Who Is RJ Luis Jr. & Why Did the Celtics Trade for Him?

Who Is RJ Luis Jr. & Why Did the Celtics Trade for Him?

Welcome in to Hold My Banner. Casey Hudson back alongside Campbell. That’s the energy we need on this Thursday, especially because we got a salary dump alert, everybody. Finally, some news. Um, I know I was waiting to get your opinion on it because I knew you were going to hit me with a finally. I’m over here who’s like, I think I was just really naive to the fact that something big was about to happen. But we’re going to get into all of that. Talk about some movement with the second apron, first apron, you know, science, math, all the things. Um, that goes into the apron conversation and, uh, some new acquisitions by the Boston Celtics. But, you know, where we start, how’s it going? I’m doing good. Obviously, I’m excited. I’m, you know, the Celtics made a move. Uh, George Niang isn’t on my team anymore. We’re doing great. You know what I’m saying? I wanted to put up a poll immediately and say how many people feel like about George Nyang and then how many people were like, “Oh, I just got used to the idea of like, okay, I’m okay with this. It’s fine. It’s good enough. Maybe I’ll like the guy by uh February.” Who knows? But that’s not the case, actually. So, let’s talk about this salary dump alert that I alluded to. The Boston Celtics traded George Nang and two future second round picks to the Utah Jazz for rookie RJ Lewis Jr. M and um look, this puts the Celtics 8 million under the second apron, but 4 million over the first apron for anyone who loves and understands this apron conversation. There you have it. Now, we’re going to break down what your initial thought was about moving on from Niang and the two um future second or the two future second round picks before we get to the other deal, the other deal. They got into the mix. So, talk to me, Ante. I mean, excited. Uh, you know, candidly, candidly, you know, when I was doing this show with Travis every single day or whatever, you know, we would talk about like randomly like I don’t know why it would come up, but I would just be like, “Oh, George Niang, like he was the player that everybody has in their head that’s like that’s the guy for the standard of the guy that you don’t like in the in your favorite league, whether it be the NBA, the MLB, the NHL, whatever.” Across the board, he No, he wasn’t my across the board least favorite. was like least favorite player. But I’m just saying, you know, basketball is obviously my passion and, you know, with that, you know, he was the guy that in the league that would catch random strays for me from time to time. Okay. And now that we get to say that he’s, you know, not here anymore, I’m ecstatic because I I I immediately I remember telling you I texted Travis immediately when the deal got done when we traded him for Borzingis and I was like, “Dang, do I have to apologize to get Nang?” And he he calmed me down. He said, “No, I think you’ll be okay. I think you’ll be okay. He won’t be here long.” And as we were getting a little later into the summer, what are we at? August 7th right now. I was getting a little nervous. You know what I’m saying? What was it like a week ago? We I think we were kind of having this like it doesn’t look like anything’s going to happen and it looks like we need to be okay with George Niang and trying to find positives. We were actually stretching positives a week ago, right? Honestly, we were trying I was starting to accept it and look at the bright side of a player because not you know with everything not everything is all bad or all good you know what I mean there was things that I didn’t love about his game of course and I think of a part of it being you know me liking J be me liking JT the things that you know the issues that those you were protecting them you were protecting them I’m a loyal person I said that the last time we talked about this I’m a loyal person I’m gonna rock with my people right but you know now you know I thank him for his time hang his banner put it up there I The Celtics got every other jersey retired. Might as well put 20 up there too for him, right? Yeah. Within two months, I want to say two, three months tops, the guy has been AIDed into a number of jerseys, but now it looks like it’s going to stick to the Utah Jazz. So, before we dive too much deeper into Nang and what all this means, how did you feel about moving on from the two second round picks? Uh, second round picks are second round picks. I told you that when we we were acquiring second round picks via trade and all this other stuff and even talking about acquiring more second round picks and all these fantasy trades that we talked about and I was like I’m not really interested in them because the Celtics don’t need him. I mean we’re looking at their roster now and you know even Amari Williams hasn’t signed his rookie deal yet because he’s a second round pick. They’re not sure you know how he’s going to fit in. We’ll talk about that next the next deal that they made in a second here. you know, there’s a sit there could be a situation where he may or may not be, you know, part of this Celtics roster at at the beginning of the season. And so, when you already have that with this Celtics team who we think is, you know, building and developing and all this other stuff, when they get Jason Tatum back, you can be sure that they’re going to try to put talent, talent, talent right next to him. And when you have that, you’re not going to really need second round picks. So, I’m good with the second round picks leaving. It was, like you said, a salary dump in order to sweeten the deal. George Niang, good player. I’m not don’t want to be disrespectful. Definitely a valuable NBA player, but for eight million a year, that is a lot to be asking of a guy who’s a role player, probably a seventh or eighth man on your team, especially in this world of second aprons, this world of guys getting 50, 60, 70 million contracts, all this other stuff. You got to be able to cheapen your team up. And so the Utah Jazz said, “Hey, you know, Danny Angel sitting over there with his son Austin and they said, “Hey, Brad, if you want to make this deal get done, you got to give us something that could be useful to us.” And they said, “All right.” I mean, second round picks, not very useful to Boston, but very useful to a Utah Jazz team. Still trying to figure it out. Yeah, I’d say so. And plus, like part of what didn’t shock me about this is, you know, we talked about the fact that he plays his role, something very specific, but then there’s elements to what could be coming down the pipeline for the Boston Celtics could potentially make this team a little bit younger. So, let’s talk about a young guy by the name of R.J. Lewis Jr., whom I mentioned, 22 years old. Yep. UMass alumni. So, we love to figure out a way to Is it really? I was thinking about that. Is it really alumni? Does it count if you didn’t graduate from there? Yes. Okay. If you partied there, look, I’ve met people who have been like, “Oh, yeah.” Like, “I went to FSU.” And I’m like, “Oh, like did you like Professor so and so?” Cuz my brother went there. Like, no. I mean, like I went to TCC and like partied at FSU. So, it’s just like that’s the degree that that doesn’t count. That can be the I try to figure that out for myself cuz, you know, I transferred from Fresno State and so I always try to think about like, hey, what do you want to claim? Am I a Fresno State alumni? like you know well the thing about Freso State is we our slogan is bulldog born bulldog bred so like once you’re a bulldog you’re always a bulldog is type of thing so it’s one of those special cases but I still I still get weirded out like am I alumni am I not I give you the stamp of approval because I actually supported said human that was like yo I’m an FSU alumni and really only grace the grounds to throw it back so back to RJ he is an RJ is a UMass alumni al we love intertwine UMass, uh, natives, locals, all these things as best as we can. Not saying that’s his particular deal, but you’re talking about a young guy, um, coming in. How does he fit the bill? Yeah, I think he fits in extremely well to the identity that we’ve been seeing Brad take with the young guys around this team, right? He has he’s a project in a lot of different ways. I mean, 22 years old, 6667, whatever you want to call it. He does a lot of things that we’ve been talking about. A Hugo does a lot of things that a Josh May not does. He comes in, he brings in a lot of energy. Defense, defense, defense is the first thing you talk about when you talk about this kid. Okay? Big East player of the year. He gets downhill really well. Finishes at the rim with both hands. Things that you want to see from a, you know, older prospect, but still a very young player, you know what I mean? Okay. Um, the shooting is where it gets dicey and, you know, the consistent scoring. The the thing about the Celtics is though, they’re going to continue to take flyers on these guys who, you know, shown the ability to put the ball on the deck, make plays, pass, rebound, defend, and then they say, “Hey, we’re the Boston Celtics. We got Joe Missoula. We got our development program. We’ve taught guys how to get better at shooting.” We’ve seen Jordan Wallace make those steps and improving at shooting. We’ve seen Peyton Pritchard over the years being with the Boston Celtics make steps and improve, improve, improve, and continue to improve as a shooter. Even Derek White, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, all these guys over years and years and years have improved over and over again. Even guys who are not here, I was thinking about that like Grant Williams. Grant Williams didn’t come in as a great shooter as during his rookie year as a Boston Celtics, but he continued to improve and improve and improve until he became a great shooter at one point. So, it’s one of those things where they’re going to trust themselves and say, “Hey, one of these guys, if not two, if not three, are going to figure out how to finally can make shots from catch and shoot consistently and be able to help this Boston Celtics team win championships in the near future.” Yeah. And sometimes when something’s not required of you, depending on the program that you come up in, college-wise, overseas wise, whatever the case may be, like you don’t realize how much capability you have in that skill set. So sometimes to take things from a bird’s eye view, I do like to look at some player comps to see like what the reality is here. Maybe Celtics fans are more familiar with another player and they’re like, “Okay, I could possibly vibe with that.” So some player comps that popped up. Okay. Terren Ferguson. Yeah, I could see T Ferg. I remember T Ferg. He was um super athletic. Yeah, same thing. Not as defensively prowess as RJ Lewis is, but TF Ferg was a really good player. I think he was a little bit better offensively, but not as good defensively. But the fair comp. Okay. potential upside. Uh Cam Reddish. Yeah, Cam Reddish once again way better score um shooter, just natural shooting ability was his thing. Um I don’t really like the comp because I think their their identity is a little different, but I could see where the athleticism and the build and the, you know, the potential could be similar. Okay, Josh Hart. Yeah, I see Josh Hart a little bit. The thing about Josh Hart is when he came in, he was older as well. um a little bit obviously shorter 65 guard versus like a 66 67 guard that we’re talking about here. Um definitely a guy that I could I I saw that when it you know when I was looking at RJ Lewis I saw a lot of that in his game. I saw a guy who could get downhill, who can finish with both hands, who can guard, switch on defense, do a lot of those things, and kind of really played the two and three in college, but really is probably going to be an NBA type of fourman power forward undersides like Josh Hart is. Um, if R.J. Lewis can ever become a starter like, you know, like how Josh Hart did, that would be great. Um, he’s a winner. They’re both winners. Um, Big East player of the year, you know, same conference. Um, but the biggest difference about it is, you know, Josh Hart when it came down to it winning national championships, he made those plays. This guy RJ Lewis got benched in the round of 32 by Rick Latino because he couldn’t put the ball in the basket. That was never an issue for Josh Hart at Villanova. Okay, last one. See, this is why I like throwing curved balls at you, even though we’re talking basketball. Chandler Hutchinson. Hutch. I remember Chandler Hudson. I actually played against Chandler Hutcherson um in college. Um Boise State alumni. He’s he’s actually an alumni of of there, but I’m an alumni of like five schools. Yeah, I was at Freso State when he was there. Uh yeah, I I think this is probably the perfect comp honestly for him. I think Look what I did there. Save the best for last. Yeah, you did. And and the thing about Hutch, he was a defensive guy, defensive minded guy. Um kind of a frail frame, kind of like RJ Lewis right now, the strength wasn’t always there. he was building up. He didn’t have to build up over the, you know, couple first couple years of his career um in the NBA. Uh more of a playmaker than RJ Lewis. Um not as good of a natural get downhill type of score. Um a little bit more fluid as far as the scoring went in college, but it’s a very good call. Yeah. And what I like about all four of the guys that were mentioned is like back to system, back to whatever is required of you and then the coaches that could potentially find and like emphasize that skill set in you. I feel like there’s a lot of upside depending on how well things could potentially translate. Yeah. So, we’re going to go from some Celtics talk. We’re continuing to stick with the Celtics. We’re changing um a Celtic is not an animal, it’s a plant, but we’re going to talk about a raptor, a former raptor. I tried to find a smooth transition for that. Uh, free agent forward Chris Boucher has agreed to a one-year 3.3 million contract with the Boston Celtics. Um, this one was interesting cuz then I alluded to the fact that there might be pieces helping this team get a bit younger, but then you bring in this guy, 32 years old, certain kind of experience. The first thing that popped up was, well, he fits the shoots threes DNA, so you’re like, all right, that works. and then all-time leader for the Raptors with what blocks, minutes, points, guy off the bench kind of deal. So, what was your initial reaction to this? Well, my initial reaction to this was uh you know, I always try to be as humble as I possibly can, but I was asking for this guy for a couple of weeks. I remember I talked to Adam about it. I feel like I might have mentioned him because as soon as I saw Raptors, I was like, “Yeah, I know where this a little bit to you.” You know, I was asking for this guy. I was like, “Hey, I was looking at the free agent board. I was looking down. I was like, “This guy Chris Buchche fits the identity. He’s KP like I think I told you.” And he could do a lot of those things. Not to that level, but he’s, you know, he’s there. We’re talking about the dude who’s the all-time leading scorer, rebounder, I think, block shots, maybe like a a ton of things off the bench for the Raptors, you know what I mean? Organization, a young organization, but still a guy who brings championship pedigree. won one in 2019 with the Raptors back in the day with old man Kawhi Leonard out there on the team and now he was the last guy actually who was holding on from that team. He’s the last Raptor from that 2019 team to be a part of that team last year. So now that he’s gone, no more of those guys. Fred Van Vleet, uh, uh, Pascal Seakkum, you know, whatever. All of those guys, Danny Green, they’re all gone now. So um, you know, the Raptors came to Tampa Bay during the bubble stuff. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So, I’m I’m extremely extremely excited about him coming. And you know, first of all, you know, I don’t know if you saw that, but Rock Nation was in there. I gotta put my rocks up for JC. Hope. But no, I’m partying a little bit because um I think this is a huge get. There’s a reason that I brought him up for the Celtics and why I wanted him to be here. This guy’s going to come in, he’s going to block shots, he’s going to shoot threes like you were saying and alluding to. He’s going to fit right in in that KP role. Probably not as good, but guess what? The best avail ability is availability. And this guy will play for the Boston Celtics. And he will play probably 60 plus games for this team this year. And then when Tatum comes back, he’ll be ready. And they’ll bring him back. I’m sure they’ll bring him back. It’s a one-year deal. He’s betting on himself. But I mean, you know, if he plays well, it’s going to be hard to let him go. So, let’s ride with that for a minute. What do you think the Celtics need to see out of him in order to be like, “Yep, this dude needs to stick around.” Because like I said, 32, you try to make it seem like it’s dinosaur years. he is going to be a former Raptor as of official. But outside of that, you know, you make some key points to say how well he just kind of can be plugged into this system and flourish in a sense. And to know that he can plug right in and be supportive when Jason Tatum returns, I mean, that all speaks highlights to me. But what does he need to show the Celtics in order to probably stick around? Well, he’s like I said, the last two years he he’s been availability is the best ability. Um, he’s played 50 games, so he needs to do a little bit more than that. We can’t have another injury, right? He needs to he needs to play 60. You know, I think it was one of those things where the Raptors were bad and they were like, “Hey, you know, you’re hurt.” You know what I’m saying? You’re hurt. You’re not playing. So, you know, I think what he needs to do is he needs to come in. He needs to be able to He had a year where he was, you know, like a six-man of the year candidate. He averaged 13 a game. This was four, four, five years, four years ago. But he needs to come in, he needs to average at least, you know, 12 to 15 points a game. He needs to get a couple rebounds a block a game. If he can do that and he can shoot about 38%, 37%, you know, from three, I think the boss of health is given another opportunity to do it when Tatum comes back as well and 60 games. Like I said, he needs to play 60 games. I believe it. I believe it. Okay. Do we like the $3.3 million deal? Oh, it’s great. It’s great. I mean, get, you know, Brad is doing what he can to get under that second apron as far as at least as far away from that second apron as he possibly can. That’s why you take an $8 million, you know, uh, George Nang, you send him to Utah for a kid that you’re taking a flyer on and a and really you kn the reason this happened minutes later is because they were waiting for that to get Chris Buchche. So, it’s really like we traded Niang in those two second round picks for RJ Lewis and Chris Buchche. So, I I I love the 3.3 million out of it. All right. And before we head to break, because like I mentioned, last time you and I got to chitchat, we were kind of like, well, it’s so quiet. Like, we’re seeing so many AI situations, fake news going out there getting us excited for nothing or really adding to the doom and gloom. Do we foresee any other moves potentially take place? I do. I do. I think this is the, you know, the beginning of, you know, Brad making another move. I think we are going to end up seeing Anthony Simons move here, but I think it’s not going to be as much of a cap play. I think it’s going to be for a player that they feel maybe fits more into their situation that they have going forward, especially on the expiring deal, 27 million. Those are the two things that point out more than anything if they’re not sure about what Anthony Simons can be as a Boston Celtics, they’re going to go find something that they are sure about, which is why they signed a guy like Bruce Buchet because you already know what you’re going to get. All right. Well, we’ll see if there’s another guy, a name floating around that could potentially fit the Boston Celtics DNA, but you have to stick with us on the other side of this quick break in order to find out. We are back at it with Hold My Banner, Casey Hudson, and Ente Campbell. And I tease the fact that there is another name kind of jumping around the market. This is going to be a funny one to break down, y’all. So stick around. Trey Young is disappointed the Hawks have not offered him a contract extension yet per Mark Spears. And look, we’ve seen a lot of disappointment. Do not be surprised at this point if he plays it out and sees what happens next summer. Well, I feel like we kind of drop this name. Yeah. In a casual chill, hold my banner conversation. Yeah. And it’s been a long week. So, I want I got to do the memory game here for a second and say I feel like this was like a almost a hard no. I feel like it was like a I’ll be okay without I feel like this was one of those actually do not make this move. Am I making things up? Cuz like low caffeine, long weeks, they could do things to the brain. You’re not making this up. Okay. But what was made up was this AI this AI picture of Trey Young. Oh yeah. Please do not fall for any more AI, y’all. Like and and then Celtics jerseys. Who in who in New England is doing this? I I don’t know who’s doing this, but Alex Zachary posted this one, a picture, you know, in response to Trey Young being disappointed. And guess what? He had receipts. I guess Trey Young actually went and liked this photo, you know, which is kind of crazy. So, yeah, Young crazy. He’s got he’s got the eye emojis like it’s gonna actually happen. Uh, you know, it’s all fun and games, you I I want to talk to you about this because Trey Young being a Boston Celtics is a pipe dream. I I I don’t pipe dream. Pipe dream. Okay. So, I really wasn’t making things up. Yeah. And and the the reason that it’s a pipe dream is because like we’re in we’re in Boston right now and you know in the sportscape everyone’s talking about uh Scary Terry and how he’s going to be a New England Patriot and Micah Parsons how he’s going to be looking for some some names. It’s been a while since there’s been those star-studded names just dropped on every single roster. Well, guess what? You got Dustin May and Stefon Diggs and you better be happy about it. All right, cuz that’s who we got. Ain’t no Conor McDavid coming to save the Bruins. Might be a tough day to mention Dustin May. I’m just saying this is the reality that we live in. You know what I mean? So true. This is true. So, you know, and you got RJ Lewis, you know, like and Chris Buchet. I mean, here’s the thing. Like, Trey Young could work here. He could could he could work here as a lowercase could. He could work here. Okay. But I mean, people are grilling us in the comments about how bad Anthony Simons is on defense. Yeah, Trey Young might be the Trey Young could not guard me in a phone booth today. Forget me. Trey Young couldn’t guard Casey in a phone booth today. For real about to ask, what about me? I have a pretty decent wingspan for a five 51 gal. Thank you. Like, come on now. I’m coming all the way off the screen. I got so much arm left. And and it’s not even that I don’t think Trey Young could be a a decent defender. He’s not interested in it. And guess what? Have teams tried to make him defensively better. Maybe I’m trying to kill this argument a little too much. But I mean, maybe. I don’t know. Quinn Snyder is an offensiveminded coach, so you have to give him that his credit towards that. And that probably props up. Have you heard of enabling bad behavior? It happens all the time. Yeah. Yeah. But like if I’m Trey Young, look here, let me tell you like this. I play defense whenever I was in playing basketball, college, high school, whatever. Like I, you know, State alumni, I was always interested on, you know, guarding guys and taking pride in that and also, you know, scoring and do my thing on offense, too. But that takes a toll on you. People talk about Travis Hunter doing, you know, offense, defense. Hey, the best thing about football is you get to stop start stop start. Imagine doing I used to have a t-shirt that said, “At least I don’t suck up oxygen on the sidelines.” My brother shredded it in front of me. Cut it up. It was one of my favorite t-shirts. That is hilarious. That is funny. And that is a funny brother sister story cuz I feel like brothers will definitely do that to their sisters. Uh, but you know, just thinking about that like doing that on in basketball when you got to guard 69 dudes who run four 640s and move laterally just as fast as they move ver you know up and down ball handling skills like dizzy and sick. Exactly. So, and then you got to go take that to the other end and then score and then do it again and do it and do it again. Do it. It’s a hard thing to do, which is why guys like Kawhai, which is why guys like JB and JT are so special in this league because they can go and do that on both ends at a high level. They will guard your best player and then they will go at your best defender on the other end and still be supportive of their team. But not everybody can do that. We’re talking about a 6-1 guard here. I mean, I’m not even worried about what he can do on the defensive end when I can score 30 and 10 every single night and wear my what is he Jordan Brand now? Jordan Brand shoes every single day and style on people and glisten and I got my own gym in Atlanta and I do this and I’m Trey Young and I’ve been the man since I was 16, 15. Like the I’m the I’m the man song made for him. Right. I’m the man. I’m the man. I’m the man. Right. I feel like I’ve seen him strutting to that one a couple times. He can like I’m not worried about defense for him. He’s he if I’m in a team, I’m treating him like how I treat Luca. Hey man, go get 40 and 10 and we’re good. I don’t worry. We We’ll take care of the defense. So, you know, I just don’t think the Boston Celtics want that though as a part of their identity with once again Jason Tatum coming back from an Achilles injury with Jaylen Brown coming back from a surgery on his on his knee. Will these guys be the two-way players that they’ve been in the past? We don’t know. So, they need to get guys who fit and can do both like Drew Holidayiday did for us. All right. So, considering that they probably don’t need a guy like Trey Young. Yes. Say that they convince themselves again star-studded roster, drop another big name in there, fourtime NBA, all the good things. What would that cost? That’s where that’s where I mashed the brakes because I was so Okay, so the issue is right that he’s he’s upset because of an extension. Right. Right. And so he has one year he has this year left on this deal and then next year is the final year because when you mentioned Scary Terry and everyone else, we’re talking about this place being attractive because we can pay them, right? Exactly. That is true. in Boston. Mhm. With JB and JT hoging up all the money and we’re ducking uh wave this dude who makes a million dollars, trade this dude who makes $8 million. We’re making some small ball plays, right? Just to get under the second apron, you know? Uh it would take trading some some guys, you know what I mean? And those guys, you know, who is it going to be? Like you’re going to have to get rid of a Pritchard. You’re going to have to get rid of a, you know, a Sam Hower. probably have to get rid of a Derek White and say, “Hey, we’re running with the three-headed monster of Tatum and Brown and Trey Young with guys like who fit in between like a Luca Garza, like a uh, you know, a Chris Buché. Maybe we bring back a, you know, a Charles Bassie like what they talked about last episode. Or if we uh go get a Lonnie Walker, you know what I’m saying? like you’re now trying to fit in all these veteran minimum deals around these three. And when Trey Young hasn’t shown you winning basketball besides the one year that he made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and the one year that he made it to the Easter Conference Finals, it was because Ben Simmons forgot how to play basketball that year and got the yips. I don’t know what happened that playoff series, but that playoff series, he just forgot and it’s been bad ever since, which we’ve talked about also on this show. Uh, you know, I I personally am not interested in the cost and trade. I also wouldn’t be interested in the cost if he came in free agency because the reason that he’s upset about the extension is because he wants to get paid, right? And that’s why I’m saying like I feel like first and foremost it’s going to be show me the money and then everything else fall into place after that. This team doesn’t feel like it’s in that position. Now, how important would it be um for point guard play for the Celtics coming up with Jason Tatum being out? Huge. Huge. I mean, we’ve talked about a myriad of point guards that we would want. We wanted Damen Lillard at one point. I think we convinced ourselves we were okay with it so much and then all of a sudden it was like, well, as soon as you convince yourself you’re good with this, we’re moving on. Like that’s happened like three times now. Yeah. And you know, you know, just being talking about Anthony Simons as well, how excited we were for his playmaking ability and able to stretch the floor and shoot the basketball. Now he now now, uh, oh, Trey Young is a much better facilitator than Anthony Simons or Damen Lillard. M, mind you, combined, you can combine their powers. And Trey Young is a way better passer. I mean, he’s probably I don’t think people give him enough credit for how great of a passer he is. I think we talk about Tyrese Hallebertton being a great passer. We talk about Joic being a great passer. I mean, he’s right there with those guys as far as facilitating the ball goes. The thing that he does better than them, though, is he consistently shoots it at a high rate. There’s been some times where he hasn’t consistently shoot it at a high rate, but for the most part over the course of his NBA career, he’s had Curry level range. You know what I mean? So when you package those two things together and and say, “Hey, do that with a top four NBA player and Jason Tatum. Do that with a top 15, top 20 NBA player and Jaylen Brown.” That’s a scary sight for sure. It would be nice, but defensively I don’t like it, which I’ve talked about, and financially I I hate it. Right. Is there a scenario where it’s like, hey, I’m just pissed at the Hawks because with all due respect, they should have already started this conversation with me, but let me go to a championship caliber team that’s, you know, I know a lot of fans don’t feel like, hey, much is going to happen this upcoming season, but the margin for success isn’t that far off or if you look big picture, you’re two, three years out when you get a Jason Tatum back into the mix. So, do you think he can I don’t want to say discount, but do you think it’s more just like a pissed off at you, but this is what I want next for my career and the Celtics could fit? Yeah, you know, I thinking about Trey Young over the last couple of years, you know, the Atlanta Hawks have had some down years since they made that Easter Conference Finals a couple years back. Trey Young now I don’t know him personally but you know from the people that I’ve talked to over there in that Atlanta Hawk sit you know uh organization from the people that I know that have been around him to his agents and things like that he seems like he’s more interested in the things that basketball can provide for him then you know winning is a plus and he wants to win every competitor wants to win. I’m not saying that he’s competitive and that he doesn’t want to win, but but at this point in time, he may it seems like he would rather get that bag than win basketball games. And then you can go win basketball games once you get the bag. All right. Yeah, he sounds too expensive for me. So, we’re going to move on from Drake Young and that possibility because you said feels far stretched as we unpack it. It feels really far stretched because we don’t have much money to dance with. Now, is there a name bouncing around or is there anyone that you can think of that’s like, “Hey, this guy just wants to play ball, that shirt that you wear, that sweater that you wear, like, you know, sorry, I was hooping. Sorry, I was hooping.” That has that mentality, wants to be a part of a championship caliber team that matters more. That’s the front run and probably fits the bill of being a point guard that can come in here and make sense in the moment. Point guard. I I mean or we can branch out. Yeah. I I personally would love to see Lonnie Walker, you know, and he just signed a deal in the U with Makabe over in the Euro League. So, you know, that conversation would have to be figured out or whatever, you know, with the contract situation and getting him over here and, you know, buying them out essentially of that contract over there. I I would love to see Lonnie Walker back in the Boston Celtic jersey. I think, you know, when you’re talking about winning pedigree, when you’re talking about um humility, I mean, this is a guy who clearly just wants to play in a winning situation. He loved his time here in Boston. Although short, it was amazing. You know, he loved his opportunity that he got in the preseason to do some things with the Boston Celtics, he just never really got that shot to do it for the full team. He’s a guy who came in who learned a lot of things from a a San Antonio Spurs organization, from a Lakers organization, from a 76ers organization to even being here in Boston. I mean, these are all franchises that we talk about with these this glimmering light because they’ve done a lot of great things over the course of their history. They’ve won, they’ve lost, they’ve had great days, bad days, but guarantee you they know how to build good culture because they’ve seen bad culture as well at times, right? So, this is a guy who’s learned from that, you know, that lifestyle because when you come in and you’re this guy who’s just as athletic as he is, just as highly touted as he was, and the, you know, the league kind of kicks you down and lets you know you’re not that great, you humble yourself again a little bit. You strap up your boots and you get to work. And I feel like he’s been doing that. And I feel like the Boston Celtics would be a great place for him to continue to learn and progress through his career. Maybe we’ll see if he’s liking any social posts that can lead us down a trail or rabbit hole of something. Um, kind of circling back to the social media post though and and liking of that. I feel like players are getting a little bit more brazen to throw hints out there, you know what I mean? Um, and some of them have actually come to fruition. So, have you seen any like breadcrumbs throughout the socials uh that can that either worked out turned into a trade that we were like ah should this really happen or that we kind of want to manifest? That’s a good question. I would say, you know, like it doesn’t typically work out like that. Like player like usually, you know, if a player’s liking things like that, if they were to get traded to that team or whatever, it’s usually pretty well known. Like they would come out and be loud about like, hey, this is where I want to be, you know what I mean? Hey, this is where I want to be, you know? Um, with no stronger interest, right? You know, like it was pretty clear that, you know, KD wanted to end up in Houston, you know what I mean? And then he ended up in Houston. So, um, and even when he went to the Suns, it was very clear that he wanted to go there. So, you know, I I think players are, you know, they don’t need to like stuff on Twitter to get people’s let there they can tell they will go out and say it. And, you know, at this point, there’s hasn’t been any poor repercussions to doing that recently. So, why not? All right. Why not? Well, we’ll see if there’s any subtlety to these guys letting us know where they want to end up or maybe be a little less subtle. We know that some players are in t-shirts. We got Trevor Story for the Boston Red Sox with a new t-shirt and maybe you guys can hop on the t-shirt train because big news pumped to share that Hold My Banner merch is officially here. You can now pick up a hold my banner t-shirt or hoodie and check out Nessen’s full wicked wearables line brought to you in partnership with Breaking Tea. Check out Wickedwearables at Nessen. Wickedwearables.com. Get your hold my banner swag. Match on and I match anyone here at Nessen because we rotate our t-shirts when it’s t-shirt time. I’m rocking Jimmyi Hendris today. But uh we got more on the other side of the break because there was a name that we thought we put to bed last week. But again, we might have been a little off base on whether or not he’s happy to stick in his situation. So, join us on the other side of this quick break here on Hold My Banner. You are watching Hold My Banner. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this about me. What’s up? Not a reality show gal. No, not my thing. Gives me anxiety. Can’t sit there and watch No Love Island. Oh my god. No. No, no, I can’t watch really obvious scenarios unfold with so many questions because then I’m just over here like the answer is right there in front of you. Move on, please. But, you know, because I’m not a reality show gal, I get my reality show fixed through sports because it just tends to keep on rolling through. Drama is always you and I sat right here and said we think Attention Koopo is just going to remain a buck. He’s going to keep rocking the green and the white, whatever other colors they might have involved. But the New York Knicks have been closely monitoring, I wouldn’t call it stalking, monitoring attention with the Bucks per uh JL Edwards III here. This uh well, it didn’t bother me, but it did surprise me. Okay. Would it bother me if he went to the Knicks? Absolutely. But I’m still harboring some emotions from the postseason, so I’ll get over it by October. That’s fine. I’ve got time. Um, why why is this even a thing? You know, it’s a thing because they’re the Knicks. And going back to their head coaching search, which took light years. I mean, it took longer to for them to find a head coach than it took and the names that we were cycling through. Yes. For Brad Stevens to trade away George Nang, it took longer than that. But, you know, they think they can get everybody. Remember, remember they was like, “Oh, we’re going to go get this person’s head coach. We want to interview Jason Kid. We want to interview Emma Udoka and they’re like, “We got championship.” That’s why I’m annoyed because I’m like, imagine the amount of names. Think of the amount of names. Two months time we’re talking here that have been like, “Oh, tied to the Knicks. Knicks are sitting here having conversations with these guys.” I’m like, “Stop it. What’s your plan?” Right? That’s the reality show thing. What’s your plan? They thought they were going to get Don Staley. Like, come on. Come on. Don’s a goat. She’s not going nowhere. She’s out there in South Carolina. But yeah, you know, it doesn’t surprise me at all cuz the Knicks think that, you know, everybody wants to play for the Knicks and MSG is so great and we got the real guard. I’m tired of hearing all that. Nobody wants to play for the Knicks. They stay if people wanted to play for the Knicks. When freaking um Jaylen Brunson took a pay cut, you would have seen guys going in droves, flying in, flying to go play on their own dime. I mean, they had the Villanova, you know, five or four or whatever they had at one point, and docenzo wanted out. He was like, I don’t want to be a part of this. Get me out of here and send me to Minnesota where he’s happily hooping at right now. So, you know, the Knicks just think they’re hot stuff. You know, I mean, this a family episode, so hot stuff. I almost caught myself twice. Don’t worry about it. And and they’re not. So, you know, them monitoring Giannis does make me mad. And even if they get him, which they never will, you know, that even makes me more mad. But this pisses me off. Yeah. Well, let’s make sure production puts a trigger warning to all Knicks fans in the comments because we know that they watch Hold My Banner. I’d apologize, but I wouldn’t mean it. So, okay. Let’s probably try to drop some hope here. A little bit of positivity. Positivity. I couldn’t even say it, right? wood hating, a tentacupo even makes sense alongside a Carl Anthony Towns, Brunson, and OG. Okay, so are we talking financial sense or we talking like basketball? We’re talking ball. So, okay. And I love that you left out Mikuel Bridges in this deal because if if they were to get Giannis at some point in via trade, he would definitely be gone. I would assume probably OG as well would probably be gone. And it would be a three-headed monster of a cat, a Jaylen Brunson, and a Giannis. Being honest with you, I wouldn’t love that because I’ve seen Giannis with a ball, dominant guard with Damen Lillard and it didn’t work out. Now, Jaylen Brunson at that point in his career, Damen Lillard at this that point in his career, Jaylen Brunson’s a way better player right now than what Damen Lillard was over the last two seasons. But he needs that ball in his hands, you know, and he ain’t throwing no lobs. He ain’t coming off ball screens and throwing the ball to the rim. Like that pick and roll would look garbage. I’m just being honest. So I I think, you know, it could be a good fit. Would they be a good team? Of course they would be a good team. The Easter conference is lowly right now. Yeah. I mean, dude’s a beast on his own. Giannis is talented on his own. You don’t even have to pass the He doesn’t even have to pass the ball for his teams to win. He just can go shoot the ball every time down instead. Wait, stick a pin in that for a second because from everything you just described, it feels like a Koopo doesn’t need to be one of a three-headed monster. He is the monster. So, would you trade away other pieces to make this happen? Cuz now you’re talking about building a team around a guy that you’re bringing in and he’s going to be costly. So, how do you make that make sense? Getting rid of the other big names or dabbling in the draft capital? Yeah. I mean, if I’m if you know, people are going to hate me for this and this is just me thinking off the top of my head, but if I’m the Knicks and they would never do this, this will never happen. So, I don’t want anybody in the comments being like, “Oh, he’s so dumb. This would never happen. I know it would never happen.” Highlighted disclaimer, it’s not happening. And people make fun of Becky Hammond for saying this, but you can’t win a championship with Jaylen Brunson being your top guy. Yeah. So, I would say I want to see Giannis and Cat together. Oh, and then take Jaylen Brunson’s contract and get some talent as well with it that fits more with Giannis and Cat. I think if you go in there and you get a a highlevel guy who can score, you know, from the three-point line, if you can keep like a OG in that deal now or a male, I would prefer OG. Okay. But then you got OG Giannis and Cat. Now that right there, that’s a scary team. And I would have to be apologizing to New York for sure. That team could win multiple championships. But Jaylen Brunson, Cat, I mean, no, not even Cat. Jaylen Brunson and Giannis coexisting. I don’t see it happening. Okay. Is it Am I picking up on like male hate vibes here? No, it’s not. I like Muel Bridge. Just making sure. I just think that OG’s more consistent when he plays. MueL’s always available, which is a good, you know, a good addition. But OG is is just more consistent on the offensive end. He fits in and plugs in when he needs to. He’s always making the shots when he’s when he’s in. He’s making the big shots. He’s guarding your best player. He can take pressure off of Giannis in those ways because he can switch one through five really at a high level. I think Muel Bridges can switch one through four at a high level. Him switching on to a center could cause some issues. And then the shooting has been inconsistent since he’s been the New York man. I see. So, it’s consistency. All right. My bad. I’m not trying to be problematic, put words in anyone’s mouths. Just uh that was my one reality show moment for me. Um okay. I already said this 500 times about a week ago. Attention Koopo. No, he’s going to stick around. It feels like, you know, not much movement can take place at this point, but clearly since the conversation keeps rearing its head. Yeah. Do we see him leaving Milwaukee? Does it feel more realistic now? And then if he does, what is an actual fit? because I feel like I’ve just heard too many things like because he’s so, you know, dominant and like we just said, he could be a oneman show to a degree in a certain, you know, program with a certain team. But what’s a reality to this? The reality to this is the Milwaukee Bucks gave Yiannis everything when he had nothing. He was walking to the arena and taking buses to the arena when he first got here because he didn’t know how to drive and they helped him acquire a driver’s license. um he didn’t have any money cuz he was coming from a you know not a wealthy family obviously joining an NBA team and you know propping this guy up and building him up because he was a lottery pick but he wasn’t expected to be the one of the best players he wasn’t expected to ever win an MVP that’s for sure right you know late lottery lottery pick that he was so the Milwaukee Bucks have given him ample opportunities to win championships he’s won a championship there they gave him Drew Holiday they gave him um Chris uh Chris Chris Middleton. They gave him Brook Lopez and made him into the, you know, the stretch shooting big at that high level that he could become to fit in with Giannis. They’ve given him everything. One thing that I do know about this dude, his girl is from Fresno. So, I’ve, you know, know about his family and all this other stuff from my time in Fresno, I mean, he is loyal to the tea. And his brother is back playing basketball right now getting ready for Euro Basket for the first time in I think it was 460 days or something like that. Mhm. The Milwaukee Bucks will take care of his brother and bring him back onto the team even though he’s not an NBA player. People want to talk about nepotism with Bronny James. Dasis Alakmpo is not an NBA player, but he’s been on NBA rosters because one, he is a likable guy energy. He brings a good energy to the team, but two, he’s Giannis’s brother and they’ve taken care of his entire family the whole step of the way. And Giannis has been on stream out having fun on Instagram, Twitter, whatever you want to say. Every single time somebody’s asking him about the Milwaukee Butts, he’s been shouting their names to the heavens. It’s like a Greek god being in Athens. He’s excited to be there and he’s going to stay there for the rest of his career probably. Okay. So, at this point, what I’m hearing is that the Knicks are just they’re just being the Knicks. They’re just they think they can get everybody. I was like, how do I play this a little kind? They just they just think they can. So when I when I said monitoring and I switched that to stocking, we’ll just keep that one alive. They’re going to continue to find out who else they can add to their prey tank here. But I wouldn’t want to see a Tintoopo in a Knicks jersey. There’s a number of other teams that I’d probably prefer over that. And that’s not by having any New York hate. It’s just the reality of like the trajectory that I see career going. And I don’t like sending good players into mess. Figure it out. New York. We do have some other things to get to. So make sure you guys don’t go anywhere. I already told y’all I’m 5’1, but we’re gonna talk about what it’s like to be 63. This is going to be a fun game for me. So, don’t go anywhere. Stick with us here on Hold My Banner. What’s it like to be 63, you ask? Well, some of you may know, but we’re about to figure out what that means here on hold my banner. I’ll never never be close to figuring it out. I’m not even 5’3. It’s well over a foot taller than me. But the Wolves tweeted, “Yeah, if everyone’s height got set to 63, who’s the best player in the NBA?” Way to play some mental gymnastics with us uh at Wolves, what is it? NBA wolves and six. I should have done better with that. I was sitting here piping on about the Timber Wolves, but uh that’s fine. Moving on. Uh, who would best benefit most of all or who would benefit the most if all NBA players were exactly 6 foot three? Well, I think at first, you know, how tall are you? 6’4. So, I would lose an inch. That was rude. I would lose an inch in this world. But, uh, you know, I I think, you know, just going to um, you know, thinking about like who would be benefit the most if everyone’s 6’3, it would definitely be the guys who are under six feet, right? Wouldn’t you think so? Like they’re getting they’re getting height advantage. Like, you know, I was thinking about uh Yuki. Yuki is an NBA player who’s like 5’8 or something like that. Last year he played for the um the Memphis Grizzlies for a little bit. I can’t remember which team he is on now, but you know, just a small Japanese guy and he he balls. He hoops when he gets the opportunity. But um yeah, originally I’m thinking the small guys, but there’s some big guys that I think that would have an advantage as well if the league got a little bit shorter. All right. So, tell me if I’m off base here. Okay. Of course, I can only take it from my my life experience. Whenever being shorter comes into the conversation, immediately people are like, “You’re either fast or you’re athletic.” Yeah. Which skill set do you think has to pop off more on the NBA level at 6’3? Yeah. I think the athleticism would be if everyone was 6’3, you know, just being if you were athletic enough to, you know, jump high, be strong, do those things like you would separate yourself more than like, you know, being fast and get into the spot. Well, maybe uh, you know, there is advantages to being fast if everyone were 6’3 because, you know, guys who are 69 can’t erase their mistakes. You know what I’m saying? So like a guy like Jason Tatum, if I get by him, like he can easily close the gap and just smack it off the glass, you know what I mean? Because he has that length and that ability to do that. So, you know, there would be some advantages to speed, but you know, if everyone’s 6’3, I think if you can beat people, not even just beat people to the rim, but just be able to jump over people and out strength them, like what else can they really do to, you know, ne negate that? So, you know, that’s what I’m thinking of. All right, let’s add to this a little bit more because now my brain just went a few different places. Okay, the theme around the Pacers was the pace and tempo. So, take the Pacers, put them at 63. Yeah. Then take OKC and put them at 63. Okay. Who’s the better team? Definitely the definitely the Thunder. The Thunder were a lot. Thunder’s still the best team. Yeah, they were a lot more talented team than them. I think that, you know, the guys like Lou Dory and his strength at 63 would be huge. I think, you know, Chad obviously would still be a pretty good NBA player if he was 6’3 because he is more of a skilled big and can do things of that nature. Obviously, the skill is not as high as like a, you know, a guard on okay on the Pacers team, but it’s still a pretty good skilled guy. Like I would trust him to run my offense even at his height right now. So, if he were 6’3, you know, I think his handle would be just slightly tighter, just slightly because he’s closer to the ground, you know what I mean? So, uh, it will work out for in his favor. So, I would say OKC. Okay. All right. Sticking with OKC. You can either stick with OKC and the Pacers or you can branch out to the NBA as a whole. Anyone that sticks out to you that is above 63 that would still be equally as dominant. Yeah. At 63. I do. I do. If they if they were if they were 6’3, if Tatum was 6’3, he would still be nice in today’s NBA. If Jokic was 6’3, I still think he’d be nice. like not equally as dominant cuz I think obviously both of them size matters and it does help them but their ability to grab rebounds, score, facilitate, see the floor, be a leader, um make shots, make high level shots, you know, cuz even now like Tatum gets matched up with, you know, sometimes they play him at the four and he’s guarding dudes who are, you know, 611, 610 or whatever and he’s still getting to his his spots and then with Joic he’s a center so he’s 6’11 fighting against, you know, Embiids and Wimies and Porzingis is and he eats every night. Obviously a top two NBA MVP candidate and also a three-time MVA MVP winner. So he he’s going to eat no matter what. Actually wants me, you know, we don’t have that much time. I want to give you a top five. I gave you I know we’re supposed to pick the best player and I’m going to start from five to go back to one. But hey, you put good reality on it. So talk to me. Five. I’m going to put Donovan Mitchell in this 63 world. He would be the fifth best player in the NBA. And the reason because athleticism, like I said, he already dunks on dudes. He’s 6’2. He would gain an inch in this world. Oh, yes. Okay. So, he’d be dunking on everybody, the skill, all this other stuff. I think he’d be great. Kyrie Irving is always talked about as one of the most skilled scorers in the league. If he were 6’3, I feel like he would still be, you know, the most skilled scorer. And now everybody’s on the same playing field. I would put him as the fourth best. Tatum is three for me. I would think Tatum would be the third best player in the NBA. if everyone was 6’3 for all the reasons that I just mentioned. Same with Yogic. He’s two second best player in the NBA. If everybody were 6’3 for a lot of the same things because now if you’re in the post and you got bigs who are actually your height and you can shoot that hook shot and all this other stuff, why not? He would be killing. And then one because we’re running out of time. Steph Curry. Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t even have that top of mind. his shooting ability when without having 6’9 guys running around all over his neck, he’d be the best player in the league. Wow. Well, whether you’re my height at 51 or blessed with Andre’s jeans here at 6’4, let us know who would make your top five in terms of being 6’3 and being dominant in the NBA. So much fun conversations taking place here on Home Banner, but as you guys have learned, it never stops here. So, make sure you catch Hold My Banner Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 to 2 p.m. here on Nessa Nation. And until next week, everybody, have a fantastic weekend. Deuces.

RJ Luis Jr. and Chris Boucher are the newest Boston Celtics, but are these under-the-radar moves signs of something bigger brewing in Boston? The Celtics traded Georges Niang and two second-round picks to the Jazz for rookie RJ Luis Jr., then quickly signed Boucher to a one-year, $3.3 million deal. Why bet on a rookie with no NBA minutes? Is Boucher a bargain or just bench depth? Kasey and Ountae break down how these pieces fit Boston’s long-term plans, what it means for their rotation, and whether more moves are still coming.

Then, Trae Young likes a Celtics jersey edit on Twitter and the internet explodes. Could this mean anything? Is Trae actually unhappy in Atlanta and would Boston even want to add him to a roster built around Tatum, Brown, and White?

Later, the Knicks are lurking around Giannis. If Milwaukee slips, could New York make a serious push? And would adding Giannis to a team with Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson even make sense?

Finally, imagine a league where every NBA player is exactly 6’3″. Who’s the best in that world? Kasey and Ountae reimagine the game with no height advantages and nothing but skill.

Catch it all on this week’s episode of Hold My Banner, hosted by Kasey Hudson and Ountae Campbell.

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00:00 Celtics Newest Additions RJ Luis Jr. & Chris Boucher
18:12 Trae Young A Future Celtic?
34:32 Giannis Antetokounmpo A Future Knick?
44:57 Best NBA Player If Everyone Was 6’3