Would you change the course of Celtics history?

Would you change the course of Celtics history?

Knock loose. White dive on it. This is twice now the Celtics have been first to the floor and he saw a save with Harford. Unbelievable. Boston first to the floor. So good. Brown fakes, fires up the three. Bang. Tatum dives on the floor. Everybody dives and Brown with the flush. Blocked by Forzen. He’s doing it all. Tatum spinning, driving. Washington drives. Blocked by White. Oh, what a block from Derek White. [Music] All right, welcome in to first of the Floor. Ben Val here along with Jake Eisenberg. Jake, it’s been 88 days since JT Torres Achilles and it’s approximately 80 days until the next NBA season. These are the doldrumiest of the doldrums. How we doing, sir? Doing good. We’re doing good. You know, it was it was honestly it was a stressful last 60 minutes for me. Like at the pub about a 40 minute drive away. I had it all lined up perfectly and then my chicken snitty and our tables uh steaks took close to an hour from order to arrival and that really threw a spanner in the works. We made it just in time, baby. So, are you like fanging it around corners? I’m picturing like dirt roads in like the um Tasmanian beach lands just fanging it around corners. I got to got to make the park. Got to get the time machine. Exactly. We got to go into 88. Let’s go. Uh but no, cuz I I had I had Ted uh my lovely dog in the back seat strapped in and I’m like I can only fang so hard with the the Teddy Monster in the back here because it’s it’s his life, not just mine that I’ that I’m throwing caution to the wind with. So, of course. Um, yeah, there was. And right as I I made it all the way home and then to those dirt roads, I have to drive up my dirt road driveway and I’m about to pull into the driveway. Pawsome runs right across from me and like across the road and I like put the brakes on. Thankfully, Teddy has the seat belt and he uh he got a little surprise and I’m like, “Fuck the POS. I should just killed the possum and then it would have been lying in the middle of my driveway and I would have had to touch it.” So, absolutely. You could have been like Ted Nent gunning down feral pigs from his helicopter but running over a lone psome. Uh I dude I’m so good dude I hooped today like actually played so like there with a a caveat right so like I had ACL minus surgery 18 months ago I’m very old so it’s not a 9month recovery and I hoop down at camper down court that’s where I go and shoot hoops you’ve been there before I think you uh played ball with Nick Curios down there at some point uh and people come up to you and they ask you like hey we’re playing like do you want to play pickup and every time I have to say no and I point to the very visible scars on my knees and I’m like I I can’t like I’m still recovering. Anyway, today a couple of like I guess like 15year-old kids came up to me and asked me and I was like yes. The answer is yes this time. This is like cuz it’s like training wheels, right? Like if I’m going to like ease back into hooping, I’m going to do it this way. Now, stop me if I’ve never told you this before, but like if I ever win the lottery at any point in my life, I will like quit everything that I do except for the show and and like open a bar, like a a hoops theme bar, like an NBA theme bar in Sydney as an extension of this podcast, just like bringing the vibes, like adding some locality to the vibes. And it will come with lots of different trimmings, lots of different services. But the one thing that I want to offer is the the Shack experience. Are you familiar? Have I told you about the Shack experience before? I’m not I’m not sure I’m familiar with the Shack experience, please. It’s a premium premium service. Like, hear me out here. Where you um you play, it’s like three on three and you’re playing everyone who plays with you is like a much smaller person. So, like maybe we have to hire some little people for this. What are you saying? You’re playing on like eight 8ft hoops. And essentially you change all the other dimensions relative to your body height so that you can play like you have the Shack experience and you essentially dominate and you can dunk everything, block everything and just be as dominant as Prime Shack. I basically had the Shack experience against these kids today. Once I like once I warmed up, I was just like feeding the [ __ ] ball in the post and it was like drop step like go to the hole and dominate. It was a lot of fun and like I am not a good basketball player. I have had very little basketball success in my life. It’s been mostly defined by injuries. U today I had the Shaq experience against these these poor little boys and glorious Jake. Glorious. Was it uh three on three, five on five? It was just two on two. And so my my partner knew the assignment. Feed the big fella down low and let him go to town. So good. I just want to leave in that moment. I thought you were going to say firstly I would love you’re going to have to find some very small people for me to have the um uh shack experience for but I would definitely be willing to pay for that. But I thought you going to say if I win the lottery I’m going to I’m just going to do what LeBron does and uh spend the million dollar. Yes. Juice and spend the million dollars per year on my body so I too can play like I’m 25 until I’m 41. Um it’s going to take more than a million dollars a year at this point. The limit does not exist on that one. Anyway, sign up to the Patreon if you want to if you want to see the Shack experience happen and come to fruition, then join the Patreon. We need the funding. Um Jake, I maybe you should set up this this segment. It was your idea came from the brainchild of of one Jake Eisenberg, but the Boston Celtics time machine. Well, yeah. I forget where what where I was. I think, you know, in the midst of teaching the future generation of Australian swimmers this morning, uh, you know, a a lightning bolt hit me and was like, let’s do the Celtics time machine. Um, which is essentially a fancy way of saying Celtics whatifs. And so the time machine will hop in the Delorean. We can go back to any moment in Celtics history. And you have the chance, you have to essentially what’s what’s your elevator pitch? If you get if I get transported to the day of Jason Tatum tearing his Achilles, like who am I talking to and how am I convincing that person to do what I’m telling them to do? And then we can just riff a little bit on like the like the different tentacles of each uh scenario. couple of ground rules like obviously like everyone would just draft Jokic I like you know every every draft pick you make unless it’s within reason like if it was a couple picks away sure but if you just say I would okay I would have drafted Draymond Green I would have drafted uh Nicolic I would have just drafted every best value dude like in the late first and early second like obviously uh that’s a bit And then injuries. I think if the injury happens like in one cataclysmic moment, I think that there’s an argument he made that they it falls into this category. So like I know Steven in the Discord brought up the Rob injury. And I’m like firstly which one? And I’m like I’m not sure, you know, like if it’s that type of thing how you would even solve that one, but maybe you’ve got an idea. But uh but yeah, that’s the premise. Celtics whatifs, but in the form of the Celtics Delorean. I love it. Let’s Let’s jump into the Duckboat Delorean and gun it to 88. Um I think there’s probably a couple of easy ones we can get out of the way concerning dead players. Like I don’t know how else to phrase it. Like you’re going to go back in time. I’ll let you complete this, but like the first thing you’re going to stop or change is what is Len I mean like Yeah. Like so Len Bias obviously is number like the Reggie Lewis thing again. I’m not sure how you’re going to stop that one. Like that’s going to be cuz they they kind of they they kind of tried to, right? Like he didn’t he didn’t pass away with the first heart condition like you know when he felt he went down it was like the second one after like the doctors like examined him. So outside like of telling him just to not play basketball anymore so that he survives. lend buyers the bridge between male bird the golden era the last golden era to the next era that’s the one and I’m not sure who you go to like going to lend buyers is probably too easy so do you go to his best friend was the dealer that gave the things to the people is he is he able to be swayed you know I think you you um like storm the the dorm room, storm and dorm room and you you just like grab the or you just like run up to the plate of cocaine and just blow really hard or you just like you just ye it um Yeah. Or you take it off, but clearly there was like something wrong with it. Well, for some for some Sure. For less hardened folks. Yeah. Either way, you you deal with it. you get it out of his hands and out of the room and um and then you you probably want to make sure that uh the Celtics know about those proclivities and maybe get him involved in some sort of program or or something. By the way, you just remove the cocaine from [ __ ] Land Vias’s room. That’s that’s what you do. That’s that’s step one in this whole whole thing. That might be one of the easiest ones to stop honestly. Like if you and me got time traveled back to what year was that? like 88 89. Am I misremembering this off the top of my head? I was going to have to basketball reference that 86. It was the 86 draft. 86 draft. Um like if you and me hopped in the Delorean, it would be like get police costumes and just break in and it would be the easiest thing to stop because everybody would just scatter and it would be we’d be good to go. Like that that feels of the things we’re going to talk about. I don’t have to convince a Brad Stevens or a Danny A or Joe Mazoula or a Doc Rivers or whoever to actually change their mind about something. Whereas this one is I think that there’s like actually a very simple way the average person could have stopped this one. James in the chat hide Larry Bird’s shovel or just go and do his mom’s driveway. Uh also huge. Um, yeah. I mean, if the assignment is just to go back to the 80s and like do what you will with a bunch of cocaine, then like I think we can manage that assignment. It’s going to be a fun time in the 80s. Um, yeah, Reggie Lewis as well. I I went through the Lamb Bias draft cuz I was like, what if you can’t do anything about it and it’s like instead you just have to pivot completely and make another pick. Not a lot of options really in that draft. There is Avida Sabonis at 24, Mark Price at 25. None of these guys are like the the franchise bridge though between multiple eras. Um, Drazzen Petravvic in the third round who also passed away young unfortunately. So Ron Harper like you know Yeah. to it’s not it’s not f it’s not Jaylen Brown. It’s not Yeah. Yeah. Um so yeah I think we know the assignment there. is just uh get rid of um that situation for Len Bias and uh and help him um find himself. Um I’ve got one, Bill Russell, go back in time. Can we go back in time and make sure the citizens of Boston just like leave this guy the [ __ ] alone like specifically don’t [ __ ] in his bed among many many many other things that um I cannot even begin to imagine. Um don’t [ __ ] with Bill Russell. understand how do you even like that’s the thing if you go back in time hey everyone like leave Bill Russell alone like how do you how do you even make that happen like you like join a PR firm and how does that work I mean you go yeah I mean what you’re essentially asking is how do you go back in time and end racism which um question I think would be more difficult than the stopping lend bias doing cocaine job but yeah I agreed I too would like to go back and change change that one. That one feels really difficult to execute as Marty and Doc fly back to um the 60s. But yeah, leave Bill Russell alone. Listen to Bill Russell is always um the best advice from a basketball perspective. I kind of thought that anything before 85, basically anything before Len Bias is unfair to change because the Celtics were so successful for like the entirety of the uh it’s like yeah, I really wish that Bill Russell had gotten that 12th ring. It does feel like that the it does feel like the bird era maybe like if you play out that error 10 times, they maybe end up with more than three rings. But, you know, it’s hard to get too too upset about winning three rings in a decade. Like, that’s really hard to do. So, yeah, I think that’s fair. You do have a good point though, like basketball wise, it’s like there’s how how much can you really change from like basically the most dynastic like successful era in all of sports, but um yeah, and uh I’m certainly not the qualified person to go back and and fix the Bill Russell situation. But uh if I could wish anything to change from from Celtics history, it would it would be that obviously. I think because the dude is the absolute goat. Um and I think it’s well documented how he got like kind of [ __ ] around by the Boston citizens. Um what else you got? What else are you hopping in the time machine for? So this is my favorite one by far and I think maybe one of the most impactful of like the modern era and not an injury which I think is cool is do not make the Kyrie Irving trade. Oh, okay. Do not make the Kyrie Irving trade. And obviously, we know how that ended. It kind It was, don’t get me wrong, it was there was some fun times. We saw some crazy [ __ ] like Kyrie Irving put on a hell of a show for two years. Even in the sec in the even in the second season where um he ended up go like quitting on the team in the second round against the Bucks, there was like an overtime game against the Raptors. Like magical magical stuff still happened in that second season. in that first season was also was also awesome. But very simple, if you don’t trade for Kyrie Irving, Al Hawford never leaves because I think like the main thing that drove Al Hawford away was that Kyrie Irving experience and basically like an unclear vision for what the next iteration of the Celtics look like, which forced him to go to Philly. Now, that was genuinely awesome because they traded for the Embiid stopper and then uh it just didn’t work at all and the Sixers are now the only team in history that hasn’t been able to succeed with Alawford on their team and we did get him back obviously and it led to a championship. But you keep Al Hawford, you have him for the bubble run instead of playing Daniel Tyson in his freedom. Daniel Tyson is your backup center all of a sudden. I think you’ve got a legitimate chance to win the bubble title. If Al you’re making the finals for sure if you have Al Hawford. Um it’s crazy to think that that was five years ago and he’s still so good and like that version of Al Hawford was still unreal. You’re making the finals and I think you’ve got a legit shot cuz he can kind of hang with AD. I’ll I’ll I’ll start there. I’ve got another tent I’ve got I’ve got another tentacle for you. But your initial thoughts. Yeah, I I have a tentacle as well. I mean, that’s I didn’t even think about the possibility of Al Hawford um as your starting center in the bubble cuz do you remember game one of the sixes series they were without Ben Simmons and there was a moment in game one where like Al Hawford like dunked on a Celtic and then like screamed at the baseline and I was like oh no like Al’s like end our season now. Like what a what a terrible tragic way for it to go if Al Hawford of all the people to die at the hands of of our guy Al um didn’t happen swept them but um he was in very good form and still had a sort of a youthfulness about him that he doesn’t necessarily have now. Obviously he’s found other ways to be incredibly effective but um it was a different Al Hawford back then. Um that would be interesting an interesting wrinkle for the bubble definitely and insane that we got so far with the front court personnel that we had. Um, but maybe you’re about to go this way as far as tentacles are concerned. But if you so if you don’t make the Kyrie Irving trade and the pitch to like the front office like how how you how you spawn in that time and how you make your like approach and how you um like position like let’s not make that trade. Um, but then there’s no Kyrie Irving throwing the alleyoop to Gordon Haywood. And if there’s no Gordon Haywood injury, what does Jason Tatum look like now? What do the Jays look like now? What do the Celtics look like now? Are we not trading the Jays to like bolster our big three, big four, big five around what at that point was a prime, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Haywood, Al Hawford, etc. Like that Haywood injury is like a step on the way to winning a championship in 2024. So, I’m I’m conflicted. It’s a fair point. And obviously, we’re going to play uh glass full. Sure. On this episode of the time machine. Well, for the most part, and Ben, I really, you know, I like the devil’s advocate that you throw out here every once in a while. Um, because I didn’t even think about the other side of it. But what we have learned, I think, about Gordon Haywood, even in after his injury, but I do think that he was a guy that was more of the connector type. He was obviously an all-star, but like he was never like a high usage, I need the ball. He was essentially the 6’8 like wing scoring version of Derek White. He was just such a perfect like make the right play type of guy. The reason he came to Boston was because he loved Brad Stevens and had unfinished business. And I have to be believe that if he loves Brad Stevens, then he has to love making the right play. And if you just build a team of guys of making the right play, you know, Haywood and Hawford, I just kind of believe that the Jays would have still become the Jays. And so the Haywood injury doesn’t happen. I mean, this thing is just straight straight dynasty. like they’re they’re make they’re making the finals that rookie season um because they go to game seven, you know, Kyrie isn’t here, but they go to game seven without Kyrie and Haywood. Um and then like the bubble season, they make the finals like the following season instead of being that like 500 team, uh they are pro again a top two, top three seed like healthy Gordon Haywood, you probably win the 2022 title as well. So, like just that Kyrie Irving trade and how it impacted everything else. Um, yeah. And now the other the other bits of it here, you traded away the eighth pick in the draft, the final of the three Nets picks. The first you became Jaylen and Jason. And now this this part is a little like goes into my like do you stretch it this far as far as like are you able to execute this in the time machine as well? Do you draft Colin Ston? Well, that’s the thing. Colin Ston, I I just Googled 2018 like that was going to give me the 2018 draft results and it it just didn’t at all. Just gave me uh a movie that was made in 20 2018 a Malaysian daster film directed by June Jude Anthony Joseph. I I do digress, but it’s like Danny A incredible incredible drafter. Would he has have drafted Colin Ston? The perfect scenario here is instead of drafting Colin Saxon, you draft Shay Guiltus Alexander who was in this draft. But like that that now now it feels like we’ve reached the bounds of the Delorean’s power. Um like asking that of the uh of Jake and Ben going back in time. That feels like a lot. But like if you’re able to convince Danny A that Kyrie Irving is going to like lead to all this awful awful stuff, then I I don’t know. It’s going to be hard to to pull off. There’s there’s absolutely no no two ways about it, but I think we could do it. So Ston was eight, Kevin Knox was nine, Mikuel Bridges was 10, Shay Gilders Alexander was 11, Miles Bridges was 12. So even even if you end up with Colin Son, he’s still still a good player and then you end up with like um all the like healthy Gordon Haywood and Al Hawford never leaves. Even even just Yeah. So first of all, shout out to Steve and the Discord who put forward like of their time machine moments like to make sure Al Hawford never leaves for Philly. Like that’s that’s definitely encapsulated in this one. Um it’s it’s such a like a full of substance like um offshoot of the the time tree. I’m not using the correct time travel pilots here, but you know what I mean. Like there’s there’s a huge butterfly effect there with the Kyrie Irving trade is what you’re getting. Yeah. Fluxing fluxing with the flux capacitor. Thanks, M. Um yeah, so shout out to Steve in the chat. But uh like even just in the 2018 playoffs, Kyrie I still injured. If you just have a prime Gordon Haywood as that like connective tissue as you’re saying like that alone surely I don’t know. LeBron was pretty [ __ ] dominant but we did take him to seven games. We almost won game seven. Oh, it still still pains me to today. But um yeah, just so much with that Kyrie Irving trade and then like the the Shay situation like I think in order to try and make that happen, you almost need to go back in time with an iPad of like Shay Gildas Alexander like 2025 finals footage and be like this like I’m I’m from the future. Here’s my proof. Like look look at the broadcast. Like there’s advertisements for [ __ ] that like doesn’t exist yet. Like clearly this is real undoceded. This is what Shai becomes like. You you have to draft him. You have to do whatever you can. Keep the pick. Don’t trade for Kyrie. And like the dynasty you have from that point onwards is absolutely insane. That does feel like you’ve broken the rules of time travel all of a sudden. I feel like break bringing bringing the which get it done. I Well, this is actually the perfect draft to get it done because let’s just say you get it’s like the draft’s about to start. What are you going to do? Well, guess what? You can go to Danny Age and be like, “I bet you money that uh the Hawks are going to trade with the uh Mavericks, Luca Donic, Trey Young for the what what was the extra pick they got?” I’d obviously be able to research this before I went back. They got I know they drafted um Deandre Hunter with that pick. I want it fourth overall. Mhm. That’s about to happen. And as soon as that happens, Danny A turns to you and says, “Okay, we’re drafting Shais Alexander.” Um, and even even if you get Colin Ston, I guess the question here is like what happens with Isaiah Thomas? Like, okay, you don’t make the K Iving trade, but do you keep it on like a bad contract? Like, you’re not able to fix that part of the time machine, but you ended up with Kemell Walker on the bloated contract anyway. And I don’t think that it would have been on the um the the the max considering what happened to him afterwards, but that is an offshoot here to consider. It’s so deep. We really could have done our own like a pod on just like what what would happen if you um orchestrated the Kyrie IT situation differently because Ky um it was like talking about backing up the Brinks truck like he was like very public about how deserving he was of a max contract but um well I guess in theory you traded it plus the eighth pick for Kyrie so you could have just traded it for someone else. Yeah. What what was the purp even more cruel though because the the one like um forgiving factor of that was that you were getting Kyrie Irving back like a a young allstar in his prime. It’s like anyone could understand and forgive Danny A making that move like including Isaiah Thomas in the end because it was such an obvious move to make. If you’re just like trading him to like get off him after like who he was and who he’d been to the city at that time like that’s like the fans like burning down the stadium level bullshittery. Yeah. But then you you start the dynasty and next thing you know because like because like who’s the who would who would be the perfect type of player to add to that? Al Hawford, Gordon Haywood, Jason Jaylen Marcus team like another like a better Daniel Ty like that’s you just trade it for I don’t know was I’m trying to think of who was who was a good big man back in like 2018. Um well you would need a point guard or you just promoting Terry Roier? Well, I just you hand the keys to Marcus. Uh Marcus, Jason, and and Gordon Marcus. Yeah, Marcus is still here. Maybe he never leaves in this scenario. Oh man. Terry Rosier. True. Maybe maybe we get the actualized version of Terry Rosier in this scenario, too. Scary Terry. Um I think we probably for the sake of time need to move on from that time machine nugget. Clearly all of our like fuel in the flux capacitor in this scenario is going to be used on traveling back to to 2018 or 2017 I think it was. Um before we move on to our next time machine journey I think it’s time to take a break and hear a quick word from our friends over at prize picks Jake if you’ve got the the read there. That’s right. Ready to go. Prize picks time. Let’s do it. The Red Sox back eight and two in their last 10 WNBA. Drake May lightening up joint practices. Drake May might play football tomorrow pre-season. Should we go more on completions? Should we go more? Paige Beckers, has she has she taken over Caitlyn Clark as the next great WNBA player? It’s possible. It’s possible. Download the app today. Use code CLNS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Download the app today. Use code cls to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Price Pix, run your game. Shout out price pickics. Great way to enhance your hoops or sports viewing experience. And thanks to the seal and s media network for promoting and presenting the first of the floor YouTube podcast and audio podcast. You should be subscribed to both of those. Uh hit that like button as well. If you’re watching now on the live stream or later, please hit the like button. Help us defeat the algorithm. It’s very, very helpful. Um, potato injury I think is like a very quick trip back in the time machine. You you brought it up earlier like what’s the elevator pitch like cuz it’s so it’s so recent there’s very little offshoots. So I think the focus can be like what are you doing? Cuz there’s if you go on Reddit at all there’s always like if you were given the ability you could go back and stop 911 like how would you do it? Similarly like with the Tatum injury like what what could be done? Well, firstly, who do you think the best person to speak to is? Is it Missoula? Is it Tatum? I think it’s Missoula, right? Cuz he would just straight up believe that you’re a time traveler. I think he would not question you. It is so outlandish that you would you couldn’t just disregard it to the point like, I’ve been waiting for you. Yeah. This came to me in a dream. I’ve been waiting. Uh, and then and then you just you just tell him, again, similarly to the Trey Young Donish trade, you just tell him how the game’s going to play out. You’re like, Tatum’s going to be carrying the [ __ ] team and everyone’s else is going to be playing like dog [ __ ] Just just take him out for a minute in the fourth quarter when you’re when you’re down five. Just take him out for a breather like or like is there anything else you could do? like are you gonna be able to convince him to actually like not play Tatum in game four? I’ve thought about this a lot and have long thought that like the catalyst for Tatum’s injury was not like a moment in game four whenever it was. It was in like all the games prior leading up to it, the lackluster performance from the Celtics to even get to a point where a move of such desperation from Tatum, that sort of leap, that awkward leap forward where he, you know, shredded his Achilles was even required in that moment. If you just come out game one versus the Knicks in game two in particular and just are yourselves and take the series and the opponent seriously, you’re not even in a situation where like Jason Tatum needs to put his body on the line like that and and leap forward awkwardly like he did. So somehow I’m convincing Joe this is a real possibility, man. And you need to get into the team’s head from before game one and help them understand what’s on the line here. like if you guys don’t come out and take this [ __ ] seriously, like we could see a fallen brother um you know the best player on a team and and the implications going forward, how it will adjust the u the team’s trajectory going forward for you guys just like not showing up to work properly. Huge implications. So you need to like show up day one and like play the 2024 versions of yourselves essentially otherwise there there’s going to be big trouble. I think that’s that’s my angle. That’s okay. Okay. It’s like more broadly preventative. Do you I don’t think that they didn’t take the Knicks seriously though. Like I don’t think that’s why I think the I think I think the best way to do it would be just hey Paul Zingis is going to look like garbage immediately. Stop playing him. That’s and play and play Luke Cornet. That Mhm. 4.4 points per game seared into my frontal cortex. Zero points in game one. two points in game two, no defense, can’t rebound to save his life. And then on top of that, the like the the black holeness of like the pull to want to give him the ball when he has a mismatch, which is part of the offense, and that just kept slowing everything down. Not to mention all the times he kept ducking in at the worst possible time to try and get post ups. Yeah. I think I think that’s it’s like Joe, dude, don’t give him one quarter. Don’t give him two or three or four. Give him one. Give him zero actually, but give him one and play Luke [ __ ] Cornet. That’s a really good point. I think my like Yeah. Yeah, maybe like I I think um holistically my takeaway like walking away from that series is just like the team didn’t apply themselves. But if you think about it like so much of that like you say is like so solely based around like maybe people like standing around waiting for KP to do KP things and that just like never happening unfortunately. Um and the lack of realization of that is um one of very few knocks against Joe I think but we’ve talked about that or I mean, I guess to your point about like getting in the team, I get into Joe’s own head earlier before the 2025 season and be like the answer is not to shoot more threes. The answer is not to do more of the same. The answer is actually to update and create a different type of team. like all of the chat that they’ve had this off season about wanting to inject more pace, inject more chaos into the team, do that last season. Do that last season. Instead of ramping up the three-point rate, create more of a paces style. You’re never going to create a pacer style when Hallebertton is not on your team. But this pace they’re talking about more of a drive, you know, mid-range, more of a diverse attack, less three-point heavy, then maybe then when they get to the end of game two on game one, their reflex is not to just shoot those threes and maybe just make them, I guess, is the other answer. But if like they have a slightly more diverse offensive approach, then the talent and the advantages that they’re consistently creating actually just lead to them cuz they [ __ ] were up 20 despite shooting a billion threes and missing all of them. Um, so maybe that’s the other one. That’s the other way to stop the injury is to go into the Costa Rican jungle in the midst of Joe Mazour’s Iawaska trip and appear to him in a vision. Absolutely. Yeah. There’s many ways it could be done. Um, and I think unlike the Bill Russell situation, we are uniquely qualified to get it done in this in this instance. Um, all right. So, I I went with the Tatum injury there. What What have you got next? What are you hopping in the time machine for? I really, man, the this this one I’m not sure counts either because it’s a it’s a draft pick one, but like very simple. Draft Giannis instead of Kelly Lin. And I got a couple of those were obviously one were they one pick apart. Uh one or two one or two apart. So like I mean I Hey, I’m never going to forget game seven Kelly Olen against Washington Wizards. Like people forget it wasn’t just a Grant Williams he shot a ton of threes. It was like off the dribble pull up mid-range 7 foot Kelly Olen chin pubes with the headband like going to town. So at the risk of losing that memory. Yeah. Are you saying you would give that up for like multiple MVPs like you know maybe best all time like one of the greatest players of all time like team trajectory changing players. You would you would give up game seven Kelly Olen for that in the second round against John Wall Bradley Beal. A lot of [ __ ] was talked. Kelly Ubé knocking down Kelly Olen earlier in the series. Mhm. I think I think if I was presented with those options, I would I’m not sure the Delorean has enough juice in it to actually grant the Giannis over Kelly Lin um uh move here, but I don’t know. Do you have any of these other draft pick ones to to get to then that were close? Uh 2011 draft uh maybe don’t draft Marshon Brooks instead of Jimmy Butler who I think went a few picks later. That’s and look there’s a lot of these um but that was a notable one like in the same vein as um as Giannis instead of of Kelly Olen. I think Jimmy Butler like went in the second round but like notably better player than than Marshon Brookke so I definitely have that one as well. Um, getting back to some like more recent stuff, the not that recent, but 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, game six against the Heat. The Celtics were up 3-2. Game five, we have that iconic Paul Pierce three over LeBron in Miami where he’s like struting back to the bench saying I think like I’m so bad or whatever it was. Just the best. Um, follow that up with game six in Boston. Uh, LeBron James with maybe his best game ever. Yes. 45 points. Is there maybe like a different strategy there? Like, are you telling me nothing could be done? Can you not just have the anyone but LeBron mentality strategically as far as your defense is concerned? Was there really nothing that could be done? You’re one win away from getting back to the finals with what was essentially the final iteration of that big three Celtics. And uh you telling me we could do nothing? This is a great call. This is an incredible call. 45 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, four turnovers. What a bum. Um team high plus 22. Pretty man, what a 9879. So yeah, looking at the shot distribution here, you could be on to something. So, uh, of the 76 field goals that the Heat took, LeBron took 26 and the next closest was Dean Wade at 17 and he was six for 17. So, you say Dean Wade, calves peeled. Jakeber. Oh, man. I mean, Dean Wade underrated. Uh, Dwayne Wade, 2006 finals MVP, Dwayne Wade, six for 17. and then no one else on the team shot more than eight times. So yeah, I’d say funnel shots and usage away from LeBron James who played 45 minutes in this game. Insane. Um it does I’ve still never seen the game. Yeah, me neither. Uh actually no, I did I have seen the game. I think I was watched it in the cafeteria um while all the Bandwagon Heat fans were screaming in my ear holes. I have like legit memory. Yeah, it’s Yeah, I was like I actually can’t remember any of the game. I can just only remember being like people pushing me and yelling in my face for like an hour. Um but it kind of also feels like an offensive problem. Paul Pierce four for 18. Tough. It’s going to be tough to win too many kg six for 14, but you’re right. And they and they lost by 19. Yeah. But hey, even if you go down, I’d much rather go down and not uh give up LeBron’s greatest game of all time. At least greatest game of all time in in a win for sure because I think game one of the Warriors series where he had like 50 is up there as well. But this is the game. This is the meme. This is the bending over with the thing. And we And of course he did it to us again. Like how many times? Well, at that moment in time, we had really only ever done it to him. And so that was such a big moment for LeBron James’ career arc. Um and so you understand the intensity like not like this, not again. Um but again, again would have just been so good. Like not today, LeBron, you’re not beating the Celtics today. Uh and in a similar vein, just to stick with this very quickly and then I’ll I hand back over to you. 2010 game seven, Kendrick Perkins. Yeah. Uh who I believe to ACL in game six. You’re either like doing what you can to prevent that injury and there’s so many rabbit holes with the injuries and the time machines like we’re not going to go down all of them, but is there like a let’s not lean so hard on Rasheed Wallace, Doc Rivers in game seven. Is there is there something else that could be done there? Again, it’s tough like but the both teams shot poorly. The difference was rebounding, specifically offensive rebounding by the Lakers in game seven. Got to be another strategy out there. Clearly, it was not Rasheed Wallace. It’s one game, and if it would had had happened earlier in the series, you’d like to think that there’d be another pivot back towards prioritizing rebounding, but um that was a tough way to to lose a championship to the Lakers. Starting five still never lost a series. Yeah, that’s right. Uh yeah, you got to stop that one somehow. again these injuries is Doc I think I feel like I feel like Doc Doc Rivers would be a time not in the same way that uh Joe Mazul would be a time travel respector but um I think you get getting there you mentioned the the cash in the ceiling of the of the locker room that’s how could anybody know that that’s genius genius done okay we’ve got another title 2010 oh thank god because that 2010 run our best shot. I mean, I’ve still never watched that game either. The both those games I I followed at work while like they obviously happened during the day here in Australia. I followed them on the Celtics.com chat room that used to be run by Mark Demo and both of them I walked away from like well never watching those games. Yeah, good bad vibes. Good. Yeah, definitely not. Yeah, that’s a good one. I guess in that same vein, like it’d be really nice if uh Garnett we could stop his knee from getting injured in 2009. Um like I guess the answer to that one would be just like don’t play until the playoffs. We literally don’t just ramp up in March and you’ll be good to go. Like just keep yourself fresh and uh get that knee right. But um not a big load management guy KG I don’t think. But they were 44 and 11 at the time of his injury. So it’s brutal. Yeah, he probably played way too many minutes and games at the point of that um of that game. All right, another game, another game plan specific one. We kind of touched on it with the Kyrie Irving one, but game seven Tatum’s rookie season where he has the dunk on LeBron like you know essentially Tatum’s coming out party uh in that playoffs. But that specific game like he has the moment he dunks on LeBron and then he has a step back three in the corner and I forget what that took the score to but they they may they may even they may been down like three to five or something like that and it was like oh my god is this happening and then Tatum like didn’t touch the ball again for the rest of the game and Terry Rosier boy did the scary Terry Magic run out. Again, Brad Stevens, we’re going Tatum Hawford twoman game. That’s it. Get out of the way. And that’s what we’re spamming it all g all All the way. All game. All the way down the stretch. Get out of the way. Terry can hit. I mean, Jesus Christ. 0 for 10. Um Marcus Smart for 10 from three. Two for 14 from the field. Marcus Smart one for 10 from the field. 0 for four from three. Honestly, that’s honestly 31 minutes for Smart. The fact he only took four three-point attempts. I’m actually kind of proud of him. I know he missed them all and had seven assists to two turnovers and was a plus two. So, um, wow. Jason Teden was a team worst minus 17 in this game. That’s that’s single game plus minus game plus always the way. Obviously, he was incredible before he became the plus minus god. 24 and seven as a rookie in game seven against LeBron James. But yeah, Tatum like of course Hford was 17 points on seven for 12, four boards, three assists. like doing his Hawford thing. Just go go to the big dog. Let let Tatum and Hawford go down with that ship as opposed to the Terry Rosier ship. Not Terry Roier like trying to take LeBron James to the rim and getting rightfully swatted. So bad. So what was he thinking? I don’t think he was thinking. I think it was reflexive and instinctfulness. Instinctful. Instinctive. He was thinking, oh, he wanted his JT moment and it was like, brother, brother, not not like that. It was, you’re not rocking with JB at any point in that game. I mean, he was five for 18. Um, yeah, he just wasn’t JB yet, but he was really good in these playoffs, but I know Milwaukee series. Great in the Milwaukee series. That was such a that honestly that would be a good rewatch uh series like Jaylen Brown that was electric. But yeah, he wasn’t quite Jaylen Brown fully at this point. And even like this is more specific to the fourth quarter. Like the the game has declared itself. Tatum and Hawford have it. Just get out of the way. Get out of the way. Uh quick ad break here. Okay, we got to pay the bills and I think we’ve got a few more in us, Jake. But first, here’s a quick word from our friends over at Game Time. First of the floor crew are going to be heading over to Las Vegas for Summer League 2026. And we are absolutely going to be buying all of our tickets through Game Time, which genuinely is a fantastic platform that if you’re not using, do yourself a favor, get on board. Game Time makes getting tickets to all types of events even faster and easier. And prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to tip off with killer lastminute deals. Allin prices, views from your seat, and their lowest price guarantee. Game time takes the guesswork out of buying tickets. Last time we were in Las Vegas, we were outside the Thomas and Max Center before the games, sniping last minute deals using the Game Time app. They offer lastminute tickets, flash deals, zone deals, and event cancellation protection, which dear Lord, we almost needed after that first night in Vegas prior to day one of the summer league. Save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports, concerts, comedy, theater, and more. And take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Much smoother than my more recent ad read. Um, yeah. Game time. Great service. Definitely get on board and use that code seal and to get yourself $20 off your first purchase. Um, if I’m buying tickets for anything, particularly uh in the US, I’m using the Game Time platform. Uh, I’ll throw it back to you, Jake. What are you What are you hopping in the time machine for next? I mean, I’m I’m running low here. I spent most of my juice on the uh on the Kyrie Irving trade here, but um pretty juicy. I I I don’t have a really good way to like to win the 2022 title like without you know the uh adding Gordon Haywood thing that we to talked about earlier like that specific team like I just I don’t I don’t know it’s the Rob thing which you talked about earlier. Yeah. Yeah. Like if Rob’s healthy then yeah, I think we win that series. But I don’t know. You’re up five with five minutes to go. I just I just don’t think they had it really. Uh in the end is kind of how I feel about that series sadly outside of the Rob thing. Um, I would play Sam Hower in the 2023 playoffs, in the 2023 season when I thought that he would like was very clearly better than um Grant Williams throughout that year. And I think if you have him, maybe you don’t uh go down three to the Miami Heat because [ __ ] that would be a nice one to avoid. Obviously, again, like if you avoid that sweep and you make the finals, then maybe you don’t make the Drew Holiday trade uh and win the next title. But to just avoid all of the anguish of that series would be so nice. It was brutal. One of the like that was that was probably of the era, which is why we got all the changes afterwards. That was the most brutal of them all for me. Yeah. And like the Derek White tipin is out of the Chamber of Secrets. Like everything in the leadup to now the 2024 title, we’ve declared it has been relinquished from the Chamber of Secrets. Uh where it laid dormant for so long, really only a year, but it was a long year for such an epic play. But the the Tatum ankle injury, like not to get too back to the ankle thing, but like can you can you deliver a message in a bottle, a poster in a locker? Like first play, just stay out of the paint. like your ankle’s at stake. Just take a [ __ ] You You’re coming off the bench for this game and you can play your 40 You can play your 43 minutes after you come in after five minutes. That That would be That would be fine cuz then you get the first ever comeback from a 3-0 hole against Pat Riley’s Heat Culture Heat. Like incredible. Um should have been on the Heat as well in the time machine. I’m I’m taking the time machine back to Orlando in the bubble and maybe saying to Jason Tatum, the dunk attempt on Bam at the end of game one like maybe a step back like you’ve been very uh known to take step backs throughout your career would have been a good time for a step back or you you dump it off. Is there a pass? Like that, you know, don’t try and dump it on or dunk it on rather like one of the better rim protectors in the league. It’s a tough one because it’s like obviously that goes down. And it’s like one of the greatest career cuz I kind of wanted to do that more these days, you know? I know. But he’s bigger now. Bigger and stronger. Yeah, it’s true. Maybe that’s what happened though. That happened and he was like, “Nah, never again.” So, you need that. I think I think what I would do is talk to the refs directly before that and be like, just remember if a guy’s hand is inside the rim when he makes a block that it’s a goend because Yeah, it’s a good one. That’s illegal and assault and it should not be allowed. I That sucked. So much fuel in the Mandalorian is just like spent on going back and having like sideline conversations with referees. This play is coming up. Here’s how to interpret it. Oh man. Yeah. Uh, by the way, Nick knows on the [ __ ] court in the bubble. Yeah, just so you’re aware. Um, this is a great one from Muzz. The Tony Allen injury after the dead ball. That feels like a really easy one. That’s like an actual one. That’s like maybe as easy as uh as Len Bias. Just like just throw something at uh someone throw some water on the court or like not obviously that done. Genius. Don’t throw a dildo on the court by the way. It’s a very dumb thing to do. Unless Unless you know for a fact that a player is about to to tear their ACL. Yes. Yes. That’s the one exception. That’s the one exception. Uh 1996 NBA draft. Uh Antoine Walker. Do you know who it could have drafted instead? Uh 96. Kobe Bryant. Yeah. Yeah. Steve Nash. Nash. That would be good. No, I’m not throwing too much shade at Antoine Walker, but like you know, could have been different. Those guys are better. Uh, I don’t think that’s a hot take. Uh, yeah. Yeah, I agree. Strong agree because they were Man, Antoine went high in that draft. Yeah, I don’t know the exact um draft in front of me, but uh yeah, he went higher than Kobe, who I think went 13th. So, uh yeah, he was a he was a lottery pick. Um you got anything else? I’ve got one or two more. Um yeah, throw them at me. Throw them at me. I got nothing. I’m I’m done. 987, Kevin McCale, Broken Foot, take a seat. Like you you won’t win at 87, but like you you also like won’t [ __ ] your career and your life. Like the dude is Limpy McGee on a on a on the regular out there even today, which is insane. Like, can we can could someone fix Kevin Male’s foot, please? Come on, dude. Has he not suffered enough? Um so like don’t play the 87 playoffs, Kevin McCale. Yeah, I think that’s a really good one. Yeah, like I I really appreciate that in the Celtic City documentary he’s like, I wouldn’t change a thing. Like I I like what a [ __ ] warrior. That’s bleed green to the core. But yeah, just that’s why you have to go back because he he’s not going to do it. Yeah, he Exactly. If he goes back, he’s doing it again. So, but you you got to go back and be like, Kevin, I promise you, you’re not going to win the title this year. you have a legit chance of winning the title the following year and the year after and being like an actual, you know, late career guy, but your your career will be over and you will not win the title this year if you play. Just fix your foot. But that’s I don’t know. I feel like Kevin M’s not he’s not trusting me. I don’t know. That’s going to be a tricky one. That is a tough one. Yeah. Um I’ve got two more. We are going to continue on on the Patreon after this. We’ve got a whole bunch of stuff to get to. Um, so if you like the show, if you want to support the show, subscribe to the Patreon because we are going to keep it going uh in a little bit live on the Patreon stream. But I’ve got two more. 2016 Kevin Durant free agency pitch. You lead with Tom Brady. Amazing first punch. Like could not have a better first punch than Tom Brady. Second punch, not so good. Not so good. you getting back to the Kelly Olen of it all like like can you can you approach that differently? Is there not can you bring like big Poppy like is there no one else you can bring in that scenario to try and like get the deal done? Yeah, it’s too bad that game seven, if I’m not mistaken, against the Wizards wasn’t before the Kevin Durant pitch. If only if only if only Kevin Durant maybe Kelly Lin should challenge him to a one one v one because I know that my Canadian Mamba has uh has something for that for that dude Kevin Durant. Yeah, dude. I honestly though, like if you could go to Kevin Durant and and tell him that you’re not going to find happiness, you’re not going to find true joy by going to the Golden State Warriors, you’re going to win two titles and you’re going to create probably the best team that’s ever been assembled. But you’re joy. Your career is not going to be respected in the way that it deserves to be. Your legacy is not going to be at a place that it deserves to be if you go to the Warriors. If you come to Boston, the most historically successful franchise in the NBA, we got Jason Tatum on the way. If you’re able to convince him to actually make that move, oh, I think about that’s I think about that one not as much as I think about the uh the Kyrie Irving time machine, but the Kevin Durant version of like the Jay’s still staying. Going back to what you said about does that mean you lose Jaylen or you lose Jason? I just always think about it in their form of uh Jaylen and Jason both become as good as they are today and then you just get to add prime Kevin Durant on top of their whole still have the picks. Yeah. And I mean you almost certainly trade them but Oh maybe not. Who knows? Not in in in my uh in my we we got time to convince Danny to not trade the picks. That’s true. Oh yeah, man. Prime Durant with K Jaylen and Jason would just because there would have been no warriors to contend with or there would have been not to the same degree. So so many so many ways where we could have had uh a dynasty. Uh it’s still it’s just on pause right now. Don’t worry guys. Is it not malpractice to not have the foresight? I think a lot of people did in 2016 to say to Kevin Durant like people will not respect you if you go and join like the not the champion but like yeah exactly like you will not be respected. You would like to think that in all the free agency pitches someone just like came out and said that like that’s why you bring Kelly Olen to like say the quiet part out loud. Right. Yeah. Cuz then and you can be like I know you don’t like Kelly Lynn now cuz he uh disrespected you to your face but we’ve already traded him. We will trade him immediately. Yeah, he’s already gone. Literally gone. So, uh, all right. Finally, um, 2022, like with hindsight as the with the benefit of hindsight, like do you just go with Joe Mazula, do you not, appoint as the coach and knowing how everything pans out? Maybe like in similar to how you can call in a bomb threat, do you call in like a sexual abuse allegation? uh falsify one in the direction of Eay Doka just to make the German thing happen earlier. Yeah. Well, I mean at least if you make a false allegation then maybe Eay would be more on his toes as to not uh do the al do the actual allegation do the thing that got him fired. So that would solve literally that would make probably several people’s lives better um directly impacted by that situation. So, that’s a good one. Talk about that. Yeah. I mean, and I’m just saying like that would just be I’m assuming would be good for all of the parties involved there. So, uh yeah, bring Disolu in early. Uh maybe teach Eay the lesson without having to learn the lesson. But yeah, that’s a I’m glad that one came at 57 minutes into the pot. Let’s just say that. Yeah. And I should say I’m just excusing my own laughter in the situation as well. But, uh, look, it’s a it’s a thing as you’re traveling through the timeline in the Delorean, you think, “Oh, 22 is coming up.” Like, do we do we stop? Do we stop and do something about the situation or do we continue on to to 2018 where all of our work’s getting done? Um, all right. I think we could probably leave it there. Uh, that’s going to do it for this one. Thank you so much for joining us. We’re going to keep it rolling over on the Patreon now, like we said earlier. So, if you enjoy the show and you want to support it, go subscribe to the Patreon. Jake, any closing thoughts? Um, I really enjoyed that. That was that was fun. So, I appreciate everybody tuning in. And, uh, drop some other time machine stuff in the comments below. Please do. That’d be great. We’ll be back early next week and in a moment again on the Patreon. Shout out to everyone in the chat. Thank you so much for joining us early there in the States. Jay Eisenberg, love your work, man. Until next time, go Selts. [Music]

Fire up the Duck Boat Delorian and gun it to 88mph, because we’re playing Boston Celtics Time Machine.

For a franchise that’s experienced so much success, there’s a long list of stuff we’d like to do over. Jump in the live chat or let us know your thoughts in the comments.

🕒Check out last week’s underrated plays vid: https://youtu.be/5qEzo5S5dvA
🎙️Subscribe to the podcast: https://bit.ly/4e5auYC
📷Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firsttothefloor18/
🍀Watch live Celtics games with us: https://playback.tv/celticsblog
📝Check out Jake’s work on CelticsBlog: https://bit.ly/3zlVVko
👕Buy our MERCH, Support the show!: https://bit.ly/fttfmerch
💚JOIN THE PATREON: https://patreon.com/firsttothefloor

#bostonceltics
#celtics
#postgame
#firsttothefloor
#jaysontatum
#basketball
#nba
#reaction
#highlights
#mvp
#trades
#draft

🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6095690252681216