What we’ve learned after two Celtics Summer League games

What we’ve learned after two Celtics Summer League games

[Music] [Applause] Oh, knocked loose. White dive on it. This is twice now the Celtics have been first to the floor and they try to save. 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 Porzingis. He’s doing it all. Tatum spinning, driving. Washington drives. Blocked by White. Oh, what a block from Derek White. [Music] All right, welcome in. First of the floor, Ben Val here along with Wayne Spoony and Jake Eisenberg. Thank you for joining us. Hope you’re doing well. Uh, you know who is doing well, guys? The Summer League Celtics, undefeated so far in sunny Las Vegas. Spoony and Jake. How you doing, guys? Doing great. We’re back. The Boston Celtics finally uh didn’t blow a 20point lead to the New York Knicks. Revenge. Revenge. Revenge is sweet, baby. Let’s go. Yeah, this is way more important than a stupid ass second round playoff series. I mean, what are we talking about here? The lesson Joe Missoula is play Jordan Walsh. I mean, like obviously that’s how you hold on to your lead. So, yeah. Um, doing great. I love summer league. I’ve been watching entirely too much of it. I’m sherking my duties as a father, but totally worth it. currently shaking my duties as an employee. So, right there with you, Spoon, they’ll understand both the son and the employer. It’s all hope in the summer league. You can curb anything. Oh, Kenny Loftton Jr. like getting downhill into the paint. Okay, like we got something here. It’s all It’s all vibes at summer league. But, uh 2 and 0. Is this our year? Two and0. I guess it begs the question, what would you rather win? The summer league championship or the NBA Cup? Oh, that’s close. I honestly might be the summer league championship just because you have extra games. No, it’s tough. We hang banners in in Boston. That’s right. In the cup, they make you play an extra game that doesn’t count. Could lead to injury. So like that’s a huge downside for the cup. Sounds like some loser [ __ ] to me. Or is it or is it upside for the 2025 Celtics because if they play an extra game intensity games and they all get injured, welcome to the team Camboozer. So tough. Can’t lose if you’re the Celtics. Fair. Tell us what you think. Leave us a voicemail. The voicemail channel on the Discord has laid dormant for for some time. Uh let’s jump into this. Very light on the notes and run sheet material on this one. Um if you if you missed Jake hosting the playback over there, it was a good time for the second game where the Celtics won by a lot as I scramble for my uh stat sheet. Thank you, Jake. Uh, no. You go I suppose was a disappointing sort of jump off there in this one. But maybe we could start just running through the list of um I don’t know standouts from this one. Baylor Shyman got a lot of touches, got a lot of usage in this one. Spoony and Jake, what did you think of Baylor’s performance? Go ahead, Spoons. Um, okay. So, it was up and down, I’ll say. But I think the biggest takeaway for me is that Baylor was essentially asked to co-play point guard with Max Schulga this game. And right off the rip, I thought he looked really comfortable in possession, getting pressed, like getting uh pressured uh like they were extending pressure really high on him. And he was getting to his right hand. He did he’d never like he didn’t finish with his right or throw a pass with his right, but he was getting all the way to the rim with the right hand multiple times right off the rip. And I just thought he looked really comfortable and in control when he was being asked to essentially facilitate and run the offense. And he only had two turnovers despite being on the ball a ton. He missed a lot of shots, which he’s making a habit of in summer league. Uh, but overall for the most part, like I’d rather he miss his threes and like look pretty comfortable for the most part other than and as opposed to make his threes and otherwise look kind of shitty. So, I thought it was an okay performance for Baylor. You put it that way. You only have the two options. Look comfortable, miss threes, look uncomfortable, make threes. I guess you’re right, Sweeney. It would certainly it would certainly be nice to have both. Like at some point is he going to show that he’s a good shooter because he hasn’t done it in two summer leagues and in his NBA minutes last season. It was a really good start for Baylor. Really good first quarter. He was three for five. He had three rebounds. He had three assists or two rebounds, three assists, three steals. He was everywhere defensively. Uh, but he ends the game six for 15, three for 10 after that moment. I thought the defense after that struggled. Um, I I think I might be turning into a Baylor Shman hater. And I don’t like it, but it does feel like it’s happening because people want him to be good so bad. And I get that. I want him to be good, too. But they’re conflating wanting him to be good with him actually already being good, I think. And that’s coming in the form of House is easily easily replaceable. And I’ve been on this all off season. The people are just insanely undervaluing how good Sam Hower is and has been for the Celtics. Already said that, you know, Shyman turning into Niang would be a huge win. Turning into Hower, I don’t know. That’s in the range of outcomes, but not something that I would bet on. And Spoon’s right, like this is not the right role for him, Shyman. Like, despite him being 25 and a secondyear player, like he still doesn’t have the necessary athleticism to like run an offense and create advantages consistently for the rest of the team and himself. he’s going to be best in a secondary tertiary playmaking creation role where Derek and Jaylen are helping him attack a bent defense and then you can see a lot of that flashiness come to life. But to this point, man, I mean, can we raise the bar a little bit, right? Let’s let’s have the expectations up a little bit for our boy Baylor. It was a better game today than game one. But if we’re going to play stock up, stock down, maximum of three arrows up, three arrows down here on my sliding stockwatch scale. I don’t know. I’m think I’m still one arrow down for today’s performance here. I might be like, what whatever the emoji is, the two arrows pointing either direction, neutral, neutral arrow direction pointing. If you benched him after five minutes after he got all three of his steals, then maybe he’s trending in the right direction. But it’s kind of like me in a conversation. Like the more I say, the more idiotic I revealed myself to be. And it was kind of the case for Bailey Shyman in this one. The more minutes, the more the stock trended downwards. And yeah, Eric Weiss nailed this in the chat. But he does have this lagging lower body where whether it’s like a deep jump shot where you can see his upper body and his arms doing like 85% of the work. Though he does like occasionally like dribble, penetrate, get into the lane, and then that little like one-legged pivot turnaround fade. He’s barely jumping over a piece of paper in that situation as well. So, there’s no lift in his jump shot. And these are NBA level defenders coming at you, at least from an athleticism standpoint, like you’ve got to at least match that with some athleticism yourself. And Shyman from a lower body perspective, not doing that at all. Uh, if I hear one, this is like a completely different tangent, but if I hear one more person say like, “It’s all right, we can trade Hower because Shyman can like fill the Hower role.” I know you just touched on this a little bit, Jake. Like I will I’m going to like throw a brick through the window because they’re just completely different players other than just like the visual archetype of like 6’5 plus white guy. That’s where it begins and ends. They’re completely different players. There’s nothing that Shyman can do functionally on a basketball court to fill in the void left by a traded Sam Hower. So, I I kind of have the impression that they’re looking at Shyman ceiling wise as like maybe second unit play initiator if the signs of what would make him good actually come to fruition. And we’re just we seem to be quite far away from that still Spoony. Yeah, that I think that’s fair. Again, like I I will say I thought like the creation side of things wasn’t that bad today. I thought it was certainly an improvement, but the way he was getting into the lane, the way he was creating space is not going to be available to him against real teams. Like he’s barely carving out advantages in the summer league. Um, so it I don’t want to say it’s a concerning performance because again like I thought he did some I thought he looked like comfortable in that he didn’t turn it over a bunch and my expectations for him in that role are so incredibly low that he did exceed them today. But that’s not to say he looked amazing. Um, so I I like when it comes to Hower, Hower is one of the greatest shooters like ever that has existed in the world. I I read some there was a stat I think at Vini had it. There’s like seven dudes who shot over 43% on like 500 attempts in college. It’s like Corver Capo or uh Corver, Steve Novak, this dude from Kraton who I can’t remember his name, Sam Hower, and Kobe Brea who just got drafted this year. Like that’s it, you know, like that is an entirely different galaxy and level of shooter. And Howser has added the movement shooting which we’ve not seen any of that from Baylor when he catches the ball on the move and tries to shoot out. Yeah, we have seen it in that it looks horrible. Yeah, but we’ve not seen it successfully. When he catches the ball on the move and tries to shoot, his feet are all over the damn place. Like I don’t even know what he’s trying to accomplish. Um, to me he seems like way more comfortable with pull-ups and like that’s not really super helpful on this team to be like, okay, like you can turn that into some decent possessions, I guess, but we don’t want Paylor pulling up behind the pick and roll. And his decision-m in transition where he takes these dog [ __ ] pullup threes from like three feet behind the line, it make me so incredibly mad. Jaylen Bridges was right there, bro. Give him the ball. Dude, like I because I didn’t get to we didn’t get to talk to you, Ben, and wait, Spoony, I forget if you were on late night as well. Uh, you weren’t last episode, but like the the the mentality in game one, I was like, I’m too good for summer league. I shouldn’t be here. I’m LaMelo Ball just chucking up absolute nonsense. And at least LaMelo Ball isn’t a like insane shot maker. So when he takes these one-legged ridiculous shots, they a lot of them go in. It’s like, can you show us that you’re built for the NBA before you start to play as if you don’t belong? Like let’s let’s build positive plays. Let’s build positive momentum. And I thought today he played more within himself, especially early. And the g and look the game was a [ __ ] just disaster across the board if you’re talking about just basketball. Like the Celtics won by they’re up 20 for most of the game and it felt like no one was playing well besides Bridges and Kendall Brown. Like it was the Knicks summer league team is disgustingly bad. Yes. Hor just horrific. So take the revenge though. Yeah. We love it. Tyler Cole not the not the guy. Sorry Sam Lef France. I know that’s your your boy from Rhode Island. And so I don’t want to get too like caught up in this because you don’t want to take too much from a game like we just watched today cuz it is a [ __ ] nightmare. But yeah, man. Let’s let’s let’s rein it in and just remember that you haven’t proven anything yet in the NBA and kind of go from there because I really did not like the way that he played in game one. Game two, I thought process-wise was better. defense still just like multiple times a game he’s just uh getting blown by. But again, I don’t know. I think they have to be trying to implement some type of high turnover scheme cuz everyone’s just gambling all over the place. They’re pressing, everyone’s out of position. So again, that’s another thing I don’t want to like ding him too much on because that is seems to be um an a thing that they’re doing schematically which is not working but it’s clearly something that they’re trying to do. Yeah, look definitely I don’t want to [ __ ] on Chimman too much because you know a plus 23 how much can you read into that in a single summer league game but the eight assists on you know low turnovers as well which you mentioned Spoony the shot selection is probably the number one thing to ding him on like but you know overall there were like stretches where he was kind of controlling the game from an offensive standpoint and there were stretches where he did look like he had sort of more experience NBA wise than a lot of the other guys on the So definitely there were some very nice moments as well, but there were some really glaringly poor moments too, which again is um part of the course in NBA Summer League. But got to get to our guy Jordan Walsh. I made the uh somewhat hand up admittedly clickbaity thumbnail there, but he does he does look vastly improved from last year. We were there Cox Pavilion game one Celtics summer league campaign 2024. And boy did I regret getting off that plane from Sydney just for a little moment there after watching um Walshy to begin with cuz he did let us down and this year he certainly not doing that as well Jake I you there’s so many things to I think point out from his game. Yes the field goal percentage in this one two from 10 not great but he shot a fuckload of free throws. He got himself to the line a bunch of times. Uh his ability to penetrate the defense and put a lot of pressure on the Knicks defense I thought was really solid. And it does look night and day from a year ago. That’s definitely the the most positive thing I think through two games is that he’s generating a lot of paint touches and getting into the paint. Now, what’s happening in the in the paint? No, not always. The the ball’s not always going in, but he I thought he generated a ton of free throws like ethically getting downhill trying to finish. And that’s that’s valuable. And he’s done that through two games here getting into good spots. And if there’s better spacing, better connectiveness offensively, then maybe he’s able to finish more often or or make make some of the reads I think he’s capable of making and make some of the passes he’s capable of making because that’s something that I liked from the very first time we saw him at summer league was his processing. And he had a really nice drive off a closeout in the bottom left corner in the second half, which is one of the things I want to see more than anything. like tight contest pump go and then use that athleticism goes up tries to kind of like do a long scoop shot around gets to the free throw line that’s by far the most encouraging thing the shot abandoned him the shot abandoned everybody on the court today Celtics 5 for 27 18% Nick somehow did worse than that 6 for 37 16% so like it would must have been a strong breeze inside the Cox pavilion today which um yeah who knows it could have been the aura of George Nyang, you know, impacting the shooters on both teams there. Like when you see when you see a shooter like that courtside, I can see how you might get flustered. Max Schuger was certainly flustered and Jonah Walsh uh definitely wasn’t able to convert the shot attempts. What he eight for 11, you know, would have liked to see him make one more free throw, but uh and then defensively, I thought everyone’s defense is just kind of all over the place. I just don’t know what to do with it, which is why I said that thing about Baylor. I thought it was bad. I thought Walsh was a bit all over the place, too. I don’t know what to do with it because it feels like a scheme thing. It feels like a summer league thing. I’m just going to kind of handwave it and hope that uh the defense is better in a better context. But you are seeing guys like Carter Bryant for the Spurs, for example. Obviously, a very different level of defensive prospect have great success um in summer league. So, you got to got to kind of admit that as well. you would like to see a little more defensively from from Walsh? Yeah, I uh I thought there was some extremely high highs for Walshies defensively. Um and like he had a couple possessions, especially early on where the screen navigation was just like ridiculously good, but the fouling is is just pure insanity. It’s so bad. He had seven personal fouls. Yeah. Um, and frankly a couple more that probably could have been called. Uh, it’s just like instead of just getting beat and then trying to use his speed to recover, quickness to recover, his length to recover, he just like grabs people and that’s dumb. He had one, it was a transition play. I can’t remember. One of the horrible Knicks big guys had it like Walsh there was ne he never had a chance at impacting this like basically breakaway dunk. He just slaps him and one absolutely useless dumb foul. That’s the type of foul that’s going to get you yanked from the game and you’re not going to see minutes again for the rest of the game. Like you just cannot do stuff like that. Um I think the offense though, so like defensively I Yeah, I’m with you Jake. Like we were fouling them multiple times every possession and still committed like it it was this was just ridiculous. Um, so like multiple guys with four fouls, four guys with four fouls and Walshie with seven. So it was it was a mess, but there there was some screen navigation stuff from Walsh that I thought was like very very encouraging. Um, offensively, totally agree. He just looks comfortable. The handle looks a little tighter. Um, it’s a little lower. He’s able to sort of own his space. I think he’s bulked up a little bit. Uh he had a really sick drop off pass to Bassie who then completely missed the layup, got his own rebound and got an and one so wiped the assist off the board. Um so and like the jumper I think looks good. He looks a lot more sort of onbalance and his base looks a lot sturdier and he just looks more comfortable and willing to shoot it. So I I think offensively stock up for Walshie. Defensively giant question mark. I I really just have no idea. But the the screen navigation I think is really really encouraging because he’s going to be able to stay in front of guys and if he can navigate screens he he could be a hell of a point of attack defender. Yeah. Look, it’s absolute chaos for Walshi. It’s it’s why we love him. But like we’re always like sort of deeply tracking just any sort of improvement markers as well. And I think Mike in the chat said like while statistically the shot was off tonight, like it just looks and feels better. So, something to keep an eye out for. But, uh, defensively, we’ve kind of hopped on about this to some degree, like he was drafted as like this, you know, upsideish 3 and D guy who had some of the defensive capabilities to bring already, and then we didn’t necessarily see that translate to an NBA court. So, to see him start to jump around screens and position position himself appropriately, uh, is definitely a good sign. Amari Williams, another person we’re tracking quite closely. Kind of a I guess a down tick game for Amari. I’m sort of I have a I’m on two sides of the coin with Amari because on one side like you can see that the the feel for the game is there. The upside as far as like court awareness and the passing chops is there. Eric Weiss called this out again in the discord. Like he is someone who might need like fellow hoop soants around him in order to really thrive where unless there are guys making smart enough cuts for him to be able to exercise his smart reads and passing ability then like we’re not going to really see the true Amari Williams. That said, is he even going to get himself like onto an NBA court if he can’t play up to a certain level? I think that’s a serious concern, right? I mean, the finishing, he just looks totally uncomfortable when he’s like between five and 10 feet from the rim. And that’s kind of a problem when you’re that type of big man. You need to be able to finish in floater range, hook, like baby hook shot range, or else they’re just not going to guard you at all. And it doesn’t matter how good your passing is if your team is playing five on four offensively essentially. I will say I I said this in the in the uh playback, but not a great context for him. Not just about like your the team your teammates having low basketball IQ just like they’re kind of running stuff. Usually the first action clearly is something that they’ve practiced, but after that it’s just pure chaos. It’s basically run a pick and roll and hope somebody can get to the paint and make a play. There’s multiple times where Amari was looking for someone to do something or do a DHO with him and just like nobody did it. Um, so I think it’s it’s tough to be a pass first big man in summer league for sure if you have no scoring ability. I will say I the drop defense from him I I think has been quite encouraging. K like he’s not great but he is a legitimate pick and roll ball handler. Um, you know, probably like a borderline NBA level. I thought Amari had multiple possessions where he was just ball man, you know, took away the lob, allowed the the guy to get the defender to get over the top and get back to Kohic. Um, and it didn’t hurt us multiple times. So, I’m I’m worried about his drop defense at the NBA level, but I thought this game like was pretty solid. Yeah. Um, Z Gamer in the chat, he has got it. Like Amari has been invisible to me minus the like few flashy passes. the I mean the pass he had today again who was it who was the pass to I’m forgetting but it was it was lovely uh back door finish was it was it to Bassie no Bassy wouldn’t have been Bassy no it was Jaylen Bridges I was going to say it was 40 somewhere 40ome Bridges was everywhere today he also had to like it’s just the skill set is so tantalizing right because he also brings the ball up and then he hits a dribble move left hand uh gets the corner defender to pull in a little bit and then kick to the corner. The shooter missed it, but it’s like here it is. There you go. Like that’s your sevenfooter like initiating offense and then getting downhill and forcing the defense into rotation, right? So like that is so so so valuable. But Spoon’s on it though. If he’s not going to be able to put the orange ball into the basket, then that help defender is not going to come in a real game because they’re going to be on the scanning report being like, “Don’t bother.” It’s going to be like when Rudy goar catches the ball, you’re just going to be like, “Do whatever you want, brother.” Um, and so I don’t think he’s like, he’s clearly not, you know, that as far as, you know, touch and ball handling and skill goes because he can legit bring the ball up and then, you know, create off the dribble a little bit. But the thing that bothered me a little bit today was like the modem. He’s the biggest dude on the court. I want to like, can he have nine rebounds? Like what’s like with three rebounds? Like I want to see him active around the rim. I I’m with you. I thought the drop coverage was solid. Can I see a block? Can I see him jump into the sky a little bit? Like uh I Yeah, I thought the motor was pretty, you know, toned down. And I’m like I’ I’d almost rather see uh I’m not sure I actually want to go that far. Like young Robert Williams, right? you know, he’s too far the too far the other direction where he’s just he’s jumping at everything and I feel like Amari’s kind of the other direction. Yeah, I’d like to see a few extra rebounds. Just a little a little more sprinting up and down the court, but uh I’m going I feel like I gave him a side arrow today. He’s more of a side arrow guy. I don’t know about Oh, Walsh. How many arrows? Arrow down, arrow side. Walsh stock neutral. I think it’s like diagonal slight tilt upwards. We’re looking for 90° angle. Yeah, we’re looking for like the micro improvements. We’re zooming in to like the the stock improvement in a single day. We’re seeing all the all the various minations of of the improvements and down ticks in a single day. I think for Walsh it’s I don’t am I crazy? Like just slight slight uptick like 2 a.m. on the clock maybe. 2 o’clock on the clock. Yes, something like that. Um I I I think you know 159 uh I I think probably I would go side arrow for Walshie. I like there was some some great and some disastrous and that’s fine. Yeah, that’s pretty bad. That’s a lot. It’s just a guy who knows the count. He knows he can 10,000 in Vegas. He’s like I had three more, baby. He had three in the tank. That’s right. Not even close. All right. And so Amari I think I don’t know neutral because I think it’s also cont to me it’s also contextual like Baylor I’m trying to hold to a higher standard is not quite as high of a standard to Baylor because he’s still a bit younger despite being a third year guy. Amari is the 46th overall pick. Um, yeah. So, I’m I’d be fine with down that. Just seeing the passing to me. I’m like, “Yep, you’re good in my books, baby. Just throw a couple of those nice passes and I’m I’m good to go.” You nailed it, though. Like, I was thinking, am I being needy for wanting something at the rim from Amari on either end, just some sort of deterrence defensively? And I feel like he kind of gave us none of that. And he wasn’t really putting any pressure on the basket offensively either. I get the passing chops, but we kind of rely on other players positionally to offer the passing elements of the game while there’s like a core skill set that we demand from our big man and uh he’s he is lacking in that department a little bit. I can certainly make up for it with his offensive dynamicism, but um yeah, wasn’t really there today. Should we get to prize picks real quickly, guys, before we move on? Let’s do it. All righty. Prize picks time, baby. I I have been leading people astray a little bit. Ugo let me down by by uh by not playing today. So that was kind of a tricky one. The socks though, the socks are cooking. So maybe Sprinkle I’m not going to I’m not going to suggest we do anything with the Red Sox cuz I I would be um just completely talking out of my butt. But they are they are cooking right now. Uh Jonah Walsh, if we can go more on fouls against the Miami Heat tomorrow, that could be something. But Ugo, as far as we understand, will be back tomorrow. Uh, give me give me Ugo more on points. I have a feeling he’s gonna have um have the volume to get us there tomorrow. So, summer league prize picks Ugo Gonzalez. What more can you ask for? Download the app today. Use code CLNS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Download the app today. Use code CLNS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Price picks run your game. Shout out prize picks. Shout out the CLNS BDN network for presenting the first of the four YouTube show and audio podcast to which you should subscribe. If you don’t like watching your pods here on YouTube, you can get the audio version and the video version through the audio platform via Spotify as well. Uh if you like shout out prize picks, use that code. Get yourself a nice deal. Enhance your viewing experience. Where do you guys want to go from here? There’s a couple of names on my like very very impromptu run sheet. What direction you guys want to take it in? I was say, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, no. Jake, if you’re going to hit this question, that’s what I was gonna do. Yeah, Brian in the chat here, uh, I’m at the Amari section. Feel like you guys are reading way too much into some of the breadcrumbs. You’re damn right. You’re damn right. We’re we’re we’re treating these breadcrumbs like full loaves out. We’re starving. We’re on the floor with tweezers picking up the breadcrumbs and basically snorting them at this point. Yeah. Give me a [ __ ] crouton, please. Yeah. Trying to Yeah. I’m trying to turn croutons into a full sourdough loaf out here. Come on now. Uh I think next has got to be Bassie. Yeah. Uh 22 and 13, three blocks, two steals, plus 15, four personal fouls. Few too many fouls for my taste. Um he certainly looks like the best big man on the roster right now. May maybe on both rosters, the actual Celtics and the Summerlink Celtics. Yeah. Um, but I I will say like he’s a weird player in that I’m not really sure he does anything like particularly well, but he doesn’t really have any weakness. I mean, he can’t shoot, but you know what I mean? Like the traditional big big man things. He’s like pretty okay at everything. Um, I think his rim protection, drop coverage, his instincts, and those are are really good. There’s been multiple times where he just kind of shut down the shop um in the middle of the court and like forced the kick out all by himself and he gets over to block shots really quickly. I think he surprises guys sometimes that he gets over so well. Um and like he’s just a trash man and he sets good screens. Like comparing Amari’s screens to Bassie’s are night and day. like it’s no wonder we look a lot more fluid with Bassie out there because he’s actually making contact and creating space for Paul handlers. Amari does not really do that. Um so I I was really encouraged. I will say remember like two or three years ago when we were hyped for Bruno Fernando in Summer League and he was like a beast getting kind of the Bruno vibes a little bit. So I’m trying to like simmer down some but I I mean he’s looked really really good through two games. you’re on mute. I mean, would Damn it. Uh would would would Bruno also not have a chance to start on the 2025 Boston comeback, please. I don’t know. Uh yeah, and again, it’s hard in this context. I appreciate him knocking down all six of his free throws. That was lovely tonight. U the the screen setting is important. I I Gaza I I think I feel confident about him uh contributing to a positive offensive ecosystem and when I think about this upcoming season like one of the like maybe the number one priority is developing the young guys on the roster and being able to do that it reminds me of you know having JD be the point guard of the G-League. It’s like having guys that can like help you run actual offense, you know, so Baylor and Hugo, Ugo and Walsh can actually develop and play in an offense that makes sense possession to possession. Having guys that set screens well is important. And if he is already the best screen setter amongst this bunch, that’s important. And he like he rebounds the ball. Yeah. also maybe some uh cabinelli vibes a little bit as well. It’s it’s uh it is a it is a classic summer league thing. Big, strong old guy, gets a lot of rebounds. Um looks big, strong and fast and then gets to the NBA and same thing kind of happened to Kada last year. He I know Kada racked up some numbers last season, but I don’t remember him being that good. Bassie certainly has a case to he’ll be out on the training camp roster will be my guess unless someone else gives him um a better offer but yeah I don’t know why you wouldn’t bring him in outside of wanting your team to be worse. Yeah. Like how many times have we done this guys where we’ve fallen in love with the the next great Celtics big man by way of the summer league and then it’s almost it’s definitely never come to fruition but here we are again. Maybe the one difference with Bassie is like Spurs fans are all up on like Celtics Twitter and Celtics Reddit for whatever that’s worth saying like you guys if you do sign Bassie who is a free agent. You’ve got yourself a steal there because they’re quite high on him based on his time in San Antonio. And I feel like San Antonio like they are a pretty smart fan base. That’s a great franchise and they they do know balls to some degree. So I think that’s not something to to ignore. What do you think? No, they were they were right about Derek White. They had an outpouring for Derek White. Oh, I didn’t know that. I sign him. Give him a contract. That’s all. That’s good enough. That’s that’s literally all I need to know. I actually think that um how a fan base for the most part feels about a player um can be really valuable. And it’s like the inverse of what’s happening with George Nyang uh right now and how the Celtics fans think that he’s the worst person that’s ever existed and despite him actually being good at basketball. But, uh, yeah, I I think that that’s better. That’s actually more valuable than anything we’re gonna learn at Summer League, probably. Yeah, for sure. He’s just like fluid. He just moves around really well in like a big frame. And at Summer League, there’s a ton of value to that. But I feel like we can teach him like the stuff to set screens, roll, rebound your position. Like, that’s not a 10-minute a game like center. I kind of think it is. And he’s still kind of young. He’s got upside. Nick Nick NBA posted like I can’t remember which which stat site it was but they have like quick decisionmaking rankings for like a letter ranking and Bassie was like a to A+ and like basically he makes really quick decisions with the ball um which fits right in. So I haven’t really noticed that aspect. I did remember him try to cross over and take a pull up three at one point which was hilarious. Play shot clock. Yeah, I know. I know. But uh but like there’s a player in there and I think if Spurs fans are into it, man, like that that’s legit. That is 100% legit. Bring him in cuz we’re trying to find who can be the second or third big like and if if like that’s the goal for this season. Well, I don’t think we’re going to find that guy this year. Um, but if uh if we can find the guy that can be the number two or even the number three that you feel really good about, then that’s that would be a win uh from this big man rotation this season. And so bring him in. And I don’t think he’s swinging the win loss column too much, like if we’re being honest. So, may as well bring him in. Yeah, if you can get him on a minimum, like which it sounds like almost certainly can like there’s nothing to lose. Uh, speaking of breadcrumbs earlier, we do have some news breadcrumbs to get to after another ad break, but any other like notes from your summer league game two notebook like uh Kenny Loftton Jr. and uh Kendall Brown, Jaylen Bridges, like probably some notes on those guys. I always sort of shy away from that cuz it’s like no matter how good you are, like you’re not making the roster, so how much do we really care? But any thoughts on anything else? Yeah, I I care a lot about Jaylen Bridges, my guy. my fellow West Virginia. Um, he I like I really loved him at WVU and at Baylor. He’s a big wing that can shoot. I thought he was really interesting. He’s not You’re right, Ben. He’s not going to make the Celtics, but it’s just nice the dude that grew up like 10 minutes from 15 minutes from where I I’m sitting right now is like showing out on my team, kind of a version of my team. Uh, so it was fun. I thought he looked really good. I It was interesting that he started after not playing at all in the previous game. So, shout out JB, the real JB, the one true JB. Um, hopefully he plays a little bit more uh even with Ugo’s back. Yeah, Bridges was awesome. I thought he was a bright spot out there today. Like making good decisions, hitting shots, playing with energy. He was he was like a breath of fresh air. Honestly, this was such a [ __ ] show across the board for both teams. And I thought Bridges was really good. and both two games in a row. Now, Kendall Brown, who has actually he he played he’s been did he get drafted? Yeah, he was the 48th overall pick for the Timberwolves in 2022, but he played for the Pacers for the past two seasons, I’m guessing, in the G-League. And like 68, he doesn’t shoot it is a problem, right? So, like he’s not quite big enough to play big man. And can he really be a perimeter guy if he doesn’t? He just doesn’t shoot it. But man, he’s really good at getting downhill. Really sturdy, really comfortable finishing around the rim. Another 11 points for him tonight. He was just really good. Shout him out. He deserves it. He’s got really good defensive instincts, too. Like, he had a really good strip, right, when somebody like turned their back to post up and he was just there, stripped him. So, I’m like super impressed. He just looks really comfortable on the ball, off the ball, and defensively. Yeah. I mean, get him into training camp surely. get extended. But um yeah, I guess tomorrow they play again. They play the Heat. I believe we’re going to see Yugo back on the court. We’re going to see um who’s the other guy? No dog. Yeah, the Yugo Nosdog show. I’m looking forward to that one, guys. What are your expectations going into that one? Just quickly, I’m pumped, dude. That you definitely lost a bit of juice with no Yugo out there today. Um, Spanish Kawaii as he’s been dubbed in the Discord in the past 48 hours. So, yeah. Yeah, dude. I’m begging for more Ugo. I can’t I can’t wait to see more Ugo. Got to get more Ugo. I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight. All right. Before we get to some some news nuggets, some breadcrumbs as promised, a quick word from our friends over at Game Time. It’s summertime and there are hundreds, thousands of awesome events going on all over the country. Later this month, I’m meeting my buddy Bodie in Chicago to see Everton play the most electric ball you’ve seen in your life. I can’t wait to watch long balls from Jordan Pit Pikford bounce to the opposing keeper for a full 90 minutes. And you know how I’m getting in the door? Game time. It’s super easy to get tickets. I just hopped on the app, searched for the game, and I was shown all the available tickets and the best deals right on my phone. Their curated deals make it even easier to find the best seats at the best price prices. And their last minute deals get you tickets right up to the start of the event and even an after an hour after it starts. But maybe my favorite feature is the seat view. It’ll show you exactly what it looks like from any seat before you buy. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code CLNS for $20 off. Download Game Time today. What time is it? Game time. Game time rules. Use that code CLNS. Get yourself a nice deal. We’ll certainly be using it when we’re at Summer League 2026. Uh, if you are a Patreon subscriber, by the way, you are officially uh, and maybe inadvertently on the 2026 First of the Floor Summer League GoFundMe page, I think we’re basically all in agreement that we’re diverting all the funds from Patreon into to funding the next summer league trip and getting some huge FOMO in the meantime not being there this year. Now, we did promise some news breadcrumbs. And I suppose a good place to start is with this clip. It’s a recent, I guess, recorded live stream or conversation or discussion between Jaylen Brown and Kyrie Irving. I feel like people haven’t seen me at my best because uh Jaylen Brown, we have a we have a loaded roster. So, sometimes you got to do what needs to be done as a team. So, is that why you like explain to the people at home cuz I was there in the finals. So, let’s let’s talk about let’s get ready. I forgot about that. No, you forgot about that. Stop. Stop. Stop. Don’t do Formidable opponent. Formidable opponent. GG’s in the chat. Yeah. So, that happened. I to me like there’s been a lot of scuttlebutt about this online. To me, I don’t know. I don’t see it as that problematic. I know that Jaylen Brown’s going to get his chance this year with a significantly less loaded roster, but when you guys try and read into that one, what comes to mind? Man, everybody people are just so antsy to jump on Jaylen. And one of the things I’m looking least forward to this season is the anti-Jalen people praying on his downfall for a lot of the season. That’s going to be that’s going to be shitty. Um, and there’s going to be some rough moments because not only is he probably not built to be like a number one num like game in game out, but now the talent around him is going to make things a little bit more difficult. Dude, like every number two in the NBA probably feels like this in that that they could be a number one and that if you gave Jaylen Brown bigger role and had Jason Tatum be more of a Jaylen Brown, then he’d be the guy getting first team NBA. I promise you so many number two guys feel this way. That’s like how these guys got to where they are with this type of confidence, mentality, and ego. I thought it was a nothing burger. Tatum says stuff all the time about sacrificing for the team and how he thought he thinks he basically would um be MVP if he was playing on a different team or uh was taking more shots. But Jaylen should know that these things are going to be taken out of context because when you watch it just [ __ ] two guys hanging out being like, “Yeah, bro. If I was like given more of a role, I’d probably be a top 10 guy.” Who amongst us has not thought that uh um the coach should be playing them more at some point in their life and giving them more shots at some point in their life? Damn right. Um this is a disaster. Uh absolutely horrible quotes from Jaylen Brown. I can’t believe he undermined the team like No, I This is nothing. I I will say to me like obviously he thinks that. You’re you’re absolutely right, Jake. It’s like when you know somebody like Cam Whitmore thinks they’re the best player on the court. You know, that’s like the the type of confidence you need to make it at this high of a level. It it’s I mean kind of a good thing that Jaylen Brown thinks he can still get better than from what he’s done. Um, which is a Finals MVP and AllNBA and and multiple Allstars. So, like we want him thinking like he’s just going to keep getting better. I will say like they haven’t the like essentially he’s saying like I haven’t had the ball as much because our team is loaded. I don’t really love that side of it cuz it’s like you were at your best. You won the championship as the finals MVP. Like that’s essentially the pinnacle of the sport. It doesn’t get any better than that, Jaylen. Um but I again, yeah, like they’re clearly, you know, not sober hanging out playing video games like this. There’s just nothing to this. It also to me it doesn’t sound like he has any problem with that like that situation as he’s describing it. Like yes, the team was stacked and it’s not even about Jason Tatum. It’s not even this age-old argument about like you split up the Jays. It’s like they also had at times a healthy Chrisaps Porzingis and more often than not healthy Drew Holiday and they had a really stacked roster. Everybody in the world knows that. So it’s not news to suddenly call that out. And of course there’s going to be a decrease in your own individual usage as a result of that. But look, you won the [ __ ] championship. That’s the that’s the core key result. And I’ve seen just as many quotes out there, probably should have prepared some for this discussion about Jaylen Brown talking about sacrifices and the fact that what he’s trying to impart on the new younger Celtics is the sort of individual sacrifices one needs to make for the benefit of the team. But I don’t see people putting that up on a pedestal like they have this like very innocuous like happens to be recorded live conversation with Kyrie Irving who’s not has is not one to direct an interview in any sort of professional manner as well. So, it’s just sort of happen stances of two guys hanging out. I’m not fussed at all. There is one other sort of news item, I guess you can call it that coming out of Vegas. Noah Dzel had this in a recent write up for Celtics blog. I believe the headline is two Celtics takeaways from talking to lots of people here in Las Vegas. One, Boston appears to be a very viable destination for Damen Lillard. Two, people I’ve spoken to have overwhelmingly stressed that you keep Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown together as long as you’re able to. Uh, no [ __ ] But I mean, it’s good that lots of people feel that way, I suppose. Any thoughts on these two points, guys? Yeah, take that, Mac, Anaan, those in the Discord trying to trade uh Jaylen Brown. But yeah, not not surprising. I do think it’s a great point, Ben. Like, uh Jaylen’s not compl like saying that it’s a bad thing. He loves winning. Like, uh this is what they want to do and they understand. They went through it in 2019 when with Kyrie Irving, talent and and a team without sacrifice leads to uh a really [ __ ] shitty experience for both the players and the fans. Um damn man, bring them in. I wonder what’s take like similar to the Hawford thing, like what’s like what the hold up is. I guess guys are just like hanging out and there’s no rush to these decisions. So, they’re, you know, just going off being uh several hundred millionaire dudes living their life and they’re like, “All right, I’ve got three options. Those options aren’t going anywhere. Just going to take my time making that decision. In the meantime, I’m going to be in Puerto Rico or um the Maldes, Bali, Tasmania, who knows?” But yeah, I think there’s there’s no rush. But I’m still team team Dame. Bring him in. I know Spoon’s a hater, but uh bring him in. Uh yeah, I mean like on a minimum it’s whatever. I don’t really care, but if it cost Jaylen Bridges a roster spot, I’ll never forget Brad Stevens. Um no, like I I’m curious to know exactly like the context of like Boston’s a viable spot. Every, you know, like every team’s a viable spot. I mean, I know what Noah’s Mr. Lawyer with your words. Okay. But like how how viable? Like are we talking five, three, 10 teams? I like I would just like to know that. Obviously, I’m not criticizing Noah reporting that. It’s a nice tidbit. But um on the contract thing, these guys Yeah. Like they’re so incredibly rich. It’s like me renewing my license. Like [ __ ] I really got to do that. Like, oh, it’s it’s like two 3 weeks late. Oh, man. I really got to go do that. They don’t care. Um especially Dame. He’s not playing basketball next season, so he’s like, I’m just going to sign this contract and then rehab wherever I want, basically. Yeah. And you might as well see how the other teams shape up, too. You know, like what if a team you’re not expecting that you want to go? What if the Blazers make a huge trade that, you know, completely changed them into a title contender and he’s like, actually, now that’s where I want to go. So, there is no reason for him to to sign the contract early or soon. So, I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I suspect it’ll be in, you know, could be months, could be September. Who the hell knows? If Dame is doing his rehab buddy rankings, surely JT is like top of that list. Maybe Hallebertton number two. But like that’s that’s got to be the calling card for for Dame, right? Is like to be able to rehab with like the the current Celtics goat. But, um, I’m sure there’s agents out there as well, in the case of Hawford as well, like trying to secure a bag or as it pertains to minimum contracts, more of a purse. But I’m sure they’re trying to square their their checkbook for the offseason as well, if that is the right terminology. I’m sure it’s not. Um, I’m out of items to discuss, guys. Have you got anything else before we wrap up? I think 48 minutes on what we just witnessed in the Cox Pavilion is more than enough. And I cannot wait to do it tomorrow again. So, play back. We’ll be back tomorrow for the Heat game. Khal Wear being called out by Spolster for his lack of professionalism, which is why Khal Wear fell in the draft as well. Uh, pisses me off. Could I please have the seven foot one uh body? I’d like to um show some professionalism. Alas, we’ll be streaming the game tomorrow and doing late night again uh tomorrow in some capacity. Sounds good. Spoon, you got anything coming up? I I’m writing something. I have this like really weird thing going on where I’m writing and it just like feels really discouraging for some reason. So, I’m struggling through it. I just got to get something out there to like break my streak of not writing and then I’ll be fine. But, so I am working on something. But, I don’t know, maybe a week hopefully. Fingers crossed. Yeah. Sweet. Looking forward to it. All right. Well, we’ll see everyone next week. Spoony Jake, love your work, guys. Until next time, go south. [Music]

Checking in on the Celtics Summer League roster after Games 1 and 2.

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