Is Joe Mazzulla the Right Coach for The Celtics?

Is Joe Mazzulla the Right Coach for The Celtics?

Welcome into Hold My Banner. Hold it. Hold my banner. Casey Hudson, Ente Campbell, and boy do we have a show for you guys today because there’s a lot of movement going down from the top. Some guys sticking around, some guys not sticking around, but one guy who is sticking around. I said that too many times. Joe Misoula contract extension. So, we got to see what this means for the team in the upcoming season. I feel like it’s still a little bit of a split decision here in terms of like tank, rebuild, retool, revamp. What is this team going to look like? Hold out till Tatum’s healthy. I mean, you think at this point we’re probably singing one tune and we’re still singing a number of them. So, uh, where do we even start on? Yeah, I mean, I guess we can start with Joe. I’ll start. You know, obviously the Boston Celtics let us all know that they signed the ex, you know, extension with Joe Missoula. Um, and I got a lot of mixed reviews from people when I was talking to some of the Celtics fans. I always like to get a little bit of a pulse. Yeah. To feel what, you know, Boston Celtics fans are feeling whenever a move like this is made. And uh, you know, it’s all it’s split just like how people are with Joe Missoula. His entire tenure, everyone’s been in between. Some people are like, “Yeah, Joe’s the best. He won a championship here. We want him here 40 more years. Rick and Morty, 40 more years. Joe Missoula, 40 more years. That’s how some people feel. And some people are like, why? You know what I mean? Why is this dude getting this contract extension during this time? My personal thoughts about it. As soon as I saw the deal, I was like, okay, asurances, I always talk about that over this summer. I’ve been talking about that a lot with, you know, Jason Tatum being out and blah blah blah and who this team is going to be. We’ve heard it all before. Too much movement. A lot of movement. You need things that are secure and safe. And that’s what Joe Missoula has been for this Boston Celtics team. Ever since the EMoka incident, he has been a safety blanket for this team. He’s he has a 70 plus win percentage as a head coach of the Boston Celtics. He’s won games. He’s won the big game. He got them there in 19 games. It took only 19 games to win the championship in 2024. This year, if Tatum doesn’t go down, you know, they probably would have had an opportunity to go and try to win one again. Now we have people like Bob Koozie saying that you know about Bob Bob was saying that he didn’t think that they were going to win anyways because of the you know the mindset of a coach Joe Missoula and the shooting threes and doing those things and I think Travis and I had those issues and Adam and I also thought that there were some issues with that shooting and I even think you said that you know there were some issues with that plan of attack but we’re here. I’m happy that Joe Missoula is here because I like security. I love that explanation, but I’m also hoping that you can walk me through playing Devil’s Advocate a little bit because who would I be if I didn’t try to throw a wrench into the mix? Let’s speak to the 50% of fans that are kind of just like, why did we do this? Yes. And where I’m going to assume part of this circles back is let’s take it to the postseason. There felt like there was a level of exposure as some people called it when it came to Missoula’s approach, the offense, the notable threes. You don’t want to be solvable. You don’t want to be predictable, but if you have the talent to make it count, then you know, you don’t have to completely rearrange your game plan. So for that side of the fan base, that’s just like if he continues with that game plan, we didn’t really pick up any pieces that fit the entire bill without questions. You know what I mean? Without saying, hey, they can do 60% of what Boston Celtics players do, but not this other 40. So kind of speak to the fact of like is there concern there? Yeah. From that approach. Well, you know, there’s definitely concern. I I would definitely say that cuz I am not I wouldn’t say that I’m like 100% in on Joe Mazula. I’m probably sort of in that 80% range on Joe Mazula. Like I think he’s a really good coach. I do think his defensive plan and the way he teaches these guys to play defensively is just taken for granted a lot by Boston Celtics fans. Okay. I also think that Boston Celtics fans take for granted the the job of a head coach in the NBA. These dudes are talented. When you’re playing with a guy, when you’re coaching a guy like Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and even having a Drew Holiday back in the day and Al Horford, they know how to play basketball. They know how to play winning basketball at a high level. You’re really just kind of at that point taking those guys and managing egos. It goes back to the time when, you know, Brad was coaching a team that had all the talent. They had Terry Rosier, they had Jason Tatum, they had Jaylen Brown, they had Kyrie Irving, they had Gordon Hayward. They had all the talent in the world and everybody thought these huge expectations of them. And then of course Gordon Hayward went down in the first game. But that season broke down because in the season the seasons following with Kyrie coming back into the mix and all that other stuff because he wasn’t good at managing those egos and those expectations for those players. He didn’t name whose team it was. Everyone knew at the time it probably should have been Kyrie’s team, but that team is looking and they’re saying, “Well, JT took LeBron to seven.” You know what I mean? JT, JB, and Terry Roier took LeBron to seven, so what do we need Kyrie for? You know, we were a game away from being in the finals, you know? So, it was one of those things where Brad didn’t do a great job of managing egos in that situation. Joe did a fantastic job. And now, it was partially to the players, too, because Drew would came in and was like, “Dude, I don’t care. Tatum shoot the ball 40 time, right?” You know what I mean? and KP was like, “Dude, I don’t care. I just want to be a part of something that’s winning and good and feeling great.” So, it was a part of what he they did as well, but you have to give Joe Mazulu credit for that. And that’s why I say, “Yeah, if you’re worried, I understand the worries because yes, the shooting threes and analytics and all that other stuff and it gets out of hand sometimes, but when you have a team that talented, only the Celtics could play that way and it won them a championship in 24 easily because they played that way.” Yeah. And I think that’s a great point to make because I think that when we were trying to go through the es and flows of what this offseason may or may not look like, how many guys did we talk about on a skillful level and be like, but they’re not going to fit in here because character this that are they going to be able to readjust their role and not be the guy just be an additional piece. So to that point though, let’s talk about the fact that like there was another conversation that took place with Joe Misoula and it was well he was promoted at a certain time. He didn’t build out his team. He was given a team that was built for success. Now we’re heading into an era where like this is probably going to be the first team that he’s kind of fully got the reigns of that’s going to be molded together underneath him. So you can’t say that it’s anybody else that helped bring this to fruition. This is Missoula’s team. It is Missoula’s team and it’s also Brad Stevens team. You can’t forget that the the the the relationship between a manager and a coach is is vital. It’s huge. No one talks about that. But the fact that they’re on the same page, we talked about last episode with them getting RJ Luis and Hugo Gonzalez and Amari Williams. These are all guys that they’re bringing in that fit that Joe Missoula prototype. They come in, they play defense, they come in and give energy, and then they’re going to shoot threes when they’re open and take them and they can drive and make plays for other people. That’s everything that Joe Missoula has brought into the Celtics offense and defense as he’s been head coach. So, you can’t be upset about, you know, that those guys coming in and making that kind of impact. Joe Mazula is getting the opportunity to coach these guys and to build them up in the way that he wants to. You’re right. It will be his first opportunity to do that because he’s gotten players that were already, you know, built and ready to play NBA basketball. We’ll see now if he’s really that coach at at least at the level that this contract is saying he is, right? And is there another argument to be made to be like, okay, yeah, maybe he was given a championship caliber team. But to the other great point that you made, not all personalities click. Would you be on the side of it’s actually a little bit harder to come in to somebody else’s build, make it your own, and make it make sense, or is it as easy as some people try to make it seem? No, I mean, it’s definitely difficult. We saw the growing pains of this, you know, when Steve Curry first took over for the Warriors. Like, it wasn’t all dandelions and roses to start off. Like, Mark Jackson got them to be the Warriors. He built up Steph Curry to be more of a shooter. He built up, you know, Draymond Green to be more of a offensive player that he was, Klay Thompson, all this other stuff. But Steve Kirk had to come in and really challenge the fact that like, hey, Steph, we know you’re Steph, but like you’re not you’re the NBA wasn’t ready for that. Like the Steph coming in now into his career shooting 10 threes a game and stuff like that. Like that’s a testament to Steve Kirby being like, “Hey dude, you’re special. like we see this talent that you have and it’s unlike anything we have in the league and we’re going to ride with that. It was the same thing that we saw with James Harden when he got to Houston and you know a guy that we know here well and Kevin McCuel in Boston was his head coach over there in Houston. He said, “Hey James, like I’m going to put the ball in your hands. We’re going to run pick and roll 50 times a game and you’re going to go out there and shoots.” You have to have a coach that is willing to take risks because Eay was a great coach and his style of offense was never going to be shoot 53s a game and you know what I mean and do but guess what I don’t think I don’t know we don’t know if EA would have ever got this team over the hump because he played more of a traditional ISO ball d this was more of a five out offense maybe four out one in even putting Drew Holiday in the dunker spot was a huge testament to Joe Mazula as a coach Because most coaches wouldn’t have put a point guard of his caliber, all-star level, NBA champion level point guard, and say, “Hey man, we’re going to put the ball in Jason Tatum’s hands up top and you go stand down there in the dunker spot and be ready to float out to the three-point line or score a layup.” And it worked. So Joe Mazula’s done a lot of things and taken a lot of risks with this team that, you know, people aren’t appreciating like you’re saying. Oh, now that makes it even better because then at the end of the day, you’re talking about almost two different coaching styles and clearly one coaching style made it work. Yeah. So, another thing that that’s a testament to Missoula and moving forward with him having this extension in place is the support and the buyin from the players because if anything, that’s the most important piece to make sure that things are going to click and be progressive. Tatum, even Buchet, who’s now joining in in the mix here. So, what does that say about Missoula as a as a guy? It says everything that we’ve been talking about like the guys trust him because he knows what he’s doing. You know, if you’re bringing in guys who have seen multiple championship teams, I mean, Buché was part of the Warriors championship, didn’t play much, part of the, you know, the Toronto Raptors championship in 2019, didn’t play much there, but has seen it. Being in that culture, you see what winning it takes. And when you have a new guy coming in and seeing a coach like that after playing with Steve Kerr, after playing with uh Nick Nurse out there, two great NBA coaches and he’s coming in and he’s stamping Joe Mazula. It’s a it’s a great feeling, you know, and the same thing goes with Jason Tatum who’s seen multiple good coaches with EA and Brad Stevens and all this other stuff and he’s stamping them as well. It’s a great feeling for Joe Missoula and it should be a great feeling for Boston Celtics fans as well. All right, the big question. Yes. Do you see another championship in Missoula’s future? Yeah, I mean eventually down the line. Um, you know, I think it’s gonna it’s going to take a little time. I was like, you tiptoed into that one. I know I was dramatic. It’s going to take a little time here, you know, and one of the things that, you know, makes me a little bit nervous, I could say, is, you know, seeing this tweet before we got on air here from Sham Serania. You want to take a take a look at this? Sham. Sham Serrania. Yeah. You want to take a look at this one? Casey. Yep. We got uh Grossback will no longer stay on as governor as part of the Boston Celtics 6.1 billion sale to Bill Chisum. Chos. Yep. Sources tell me uh the plan has been for Grossback to remain through 2028. Um Chisum assumes governor title and the transfer will be finalized soon. So then that just adds another question to the pile because then what does this mean? Because I feel like when I first got here and that movement took place, the sale being so there was a little bit of like a deep breath because it’s like, okay, someone notable staying gone. There’s not this big transformation out the gate because you know change of ownership and stuff that runs down the course between budget and then identity and a few other things. So like what was your initial thought with this breaking news because this just came out today. Yeah, I mean my initial thought is, you know, a loss of continuity. I think it’s one of those things that makes me a little nervous about the direction that the Boston Celtics are going and and the reason that it makes me nervous is because, you know, Brad’s saying win win win, you know, and we haven’t given up. We’re still going to be aggressive. We’re playing to win. Yeah. And it felt like at the beginning when this deal was announced and it was, you know, the original plan that Shams laid out was that Wick was going to stay through 2028 was, okay, this was going to be through that Celtics championship window. Uhhuh. But now that Jason Tatum has gone down, I think a lot of things have changed for the future of the Boston Celtics, right? And especially when you talk about, you know, the WNBA might be making a move to get the Sun here in Boston. You know what I mean? There could be some money that could be played around with in there and, you know, ownership and, you know, cuz we know minority ownership has a a stake in that, you know, claim. It’s one of those things where you sit there and you say, hm, are the Boston Celtics preparing to be bad? you know, and I I remember bo, you know, I was speaking about Bob Koozie just a second ago, and another quote that he had from his article with the Boston Globe, which everyone should go and read. Um, he was saying that he’s not sure that, you know, Jaylen Brown is the superstar level that Jason Tatum is, and he he thinks that a rebuild is coming in the future. Now, this is a 97 year old. Happy birthday to Bob Koozie. It just passed over this weekend. This is a 97 year old that we’re talking about, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. But I mean, he is a, you know, he’s been around a long time, seen a lot of great basketball, seen a lot of great championship teams that he’s been on that he hasn’t been on here in Boston. And so, you got to take, you know, you got to take into account some of that as well. And so, when Bob Koozie is saying he sees a rebuild coming, I got to, you know, think about that a little bit. And you know, seeing moves like this with Wick moving on and, you know, Bill moving on, it seems like, all right, well, the CH we feel like if you know, it seems like they’re sitting there in that in those rooms and saying, hey, we feel like our championship window is closed for now, right? and that, hey, Bill, like go ahead and make your stamp and make your mark on this team, you know, and so you see the team getting cheaper and trying to do things to get cheaper and we’ll talk about some of the other moves that they’re making and um yeah, it is what it is. This is where we live. That’s definitely something we’d love to hear from you all about because I feel like we talked so much about let’s let’s give Brown the opportunity to show that he has his own leadership to bring to the table. He can be a commanding presence for this team. It doesn’t have to be Tank or anything else, but on the other side of that coin, I remember being like, if they go in too hard now, right, I think it speaks to them not trusting the recovery and the bounceback of Jason Tatum. So, they’re kind of in a difficult position. Um, would love to hear you guys’ thoughts. You know, is it one of those things where you just kind of smoothly work on and fine-tune and ease into the season or you blow some things up? We’ll figure it out. But on the other side of this break, coming up here on hold my banner, we are going to talk about some roster moves that can maybe put some things into perspective. So don’t go anywhere. Join Andre and myself on the other side of this break. Back at it with Hold My Banner. And as teased before the break, there’s been some movement for the Boston Celtics roster as the Celtics announced via Twitter or X, whatever you call it. We have waved Miles Norris. Well, I had a reaction to this. What was your reaction to this? I know this is your guy. This is your guy. That’s what I’m saying. So, I had a reaction to this cuz I was like, “Wow.” I came on hold my banner. I showed that I have fully now taken hostage. I made a case for this man going into summer league. I had him over who? Walsh. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, I felt like I really laid it out there. I thought I did such a good job. I was so impressed with myself. Here’s this guy. Numbers look decent if not comparable to Walsh offensively. Edged him out defensively. Like, how does he not stick around? And then this waved. Waved. What did you make of this? Well, you know, originally when I first saw I was like, dang, Casey, I’m so sorry. Cuz we’ve all like we’ve all been there before. You know, whatever sport you like, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, whatever. Like, you’ve been there before where there’s this guy who’s like underground who you really like and you love and you fall in love with him. and you’re like, I wish this dude played more minutes. I wish this dude played more snaps. I wish this dude got more at bats. And then next thing you know, he’s not on your team anymore. And you kind of secretly hoping that he goes on to his next, you know, like I felt like I needed an explanation. That was that was that very simple in playing. We have waved at that point. Just ghost me. Don’t even don’t don’t send me a quick little to the point message. Yeah. And you know, and I think there was a lot of excitement about Miles Norris because one, he he was tearing up the G-League, you know, for his former team before he came here to Boston. And then, you know, he played with uh Peyton Pritchard in college just like Chris Buchet did, you know, and so there was that familiarity with him here, you know, cuz it’s like we’re good with you good with Payton, we you you good with us, you know what I’m saying? So, it was one of those mo moments and yeah, I was a little you know, I was a little sad. I was a little sad cuz I like Miles Norris. I feel like he did a lot of good things here in Boston, but it was just one of those things where he just didn’t fit in anymore, you know, and it wasn’t and it wasn’t necessarily about what he did or what he could have done. Once they made that trade for RJ Louise Jr., they already had their young guy that was lengthy and could do a lot of stuff and could probably play some small ball for and do a lot of things like that. And so, they were taking their flyer on their guy, you So, let’s cuz obviously I’m still slightly wounded, but like you putting on your coaching hat, comparing these two, what made it make sense to be like, “Hey, we got to move on from Norris because now we’ve got this RJ guy,” which like a lot of comments went out to you. I mean, of course, this is why I talked to the knowledge on point, but just the way that you were able to paint the picture of why there’s a better fit in on one versus the other. Well, first of all, Miles Norris is 25, so it’s not old, obviously, but in terms of, you know, development, in terms of development for basketball and stuff like that, he’s, you know, he’s up there, you know, like you you’re not really developing 25 year olds, 26 year olds, they’re kind of coming into who they are, you know what I mean? Versus a a 22-year-old that you traded for in Luis Jr., right? There’s still some growth that needs to be had there and that needs to come from there, right? Um, and then, you know, having I, you know, not even I don’t even want to compare, but you know, the the assumption is that Amari Williams is going to be the guy that they bring on in his spot for the two-way contract because they have not officially signed Amari Williams as we’re recording this and as I say this, watch that’ll be the update that comes through my laptop. But, you know, tweet, you know, he’s not he he has not been officially signed. And so, you know, the Celtics have a lot of young wings that they already know what they have, right? They have uh Jordan Walls, they have Baylor Shyman, you know, they know what these dudes are kind of going to be in the Boston Celtics system already. And so when when you’re looking at their big situation, there’s a lot of question marks. We don’t know what Luca Garza is going to be. You know what I mean? We know what Nimi is, but we’re still trying to figure that out. We know what X is, but we’re still kind of trying to figure out Xavier Tilman. Um, and then, you know, with Buché coming in, we don’t know how he’s going to fit in with this team. And then Amari Williams, the guy that they drafted, you know, right? they’re going to take an opportunity to give him, you know, some minutes and see what he does in the two-way situation and what he’s going to do in Maine and all this other stuff. So, you know, they drafted him because they wanted to take a flyer on him. They didn’t draft him to have him play summer league and let some other team get a look look at him and, you know, whatever. So, Miles Norris just kind of became the odd man out, you know what I mean? Because the new guys are the new guys. Yeah. So, you mentioned Amari Williams. Let’s walk with him for a minute because one expectations in terms of potential contractor getting the signing done and then where does that put him contribution-wise in terms of like timeline you know does this bump up the expectation of him contributing sooner rather than later because it just feels like we’re bringing in pieces and moving about from them and like you said he kind of got pinched out but also he didn’t fit the bill anymore. Yeah. with Amari Williams, you know, I think this is just an opportunity for him to, you know, be secure on this roster, not signing him to an exhibit 10 or to a G-League because you don’t want anybody else to have opportunity to like go get your guy, you know what I’m saying? Or give him a 10day and then he goes, you know, whatever. You want him to be a Boston Celtic because you’re the one who believed in them. And now he’s shown flashes of being a player that he he we all thought he would be. He came in, he played defense. He came in facilitated at a high level. He came in and showed that he needs to work on his offensive game as far as his touch around the rim and his post moves and stuff like that. We knew all of that was there, but he showed the ability to do that at a high level already in the summer league. And when he played, they won. They won every single game that Omari Williams played in. So, you might be able to credit him with the fact that, hey, this dude plays the Boston Celtics win obviously at the, you know, summer league level, but that’s what we saw. So, he’s a winner. He plays defense. He facilitates. I’m not showing that to other NBA GMs and letting that walk out the door. But he does need to spend that time in Maine. You know what I mean? He needs to send spend that time in Portland and build up his game, and he’s going to do that over the course of this year so that he can be ready to play when Jason Tatum returns. All right. Now, basketball’s made me feel extremely financially savvy, or lack thereof. When you see all these moving pieces taking place, of course, one of the bigger questions is what does this mean from the financial perspective of everything? Because are we getting closer to being better in a financial position, opening ourselves up to other opportunities, any other movements at the end of the season or the end of the offseason? So, what does all of this movement mean to you? All of this movement just means that the Celtics are going to do whatever they can to find costefficient options to play with Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown at 2627. That’s all these and we’re looking at 26 27 that that’s all these moves say to me because you know you bring in you have a bunch of 22 year olds and younger that are on two-way deals and you know Josh Minaut’s on a freaking you know $2 million deal and you know these just these smaller deals that you’re giving all these dudes opportunities to because you’re basically saying we’re going to figure out who can play you know some somebody in this group can play and I like I’ve said that before on hold my banner like we’re going to figure out if Baylor Shyman is ready to play. We’re going to figure out if Jordan Wals is ready to play. We’re going to figure out if Hugo’s ready to play. We’re going Somebody in this group’s got to play. Josh might not. Luca Garza, you know what I mean? Amari Williams. I can throw out all the names. X, you know what I’m Somebody’s going to figure out who can play. You know what I’m saying? So, moving on from Miles Norris is just giving the opportunity for the guys that they’ve brought in in for a full season. You know, cuz Miles Norris kind of fell into their lap. They were taking a swinger on him last year. He didn’t I wouldn’t say that he didn’t pan out, but he didn’t I don’t feel like he’s gotten better. Okay. So, there was a boss more, right? They couldn’t look at him and be like there’s more to pull out of Right. Exactly. Exactly. The growth for him as a Boston Celtic wasn’t there. Like I feel like he came in at this level and like he just stayed there the whole entire time. co not coasting like he was obviously working on his game and stuff like that but just like the fit you know what I mean with the Boston Celtics didn’t lead to him you know taking this leap that they thought could possibly be there and once again they looked at the age of 25 and they said okay we’re going to move on so yeah all these moves just prove to me that the Boston Celtics are trying to find those dudes that they can bring in where we’re looking up years later and being like man Peyton Pritchard is really only getting seven million a year that’s crazy for six man of the year you know what I mean Thank you. You know what I mean? 8 million a year. Thank you. Right. You know, that’s what they’re looking for out of this group. Where’s the diamond in the rough? Okay. I love diamond in the roughs because I’m also a big a fan of underdogs. You mentioned small pay, which is going to equate to large opportunity if there’s no bigger moves to be made. Yes. You threw some names out there, but if you had to pick right now, who has the most pressure on their shoulders to actually deliver or take advantage of having an opportunity, a larger opportunity this upcoming season? That’s a good question. I think Jordan Walsh has the biggest like target on his back right now. Like if he doesn’t like because he’s been here the longest. We talked about it during summer league like, “Oh, he’s the vet of the summer.” I’m over here like Norris by Walsh. Like no offense to Walsh, right? He’s the guy he’s he was the vet on the summer league team and stuff like that. And so, you know, he’s the guy who’s been around. He’s won the championship here in Boston. He you know, he knows what that looks like. He knows what the expectations are. All this other stuff. like if he can’t go out and I mean he’s got to be a guy that at least this year is like nine points a game efficient rebounds I need to see a couple of putbacks screaming in dudes faces pumping the chest diving on the floor like he needs that kind of year like and that’s not a like I don’t think that’s a crazy jump you know asking for him to be a you know nine points a game guy in the in the NBA playing consistent minutes you know running dudes off screen like you see it every single year where there’s a guy who comes comes in the league or whatever and no one’s really talking about him and you look up and you’re like who’s Tumani Kamar like why is he why is everyone talking about this dude all of a sudden and then you watch a game and he’s you know running dudes off the line dudes don’t want to guard like be guarded by him they’re passing as soon as they you’re like who’s Tyson Daniels and then next thing you know he’s got a great nickname like great barrier thief you’re like uh who’s oh who’s this rookie Ryan Dunn like why is he you Why is he getting this notoriety and he’s making dudes have hell the night before? Like making sure they’re getting good rest because they know they got to play against this this kid tomorrow. He’s crazy. You know what I’m saying? Like Jordan Walsh could be one of those dudes. Like is it a big jump? Is it a jump that could get him into, you know, most improved category? Yeah. Like eight points a game, you know, adding eight points a game to his totals from last year. Like yeah, that’s a big jump. But like Tatum’s gone. That’s 30 30 something minutes, 35 minutes that that are gone. You know what I’m saying? And like JB is coming off knee surgery and like while I’ve seen him on Twitch and Twitter and whatever he doing doing, you know, uh streams and stuff like that with people like he looks good, but like when it comes to full speed, yeah, you can be sure when it comes down to the fact that like if the Boston Celtics are sitting there in a eight seed, nine seed coming into the trade deadline, they’re going to be like, “Yo, shut Den down.” You know what I’m saying? So if that’s happening then he’s got to be performing and if he wants to be back here in a Boston Celtics jersey playing with Jason Tatum having an opportunity to win a championship in 2627 he’s got to ball cuz the contract year is coming up and they’re not they’re just going to it’s going to be if he’s not balling like I said it’s going to be somebody else. It’s going to be Hugo. It’s going to be Baylor Shireman. It’s going to be Sam Hower. Like somebody is going to step up at some point for this Boston Celtics team. So Jordan Was better make sure it’s him. Yeah. Like there’s no denying that. And you don’t want to be that guy that has that sort of reputation and the level of expectation that’s on his shoulders and not show up, especially I don’t want to say in a disrespectful manner, but versus a new guy coming in such as Hugo. Like there’s so many things that Hugo has to now work on and curtail and curate to the North American League and the highest of the North American League. Like you don’t want to get beat out in that aspect. Heck no. Not to an 18-year-old, that’s for sure. Cuz if they looking at him and he’s outperforming you now, they thinking, well, it’s only going to get better from here. So, you better take your chance. We’ll see if uh Walsh can step up to the plate and flex. But you know what? You can flex. You can rock Hold My Banner merch. That’s right. Big news. Pumped to share cuz we’ve been telling you guys for about a week and a half now. That Hold My Banner merch is officially here. You can now pick up a Hold My Banner t-shirt or hoodie and check out Nessen’s full Wicked Wearables line brought to you in partnership with Breaking Tea. Check out Wickedwearables at messen wickedwearables.com. We’re going to take this from a bird’s eye view and go around the entire NBA division by division giving you an NBA preview. So don’t go anywhere. Join Ae and I on the other side of this break. I mentioned a bird’s eyee view. Play on words if you guys are watching because the New Orleans Pelicans. Did you just catch up on it? That was a good one. Oh yeah. Thank you so much. Offseason work by Herb Herb Jones. That is. Now, I have to say it like that cuz I grew up with twin boys down the block and guess what their dad’s name was? Yep. Every time. It was weird for me to walk into the house saying that, but I did. Um, how are we feeling about the Pelicans off season so far? We got we got a flex on social media, but I feel like a number of teams, a number of players, you know, putting in the work, offseason work, no days off. How much does it actually stack for this Pelicans team? Oh, you’re underwhelmed her. Well, here’s what I’ll say about the New Orleans Pelicans. I absolutely love the talent that they have in the building. Okay. I mean, I think Jordan P is still a really good could be a really good player in this league. I know he the the stint over there in Washington wasn’t great, but you know, I think he’s maturing now hopefully and this could be a good opportunity for him to show that he’s maturing and ready to play winning basketball again. Obviously, I love Zion Williamson when he’s playing basketball. I mean, he’s one of the top 15 dudes when he is actually playing, you know, healthy basketball. The question is whether he can stay on the court, whether he can keep the off the court noise off the off the, you know, or how about just eliminate the noise. Yeah. Just get rid of the noise. Yeah. It’s not piped down, it’s canled. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Noise cancelling BS, what, you know, uh, Beats, whatever they be doing in them commercials. Yeah. All of that out of there. Um, you know, I loved their draft picks. Like Derek Queen, Jeremiah Fierce. I was super high on them coming into the draft because of their talent, their ability to score the basketball. One of them in Boston. I mean, yeah, but we knew that we neither of them were within our range. Uh, I would have love like, you know, I always talk about the center position that the Celtics need in. Derek Queen would have been amaz like it was a pipe. It would have been a long pipe dream. A long pipe dream, you know, almost like us getting Cooper flag, but that’s for another episode. Um, you know, so I I absolutely love the talent that they have in that in that room. Even bringing in a Kevon Looney, you know, he’s an NBA champion, playing for the Warriors, won multiple championships with them. I love that move for them. So, you know, I love how they’ve brought in some of these veterans and stuff like that to subsidize for them the fact losing CJ McCollum who was the veteran. But that’s the biggest issue with that I see with this team. Who is the leader? Who are your leaders? Who are the guys that are going to challenge guys? I think so many of these NBA teams get caught up with being young, young, young young. We talked about the Boston Celtics being young, but at least they got a Jason Tatum. At least they got a Drew, I mean a Jaylen Brown. Those guys are going to hold down the fourth for you. even a Peyton Pritchard, you know what I mean, are going to hold down the fort for you. Who are the guys who have won in a Pelicans jersey that can tell you how to win. They don’t have any of those. You know what I’m saying? And so that’s the biggest issue that I see with this New Orleans Pelicans team. I love the talent, but Willie Green doesn’t inspire me as a coach. I think it’s time for him to be, you know, I wouldn’t say to let him go, but, you know, to move on from him in that in the head coaching capacity. Coaching style or what’s the what’s the thing there? Yeah. I ju I just think they need if you’re not gonna have leaders uh at the you know at on the floor for you. You definitely need to do the alpha thing as a head coach. You need a guy who’s going to come in there and give you the the swearing. You know what I mean? The things that we have with Sam Cassell here in Boston. You know he comes in he’s like what are you doing? You know what I’m saying? Like you need that like kind of that energy that come in that f you. You know what I mean? for lack of a letter better term, but like that f you energy. You need that in a head coaching staff if you’re not going to have that from your players. The guys who are going to be like, “Hey, bro. I don’t care about none of that. We ain’t going out tonight. You ain’t, you know what I mean, eating freaking jumbolaya no more. You You know what I mean? For you, right? That’s over. You’re you’re going to do this these things, right?” So, if you don’t have that from your your players, you need it from your head coach. They’re trying to do it with their GM. You know what I mean? They have a GM in there who’s, you know, fighting and and trying to tell Zion what to do. But they’re they’re so far away from the everyday daytoday that you spend with a player. You need the player to do it. And if it’s not going to be a player, you definitely need your head coach to do it. And that’s my issue with Willie Green. But I love him. I love them as a player. I think he is a good coach for some of the young guys, but he needs to be a little meaner. Yeah, there’s got to be a better blend there probably for him to be the best coach for this team. So, actually that brings me to a a bigger question here because you’re talking about two draft picks. You love them. Queen Fierce sometimes, notably, especially where these guys got picked up. You’re you’re coming in as the potential face of the franchise eventually. Do you see or know of leadership qualities from either of these guys heading into the upcoming season? Yeah. Ask me that again. Ask me that again. No, cuz like I just got I got to rethink about I got to think about this. Like could you could you see some some early leadership qualities out of a queen out of a fears because like for instance when we talk about Cooper flag when we did the interviews and stuff NBA ready contributor right away numbers are going to build as he continues to carry on already probably has his face on the side of you know one of the many walls in in Dallas but you know that he’s going to have his own leadership style like you see a leadership style coming into basically an open floor plan for these guys and not now. Okay. Not now. And the only reason I say not now is because both of them are super young. Not that young like youth matters because like you said a Cooper flag can come in and kind of be a leader in his own way, you know, and even when watching obviously we’re watching a lot of football right now as well and you’re you watch a Cam Ward or you watch a Shader and like they come in and they command the huddle and they’re loud and you know they bring their own leadership style for sure. So you can be young and have and still step up and have leadership. Obviously, those guys are younger than I mean older than 18 talking about Camp War and Shadur, but you know, you can still be young and do that. Um, with these dudes, they’re just kids. Like, I just like every time I watch a video of them and I don’t know them. I’m not spending every day with them obviously, but like based off what I see or what I hear talking to guys who have been around them and stuff like that. Um, they just have a lot of kids in the building right now. And, you know, and and those dudes are, you know, those kind of kids where they’re they’re laughing, they’re joking, they’re having fun, they’re just trying to figure out how to play NBA basketball. They’re excited to be there, which they should be. They’re excited to hope that they get to be starters and, you know, make shots and do all that that stuff. That’s what they’re worried about right now. They’re not worried about leading teams. Maybe in the future, but not right now. All right. So, let’s not add anything else to their plate. I didn’t mean to get crazy there. I’m just I’m I like to solve I like to solve problems. That’s kind of my toxicity. So, from another perspective, we’re going to let the kids be kids. Let them find their identity when it comes to this level of basketball. We talked about Zion canceling out the noise, right? That feels like a simple approach to be like, “Hey, dude, can you just do this, this, and this?” But let’s talk about a healthy Zion. What does his contribution look like to this team? And does he have a leadership quality that can maybe potentially help out this locker room? I mean, yeah, he’s got to like at this point he’s got like it was almost felt like a humiliation ritual like all the things that we were forced to hear about Zion and you know his his offthecore activities. You know what I’m saying? Uh is this this is called um called a transfer of energy. Not say it from the mouth. Yeah. Yeah. you know, off the court activities. Um, you know, and so with that, I think at this point, you’re starting to see a Zion who is less of showing less of those kid qualities. Like he when he came in the league, he was kind of, you know, I hate to say this, but this is a term that my coaches used to always say, but doughy, you know what I mean? Like a little, you know, got a little flubber on there and a little baby fat. Yeah. A little baby fat and, you know, things of that nature. And so now he’s, you know, and he was smiling all the time. And not to say that you can’t be that, you know what I mean? Because we watched Magic Johnson do that through his whole career, smiling and cheesing and laughing and Shaq and same thing. But like his outdoor activity, but you know, u speaking of Shaq, you know, like when them lights turned on, you know, he was a he was a monster, a beast, you know, like he might be laughing and joking with you before the tip off, but then as soon as that, you know, that ball goes in the air, he’s ready to fight you. You know what I’m saying? And so I I think Zion is showing more of that now. And like the it’s really about um can he lead with his actions, right? Gotcha. I think guys at this point don’t want to hear you say, “Oh, blah blah blah rah rah rah.” Because you haven’t shown the ability to be mature throughout your whole entire career. Now, at this point, you got to go out there and take care of your body. You got to feed yourself the right way. You got to, you know what I mean? Turn away the donuts. Turn away the beignet. You know what I’m saying? And then oh and in New Orleans that’s criminal. It’s hard to do. Yeah. You know, but I’m hearing some people saying, you know, New Orleans food isn’t that great. I am not one of those people. That’s a topic for another time. Whoa. That’s a topic for another time. But, you know, that is something that’s going on in the internet. But I’m just saying, uh, clearly is good cuz Zion was eating it over the last couple years. But the hope is is that he’s turning those things down. He’s, you know, canceling out all the female drama that he was having off off the court, you know. Um, and just dealing with being a basketball player, playing basketball games, hopefully playing 70 games this year, being healthy, dunking on people, being loud, getting rebounds, hopefully develop his shot. If he does all of those things, I mean, this team could be a team that, you know, everyone could be surprised about at the end of the year, honestly. Yeah, you got to find a way to get the right UV for that bright spot so you can manage and uh, move along, which I think that he should do, and hopefully health will be on his side. So realistic perspective, what do you expect out of this team for the upcoming season? And how much better do you think they position themselves to perform? I guess that one could say considering they’re young. The coach may be like ah fit and you know there’s a lot of opportunity there for these guys repwise, but outside of that where do we land a fit? So a fit. So uh the sports books got them floating around. 29 wins this year. 29 and a half. I think they could go over that. I I mean I think this West is is tough, but I think a lot of these teams are are going to beat up on each other a little bit more than like we think right now. And with that, you know, there’s going to be the health things. There’s going to be teams that aren’t going to be healthy. And I know people are tired of hearing like us say that, but like health really is a thing. You never know which big name like, you know, it just it it happens across the board, right? And I think a lot of issues that this team has had over the last couple of years has been health, but they’ve gotten rid of those some of those issues. They got rid of of Brandon Ingram. They got him rid of CJ McCollum. Those were the guys that you relied on that are now not in the, you know, not in your organization that you don’t have to rely on anymore. So, you know, hopefully bringing in some of these young guys can subsidize some of that. You know, Jeremiah Fierce, he’s not a CJ McCollum yet, but he will be a good scorer in this league at some point, I would assume. Jere Queen, same thing. And then you’re going to have Herb Jones back as we talk. You know, I’m, you know, we were talking about the young guys, but you have to talk about the guys that they’re bringing back. him, Trey Murphy. Like those are two of the best wings in the league right now. Like I mean when you’re talking about front courts, like having Herb Jones next to Trey Murphy, like defense, shooting, those are the some of the best three and wings in the league right now. So you have to be excited about that potential pairing it up with Zion. I’m a little nervous about the fact that they brought in bigs who are not really shooting bigs. Derek Queen can shoot it a little bit, but you know, having the other guys that, you know, bringing in Looney and stuff like that, they have some guys that don’t help stretch the floor, that means Zion’s really got to stretch the floor. If he can do this, this team could easily be a team that we’re looking at at like a upper 30s. I wouldn’t go as far to say 40s. I wouldn’t go as far to say 40s, but this could be a team that has 38 wins at the end of the year, and we’re like, “Oh, wow. This is cool. They they they’re in a playing game or something like that.” And they get bounced. North of 29, more than likely upper 30s. Something else that we’d love to gauge y’all’s opinion on. And yes, we are happy to see that Herb Jones is on the right track. We are going to pivot on the other side of this break. Keeping it southwest though, so don’t go anywhere. Join and myself for another NBA preview before we close out here on Hold My Banner. Back at it with Hold My Banner and bringing you some warmth on this Tuesday. Dylan Hara is making a mark. You didn’t think I was going to do a Boston accent. Come on now. Uh Dylan Harper is making a mark in the San Antonio community already. Um, what I love about this is because these young guys when they’re getting ready to get their opportunity at the next level, you go through different kind of coaching um, coaching processes and seminars and stuff like that and it could be different. I’m referring to what I saw my brother go through football-wise. Yeah. But, you know, you learn how to talk, you learn how to do media training, you do these things, and they’ll mention the fact of like getting involved in the community, but I think because you see it so often, you almost feel like it’s a box they have to check off. they have to get involved. Their hands not being forced that much in all honesty. Like it’s just letting you know like, hey, it’s better to be involved. This is how you’re going to get to know your teammates on a level on another level. And this is how you’re going to really get to know the community on the most important basis, which is humanity. So, I personally like seeing this stuff because I think sometimes fans see it and they’re like, “Yeah, it’s a part of their job.” Not so much. They’re not forced that much to do it. Trust me, I’ve been a lot around some a couple of different sports teams from time to time. not everybody, you know, adheres to whatever you think their job is. So, right, they can make it difficult. So, showing up up there with a smile and doing those things, especially as a rookie when you’re focusing on trying to, you know, you know, make a roster and, you know, fit in with the your teammates and other things to worry about. You know what I mean? 100%. It could be easy to not do those things. So, it is important that he is showing up and doing those things and doing it with a smile on his face. The smile on the face is the most important part because you know what? if my name was worth a couple thousand dollars, you know, you can sign something, pass it along, and do your due diligence. But we’re talking about a very smart young man. And we’re also going to allude to the fact that maybe this is a smart team because, I don’t know, asked me two months ago about some of the names on the market, some of the rumors going around the mill. We thought the Spurs were to blow it up and it feels like they were more tactical versus, I don’t know, just being one of those teams that outlandishly could go after a certain amount of things. So, what did you think about their offseason approach thus far? I thought it was great. You know, I thought they took swings at Kevin Durant. I thought they took swings at Giannis. Obviously, we know that Giannis decided to Well, at least it feels like he he’s decided to stay with Milwaukee. Um, and then the fact that we could both sit there, look at the TV, and go, yeah, at least we think he’s going to stay with Milwaukee. Um, and then Kevin Durant obviously decided to go with the Houston Rockets, and they didn’t want to give up the things that the, you know, that the Houston Rockets gave up. they were a little more ready to give up with Jaylen Green versus, you know, guys I I remember talking about it, you know, them giving up four or five real rotational players for them to make this happen and a potential superstar and Stefon Castle to get KD there. So, you know, it was one of those things where um the Spurs stayed home and, you know, I kind of like the fact that they stayed home because when I’m looking at this starting roster, you know, there’s a hole. I think Devin Vel is one of those guys where it’s like, okay, is he really a small forward in this league? No. But at the same time, we got 7 foot2 Wimby standing at at the paint. So like he can Yeah. 7 foot2 Wimby, you know, standing at the paint. So he can cover up some of these mistakes defensively. But I mean, you’re looking at We talked about talent with the Pelicans. I mean, this team has a a bench that could probably start for some teams. Oh my god. Are you going to name drop one of those? I’m not going to name drop any of those teams in the NBA just because they have they have guys who have played a lot of starting minutes on, you know, on real winning teams before in the in the league. When you’re looking at their bench, it will probably be Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant, who are two rookies that I’m excited for them to have. Carter Bryant’s going to bring energy, effort, a lot of the same things that we would like here in Boston. We’re going to see if the shooting touch is going to be there. It hasn’t been there in summer league, but I mean, when you’re talking about defensive uh capabilities, this guy could be a guy that can win deepo at some point later on in his career. Obviously, we know that’s going to be hard to do with Wimby on his team, but it is possible. Um, and then Dylan Harper, I don’t need to talk about him because I’ve talked about him over the, you know, the length of his draft process. Is the guy What’s the Cliffot version to be excited about? Number two pick, high high basketball IQ. Can score in every single situation that you need him to. willing passer, all of the things. So, this is a great guy and you’re going to have him coming off the bench with a Kell Johnson, great three and D wing, Jeremy Shan, another elite defensive playmaking wing and then the Kelly Olen who people know here in Boston who can, you know, shoot the three, which you will like to pair next to a winaba sometimes plugging him in at the four as well. So, in that starting lineup, you locked up the Fox, Stefon Castle’s here for at least another two two to three years. Devin Vel, like I said, really good shooter, but you know, as far as the size and the, you know, being able to guard, you know, bigger wings, probably gonna struggle just a little bit, but a really good NBA player, a guy who can get you 30 on any night for sure. And then Harrison Barnes, NBA champion, one with the Warriors, knows how to play winning basketball, vet, teaches a lot of young guys good things. And then Wimi, do I have to say anything about him? Wimby full stop works for me. You mentioned going on about Harper. That’s fine. We’ll shelf that for now. But there is a name that we’ve gone on about here in the New England area. Okay. Luke Cornet. Yeah. What do we make of his workload? What do we make of his promise and position? Man, what a great place for Luke Cornette to to end up at, honestly, just because, you know, he’s going to go into a situation where he’s going to play backup minutes, but he’s going to get to do a little bit more than he got to do for the Boston Celtics. he’s going to get to do everything that he was doing, but with more minutes, knowing that he’s going to play every single night, you know, making money now. Um, getting the opportunity to teach some of those guys, you know, defensive coverages and stuff like that and build up what the San Antonio Spurs can do. I’m excited for Luke Cornette. This is a really good opportunity for him to help raise the ceiling in the margins. People are, you know, talk about what he can do on the court, but it’s not just what he can do on the court. is the things that he will be able to teach these guys in practice, in games, all the opportunities. Great opportunity for Luke. I love that. I remember when this landing spot came about for him and immediately uh you and Travis I believe mentioned the fact that to be able to take the a different chapter in your career. Great fit. That doesn’t happen for a lot of players. I did say Wimby full stop. I did also lie. What is the expectation for Wimi coming up here? You know what do 7 foot all the things? You’re right. foot 12, all the things. What do we need? What do we need from a Wimby this season? Uh, I think KG said it best. You need that dog out of Wimby. You need that like like unteachable thing. And and K and KG’s funny cuz he’s like, “Oh, you know, in Europe you’re p, you know, you’re powdered up and you’re blah blah blah fundamentals. You guys learn all of that stuff.” Which they do a incredible job of teaching them the fundamentals of the game over there in Europe for sure. But like in in America, he might be right. We got some dogs out there that will freaking fight you over a loose ball. And Wimby needs that where he needs to come across half court and be like, “Hey, give me the ball. That’s mine. I’m Wimi. Y’all get out the way. I’m taking us to where we need to go. If he can get that a little bit of that Anthony Edwards in him, I mean, the sky is the limit for this dude. If he can turn that switch on, he’s he could win MVP this year. Do I think he’s gonna win MVP this year? No. But I think it’s coming within the next three years. So, everybody else better watch out. Sometimes it takes a minute to find that dog. It also depends on what’s going on around you before you really learn to kind of tap into that. Yes. Um most players you want to see flip that switch earlier, but I feel like considering what’s going on with the Spurs and stuff, he’s he does the gloves have to come off and he’ll figure it out for himself. You mentioned limitations, but let’s talk about really quick what will the limitations be or not be for this Spurs team. Yeah, I you know I seeing win totals around 43 wins, 43 and a half for this team. I think it’s right about there. I think that I think this is a team that will win about 43 games. I think Wimby’s health obviously he’s clear to play basketball now, but you always got to take that into account. if he’s not there, this team is still really talented. Obviously with the Stefon Castle, De’aran Fox, you know, Luke Cornet, our guy, you know, they do have a lot of talent around Wimby, so it won’t necessarily need to be just on him like it has been the last two years. Yeah. But, you know, if he’s not playing, that win total could quickly go down to the low 30s or something like that. And I don’t want to see that for them. I I personally do think this is a team that will be about a 40 win team. Probably make the playoffs as an eight seed this year. And I was going to say when you see that logo, you know what I mean? I feel like whether you like them or hate them, you’re already kind of expecting a playoff caliber team. There’s there’s a lot on that name and on that logo that’s got to deliver. But as always, we love hearing from you guys. You’ve left fantastic comments. Compliment and his knowledge because this is what keeps us afloat and I learn so much every single time. time. It makes hoops fun. Until next time, y’all. Catching you back here on Hold My Banner 1 to 2:00 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. We’ll see you guys back on Thursday. Deuces.

Joe Mazzulla just secured a multi-year extension, but is this a sign of long-term trust or a risky move during a transitional year for the Celtics? With Jayson Tatum out indefinitely and key players like Porziņģis, Holiday, and Kornet no longer on the roster, we dig into what this deal says about Boston’s direction and whether Mazzulla has truly earned the keys to the franchise. We also react to the decision to waive Miles Norris and evaluate the current two-way contract group. Plus, we kick off our Southwest Division preview with the Pelicans and Spurs. Is Zion finally ready for a full season, and could Wembanyama leap into MVP talks? All that and more on Hold My Banner, hosted by Kasey Hudson and Ountae Campbell.

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#NBAOffseason #BostonCeltics #Celtics

00:00 Celtics Extend Joe Mazzulla & Say Bye To Wyc Grousbeck
15:46 Celtics Waive Miles Norris
29:01 NBA Preview – Southwest Division – New Orleans Pelicans
41:50 NBA Preview – Southwest Division – San Antonio Spurs