Did the Celtics Fail? NBA Offseason Grades

Did the Celtics Fail? NBA Offseason Grades

Welcome into Hold My Banner. Casey Hudson alongside Campbell to bring you the excitement for this Boston Celtics off season. And look, we got some fun stuff on the docket today, I would say. We’re going to get into some grading, not only of the Boston Celtics, but of these East Coast teams. And then we’re going to piece together, well, our NBA football team. I’m going to explain that better later, but we are going to dive into all things in terms of the competition of the Boston Celtics, what we think of this off season thus far. We’ve heard you in the comments from YouTube to Twitter, all of the things. I’ll never call it X, but we want to be able to respond and give you guys either some encouragement or just rally with you. Who knows? But first and foremost, as always, I want to say what’s up. What’s up? I have to defend you the the other day last episode. I have to defend us. Okay, please defend us. I had to defend us because somebody was upset about our Sam Hower take. So gosh with that I, you know, laid out a little case, you know what I mean? Detective Bonte went on the case to find out how, you know, our Sam Hower take was correct. And I haven’t heard anything back. So maybe they were a little upset of me, but whatever. I will say this. Look fans, we always want you to be yourself and we want you to chat with us, but I wouldn’t go against Dante in most instances. like you know when to go against ball players, you know when to challenge them to make it fun, but then you also know when to just like don’t do it. Just just stay chill. I I uh I’ll be able to defend myself for something else later on in the show because you do so well at course correcting while we’re working together cuz names, you know what, sometimes they are just names. And one thing everybody should learn is that most of these dudes in the locker room when they’re hanging out with each other, they’re going by nicknames. I hold I saw an interview the other day where he was like, can’t pronounce his name correctly, but that’s my guy. and I was like, “My guy, too.” But before we get into all of that, uh Ben from Yahoo Sports is the one who helped us start piecing some grades for these East Coast teams. And uh we got to get your insight. We got to figure out where you landed on grading the offseason. So, before I dive any deeper on what Yahoo Sports had said, what was your original grade for the Celtics? Yeah. Um not what Yahoo Sports gave them. Uh, you know, cuz I think the most important thing for the Celtics was, um, being ready for Tatum in 2025, no, excuse me, 26, 27. Yep. And, you know, uh, just making sure that you got under the Second Apron, which they did and they didn’t, and they did, and they didn’t, and now they’re back under the Second Apron after their latest move. Um, let you know, letting go of JD Davidson. Um, which we are, I talked about last episode. We’re sad to see him go um because he’s been so much a part of like the youth core of like the things that were building up in Maine and for the Celtics, but you know, he was MVP of the league last year and did a lot of good things, but you know, at this point, the Celtics just needed to move on to get another second April. So, I I graded that as the two most important things and I feel like the Celtics did that. So, it’s not a great offseason. It’s not. But, you know, a C I think is a little aggressive. I would probably go B in my opinion, but you know, that’s not that’s just me. Well, like I said, I wouldn’t go against you in most instances, but um I agree. I thought C came off a little intense because at the end of the day, the biggest argument heading into the off season was how aggressive were the Boston Celtics going to be? And if they chose to be aggressive, what did that mean for them trusting the return of a Jason Tatum or even trusting the leadership of a Jaylen Brown? We say this over and over again, but that’s the reality of it. If you make aggressive moves, you’re basically saying you don’t trust the leaders on this team because you do have to almost in a sense be precautionary and make movement around what the 2026 27 season is going to hold. And um I actually in the bullpen talked with Adam Pellerin about it and he’s like honestly you just you got to look forward past the season ahead. So I feel like they did just enough to support what needs to take place to make them competitive enough this upcoming season. there are assets in terms of um Simons who they can package and move along from to make other movement happen, but like I feel like this is a good time to challenge the other potential leaders on this team and guys who have been kind of in and out of the lineup but finally need a little bit more time. Yeah. Uh you know, going back to just what Ben, you know, brought up in the article cuz I would encourage all of you to go actually read why he gave the Celtics a C grade, but you want to break that down for us? He didn’t love the the return that we got back for Chris Espzingis and a Drew Holiday. And I have to talk about that return because we talked about it in great length over the course of many months now for the Celtics. But what Drew Holiday did and what Chris Esporing did in the playoffs last year did not help the Boston Celtics dangle them over other people’s places. Seeing that they’re both making $30 million a year, which is a lot for everyone who’s fighting against the sec second apron. So, if you’re a contending team, you’re looking at guys who did not play well in their last couple of games wearing that Boston Celtics green and a $30 million price tag and you’re saying, “Celtics, you’re going to have to sweeten the deal a little bit for me or take something that isn’t as flashy.” And so, they went and did that. They got Anthony Simons, they got George Nang. And, you know, when I look at those two guys, I I think I think Brad Cooked. You know what I’m saying? So, we talked about Anthony Simons. Um, we talked about Niang and how good of players they could be if they play for this B Boston Boston Celtics team. We both think that they’ll probably get moved on because they’re on expiring deals, one-year deals before the end of the trade deadline. I know we’re talking MLB trade deadline here in Nessen World, but I know, you know, I’m already looking forward to the NBA trade deadline sometime in February next year. Uh, but you know, before that deadline, we think that the the Celtics are going to make some moves with those two dudes there. And you’re talking about a guy who’s, you know, an elite score, 27 million with Anthony Simons. You’re talking about a guy with Nang. And we talked about, I think the last time I was on the episode with you, how was a bad thing, not necessarily a bad thing, but how he’s been a journeyman six six different teams on 10 different years. But that’s also a a good thing because it’s showing that he’s been on contending teams every single time and that right and contenders want to have him around. So, and even the Boston Celtics who, you know, won’t contend probably this year, but still a very high level team, you know, a team with tradition, a team that expects to win, as Brad continues to say, he’s being brought on here to help win games. So, you know, it’s a good thing to have both of these dudes because they’re not guys that other teams don’t want, right? We’re going to move them probably and that means hey we have some assets here. Exactly. And touching back to moving on from KP and Drew Holiday with the steep amount, you know, $30 steep on top of it, we do have to be realistic of the health concerns. You can’t continue to invest in in health that continues to go up and down and like Holiday having health on top of age going against him and then KB like you can’t rely on your big man to be your big man and that hindered this team in a lot of ways. So yeah, they moved on from being financially crippled and they moved past being injuryprone players. You hate to say it, but that’s the bottom line. And before you move on, just because you brought that up, you know, with the Celtics last year, I mean, no one talks about it cuz we didn’t care. But like they could have probably been a one seed if you have a healthy Drew Holiday all year. If you have a healthy KP all year, they could have been really scary, you know, and that changes up. Okay, maybe you don’t have to face the Magic in the first round. They’re beating you up. Maybe you don’t have to face, you know what I mean, the Knicks in the second round. It could be a totally different world that we’re living in, right? Um if those two were healthy and available, but and better managed games because look at some of those games where I mean the freaking Orlando Magic had them by the cups for a couple of of rounds. That could have been different, right? In the Knicks games. Yeah, they shouldn’t have, you know, they shouldn’t have lost those games, especially games one and two, but you know, that’s another top. Yeah, we won’t we won’t dig up old wounds too much, but we do kind of have to play devil’s advocate here in in a way. So, yes, George Nang joins the roster. Anthony Simons joins the roster. The question being if we don’t move on from these guys anytime soon or they tend to think they’re sturdy enough in the plug plugandplay aspect. Anthony Simons, do you see him getting a start this season? Yeah, so Benj, one of the creators out there who always does the jersey swaps, asked this question. So I’m glad you brought it up. Um if he’ll be a part of the Celtics to start this year. I love Efron Simons. I think the NBA offseason is kind of dead. I mean, we did see it, not even kind of, it is. And we did see a big trade happen a week before training camp last year with the um the Knicks Timberwolves trade for Carl Anthony Towns and Julius Randall. Um which was a big two big stars kind of getting swapped out. I don’t really see the Celtics doing anything right like that right now. I see the way that they’re kind of building continuity between the team and the players and all this other stuff. Um, with these guys being new that the difference was, you know, the Timberwolves had had Cap for a long time at this point. Same thing with Julius Randle. They got an opportunity to see them play before they, you know, made the decision to trade them with this. These are two guys that have not played in Celtics Green yet in their career. We haven’t seen them play. If you were going to swing swing like, “Hey, move this guy just to move him again.” It usually happens within the first month or so. These guys have been on the on the roster. Yeah. For a couple weeks now, I I think we’re they’re probably both going to start out the season, we’re probably going to be looking more towards the trade deadline. Okay. Now, from anyone who’s kind of a little trepidacious about what Simons can bring to the table because I feel like from the minute that the trade took place, it was almost like, “Don’t panic. We can move on past this guy.” guy and it’s like you didn’t even give the kid a chance. What are we moving on past? So, we talked about the fact that he does fulfill and fit the shooting DNA for the Boston Celtics. He doesn’t fit the defensive DNA. But the other argument that I counter with that is we’ve seen defensively strong teams outside of, you know, Pacers and OKC take them off the table. But we’ve seen teams that are so defensively sound that get outworked when it comes to not having enough offense to deliver. And you do have to replace 20 plus points from a Jason Tatum. So, how can we bring a little bit of confidence to what Simons can bring to the court? Well, you know, it’s funny cuz, you know, just going back over the last couple of days cuz we’re in the offseason, you start looking at like all the old Celtics teams and their players and who they had and who you missed and all this other stuff, right? But go back to the journal. Yeah. And like you go back and I’m not saying this guy is as good. Not going to say that he’s as good as these players that I’m about to name. Okay. But I hear you. I hope everyone else is listening. when we were when we were, you know, and it was a different type of style of offense and I feel like he fits really well into the style of offense that the Celtics play now, but like Kyrie wasn’t defender at Boston, Isaiah Thomas defender Boston, Kimell Walker defense, like the Celtics have had over the last decade point guards who are really good on offense but really bad on defense, right? And I wouldn’t say Kyrie was really bad, like he’s probably better than Efron Simons on both ends of the floor. But when you’re talking about defense and Kima, defense and Isaiah Thomas, those two words don’t even exist together. They shouldn’t even be in the same sentence. That’s sacrilegious that I’m even putting it in the same sentence. So you have to go there. Yeah. You know, so you know, I think what you said, we’ve already said how great of an offensive player this kid is and can be for this Boston Celtics team. health can be sometimes an issue for him as well and we hope that he he gets to the 65 games threshold or whatever. You know, I don’t even think he’s going to make it to that point because I do think the Celtics will move on from him halfway through the season like we talked about. But, you know, if it’s 45 games or 50 games that the Celtics are at by the trade deadline, I’m hoping that he plays in 40 45 of them, you know, and um if he does that, I mean, I think with this team that we see with Jaylen Brown coming back from injury and, you know, we don’t know if Sam Hower’s going to be this, we don’t know who’s going to be the starting center, all these question marks, question marks, question marks. I think he’s going to come in and average 20. He’s going to shoot eight threes a game. He’s going to make three of them and we’re everyone’s going to be happy. You know what I mean? Everybody’s going to be happy. Yeah. I think a lot of us are in the moment people. So, continuing to put this into perspective, Yahoo Sports gave the Boston Celtics a C. You put them at roughly a B. Yeah. If they are able to perform well enough, if they could live up to a potential B, let’s say, would you say that their offseason moves were underrated? And then we’ll compare it to the East as a whole. Yeah, I would say their offseason moves were underrated just because they took the opportunity to recognize like, hey, next year is not our year. We can still be competitive. Next year is not our year. We’re focused on winning championships. Okay. I don’t think everybody else made moves that put them in spots where they can win a championship within the next couple of years. The Boston Celtics did that. So, I do think it is a little underrated. And I’ll add to that. I think that we’re not used to realistic approaches. But I think that Stevens has stuck by his word in terms of still trying to be competitive but not being non-realistic. Yeah. You still have a Jason Tatum on this roster at the end of the day. eventually when he bounces back like Superman. So now looking at the East as a whole, who’s a team that you would say had one of the most underrated off season probably in comparison? There’s a lot of fans out there on Twitter on the social media platform saying, “Look out for Cleveland. They’re the team to beat next year. They’re putting all these chips when it comes to Cleveland.” Then you got the Knicks. I never know what to make of them. I’m not going to say anything. And then Pacers Bucks. Everyone thoughto going to request a trade. doesn’t take place. We put all the AIS of putting him in every jersey possible besides just knowing that he’s staying in Milwaukee. So, what team has probably shaken things up that’s not getting enough credit? You know, you brought up all those big teams, those names that we’ve all been talking about all summer that we’re looking at and have obvious opportunities to go and win championships, right? Um, but I didn’t look at those teams at all. I, you know, I actually went towards the Pistons, which are, you know, a middle team. They were a six seed, I believe, last year. Um, and they got a D. And I feel like not, you know, they I I realize that they weren’t doing like a C+ or C minus ball, whatever. They weren’t doing the plus and minus thing. Fine. That’s cool for you, Ben. I think that they should have got a C. And the reason that I’m saying they should have got a C is because, well, I think it should have been a C plus, but we’re going to go C in Ben’s rating system. You know, and the reason that I’m saying that I think they should have got a CC plus is because they went out there and you talked about it a little bit earlier, defense, defense, defense was their identity, and then when they got to the playoffs, they needed more guys to help Kade score and they didn’t have it. Yep. They lost Dennis Roder. They lost Tim Hardaway Jr., they lost probably Malik Beasley because he’s dealing with off the court issues right now. Yeah. And that’s fine to lose those guys because they got Caris Levert. got uh Duncan Robinson. And then when you’re looking around the the entire East and even any NBA team, health matters and they had Jay Ivy, Jay Ivy is a really good point guard for them. So them losing Dennis Schroeder and replacing that with a a Jay Ivy who’s a defensive guard who can do a lot of things, who’s shooting, is coming along, can get downhill, make plays, facilitate. They didn’t need another guy to come in and do that in free agency because they already had it at home. So them adding two shooters and two scorers and Caris Levert who’s a high level scorer did it for Atlanta did it for Cleveland last year for Duncan Robinson to be a high level shooter shot over 39% over the last two years in his NBA career and has been known as an elite shooter throughout his NBA career. I I think they they did a pretty good job considering the fact that they weren’t expecting to lose Malik Beasley and probably maybe not still expecting maybe hoping to have him at some point next year. We’ll see if that happens. But I feel like they had a pretty good off seasonason all things considered. I like that. I like that you went off the beaten path there a little bit. But it is true. I feel like a number of those defensively stout teams are going to make sure that they can do just enough to go toe-to-toe when it comes to point production. Minnesota, I’m talking to you. Um, but outside of that, great points made in terms of pointing out uh Detroit, a team that I want to bring attention to and get your opinion on because the Hawks got an A. The Hawks got an A. Yeah. And I’m only circling back to this because of course our guy KP being in the trade mix of all of the conversation in order for the Hawks to be on the board in order for what George Nang is. Is that where we got him from? Yeah. All those pieces to be moved. Talking about a team that was sitting about ninth when it comes to the standings of last season. Not really functional as a team. I’ve heard them in a number of punchlines. I didn’t make these jokes, y’all. But a I I like I like what they did this off seasonason. I you know I wouldn’t say I think it is maybe a little bit overrated just because when you’re packed in that a right what they lost Clint Capella Larry Nance Nang Terrence man um we just talked about him uh they just did a clean move Caris Levert you know they lost those guys but Chris’s health question marks Asa Newuel rookie you don’t really know what that’s going to be or how that’s going to pan out Alexander Walker he’s been a good piece. I think that is a good ad. I think L Canard is a good ad, but there’s question marks about whether Chris can be available, whether he’s ready to play in a bigger role than he played in Boston because they need him versus the Boston Celtics didn’t need him to be there every night. The Atlanta Hawks, a team that missed the playoffs last year, need a KP making 30 million a year to be a contributor at least 60 games this year. Okay. Now, I probably I didn’t mean to choose for you before we move on and go to break here, but I need to know your overrated offseason team. Was that the Hawks or is it somebody else? No, I and I because I think even the Hawks I I like what they did. I would go B+, so I put them in the B category, right? But um I my overrated team quickly is just the 76ers. I think they got a B. I think they needed a C. Um they their whole thing was uh getting healthy. I think, you know, knowing that Paul George’s history, knowing Embiid’s history, they need to reassure themselves of certain things. Tyrese Maxim missing a lot of time last year wasn’t in their bingo cards. Jared McCain wasn’t in their bingo cards. You hope that that was a one-time event for both of those guards. They got VJ Edgecom. They lost Gershon Yavel, a friend of the Boston Celtics. But, you know, overall, I think they should have got more players that were they knew were healthy that they could have added into the mix just because they’re not sure about whether their stars are going to show up. And you want to make sure that you have guys that are available when your stars aren’t. Yeah. Well, depth is important. It doesn’t seem like they game plan for that. This is why being realistic is more important than being flashy. So, underrated, overrated. Let us know your thoughts. We’re actually going to break down well what we really make of this Boston Celtics team and what they could potentially do in the upcoming season. So don’t go anywhere. Stick with us here on Hold My Banner. Back at it with Hold My Banner. It’s time to talk about how good will this Celtics team be in 2025 26. Taking a look at the potential projected roster here and the depth one should point out actually. Uh where does this team finish in the East? This is tweeted out by at the lead. And this is probably the biggest question that we’re all trying to answer in this off season. Yeah. How good is this team? I think we had a comment last episode. Somebody said this team is a 41 win team. Adam and I talked about what the the betting lines are. They’re about 42. 41 win team. We just talked about this. I don’t mean to cut you off. We just talked about this. 61 wins. Yeah. With health impairing this lineup in many, many top games. Yeah. And that jumped down 20 whole games. Do you think this team loses out on 20 extra games this year? The bet Vegas is saying 42 and a half. That’s the line. Hopeless. I’m gutted. Okay, continue. So, you know, um, yeah, that’s the big question. How good is this Celtics team looking at that starting lineup? I actually don’t have any fears. It depends on how And we know Joe is psycho. Joe is psycho. I mean, I talked about it last off season when they went to uh Abu Dhabi and he was playing Tatum and Brown in preseason games like 30 minutes and I’m like, “Yo, you just won the chip. They just relax.” Derek White, Drew Holiday, Tatum just played USA basketball, Olympic basketball this summer. Like, relax, Joe. They don’t match his energy. Everything has to match his high energy, right? He’s a psycho. So, if Jaylen Brown says he’s good, he probably play on 44 minutes in the first game, you know? So, I’m looking at it and I’m saying like, you know, when you’re looking at the starting lineup, which they probably will lean more into their their starting lineup, especially going into the trade deadline because they’re going to say, “Hey, Joe, we’re probably going to trade Anthony. We’re probably going to trade the Yang. So, run them into the ground basically. You know, you could look at a team that’s at the deadline that’s at a four seat.” You know what I mean? Like, or at a five seat. I I do think it’s fair. I I probably I have the Celtics around a 45 win team next year, which last year that would put them around where I have them, like a six seed, a five seed. Okay. So, you know, I think this Boston Celtics team is a little better than people are giving them credit for. I mean, just a little bit. I was, like I said, I was taking back there what you said. I don’t trust betting lions either, but that’s an conversation for another day. Um, okay. So, looking at where we think that this team can finish when it comes to the competition of the East, putting all the offseason moves, if you’re tracking it, into perspective here, um, I’m going to try this one out. John Schuman. Yeah. Hey, of NBA.com has the Celtics as the 12th best team in his most recent Eastern Conference offseason power rankings. Would you bump them up? Would you bump them down? Or would you leave them where Schuman says? I mean, it’s obvious. I’ll bump them up. 12th is insane. 12th is maniacal. 12th is insane. 12th best team. 12th is unhinged when you think about the team. You know what, John? I hope you right. I hope he’s right because I’ve been in the I’ve been in the tanking business. I, you know, I gave up on it. You know what I mean? I’ve been discouraged from thinking that way and I was the hater and I didn’t want to win and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. But the worst place that you want to be in the NBA is what I call NBA purgatory. good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to win the championship. It’s one of the worst places you can be in the NBA because they don’t reward you for that. You get play you get picks that are in the 12 to 14 range. You get guys who come in who are not ready to be NBA players yet. They’re projects. You’re hoping hoping that you can get guys like a Kawhi Leonard or a Giannis Ant Kakoupo or a Tyler Herro, you know what I mean? who come in later in the draft and do a lot of great things for your team, but most times out of not the guys who stick around in the league are the top 10 picks, right? So, you want those top 10 picks more than anything. So, what is your consolation prize? Hey, here’s a guy who you’re going to try out for three or four years and he’s not probably going to work out. So, if I’m the Boston Celtics, I hope that John Schuman is right, you know? And that got me thinking like do you think the Celtics are secretly tanking? Like I know people don’t talk about tanking because one you can get fined for that and then you can get fined for that and then I have to I have to tread lightly with these Boston fans. Um do you think they secretly tanking? Cuz I feel like people are you know I think that people are starting to lean to a secret tanking. I’m going to stick with what I’ve been saying and and go with a no. Okay. Like I I get it. The names in the off season are not anything that you really gravitate to. It’s not business that you can stand on and really go to bat for and there’s question marks in a sense. But my biggest takeaway from this is you cannot go off the deep end and get another big name and bring in somebody who doesn’t fit the personality, the character built as well as the skill set that is the Boston Celtics. And then you end up restructuring what this team is capable of in a two-year stretch. So, I think it’s like it’s weird to be patient and not go with tanking, if that makes sense. I think that you fulfill a slot of adding somebody that can put up 20 plus points. You’ve got enough guys that are defensively stout on this team. We’re all trying to trust Jaylen Brown to take that next step and he’s shown you that he wants to do it. Yeah. If we see a leader out of Jaylen Brown, we have somebody who can add 20 points. They can remain in the defensive structure that they have presented. I think 12th is not only disrespectful when you look at the teams underneath them such as the Hornets for crying out loud, the Wizards and the Nets. I even forget what their Nets where the Nets even reside half the time. This is purely disrespectful. I take Steven seriously when he says that they can remain competitive because we’ve seen some teams really creep into the mix. We saw a number of upsets when it came to positioning themselves for the postseason throughout this entire year. The Boston Celtics are the freaking Boston Celtics for crying out loud. So, I don’t think Tank I think that they’re doing just enough to say we’re not going to put put mistrust in in Jason Tatum’s return. We’re not going to disrespect Jaylen Brown and what he needs to do. And the young guys who have systematically been working out in Maine who need to get those reps or take that next step or we’re tired of just kind of having them hop off the bench. Like, it’s time to see where they’re at. I think that’s where this team is not tanking. And the thing about all of this, you know, the rankings and all this other stuff. You talk about the teams. I’m looking at the list right here in front of me, but the Wizards, the Nets, the Hornets, I think the Toronto Raptors are above them, the Bulls, like what are we talking about here? All of those teams are hoping to have an all-star. Hoping to have an all-star. If Jaylen Brown doesn’t make an All-Star game this year, last year, the year before, whatever year you want to look at it, I’m writing a mean letter to Adam Silver in the NBA and being like, “What’s going on here? It’s a surprise. That’s what I’m trying to say. So, if you have an allstar caliber NBA player on your team, now freed up of another allstar on his team and you don’t think he’s going to take the step because the first and only time that we’ve seen him without Jason Tatum was his rookie year where he was learning how to shoot and doing all of these things. He’s made leaps and bounds. He’s fixed his left hand. He knows how to shoot jumpers. He knows where to be defensively. He’s won the NBA championship finals MVP. You’re telling me that that guy can’t go out there and will himself out of a group of the Hornets, Wizards, and Nets? Get out of here. It’s disrespectful. It’s disrespectful. And then we’re also not paying attention to the few games where there was no Jason Tatum in the postseason where I’m sorry, in my personal opinion, the Celtics only mattered in that moment because of what Jaylen Brown did. And this is me being a spectator from the outside looking in, living in a completely different state. And I’m fully aware of how he stepped up. So knowing the expectations, acclimizing, crisping his game, polishing up his game on the things that people have spoke negatively against, you’ve got to put some trust in the man. So I think that going towards any sort of tank is just crazy because like I’ve mentioned 500 million times, if you go get a big name, you’re saying that you don’t trust how Jason Tatum is going to bounce back into everything. Now, tell me if I’m wrong here. is the idea of getting a big name and not tanking that they’re looking for another big three when it comes to talking about the Boston Celtics roster like can you really look at this roster and say there’s a big three to fear in general like when Tatum comes back when Tatum comes back yes yeah there’s a big three to fear shoot there’s a big four to fear you know in the regular season at least you know I love Peyton Pritchard but you know as place playoff numbers make me a little nervous I’m just being honest but like you’re talking about big three of course I mean Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum and Derek White. That’s a big three to me. You know, that’s a team. Those are three dudes that can go off for 30 in any playoff game. I’m even looking at the last, you know, because you’ve got me looking at the last game with uh just not the last game, but game four, I believe it was. No, five when we lost Tatum. Um and the Celtics came back home. Yeah, it was game five when we lost Tatum. Celtics came back home. Looked like the season was over. They’re down 3-1. And Jaylen Brown and Derek White went out and went crazy. And Derek White in this game had 34 on 9 for 16 shooting seven for 13 from the field. So if you’re talking about a star like star potential, Derek White has it. I, you know, I don’t really care about big threes because I think big threes are dying in the NBA. So that’s why I present the question because I feel like people get so caught up in, you know, do we have a monstrous big three in order to compete, but look at how many teams have a big three and then these low-key plug-andplay players around them and how far was their run? Right. Exactly. I don’t even, you know, cuz even when you look at the Thunder last year, like did they really have a big three or was it Shay? Like Jaylen, Jaylen Williams is a really good player and like definitely deserves that credit to be number two, but like I wouldn’t say Chad was like a is like a big three level player yet. You know what I’m saying? Like I think he’s a really good player, but like I don’t think you’re putting him in a big three. Like that’s kind of like if let me put it this way. If I rather have Derek White or Tent Homegrren right now based off what they did last year, I would rather have Derrick White. And I might be biased or sound crazy, but I really do believe that he’s a better player right now in the NBA. So, you know, um big threes I think are kind of dying anyways. Um if we are going to talk big three, tanking all this other stuff. I mean, there is a kid out there from Brockton. He’s out in uh Provo, Utah right now wearing some blue and white playing for the Cougars. something like that. I think he think he’s been on hold my banner some one time or before or something like that. You know, AJ Deans that guy would be good. Let’s talk about that guy for a minute. What’s the reality around AJ Demansa wearing that Boston Celtics green? Reality. I don’t want to live in reality. Reality. Reality is pain right now. I don’t want to live in reality. Reality is Jason Tatum’s in a boot and I’m crying every day because of it. Um, no. I mean, I don’t think it’s possible just because I don’t think the Celtics are going to lose enough. Like I really want like I as much as we go hard for hometown kids. I It shocks me sometimes how we are so far out of reach of getting the some of these New England stars. Cooper flag. Cooper flag and not a Boston Celtic. You know, I just I I I would love to see it. You know what I’m saying? I don’t think it’s realistic. Um because once again, I don’t think the the the NBA can fix another draft. I’m just gonna go out there and say you really went off the deep. They they fixed the draft for the Dallas Mavericks. I don’t think they’re going to do it again for the Boston Celtics. I mean, one, the Boston Celtics have had bad history of tanking and trying to get picks. They were supposed to get Tim Duncan, didn’t get him. You know what I mean? Uh it’s been time and time again that they were supposed to be the team that got the guy and and it didn’t happen. So, I’d hate on a historic team like the the Celtics team. Yeah. I you know, and here’s the thing. I love AJ Decent. I think right now he should be the number one pick in the 2026 NBA draft, but there’s a lot of basketball that has to be played and this class has some players in it. So, you know, when you’re talking about fit, knee, who could come up, you never know. There’s always going to be that team like the 76ers who should be contenders who gets hurt and misses the playoffs and ends up getting the lottery pick. Happened before with the Warriors. that’s how they ended up getting um James Wiseman that’s ended up how they getting Jonathan Kuminga even one year you know so they’ve you know when Steph went down so it’s possible that another team could get hurt even you know I’m not wishing it for the Celtics but if they did possibly lose one of these guys in the top line they could possibly get in but I’m assuming that this team is going to stay healthy and that with that assumption I don’t think they’re going to be bad enough to go and get an AJ Demand Demants even if he is a top three pick and not a top one like I think he should be. All right, two to your question before we move on. One, we were talking about how good can the Celtics team be moving into the season? So, what’s your realistic take on how good they can be? And then actually before you touch on that, is next year’s draft class shaping up to be better than this year’s draft class? Oh, definitely. Yeah. Before we even You’re going have to remind me of the second question because you got me all thinking about I threw you for a loop with that one. But though, yeah, this upcoming draft class is definitely better than the draft class that we just had. I think that at the top, yeah, we had a Cooper flag. I you know, I think that AJ has some things to work on. We’re going to have to see what he looks like in college, but like as potential goes, I think his ceiling is higher than a Cooper flag. Okay. And then when you talk about the guys like a Darren Peterson, like a Boozer, those guys I think are better than the two and three spots that we had in this year’s draft. And then just the sustainability after that. I think there’s some some stars later on in the draft that’ll really pop off. Okay. I had to present that question because in the category of talking tank or don’t tank, I mean, why do teams want to tank? Because that top 10, those top 10 prospects have to look sharp and very, very NBA ready. With that said, how will the Boston Celtics look next year? Are they a winnable team? Can they supersede 42 wins? I still can’t really wrap my brain around that. It’s rude. I Yeah, I I do. I don’t I think 42 is the floor in my opinion. Healthy healthy healthy things can happen but this team healthy everybody healthy whatever we lacing them up we all healthy this team is better than a 42- win team. All right I’m right there with you on that. Before we go to break though some big news. We are extremely extremely excited to share that we have merch now. You can grab a hold my banner tea or hoodie. Check out Nessen’s full Wicked Wearables line brought to you in partnership with Breaking Tea. Check out Wicked Wearables at nesswickedwearables.com. We’re going to cut to another break here, but join and I back on the other side here on Hold My Banner. You are watching Hold My Banner. Casey Hudson and Campbell. We talked about some of the realities to expect for the upcoming Boston Celtics season, but let’s take a bird’s eye view of the NBA as a whole. We got an announcement here from Grizzlies PR. The NBA today announced that the Memphis Grizzlies will play the Orlando Magic in the NBA Berlin game 2026 on January 15th at Uber Arena in Berlin. Uber Arena in Berlin. Yeah. Is there Uber in Berlin? Anyway, Germany at the NBA London game 2026 on January 18th at the O2 in London, England. How do I get on that London England trip? I don’t know. You got to make some phone calls. You’re you’re you got friends in every in high places. You can make it happen. I believe you. Friends in high places. Um and I have been to Munich to watch the Tampa Bay Bucks beat up on the Seahawks. So Germany, I might catch you soon. Um with that, what did you make of well there being the European games, the announcement of the two games coming in 2026. The NBA will host six regular season games in Europe over the next three years. We’ll break that down even further, but initial thoughts. My initial thoughts is the NBA is very serious about getting that international competition between them and the NBA. They heard Noah Liles. He sprung like sirens around the NBA basketball landscape last summer when he was like, “Oh, you can’t call yourself world champion.” World champions. Oh my gosh, I remember that. And you know, NBA players, basketball players, you know, we have some things to say about that. So, uh, I think they are really serious about trying to broaden their landscape and find a way to play some type of competition, okay, where there’s a league maybe overseas that’s an NBA league in Europe that plays against some of these NBA teams and they have a Champions League kind of situation and they face off against each other. This is their way to continue to grow the game over there in Europe because England is slowly building their basketball scene. Germany as well slowly building their basketball scene and you know getting that them ready for those kind of competitions. Okay. Now I’m curious about something here because while you do want global to actually mean global and while growing this and like having Europe involved in any sort of professional sport that we carry here in the states, it does add expansion and it does bring more eyes to the sport and higher fan base means revenue goes up. Yep. But does this kind of negate the whole conversation around NBA and WNBA to be able to facilitate more jobs in the states and kind of stop having so many players having a European expectation or maybe thinking to go abroad to even have any sort of career? Um, does this go against that or does this still help the growth of the game as a whole? No, I think it does help the growth of the game as a whole. one because you’d be creating a new tournament which would mean people in the United States would have to work these tournament games and you know uh new events cuz I would assume that in this world you know they’re still figuring out the details or how they’re going to do this but you would still play a regular NBA season and then this would be into addition towards that NBA season where you would play or take a mid-season break and probably extend the NBA season so the summer isn’t so long so we don’t have to talk about um Ben Simmons being on the Celtics for so long. You know what I mean? But um doing those things so that you have like a mid-season break and then teams would go and play in their international cup games, blah blah blah, whatever, and then they would come back and do some things in the States. So some games probably would be held in the States, some games will probably be held in Europe. It would be, you know, one of those things that kind of gives opportunities to both ecosystems growing and having more jobs available for them. Okay. So I’m on board with that. I know part of the concern when it comes to any of this, especially inserting these tournaments throughout the regular season, is like, okay, where does the rest and recovery actually come in, right? My mindset has shifted a little bit because let’s be serious, most professional sports have honestly become year round because it’s not like these guys can take any real break. Offseason means you’re just training differently and on your own time and schedule, not that you’re not training. So taking flights, taking the time zones, taking all of the things into consideration when you do have to make these large travels and inserting it into a regular season. Do you think this can become a hindrance or they’ll plan accordingly? We see poor planning when it comes to this stuff out the gate. Right. Well, I think the NBA has done a pretty good job when they have had these inseason opportunities. You know, the Spurs went to France, I think, two years ago against the Pacers or something. I’d love to watch an NBA game in France. Yeah. Um and you know, they give you some time off in between and then Yeah. you know, during that trip, it’s it’s a it’s a whirlwind because obviously you’re doing touring and the players are out because they’re not used to going to London and, you know, uh, Berlin in the middle of their season. So, they’re out there on the London Eye when they’re should be probably resting in recovery. And so, it’s a sprint once you get there. But, I think that the NBA does a good job of letting them have three to four days off before their trip even starts or begins and then, you know, a couple of days afterwards as well. Um it’s probably one of those things where they have to catch up at some point later on in the season which makes it a little bit harder. Um, but maybe they’ll, you know, maybe it will become a situation like in the in baseball where they play early like during, you know, the preseason games like during baseball during spring training, the Dodgers and the Cubs, right? Played in Japan this season um for two games and then they came back home and you know those stars got to rest because it’s a preseason game or spring training game so they didn’t have to play. Um, it could be one of those situations. They’ll figure out what’s best for the players and what’s best for the league. But at the end of the day, I can guarantee you this, they going to make money. Oh yes. Oh yes. They will make some money. So I did mention beforehand the NBA will host the six regular season games in Europe over the next three years. Berlin, London, that’s 2026. Manchester Paris, that’s 2027. Berlin and Paris that is 2028. The Grizzlies PR team released this on next for a number of reasons. They’re going to be involved in it. What do you think of them going against the Orlando Magic? Yeah, I think it’s a good it’s a good matchup just because if their stars are available like showing off Paulo Ben Carol, showing off John Morant could be a really good thing to get people interested in the game because it’s two teams that play a similar styles. They really want to get into you on defense and stuff like that, but they have some guys who can make some really flashy plays. John Morant, we might be talking about at the end of the year like John Morant windmill 360 on the fast break over somebody like you never know with him. And you know Paulo Ban Carol is one of the least young stars. You probably weren’t going to get the contender contenders to really go out there and do that because of the travel all this other stuff and how that would eat away at games for them. So this is a perfect group for the NBA to send. Yeah. Yeah, and I’m sure they want to continue to see how things will be facilitated before they send the big big time stars out there. But we can’t pick who’s on the rosters. We can just tell you where to be, where to book the tickets, and also, I don’t know, pick a city to show up to. I already named three that I’ll go watch an NBA game at. But something that is in me and control, it’s letting you all know which NBA players might make really good NFL players. We’re going to piece together our own teams. I think we’re doing it draft style. I’m going to get on during the break to actually break it down uh properly for me. I might cheat. Who knows? But stick with us here on Hold My Banner for this quick break. We’ll catch you guys on the other side. Back at it with Hold My Banner. Mike Brael pulling up with Joe Missoula. You’re not seeing things. These two are hanging out, kicking it at training camp. Which brings us to one of the most fun segments of the day. Uh, we’re gonna draft some of these Boston Celtics players, current or former, whatever, whatever your heart desires. Yeah. Um, and see if we can put together one of the most elite NFL rosters to not only compete with the New England Patriots, but come on. We’re talking Super Bowl or bust, right? So, I’m going to Super Bowl. I don’t know about I’m going all the way. Um, but I’m going to let you tee it up so we can properly get this draft underway. We’ll do a draft. We’ll do one by one. And I know that’s not really fair. Usually do a little snake action, but you know, try there’s there’s enough Celtics players over the course of history. We’ll see that can uh make it get it done. I’mma be nice to you. I’m going let you go first. You can pick whatever player position that you want. We got quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, running back, safety, cornerback, linebacker, defensive lineman, whatever way you want to take it. Casey, I’m going give you the floor. And if I need a sheet, I’ll add an extra position and pick the player that I want. So, uh, to get this party started, quarterback, okay, has to be Jason Tatum. Face of the franchise number one. You know, you always got that guy who’s got the leadership, he’s got the face, he’s got the style, he’s got the press conferences, uh, this is our Tom Brady S, so it’s got to be Jason Tatum Q being in this situation. And plus, even though some people, some Twitter robots out there were talking about shooting accuracy to the top notchotch going to Payton Pritchard. Yeah. Um, I mean, you want to talk accuracy, you want to talk QB, you want to talk face of the franchise, you got to talk Jason Tatum. I’m a little sad because we can’t pick the same player and I pick Jason Tatum for another uh position, not quarterback, but I won’t be able to use him. So, I’m actually going to go to tight end for my first position. All right, I’m going to take Kevin Garnett. Okay. I think KG would be a great tight end. I think he has the footwork, the physical ability, um, the finesse to do all of the things that tight ends do. They have to be able to catch the ball, run routes, and be in the trenches. I think Kevin Garnett really embodies that. He’s finesse packaged with a little mean dog inside of him, which which is why I’m going KG. I don’t know why I was like almost inclined to bark there, but I have the weakest bark in the world, so I won’t I won’t do that to you all. Am I allowed to pick a tight end, though? Yeah, you can pick this position, but I just can’t do the same one. All right, so I’ll go with my tight end pick. Okay, let me preface this by saying I thought I had to stick to the current roster. So, as long as everyone knows, uh, Jaylen Brown’s my tight end. 66223. Versatile scoring ability. You You hear that and you’re like, “All right, I can count on this guy middle of the field. I can count on this guy for red zone play.” That’s what I like to hear. But you guys know how I feel about tight ends. Put your hand in the freaking dirt or get off my field. And I feel like he has that physical kind of come at you contact. He’s a little bit fearless in a sense. So, he can put his hand in the dirt and he can go out for the passes that I need him to do. And then when you have the word athletic next to any dude that’s 66223, that’s my tight end. All right, I like that. I like JB at tight end. I think he’d be a good tight end. I’m going to go for a position that I think is really valuable in the NFL. One of the ones that is the hardest to play in the entire NFL besides quarterback. I’m going to go corner on this. Okay. And I’m actually going to take Avery Bradley. And the reason I’m going to take Avery Bradley, former player, is because Avery is a defensive monster, able to fight through screens. uh move and guard guys and almost mirror to the exact step the direction that they’re going. It’s almost like he’s anticipating that at a high level. He’s a really good defender, one of the best in Celtics history on the perimeter. I’m going to take Avery Bradley at corner. Okay, I’ll match you with the cornerback conversation, but I’m going to take now I know this might be a little weird. Anthony Simons, okay, as my cornerback. Simons. He’s got the length, but when I think about corner, I think about that dude that can be a complete shadow on you. So, while he doesn’t have defensive abilities, you mentioned mirroring for your guy, but somebody who can create separation off the jump, if I get in there and interrupt your passing ability, I want immediate separation so that I can make sure that I am having a si at the end of this. That means finding the end zone. So, I think that he has the finesse. He used that word a moment ago. I think Simons has the finesse to be my quarterback to use his length and athleticism to make sure that he shuts some things down in the back field. Okay, I’m going to go quick. Keep it around with defense. I got to go Marcus Smart. I think having Marcus Smart as safety Oh, safety would be elite. Okay. All right. And you already know why. We got to keep it rolling. So, I’m going Marcus Smart. All right. Uh safety Hugo Gonzalez. Ah, okay. I can see you go at safety. Yeah, I like that. I like it. I think that his IQ can translate for football. We’re going to go with that. And then pure athleticism is there. They talked about him kind of getting mixed up on spacing, but when he locks in and he can figure out spacing, I think he could be a dangerous man. I’ll take it to my linebacker pick. Oh, take take the pick. Go ahead. Go ahead. George Niang. Nang. Okay. Nang. Because I think he also has that mental warfare. You know, he’s going to get in your head. He’s going to piss you off and then he’s strong enough to be destructive. So, I like somebody that can attack on both ends, physically and mentally. And you want a guy who can mentally get in your head. Linebacker was my favorite position when I first got into football. Yeah. You know, I think the biggest thing about linebackers is they got to kind of be a little bit unlikable, right? They do. And you know, I I was going to go for one guy that I knew is unlikable and really strong. Well, I thought you going to put smart as your linebacker. That would have been a good one. I’m going actually going to go Sime Olay. Now, you people remember Sime for being 66 250 monstrous guy. not unlikable, but I just think that he’s does a lot of things that could help you out. He just built like a linebacker, honestly. Like, I’m cheating a little bit, but hey, I’m gonna take it. So, I’m gonna go send me Actually, I’m gonna take my quarterback now since you went ahead and jumped me earlier. You gave me the range. I’m going to take Rajan Rondo. And I’m going to keep my team the former players to allow you to keep your team to the current guys. There we go. Best of worlds. And the reason I’m picking Ray John Rondo is I mean, you’re talking about a guy who has elite athleticism, which you we’re talking about dual quarterbacks. That’s the kind of the quarterback that you want in the NFL right now. I know that’s what you went with. And he throws dimes. We know he throws dimes. He throws those passes that people don’t even know are coming. He uses legs, right? He throws passes without looking. No looks, different angles, arm angles, whatever you want. Rajan Rond’s got it. So, he’s my quarterback. Dang. I feel some type of way about you doing that because it’s really cool. All right. I’m going to stick with offense for a second before we close out with some of the other last positions. My wide receiver, Miles Norris. I was high on this guy going into the summer league. can put away shots on the move. I like when you say that because again, how does that translate? Well, if he is in movement and he’s got to find difficult targets, if he’s got a reel in contested catches, I feel like Norris has that swag to do so. So, I’m going to lean on him to be my wide receiver. Again, a guy who has length to him, a guy that has athleticism to him, a guy who can challenge uh some of these backfield players and really make it count. So, that’s my receiver. I’m going Daryl Green with my receiver now. NBA dunk champion before. Super athletic. your receiver don’t get I want my receiver. Yeah. End zone, head tap, blur, whatever you want to call. He’s doing all of that. So, I’m taking Gerald Green. All right. Running back. Are you ready for this? I have the best pick. I already know it. Hands down. Pton is my running back. That is a good pick. That is so good. Right. He’s He’s a running back. He is the running back. I don’t have to say anything else. I love how we both suit up. Both went with guards. I have a list of guards here. You know what? I was going to take Kyrie, but forget Kyrie. Can you compete with Pritchard? I’m taking Nate Robinson. Oh, all right. Another athletic guard. Dunk on you. Dunk champion. Fast, shifty. I’m taking Robinson. Embarrassing people. Put it on their head. Okay. I I still think I have the best running back. Okay. And then we got defensive lineman last. Who Who’s your defensive lineman? You know what? I did DL because when you talk 7 feet of a human being, I wish he had more mass, but again, we’re talking about a dude in the trenches and he’s got the height. Kada. Ah, Neimi. Okay, get your hand in the dirt, my guy. All right, that’s acceptable. Load up off the line. Stay low. I don’t know how low he can stay at seven feet. That’s the only thing, you know. I I tried to stay away from the legends a little bit. Sorry to Larry. Sorry to Bill. I thought about having Bill here at the defensive lineman, but I’m going to I’m going to take Bill could be a scary guy. Coming off the edge, though. Yes. I’m taking I’m taking Kendrick Perkins because, you know, he was a very unlikable, mean, muddy kind of NBA player and I feel like that fits a defensive lineman. So, I’m going to go with Kendrick Perkins and he’s going to talk smack. That’s for sure. He talk his smack. So, I’m going KP. I don’t know if Kada has any mean to him, but like I was thinking left tackle. Like this is your blind side guy. Big dude, protective can do it. But you know what? I feel like we gave you guys so much to work with here. And I like that you took the former player route. You allowed me to take the current player route, but let us know who you guys would put on your NFL team from the Boston Celtics NBA roster, former or current, or I mean, we’re competitive here slightly. Tell me if mine was the better roster because that’s what I think. All right. All right. We know it wasn’t. We know who had the better roster. You can let me know that I had the better roster. You can let know that you love his insight always. And then you can also grab yourself a wicked tea so that you can match us when it comes to all the Hold My Banner swag and conversation. But until next time, you guys have a fantastic weekend. survive the MLB trade deadline because that’s what we’re going to be trying to do once we hop off this show. And we’ll catch you guys next week back here on Hold My Banner.

Did the Celtics just blow their offseason? Ben Rohrbach gave Boston a C for their summer moves and we’re breaking down whether the return for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis was as weak as it looks. Is Anfernee Simons a long-term fit? Which East teams did Yahoo Sports get wrong in their offseason grades? We also look at where the Celtics really stack up heading into 2025-26 and whether fans are right to start using the word “tanking.” Later, we react to the NBA’s plan to host regular-season games in Berlin and London and wrap up by drafting a full football team made entirely of Celtics players.

This episode of Hold My Banner is hosted by Kasey Hudson and Ountae Campbell.

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00:00 Did the Celtics Deserve a C Grade for Their Offseason?
19:09 Are the Celtics Quietly Tanking for 2026?
34:08 NBA Expands to Europe: A Big Step or Distraction?
41:40 Building a Football Team of Celtics Players!