The Truth Behind the Celtics Waiving Miles Norris

The Truth Behind the Celtics Waiving Miles Norris

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 holding my banner. a show 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. You fall in love with him. 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 tweet, you know, like I felt like I needed an explanation. That was that that was that very simple and plain. 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 Christian 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 Peyton, 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 And the knowledge is 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 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 them 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 Amari 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 off season? 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 Min’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 it before on hold my banner like we’re going to figure out if Baylor Shman 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 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 wasn’t as 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 Walter, 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 Tummani 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 Sherman. 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 a 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 chest.

Did the Celtics just give up on Miles Norris too soon? After a short stint in Boston, the team has already waived him, raising questions about his potential, Summer League performance, and whether there’s a future for him elsewhere in the league. We break down the impact of this move, what it means for Boston’s two-way players like RJ Luis Jr., Max Shulga, and Amari Williams, and whether the Celtics are taking the right approach with the back end of the roster.

Hear the full breakdown on Hold My Banner, hosted by Kasey Hudson and Ountae Campbell. Click here for the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rNZ3ZNqwxI

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