherman, it was pretty obvious that at one point in the season he had graduated from Maine and he went up to Boston or down to Boston and that was that. So, those two guys, like two guys that did not play today, I don’t think you’re going to see them in the G-League next year. They’re going to get NBA opportunities. How much how many opportunities is going to depend on whether they can be impactful in those opportunities. And that’s people forget like people forget in November Jordan Walsh was in the rotation. It was not a lot, but he got opportured. So, like Jordan had chances. He’s going to have more of those chances this year and I think he’s going to be more ready. And, uh, one thing that’s noteworthy is his shot looks better. and he said it feels better. Um, and he I think you asked him about that, right, Jack? This week about just his three-point shooting. He said he’s been working on it with Craig. He’s kind of focusing on his feet and little kind of corrections there. So, his shot has looked better and he’s looked more confident. Um, and that that’s the big thing like he is going to have to ultimately hit threes in order to stay on the floor um for this team. That’s just I I don’t see really see a world around that. Same thing for Baylor. So, that that’s going to kind of figure itself out as well. Um, anybody else from the other guys? I’m seeing some people here. Jaylen Bridges is somebody that stood out. Um, anybody else that stood out to you, Jack, from the other guys, not the main ones that we’re always talking about. Yeah. I mean, ironically, the main guys, as in guys who could be in Maine next year of of the like end of the bench guys who I’m like I I would like the Celtics to keep tabs on, or I think they probably should keep tabs on. Um, I like Jaylen Bridges a lot. I think the three-point shots there, him and Zack Hicks are very clearly really good three-point shooters. um you worry about their defense guarding the first step a little bit like can they stay in front of ball handlers. Zach kicks definitely a forward so he’s gonna have to guard some of those super athletic guys and maybe switch on to big so you wonder if they can get there. Um Hayden Gray was just really fun to watch like work stealing the ball. Obviously he came in as this NCAA steels leader all that stuff and you could see how actively he was looking for steals. Um but of all the guys at the end of the bench like I think the one that stood out to me the most um throughout summer league really was Jaylen Bridges. Like I just think the three-point jot has been there consistently throughout stages of his career. I I think the defense could be there. Um he just has to work on it. Ben Greg impressed me too. I thought his rebounding was a lot better than I thought it would be. Um the shots a little funky, but like just the way he battled down there was good. Um and then we can talk about Miles Norris too, but he’s on a two-way. So of the guys who aren’t on two, those are the guys who stood out mostly. Yeah. And I see someone here asked about the the the way the two-ways work. It’s there’s three two-ways. Miles Norris was already signed for one of them, so that’s already a thing. And then there’s two other spots that are not official yet, but I would imagine they go to Max Schilga and Amari Williams. It’s pretty unusual to draft a player and not offer them a 2-way. Um, so those are the two guys, and that’s part of what ultimately sent Drew Peterson to Charlotte is the fact that now there was three rookies and two of them were going to be two rather than just two, which was initially slated when they had the two picks. So, uh, they’re both slate, currently slated to get two-way contracts, but that has not been they have not been officially signed yet. Um, and honestly, I I like Miles Norris, though. It’s just he has he makes certain plays where I’m like, “Okay, that is an NBA player. That’s an NBA rotation player. He can shoot. He’s long, he’s tall, he’s athletic, and for some reason, he’s just never able to like like I thought he was going to have 30 points today, and then he doesn’t.” So, I don’t know if it just needs to come together, if he needs to be more aggressive. him. Granted, he played 18 minutes, so it’s, you know, he didn’t have a ton of opportunities, but I’m still waiting for him to get the chance to like really break through. And actually, that’s funny you say that because somebody says Obi Toppin is one of the guys that he mentioned as like who he’s kind of modeling his game after. Um, so he has been watching Obi-Wan film. Um, yeah. I don’t know. You you like Miles, right, Jack? I like Miles. I like the outline of Miles. It’s just like you said, the consistency hasn’t been there. Like he’ll shoot three or four for a couple games in a row and then he’ll go on a cold stretch where he doesn’t shoot very well. And I mean that’s the case with a lot of younger players or guys trying to break in league. Like at the end of the day, the same thing goes with Baylor and Walsh. Everything we’ve mentioned like you have to be able to hit the shots consistently. And you can do all the other things really well, but you got to be able to do the things that you’re build to do very well to stay up like off the ball. He’s been a pretty good defender. He uses length. He can challenge at the rim a little bit. He can get his hands in passing lanes, but at the same time, he’ll get beat off the dribble a couple plays in a row, right? uh offensively he’ll take a three in transition and it’ll you know cash it and he’ll look at the Hawks bench and it’ll be hyped up and then two plays later he’ll miss like two wide open threes like it’s just I I like the build. I like what Norris could be and if he impresses in Maine again next year I think it’ll be very worth like let’s see if we give him a couple chances in the rotation of Boston if and if it sticks but he just has to be more consistent with what he does and um I can see a world where it happens but I could also see a world where it doesn’t. And the last thing I’ll say, then maybe a quick message to my friends over at Prize Fix. I think Baylor was clearly the leader of this team. Um, I was sitting right next to the Celtics bench today. I don’t even know if I was in an official media section because I really wanted to hear what they were saying. Um, and Baylor was like kind of, you know, urging everybody on talking to the guys on the floor. Um, Aaron Scott in particular was somebody who I really like the energy and hustle that he played with today. He was really kind of coaching him up. Afterwards, Aaron said that Baylor kind of took him in or just went great when when camp started. Um, so Baylor I think has, you know, he’s older. He’s 24. This is his second year at summer league. He had a good summer league last year. Like I think he showed probably his shot making was a little better last year, although you can tell he’s a better player now. Um, that that’s just a little kind of observation is that there were really good vibes around this team. Like even though there was some, you know, internal frustration. I think a lot of guys probably feel like they didn’t play at their best, they didn’t shoot at their best. Um, but he I think he he kind of kept his spirits really high and it did kind of stand out. It’s unusual to see guys struggle like that and have it not impact their body language, their leadership, their intangibles, their hustle, all those things. And he really, it never strayed. He looked more frustrated today when like Aaron Scott missed a shot than he had looked himself uh when he had missed his. So, shout out to Baylor for that. 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Once again, download the app. Play five, get 50 instantly when you use the code CLNS. Prize picks run your game. So that’s that’s it on summer league. Those were the five games. 4-1 record. I think they should have gone 5-0 and they should have been in the championship game which is starting right now. Uh or just started. But that Miami Heat lost. You have no margin of error at Summer League. Even some of the undefeated teams didn’t make it for point differential. And I think we’re all going to remember that Jordan Walsh ejection because it felt like that was kind of where they lost it a little bit because he was really one of their most reliable um and consistent players. I do have some breaking news to report. I don’t know how how engaged people are going to be, but Hayden Gray officially has signed with the main Celtics. So that is one guy that will be on their main Celtics roster. A lot of the guys on the main Celtics from last year have been dispersed kind of across a bunch of different summer league teams. So there is, you know, it’s going to be a completely different group over there. So I know some of the listeners of this show also follow the main Celtics. Some probably only when the two ways go up there, but they, you know, they’re going to have a completely new look. Phil Pressie will be the head coach over there who was formerly a Celtic player, one of the player development coaches. He’s going to be moving up there. We were chatting with him about that yesterday. But Hayden Gray, I actually loved the minutes that he had on the floor today. just like he had an incredible transition block that was he had no business getting a couple of steals, a couple of deflections, and he was the NCAA’s all-time steals leader last year. Um, so or not alltime steals leader, le national leader last year. So, uh, that was pretty cool. I thought, you know, what do you think about him, Jack, as far as where he kind of ranked amongst those guys that were didn’t really get much of a chancell today? He was good. I tweeted like it’s one thing to know that a guy was the Steels leader, it’s the other thing to see like why. And it was just so clear like every time he saw a play happening like he he could see plays unfold before they actually happened. There was one where the a big caught it on the roll and he like turned around and then Hayden Gray was already there ready for the steal and he was like 32 seconds into the game and he got a steal. Um so that was fun. Uh he moves really well off the ball too. There was a play in I think it was the fourth quarter where he drove kicked the ball out to Isaiah Wong and then relocated to the corner and Isaiah Wong drove and kicked it back out and that’s how he got his open three. There was a play earlier in the first half where he like cut under the hoop and got an easy layup on the rim. Like he he just knows where to be on the floor and I think that’s probably why he was the NCAA steals leader. Like he is very aware of where everybody else is on the floor, where he needs to be to make an impact. And I’m not saying this is going to be like, oh, he’s going to be the next like main Celtic success story, but getting a closer look at him in Maine absolutely makes sense. He’s a great defender, at least in terms of like getting steals and and knowing where the opposing players want to go. Um, he looked pretty comfortable with the ball in his hands. his shot looks all right. Like I I think he’s very worthy of the main Celtics contract. And uh just to someone said, “No, I thought it was big news. If I’m breaking it, it’s probably not big news. It’s probably or if I’m the first to report it, it’s probably not big news. It’s probably main Celtics related news.” Uh so, but anyways, I I I was excited to hear that because he has been pretty fun to watch and it’s just cool to see people with that ball hawking instinct. It’s one of those things where if you just if you don’t have it, you don’t really you can’t really do much. Um, but I mean, I guess you could try, but you can just see some guys just don’t have it and that’s just their nature. I don’t have it as a basketball player. Jack knows. Um, I try my best. Um, I’m seeing some comments here on Josh Minot as as a prospect. Besides for the guys that have been here at summer league, just want to remind people Josh who we we actually met for the first time last week. He spoke briefly at halftime of one of the games. Luca Garza also was here. Uh George’s Niang was courtside for that same game along with Xavier Tilman who will also be on the roster next year and Mascada who I know Bobby has spent some Bobby Manning has spent some time over in Portugal with. So a couple different guys that will be returning outside of the guys that are here. um of those like players that were not in the rotation last year, whether they’re new acquisitions or they’re returners from last year, is there a guy that stands out right now is like this is the guy that you know they have an opportunity to kind of really break through, really, you know, be impactful for this team because I do think we’re forgetting that, you know, the guys that here have been here at Summer League, that’s just like a portion of the the younger players that are going to be battling for minutes. I I think obviously Kada has the biggest chance. You have to assume he’s going to be the Celtic starter next season. I I think the peak of Kada is definitely capable of being an NBA caliber rotation center, whether it be a starter or backup center. It’s just a case of can he do it consistent enough and sort of eliminate some of those positioning mistakes. Um I’ve been skeptical in the past just cuz he like at least positionally and in terms of making those mistakes, it didn’t seem like he got a ton better from year to year. He also didn’t get the chance to play through them. So, I think that’s going to be huge for him and I would, you know, love to see if he can manage to do that. Uh, I I also think that Baylor Shyman and Jordan Walsh obviously this summer like don’t put that on the screen. I knew you were going to put that on the screen. Like come on. I saw your eyes move. I saw Mark. Come on. Um, I think of the guys they signed in terms of May not and Luca Garza like Garza will probably have the clearer path to opport stop. Garza probably has the clearer path for opportunities, but I I do think Minot is probably the more intriguing player. I think defensively he is very underrated. Like he’s a great one-on-one defender. I think as a helpover defender, he is a very like he he can be pretty intriguing. I think using him, it’s always so easy to say like, “Oh, the Robert Williams role, but like that sort of helpover free safety guy.” Like I could see a world where Josh May not can fill that. It’s just a matter of can he be consistent enough on offense. The three-point shots never really been there consistently for him. He has a couple years of like okay shooting percentage wise, but the volume wasn’t there. Um, but if he can learn how to like pick and roll, screen, you know, cut off the ball, get into the paint, play the dunker spots, like I think there could be a world where Josh might not is pretty intriguing. Yeah, I’ve heard I’ve heard a lot of good things about him. I think my my guy is Nimish Kada still. I I do think he’s going to have like a big a big season next year. I maybe I’m gonna I’ll punch it in now. I think he’s going to average a double double or or near that. Yeah, maybe Tammy Ben’s a little ambitious, but I think he’s gonna average a double double. I think that’s the opportunity that he gets. if he’s he’s able to stay healthy, stay on the floor, and stay out of foul trouble, that is that’s going to be crucial for him because he’s not going to be playing eight minutes. He they might need him for 25 30 in a given night. Um this feels like the year that it’s going to all come together or it’s not and then that’s not a good sign for him in his kind of long-term NBA career. But when you’re a guy in his position where you know you’ve been battling for two ways for roster spots and you finally get this opportunity where a team that you’ve been playing for the top three bigs in that rotation are gone and they don’t really bring anybody back that’s like expected to be like the the starting center. Like I don’t think any of these offseason signings or acquisitions are like assigned to him that they trust those guys more than him. Like the path is there. Um, obviously he plays a a game that in has some mistakes that it’s not perfect and sometimes he’s out of position and he’s had some low moments over the past two years, but I do think he’s one of those guys that if you give him a chance and you let him play through that, you’re going to see a lot of high returns because I’ve seen this guy play in the summer league and in the G- League and he’s head and shoulders above the rest. Like if Kada was playing here today, he would have destroyed he would have dominated this league and that doesn’t mean anything, right? Because we need Kada at the next level at this point. Um, but I I’m really high on him. The more I think about it, I I went back and watched some of his minutes from last year. Like the more I think about it, the more I feel like this this this is going to be in the short term their center solution. And if it’s a terrible disastrous year, then he’s not a part of their future. But he might end up kind of showing that he could be one of those guys like a Peyton or a Sam or Luke that ends up becoming uh a big rotation player. I’m talking about Nish Kada uh as far as guys that I’m kind of high on for next year that haven’t really been a part of the rotation in the past. Um, and also I saw some question on Kenny Loftton. Kenny Loftton was not with the team today. So that’s why he didn’t play. He had a fail prior obligation. So that was in the cards, I guess, from the beginning. I mean, listen, like when Kate is at his best, he’s giving you what you said like 10 rebounds, shooting eight of 10 from the field, um, three blocks a game, like great rim presence. It’s just the problem is when he’s not that, it is he is fouling four times in a couple minutes. it’s he’s out of position defensively or gets beat off the dribble. It is he, you know, misses four shots around the rim and like inflating your rebound numbers is like not really something to to dig at, but like just you need to be able to finish those tough shots since he’s not passing out of the paint when he when he is at his best and the peak of Nishada is like a genuinely really solid NBA rotation center. It’s just can he do it consistently and hopefully he’ll get the chance to prove that this season. The problem every time I every time I use my mute button, it freezes. I’m I’m weighing the background noise. Why don’t you just mute your mic like on on here instead of your I don’t like touching the mic. That’s when all the problems start. When I start touching the mic is when all the problems start. Um I think that’s my thoughts on summer. I know we have a couple other news items we want to discuss. Is there any any burning last summer league questions? This again, as I said, this was a really fun team to cover. Really good vibes. You can tell they were a lot of fun. They enjoyed being around each other. They played really hard. Uh they played really together. Um I think the coaching staff was super prepared, did a great job. Like this was a fun this was a fun group. Last year’s group was a little tougher. Like I don’t know that one person’s fault, but you could tell that last year’s group just like struggled. They were not able to be as effective on the floor together. There was a lot more like and again shout out to the front office because they they put the they put this group together too. Uh I will also say you can just hit control D to mute the mic if that’s easier for you. So you don’t have to such we can go over it after the show. I can’t I can’t I’m not learning new things on air right now. As far as any final summer league things, um I know people were like hating in the chat. Shoga is still like I I was very impressed with that show again. I’m going to keep saying it and people can still, you know, get upset with that fact that I liked him, but um he needs to improve the shot. He needs to make sure those those floaters goes in. But how comfortable he was running the offense and how good he was at drawing two defenders and kicking out and sort of getting things started. Um um I was impressed and I’m going to keep saying it. So I I think he’ll need a lot of time in Maine. Same thing with Amari and same thing for Ugo. But I can see the outline if the shot does fall, which it did in college. So Jack is going to spend a lot of time going up to Maine to see Schulga. If anybody wants to find Jack on a random Wednesday evening in November when the Celtics are off, he’ll be up there with Shogga. As if you won’t be, bro. What? No, I I’ll be there. I’ll be there. But I might be there for somebody else. You know, I haven’t figured out who I’m going to be there for. Um Okay. Okay. Well, that that is our summer league thoughts. Did want to discuss the free agency news out of yesterday. Uh that I know is a little bit of a sensitive topic. Uh Marcus March is to set to sign with the Lakers after a buyout with the Wizards. Two years, $11 million. Uh kind of a wild turn. I did see the quote graphic today or there was a some some graphic on social media that was Al Horford in the Warriors jersey, Marcus Mart in the Lakers jersey. What was was there a third one in there? Was it just those two? Who was it? Say it again. Who? And Marcus. It was It was Al Horford in the Warriors jersey. It was Marcus Mart in the Lakers jersey. KP Hawks jersey. Drew Blazers jersey. Luke Saint Spurs jersey. Achilles injury. It’s been a It’s been a hell of a couple months. It’s been tough. It’s It’s been tough. Rondo Lakers jersey, Isaiah Thomas Lakers jersey. Everyone’s just putting the point guards in Lakers jerseys. It was rough. Yeah. And obviously Marcus Smart, I’m a huge Marcus Smart fan. I know he’s been a little bit divisive uh amongst the fans over the throughout his career and and still to this day. Um my first reaction though, and I got a little bit of backlash, but my first reaction for it was I’m happy for him because it’s not fun to see a guy with his competitive spirit and his skills to, you know, be go to Memphis, be injured, and kind of resting all year, get traded. You know, he was kind of shut down last year in DC. Like when he was in Boston, they were just not playing their vets. like nobody wants to be in that position. That’s the part of the NBA that I think is like the worst aspect of the league that you’re you have night in and night out guys that are healthy effectively just not playing because teams are tanking. So that was not a good situation for him long term. Um I’m sure fans would have rather him go to some random competitive team and not the Lakers. Um but it wasn’t his choice. Like I mean it it wasn’t a choice to leave Boston and once he’s out there like he got bounced around. I don’t know how many opportunities he had. uh two years 11 million. Clearly like he his value is not that high at this point. So the Lakers give him a chance to make a playoff run. We’ll see how competitive that team is. I would imagine he starts. Um you think you think he’ll start for the Lakers? I’m trying to think of who else they have on the roster and what moves they’ve made this summer. I can look it up. Lakers roster. Um maybe like maybe he starts next to Luca and Braun at the three and then Aton and then like Dickler Aia. I think I’m forgetting who else on the Oh, Austin Reeds. No, he’s not going to start. Austin Reeves and Luca are probably going to be the back court. Um, that was that was a silly thing to forget. Yeah. And you don’t really want Marcus as the three. Like he’s or Luca as the three. You don’t want Luca as the three guarding threes. That’s the problem. Like you can’t threes on that team. That’s the problem. Like you almost need Marcus out there guarding threes. Like Dalton Connect and Jake Laavia are your other like decent forward options to roll out. I guess LeBron it’s kind of messy. LeBron, but he he’s not really the defender he once was. You almost would rather I I think your your hope if you’re the Lakers is you either hope Jacob Rivia is capable of guarding guys like that and then you roll him out there for the size and if not maybe you just have to run small ball with Marcus Smart at three. Like that’s that’s that’s going to be the problem. But the Lakers just don’t really have as good perimeter defenders. Um you can run Ruie at the four actually. So maybe he’s guarding your threes, maybe Ruy’s guarding that. And then like I I would guess Smart doesn’t start based on the other guards they have in the rotation. It’s probably going to be Austin Reeves. Look at Dantra Ji Mura, LeBron James, DeAndre Aiden with Smart off the bench. But yeah, and I hope this does end up being a good situation for him. Like my initial instinct was this is competitive. You know, this is this team’s going to be in the playoff mix. They they’re clearly trying to win now. Um, but it’s also that Lakers are a place where a lot of, you know, role players go and and really struggle. So, especially if it’s a weird fit. They have a little bit of a weird lineup as far as some defensive holes and obviously they’re they they’re going to bring him in to defend. Um I just don’t know to what extent. So, yeah, we’ll see how it goes. I’m sure fan I know I saw fans were pretty sad about it or at least you know Marcus M dieard fans. This is not what you want to hear. Still no update on Al Horford which is it’s getting late in the summer. Yeah, it’s two weeks now that you know July 6 was two weeks ago and still nothing on Al. Um, so I everything I heard here at the beginning part of summer league is like any day now Al’s gonna sign to the Warriors and it kind of got quieter as the week went on. So I don’t know if anything’s changed, if he’s had a change of heart around maybe retirement or if there’s other suitors. U but I thought it was a done deal but it’s now it’s been weeks and nothing yet. Um, but yeah, that’s that’s where Marcus ends up at least for the foreseeable future. other I saw Tatum posted today that he is he had his his leg out out of the boot. I don’t know if that’s a permanent change. Um but that’s it kind of good to see the trajectory of his recovery. I believe right now he’s heading down south. I know he has his golf tournament uh next week. So that’s that’s his foundations like flagship event in St. Louis. So maybe he’ll be kind of more out and about there. Um I saw he was working out I think in Tennessee with one of the basketball teams there. So he’s out and about. He’s not just in Boston. I know he was in Boston for the move for most of the summer he’s been in Boston as has Jaylen Brown as they both rehab. Um I think he’s Yeah, I think he’s I think Tatum progress is going normal and probably every little crumb that we get over the next few weeks will feel like news because we don’t he’s not I don’t think he’s going to talk to media. Yeah, like he’s been pretty lowkey. I don’t know if you’ve seen Tyrese Hallebertton has been everywhere like on his little scooter at WNBA Allstar weekend, but yeah, Tyrus Hallebertton was ready. Halburn was ready to bask in like the like NBA Finals run and then he just went down in game seven. He’s like, I still I guys, I just had the best run of my life. Please, I need to be outside. Like, let let me go, please. That’s so true. Like, he still wants to relish in like what he did even though it didn’t like have the desired outcome. Yes. Um, you think we see Tatum next year? He’s he’s an addict. So maybe he he does. You just know he’s like, “Okay, how soon can I can I play? Can I play?” If I had to like bet, I would like be very like 51% no just cuz like you see how quickly or not quickly I guess it’s on pace, but just like the way he is recovering and the progress he’s making. I would still like probably say no. But I I do think there’s a chance just because of how young he is, you know, how healthy he’s been throughout his career. Like it’s not like he has a huge injury history, but like I would still guess no just because the Celtics are probably going to play it safe. And I mean to be honest, by the time he is ready to come back, there might not be a point in bringing him back. Like it fully depends on where the Celtics are, like how they fared in the Eastern Conference throughout the season. But yeah. Yeah. My initial thought when he got he went down and you were looking at timeline and it was like right on the edge of it being possible even was if they kept a really competitive roster together then I did think that he was going to try to come back for a potential playoff run. But seeing how the summer’s gone and just the roster that’s been assembled. I don’t I don’t know if it’s a playoff team or not or if it is a playoff team if there’s going to be a run for him to like that’s worth rushing back. I mean nothing’s really worth rushing back. He should prioritize his long-term health. But the way things have shaken up over the last few months, I’m inclined I’m less inclined to think he’s going to actually lace up even if he is almost ready or or wants to be ready or that sort of thing. And Hallebertton’s already been ruled out of next year. Uh Damen Lillard with the, you know, the Portland deal, I feel like that’s there’s no reason for him to come back. So probably all three of those guys don’t play. Uh which kind of sucks. Three fun players to watch play. Kyrie, too, not that the chat will like him very much, but just the whole league is going to be out next season. Yeah, Ky will probably come back though, right? Late in the year. I mean, he still tore it in like March. It’s like it was very late in the season that it happened. So, we’ll have to see. That was a tough few months for NBA star player injuries. I’m probably missing one, too. But those four being like on playoff teams, meant to make runs. The Pacers had three Achilles tears this season. Insane. That’s ridiculous. Also, there have been so many injuries at summer league. Like, yeah, it’s been terrible to watch. Like, there was three days in a row where I’m pretty sure somebody tore an ACL right in front of us. Yes. Yes. Just just just the worst. It was Basley and then a guy in the I think it was the Warriors maybe. I saw and then like the Grizzlies. It was it was bad. People not fun to watch. Yeah. Yeah, I always feel bad especially when it’s summer league because it’s it’s like a lot of these guys are don’t don’t have any NBA contracts and starting today like you are not affiliated with a team anymore. So it’s like for for two weeks you’re living the NBA lifestyle in the NBA hotel and and all of that and then once your summer league contract’s over unless you’re on a 2-way or you’re on a standard roster spot. So there’s 14 guys in the Celtics only five only five guys or no six guys. That’s probably a lot for a team like that. Celtics probably have some of the most for any team here. Yeah, because all of their all of their rookies were playing. All of their two-ways were here. So, um yeah, it kind of sucks to watch because you realize like they’re it’s so tenuous at this point. Um yeah, basic that was that one was terrible. We were sitting right there and that was that was a sad one um to look at. So, two weeks of summer league have wrapped up here and we’re not going to have a lot I think over the next few weeks as far as news and developments. I don’t think I still think that more moves are coming as far as they’re above the second apron. So, they’re going to get below the second apron. Whether it’s one little transaction, maybe it’s waving JDavidson, maybe it’s a series of trades and the roster that we know right now is actually a shell of the roster that we’re going to see in October. Um, do you have an instinct in one direction or another? Like, when you look at the the 50man roster right now, like does this feel like who we’re going to basically have on opening night or do you think it’s going to be wildly transformed? I mean, I still think like there’s definitely going to be at least one or two more moves. Like, they’re still above the second apron. They’re not going to make all those trades of trading Drew and Kristoffs just to stay over the Second Apron still. Like, that that doesn’t make any sense. Um the qu the biggest question for me at this point is not whether or not they’re going to make another trade to get under the second apron, but really like are they going to try to duck uh duck the lo luxury tax, which I know people don’t like to hear, but if you’re trying to set yourself up to compete next to Jason Tatum and you plan to spend a lot of money, resetting that repeater tax is important. And if there was any year to do it, unfortunately this year, like it couldn’t hurt to try it now because then it would if if you’re ducking the repeater tax this year, it’s a lot easier to next year. I’m not saying they’re going to. I’m just saying it would make I don’t want them to duck the repeater tax because I don’t want them to be tempted to do it next year. So for people that don’t know, you have to do you have to be out of the repeater tax two years in a row to be out, right? So if they do it this year, it you’re one out of two years and then it’s like, aren’t you going to be like, let me try let me try let me do it again so we can finally get out of it for that’s what they did when they traded Ty. Like that that was kind of like the end goal. Like so I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I’m not saying they shouldn’t. I’m not saying I want them I want them to. But if there was ever a two-year period to do it, this would be one of the years to do it in. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess objectively you’re right. I just I I do feel like when you think about next season, like you’re still in a pretty short window at that point because you still have a you know, I don’t want to say aging Tatum and Brown, but like they’re no longer 24. They’re not 24 anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Um what’s what sucks about being exactly their age is that every time I start talking about how they’re aging, it’s like I’m actually saying it about myself. So I always like Yeah. Yeah. And that sucks, you know. So I know Jack. I know Jack, you’re you’re 11 months younger than me. Yeah. So it’s almost a year. Mhm. That’s what 11 months is. Really? Yeah. Huge difference if you ask. So I think another I think more trades are coming, but I don’t think they’re going to get below the tax. I think they’re just going to get below the second apron. Probably end up in the first. So probably. Yeah. Uh that’s my understanding. We’ll see what the market is. I’ve talked to a lot of people here at summer league who believe that Anthony Simons that teams have gotten calls by Anthony Simons or you know there he kind of he’s thrown out there. Obviously he didn’t have an introductory press conference. Um but that archetype of player has just not had a lot of value this summer. That is that’s the big headline, right? These highscoring guards. Yeah. I love this kind of player because I like seeing like guards that can score the ball. Like that is literally what I most watching basketball. But yeah, um like Colin Ston, Jordan Clarkson on a minimum, like even Jayen Green, even like Jaylen Green being the piece the Rockets are willing to give up in the Kevin Durant. Like it it kind of speaks about that type of player that Anthony Simons is to a degree. But yeah, I don’t know. And then I’ve saw I’ve seen some stuff about the Celtics having conversations with the Grizzlies. Um I’ve heard that secondhand from a bunch of people, so no direct sources, but a lot of reporters down here have been talking about it. So, um, imagine if Kentavius Cowell Pope ended up in Boston next year after that playoff series. Oh my god. Yeah, he’s the one though is like sometimes you have a bad year, you know? Definitely. And it’s not easy to play there where you’re the if you’re the only three-point shooter on the roster, like it’s not going to be an easy thing to do. I will also say like if the price of of shedding some money and taking on like a take a chance guy and or KCP, which is not ideal, if you get that Suns pick for for next season, you sort of be like, hm, like at least he gives you a little bit of extra something to think about, but I I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know. And I don’t even know if KCP is who is there. I I don’t know if that’s like contracts. Um, it has been. Yeah, I will say like I do think seeing the George’s Niang push back, I guess that was really specific to the incident with Jaylen Brown a couple years ago, I thought fans just didn’t like him and then I realized it was like very specific to him grabbing Jaylen’s leg in game seven in 2023 versus 76ers, which shout out Celtics fans for being very loyal about that play. I I think it was a dirty play and I remember at the time being like, why did you do that? Like he’s literally sitting on the bench. Definitely a dirty play. Um, yeah, but it I didn’t feel like it something that was like worth worrying about years later. And I don’t think Jaylen’s very worried about it. Um, when I interviewed Jaylen a couple weeks ago or last week, I almost was going to be like, can I get a comment on George’s Ying? Um, but that was off topic, but I was like, I wanted to just clear the story, but then he was at a WNBA game at TD Garden last week, which I wish I was at. Um, and they took some photos together. So, I think I think the the heat is a little bit less on on Nyang at this point. Uh, so we’ll see about the prospects. I’m looking forward to just seeing what this roster looks like in its final form. Uh, especially the two trade acquisitions that those are the two guys I’m the least sure about whether they’ll be on the roster next year. But there’s still a word that a world where a guy like Sam Hower gets moved or a guy, you know, I don’t want to put them out there because I I don’t actually know, but it’s still possible. You know, it’s not they’re not out of the woods altogether, but certainly much less likely now than it was a month ago heading into the draft. Um, Jack, any final thoughts from you on Celtics things you want to plug? What do you want to plug? Uh, do a rare opportunity. Uh, I don’t really know my my videos. I do Tik Toks slash they go on Twitter and YouTube and Instagram too. Jackson NBA, if you want to watch those obviously. How about them Celtics podcast, but uh, writing at Haroudini. I’m gonna have a couple cool stories this summer on Mari Williams and Mac Shoga if you are interested in the rookies. So, that’ll come out. And maybe a small thing on Hugo. I talked to somebody about Hugo. I spent my last two um days or two or three days at summer leagues talking to their former teammates and such. So, some insight, some funny stories that’ll be on hardware. So, keep an eye out there. But yeah, yeah, Jack’s been doing cool play breakdowns. So, he’s been showing different players like their own highlights or their own Is it all highlights? There any lights? Not doing low lights. Like, what were you thinking? What were you thinking on this? I don’t know if they’d appreciate that very much. I did a couple. I showed him Mario Williams his illegal screen in the Grizzlies game. I said, “Do you ever worry your screens do too much damage?” And he sort of laughed. So, I’ve done a couple things. I’ll pick plays where like the shot doesn’t go in, but the play works. And so, I’ll mix it up that way. But, thanks. You haven’t like you haven’t flat out roasted any of the plays. Jordan, imagine just being like Jordan. Then you’re just showing that like all of his worst plays and he just he just has to react, you know? Maybe like four film sessions in like maybe that’s got to be like be comfortable to get with that. Yeah. Not the time. Um, but yeah, you can check out Jack’s work. You can check out all of CLNS’s coverage on You Got, you know, on our YouTube channel, CLNS Media, CLNS All Access. Uh, you can check out my podcast, You Guide Boston. I did an episode on on Matt Reynolds. I did I did a big story on Matt Reynolds that you should check out if you have not already, the Celtics head coach. Um, all of the press conferences are on there. So, quite literally every word that was uttered in a scrum here in Las Vegas, you can find on CLNS Media. Today we heard from Matt Reynolds, Isaiah Wong, um Aaron Scott, some of these guys that you maybe you want to get to know a little bit. It’s all up there around the clock coverage. If any news breaks in the next couple days, in the next couple weeks, we will be jumping on our full cast to react as we have all summer. So, uh join us. Turn on notifications so you don’t miss it. I all the time people are like, “Oh, I missed this live.” So, turn on notifications, you’ll be notified if anything happens and we’ll be reacting to it right away. Um I think that’s it for Hey, I appreciate everybody for tuning in. This is like a it’s a special crowd, you know, Sunday night, game five of summer league. We still got people on here. So, shout out to you guys for watching. Shout out to you guys for all of the support for this summer league. I love summer league. Summer league is like top three things to cover for me. Um, just the vibes. It’s the vibes of like you can see players are are fighting for like their spots, their careers. Everybody plays hard. Um, everybody’s trying to make it. Like something about it is very inspiring to me. So, we’re going to wrap. We’re gonna go watch the rest of the championship game down the hall here. There’s nobody here left, so maybe we’ll maybe we should even jump in the media scrums, Jack, and see if anybody wants to talk to us. Uh, but appreciate you all. We’ll be back on soon. I have a new God Boston podcast episode on Jaylen Brown coming shortly from our one-on-one conversation. So, that’ll be out sometime in the next few days. Um, okay. Good night, everybody. No one’s sneaking a vegan brownie by me. I’ll tell you that. Okay, you know what, Don? We’re going to do it. You have to feel that way too, Bobby. I have to feel that way. fight all over and and make Luke your first center. Bobby, we gave you Luke hour earlier. We are not going to end this on a damn conversation about Luke.

On this episode of The Garden Report, Noa Dalzell and Hardwood Houdini’s Jack Simone react to the Celtics final summer league game vs the Hawks.

⏰ EPISODE TIMELINE ⏰
0:00 – Summer League Reaction

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