Did the Celtics Make a Huge Mistake Trading Desmond Bane?

Did the Celtics Make a Huge Mistake Trading Desmond Bane?

It’s hold my banner. Adam Peller and Aante Campbell here with you. How are you, my friend? I’m doing so good today, Adam. I can’t wait to talk all this Celtics news. Man, I’m excited for this episode. Man, it’s the second to last episode of the month of July, which means that on Friday when it’s August 1st, we can actually say next month. Wow. We’ll be talking about NBA training camp and getting underway. So, we’re getting we’re inching closer to actual like real basketball talk and what we see on the court, but for now, we’re just going to be talking about what people are talking about on social media because we got a mock Celtics trade that uh generated a lot of conversation that we will get to. So, we’ll talk about that. Uh recent article on the NBA Western Conference and ranking each team’s off season. We’ll have some discussion of that and as always, we’ll play a little purle as well toward the end of the show. Yes, sir. All right, but first let’s start off with another interesting article uh that we came across uh all 30 NBA teams ranking their biggest mistakes uh since 2020 and the Celtics drafting three quality players by the way in that draft. Uh Aaron Nesmith who is really grown with the Indiana Pacers. We saw what he did in the playoffs for the Pacers. You have Payton Pritchard who’s, you know, six man of the year, could be the starting point guard for the Celtics, right, uh, this coming season. And then Desmond Bane, who is the 30th overall pick, who the Celtics ended up trading, right? Uh, he ended up on the Memphis Grizzlies. He’s been very productive now with the Orlando Magic in a trade. But, uh, number 22 out of 30 in terms of the biggest mistakes, uh, since 2020. What do you think about that ranking? Well, first of all, you’re talking about three great players. Yes. a guy who was one game away from being NBA champion in Aaron E. Smith, a guy that won an NBA championship with Peyton Pritchard and a guy who got traded for two good NBA players and five five first round draft picks. So, three great players that the Celtics uh drafted that night. Uh you know, here’s my thing off rip. You look at the trade package, right, that the Celtics did to make that happen, right? It was a three three team trade and his cancer ended up going and his freedom as some people may know him ended up moving on to the Trailblazers. Um the Grizzlies ended up getting uh Mario Hazia a 2020 first round pick which ended up obviously being Desmond Bane and then the Celtics got two future second round picks from Memphis. Now, those two second round picks ended up being really, really vital towards the Celtics building in their championship rebuild, right? Because one of them ended up being in the package that ended up getting Al Horford in 2021 and the second one ended up getting um Chris as Porzingis here in 2024. So, or 20 Yeah, 2024. So, both of those picks ended up being really really helpful towards the Boston Celtics. But it sitting here today, it does make you wonder, right, Adam? What would the Celtics have been with Desmond Bane? Right. Exactly. You think about, of course, the run to the NBA finals in 22 against the Warriors with the Celtics lose in six games. Would they have benefited from more scoring in that series going up against Stephen company and then of course in the following season losing in the Eastern Conference Finals in game seven down 3 0 coming back ended up making it a very uh interesting game seven in Boston uh ultimately to fail in that regard. But yeah, you you sort of wonder what would have been with Derek White. Would he have gotten that extension? Right. That’s another another factor you have to consider uh in all of this. So, uh, Desmond Bane, while a quality player, I I don’t think if you’re the Celtics in the moment, I I I don’t think it was a mistake, right? Uh, looking back on a revisionist history, yeah, okay, you could have used him in certain situations, but you still end up winning the NBA title in 24. Having Desmond Bane on the roster this past season probably wouldn’t have got you that much farther. Maybe would have gotten you past the Knicks, maybe. But then beyond that, you’re not beating the Pacers after seeing what they did in the playoffs. So, I don’t think you have much regret. uh with this trade 100% because he also shed uh you know and his freedom. Yeah. His contract, right? His his contract at the time too, right? Exactly. And the Celtics weren’t looking for players, young players that can contribute at the moment. You know what I mean? They were looking for functional NBA players, right? So, them doing that and making room for Al Horford because of this trade and things of that nature did end up helping them win a championship in 2024. You also have to realize, like I bring this up, anytime you talk about draft picks, anytime you talk about kids potentials and guys that are going to be drafted, where they go matters and fit matters. Yeah. Desmond, we can’t be sure that Desmond Bane would have became Desmond Bane if he didn’t get the opportunity to play in Memphis for John Morant to go down, you know what I mean, and become more of a a starting leading guard on the, you know, on a playoff team. He built that over time in Memphis because he was getting the m minutes. He was a good player. He was an older player. I played against him in college so I’ve seen him up close and so he was always a guy that I was really high on. Even then I was like, man, this dude can really shoot it. He’s super strong. He guards well. He can’t really put the ball on the floor like that. But if he can, he could be a guy that you could rely on to help you win games at the NBA level. He grew that in Memphis and that’s why he is the player that we’re talking about today. But you know what we got, you know, Memphis, did they get a ring out of him? No. No. You know, the Magic, we’ll see if they’ll get a ring out of him. But guess what? The Celtics did get a ring out of making the moves to get Al Horford and get Cursoring, right? I don’t think that you have any regrets when you look back on this. And I think that if you’re the Celtics, you know, you’re looking ahead now and and wondering, all right, would would it work moving forward, too? Right. Um, and and I think with with Desmond Bane, I I just look at Derek White and I feel like I’d rather have Derek White because I’m making it a conversation about who you rather have, right? Because White got paid Desmond Bane just got paid, right? $200 million over five years. Um, I would much rather have Derrick White for his ability to handle the ball. He’s a better defender as well. Um, a little bit older too, you know, older. And to your point about what the Celtics needed at the time to help them get the championship, right? 100%. And then the thing about Desmond Bane as a whole is he’s a he’s a great he’s a great player, but he wasn’t there’s a reason he didn’t he got drafted at 30. You know what I mean? There was a reason that they went and got Aaron Nesmith earlier on in that draft. And Aaron Nesmith didn’t have the greatest Celtics tenure, right? He wasn’t a terrible player, but because of the fit, because of who they already had in the back court and the front court, he just didn’t really fit in to that older, not older, but uh, you know, Tatum had more minutes played. You know what I mean? Brown had more minutes played. Like, these dudes were obviously on their way to being champions and stuff like that. So, Aaron Eastman didn’t really fit the timeline, right? So, I agree that Desmond Bane probably wouldn’t have fit the timeline as well. What if I mean they put it at 22 so you can’t get at they had to pick something for each team and they went all the way back to 2020 right to make a decision on a team that you know won a championship and had an opportunity to have a dynasty here in Boston. Um but you know obviously I personally would rather have K and now Horford. Well, it’s funny, too. Just looking at this list, right? The Knicks biggest mistake uh was signing Evan Fornier. Yeah. Uh to that long-term deal, who was a member of the Celtics who people at the time were like, “Oh, could you get Evan Forier to stay?” And then that didn’t end up working out in New York. The Hornets biggest mistake was signing Gordon Haywood. Right. Right. Another former Celtic. The biggest mistake uh according to this list was was your boy Luca in Dallas, which of kind of a no-brainer. Yeah. Which also I you know I think like just talking about the rest of this list like that being the biggest mistake like I don’t know if it is like you know what I mean like I I hear everyone and I said it at the you know during that trade during the madness of that trade that it was a lose-lose trade for both teams like I feel like the Lakers lost in that trade. Have you not seen the Men’s Health magazine cover of Luca all How many times are we going to do this? We’re going to be talking about it a lot. Look at Luka. Look how good he looks. I also seen a video of of Rudy Goar doing pull-up jumpers this summer. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I’ve seen, you know, he’s a stretch big. I’ve seen a guy that we’re going to talk about now, uh, Ben Simmons. Oh gosh. You know what I’m saying? Oh, man. Ben Simmons videos every summer of him working on his jumper and how he was going to be this monster and all this other stuff. So, a lot of those videos come out, but I’m not really too worried about it. But, let’s talk about Ben Simmons, obviously. Yeah, that’s a good transition. Nice. Uh, obviously JD Davidson is now not a part of the Boston Celtics. He has been waved by the Boston Celtics. Um, before we move on to talk about B, I just want to thank JD Davidson for his time here in the Boston because it’s been up and down. He came in with a lot of expectations cuz he could jump out the roof coming out of Alabama and everything like that. And we were like, man, if he can his offensive game could get there, he could be a really special player in this league. And he figured that out in the G-League. and he earned his way to a full-time contract with the Celtics and now he’s supposed to be going on to the Houston Rockets. Yeah. Reuniting with Emo Adoka who obviously was suspended before he took the court but was part of that draft in 22 100%. And so now the question everybody’s, you know, in the realm of if the Celtics are now back under that second apron, they’re now have 14 of the 15 roster spots which leaves one open, right? Would you like to see Ben Simmons in that position? You’re asking me? I’m asking you because Casey and I already talked about this in length and I want to hear it from Absolutely not. No way would I want Ben Simmons on this roster. Okay. You know, and again like we’ll just talk about the health alone. I mean the guy hasn’t played what more than 58 games in seven years, right? Still can’t shoot. Yeah. Right. Celtics kind of like that’s sort of part of their game. Just a small part shooting threes. Uh he can’t do that. Now, yeah, he’s a point guard. He can defend. He can do all those things, but I mean, you really want Ben Simmons on this roster. When you have some younger guys that are trying to make a name for themselves, wouldn’t you rather give younger players an opportunity rather than a broken down Ben Simmons? Yes, I I hear that. I do hear that. Oh, okay. I hear that. However, however, okay, if the Celtics are really not in the business of tanking, right, which Brad would never ever come out and say that, but if they’re not in that business, right, you have to give yourself ample opportunities to get guys in that front court who can play. We watch Hugo. He’s not ready. That’s just my early opinion of him. I I love the kid. I I’ve been shouting his praises. I think he is going to be ready two or three years down the line. Going to be happy that we drafted him, but right now he’s not ready. I haven’t seen Josh Min play a lot of minutes. You know what I mean? I’m no Boston Celtics fans are not happy with Nang being here and I’m typically have not been a fan of his game personally. I can say that. Right. When I’m looking at that and I’m saying, “Okay, JB, I see him working out. He’s shooting and he’s doing all this stuff and it looks good now, but what is he going to be coming off of a surgery this summer as well, right? Yeah. What is Derek White going to be in an increased role? What is Peyton Pritch? We have a lot of question marks. I know Ben Simmons is going to come in, facilitate, rebound, defend. Yeah. Is he going to pass up a layup? It’s going to happen. Is he going to make a 15-footer? That’s probably not going to happen. But I know I have some insuranceances if we’re taking this on a one-year opportunity to get the Celtics there. And then we see Jason Tatum walking around without a boot this weekend. Mhm. We see people probably already getting excited about the fact that he might be able to play this year, right? If you can just give yourself an opportunity to get in, if he’s humble enough, and the psycho in Joe Mazoula, if you don’t think Joe Mazula is gonna be cursing this man out in practice about him passing up layups and finding some way to click his buttons to get him to buy in to the Celtic system and buy in to the fact that he isn’t was an NBA All-Star at one point and he’s still young and he still could bring that back at some point. He just needs to find that aggressive nature inside of him. Man, I could be excited about this Celtics team in the future. I feel like you need to be in the room when Ben Simmons negotiates his contract because you just highlighted all the potential attributes that this man may bring to the table. Right. However, in part of that argument, see, I dropped a however on you. Yeah, sir. part of that argument. You talked about Jaylen Brown and the uncertainty coming off a procedure, being a man for the first time, some of the other uncertainties with the Celtics roster. You’re talking about Ben Simmons providing stability, okay, to those unknowns. Okay, I’m not buying that, my friend. I hear you. And I hear the ceiling with Ben Simmons at one time. We’re taking flyers. That’s where we are. We’re taking on everybody. And then in the same breath, I understand you’re talking about some of the unknowns with the younger players, Josh May not, and I understand that, but I would rather give those guys more opportunity this year because I am not a believer in the Celtics team being a contender for next year. I think that they could compete and I think they can make the playoffs, but I’m not going to sacrifice a roster spot to bring on a guy like Ben Simmons who is not gonna get you over the top in any way, shape, or form. Right. And I hear that, but I see the East and I’m feeling like it’s wide open. The Cavaliers are the Cavaliers. I’ve been saying it for years. I don’t They’re choke artists. I don’t believe in them at all. Nick’s got a new head coach in there. We don’t know how that’s going to work out. When you’re looking at the Pacers, they’re dead because their star is out. And probably, we see Tatum working through things now and, you know, hoping that he could return at the end of next year. That was later on into the f, you know what I mean? Last game of the year. Yeah. He tore his Achilles as well. So, they’re dead. You know what I mean? And then Milwaukee, who knows what’s going on with them, right? Is Giannis gonna be here? One week he is, one week he is. I don’t trust any of that situation, right? So, you just got to get in. We’re looking at a Indiana Pacers team that in January I was like, this team’s dead. They’re, you know, January I was like, they they’re not making the final. What are you doing? Right. And they’re there. A Miami Heat team a couple of years earlier in 23 when the Nuggets won an NBA championship. If you told me throughout that, even throughout the playoff run, that the Miami Heat were going to be the team that made it to the finals out of the East, I would have told you you’re smoking whatever you’re smoking, right? So, yeah, I hear you. You know, just get in, Adam. All right, fair enough. But, if you’re going to if you’re going to go ahead and and bring in a guy who could have an impact on a roster that you think has potential in the East despite not having Jason Tatum, maybe they get him at the tail end of the year. That’s still a big question mark. I would rather go after a big. Yeah, they need Okay, size. How about a Nick Claxton? Okay, so we’ll talk about that. So, Bobby Manning went out and said essentially if the Celtics sign Ben Simmons, they’re effectively committing to 15 players to start the year, which they haven’t done in some time. Unless they’re they have a path in mind further down sizing payroll in September/ adjusting the roster, I don’t see it unless they love him, right? So, okay, let’s live in that world. The Celtics are under the second apron. They have 14 roster spots. They rarely ever enter with 15. You’re saying not Ben Simmons. You’re saying Nick Claxton. Why Nick Claxton? Because he adds size to the table. Because he’s under control for a few more years because he’s not only a part of the team that’s going to take the court next season. He’s a part of the team two years from now. Jason Tatum is back and healthy and you need that interior presence. I like Charles Bassie as a lowcost option, but he’s signing a deal overseas it looks like. And so I mean you look at the depth chart that they have right now they have no size. They have uh name Ka and they have who’s supposed to be the starting center. Yeah. And Garza who they just brought in Mari Williams who’s a rookie second round rookie. Right. So so they don’t have a lot of depth and they don’t have an elite defender in the paint. They don’t have a guy that can do what Nick Claxton can do. And I would rather go after somebody like that. Yes. I I think this Celtics team does lack those things. Mhm. Typically, they’ve always lacked kind of like the premier center, right? Like they haven’t been the team that has that over the last 20 years or so besides a KG, you know what I’m saying? Um, and a and a KP obviously. I personally think they need playmaking. I I think that’s a huge thing with Tatum gone, with Drew gone, like those are that’s the things that people aren’t talking about. I would love them to see them bring in a Pat uh Pat Beverly. Why not him? You know what I mean? He could come in on a cheap deal. He played overseas last year. I’m sure he’s willing to come back in the winning situation and start point guard. Uh, you know, Peyton Pritchard can stay in the same role that he was in off the bench. Um, I would love to see that. There’s been a myriad of other guys that I’ve brought up over the time that I would love to see a Chris Bush, a Chris, uh, Charles Bassie. Of course, I would like to see those dudes, too, because I do think big is important. But, you know, looking at the playmaking, talking about what Ben Simmons can bring, if we’re going to bring in not have that, then I would love to have a guy who could shoot 40% from three playm, you know, he guards and brings intensity and has that championship level pedigree even though he hasn’t won one. He’s that kind of guy. Yeah. Celtics roster remains in flux. And there are a lot of proposed trades out there. Yeah. Including one that we’re going to talk about. Nice mock Celtics trade that has everybody including this man fired up. That’s next. Welcome back to home my banner. Adam and back with you. So it is mock trade season. A lot of people are wondering if the Celtics are going to make another move, if they’re going to, you know, maybe work in the margins or are they going to make a blockbuster type deal. And so with that, let’s go to Bleacher Reports. Connor Toms with this mock trade proposal. As you take a look at this, Celtics get Damontus Sabonis from Sacramento and the Kings receive receive Anthony Simmons, Sam Hazard, George Nyang, Nameish Queta, and two first round picks. Okay, so that had people fired up. Yeah. On social media. And let’s start with the Rob version one. That was an overpay for Boston. kind of down to a first round pick given the quality of other players in the deal is more than fair. But Michael KD 3ZJ Kings would be crazy to do that. Boston would be crazy not to lol as we move along. Yeah. What’s uh crow? No, no, we’ll talk about crow the crew. We’ll come back. Let’s talk Let’s talk this trade. All right, let’s talk the trade first and we’ll get to the hower comment. We’ll bring that comment back up on the screen when we get to it. Let’s just talk about the trade proposal itself. If you have uh two individuals on two very different sides, where do you land? So, I was all in on this Celtics trade. I thought it would be a good trade for the Celtics. I thought it wasn’t too much of an overpay in my personal opinion just because I don’t think second round picks would mean anything to a a championship level Celtics team. Right. You’re bringing in you’re getting rid of Anthony Simons who once again um has name just been floated out there. expiring contract. You’re taking on a big, which we’ve talked about a little bit, how having that premier big could help out the Boston Celtics in the future. And you have three years of control of this dude. Then there’s the Sam Hower, the Nang, the Kada part of this who all have been okay. And you know, that’s why we’ll get to the c the crude comment in a second cuz he was upset with what I had to say about Sam Hower. But you know, my opinions is is that this would be a good trade for the Boston Celtics. I didn’t know if the Kings would accept. That’s where I was at. Would the Kings accept this? That’s where I was. I think they would because I think they are looking for a premier point guard, especially with Fox leaving, with, you know, Tyrese Hallebert leaving. They’re looking for somebody who can score and playmake at a high level, which Simons does. And then a good shooter in Sam Hower, which they’ve always continuously been looking for shooters. They drafted ones over in the first round over the last couple of years because they’re looking for that. And then with the Nyang and the Kada, they bring some championship experience, some highlevel defenders and stuff like that and guys that can protect their rim, you know. So, I thought it was a good deal for them. But, I mean, what do you feel? Uh, I feel like this is an excellent trade for the Celtics. I feel like this is a eh deal for the King. Okay. I think in terms of the Celtics need, which we’ve talked at length about, Damonte Sabonis would fill that big need in a big way. Yeah, love Damonte Simona’s games, leading the league in rebounding several years, just a presence inside and the Celtics could use that obviously this season and beyond when Jason Tatum comes back to full strength. In terms of the Kings end, I mean, I don’t care as much about that, but if I were to look at this, I would say, all right, well, this team was 40 and 42 last year. They got knocked out in the playing game. They’re looking to blow this thing up after the the Fox trade, which you mentioned. And so, Sabonis reportedly not too happy about that either. And so, you know, what are you left with in Sacramento? You’re left with a team that’s sort of in a now sort of rebuild, right? And and that might not be a bad thing for them. So, uh maybe they would look at it as a good thing. So, yeah, that’s sort of where I’d land. I would love to see this happen. Oh my gosh. Absolutely love to see this happen. Yeah, I I agree. I mean, even if it means giving up Sam Hower and his lights out shooting. Go ahead. Go ahead. To crude. Go ahead. Throw it out to crude. Let’s bring up that tweet. All right. Hey, listen. Hower’s hit 40 plus percent of his threes every single season since college. Every single season. Are these two sniffing glue? Okay. All right. So, you got fact check? Yeah. So, you know, I I went into the comments in of our last video. Couldn’t help yourself. And I, you know, couldn’t even wait to hold my banner. I couldn’t, you know, because I, you know, it was like four or five days in between last episode. And I just had to let CR the crew know like, hey, man, what about his playoff numbers, right? Because I said he was an inconsistent shooter, that he was streaky and all this other stuff. And he said, you know, he came back and he was like, 2024 is a great sample size, blah blah blah. I read the comment. I’m here to talk to you, Crow. So, put the camera. Put the camera. There it is. I’m here to talk to you, Crow. All right. So, I I absolutely love that you’re writing for Sam Hower. I played against Sam Hower as Adam knows in college and I I’m a fan of his game, but the inconsistencies have been there. We’re going to start off not in 2024 because you said, “Oh, that’s a larger sample size.” 30 of his 49 games played in the playoffs were played outside of 2024. He played 19 games in the playoffs in 2024 because won the NBA championship in which he was 16 for 48 from 3%. So that’s 33% from the three-point line over those course of those games. 30 of us 49. Not 40. Not 40. Okay. All right. Then league average. I just wanted to know what league average was. 35% since he’s been in the league in the playoffs. Below league average. So he’s below league average over the last three years. So that’s, you know, all right. He was one of the four years. He was one of the four years he was above over league average, which was 2024. So, I will give him credit for that. But let’s take a look at him at 2024 cuz I need to deep dive into the streakiness of all of this, right? You know, he shot 38% which is slightly above leave average. I’ll give him credit for it. All right. In the 2024 playoffs versus Cleveland, a whole series. Yeah. Three for nine from three. That’s 33% for the people who are worried about it at home. Okay. Against Indiana. Mhm. A whole series. Mhm. He was 1 for4 from three. Adam, less than 40%. That’s a lot less than 40%. So in back-to back series, yeah, during a 2024 playoff run, he’s 4 for 23 from the field. That’s 17% from three, Adam. So in order to get up to 38 over the entire playoffs, you got to have some really hot streaks. Mhm. And you got to have some cold streaks in there. Even against Miami, he had a game where he was one for five from three. A game where he was 0 for two from three. Against Dallas in the NBA championship in the NBA finals, a game where he was 0 for five in game two. Mhm. So yeah, he got the games where he was high. He was reeling and he was four for six and he was five for eight and those brought his percentages up, but that is the point of streakiness. He’s not there consistent every single game. So that’s why I say Boston Celtics fans who are really paying attention to who Sam Hower are is are not excited with his ability to help them out in playoff games. Regular season is great 40%. Yeah, he did that. You are cor completely correct. Corro the crew on that. But guess what? What do they call Boston, Adam? City of champions. City of champions. I don’t care what you do in the regular season. I only care what you do for me when it’s time to win that chip. Hold on, man. I got to cool you down a little bit, My goodness, that seat is hot. Woo! All right, Cro to crew. Just uh Yeah, you see that flag. Yeah, wave the wave the white flag for the crew. There we go. RIP, man. No, it’s all good. Hey, listen. This wasn’t meant to be a Sam Hower hatefest. come across that way because to your point, you played against him. We’ve seen him in action. He’s been good. But like my thing is if he’s a part of a deal to bring a allstar player Mhm. in a position of need to your team, you do it in a heartbeat. No disrespect to any of the players here, especially Anthony Simons, which again, like he’s the player that you look at and you say, “All right, he’s he’s got an expiring deal.” Yeah. you know, where does he fit long term for the Celtics? And it doesn’t look like that he would, right, in this particular scenario, like you’re getting a guy that would definitely fit right away. So, I’m cool with that. Um, but like the 25 26 team that we’re looking at here, right, because there’s a lot of talk about two years from now when Tatum comes back and all stuff, you know, what what’s their potential, right? And and that’s something that um our guy Leo Droia, he gave his take on. Yeah. This might be a 41 win team at best. Now, what’s the number? Yeah. So, Vegas right now 42 and a half is the line for the Boston Celtics of for 25 26. Okay. Yes. So, as the roster stands right now Mhm. 42 and a half probably seems like a an interesting number. Yeah. I’d probably take the over on that. Yeah. You know, if if again Jaylen Brown’s healthy. Jaylen Brown’s taking the reigns of this team and saying this is my team. Let’s go. Derek White’s healthy. He’s Payton Pritchard, you know, does what he does last year and a little bit more. Like everybody needs to do a little bit more. Yeah. Right. And if you got Simons on the roster, he needs to take that next step to be that number two score to Jaylen Brown. Right. Right. All those things need to work out. Um and you need maybe a young guy to pop. Maybe Jordan Walsh, you know, carries some of that momentum in the summer league and he becomes a viable piece off the bench for this team. Yeah, 100%. And I think when you’re looking and in this Eastern Conference, too. Yes, that’s exactly where I was going to go. When you’re looking around the East and I’m looking at the standings right now here in front of me. Orlando was 41 wins last year and they missed their stars for France Vagner and Paulo Ben Carroll for long stretches of that season last year, right? And they ended up 41 and 41. And then you look at the teams ahead of them. You look at Detroit who’s having issues trying to fill in their, you know, front court with, you know, um, Schroeder leaving with Beasley dealing with the off the court issues. You know what I mean? So, I don’t know if they’re necessarily going to get better. I talked about Milwaukee. They’re not going to probably Well, we don’t know. We don’t know what that’s going to look like, right? We don’t Indiana Pacers, we for sure know that they’re probably not going to be better than they were last year. The Knicks have some inconsistencies. And I would I would bank on the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t going to be as hot as they were last year. They’re still going to probably lead the the East, you know what I mean? Coming out and going into the playoffs, right? They should be favored to win the East, right? Yeah. So, they’ll probably be still the the best team in the East, but I don’t think they’re going to be at 64 wins, you know what I mean, when we’re heading into the playoffs. So, if you’re looking at that, that means there’s wins on the table for somebody to go get. And this Celtics team, I feel like, can go get some of those wins. I think we’re still forgetting that they do have a Derrick White, they do have a Jaylen Brown, you know, and I mean, they do have a Peyton Pritchard. That’s a good starting point for a team in the East that is as depleted as it is right now. I tell you, man, you look at the Eastern Conference, the more we talk about it, the more I look at it and say, man, it is not great, right? You know, I mean, compared to the West, which I know we’re going to talk about the Western Conference and the offseason for those teams coming up uh in just a few minutes, actually. Um, but like comparatively, you know, with the Tatum injury, you know, with the situation happening in Milwaukee, you know, with the the Pacers missing Hallebertton and Miles Turner’s now in Milwaukee, you know, you’re spreading. I mean, it does open the door for some of these other teams, you know, that might be on the cusp. I know you mentioned the Pistons. Yeah. You know, I mean, why not? Why not Detroit, right? I mean, the jump that they took from two years ago to last year and now you’re looking at them take the next step if they can figure things out a little bit. Um, and even Atlanta’s going to come up and Atlanta win some games, you know what I mean? And then a Miami Heat team that yes, we aren’t excited about, but if we’re talking about the ifs of health, right? Like if Tyler Hero is going to stay healthy, bam out of bio, now they have Andrew Wiggins. Hopefully he stays healthy and available cuz he wasn’t always available towards the end of his warriors tenure which is why they were you know willing to move him move on from him but you got the DaVon Mitchell you got the killers like you know you have a hopefully a health healthy um Haime Hakez you know there’s a lot of Duncan Robinson this team could be a team like we’re all forgetting about them but like in a battered Eastern Conference that could go up and get a couple wins as well so it’s wide open the Celtics I’m with you I agree I think the Celtics are going probably float. It’s going to be close. It if I were betting this line, it’s this is what Travis calls a nailbiter. You’re going to be sweating your bet on this one for sure. Yeah. Um but I would say the Celtics should be closer to 44 to 45 wins. Yeah. I know you guys are going to talk about the Eastern Conference on Thursday’s uh what day is this? Thursday episode of Hold My Banner. Uh but Norman Norman Powell too, right? Miami, you know, that was another huge that the Heat madeuge. So, like a move like that in a conference that is sort of wide open can really swing swing the pendulum, right? If you’re talking about a stack conference, one move might not do it, but like one move in this Eastern Conference, you know, could get you, you know, a much higher seed and and a much better starting point in a postseason. 100%. And you know, it’s, you know, it’s funny that you bring up Norman Pal because he’s gonna come in there and automatically have a easy role because, yeah, you know, Terry, we talked about the off the court issues that Beasley’s dealing with, but Terry Rosier is also dealing with some off the court issues in the same vein, you know what I mean? And so, um, there’s going to be a lot of, you know, I like Terry Rosier, but when you have him and Tyler Herro on the court together, you know, the ball can slow down just a little bit, you know? So now you have a lot of guys who are out there who are you know spacers, ball movers. Um they’re hoping that you know Yo Yoic can come up and you know give them some real minutes this year cuz over the last couple years they’ve been you know trying to pepper him in and figure it out and now like how we’re hoping a Baylor Shyman can do some things for us this year. They’re hoping that he can, you know, step up and do some good things. And from what I saw in summer league, you know, I really like his game and not taking too much stock into that. But, you know, they have a team that could come up and get some wins. The Eastern Conference is wide open and I don’t see any reason going back to this comment why the Celtics couldn’t be a team that takes some of those wins. I’m with you on Baylor Shyman, man. and I’ve been banging on that drum a little bit and I like his game and again you know there are some deficiencies as they are with any young player and obviously you know we’re not talking about a top 10 pick here and Shyman but for a team that has some opportunity available this year Shyman’s a guy that you should look at to maybe uh grab that potential but I don’t want to steal Casey’s thundership on Thursday talk about the Eastern Conference you could run back this clip because you got a little bit heated there and I I kind of like that you know I shouldn’t say heated I should just say like, you know, excited and fired up. You know, you bring back this clip, have her react to it. I mean, I don’t want to produce your show for you, man. But that I mean, that could be something. Especially the Ben Simmons rant. Oo, baby. I love that. I love that. But you know what? We got we got more to talk about. And I mentioned the Western Conference teams and how this is a stacked West and some offseason moves turn some teams into maybe uh contenders for the NBA title. We’ll talk about that next. Welcome back. Ben Roarback, ESPN or Yahoo, I should say, pardon me, uh, handed out offseason grades for Western Conference teams. And, uh, you can see, uh, some letter grades there. You recognize the logos. Uh, I’m sure even in that screen, but, um, yeah, I mean, the West really um, far superior to the Eastern Conference, uh, going into next year. um as some of the moves that were made to maybe catapult some teams uh you know to that next step and I mean I I think that the first team you know and and and Roarback I think rightfully so gave this team an A grade. Yeah. Uh the first team that comes to mind is Houston Rockets obviously. Yeah. Uh landing Kevin Durant a premier scoreer. Uh and again you know you got to give up something to get something uh you know for for the Rockets. Um, you know, it it meant giving up on and Dylan Brooks, who’s, you know, a good defender, right? Obviously, um, and, uh, you know, who else was it? It was, um, uh, Jaylen Green, excuse me. Yeah, Jaylen Green, who’s a little inconsistent. Um, but still, you know, quality young player, right? I mean, that’s an Agrade, no doubt. Yeah, I I mean, yeah, 100%. What else can you say about that? I mean, even bringing in our guy JD Davidson, you know, helps pump that up again a little bit. But no, like them going to get him, um, having their vets that they already have, keeping that team together, you know, keeping most of the young talent that they had together and not really giving up on anything too big. I mean, Ch, yes, Jaylen Green, great player, but you know, him or Kevin Durant right now when the Rockets have a window. And when you got to take swings to be in that window and have an opportunity to win a championship, you need a top 10 player. You need a top 10 player to go win one. Yeah. And so they had it and that’s and I mean now they have it. So now that’s why they have an opportunity to win a championship. And that’s all you can talk about when you’re talking about offseason grades. Which team put themselves in the best position to go win a chip? And if you’re talking about that question, the Rockets have to be the first answer. Has to be. I think um you know, obviously OKC not making any I mean just keeping their entire roster intact for the most part, right? Um you know, they’re going to be uh right at the top there. I also like you know, the champion from a few years back and Denver Nuggets and the moves they made. Um you know, bringing in Cam Johnson. Yeah. You know, I think that’s you had some size there. You know, you you say goodbye to Michael Porter Jr. Y um which again like he’s making a ton of money and so you can play Cam Johnson easily with that. Um I you know and I think you know the Nuggets you know gave OKC everything they could handle in the playoffs last year and so you know you have a healthy Aaron Gordon in the playoffs next year hopefully right if you’re Denver and you add Cam Johnson in the mix I mean you and to to add to obviously Jamal Murray and Nicole Yic I think that’s a solid solid squad. Yeah. All right. So, when you’re looking at this, all right, talking about all the teams that got A’s, they all deserved it. What team do you think was a little underrated? Like, which team do you feel like was a little underrated by Ben in his list? Yeah. Um, it’s a good question. I mean, you know, I I looked at um I actually looked at from a little bit of through a little bit of a different lens. Um, thinking ahead not just to next year, but maybe in the future. Fair. Um, I think the Memphis Grizzlies, you know, did pretty well. Yeah. You know, this off season because, you know, that that trade, you know, Desmond Bane, player that we talked about, what if with the Celtics a few years back, right? When we were talking about that list, they got four first round picks, right, in return, right? And so, yeah, um, you know, Contavius Cowwell Pope comes back in the trade, whatever. Fine. Um, but you get the four first round picks, that’s a big hall, right? And I and so I think that if you you know you’re looking at you know this Grizzlies team obviously um you know with John Morant and trying to build towards something that’s a big step in doing that. So I think that that’s that’s a little underrated because everybody’s looking ahead to next year right 100%. And I like that deal. You know I said it earlier that they got two you know functional players they decided to wait you know to buy out Cole Anthony. Um, but he probably could have helped them in different ways, but they didn’t end up keeping him. And that’s fine. I agree. I think the Memphis Grizzlies did, you know, have a pretty good off season. You know, like you said, when you’re looking out out their future outlooks, right? Um, I think the Pelicans getting a F. Like I think this guy Ben just hates Yeah. the Pelicans. Like I I not a Zion guy. Well, yeah. like, you know, cuz I’m looking at their, you know, their subtractions and it’s like, you know, CJ McCullum, Kelly Oolen, Brandon Boston, Alfred Peyton, like guys that really didn’t play a lot there or work out there, you know, like CJ McCullum’s time there was shaky and he had the best out of these guys that were listed. The rest of them, I’m like, do I even remember watching games where they played in the Pelicans jersey? You know what I mean? Yeah. quote at the end is none of it makes any sense whether or not Zion Williamson can remain healthy for an entire season. So that was not only a shot at the moves. I think that was a veiled shot at Zia. Yeah, it was like like why did they catch this, you know, this this this random stray um because like I’m looking at that and I’m looking like Jordan Pool, Sadique Bay, Jeremiah Fierce, uh Derek Queen, you know, Kevon Looney. I’m like, man, those are really good NBA players right there, you know, or potential, you know, could be good NBA players. Like, I was really high on Fierce coming into the draft. I was high on Queen coming in the draft, and they got both of them. Do they fit? Not necessarily, right? But they are really good young talented players who could they could move on a year or two from now if they needed to and probably get something good back in return. So, you know, I I like I like it more than an F. I’m not saying it’s a I feel like it was a C like at the worst. You know what I mean? We talk about the F that didn’t get an F. Who Golden State Warriors? Oh yeah. They should have got I mean they got a C. Yeah, they they should have got they haven’t done anything. Yeah. And it’s like hello. Like Steph Curry is not playing for another 10 years. Right. Right. Draymond Green’s not going to be around forever. I mean, they’re all getting older, right? And they they had they did they did pretty well next year. So it’s like which direction are you going in? you got to like you got to sell you got to add to this team and if you’re like keeping these guys around and stuff and it’s like all right well you just trying to sell tickets like what are you trying to do right what are you trying to do and then like with the Kevon Looney letting him walk because you think you’re going to get Al Horford and that still hasn’t been done because Kuminga Kuminga put out the door right exactly so I’m 100% with you I think that they shouldn’t have even gotten the C I think they said they got a a clear F they’re missing out on the opportunity when everybody who’s making these swings at least The Lakers were taking swings. I think they’re overrated on this list as well. I think smart. Yeah, I I think their off seasonason has been terrible because the Pelinka is always about getting in talent, but not about making a team, which is the biggest thing that you need to do in the off season is make a a a team that is functional and that wants to play together. So, they have a lot of dysfunction over there, but this is not about them. This is about the Warriors. the Warriors didn’t have been sitting on their hands and like you said their ch their star their guy does not have that much time left and even though he’s going on the you know line and saying like oh I’m not even thinking about retirement yet doesn’t mean that it’s not around the corner. Yeah. Uh so Golden State is getting older. Uh the Clippers are just old. Yeah. You know I mean they I didn’t realize they brought in Chris Paul back into the mix. Yeah. Right. So, you got Bradley Beal, you got Chris Paul, uh you know, you added uh Brook Lopez, John Collins, which will be that’s a good that’s a good ad for them, too. Uh to go with with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. You know, this this grade could either be an A or an F, right? Because I think that there’s an age factor, there’s an injury factor that’s in play because of the history with some of the guys on the roster and obviously the age of the guys on the roster. So, this could either work out really well if they can keep these guys in bubble wrap until the postseason or not work out at all. Yeah. Yeah. I like that one. The other team that I was kind of focused on too is the Timberwolves. I think their their grade is too low on here as a C because I think like continuity matters like in the NBA and I think it’s something that people don’t talk about enough but like having a team that look what OKC did, right? That sticks together. Yep. the Celtics couple years, correct? Right. And you and you brave through the storm like you said. OKC was terrible for years. Celtics were getting bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals and you know Trey JB split up him and JT blah blah blah whatever and they you know stuck it out and made a couple of small tweaks here and ended up winning a championship. And I feel like the Timberwolves are kind of in that boat. They probably won’t win this year just because what the Nuggets did do and what the Thunderer did and you know what the Rockets did, but they’re still a team where they resigned Julius Randle. They resigned Nas Reed. In my book, you lose Nikquil Alexander Walker and then Luca Garza and Josh Mina obviously come here who didn’t play real minutes in the playoffs for this team. You lose Nquille that hurts. But you kept everything else together and that’s the biggest thing. You know what’s great? What? We get to do this show. But now other people can not only listen to the show. Yes. Uh oh. But they can showcase our show for the world to see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Isn’t that right? I know where you’re going. Uhhuh. Tell the people what they want to hear. Oh man. So we got we got Wicked Wearables. You know, you can finally finally finally buy some Hold My Banner gear. Uh you can now pick up a Hold My Banner t-shirt or a hoodie. Check out Nessen’s full Wicked Wearables line brought to you in partnership with Breaking Tea. Check it out on Wickedwearables at nesswickedwware.com. There’s some good stuff on there, too. You know, it’s not just the uh premier show, Hold My Banner, but there are other uh shows available purchase. There is other stuff uh there. You got to check it out. Um you can wear it around and it’ be great, you know. You can wear it, you can wear it while listening, you know, whatever you want to do. Yep. You know, so that’s cool. Hey, uh, you know, uh, we love play. I love playing. When I’m on the show, I love playing. We’re going to play some Ple. Yeah, we’re going to play some Ple. And And if I remember correctly, last time I was on this show, I nailed it. You did. I nailed it. Jason Tatum. We’ll see uh who’s who the mystery player is. Uh, coming up after the break and then have a conversation. Adam Anante back with you on Hold My Banner. It is my favorite part of the show where we get to play a little little NBA guessing game. Guess that player. Purle. Purle. It’s Ple time. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s get it, Adam. All right. Let’s see if we can guess the player that they’re thinking of today. All right. Let’s get it started. Here we go. All right. All right. You throw out the first guess. Who you want to guess? Let’s get this started. I’m going to go with uh Josh Mayot. Oh, okay. Our little our guy out here in Boston. It is a Boston Celtic again. No way. It is a Boston Celtic. Take a look at this in the Eastern Conference. What’s the number? Under eight. Under eight. Uh Jaylen Brown. Jaylen Brown. Two piece. Adam, let’s go. Hold on. Hold on. We got to get the celebration right there. All right, let’s do that one more time. There we go. There we go. Oh my. Okay, let’s talk about our guy JB. All right, we got No, no, no. We got to have a victory parade for me. I mean, I’m on the show. I’m just nailing it. You’re hot right now. Oh my god. Cool this man off. All right. Somebody called the fire department. Johnny Storm’s in the building. Flame on. Hopefully y’all watch that movie this weekend. I did. I know, right? Fantastic. All right. Uh Jaylen Brown. I mean, hell, I don’t know. Where do you want to start? He’s going to be the man this year for the Celtics. He got have the opportunity to be the man. So, let me ask you this. Okay. Jaylen Brown last year played 64 games. Is that correct? Because he missed the game, the last game of the year where everybody thought he needed to play one game against Charlotte. Yeah. in order to be able to be eligible for NBA awards. Okay. 63 games. 63 games. So, he missed he needed to play the last two. That’s correct. And he didn’t play in the last two games of the season and he missed out on that opportunity, right? Yep. So, this year, Adam Mhm. do you think Jaylen Brown will be how what do you think his ceiling will be? You think he’ll be third team all NBA, second team all NBA, first team all NBA? What kind of accolades do you foresee Jaylen Brown collecting this year? All-star. Yep. Um, I think he has the opportunity to be second team AllNBA. That’s the ceiling. I think I don’t know if he can crack that first team allNBA. I don’t know if he’s going to be a serious consideration for MVP, you know, because, you know, I don’t know if he’s at that level, right? I mean, that’s something that we’ve talked about with Jason Tatum in one of the episodes was what is he aspiring to be? What does he want to what’s next for for Jason Tatum and and and his goals in his career? And I think that, you know, again, I love Jaylen Brown, but I I mean, Jason Tatum to me is is that guy. He’s that dude, right? Yeah. Uh Jaylen Brown um is sort of just slightly behind, right? Jason Tatum. So, second team allNBA, which is, by the way, nothing to, you know, turn your nose on. Yeah, like that’s legit. Um, and all-star, I think, you know, and career highs. He could post career highs. He could fill it up this year. So, the last time he was second team allNBA, I’m looking at taking a look at this now, right? It was the 22 23 season. Y he averaged 26.6 points a game, 6.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and one one steal a game on about three turnovers. Let’s look at the efficiency. 33% from three and 49% from the field. I think he’s even better shooter now, you know what I mean? And he’s proven that to us over the last couple years. I know last year was a little shaky for him. Um, but I feel like he came into the off season, I mean, just came into the season bulked up. I mean, we all talked about it going into the last season like how strong Jaylen Brown looked like he was ready for war, you know what I mean? And I think that took a toll on his body as we see, you know, throughout the regular season. Um, and I think after a year of putting on the first year you put on weight, it’s always shaky. The next year is the year that you start really showing the improvements and your game gets more fluid and all this other stuff. I think we could see a Jaylen Brown who’s averaging 28 a game. Yeah. And, you know, seven rebounds still probably maybe even eight and probably up to five assists a game. This could be a guy like you said. Yeah. Um, realistically like you know and I like Jaylen Brown and I agree. I think, you know, Jason Tatum is just has a little bit more in the in his bag, a little bit more that he can get to, but you know, when they when you’re looking at a depleted East and devoidant of stars because they’re they’ve left to go to the West or you know what I mean, they’re injured or things of that nature, you could see a guy like him get to NBA first team considerations. I don’t think he’ll get there just because, like we said earlier, I think the Celtic ceiling is about 45 wins and that’ll hold him back. Yeah, but like this is going to be a year where we see him without Jason Tatum. He’s clearly motivated like he was coming in the last year that he has to show people who he is. And I don’t know like you know I’d have to look back at the history of all NBA first teams and to see where the teams finished. Right. Right. Because I’m looking at last year and it’s Giannis, it’s SGA, it’s Jokic, it’s Donovan Mitchell, it’s Tatum, right? And all those teams were were legit, right? Fantastic. So, um, with the Celtics being who they are going into next year, I’m not sure, you know, if that’s any consideration when it comes to these things. It shouldn’t be because it’s about the individual. Um, but like, you know, I mean, it’s that’s going to be that’s going to be a tough uh ceiling to break. Yeah. If you’re Jaylen, and even like when you say that like you look at the teams cuz I was like, “Oh, well, the Bucks, you know, and I look and they won 48 games last year and like if the Celtics have 46, like what’s the difference?” But like it’s Giannis. Yep. It’s Giannis. Yeah. And if you get, by the way, if you get he’s your boy, but if you get a healthy Luca this year out in LA, right? Like that that 65game threshold, he’s you know, he could have himself a year out there. 100%. You know, so that’s going to be tough, too. Man, can we talk more about my my Ple my Ple abilities? You were You’re him. Way you’re him. You’re him. Oh, man. That was a lot of fun, man. It was good stuff. I had a good time talking right there. There you Oh, they should call it Pellerin. All right, man. That was a good time on Hold My Banner. Uh, Ae, thanks as always. You’re the man. Look forward uh to seeing the next episode with you and Casey Hudson that drops on Thursday, same time, same place, 100 p.m. Peace. Deuces.

What if the Celtics never traded Desmond Bane on draft night? We open the show by looking back at ESPN’s ranking of every NBA team’s biggest roster mistake since 2020, where Boston landed at number 22 for dealing away Bane and Enes Kanter in exchange for just two second-round picks. How would Bane have changed the Celtics trajectory if he stayed in green?

We also talk about the decision to waive JD Davison, what it means for the team’s cap sheet, and who should fill the open roster spot. Is Ben Simmons worth a shot or should the Celtics stay patient? And if not Simmons, who is a realistic free agent or trade target?

In the second segment, we react to your takes on a proposed Domantas Sabonis trade that has Celtics fans completely divided. Is Sam Hauser underrated or overrated? And are the Celtics heading for a 41-win season or something more?

Then we jump into offseason grades for the Western Conference. Who improved the most and who might have fumbled the bag?

We wrap it up with a quick game of NBPA Poeltl to see if we can guess the mystery player before you do.

All this and more on the latest episode of Hold My Banner with Adam Pellerin and Ountae Campbell.

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