LIVE Garden Report: Celtics Sign Joe Mazzulla to Multi-Year Contract Extension

LIVE Garden Report: Celtics Sign Joe Mazzulla to Multi-Year Contract Extension

Hard hat’s all about showing up to play hard, doing what it takes to win. If you want to cement legacy, win another. He’s your third center. You don’t want to pump him up too much, but it’s hard not to. This is maybe the most I’ve ever agreed with you. What’s going on, Noah? Well, I see. John, am I in the right place? What is this? I got lost. I wandered into this random room. Uh, and apparently, you know, where we’ve got breaking news and we haven’t had ah I’ll take that back. We’ve had some breaking news. We’ve had uh a Bush signing and Yang trade. Will they won’t they come to Boston? WNBA news. So, there’s been pretty pretty eventful, pretty spunky uh off season from the Celtics. Normally, this is the dead zone, but today the breaking news is that head coach Joe Mazula signs a multi-year contract extension. We will get uh your thoughts here in the chat as people are kind of loading up here. And again, I don’t think anybody expected us to pop out of nowhere uh and do a show on a sunny Friday summer afternoon, yet here we are. Um, so we’ll talk about Joe, the extension, what it means, what we think is going to happen here, uh, in terms of how he’s going to be managing a roster that’s completely different than any of the ones that he has dealt with in the past. And I do think that that’s the number one, uh, story about the Celtics and this and that. Uh, and you know, just do you like it? Do you like the deal? Do you like the extension? You like the idea that Joe Missoula is your head coach for the long term through this rebuild or soft rebuild, whatever you want to call it here, soft reset. A lot of different euphemisms for they’re going to be bad for a little bit, but probably hopefully good again soon. Uh so again, it’s going to be Joe. We’ll talk about all of that. We do want to let all of you know uh that the show, as always, is brought to you by our pals over at Prize Pix. Um and I can’t find that either, so go ahead and put it right on the screen. uh prize picks number one daily fantasy sports app in all of uh North America. Uh play five, get 50 into your account instantly. Once again, play five, get instantly uh get uh get 50 instantly in your account when you play prize picks. And of course, make sure you subscribe to uh CLNS YouTube channel. You can find Noah’s Pod here, You Got Boston. A lot of great stuff on that. Uh still, you know, pumping out content regularly throughout the week. And of course, the garden report here and a bunch of other stuff is all there for you. So, no, I’ll get your initial thoughts on it. And again, just to set the table, we had question this and I know you guys had asked uh Brad about it. Bobby had asked about it as well during the press conferences in and around, you know, the the trades and the offseason and everything that’s gone on. But the belief was and again you know you might have a better idea of this even if it’s not concrete that Joe was entering the last year where he had a say in in what was going on. It wasn’t clear. Brad had said he was around. There was some belief that this was basically a contract year with the Celtics holding an option beyond it. Uh so you can’t really enter a season with a head coach without giving him security beyond this year unless you’re planning on getting rid of them. So, I think this had to happen. So, it’s kind of an, you know, an S or get off the pot sort of situation when you have a coach uh entering a situation like this. So, uh just your initial thoughts on the news itself. Yeah, like you said, no surprise. Everybody I talked to, I think this was expected to come and I think they had a lot of offseason business to take care of. So, this wasn’t like the first thing on the list, but it was something that they definitely wanted to get done. Um, as far as we, you know, we don’t have right now the details. I don’t know how many years or you know how much money this contract is for. And to be honest with you, I don’t know that it would make much of a difference in the way. Yeah. As far as the money or I’ll tell you why. I’ll I’ll tell you why. When you’re locking up an asset that you’re certain you want here and you don’t want them to go anywhere else, you drop the eight and you know, whatever it is, you drop the big dog. You know, the big long contract, big dollars, make them a top five, highest paid coach. This is our guy going forward. when you’re just doing the well, we’ve got to give him some security. We’re not ready to move on and I think this is our guy for now. Uh you do two in three years. So, I do think terms matter here. I really do. Uh so, I I am actually very curious to see them and we’ll see what comes out because honestly, this is one of those things that the Celtics have held pretty close to their chest. Like, I think there was a lot of confusion around how many years he had left in his contract, the team option. Uh so, it’s actually possible that this is not going to come out. We’ll see. Um but Shams didn’t have this news. news. The Celtics sent us an email. We all find out at the same second about this. Uh similar to a couple things this offseason, like Jaylen’s knee surgery, which we all just got an email about. So, there’s been a couple things that they’ve they’ve kind of been held close to their chest. So, I I think it was inevitable. Um at the end of the day, I know people have strong opinions about Joe Mazula in both directions, whether that’s thinking that he’s just a product of good circumstance or thinking that he’s a basketball savant that is the best coach in the NBA. Um, I probably fall somewhere in the middle. Like I think he’s a really good coach. But the main reason that I have been supportive of him as a coach is because it’s clear that he’s had buyins from a bunch of different players, star players with difficult egos to manage. And I think if you have Jaylen and Jason’s buyin and you know, he obviously does for them to be in this position. Um, that’s kind of the number one thing that you can ask for in a head coach. And he won a championship a year ago. So the reality is though is that I I’m so aware of how these things change that right now Joe is a year removed from a title and everything’s good and we’ll see how this next year goes and two years from now he could be one of the a third of the league that gets fired in a given season. So it’s just you know it’s not really long-term security the way that you know financially it is for him but as far as his future in Boston I don’t really even view coach contract extensions like that just seeing how things have played out here in recent years across the league. Yeah, and I think you said it, Noah. Like I I think you I think it’s an honest assessment. Like I I lean towards Savant in terms of his basketball knowledge. Uh because I think it’s uh next level. I don’t think that’s everything have to do with coaching, just in terms of whatever tactical stuff goes on behind the scenes. You know, putting the team in a best position to win, getting them to play the right style, having them play a style that suits their skill set versus a style that uh is something that you want to uh you know, force upon them. And we’re not entirely sure. And I do think people wonder, were the Celtics best suited to be a team that chucks 55 threes or was that algorithmic? Was that Joe just putting it through a math equation and saying this is the way to win. We’re good enough to do it. Was that them at their best? I don’t know. I’ll never have the answer to that, but I don’t want to go down the they shoot too many threes uh rabbit hole because I believe generally he was he’s been proven more right than wrong uh along the way. the thing that you said at the end I think is the biggest thing is it’s absolutely all about the buyin and they’ve had it but also again whether it’s a professional sport or life everybody’s at their best when everything is going great you know if you’re flush with cash your job is great you’re happy at home your kids are behaving all of that stuff you’re going to be nice you’re going to be friendly you’re going to have energy you’re going to do that you lose your job you know a bunch of other things happen all of a sudden how generous are you how effective are you at doing these things. How many things change about you and the way that you’re able to do it and how the people around you respond to you? So, this I think is what everybody’s wondering is the number one question. Again, I like Joe. I think this had to happen because you can’t enter a season like this with a lame duck coach. You have to bring him on board and say, “Joe, we’re going to ride this out together. This one’s going to be bumpy, but here you are. We’re going to try to get back and we’re going to do it with you.” However, that buyin, I am curious what happens if it’s a really, really, really rough season. And that’s what I think people are a little worried about. And I’ve seen some comments in the chat like, “Why didn’t they wait?” I don’t think you could, especially if if if his future’s hanging in the balance, you can’t really wait. But what happens, you know, what are the And again, we deal in hypotheticals all the time, but what happens, you know, uh it’s it’s bad bad beyond what we could expect. Uh Jaylen doesn’t like his role, doesn’t like what’s going on around him. There’s issues there. You know, they can’t mesh. It’s a completely new team. You’re trying to get them to do a certain thing and things are messy. The buyin isn’t there. You’re bringing in new faces and asking them to do stuff or playing people well beyond, you know, their level at this moment just because that’s what you’re forced to do. How will that go? So again, you know, you spend a lot more time with Joe than I do. How do you think he’s going to handle this? Because again, Brad was the teacher. Joe stepped into a ready-made situation and that’s its own challenge. This is a totally different one. Yeah. I mean, well, I’m really curious to see how next year goes for a number of people, but Joe Misoula is probably number one on the list in every sense, right? How is he going to manage developing players? Because we’ve already seen that he’s sometimes a little bit reluctant to play some of the younger guys and that’s just not going to be what happens next year. Like, he’s going to have to play those guys. they literally are going to have to be in the rotation just given how many guys have have left. Uh just even his demeanor like what is his demeanor with the media going to be when he’s no longer, you know, coaching a championship team. Like some of the some of the stuff that he said, I don’t know. I don’t know if he’s going to have the same approach and the same outlook. Um I can’t really imagine him changing though. That’s part of why it’s it’s so hard to fathom. But at the end of the day, like I think they Brad and Joe have a phenomenal relationship. Like I don’t know how much that’s been reported or how much like people are aware of that but that’s probably one of the most like notable storylines here is that they have a phenomenal relationship and I think that from the beginning Brad has had ultimate buyin in Joe and that’s why even after year one when a lot of people were really down on him Brad said you know he’s an asset that we have he’s not a weakness and I remember him saying that and it definitely didn’t feel that way in the moment when the Celtics had kind of underperformed in that playoff run. Uh but that’s how the organization feels and so whether he you know how he performs as a developmental year coach I don’t know it’s a lot of it is going to be the players too like did the front office put together a roster that’s playable like these guys that they took flyers on Luca Garza Josh May not Chris Buchet are they going to go back and look at they were good signings or do all these guys you know are all these guys gonna be out of the NBA in two years so I also not sure what position Joe Mazul is actually in because a lot of people have looked at this roster and said this is a bottom two, bottom three team in the Eastern Conference. And in that case, it’s not really going to be on Joe if the team’s bad next year because that’s what everybody’s kind of expecting. Yeah. So, I’m not that curious about, like you said, John, like I’m not that curious about what the record is going to be. But I will be interested to see if there’s still that buy in because if he’s able to keep this group close and playing hard and playing together and, you know, competing and and Jaylen’s bought in and all these guys are bought in and I think Jaylen’s the biggest one, but all of them really, then I think that that’s a passing grade for him next year regardless of what the record is. Yeah. I I it’s funny. I think a lot of I think a lot of it is going to be tied to Jaylen um for this year because how he responds to everything is going to be uh personally my number one storyline for the season. Not just can he be the alpha. I don’t think he has a choice. Um you know I I I don’t I won’t judge him based on individual performance this year because he’s asked to do too much on a team that can’t do much at all. Um, un unless of course somehow he elevates everyone around him, full buy in, makes people around him better, and the team like outperforms expectations. I think we can judge Jaylen positively, but I don’t think you can judge him uh, you know, for how he’s going to do this season because it’s going to be it’s going to be rough based on the supporting cast that is going to be around him for for most of the year. Same thing with Joe. What I’m curious is is their grumbling because that’s the person you’ll be most worried about. The veteran who’s been here who’s experienced pretty much nothing but winning. Um who isn’t afraid to speak his mind when he doesn’t think things are going the way he wants them to go. And does that have the danger or the potential to undermine Joe and what he’s trying to do? Because I don’t think you’re going to get it from Derek White. I don’t think you’re going to get it from Pton Pritchard. But Jaylen Brown might be like, “Guys, what are we doing here?” You know, like this isn’t this isn’t how we do things. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. Um, so I I’m curious there because I don’t think I mean and then you also got, you know, some new additions you’re bringing in where you’re not sure how they’re going to respond, but I mean you have to imagine a lot of them are going to be thrilled for the opportunity to be able to play more than they would have played in other places. So I would imagine you’re going to get buyin from Garza or May not or, you know, whomever you throw out there Simons in a contract year simply because they want to. But again, you don’t know. Simons could be out there just chucking if he ends up if he’s still with the team because he’s just trying to put up stats because he’s worried about where he’s going to sign next year and it doesn’t work that it is a bit of a it’s kind of a you know island of misfit toys sort of roster right now and that’s that’s my concern with Joe uh is it’s really cobbled together in a in a just like I’m just going to you know spackle I’m just going to throw some stuff on here and hope that like it the I can keep the rain out for long enough so we’re not completely, you know, buried underwater. Yeah. And the biggest part of it, like we’ve talked about, is the front court because if you look at the rest of the roster, it’s still a good roster. Like they have good guards, they have Jaylen, they have Sam Hower backing him up. You know, Sam Hower is obviously, you know, relatively proven NBA player. Then you get to the front court and it’s a complete question mark. So, as far as next year goes, like if if Mia Kada is awesome and he ends up kind of far exceeding everybody’s expectations and blossoming him into this like double double machine, then the team might actually be pretty good. And is that going to be a reflection on Joe? I don’t know. I mean, it’s going to end up getting getting still to that because that’s usually how we assess coaches. But there’s going to be a lot of stuff that’s out of his control. So, I’m curious to see how it goes. I think the biggest thing that I’m curious about is how much trust he has in guys like Baylor Shyman. Uh even Ugo Gonzalez. Like I know he didn’t have a great summer league, but like I I think there’s some expectation that he’s going to get some minutes in Boston next year. So how is he going to be able to deal with that? Because we know that he has preferred to play more veteran players and he’s not going to have that choice. Can’t start the year, right? So he can’t start the year saying that at this point. So, you know, I I don’t really have a strong sense either way, but the news that we got today is very much what was expected. And I do like the thing thinking in general, it kind of reminds you of the Drew Holiday extension right before uh the championship run where when when a play when an important person has this like weight off their shoulder, they have, you know, long-term security, they don’t have to worry about contract year, all of that. It’s it’s, you know, it’s somewhat different when it’s a player than a coach, but I still think there’s a lot of value in that. I think there’s a lot of value in extending Drew and having him enter that playoff series, playoff run, like not worrying about his future security with organization and then he has a great playoff run and they win the championship. So maybe Joe Mazula can chill out a little bit because I do think that he’s gotten uptight at points. He’s talked about how he thought he said this on some podcasts, but he talked about how he was, you know, thinking that he was going to get fired last year during that skid during the middle of the year where they weren’t playing well. like I think he he feels everything pretty intensely and he feels the pressure even though he talks about the fact that there is not any of that. So, um I’m sure it gives him some assurance long term that he will have that security that he’s not playing for a contract and that the expectations are pretty low. Like it’s actually not a bad situation from a coaching standpoint. Um especially because all the bad things on your roster is kind of reflects more in the front office. Like if this team is really bad, it’s most likely going to be a front office thing. There’s no question like Joe no matter what happens Joe is not will not be to blame for how the season goes but he will be blamed for how this season goes um to a to to a degree. So you can’t escape that. It’s on you. And the worst part about it is you know it won’t necessarily be his fault. Like, sure, maybe let’s again assuming the worst if it all goes to hell, maybe maybe there’d be a different person who could have gotten more out of the roster. And you can always question that with any coach. uh you know and and certainly you know even with Joe you wonder you know you look at his overall resume it’s good but because he’s won a title and most people don’t win titles but he’s also lost to an eight he’s they’ve twice underperformed expectations so you can kind of look at it through whatever lens you want to uh when it comes to Joe Missoula the problem isn’t that it he’ll be to blame and it really doesn’t matter what the fans think necessarily the problem is is like you just can’t get that kind of loser stank off of you when you when you hit rock bottom, you know, like I I I I haven’t gone and looked at it deeply, but generally speaking, coaches don’t survive multiple horrible years or underperforming years uh there. So, sure, you’re going to give him this one. You know, I mean, look at the Patriots Grod Mayo. Granted, he was a rookie coach. There’s a million other things that went there, but like if it’s horribly bad, the face of that wears it a little bit. So it, you know, while you would think he’d be absolved of any not any responsibility, but full responsibility if the if the if the season goes bad, I I I don’t think that that’s necessarily the case. I think something very bad could could could hurt him just in terms of how he’s perceived with his players within the organization. if he’s having a really tough time, if he’s getting emotional, if he’s spouting off, if he is I know the media stuff doesn’t matter when they’re winning, but it does matter when they’re losing, you know. Um, so, you know, I just wonder his demeanor, disposition of handling what could be a rough year. And no, I’m going to dip out one second. I’m trying to sol while you while you talk here. I’m just trying to solve a technical issue on my end. So, uh, yeah, we’ll go back full. I’m just glad it’s on you with a technical issue. I’ve been um I think the you know the thing that I was thinking about we saw yesterday we were in Rhode Island for this event uh where the Celtics were unveiling a early childhood education community center and Joe is from Rhode Island and Joe has a ton of pride and a ton of love for Rhode Island, a ton of love for like being from that community. And I’ve seen him there a couple times now and it’s like there is something about him that is just different when he’s there. Um the the unique thing and this is something that I’ve always been curious about and like we haven’t heard a ton about is that he has like a very profound like spiritual connection to the Celtics organization. Um and it’s different than a lot of these guys that just wanted to become NBA head coaches. Like yeah, this was yesterday. It was just so so cool just to see like the community this community turn out. Manson Heights um Tatum kind of stole the show honestly from Joe a little bit too. Um, but when I think about like Joe’s future long term, there is this question around like is is the fact that it’s the Celtics like how is how does that interact with all of this? Like I think that he’s going to have this mindset that’s a little bit different than a lot of coaches that are like kind of frustrated with a bad roster, frustrated with a losing season because he has this kind of like spiritual connection with with the Celtics. And so I don’t know how that plays into things. I don’t know how that impacts the outlook for him. If that’s a even a weakness sometimes because there is this like emotional feeling for it, too. Um, but I it’s just something that I’ve been thinking about as I think about his future is that I just can’t picture him elsewhere because it’s so core to his identity that it’s like the Celtics and it’s he grew up being a fan and he models himself very clearly after Red Hourback in a lot of ways. Um, and there’s just like a lot of storylines there too. So, it feels like kind of cosmic that he has this extension, that he has this opportunity. And I think that he might be able to survive a couple losing seasons or a couple disappointing finishes more than your average coach because I think the relationship between him and Brad is pretty unique and there’s just a lot there that’s different than um other places. So, that’s my thinking. Uh we’ll see kind of how it plays out. Um, I do think that there’s going to be a lot of pressure on him just from like sports radio, like a lot of discourse around like, well, this team’s terrible, but this those same people need to be kind of hold held accountable for everybody’s projecting them to be one of the worst teams in the league next year, like in the Eastern Conference. Every ranking that I’m seeing has that. So, um, so I don’t know. It’s it’s like a weird balance. On one hand, if you’re if that’s your c that’s your claim right now that this team’s going to be terrible next year, um, then how is it? I don’t really know how you’re that say that those same people and I know it’s going to happen and those same people are going to rip him to shreds when the team’s not playing well. So like we can look at the more nuanced things like is he trusting the developmental plans? Is is Jaylen still bought in all of that but I think if they’re not good it’s going to become pretty loud that hey they they they should have won multiple championships the only one won now they have this still pretty good roster like it’s going to get spun in the opposite direction. I think there’s no question about that. Uh and can you hear me? Okay. I was able to solve one of my technical problems, but not all of them. I can hear you. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, so I I I agree. I I I agree on all of that stuff. And again, it’s it’s really more management than anything else in terms of uh the roster set forward here, but it is uh definitely interesting. Uh we’ll talk a little bit more about Joe. There’s a poll in the chat here. Do you guys like it? Um yeah. You know, I mean, I don’t know how you can not I don’t know what else you’re supposed to do here. I mean, I’ll I’ll run this as a, you know, you know, living in an alternate reality here. Anybody who’s not happy with it, what did you expect? Like, did you expect them to fire him? Did you expect them to go into the season without giving him any sort of assurances? I certainly did not. And as we said, that I think that’s why this was largely expected. Um, but I again, like I said, I am interested uh in uh terms uh and and just see what that says. Uh we’re got a couple of statements here from uh Brad Stevens uh on the press release that the Celtics sent out. Very excited that Joe has agreed to extend with the Celtics. Uh he understands the job and has passion for the Celtics and is only rivaled by our most diehard fans. He’s where is that you on the front row? No, you’re not in that shot. No, that’s not me. No, stop somebody else. He worked hard and accomplished amazing things in his first three years as head coach, including averaging over 60 wins per season, winning the 2024 NBA championship, gifted leader, brings consistent commitment to learning, improving, and all those other things. And yeah, I mean, you know, I all of that. I mean, no question about it. It’s, you know, it’s the resume looks good uh in three years, especially given what he was thrust into. So, again, I don’t know how people are going to argue against it. I really do think it’s more of a personality uh and a style sort of thing. Uh, real quick before we kind of march forward into everything else, and I’m going throw on the Oh, let’s put this on here. Prize picks, we do want to let you guys know at home, our sponsor over here at the Garden Report and CLNS Media. Uh, you see it here. Pick more, pick less. It’s that easy. It’s the number one daily fantasy sports app in all of North America. Things are starting to get fun and interesting as well for you football fans out there as professional football, college football. Where’d my B-roll go? This is a short one. How short was that? Um, wow. You know, where’s the where’s the twominute one? Um, you want to get you want to get in on the action now and it’s a perfect time to sign up. Use that code clsplay5 and get 50 instantly when you sign up today. There’s a lot more deals coming up and I’m going to guarantee you there’s more coming as we get closer to football season. Uh that being said, the Patriots do play tonight for those of you who are interested. Uh and we will have a programming note as far as that is concerned as well. So again, prize picks, pick more, pick less, win up to a thousand times your cash. Play five, get instantly when you download that app and use the code cls. Once again, download the app code cls. Play five, get 50 instantly. Prize picks run your game. And Amit, you can pull that off the screen. Thank you, buddy. Um, so Noah, this is a little bit of offseason news here, which is on the positive side of things. Uh, you know, everything else so far. Uh, again, all we’ve seen most of the offseason is, you know, good players leave, the return not necessarily, uh, you know, being what some people had hoped for, and a roster that has question marks. and we’re not even sure that we are done uh we are done dealing here. I know we’ve had this conversation a bunch of times. I’m just curious where you’re at with it now. Uh you know, beginning of the offseason was yeah, they’ll try to save some money, maybe get under that second apron. I think the best case scenario was one of Holiday or Drew and one of Horford or Tatum. I think is what people were hoping would be the losses, but instead you lost them all, right? and and that plus Tatum puts them in the position that they’re in. But now you see it going further and further and there was some belief that they might and I know you were on this Noah trade once, trade twice. Uh and they’ve done that already with Nyang and all indications are that they want to do the same thing with uh Anthony Simons. And at this point the Celtics are 7.8 million under that second apron, only four million over the first ap uh apron. and they’re getting close to the tax. Uh what do you think is happening here? Are with the rest of the off season? Again, we’re guessing here, but are you thinking that they want to they want to clear the books completely right now? Is that is that where your head is at? Like if they’re able to get off Simons, save another 10 million in the process and call it a day. Is that where they want to be? You know, probably. It just seems like they’re that’s the they’re so close to that that it’s pretty feasible. My my biggest thing is that you have to be out of the luxury tax two out of three seasons in a row to actually and so I just don’t want to see them get to the point where if they’re under the luxury tax this year, there’s a strong incentive to do it again next year um to get out of the repeater penalty. And so I don’t want them to be under the luxury tax next year. I think Jason Tatum’s going to be back. Jaylen Brown will be on the roster. It’s going to be an expensive team. And if they intend to compete next year, they should be over the luxury tax because they have two supermax contracts. And so that’s my biggest hesitation with them getting under the luxury tax this season is that I think it creates a very strong incentive for next season to do the same. Um, and I think that’s a dangerous game to play when you have a roster that is expensive inherently. Like Tatum and Brown are in supermax contracts. Derrick White’s not on a cheap contract. You know, they’re you don’t want to see them play alongside a bunch of minimum guys again in a really critical championship window year. So that’s why I think, you know, there’s there’s a little bit of a concern there. That being said, every dollar they save is still multiple dollars because all, you know, the the 9.8 million over the tax is all, you know, all has luxury tax, you know, with it. So even if you get below the, you know, in the first apron, like that’s, you know, that’s still better than nothing as far from the payroll standpoint. So, I think they’re going to shed a little bit more salary, but clearly there’s not much of a market for Anthony Simons because he remains on the roster. And 28 million is very different to shed than 8.2 million. And even the 8.2 million came with two second round picks. So, the 28 million would probably come with the first at this point because there’s not there’s just it doesn’t seem like there’s been a suitor for him unless they actually are trying to be more competitive next year and they really do like him more. But from a financial standpoint, there’s clearly not been somebody that’s just willing to take on that money. Yeah. So that’s the thing. Um because again, if you know, you’re to believe the reporting. And again, I I know it’s been speculated. I know Mark Stein was one that had said they were actively trying to trade at least one other uh prominent NBA reporter mentioning might have been Winhorse on a podcast. They’re still open for business when it comes to Simons. the fact that so the fact that they haven’t been able to, you know, I don’t mean to be a cynic about it, but just based on the reporting and what looks like they’re trying to do, I do believe that they’re trying to get um out for two years. I’ve always believed that the next contention window comes two years from now that they’ll be horrible this year, reap the benefits potentially of a of a lottery pick, a top 10 pick if they end up being that bad. And then they’re going to be better naturally, but still not able to add pieces, but they will have Tatum Brown and potentially uh an impact rookie that they can work into the mix. And then they start to get creative. Now you’re starting to find other teams that are in the same position you’re in who can’t pay players and you’re able to make moves and you’ve got full roster flexibility. I really do think the next championship window if it opens opens two years from now and I’ve always thought so because I think that this is the plan. Uh I’m not certain and we will see. What I will say is the fact that they haven’t if that’s the case and they are trying to move off of Simons as the reporting suggests. It’s pretty clear right now, as you said, not only is there no market, but in order to do so, they’re going to have to attach picks to it. And I’m going to go back to when Holiday was first traded or Porzingis was first traded, the general reaction was positive. Wow, Simons is a real player. And they got a and they got picks. That’s pretty good. Um, and they got a second rounder for Chris Porzingis. when they traded those two and granted Porzingis didn’t get you a player in return, people were feeling okay, right? Simons is a professional scorer and they amassed three second round picks or uh but those picks went poof. The holiday trade revision and those two second rounders were gone and then you had to uh lump one into the Nyang deal just to get rid of him. So you went from two plus Yeah. two two picks for N. They had to give him two. Yeah. So, they went from plus whatever to minus one uh out of this whole deal in terms of what they were able to get. Now, they’re they’re minus one pick uh one second rounder when it was Brad Stevens stated goal to maintain future assets and flexibility. The flexibility that they’re keeping by getting under the thing, but now the return is not just zero, it’s less than zero in terms of what they got back, especially if they have to trade Simons and attach picks to it. You’re talking about complete demolition of a roster with nothing nothing to show, not only nothing to show for it, having to pay to do it. And that’s where it’s trending right now just based on reading the tea leaves on what’s going on with Simons. Yeah. And I mean, again, Simon’s not a bad player. So this possibility that, you know, he’s going to make this team more competitive next year. The question is, do they want to be more competitive? I think what you’re saying, John, is like the way you vision envision the next two years, they would be really bad next year. get a lot of rep. That lottery rep gets a little bit better, you know, the following year on a rookie deal, you get back. I I don’t think you I don’t I think that next year you should try or the following year when T the year that you have Tatum’s back, you should try to contend because at a certain point like you’re now pay you you’ve had multiple supermax contracts on the books for multiple years. Jaylen and Jason are both going to be older. Derrick White’s going to be older. So I you know I think that that that’s the mindset should be to like kind of retool right away for a contender the following year. But maybe it’s not possible. Maybe it’s not realistic. We’ll we’ll see. Um but I think the biggest thing with these offseason moves are is that they do have the flex. They don’t have long-term money on on the books except for Tatum Brown effectively. And that was like that, you know, why did they trade for Simons? Because he was on an expiring deal. Like what’s the biggest advantage there is, you know, yeah, they saved a little bit of money, but mostly it was getting rid of Drew Holiday’s long-term money. Like they took on George Nank that was an expiring deal that was easy to get off offload. Like they don’t have these bad long-term contracts anymore. Um, the only three guys really are are Tatum, Brown, and Derek. And because even Pritchard’s not on a significant deal. So, you know, you could get under the luxury tax, I believe, by trading Sam Hower. Um, yeah, but you don’t want to do that, do you? I don’t think so. But I’m just thinking if that’s if that’s where they’re headed, if that’s the goal. Um, it just has not been Yeah, it just has not been stated at all. Right. But I mean, you to do it this year, you have to trade Hower or Simons, but uh you know, among the players that you think you might try to move, but the Simons thing, you’re in a decent position. You hold on to them until the uh trade deadline and see if you can move there. As long as it’s before the season, uh if you’re able to get off of that, pick up an expiring, do a buyout, do a whatever, you can get out this year, uh and do it later, or you let him walk or you resign him for less. one way or the other, a lot of money is coming off the books. Let’s say you resign Simons for half that for a couple of years because you liked him. Um, that’s still going to save you 14. That the savings alone there. I’m sure they have a price t if they like him. I’m sure they have a number where they think he’s worth it and that’s still going to save you over the 27 he’s making now enough to get under the tax. you’re just still not going to have a ton of flexibility unless you want to go back over it to add, which is again why I think no matter what I think the cleanest thing to do is get get rid of all of it. It really is. Unless you think Simons is a building block from the future for the future either you trade him or you let him walk and that 27 million is completely off the book, you’re way below and now you’ve got the ability to add. You’re going to be able to add a midle back into the mix where you couldn’t before. you can make moves to make yourself respectable and get back into that top four five conversation in the east without having to go all in on trades and then you can start to get creative I think a year later. So again, I’m not sure what their plan is. I don’t think they’re set fixed on a plan, but it’s very clear they’ve punted on this year and we’ll see what happens in terms of how Tatum looks and what they’re able to do and where they end up in the draft um a couple of years from now. Uh, while we have Noah, I am going to kind of talk about another uh came up here and I’m not sure I have a graphic for it, but the WNBA situation going on with a team potentially coming to Boston. Uh, we’re not sure how that’s going to play. I know you talked to Gary Washburn who broke the story initially uh to get his take on it. Uh, where do you stand now, Noah, on the possibility that uh a WNBA team might be coming here? Yeah, I would say I’m I’m leaning slightly against the con of the idea that they’re going to be here in 2027. Um, and the reason for that is that first of all, there is a hardford bid that is financially reportedly, you know, competitive with Boston’s. Um, and obviously there’s going to be a lot of a big push to try to keep the Sun in Connecticut where they’ve been uh for most of their history. And then also, you know, it is a big women’s basketball state because of Yukon and that’s like a there’s an element of things there as well. The league though has really been adamant about the fact that because Boston did not put together an expansion bid like there were about 12 teams that put together expansion bids including St. Louis which Jason Tatum was involved in. Um and this the Boston did not put one together and therefore when there was three teams that were selected it was Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland. Uh those teams are going to be joining over the next few years. Toronto um and Portland are coming into the league next year. Boston was never in the mix. There was groups that were interested, but they never actually did it. And my thinking was always that it was because they wanted uh to buy the Connecticut Sun because there’s not going to be a team in Boston and two hours away at the Connecticut Sun play sports Boston, right? So, it’s the same media market. Um but now they’re being reprimanded for it. The league’s been pretty adamant about that and now we’re seeing there’s a Hartford bid. Houston was kind of told that they were next in line. So, there’s some push from the league to to see if Connecticut can move there. Um, and it just feels pretty messy. And I think that when Pagluka put that out there, I don’t know exactly how it came out there, but there was Yeah, I think there there was some thought that maybe it was going to put some pressure on everybody. And I don’t want to say that it backfired, but the league came out with a very strong statement critiquing the Boston bit hours after Gary’s report. So, I may be 50/50, but I think it’s very possible that we actually don’t see team in Boston um until 2033 when the next round of expansion teams is going to come. And I think that’s a huge mistake because I don’t know where the league is going to be in 2033. I don’t know where Boston’s going to be. Um but it’s a big enough media market where you want to capitalize on all the growth and excitement around women’s basketball right now. And I think that you’re going to miss out if we don’t do that. So, we’ll see what happens though. Well, so I am curious here. It seemed to make sense to me that Boston wasn’t up for uh an expansion bid only after because where are they adding? Cleveland, Detroit. What what are the cities that are coming that were approved? Portland and Toronto are next year and then the years following is Cleveland, Detroit, and Cleveland, Detroit, and Philly. That’s right. Philly was the last one I was thinking of. Uh to hear Cleveland, Detroit, Philly, you know, East Coast basketball is a big deal. Um and to not have a team in Boston just seems absurd. So, you know, not not understanding why Boston had never thrown their hat in the ring or you wasn’t considered for that uh until this report and then it made sense, which is, oh, they’re just going to cut the line, take the Connecticut team. And I’ve I’ve just from a logical standpoint, I’ve always thought that that would hap would just probably happen. And I don’t think I I understand if you if the league wants there to be a Connecticut team specifically, it might be tougher to support two New England teams, a Boston team and a Connecticut team. I’m sure in the same way the casinos, the Connecticut casinos relied heavily on people from Massachusetts coming down there. And I’m sure I’m sure there’s a very strong fan base that’s traveling down from other areas in the region, whether it’s Rhode Island or Massachusetts, to check out these Connecticut Sun games. uh and how much that would suffer and whether or not they’d be able to sustain that. So, can in your mind, can New England support two teams or does it have to be Connecticut that moves uh somewhere else and is called maybe the New England whatever instead of the Connecticut Sun? I think Connecticut can support two teams, but it wouldn’t be if I was the commissioner, I would not push for that scenario. Um, and Kathy Angelberg was asked about this recently and she was asked about whether there could be a team in Boston and in Connecticut and she said she’s not sure. Um, and so we’re not like the Sun, you know, don’t play in an NBA arena. So now you’re saying you’re going to try to fill an NBA arena and yes, the Celtics have had or TD Gardens had two great games, you know, WNBA games at TD Garden over the last two years, but it was just one game in a season. Like this year it was Caitlyn Clark and the Fever were coming to town. Jaylen Brown host the block party beforehand. Like there’s a lot of hype and momentum around it and I don’t know that that’s going to be every single random Tuesday night game against a bottom feeder team. Like is that going to command a soldout crowd attending Art? I don’t know. Uh you know I hope so but we won’t know until that actually happens. And so I I think that there needs to be one team in New England for now which is why I’m the thing that I’m the most would be against is forcing Connecticut to sell to Houston and now you don’t have a team in New England for the next seven years or Yeah. then that doesn’t seem smart to me when you know we’ve New England has been a big part of of basketball and Boston is a big media market and I even have a team that is even broadcast right um and so if the Harford bid wins I think it’s a loss for the players who want to play in Boston they have been so vocal about it they don’t want to play in Connecticut they want to play in the big media market and have those offport opportunities um but at least then you would still have a team in New England that team you know fans can get behind and I think there’s more interest now because Boston fans are realizing oh like maybe I should tune in to the Connecticut Sun because that might be our team soon Um, and so, you know, there’s just more momentum in that. I’ve got more questions about the Sun in the last like week than I’ve gotten ever before. Um, so there is there is like a question now around like, do we have a team in New England? Oh, I guess we’ve had one this whole time and maybe I should kind of tune into that in the summers when there’s enough basketball on. I actually believe that uh interest would spike uh in in in the Boston area in the Connecticut team naturally if they were um you know uh na you know if they were more competitive today given the extra the added eyeballs to the league. I think people would want a piece of that action a little bit. So I think that’s just a thing that would happen anyway. It’s just harder to get fully around it if they’re not here in Boston and playing uh you know you know in TD Garden as was uh as was suggested in the report. Um if the team did go to uh Steve Paluka uh in the end again whether or not he buys them outright again not clear but it is interesting. Last thing I want to wrap with going back to the Celtics convo here. Uh just because people in the chat were talking about it now that um Nyang is gone. First off, is is Anthony Simons a Celtic when they tip off in November, October, wherever? Leaning yes. And also leaning that he gets traded before the deadline. Like if I had to pick a scenario right now, this is not this is just my own guess. Um I think that we will see him in green and he will not finish the year in green. Okay. Leaning yes. So let’s just say this is the team that they enter with. Uh what we’ve gone through a million permutations. My initial one was Kada starting at center with uh Jaylen kind of playing a fourish role. Hower I thought Simons and Derek White. Other people have assumed it would be Pritchard. Um, some people thought Nyang would have been starting before he got traded at that four spot uh there. Now you’ve added Buchet to the mix. Now I’ve seen people guessing that it might be Garza if you’re put again starting lineups only matter so much. But if you’re you’re the coach here what what will they do? What should they do? Like how do you see it playing out right now? Because we’ve talked about Joe and his trust issues. We’ve also talked about Joe and his uh you know you can’t play defense. he can’t get on the court for me sort of thing. You’re going to ask him to play Simons and Garza big minutes in a starting lineup. I’m not entirely sure. Ask him Kada, you know. Yeah. I mean, he has no choice. None of these bigs is like a world class defender. So, he has no choice there. Um, I think Perch is going to start. I know this has been a very contentious discussion in the Celtics world, which makes me laugh because they’re both going to play 30 Minutes at Night next year, so it’s it’s not a huge question regardless. Yeah, but I think it’s going to be Dererick and Peyton in the backboard. Hayden is a part of their long-term future just given his contract and Simons very well may not be. So there’s multiple reasons for that. Um Derek White obviously probably one of the most instinctive starters. Jaylen Brown I would say the three probably Chris Bush and Deas Kada in the front court. Maybe they go a little bit smaller and throw Sam Hower into the starting lineup and move Jaylen into the the four. I don’t know. We haven’t seen Jaylen play a ton as you know the second biggest player on the floor. So, you know, it may or may not be a good thing. Defensively, I think he’s just done really well with guarding some of those bigger wings. Like, how does that affect things? So, I think I I lean Jaylen at the three and and having Chris Buchche and Demada in the front court, but I also think like we’re going to see a bunch of different starting lineups with this team. Like, I don’t think it’s going to be this is the best available group and as long as they’re all healthy, this is who plays. I think they’re going to try a lot of different combinations. There might be two guys that play really well together, guys that don’t play really well together. Um, and so it’s gonna it’s there’s going to be a lot going on. Like maybe Baylor Shyman is starting to get some points. Like who knows, right? Maybe Samer has an incredible year and becomes this more dynamic player because we’ve seen in small doses that he is able to, you know, shoot off the dribble a little better than he used to and, you know, better cutter and a lot of these little things. So, it’s I think it’s going to change a lot. We’re going to have a lot of discourse around who the starting group is going to be and then once the year starts, we’ll probably see a bunch of different iterations. I know it’s the this is the worst place to be where no matter what if it’s going bad, you know, if it’s going poorly, everyone’s going to want something else and the something else might not necessarily be better and it’s going to be frustrating the discourse I think around this team. Uh if you are putting on a team that struggles now, when you do talk about these lineups or the lineup that you suggested, where do you see them struggling the most? Uh offensively or defensively? I think relative to how the Celtics want to play. I I and I agree. Yeah. Yeah. It’s tough. They’ve just been such a good defensive team, like almost quietly because I think there’s been a lot of buzz around like, oh, they’re breaking offensive records and, you know, they have all these all-star 20 point any guy can go for 30 on any given night. So, it’s kind of been an under the radar thing that they’ve also routinely been a top five defense forever, right, in the during the regular season, in the playoffs. Um, and it’s because they’ve had a guy like Jason Tatum who can do it all defensively. A guy like Al Horford who has anchored this team defensively when guys have gone down, you know, elite from protectors. They’ve had no holes in their defense. Like the fact that Sam Hower is draws such a commotion when he checks into the game for opposing teams because he is finally there’s a below, you know, below average defender and I’m not even sure how much of a bel average defender he is. Just goes to show you there’s going to be a lot of different guys that we could pick at this year. Uh Kada, we’ve seen that he gets hunted sometimes, you know, around the per perimeter. Anthony Simons is not considered to be a good defender. Um I there’s gonna be a lot of guys that they can go at and yeah, you’re really worried about Garza defensively. I don’t think Garza is going to play that much. We’ll see. But um really okay. I don’t know. Maybe he will. Um I don’t know. I don’t know. I defense is the question that I have a little bit a little bit more concerns about. Me too. And it’s also my back to bringing it full circle back to my how does Joe handle this year in this roster. I think that that and the defensive deficiencies of this team is what’s going to keep them up at night. Um because it’s, you know, the Celtics, as you said, not only were they almost perfect, you know, at their best in terms of roster construction, uh and how they could handle almost any and all of uh their defensive assignments. And sure, every once in a while, Porzingis might get bullied by a stronger guy, uh, or, you know, uh, White or Holiday might get beaten off the dribble by a super quick guard. And of course, I mean, you you can’t be perfect, but you just never had any concern with anybody out there. And and there was very few people you could pick on if Hower was the weakest. And the Celtics in turn were capable of picking almost any team apart if they had more than one person on on the court that the team had was trying to hide. Um now the Celtics are going to be that team where you have two sometimes three defenders out there that you know teams can find that matchup against them and that that’s going to be really interesting uh there in addition to as we said possibly the worst front court in all of the NBA. Uh, so I don’t know how that is going to look here. I think the Boucher thing helps a little bit for sure. Um, in a different world, we’d be celebrating this Bouchet signing because if you added this player for that money to a contender, we’d be like, “Holy crap, what a move.” You know, um, you know what he’s going to be asked to do here on a team that has very, very little. Once again, I don’t know if it can live up to, you know, expectations, but I think that was a good move. I do think that that helps. So, uh, we’ll see how that goes. No, we haven’t had a chance to talk in a while. I could be missing something. Is there anything on your mind the people need to know about right now or have we got it covered here? As we said, we joined this stream because Joe Misoula breaking news. You know, you’re on here. You understand why we’re we’re talking. Joe Misoula signs an extension uh to remain with the Boston Celtics. Terms have yet to be announced, but he’s here. We believe this was the last year of his contract, even though the Celtics said he was around. Maybe there was a team option or something. So, I think they extended him in what would have been his walk year. Uh, and uh, that’s that. Like I said, when we have the terms, we’ll report it. Null will write about it for sure. Uh, and we’ll have details on CLNS media. But any any other thoughts pertaining to the Celtics team right now? Anything that you’re working on? Anything worth discussing? No, I liked the transactions from the other day. Like I liked the Chris Bush signing. Um, I think the front court just needs to be a little bit more serviceable than it was. I saw Namish Kada got hurt in an exhibition game yesterday. He just trained his adductor. I don’t know if it’s serious. Somebody here said that in the in the chat box. I saw a video of it earlier, but I didn’t know what the diagnosis was. Um so it’s just a reminder like you got to have another guy that can play in the front court because and all these sevenfooters like they are more injuryprone and there’s they’re going to miss time and even if you’re not overly worried about winning like you want to have a functional roster that can allow guys like Derek White and Peyton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown to get play their be their bestelves. And if you have a massive gap in the front court, you’re kind of putting it all throwing it all away in a sense. So I like the signing. I think he’s a solid player. Good deal. I also think George Niang was more duplicative than what they already have. Like I don’t really need to see George Ning play over Sam Hower and Baylor Shyman. And so I’d rather the guys they have locked down long term get those minutes. So I like it was, you know, minor moves, but it was I think it was a couple of pretty good transactions from a roster standpoint. Um and it was interesting to hear. You know, we talked to Rich Gotham yesterday, the Celtics team president, uh, who doesn’t do a lot of media availability, but he is one of the guys that is, you know, really in the inner circle of trust with this organization, has been for a long time. Um, and he projected that people are going to be surprised at this team and that they’re, you know, they could be a good team. We’ll see whether that’s true. Um, but I think the expectations are so low that if they’re even competitive most nights and end up winning a little more than half their games, a lot of people are going to be kind of impressed by what this group was able to do. So, it’s kind of a a uniquely positive situation for a lot of the players and a lot of members of the coaching staff. Uh probably not as much for the front office who will not benefit really from this team being good, but for the people that are on the roster. All right, holding your feet to the fire here and you have plenty of time to amend this prediction when we do our Garden Report season preview shows uh heading into the season itself. But as it stands right now, uh, you know, we’ve talked about, I mean, and and and this debate still rages on, uh, you know, on social media. Celtics, if you had to guess, top six team, playin team, six, the the they’re the number six seed. That’s my prediction right now. Nightmare fuel for most of our listeners, but that’s that’s my guess. Yep. Interesting. I have them nine or 10. I have them in the I have them in the plan. Um, not outside. um not that not that low, but I have them in in playin territory. Um 8 n you know sort of situation, but we’ll see. Uh again, I think ceiling is six. I think floor is 12 or so. So, you know, we’ll we’ll see where that goes. But again, I would they’re going to need help. I would love to be surprised. Well, not not only that, like look, people have to remember before this whole thing started, you know, and you go back to that Isaiah Thomas team, they found diamonds in the rough and again, it was Danny procuring the players and Brad coaching them, but you know, your your Jay Crowers and you know, a lot of the people that were, you know, uh that were making contributions or people you never ever expected. Who was the Scandinavian dude number eight? Why is it escaping me? Oh my god. No, nobody. I don’t remember. Well, I can’t even remember. Anyway, you had a lot of people making uh contributions that you didn’t necessarily uh expect, you know, from them uh there. And that was good. So, could my not turn into something? Could Kada’s development, you know, would be nice to see. Did you figure out who I was thinking of? Now, if I if I Google on my computer, my whole thing will crash. So Oh, really? You’re It doesn’t Google. No, I don’t know. But anyway, like I said, you you had contributions from different players where you Oh, we talking about Jonas Dreco. Uhhuh. Oh, okay. I didn’t I didn’t know he was Scandinavian. I don’t know what he is. Okay. Well, thank you for the chat. He’s Swedish. He’s Swedish, right? He’s Swedish. Okay. Swedish. Yeah. Um anyway, thank you, chat. But yeah, I I’d rather see that because it would be nice to find that you’ve discovered some some, you know, some good players there. I liked Simons before he came here. I want to see him do well. Um, so I’m not rooting for losses for the sake of losses, but once you realize it’s a loss season, should they happen to lose, it obviously has benefit uh to them, but you would much rather watch a scrappy team that plays above uh their level and stays competitive because you can get behind some of these guys, particular, especially if you can pick up a piece or two and hang on to them long term. You know, then you have stuff you didn’t know that you had before. You know, maybe you get development from either Shyman or or or Walsh. I’m, you know, I’m dubious right now, uh, just based on what we’ve seen so far, but we’ll see how that goes. So, uh, again, Noah’s got him as a six. I’ve got him in the playin. Joe Mazula is here to stay. Subscribe to CLNS Media for ongoing Celtics coverage throughout, whether it’s following Noah or me on Twitter, following our Celtics accounts on Twitter and Instagram. Uh, and definitely, um, if you like this show, uh, please not only subscribe to the YouTube channel, turn on your notifications, but leave us a review. It’s available on audio as well. You could definitely check that out for a lot of people who aren’t able to, especially some of our listeners who aren’t local. Uh, they’ll catch this thing on an audio replay the next day. Um, so you can pick up all of these shows uh, wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Uh, and we look forward to seeing you again uh next time we have breaking news or next week. I know Bobby’s been doing a lot of offseason related things uh regarding the Celtics. Uh, I’ll tell you all out there right now, programming note, Patriots have their first preseason game tonight. Uh, Taylor Kyle’s Mike Cadlick will be at the game covering the Patriots. Uh, they will do a post show postgame show with me uh after the game is over, probably 20 30 minutes after interviews are concluded. So, for you out there, you Patriots fans that want to see how that team’s going to look, uh, check it out. Tune in tonight for the Patriots. In the meantime, Joe Missoula signs an extension. Thank you guys for hanging out with us. Uh, thank you, Noah. And we will see you guys next time. No one’s No one’s sneaking a vegan brownie by me. I’ll tell you that. Okay, you know what, John? We’re going to do it. You have to feel that way, too, Bobby. I have to feel that way. Let’s fight over and and make Luke your first center. Bobby, we gave you Luke hour earlier. We are not going to end this on a damn conversation about Luke.

The Boston Celtics announced today that the team has signed Head Coach Joe Mazzulla to a multi-year contract extension. The Garden Report’s John Zannis and Noa Dalzell go LIVE to react!

Visit our MERCH Store: https://shop.clnsmedia.com
Join Our Discord Server: https://clnsmedia.com/discord

Make sure to SUBSCRIBE to The Garden Report on CLNS Media!
🍎Apple: https://bit.ly/44NYVRP
✳️Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/svjft9sk
📺YouTube: https://youtube.com/@CLNSMEDIA

CLNS Media is Powered by:

💰 Prize Picks – https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!

#celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics
The CLNS Media Network is the leading provider for video/audio content. CLNS is a fully credentialed member of the media with access to all NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB teams & venues.
———————————————————————————

CLNS’ rebuilt their YouTube community in less than 12 months, during a pandemic that attacked sports.

Visit the Official Home of CLNS Sports Coverage – https://clnsmedia.com

Twitter – https://twitter.com/CLNSMedia
Celtics – https://twitter.com/celticsclns
Patriots – https://twitter.com/patriotsclns
Bruins – https://twitter.com/bruinsclns
Red Sox – https://twitter.com/redsoxclns
Non-Sports – https://twitter.com/northstation
Facebook – http://facebook.com/clnsmedia
INSTA – http://Instagram.com/clnsmedia
INSTA Celtics – http://Instagram.com/celticsclns
INSTA History – http://Instagram.com/nbahistoryclns